Let's open our Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 5, and we study down through verse 12. I believe we must read verse 12 again to get the connection with the thirteenth verse, because otherwise we wouldn't be really having a full statement of the thirteenth verse. Verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and we know that to be by Adam, that first man, our federal head, and death by sin. Because Adam sinned, the sentence of death came upon all men. So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Actually, the sentence of death came upon Adam. The Bible says, In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And Adam died spiritually, but he had the sentence of death in him physically. And his spiritual death was a direct result of his sin, and the sentence of physical death was a direct result of his sin. And because Adam sinned, he gave us a sinful nature. And it says in verse 13, For until the law of sin was in the world, But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Sin is not counted unless someone has transgressed the law. So what I want to get you to see is that even though Adam sinned and we inherited sin from him, he passed his sinful nature on down to us, yet we are not judged because of Adam's sin, but because of the fact that we sin and we transgress the law of God. We are judged for our own sin. And it says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who was the figure of him that was to come. So what it's saying here is that in spite of the fact that man must transgress in order to be spiritually dead and to suffer spiritual death, yet because of Adam's sin, the physical death reigned. from Adam to Moses before the law was given, before man could actually transgress the law of God that was given, and Moses was the great lawgiver, then it still reigned that man would be physically subject to death. And of course, spiritual death would be the result of continuing to reject God and his word. any knowledge whatsoever of transgression of God's holy laws. But we have the laws given in written form under Moses. But nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. But we're going to see here that the transgression is on our part and not upon Adam's part. Even those that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, they died not because of Adam's transgression, but because of their own transgression. that they were guilty of. And then, of course, when the law entered, when the law came, we had the direct transgression of God's laws so that man was really condemned and under the curse and judgment of the law. It says in verse 15, But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. He says, Not as the offense, so also is the free gift. Now, it would be very easy if he said, As the offense, so also is the free gift. In other words, just comparing one to another, wouldn't it? That would be easy enough. But when he says, not as, that means you've got to contrast them. You've got to see wherein the offense differs from the free gift. What is different about Adam as our federal head and the offense? And the free gift, see, Adam was a figure of Christ. Look in verse 14, Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. Adam was a figure or a type of Christ, because as Adam was our federal head, and because of Adam's offense and transgression, many were made sinners. So by the free gift, or so by Christ himself who gives us the gift of life through him, he is our spiritual head. Just as Adam was our physical and fleshly and earthly head, federal head, so Christ is our spiritual head. But there is not just the comparison of the two, there is a contrast of the two. So the offense is different then from the free gift. Now look at verse 16. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses under justification. Do you see the difference? One and many. There is the contrast. The judgment was by one to condemnation. One sin of one man brought judgment. But the many offenses of many men, the free gift is because not only Adam sinned, but because many multitudes, in fact all of us, have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the many offenses are the many people that have committed not just one offense, but many. Not only the many people, but the many offenses. We might say that each one of us has committed one offense after the other. In other words, we're all guilty of more than one sin and offense, aren't we? And the whole world is guilty of more than one, because all the multitudes of people. So there you have the contrast, and it says, notice the not here in verse 16, and not as It was by one that sinned, so is the gift. So when you see the word not, it means you've got to say, I'm not going to compare the offense with the gift. I'm going to contrast it and see how it is different. How is it different than the offense? It's different because there are many offenses unto justification of life. It's not only different as to the number of offenses and sins, but it's different as far as the The result of one man's sin brought judgment, but the many offenses of many, the free gift brought forgiveness and pardon and justification, just as if we had never committed those many offenses. Not as. We've got to see that contrast, don't we? You know, let me say in passing, and we'll continue with our expounding of each verse. But this is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible for a preacher to expound, because there are so many little words, simple words, and yet to get the contrast and to really understand what we're talking about is a difficult thing. And it's difficult for people to understand the fullness of it, but if you look at it very carefully, I think you're on the right track in your mind now if you'll see that you must contrast and you must see how that is different. And then we're going to find the word, much more, coming into view in verse 17. Now look at verse 17. