Slaves To Righteousness

Children’s Bible Page 1228

As we walk through the book of Romans, we have seen Paul lay out for us the great sinfulness of humanity as we have all exchanged the glory of God for the glory of self and other created things.

We have then seen God respond in that while we were sinners and separated from God, God sent His son Jesus to die in our place for our sin.

And we are declared right with God when we place our faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

We are justified by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

And this being declared right with God leads us to rejoice in God no matter our circumstances.

For whereas our sins have been greater, God’s grace is all the greater and has super abounded to save us and make us His own.

Yet, right after Paul expounds on the super abundant grace of God, last week, we explored in the first half of chapter 6 where he addressed a question that naturally opponents of the gospel were asking, and sometimes we may be tempted to ask as well.

If God’s grace is so super abundant, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

And Paul’s answer was: by no means! It must not be so!

Because those who are saved have a spiritual union in Christ.

Believers share in Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

So, we are now commanded under the super abundant grace of God to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.

And we were given this image of daily presenting ourselves before God as instruments of righteousness,

As before we knew God, we offered ourselves daily to live for sin and self.

You see, so many times, we focus on the first day of our salvation, and the final day when we will see Jesus face to face,

but in this section of Romans, we are focusing on the life we live between those two days.

And Paul is now going to address a second question that is similar to the first, but dives deeper in what He means in verse 14 when he writes:

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Let’s see Paul present and answer this second question as we read God’s word this morning:

Romans 6:15–23 ESV

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1. You Are Either A Slave To Sin Or To Righteousness

Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?

You see, before you repent of your sin and place your faith in Christ for salvation, you are under the law of God.

Your standing and status before God is based on the law of God.

So, as you stand in the courtroom of God, you are measured against His law.

If you have been perfectly obedience, you are right in your standing before God.

If you have fallen short of perfect obedience, you are guilty and separated from God.

Now, in our sinfulness, we like to believe we are autonomous and under no law or standard but our own.

But that is not possible because we are creatures, not the Creator.

Think about it: none of us would have survived our first few years of life without being extremely dependent on our parents or caretakers.

In the same way, because we are creatures, we are completely dependent on our life giver God, and live under His standard, His law.

Now, make no mistake, God’s law is good.

God’s law is the perfect standard of morality leading to abundant life in worship to God and in harmonious relationship with others.

Our problem with being under the law is not that the law is not good, it is that we are not good.

Our sinfulness leads us to disobey the law of God in our words, actions, thoughts, and motives.

So, the great news of the gospel is that Jesus, God and man, came and lived a perfect life under the law.

But then, Jesus was condemned to death on a cross in the place of all of us who were condemned to death due our sin.

Jesus took the punishment as a lawbreaker, not because He was guilty, but in love He took our guilt onto himself.

And in his resurrection, Jesus conquered our sin so that all who trust in Him will be save out from under the law, and live under the authority of God’s grace.

His super abundant grace that has saved you from your sin and given you the gift of Jesus’ righteousness and right standing before God.

Now, are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?

You see, it is natural for us to believe that the law of God would be the tool used to keep us sinners from sinning.

So, if you remove us out from under the law, we will sin all the more.

But, that is not the case.

Our sinfulness rears its greatest ugliness under the perfect law.

Think about when someone tells you not to do something.

Maybe you were a little interested in doing that thing before.

But, now that an authority figure in your life has told you, “no”, your flesh wants to do it all the more.

So, are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! May it never be!

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

You are either a slave to sin, or a slave to righteousness.

We never live autonomous, because we are creatures not the Creator.

We never live morally neutral lives, we are always in pursuit.

We are either in pursuit of sin and self leading to death,

Or we are in pursuit of obedience to God leading to righteousness.

We are all worshippers, and we are all always worshipping.

It’s not a matter of if we are worshipping or not.

It is only a matter of what are we worshipping?

Listen to this quote:

“Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by acceptance. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives.”

It may also be a need for control or an over abundant desire for comfort.

We are always presenting ourself before some lord that will control and motivate our thoughts and behavior.

If our lord is sin, it leads us toward death.

It our lord is God leading to obedience to God, it leads to righteousness and life.

And it is easy to assess what is lording over your heart, just ask yourself in any situation, what am I desiring most in this circumstance?

What am I pursuing after?

Is it to please and glorify God, or is it control, a need to be right, a need to be accepted, power, comfort and peace.

You are either a slave to sin or to righteousness.

2. Present Yourself As A Slave Of Righteousness

Verse 17: But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves us righteousness.

