All right, we've been going through Romans. We're up to Romans chapter 6, verses 15 to 23. And so let's go to the Lord in prayer. We'll get started dealing with going from a servant of sin to a servant to God. And let's learn some things tonight. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Fathers, we come to you. We thank you, dear Lord, for this opportunity. We come to You, Heavenly Father, first of all, asking for forgiveness of sin. Lord, we realize we are totally dependent upon You. Lord, we wouldn't even have air to breathe if it wasn't for You. And so now, Father, we ask in the name of Jesus, God, that You'd grant us an understanding that we might understand the Scriptures. Grant us a feeling of the Holy Spirit, dear Lord, that we might have power and service and power over sin. And so now, Father, use this to bring glory and honor to you, Lord. Our meager efforts at times, we pray that you would use it. And so now, Father, we commit this time unto you. I commit myself unto you. Lord, all of us just commit ourself unto you. And so now glorify yourself in what's done. Feed our souls. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. All right, watch the movement, watch the freedom, the freedom. When people realize what Christ has done for them, it's almost a life-changing thing. We know it many times mentally, but boy, once we comprehend that, that this is what he has done for me. The magnitude of that, just almost overwhelming. And so this is one of those lessons that's that way. So let's begin Romans 6 verse 15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Verse 16, know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. What a truth that is. The first thing I want you to get is that it's personal. It's personal. He uses the word ye, and ye, and ye, talking about all of us, but all of us, all those ye, it's all of us are individuals. And it's the individual that has to deal with this. Now listen, I've got a statement here. As long as there is an attitude that grace gives a license to sin, Sin will remain the master and we will remain the slaves. And that's a fact. As long as there is an attitude that grace gives a license to sin, sin will remain the master and we will remain the slaves to it. That's a fact, isn't it? There in verse 16, know you not that to whom you yield yourselves. Those words, you need to mark those words, yield yourselves. Before I get finished with this lesson, one of the things we're gonna deal with is the thing of personal responsibility. At some point in life and in a lot of circumstances, you've got to take personal responsibility. Whether you want to or not, whether you like it or not, that's just the way it is. You've got to take personal responsibility. And so yeses and nos become very important to you. And so, I know you not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, see? What a truth that is. But that throws us into this thing of personal responsibility, doesn't it? And so, it's pretty clear, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness, there's only two options in there. You know, if we want to look at the things we can be honest about, there's only two groups of people on earth, saved and the lost. That's it. There's only two places to go, heaven or hell. There's only two statuses of life, and that's life or death. That's it. There's only two elements in life, and that's happiness and sadness. And, You see, and then there's two things in life that hang around our necks, and that's either success or failure. And so, there's so many things in life that there's just two. That's it. Two. I mean, that's not a whole lot of options, is it? No, but I think something that's more is the fact that there's reality to it. Go to verse 17 now. This is Romans 6, 17. Romans 6, 17. But God be thanked that ye were, past tense, the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Lot of conversation about that form of doctrine. But I want you to know, let's focus on something in this verse. You have obeyed from the heart. Now that's the difference, isn't it? The heart makes the difference. If your heart is in it, that makes a total difference in something, doesn't it? Man, I don't care what it is, if your heart's in it, it makes a total difference. And if your heart's not in it, you'll never complete it, never make it. I've watched a lot of people start a lot of things and never finish it because their heart wasn't in it. But, I've got something written down here in red. If you want to, you can turn to Jeremiah 29, 13. Jeremiah 29, 13. I'm gonna read something to you about this. You see, from the heart. Now, very important. I hope you hear this tonight. God expects sincerity as much today as he did in Jeremiah's day. God expects sincerity just as much today as he did in Jeremiah's day. Let me show you something. Jeremiah 29, 13. He says, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. You see, when you read that verse, ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart, the standard for the search Notice what the standard is. The requirement for the search is this. Ye shall search for me with all your heart. There's got to be some sincerity in this. God's requirement is this. God, he's got this, God's got this attitude that he's not gonna take second place to anything. And so when you look at a verse like this, you realize a half-hearted