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more, you're still carrying out a contrast between the thoughts, aren't you? If by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which have received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ." So one might say, well, if by Adam's offense death reigned, death came, condemnation came, but still the contrast is that much more through the gift of grace and the gift of life through Christ, not only one shall reign, But many shall reign in righteousness by and in and through Jesus Christ." By one man. It's still by one man. But it's by that one man, Jesus Christ. And what's the difference? Many. Much more. The gift of grace, the gift of righteousness, the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Then in verse 18, notice what it says, This seems to sum up and explain again and more fully what we are talking about. Therefore, by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of life. So we see Adam's person as a type of Christ here, a figure of Christ. and also the fact that his is the opposite of what we find in Christ. Because what Adam brought by his offense was judgment. What Jesus brought by grace and the free gift was righteousness, and it came unto us bringing about justification of life. Now I want us to notice something, that some people read into this that just because by Adam all men were under condemnation and under judgment, that because of Christ and his righteousness and the free gift, that all men then are justified. Well, that's making universal justification, but that's not true, that it's universal. The free gift is only to those who believe. Adam's offense was upon all of those that followed him. But the free gift comes only to those that become united to Christ spiritually, as in contrast to those that were united to Adam naturally. So we have to spiritually be united to Christ before the free gift of justification is ours, and before we can say that we're justified and have Christ's righteousness. So there's provision. All that you see in this verse, then, is provision for the righteousness of men through the free gift and the abundance of grace. There are many people that would like to argue by this, then, that therefore God has, in Christ Jesus, saved the whole world. That the fatherhood, the thought of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, that regardless of whether any man is a sinner or not, that he's been redeemed. through Christ. Just because he inherited sin through Adam, he has been redeemed through Christ. But that's not what this verse is teaching. It says, Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of life. The all here, all men, under justification of life, is qualified by the man's faith, or he is not justified. Because if you read back in the 4th chapter, it says he was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification. In chapter 5, verse 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So it's only those who are justified by faith, that have received by faith this gift of righteousness, that are justified by Jesus Christ. Now notice in verse 19. man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Now, then, those that are made sinners are all men, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But all are not made righteous, only those who have trusted Christ. You see, only those who have received him become righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. The law came, the law entered, that the offense might abound, that we might see that the offenses were many and that the offenses were against God and that the offenses were against man, that the offenses might abound, that sin might abound. And that's how we know that we have sinned so defiantly against God. How do we know it? Because the law entered and says we have sinned. The law says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The law says, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. And four of the commandments given in the law in Moses' day and received by Moses were against God. To break them, we would be defying God. And then the other six of the commandments were against man, man's relationship to man. Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. all the others. So we see that the law entered that the offense might abound, our offense against God, our offense against our fellow man, and that the number of those offenses, that there might be an abounding of transgression and sin against God. But where sin abounded, and it did, grace did much more abound. That's the difference. between the law and grace, grace did much more abound. God's grace was sufficient to cover all the sins of all men and all the multiplied sins of every man. See, it doesn't cover only all individuals, but it covers the multitude of our own individual sins. We've sinned in more than one way, is what I'm trying to say, before God. We've sinned in many ways. And where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The grace of God is sufficient for not only all the sins of all men, but the grace of God is sufficient for all of my sins that I have sinned against God and against man and against myself." Man's sin is against many. It's against not only our fellow man, we sin against our own soul. The Bible says, "...the soul that sinneth, it shall die." We sin against our brother. We sin against God. And the Bible teaches that we're guilty of all. We're guilty of all sin. Now then, I know that there's forgiveness so that we're not held and counted as guilty after we're saved by grace. God has wiped it all out and the slate's clean and we're not guilty anymore. And we're not only not guilty, but we're completely justified in the sight of God. But there was sufficient grace to cover all of our sins. However many sins, however awful the sins were, whoever they were against, God or man or ourselves, there was sufficient grace and is sufficient grace to cover every one of them. So that in