Sermon Tone Analysis

Romans 6:15-23

Slavery is a topic that we don’t like to talk about.

The truth is slavery is alive and well in our world today!

Even in our nation!

The truth is Slavery is much closer to home than we think!

The truth is we are all slaves today.

Not to make light of the plight of so many today, but the truth is we are slaves.

The difference between the Christian and those that are in the World is which master we serve.

In verses 15-23 Paul is continuing his discussion of the difference between being dead to sin and being alive in Christ.

We need to determine which master we are going to serve today!

Notice with me four comparisons that Paul makes in this passage.

I.

The Choices

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?

God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Paul says that we will yield our members to a master.

The word yield means “To stand as a servant, near ones master, awaiting orders.

It means to be present.”

The idea is a man who is ready to serve his master.

We have a choice who we are going to yield our lives to.

Notice that there are two choices:

A. We Can Walk in Rebellion

We can live in sinful rebellion and continue to live how we want to live.

While many believe that this is real freedom, it is just going back into bondage.

Rebellion would be any life that is outside of the will of God.

We can walk in Rebellion or

B. We Can Walk in Righteousness

We can choose to do right, to walk in the Will of God to live the life that pleases God!

Instead of yielding our members to sin, present your bodies a living sacrifice to God.

The choice is yours!

You can serve whoever you want!

Notice in verse 16 the word “obey”

The word means “to hearken to” or to answer the call.

We are being called everyday by two masters -

This world is calling us to obey them

Christ is calling us through His Holy Spirit to obey Him.

We can either be a slave to sin, or a slave to Jesus, it is our choice!

I.

The Choices

II.

The Changes

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Now Paul begins to talk about the change that has happened in our life when we received Jesus as our Savior.

He Speaks of....

A. Our Past Failures

“But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin,”

He refers to a time before we trusted Christ when we were servants of sin “ye were” — past tense!

We used to be in bondage before we knew Christ.

It was a terrible time of slavery to desires, impulses and passions.

He speaks of our Past Failures

He Speaks of...

B. Our Precious Faith

“but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.”

At that instant, the moment of salvation, we were changed forever by the power of God!

The word form - “form of doctrine that was delivered.”

deals with a mold that gold, or other metal was poured into causing the gold to take a shape.

The doctrine we were given, is the mold for our lives, that we obey the mold, and become more like Christ.

We were one thing, now we are something new, something infinitely better, let’s yield to Christ.

He Speaks of our Past Failures

He speaks of our Precious Faith

He Speaks of

C. Our Present Freedom

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

This verse reminds us that we were purchased by Jesus, from slavery to sin.

Jesus redeemed us!

The word redeemed means “to buy in the market place”

It refers to the purchase of a slave from the slave block.

The Word redeem in this verse carries it even further.

It means “to buy in the market and remove from sale.”

The slave is purchased and is never again up for sale to anyone.

The word “redeemed” in this verse comes from a word that means “to loose after the payment of a ransom price.”

it carries the idea of a slave who was purchased at market and then set free.

When all this is put together, it becomes clear that Jesus bought us, secured us, and He freed us.

What a Savior!

When did all this happen?

At the very moment we trusted Christ as our Savior.

Notice the words “being then” in verse 18

At that moment we were bought, secured, and freed!

I.

The Choices

II.

The Changes

III.

The Challenges

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Paul use of the image of slavery is one that his readers were very familiar with.

It has been said that there were about 50 million slaves in the Roman Empire during the first Century.

In this verse he is telling us to remember a couple of things: Remember...

A. The Deeds of the Lost Life

The first challenge is for the Roman believers to remember how they lived their lives before they came to Christ.

They were to remember how they “yielded” their members to sin.

Remember that they used to serve sin in rebellion.

Then he wants them to Remember:

B. The Duties of the Loosed Life

The reason they were to remember their past is to they could see how to live their present.

They used to serve sin with their entire person.

Now they are to yield to God with their entire person.

The lost sinner is unashamed of their service to sin.