searching for God is not gonna work. God's requirement, God's standard is this. Ye shall search for me with all your heart. That is God's standard. Nothing more, nothing less. And so when we look at Romans 6 verse 17, But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. And so we find here the thing that God is making known to you and me is that these folks, they just didn't have a head knowledge of this truth. They just didn't have a passive knowledge of this truth. They had comprehended the truth. And therefore, they obeyed from the heart. It turned out to be a heartfelt thing. And boy, if there's anything we need in our lives, in our church, in our families, it's for us to obey the Lord from the heart. May God make a huge difference in us. May we approach God and his doctrines from the heart. These doctrines that were delivered unto them. They obeyed from the heart. Where's your heart at tonight? This goes right back to what I was talking about Sunday night. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And it's the heart of the matter. And so God expects this sincerity He expects this sincerity as much today as he did at Jeremiah's day. And you'll search for me and you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart. Not half-hearted, all your heart. God's looking at the sincerity that's in your heart. Is this really a heartfelt religion with you? Is this really something that moves you because it's moved your heart, it's captured your heart? Are you really in love with these truths? Do you really appreciate these truths that we're looking at here? And as it says, obeyed from the heart, that's the difference. Boy, when somebody gets saved, it's in their heart. Does distance make a difference? Nope. Obstacles? Nope. Nope, not at all. You see, half-heartedness is a manifestation of insincerity. And remember something, insincerity is a manifestation of lostness, of no conversion. If somebody's truly converted, they're gonna be very sincere about the things of God. Why? Well, we'll talk about that in just a minute. And go to verse 18. Being then made free from sin, wow, ye became the servants of righteousness. Now listen to me. This is very important. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Ladies and gentlemen, no person can expect victory who has a light view of sin. In Romans 7, 13, I think it is, it says, was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid, but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. You see, the standard of our knowledge of sin should be simply this, that sin should become exceeding sinful. So what we find then is this, There's people that, boy, they struggle so much in their life and they never have spiritual victories. And man, there's just always something there. Why? What is it? You see, it's like this. No person can expect spiritual victory who has a light view of sin. It's not gonna happen, why? Because in Romans 7, 13, it said, let sin become exceedingly sinful. I mean, you know, if I was to come up here and say, now listen, in this little bottle and this little shot cup, I've got a little bit of water and a little bit of arsenic. And in this one, I just got pure water. And which one you want to drink out of? You see? You know, we'll turn this into a Jim Jones conference and everybody has a purple Kool-Aid. But the reality of it is this. We have the ability to discern physical things like the poison. We have the ability to discern physical things, like sour milk, rotten food, so on, poison ivy, poison oak, things. But what happens is this, somewhere along the road, we've lost our ability to recognize spiritual things. And the tragic thing is this. Sin needs to be exceedingly sinful to us. And We look at physical things, we say, that's bad, that's bad, that's bad. That's a rattlesnake, stay away from him. That's a copperhead, stay away from him. That's a cottonmouth, definitely stay away from him. And so on and so forth. And we have all these physical things we can separate ourselves from with the greatest of ease. But then when it comes to the physical, the spiritual things, We find too many things in question. We've lost the ability to recognize sin and then say sin is exceedingly sinful. So it turns out to be a terrible struggle for us. But when sin becomes exceeding sinful, you'll find out that you'll be quite willing to leave it alone. That's why we tell people we don't play with fire. You see, no person can expect spiritual victory who has a light view of sin. What a tragic thing it is, isn't it? All right, verse 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. What's the infirmity of your flesh? Sin. This old fleshly, sinful nature, right, that we fight with? For as ye have yielded your members, servants, to uncleanness and to iniquity and to iniquity, Now look at this, even so now, yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Now I wrote a little statement down here, something that I've recognized over the years. And I've recognized a few things. So I wrote this out beside that. As it says, even so now yield your member servants to righteousness unto holiness. I wrote this down. Never expect victory from those who really don't want victory. Never expect spiritual victory from those who really don't want spiritual victory. There's a lot of people, they say they're saved, but spiritual victories means that they would have