the sight of God, we are perfectly righteous through Christ, through the gift of life and the gift of righteousness. We're perfectly declared righteous in the sight of God. We're not any longer considered even guilty of sin. And we're pardoned from the sins that we were guilty of. And we're forgiven of all of them. And they're not even remembered. And moreover, we're justified. We're counted in the sight of God just as if we had never sinned. And that's for the believer. I don't know how we're able to digest this, but we're touching on one of the most wonderful and gracious and broad and fulfilling spiritual truths that's ever been preached upon. And that is that a sinful man, regardless of how deep and how awful our sins may have been, and how many, how multiplied they are, and how far away we were from God, that all of those sins are under the blood of Christ, that they are completely pardoned, they are forgiven, they are put away, they are hidden in the depths of the sea. They are scattered as far as the east is from the west. God has said concerning them, I will remember them no more. And moreover, above all of that, he has classified us and put us in a place to where he says, I'm going to count that one who was such an awful sinner as completely righteous and have the righteousness of Christ. That's where you stand before God. That's a pretty good place to be standing, isn't it? Isn't it a pretty good place to be standing that you're standing before a holy God dressed and robed in the righteousness of Christ who never transgressed the law and who never sinned against God and who was perfectly holy and sinless in every respect? And you're standing robed in Christ's righteousness. Now then, we don't look at ourselves that way. We say, well, my, I'm an awful fellow. And if we look inside, we can see that. It doesn't take much to bring that out, does it? We can look inside. We know that that old carnal nature is still there. We know it exists. We hate to admit it. Well, even if we do admit it, we hate to come face to face with him. If we openly admit the fact that he's there, we still hate to deal with that old carnal, sinful nature. And he's there. But we also have the divine nature given to us of God. Yet we can see that we are actually declared to be righteous in the sight of God. He says in verse 20, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Look at verse 21, that as sin hath reigned unto death, sin ruled, sin reigned, sin had dominion unto death, even so might grace reign. Let grace reign or rule in us now. through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Just as surely as sin has reigned unto death and brought about death, even more so by the grace of God and through Christ, righteousness might reign and grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So I think that is a wonderful passage of Scripture. But I don't think that it should be cut off with the end of chapter 5. What shall we say, then, if this be the case? Now, there's a continuation of thought here, isn't there? Sometimes the chapter divisions are not the best, but I suppose that the dividers had to divide the chapters in some place. You know, it was the 12th and 13th century before we had chapter and verse divisions of the Bible. twelve or thirteen hundred years before there was any. There wasn't any at all. You just read it all. So that your place in the Scripture would be pretty hard to find, wouldn't it, if you didn't have a division of some kind. But I'm thankful for the divisions. We're not knocking at it in any way. But sometimes they come in an unfortunate place. But we won't go into that. Let's continue the thought. It says, What shall we say then? So shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? If we are sin abounded, grace does much more abound. Are we going to just deliberately then continue in sin that this wonderful grace might continue to abound? No, certainly not. Paul says, God forbid! God forbid such a thought, that we would deliberately continue in sin, that the abundance of grace might just continue to abound. Because he goes on to show, and he says in verse 2, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? How can you continue to live in sin if you're dead to sin? How was it that we became dead to sin? We're going to have all this explained in the 6th chapter. If you're dead to something, it doesn't have any power or control over you whatsoever. And as a Christian, as a child of God, you are dead to sin through Christ. Let's see what it says. We'll read several verses of Scripture and then come back and try to explain. We'll read on down through verse 8. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Now then, in verse 5 it says, "...for if we have been planted," or buried, "...together in the likeness of his death." Baptism then is a likeness. It's a picture. If I pull up my billfold out and open it up to where you have little snapshots in your billfold, and you say, that's a likeness of one of my family or a friend or whoever, say that's a picture. Baptism is a picture of something that's happened. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, there was something of fact that took place when Christ died. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. In some way or another, Christ's death made us completely free from sin. Now, we'll discuss the sins of the saints at another point, but we want to see the freeness from sin that we have at this point. Now, if we be dead with Christ, did we die with Christ? We certainly did if our sins were upon him. Then it says, We believe that we shall also live with him. Let's stop there for just a moment and come back and look at some verses. Verse 3 again, Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Now, then, we're talking about baptism, aren't we? And we're going to see that the baptism that is referred to here is I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, and a lot of people argue differently, I believe it is water baptism, because that's where you have a likeness. That's where you have the picture of it. You can't see anything. If it were spirit baptism, we wouldn't be able to see that it was a likeness. Maybe it would have taken place, but you wouldn't see the likeness with it. You only see what you have a picture of. But notice some facts concerning here that's already taken place. