Who Do You Serve?

The Candle of Hope

Psalm 25:1–10 NKJV

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; According to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Romans 6:12–23 NKJV

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Intro:

We begin with the same idea found in Ro 6:1.

Romans 6:1 NKJV

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Romans 6:15 NKJV

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

TS: Paul continues to reinforce that we shouldn’t sin just because God has totally saved us.

In this passage, Paul sets before us 2 masters:

Sin (disobedience to GOD)

Righteousness (Obedience to GOD)

Archibald Robertson rightly noted:

You have simply changed masters, no longer slaves of sin (set free from that tyrant), but ye are slaves of righteousness. There is no middle ground, no “no man’s land” in this war.

Archibald Thomas Robertson

RS: Our lives will show our allegiance to one of the options.

In fact, most Christians today would define the Christian life as one of freedom, liberation, fulfillment, unconditional acceptance, satisfaction, health, wealth, and finding your purpose. They’ll tell you that God loves you and wants you to be everything you want to be. He wants to fulfill every hope, desire, and dream.

But while these ideas are mostly, though not completely, true I don’t think they are the best or even most accurate definitions of what it means to be a Christian. In fact, perhaps the best definition is actually the exact opposite of some of these ideas. Christianity is probably best described as a life of slavery!

I. Christianity – A Life of Slavery

Romans 6:15 NKJV

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

Romans 6:16 (NKJV)

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

The Bible uses the metaphor of slavery.

Doulos

John MacArthur, in his sermon “Slaves for Christ”, did a word study that showed that in most English translations of the New Testament there has been a mistranslation of an important word. That word is the Greek word, “doulos” (doo-loss) which means “slave”. This word, doulos, appears over 130 times in the original Greek text of the New Testament. But it is not translated as “slave” in the English versions. In fact the King James Version of the New Testament uses the word slave only once. Instead of translating doulos as slave, which is its true meaning, the English versions translated it as servant.

An example:

Matthew 25:21 NKJV

His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

You are a slave of the one you obey (v.16)

You choose sin- you reap death

Sin brought death to Earth

Sin continues to do so

You choose righteousness, you inherit life

Faith justifies us

God works to sanctify us with every act of obedience.

What Does It Mean To Be A Slave?

So, let’s look at some characteristics of a slave and how they define our relationship with Christ.

A Slave Is Owned By Someone Else

First of all, a slave is owned by someone else. You are not your own. When you are a slave you belong to someone else. You have been bought and paid for. You are someone else’s property.

We belong to Christ! He purchased us.

Redeem

Redemption may be summarized around three basic ideas.

(1) People are redeemed from something; namely, from the marketplace or slavery of sin.

(2) People are redeemed by something; namely, by the payment of a price, the blood of Christ.

(3) People are redeemed to something; namely, to a state of freedom; and then they are called to renounce that freedom for slavery to the Lord who redeemed them.

Charles C. Ryrie

The Challenge of Obedience

1. Living Free in Christ Begins with Obedience to Christ (Romans 6:17)

Though slaves of sin, obeyed from the heart (v.17)

Romans 6:17 NKJV

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Faith entered our life while we were slaves to sin

By God’s grace He tore the chains of sin from us and set us free!

This was His free gift of grace

Explanation: It is great to know that the believers in Rome had obeyed the Lord. It was so obvious that Paul thanked God for their testimony in obedience. What did they do? They had heard about the life of Jesus (from their pastor and other teachers…maybe even read some tracts that were moving throughout the churches) and then followed His example.

They understood that they should follow Christ and be obedient to him and His word.

How about you? Is that where you are? Are you patterning your life after Jesus?

Step 1 - Practice Obedience

1 Peter 1:2 NKJV

elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

2. Living Free in Christ Continues through Bondage to Christ (Romans 6:18

Romans 6:18 NKJV

And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Explanation: Here now is where the understanding of freedom comes into focus. Freedom will naturally follow obedience. Remember that pattern!

set free from sin (v.18)

Sin no longer had dominion over us

Remember Ro 6:12

Romans 6:12 NKJV

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

We are free from sin’s control

We no longer live (and fail) under the requirements of the law. is because of the change that has happened in their hearts that has made it so that they were free. Free from service to sin and, in turn, have become the servants of righteousness. Here’s the bottom line, freedom from serving Satan is by necessity and definition, bondage to the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot be his bondservant if He is not Lord. As Lanny Wolfe once sang, "If He’s not Lord of everything, then He’s not Lord at all."

Who owns you? You are owned by the one you serve. Do you serve hate? Money? Desire? Your job? Determine who you serve and then you can tell who owns you. Let’s all turn to Jesus serve Him and let the Lord Jesus Christ be our owner.

Step 2 - Accept Ownership

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ Jude 1:1

Jude 1 NKJV

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

3. Living Free in Christ Is the Opposite to Your Sinful Lifestyle (Romans 6:19-20

Romans 6:19–20 NKJV

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

What is it that drove you to that sinfulness and wickedness?

Explanation: The entire idea of the slave is used in this passage to show to ALL believers their weakness. Slaves are the weakest order of humanity. They have no rights, no life of their own, no money or belongings that could be called theirs, and they are at the beck and call of the master. That is whoever bought and paid for them. We are cannot negotiate from strength with our old lifestyle, we are weak!

So, here’s what we do. We live our lives for Christ with the same zeal that we lived for the world, the flesh, and the devil.

However you lived lived for those things, now place all your energy into serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Step 3 - Think Opposite

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Romans 13:14 NKJV

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

4. Living Free in Christ Is Kept in Check by Shame (Romans 6:21-22a)

Explanation: Now we have a biting question if you or I would even entertain living a life of practicing sin. What kind of fruit did we have from yielding lives to sin? The problem is that sin will ALWAYS promise more than it can deliver. None of the fruit that sin "promises" is worth having, and the actual and ultimate result of sin is death (see v. 23).

As a result, we should be ashamed of sin. We should be ashamed that we were fooled by sin. But, whatever the fruit and whatever the sin, we must ashamed of sin and that we were ever involved.

I ask you…have we lost our ability to be ashamed? We need to re-capture the ability to blush and be ashamed. We must realize how utterly horrible and what a betrayal sin is to the character and person of the Lord Jesus. And ask ourselves if we were acting this way in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God. Let’s recover shame and be ashamed when we don’t live as a bondservant to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Step 4 - Ashamed of Evil

Psalm 119:80

Psalm 119:80 NKJV

Let my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes, That I may not be ashamed.

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame

2 Corinthians 4:2 NKJV

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

5. Living Free in Christ Is Encouraged by Eternal Results Romans 6:22-23

Romans 6:22–23 NKJV

But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Explanation: There is a drastic contrast between the outcome of the two kinds of bondage. Bondage to sin has shame, regrets, hurt, and destructiveness as its by-product. BUT what does being in bondage to the Son of God have? Eternal results. We get to live a holy life like the Son of God, as holy as He is, positionally. And conforming more and more to the image of Christ.

Here’s is what should make sense to you:

Bondage to Sin brings death.

Bondage to Christ has as its end eternal.

That is why having an eye set on eternity is so important.

Our lives are not for gratifying brief momentary pleasures but for making a difference for eternity.

So what do you want? A life that will matter forever or a life burned up on the passing…What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

So, why not live you life for something that will matter!

Step 5 - Eternal View

The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:8

Conc

Our master will be evident in our lives.