GRACE AND GLORY - PART 15

BONDAGE TO BLESSING

Romans 6:15–23 (NLT)

15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Freedom from the law is not a license to break it. Grace has empowered us to live free of the requirements of the law, all of which have been fulfilled by Jesus, in Jesus, and through Jesus. Because he took the punishment that breaking the law required, it has transferred us from being a slave to death, the punishment for our sin, and made us sons and daughters of God.

Being a slave is not a choice. We were born into slavery to sin. The door to the prison has been opened by the work of the cross, but we still have a choice whether or not we’ll leave it behind.

Righteous living is a result of good choices that are obedient to God’s Word. A life lived in right standing with God comes as a result of consistently choosing God’s way, which is found in God’s Word.

Becoming a slave to righteous living means that it compels you. You can’t escape it. It overwhelms you.

Paul tells us in verse nineteen that it’s an imperfect analogy, but it gives us a look into how serious the choice between life and death really is. He says that we “let” ourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led even deeper into sin.

No one is making you do anything. The devil has no control over your choices. Only you have the power to choose which way you’ll go. One road leads to life. The other leads to death. When we give ourselves to righteous living and an obligation to it, we move toward holiness and lives that more closely resemble the life of Jesus.

Sin results in shame. Doing things that we shouldn’t do bring us out of a place of conviction towards righteousness and into a place of condemnation.

The gift of God (from God) is eternal life through not just salvation in Christ Jesus, but in making Him the Lord of your life.

You are no longer a slave to death or the sin that leads you to it. Instead, you are a son or daughter of righteousness. That means that your obligation has changed. You’re no longer in this because you it’s got a hold on you. You’re a part of something that’s so meaningful that you refuse to let it go. Sin and death were the masters of our identity as slaves. Life and righteousness are the obligations of the family business. It’s the family to which we’ve been adopted through the payment made by Jesus.

Adoption is expensive. It cost God everything to receive us as sons and daughters. As a result, we are now not slaves, or employees, or even shareholders. We’re owners. Righteous living is who we are because of WHOSE we are.

Tonight’s altar is for you to receive a new identity as a son or a daughter of the King. It’s to lay down sin and embrace righteous living. It’s to choose sonship over slavery. It’s to come home to your new family and embrace everything that comes with it.