INTRODUCTION
• Today our country is in the throws of a war to help free the nation of Iraq from the oppression of their FORMER dictator err “President” Saddam Hussein. I do not know if you have some of the torture that he subjected his people to, but it is horrible to think a person could have that much evil within them.
• Whether or not you agree with the effort our country had the guts to lead, we are there to help free a nation from the throws of tyranny.
• I believe that our military did a fantastic job of dismantling the dreaded “Republican Guard” and the rest of the Iraqi military with minimal damage to the country and with little civilian causality. I want you to understand I am not getting political here, I am just making an observation about with went on.
• The problem we are facing now is, “What now?”
• Our country has given the Iraqi people the freedom that none of the other Muslim nations around them or the European community (except Great Britain) saw fit to help them with.
• Now that the people of Iraq are free, what now? In a perfect world the killing would stop and all the people would rejoice in the streets and life would go on. By the way, I have been watching some internal poling of the Iraqi people that strongly suggests the people in the country are glad we freed them, but they would like us to leave as soon as possible.
• Now is the time of decision for the nation of Iraq. What will they do with their freedom? Will they allow another tyrant to come in and oppress them? The reason our brave soldiers are still dying there is because there is a small segment of the country that wants that Hussein guy to return.
• It is hard to imagine how ANYONE would want that murderer to be in power, but some do.
• Will the nation rise up and make sure that never happens again. What will their choice be? Freedom or slavery to tyranny?
• That brings us to our message today. Last week we looked at the fact that we were too enslaved to sin. Sin was our tyrannical slave master. There was a war fought for your freedom by Jesus and the opportunity was provided for you to throw off the chains of slavery to sin.
• For those who have baptized into Christ (which is the place our slavery to sin is ultimately broken) what now? You have a choice to make. Will you allow yourselves to once again be enslaved to sin or will you take a stand and enjoy your freedom in Christ by considering yourselves dead to sin and alive to Jesus!
• Turn with me to Romans 6:12-23!
SERMON
I. YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE (12-14)
• After we are freed from the bondage of sin in our lives, we then must make a conscious decision as to what we will do with our life?
• We have two choices, we can either present the members of our body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness or we can present our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness.
• Obviously we are encouraged to present our bodies to God.
• ROMANS 12:1-2 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
• In verse 11 we are told we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.
• The results of doing this are twofold. One, we will stop letting sin reign in our body. We will stop using our bodies as instruments of sin. Secondly we will yield only to God and we will use our bodies to glorify God.
• Verse 12 implies we have to power now to stop letting sin have a hold on us. When Paul tells them to not let sin reign, he is speaking of something they are currently doing that needs to stop now. When we are saved, we will still struggle with temptation, but the point is we are no longer slaves to sin.
• The word “reign” is a word used of a king who has total dominion over it’s’ subjects.
• This reign of sin is what is broken. We do not have to let the Devil have his way with us since the old body of sin has died and we belong to Christ.
• It will still be a struggle. Just like the nation of Iraq is struggling with their new found freedom, we too will struggle.
• The reason we fall prey to sin is that when we let it take hold of us, we then start to obey the lusts of the body.
• I want you to think about the Kobe Bryant situation for a moment. I will make no comment about his guilt or innocence, but he did admit to committing adultery. Think about it, he was ready and willing to jeopardize his marriage to a beautiful young lady to have relations with an average looking girl whom he knew all of 10 minutes or so. Temptation is a power thing, and if you are slave to sin it makes it very hard to resist it.
• When we let sin creep into our lives, it only looks for an opportunity to present itself.
• In the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, God warns Cain, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." Genesis 4:7
• In verse 13 we are reminded that before we were freed from sin we regularly presented the members of our bodies to sin. We used our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness (or everything that contradicts God’s standard of right, especially in our relationships with others.)
• In verse 13 we are encouraged to “present” our bodies to God. The word “present” implies a definite once and for all commitment. The inner man that died and rose with Jesus is responsible for controlling the whole person’s behavior and for putting oneself at the disposal of God.
• In finishing up this thought, in verse 14 we have a slight shift of thought and a reason for doing what verse 12-13 encourage us to do.
• Verse 14 says that sin shall not master over you. There is a subtle change in language in the original text. We shift from “THE SIN” or “KING SIN” that has dominion over us to verse 14 that says “sin” or “lord sin”.
• Follow me here. In the ancient world, you would have a King who ran the kingdom. He had absolute rule or dominion over his kingdom.
• Under the king you had lords who controlled little bits and pieces of the kingdom. They did not run the show, but they had control over parts of it, but they still were under the king.
• When we are saved, we are freed from KING SIN. It no longer has dominion over us. What happens to us is that the little sin lords (individual sins) try to lord it over us, thus drawing us into various vices.
• Verse 14 is not dealing with KING SIN which HAD dominion, but with the individual sins that harass us, tempts us and ensnares us.
• We will look at the implications of choosing to let this little lord sins trap us in a minute.
