Take Back the Keys

Have you ever handed your car keys to someone and wondered, “What have I just done?”

Maybe it was your sixteen-year-old who just got their shiny new drivers license. Maybe it was a friend who drives like they're auditioning for a Fast and Furious movie. You handed them the keys, they pulled out of the driveway, and you thought, "What are they going to do to my car?"

Here's the thing. The car is yours. It's registered in your name. You make the payments. You carry the insurance. But the moment you hand someone else the keys, they're in control. They decide where the car goes, how fast it moves, and whether it ends up in a ditch, or worse.

Now here's what I want you to think about. A lot of us are living the Christian life exactly like that. We belong to God. We've been bought with a price. We've been raised to new life in Christ. But somewhere along the way, we handed the keys back to sin. And sin is driving us places we never intended to go.

That's what Paul’s talking about in Romans 6:12-14.

And if you were here last week, you know that Paul has already said that when we came to Christ, we died to sin. Our old life was crucified, buried, and left in the tomb. We were raised to walk in newness of life. That's our identity. That's our position.

But now, in verses 12-14, Paul shifts gears. No pun intended.

He moves from what is true about you to what you need to do about it. He moves from identity to responsibility. Because knowing who you are is important, but it's not enough. You have to live like it.

Here's the main idea I want you to hold onto this morning:

Because sin is no longer your master, stop surrendering to it and start offering yourself to God.

You still have a choice to make every single day about who gets the keys. And Paul is about to tell you exactly what to do with that choice.

Let’s read Romans 6:12-14

Romans 6:12–14 NKJV

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 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. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Isn’t that awesome! Those are shouting words. Thank God for His grace.

In these three verses, Paul gives us three direct commands. Three decisions we need to make if we’re going to stop handing the keys back to sin and start living the way we were designed to live.

Something changed the moment you trusted Christ as your Savior. And now, Paul is going to tell us how to live like it.

Look at verse 12… Romans 6:12

Romans 6:12 NKJV

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

Stop Letting Sin Call the Shots (12)

See the word, “therefore?” It connects everything Paul just said about our new identity in Christ to the way we’re supposed to live.

And the first command is pretty blunt: “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body.”

“Reign” is a royal word. It pictures a king sitting on a throne, issuing commands, and expecting obedience.

The idea is total authority. Complete control. A king doesn’t suggest. A king commands.

So when Paul says, "Do not let sin reign," he's saying, "Stop letting sin sit on the throne of your life. Stop letting it give orders. Stop letting it call the shots."

This is a present imperative with the negative. Paul is not warning about something that might happen. He’s addressing something that’s already happening.

He’s saying, “You’re letting sin reign. Stop it!”

That's convicting, isn't it? Because most of us would never say, "Sin is my king."

But Paul would look at the patterns of our lives and say, "Who's giving the orders? Who's calling the shots? Is it God, or the body of sin Paul mentioned in the previous verses?

And if the honest answer is that your anger, your lust, your bitterness, your addiction, or your fear is driving your daily decisions, then sin is reigning. It may not be sitting on a literal throne, but it's functioning as king in your life.

Notice the phrase, “in your mortal body.” Paul is making a subtle, but powerful point.

Your body is temporary and it’s decaying. Why would you surrender your choices to something that's already headed for the grave?

And then Paul adds, “that you should obey it in its lusts.”

Lusts, as used here, in connection with sin, it refers to those deep, internal cravings that pull you away from God.

These aren't just sexual desires, though they can be. This is the full range of sinful longing: the desire for control, for approval, for revenge, for comfort at any cost, for more of what will never satisfy.

Paul is saying that when sin reigns, it doesn't just sit on the throne quietly. It produces desires and cravings. It takes control of our Impulses.

And those desires become the commands you obey. You feel the pull, and you follow it. You hear the craving, and you cave. That's what it looks like when sin is reigning.

Stop letting sin call the shots.

This is a decision. It's an act of the will. Paul doesn't say, "Pray about whether sin should reign." He doesn't say, "Gradually work toward not letting sin reign." He says stop. Right now. Today.

We live in a culture that tells you to follow your heart, and do what makes you happy.

And that sounds beautiful. Sounds like a Hallmark movie doesn’t it? That is, until your heart leads you off a cliff.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Following your desires without submitting them to Christ is just handing the keys back to sin.

This week, I want you to identify the area of your life where sin is most actively giving orders. Maybe it's your thought life. Maybe it's your temper. Maybe it's a habit you've excused for years. Whatever it is, look at it honestly and say, "You are not my king. Jesus is my King. And I'm done taking orders from you."

Stop letting sin call the shots.

Now look at verse 13. Romans 6:13

Romans 6:13 NKJV

13 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.

This verse is the heart of the passage. And in it there are two commands. The first is negative: stop presenting or yielding your members to sin. The second is positive: start presenting yourself to God.

Let's take them one at a time.

That word “present” or “yield” is a rich word. It means to place at someone's disposal, to offer, to make available. It carries the idea of worship and sacrifice.

Paul will use this exact word again in Romans 12:1 when he writes, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

The word also shows up in Matthew 26:53, where Jesus said the Father would "at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels." Same word. The idea is standing alongside someone, offering everything you have for their purposes.

Now here's what makes this verse so powerful grammatically.

The first command,” do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness,” uses the present tense in Greek. That means "stop continually presenting" or "stop the ongoing habit of presenting." Paul is addressing a pattern. He's saying, "You've been doing this. Stop it!”

