20250515 Romans 6:12-14 Holy Living in an Unholy World

Welcome to Vertical Church

Acts 2:42 LSB

42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

We began our church with the desire to fulfill the mandate of this verse. To devote ourselves to what the early church was devoted to.

Devoted to the teaching of the word of God

Devoted to genuine Christian relationships and the fulfilling of commandment of Christ to love the household of faith

Devoted to the proclamation of the gospel through the ordinances of believers baptism and communion

Devoted to the prayers through singing and public prayer

We are Trinitarian - while God is one in essence, He is three in person

We believe in the sovereignty of God

We believe Scripture alone is the Word of God

We believe that the Church is not a building or a denomination but a people - those who are truly in Christ

We are evangelical - we believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

We are a Vertical Church - we believe that all true worship and living is Vertical, God directed and for the glory of God alone.

With that in mind, Let us worship God

Call to Worship - Psalm 138:1-3

Psalm 138:1–3 LSB

1 I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to You before the gods. 2 I will worship toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name. 3 On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.

Scripture Reading - Romans 6:12-14

Romans 6:12–14 LSB

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Introduction: Holy Living in an Unholy World Romans 6:12-14

The sign - Make me holey body piercing

Holy living in an unholy world

As Paul writes the letter of Romans, he is writing to the church of believers in Rome. The city of Rome was the capital city of the Roman Empire. It was where Cesar has his palace. It was where the Roman senate meets. It was the power hub of the known world, with all of the abuses that come with such unbridled control. Not surprisingly, it was also the most vile, wicked, immoral city in the world. It was a cesspool of iniquity. It was a city that was rank with every kind of licentious sin imaginable. The Imperial City would have made Sodom and Gomorrah blush. In this city was everything from fornication to adultery, lesbianism, homosexuality, bestiality, robbery, lying, arrogance, pride, brutalities, slavery, forced labor, rape, polygamy, idolatry, murder, atheism, and more. There were no moral restraints left.

And just like today, the believers in Rome needed to be be reminded of what salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone has accomplished and what we as believers are able to do now that we are in Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit

Monergistic and Synergistic - before we continue

salvation is mono - an act of God

Our sanctification is sun - alongside of

How does the believer live in holiness if salvation is of God but our Christian life is lived in cooperation and partnership with God? Romans 6 tells us

(1) The Great “Do Nots” of those who have been saved by grace (6:12-13a)

Some Christians think that they grow in holiness through rules. God has given us rules and it’s our job to keep them.

If I was to ask you some of the “do nots “ for Christians that have been established over the years we could easily come up with a long list. Some of them would make sense, some we might laugh at, and some we might shake our heads and wonder why .

Smoking, drinking, playing cards, going to movies, owning a television, wearing jeans to church, having long hair, having short hair

Evangelical cultural Christianity is often seen to be a set of rules that gain us access to heaven

But rules can never save you -

You are spiritually dead and you are in bondage to sin, a slave to sin

Only the new birth can set you free because of what Jesus has done . And in the new borth, you receive spiritual life and this life gives you the ability to believe and the ability to choose

Romans 6:12–13 (LSB)

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness

Do not let sin reign

We are dead to sin v11 - we are to meditate on this

Though we are dead to the reign of sin, the reality of sin is not dead in us. Sin is still very much alive and active in us. Sin is still a strong force in the life of a Christian that wants to reestablish itself in domination over our lives as it once did before we were converted. The verb “reign” (basileuo) means ‘to rule as a king, to exercise influence.’ Sin wants to exert control and rule our lives like a monarch. We have been released from the dominant authority of sin, but it is, nevertheless, seeking to reassert itself over us. It desires to exercise kingly power and sway over us. Paul writes, “do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” This is in the present tense and addresses the present pursuit of holiness in the lives of believers. In other words, the apostle is stating, “Stop letting sin establish any kind of beachhead in your life.” This is also in the imperative mood, which means it is a command that must be obeyed.

Our mortal (liable to die) body - the new person lives in our old body

So that you obey its lusts - sin is calling to us, luring us

Do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments

your eyes, your ears, your hands - these are the instruments

(2) The Great Decision of those who have been saved by grace (6:13b)

Romans 6:13 (LSB)

but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

The unregenerate person is spiritually dead. While we can do actions which might be called good or kind Isaiah reminds us that our most righteous acts are like filthy rags

We have no desire for Christ until we are enabled to come to Christ

The difference between presenting to God and doing “good” things for our glory and benefit

Once we come to Christ we are alive

Instruments of righteousness

“to God” - there is a difference. We are not doing to earn but because we love

(3) The Great Deliverance of those who have been saved by grace (6:14)

Romans 6:14 LSB

14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

The law has no power, the law reveals our inability to live perfectly

But grace abounds - saving grace and sustaining grace

Romans Made Alive

We have been made alive. Paul is addressing believers, those no longer in their original state of sin but raised from the dead and set free from bondage and slavery. That is our condition now. When we sin now, even though the freedom we have from sin and bondage is real and the power of the Holy Spirit is there, we still struggle. We will experience this conflict until the day we die. In fact, Paul speaks in other places about the intense warfare that continues between the old man, which was completely flesh, and the new man, which now has the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling him and enabling him to move toward the things of God. As Christians we still sin, but we do not have to.

In our struggle against sin we need to remember that

We have a Father who loves us

We have a Savior who has set us free from the bondage of sin

We have the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness

Three closing thoughts

The Lord has given you the ability to resist - James 4:7

James 4:7 LSB

7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The Lord has given you the ability to flee - 2 Timothy 2:22

2 Timothy 2:22 LSB

22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

The Lord has given you the ability to escape - 1 Corinthians 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13 LSB

13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Benediction

Now the Father, who loved you before the foundation of the world, the Son who set you free and made you His slave, and the Counselor who stands by you forever, give you ears to hear Him, hearts that crave Him, lives that reflect Him. Amen.