If you are like me, you are uncomfortable with such black and white statements like: you are either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness, because your experience, like mine, can sometimes seem to be mixed up.

I mean, over the course of one day, I can, by God’s grace, desire to please him and walk in righteousness in one situation only to fall flat on my face and be selfish and sinful in another situation.

So, we must keep the gospel in the forefront of our minds as Paul does in verse 17 when he says, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.

First thing to notice is: all thanks is directed toward God because any righteousness that is in you or pours out from you is always only by the grace of God.

Second, God is thanked because believers have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which we were committed.

You see, the problem with being a sinner under the law was even if you tried to externally check all the boxes of obedience to the commands, your heart is still spiritually dead and unable to truly please God.

Because a spiritually dead heart will never desire the glory of God and the good of others over and above itself.

So, God is to be thanked and praised, because in the gospel of Jesus Christ believers have become obedient from the heart.

This, like I said last week, leads us to the doctrine of regeneration.

Jesus said we must be born again.

At the moment of faith and salvation, God the Holy Spirit brings our spiritually dead hearts to life for the very first time.

Our hearts that could only be motivated by sin and self, are now made alive to God to now have the desires that God desires.

This is what the prophets prophesied would happen with the coming of Messiah.

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Now, we still carry around our old sinful flesh with its desires until we go into eternity, but we now also have a heart alive to God and greater desires to love and obey God.

So now, we have the ability to be obedient from the heart because God has made us alive in Christ.

Then, Paul says, He has made us obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.

This is an odd phrase for Paul to use.

Now, Paul writes many places about the necessity of being obedient to the gospel or being obedient to the faith, but in this verse alone in all of Scripture does Paul mention being obedient to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.

And there are a few good reasons for this:

One is that remember, Paul is answering a question concerning the law of God, a question, no doubt, many opposed to the gospel were asking,

So Paul saying that believers in Jesus are obedient from the heart to a standard of teaching makes clear that being freed from under the law does not mean that we cast off all moral teachings and standards.

If you remember, Jesus taught in a way that not only upheld God’s law, but elevated the moral standard from simply the behavior to the motivation of the heart.

Jesus said:

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

So, trusting in the gospel of Jesus Christ does not lead you into more sin because you are no longer under the law.

Trusting in the gospel of Jesus Christ frees you to not only externally do righteousness, but to actually learn to love the way or righteousness from the heart.

Being transferred from being under the law to being under grace does not remove the need for spiritual and moral teaching,

It actually makes it possible to be spiritually engaged and moral from the heart in ways the law could never produce.

Under the law, the Jews were committed to the teaching of do this, and you will be blessed, fail to do this, and you will be cursed.

Under grace, believers are committed to the teaching that while we were still sinners, Jesus lived in perfect obedience in our place, Jesus died taking the punishment for our sin in our place, and rose in the resurrection defeating sin and death in our place,

And when we entrust ourselves to this standard of teaching, God the Holy Spirit brings our hearts to spiritual life, and writes the law of God on our hearts so that we actually have the desires to obey and worship God and follow the commands of Jesus out of love for Him.

Verse 18: and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness.

So, when we are set free from slavery to sin, we then become slaves to God and His righteousness.

But notice in verse 19 Paul says: I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations.

Now, Paul is not putting his readers down here like saying, you aren’t smart enough to understand what I am trying to say, so let me put it in kindergarten language for you.

That’s not what he is doing.

Instead, he is acknowledging that he is using an analogy in order for us to understand the concept of being freed from sin and made slaves to God and righteousness.

Because, we are never going to naturally think that being a slave to anything is a good and positive thing.

But, spiritually speaking, being a slave to God and His righteousness is actually the most freeing state you could possibly be in.

Think about it: if you are shackled and chained in slavery to a cruel taskmaster, that is an awful existence.

But if you are eternally and securely linked to the God of the universe who is perfectly good, kind, gracious, and generous, and glorifies himself by having all your needs met and desires satisfied in worship of Him, then that is the greatest existence one could possibly imagine!

So, Paul is saying: Being a slave to God and righteousness is really no slavery at all, I’m just using an analogy to say the day you are unshackled from slavery to sin is the day you are immediately and eternally linked to your great God and Savior to live in righteousness and love for eternity.

You see, you were not freed from slavery to sin in order to do whatever you want, you were freed from slavery to sin in order to now obey God.

So, with all this wonderful gospel truth in view: what are we to do? The command is very similar to last week’s command:

Verse 19 again: For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Before you knew Christ, you presented yourself daily as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness.