But the second command,” present yourselves to God,” uses the aorist tense. And the aorist communicates a decisive, once-and-for-all action. Paul isn't saying, "Gradually start offering yourself to God." He's saying, "Make a definitive decision. Right now. Once and for all. Place yourself at God's disposal."

Do you see the contrast? Stop continuing to surrender to sin and make a decisive surrender to God.

How to we surrender to sin? The word “members” refers to the parts of our body. Our hands, our eyes, our mouth, our minds, our feet.

Paul getting specific here. He’s not talking about your life in the abstract.

He’s talking about your actual physical body.

What are you doing with your hands? What are you looking at with your eyes? What are you saying with your mouth? Where are your feet taking you? What are you allowing into your mind?

Every part of you is either being presented to sin or being presented to God. There's no neutral ground.

Your tongue is either being used to tear people down or build them up. Your mind is either being filled with what dishonors God or what glorifies Him. Your hands are either serving yourself or serving others.

Every member of your body is an instrument, and the question is, who's using it?

And your body is not neutral territory. The word Paul used, “instruments” is most often translated as “weapons.” Ever heard the term, “instruments of war?”

Our bodies are a battlefield. We’re either deploying them for unrighteousness, or for righteousness.

Every day you wake up and pick up your weapons. The question is: whose army are you fighting for?

And then Paul reminds us that we’re not dead in our sins anymore.

“As being alive from the dead.” Literally, “as if being alive out from dead ones.”

We’re alive to God now. We’re offering God a life that was rescued from the grave.

That’s worship!

That’s the motivation for surrender!

You give yourself to God not because you have to, but because He gave you life when you deserved death.

Alright, lets recap. First Paul tells us to Stop Letting Sin Call the Shots!

Next, what we can do right now. Right where you sit. Present yourself to God as His instrument!

As a matter of fact, I’ll stop right here. Everybody close your eyes. It’s just you and God. Nobody else around you.

If the Holy Spirit has spoken to you this morning, and convicted you to stop letting sin call the shots, and decide right now to yield to Him, you can let God know right now and tell Him something like…

"Lord, I present myself to You right now. My eyes, my hands, my mouth, my mind, my feet. I am alive because of You, and I am Yours. Use me today for Your purposes, Amen."

The Bible is full of people who let God use the members of their bodies. God used the rod in Moses' hand. He used the sling in David's hand. He used the mouths of the prophets. He used Paul's feet to carry the gospel from city to city. He used John's eyes to see visions and his fingers to write them down for us.

But the Bible also shows us what happens when the members of the body are surrendered to sin. David's eyes looked on his neighbor's wife. His mind devised a scheme. His hand signed a death warrant. Every part of his body was affected because he presented his members to sin instead of to God.

This week, make the decision. Not a vague resolution. A definitive, once-and-for-all surrender. Say to God, "Here I am. I am alive from the dead. And every part of me belongs to You."

Present yourself to God as His instrument.

And then lastly, verse 14. Romans 6:14

Romans 6:14 NKJV

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Live Under Grace, Not Under the Power of Sin

This verse is both a promise and a declaration. And it answers the question every believer has asked at some point: "Can I actually do this? Can I really say “no” to sin? Is victory even possible?"

Paul's answer is yes—and here's why.

The word dominion means “to rule as lord, to exercise authority over, to be the master of.”

 It comes from the same root as kyrios (κύριος), the word for Lord.

Paul is making a direct contrast. Sin is not your kurios. Jesus is your kurios. Sin does not have lordship over you. Christ does.

Sin's reign is broken. It was broken at the cross. Its authority has been revoked. It cannot lord over you anymore—not because you're strong enough to resist it, but because of where you now stand in Christ.

And that's the key: "for you are not under law but under grace."

Why does that matter? Because law and grace operate in completely different ways when it comes to sin. The law tells you what's right, but it gives you no power to do it. The law is like a mirror—it shows you the dirt on your face, but it can't wash it off.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:56, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." The law actually empowers sin because it provokes the very desires it forbids without providing the ability to overcome them.

When you see a sign that says, “Wet paint. Do not touch.” What’s your very first thought? Is it really wet. It’s probably dry by now. Let me try it out. I’ll just barely touch it. Oh, come on, who hasn’t done that? Or at least thought it?

But grace is different. Grace doesn't just tell you what to do. Grace empowers you to do it. Or, not do it, as the case may be. Titus 2:11-12 says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." Grace teaches you. Grace empowers you. Grace enables you.

F. F. Bruce wrote something that sums this up beautifully: "When men and women present themselves to God, to be used in His service, He accepts them as His servants and gives them the power to do His will. The Christ of whom Paul speaks is the Christ who truly died and rose again, and in the lives of those who put their trust in Him, He breaks the power of cancelled sin."

Did you catch that? He breaks the power of cancelled sin. The penalty of sin has already been cancelled at the cross. And the power of sin is being broken right now by the grace that lives in you.

You can stop letting sin call the shots because you're under grace. Grace is how you live. Grace is the engine that powers everything in the Christian life.

When we simply try harder not to sin, we’re living under the law.

But grace says, "Your standing with God was secured by Christ. Your failure doesn't change your identity. Get up. Come back. Present yourself to God again. His grace is sufficient."

This week, ask yourself: "Am I trying to fight sin through willpower, or am I fighting sin through grace?"

You don't have to hand the keys back to sin. You don't have to live under its control. You don't have to keep obeying a master who has already been defeated.

Take back the keys. Present yourself to God. And walk in the power of grace that has already set you free.

Because the One who broke the power of sin at the cross is the same One who will break its power in your life today—if you'll let Him.