• I want you to hear me on this point.
• Sin would have ZERO authority over us if we would make it our purpose to NOT use our bodily members as instruments of unrighteousness, but use them as instruments of righteousness.
• The only power sin has over the one who is dead to sin is the power we give it.
• The MORE we are committed to Jesus; the less sin draws us in. Until we understand that, we will ALWAYS struggle. The further from God we are the more we struggle. I would venture to say that if your life is just one big fight with temptation, if you are honest with yourself, you would have to admit you are not putting a lot into your relationship with Jesus.
• We will ALWAYS have struggles with sin, but as you grow closer to Jesus, that struggles become more manageable.
• We are not under law, but under grace. When there is more laws, there is greater opportunity to sin. Think of the NCAA for a moment. There rule book is LARGE. They have tried to make a rule for every conceivable situation. Because there are so many rules, it is easier to break one; there is a great chance to sin if you will.
• The law will show us what acts and desires are wrong, but it provides no help in dealing with them. The speed limit only tells us the limit; it does not help us obey it.
• When we are under the grace of God we receive help dealing with temptations. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
• You have a choice to make, the sin master or Jesus.
II. THERE ARE IMPLICATIONS ATTACHED TO YOUR CHOICE (15-19)
• In verse 15 we have the same question as in verse 1. The question is since sin is no longer lord over us, then can the Christian sin and never pay a penalty? The answer is a resounding NO!
• It would be a misuse of freedom in Christ to suppose we can submit now and then to LORD SIN while at the same time being in no danger of coming again under the bondage of slavery to KING SIN.
• In verse 16 we lean that when we present (the same word as in verse 13- voluntary presentation) ourselves to someone as slaves for obedience we are slaves of the one we obey.
• Since we changed masters, the former master (sin) has no authority over you. We are called to give our all to our new master Jesus!
• When we belong to Jesus, we are free to decide whom we are going to serve, but there are implications that come with our choice.
• MAT 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
• There is no middle ground. If you serve one, you will not get the benefits of the other.
• The sin in verse 16 refers to all the individual acts of sin done in obedience to the Devil.
• If a person continues to commit certain acts of sin, while making no effort to stop letting that sin reign in his life, the result will be that eventually we will sink back into the very slavery from which we were freed from at baptism.
• The final outcome of serving each master is called either “death” or “righteousness.”
• If you follow sin, death comes, spiritual death and eternal death. If you present your body to God, then righteousness.
• In other words, we are pardoned and viewed as pure by God through Jesus.
• In verse 19 Paul tells us not to push the details of slavery too far, he says he is using an illustration so we can understand the concept being taught. We are not slaves to God in the sense we have no freedom or choice. If we choose to serve Him we will receive many great benefits. All the promises of God’s word belong to us when we serve Him in love and obedience.
• When we presented ourselves to sin, more sin resulted. One small sin, then the next one bigger and the next one bigger, then we become what we were doing.
• When you present yourself to Christ, you will become more Christ-like.
• A life of service to God ends in sanctification. When we are immersed into Christ, we are sanctified, or made holy, set aside for special service. God see us as sinless. Our life in Christ is about reaching the point that God already sees us as.
• We do this not to earn salvation, but because it pleases God and we want to become more like the one we serve.
• When I was a kid I wanted to be a draftsman because my dad was one. I did not even know what one was, but I knew my dad did it; I wanted to be like him because I love him and I wanted to please him. This is why you should serve the Lord, because you love Him and you want to please Him.
III. THERE ARE BENEFITS ATTACHED TO YOUR CHOICE (20-23)
• I want to finish up with a thought Paul finishes with. Look at verses 20-23 with me.
• In your life before Christ, what benefit did you receive? As for me, I can relate to what Paul says in verse 21 about being ashamed. My life meant nothing before Jesus, no purpose, no direction, and no focus. My life path was leading me to eternal death, and I was already spiritually dead.
• Several years ago the Associated Press reported that a man had robbed a convenience store. He gave the clerk a $10.00 bill to get her to open the cash register. It worked. She opened it and he forced her to give him the contents of the drawer. He got everything--a grand total of $4.34--and left the $10.00! He Lost $5.66 on the deal. (Roddy Chestnut- www.Sermoncentral.com)
• Now in Christ according to verse 22 we receive the sanctification we spoke of and the benefit is eternal life both now and later. We cannot go to heaven or receive God’s blessings unless we are sanctified (or made holy by God).
CONCLUSION
• Verse 23 concludes, the wages of sin is death but the free gift from God is eternal life.
• What will your choice be? Life or death? Saved or lost? Holy or unholy?
• The beauty of life is that you get to make the choice and once you make the choice, you must keep making that choice.
• God’s way of saving man results in blessings for those who will take it.
• If you are struggling, remember, you can win with God. Truly present yourself to Him and see what happens.
• God knows we will struggle. In the midst of the struggle, God hurts with you. Purpose today to fully present your life to God as a living and holy sacrifice!