Because as you presented yourself before power, acceptance, control, comfort, pride, and self glory, you would do sinful things in order to gain these things.

But even when you did get what you were pursuing, did you notice it never satisfied you as much as you thought it would?

So, you either had to pursue more and more of it, or you change strategy and start pursuing something else until it ultimately wouldn’t satisfy either.

That’s why presenting ourselves to lawlessness just leads to more and more lawlessness.

But now, in Christ, present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

It is daily presenting yourself before God.

I used the illustration last week of reporting to your commanding officer to receive your orders for the day.

You present yourself before God and say, “Lord, here I am, may I obey your word today from a heart that desires to please you.”

Now, yes, we still carry around this old body of sin, and way too many times we choose sin instead of righteousness, but remember, sanctification is the process of God making us more and more in the image of Christ over a lifetime of trusting the gospel and growing in Him.

I’ve heard it said that this battle between our flesh and our spirit, the flesh with its sinful desires, and the regenerated spirit with its righteous desires, are like two dogs in a fight.

And which dog wins the fight? It’s the one that I choose to feed.

If I choose to feed the dog of sin and self, sexual immorality and pride, the dog of power, comfort, control, power, or acceptance than is am living as if I am still enslaved to sin leading toward death.

But, if I choose to feed the dog of the spirit, feeding it with the truth of God’s word, the love of God’s people, the obedience of righteousness that flows from God’s grace through faith, then I am presenting my members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Elizabeth Elliot, a woman who experienced much suffering and loss in her life, once said: “There is no consolation like obedience.”

Like the hymn says: Trust and obey, for there’s not other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.

Present yourself as a slave of righteousness.

3. The Fruit Of Righteousness Is Eternal Life In Jesus Christ

Verse 20 - For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Think about that: when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

You cannot do true righteousness when you are a slave to sin.

Even things that look externally good cannot be motivated by the glory of God who is the very standard of good and righteousness.

Even if someone begged and pleaded with you to do righteousness with right godly motive, you would be completely incapable of doing so.

So, you were free in regard to righteousness.

But, what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?

Remember, it was your sin that the Holy Spirit pointed out and convicted you of that then led you to repent and trust in Jesus.

Why in the world would you go back to doing the very things you felt so convicted of and ashamed of when you first trusted Jesus?

For the end of those things is death.

If you hear someone bragging about the sin they are involved in, you can be sure of this.

Sin begets sin, because sin never satisfies like it promises it will.

So, you have to pursue it more and more.

And it leads only to shame and ultimately death.

Verse 22 - But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

In Christ, you have been set free from sin.

It does not mean that you never sin, but sin no longer rules over you.

You don’t have to choose it like you used to.

Instead, you have become slaves to God.

Once, again, it is a human analogy for us to understand that we are eternally linked to God and His righteousness.

And just as you had to sin when you were a slave to sin, now you will obey as a slave of God.

I don’t mean you will always obey, certainly not.

But, you will obey some. Something that was completely foreign before Christ.

If you are a slave to God, you will bear fruit leading to sanctification.

You will bear fruit.

No matter if your fruit is a tiny group of grapes or a whole vineyard, you will bear fruit from being set apart for God.

And the end of this life of growing to bear fruit for righteousness ends in eternal life.

And know this, eternal life is not just describing the quantity of life, meaning you will live forever,

But it is also describing the quality of life, that you will live in the abundance of all your needs met and desires satisfied as you live in and for the glory of God.

This paragraph then ends with a summary statement of truth.

It’s like Paul is going to boil down his whole answer to the question of whether we should continue in sin because we are not under law but under grace,

He is going to boil it down to this spiritual truth:

Verse 23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Wages is what a person earns due to what they have done.

If you work for your employer, you earn your paycheck on payday.

If you sin, and live a life of sin, enslaved to sin, the wages of your sin is death.

Eternal death in hell is what you earned due to your life of sin.

And God is just to give you what you deserve in death and hell.

It’s a sobering truth, but this is also true:

The free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

You could never earn eternal life on your own.

You could never earn it as wage for good works, a million good works cannot cover up a sinful heart.

That is why it is such great news that the gospel is that God offers us eternal life as a free gift in Jesus Christ our Lord.

If Jesus Christ is your Lord, you have been granted the quality of eternal life.

You have the life of God in you.

You have the ability to say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

You can obey the standard of teaching from the heart.

For you are forever linked to Jesus Christ, your Lord and master, who sacrificed himself in order to make you right with God, and to know him for now and eternity.

Pray.

(Elder at couch.)