to change their lifestyle. They would have to change the music they listen to, the TV programs they listen to. They would have to radically change their social circle. And they don't want to do that. And so, You as a saved born again child of God, you cannot expect spiritual victory from those who really don't want spiritual victory. And because there's a price to be paid and they don't want to pay the price. And so it is, and that's a great truth. Even so, now yield your members' servants to righteousness. Look what it says, unto holiness. Listen. You see, unto holiness. Not unto wickedness, not unto compromise, not unto that which is socially acceptable. But remember something, the closer you get to God, the more you're going to recognize God's standard of things. And God's standard of things is way, way, way, way away from the world. Remember something, you and I live in a world, and if it's socially acceptable, then it's acceptable, period. I can remember when men, right here in the state of Indiana, back in the 50s, they was, they was, having a big fight over some of the bathing suits that some people wanted to wear. That was not suitable for public consumption. And just a lot of simple things like that. Look at what they wear today. My goodness, I couldn't even make a pair of socks out of what they wear today. But it's socially acceptable, isn't it? Look at the insanity of it. A woman can have all of her undergarments on, slip and everything on underneath that. Don't look at her, she's not dressed. But then she can take all that stuff off, put on something, like I said, wouldn't make a pair of leggings for a rat, and that's socially acceptable. You see, remember something. We're not here to accept the world's standard of morality. We're here to accept God's standard of morality. We're not here to accept the world's standard of family. We're here to accept God's standard of family. And so God has a standard. Anything less than that is unacceptable with God. And so the statement winds up being true. Never expect victory from those who really don't want victory. They don't want it. They want to have a spiritual life based upon their standards, not God's. Verse 20, for when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. Now, verse 21, this is a verse that's used a lot. Even in Pray and Hide's book, that verse is used What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? Wow. You see, look at the question. What fruit did you have in the past, with the lifestyle of the past, that you're now ashamed of, what, did it produce any good fruit? No, none whatsoever. What fruit had ye then in those things, wherever ye are now ashamed, for the end of those things is death. Now, before I get into these last couple, and then share five very important things with you. Let me say this concerning verse 21 and 22. True conversion delivers us from the penalty and power of sin. True conversion delivers us from the penalty and power of sin and shapes our character anew. That's what true conversion does. We wind up with a new character. We wind up with a new integrity. And so regardless of what that past was that we're now ashamed of, true conversion delivers us from the penalty of sin because of Christ, the power of sin because of Jesus Christ, and it shapes our character anew. If that doesn't happen, if your standard is a worldly standard, know this, God is not pleased with your standard or you. Why? Because true conversion shapes our new character. What happens when we're saved, born again? We're new creatures in Christ Jesus. The standard, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. That's the standard. There's no other standard. That's the standard. Therefore, for any man being Christ, he's a new creature. Build old things, pass well, things become new. That's the standard. And listen, you might say that you're saved. You might say that you've been converted. You might say you've been born again, but listen, what changed? If you don't meet the standard, something's wrong. Either God's lying or you are. And it says God don't lie. It's on you. Go to verse 22. But now being made free from sin. You're the recipient of it. Being made free. Made free. You didn't work to get it. You can't work to keep it. Nothing. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God. Look at that. I want you to notice something here. I was gonna spend quite a bit of time on this. But now being made free from sin and become and become, when you're made free from sin, you're going to become something else. See that? You're going to become servants to God. You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. Become servants to God. the truly converted person, the truly saved person, get this now, the truly delivered person. See that? But now being made free from sin. Amen. And become servants to God. Wow. Well, Jesus looked at one group of people and he said, you have your father, the devil, right? He looked at another group of people and he said, I know who you're serving. So what we find in is this new birth, this new life. We find ourselves being made free from sin. What is that? That's the penalty and the power of sin. All right? As long as you're in this flesh, you're gonna fight with it. But aren't you glad, as far as God's concerned, you're free of it? Now that's what's valuable. All right, verse 23. For the wages, the payment, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What a statement. It's either death or a gift. It's either death or you accept the gift. Wow. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. I think we like that better, don't you? Now let me give you five things that I've taken out of these verses here. I'm gonna read them to you, I want you to get them. because they're real. As you take these verses and just deal with them, I want you to get this. There's going to be a practical aspect to each one of them, but there's going to be, of course, a spiritual aspect to each one of them also. You ready? Number one, loyalty has an expiration date. Loyalty has an expiration date. When you stop serving them, loyalty ends. And so it is. Loyalty has an expiration date. When you stop serving them, loyalty ends. That works in life as well as in your spiritual life. The devil and the demons will be loyal to you because you're loyal to them, but boy, when you change, loyalty ends. And you can be serving others and working for others, and when your work ends and your service to them ends, loyalty ends with it. Number two. Some people confuse help and concern with being vulnerable. Some people confuse help and concern with being vulnerable. That's why you find people wanting to take advantage of you. You'll help them and help them and boy, next thing you know, they keep wanting more from you and more from you and more from you. And I actually had a guy over in West Kentucky come up and knock on my door. And he said, you know, I really need this little car to get back and forth to work. I said, good. He said, but I need somebody to co-sign my note for that. Would you co-sign my note for that? And I said, no, no, no. Bible teacher's totally against that. Nope, wouldn't do it. Boy, he went from friend to fiend. I mean, fangs popped out, my goodness. He became something else. You see, some people confuse help and concern with being vulnerable. So when you help somebody and you're concerned about somebody, they consider you to be vulnerable. In other words, I can use you. I can manipulate you. I can get some money from you. I can use you. You become vulnerable to them. Have you ever loaned a dollar to somebody, then they never pay that dollar back, but they come and ask you for five the next time around? Number three. When you realize no one is coming, I'll give you a chance to write that down. When you realize no one is coming to help, When you realize no one is coming to help, okay? When you realize no one is coming to help, taking personal responsibility is your greatest act and asset. When you realize no one is coming to help, Taking personal responsibility is your greatest act and asset. Well, one more time. When you realize no one is coming to help, taking personal responsibility is your greatest act and asset. Boy, I found that to be true. Number four, some pain never leaves you. Number four, some pain never leaves you. Whether it be a physical pain or a heartache. Some of them just never leave you. You'll live with it till the day you die. You just learn to deal with it. I had originally written down, rather than deal with it, you learn to carry it. Because that's what you basically do, you carry it with you as you go through life. Some pain never leaves you, you just learn to carry it. Boy, that's a truth, isn't it? All right, number five. When I looked at this, I realized that what we learned in this lesson up here, a lot of it's private. What fruit had ye then in those things wherever ye are now ashamed? Man, that goes right down to the private individual person, doesn't it? Number five. Don't expect, don't expect others Don't expect others to clap and applaud you. Don't expect others to clap and applaud you in your private, physical, and spiritual battles. Don't expect others to clap and applaud you in your private, physical, and spiritual battles. Well, the first thing about it is they're private. But the other thing is this. Everybody's got issues. Right? And It's human nature to be very narcissistic, isn't it? Very self-centered, very looking at self, self, self, self. Get eat up with self. Those five things, I could take those and we could start up here at the top and just begin working our way through this list. Why? Because at one time your loyalties laid with Satan and sin, didn't it? And now you're freed from that, and now your loyalties lay in the hand of Christ, in God the Father. The second one there, some people confuse help and concern with being vulnerable. Boy, we must never look at God like that. We're the ones that's vulnerable. And the devil looks at us that way. When you realize no one's coming to help, there's times in your life that you got to deal with it. Paul had to deal with it. God told Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee. And so that means you got to pick it up, the pain of it and all, and carry it with you. And never expect others to clap and applaud you and your service and your work because people don't know. People don't know and most of them don't want to know. So anyway, ever so important. So as we look at this, let's just end it by saying this, let's read verse 22. But now being, being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end, everlasting life. Praise God, He has made us free from sin. Praise the Lord for that. All right, gather round, let's pray.