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Now then, how is it that we were actually, the word baptized means to be immersed into Christ. How is it that we were actually immersed into his death? Baptism pictures that, water baptism does. But we were actually immersed in Christ when He died on the cross. We were actually immersed into His death. So that our death and our sins were there being paid for when Jesus died on the cross. And we're going to have to consider ourselves as having died when Jesus died. And having been resurrected when Jesus was resurrected. And to consider that baptism pictures that fact, or that truth, that we were actually crucified when Jesus was crucified. It says if we be dead with Christ, verse 8, we believe that we shall also live with him. So were we dead with Christ? Yes, our sins were there. When Christ died, he died for our sins. So we were actually dead. The penalty of sin was upon us. And he as our substitute died in our place, but we were dead there because if he was our substitute, we had to die there, right? We had to be dead with Christ. And if that be true, then when he was resurrected, we also were resurrected with Christ. And baptism pictures that death and burial and resurrection of Christ by which we have already been united by faith. We have by faith received Christ as our Savior, and he has already resurrected us in spiritual life. You read John 5.24. And it says this, let me give it to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but the believer is passed from death unto life. How is he passed from death unto life? He is passed from spiritual death unto spiritual life by faith in Christ, because his faith is in Christ as a substitute and as our sin bearer. and as the one that has died for our sins, and so we are dead with Christ and we are resurrected with Christ and we are passed from death unto life by faith. And baptism then pictures that. Let's look at it quickly and carefully. In verse 4, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. We were the same as dead in Christ, buried in Christ, and this baptism pictures that which is already actually a fact, scriptural truth. It says an experimental truth, too, because we've experienced this. We have considered ourselves as such, and therefore we are the subject and candidate of baptism. But look in verse 5. For if we have been planted or buried together in the likeness of his death, In the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." So that when we were baptized, we were actually picturing or showing a likeness of what? Of Christ's death and of Christ's burial and of Christ's resurrection, and we were showing that likeness in our experience of baptism, being immersed. But we were not only showing that likeness as what Christ did for us, being dead, buried and resurrected, but we were showing that we also, by faith, have considered ourselves to be in Christ in that way. We have accepted Christ. We are pointing back to the fact that Christ died, all right, and was buried and rose again. And that baptism pictures that. But we're pointing back to the fact that we received him and we were spiritually accounted as dead with Christ, and buried with Christ, and resurrected with Christ. And now, in baptism in the water, we're going to show that likeness. 4. And it says, knowing this, in verse 6, knowing this that our old man is crucified with him. That old man is put to death. It wasn't put to death in the waters of baptism. It was put to death before. It was put to death when Jesus died on the cross. And for our own experience, it was put to death when we received him as the one who died in our place on the cross. But it says that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed. That doesn't mean that this flesh would be destroyed. It doesn't mean that this sinful nature would be destroyed, but it means that that body of sin, that power and control of sin that we were the servants of before we were saved, might be put in subjection and might be destroyed. That from this time forward, from henceforth, look at it, we should not serve sin. Now we're not going to serve sin anymore. Why? Because it doesn't have any dominion over us because we're freed from it. is freed from sin. You see, sin really doesn't have the claim upon you now as a child of God that it used to. You're not under its dominion, or his dominion if you want to put it that way. You're not under the dominion of sin. He cannot control you anymore. You say, well, but preacher, I do sin. Yes, but you're not under the power and control of sin. When you sin as a child of God, you do so as one that still has the old carnal nature within, but that old carnal nature does not completely control you. You have a divine nature, and you can submit to the things of God and can be led by the Word of God and be led by the Spirit of God and thus overcome those sins of the flesh. because you are not subject to the control and the rule and dominion of sin. It says, For he that is dead is freed from sin. You are set free. Now, if we be dead with Christ, and that is a fact, we are, we believe that we shall also live with him. Look at this in verse 9. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Christ is raised from the dead, and death has absolutely no more dominion over Christ. And in that he died, he died unto sin once. He died one time for our sins. And in that he lives, he lives unto God. Now look at verse 11. This connects us with it. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are to reckon ourselves, just as sure as Christ died for our sins, we are to reckon ourselves or count ourselves as dead indeed, Paul says, unto sin. We are just as dead to sin as Christ was dead in the grave. We are just as dead to sin. And he says we're to count ourselves as such. See, we're not dealing with that casual sin of the believer or when Satan comes along and catches us on the wrong foot and we stumble and fall. Or we yield to temptation in an hour when we're not aware that it's going to overtake us and overcome us. We're not talking about that. We're talking about the fact that we're to reckon or count ourselves just as sure as Jesus died for our sins to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Just as alive as Christ is alive and seated on the right hand of God. And then, if we will settle that fact that sin does not have any more dominion over us, we're not under its control or reign or rule, but we're under the rule of the gift of life and of righteousness by Christ that we studied in the last chapter, that we then are not going to let sin, verse 12, look at it, reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof. We know it's in our body, don't we? We know that that old nature is still there, but we're not going to let it rain anymore because we're reckoned or counted as if we are dead indeed under sin. Where do you stand then before God? You are reckoned as not only crucified with Christ, the old man and the old sins buried, but you are reckoned as being alive with Christ because he is alive. And then how are you going to deal with sin? Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. It appears to me that Paul is saying we don't have to let sin rule us. We are not talking about, as John said, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father because we know that once in a while that does catch up with us. And we know that we cannot say that we have not seen. We would deceive ourselves and his word wouldn't be in us, would it? But Paul is encouraging us here not to let it rule over us. Because of what we reckon in Christ and count to be a fact in Christ, let's not let it rule over us. It doesn't have to rule your life. It may come along once in a while. You may yield unto temptation. You may need to confess your sins and shortcomings daily, and I'm sure we all do. But you're not going to let it rule you all through the day and every day of your life and keep on being in control of you. You're going to slough it off and shove it off from time to time by the Word of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the new nature, the spiritual nature that is within you, you are going to put up a fight against sin. You are not going to let it reign. And Paul says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. So if he tells us not to let it reign, that means that we can or we may let it reign or we may not. If we completely succumb and say, well, I'm just going to give up and let sin take the best of me, we'd let it reign in our mortal bodies, wouldn't we? But we're not going to do that as a Christian. We're going to put up a fight. We're going to put up a fight against the world and the flesh and the devil. And when any time sin comes our way, we're going to deal with it as an enemy. And we're not going to let it therefore reign in our mortal body. You should obey it in the lust thereof. You may lust. You may have evil thoughts and evil desires from time to time, but you're not going to let those completely control you. God is going to, by his Holy Spirit's sin conviction, you're going to say, well, I'm a child of God and this ought not to be in my life, and this is too wicked or too sinful for me to go along with. And you'll turn your back upon it and you will not have anything to do with it. All from time to time it will be filtered in. You know they filter it in on TV, don't they? They filter it in every now and then. You'll be watching something on TV and all of a sudden Boy, you're just right in the middle of it. And what is it? Nothing but sin and evil and wickedness. And then your conscience says, well, that's not right for me. And you'll either switch the channel or turn it off or something. Because you can't stand it as a child of God. You'll say, that's just not for me as a Christian to listen to or to see. And God be merciful to any person that doesn't have any conviction about those things. Because it means simply this, that if there is no conviction about it, that that Holy Spirit is not living within and telling you that certain things are wrong and listening to them or seeing them on television. So it says we are not to let sin reign in our mortal body. You should obey it in the lust hour. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness. Don't let your body be an instrument. of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." That's what we're to do and what we're not to do, isn't it? Neither yield ye, and yet yield ye. Don't let the devil use your members of your body unto sin, but let God use those same members unto the things of righteousness. Now, we can do either. We can do one or the other. That's what accounts for a lot of backslidden Christians today. They can let the devil, they can let sin do these things to them, and many do. And they become broken in their fellowship with God and out of the house of God and away from the children of God and the fellowship of God's people. And you know, a lot of times when you invite people to church, it's not because Christian people. And they fail to come, they refuse to come. It's not because of the church itself, it's because of themselves. There's something wrong there, and they feel uncomfortable in the house of God and under the preaching of the Word. I'm convinced that the more the Word is preached, the more division will be made in Christendom. You just preach it and see how it thins out the crowd. You see how it makes a difference. Now, I don't mean by that that there cannot be great crowds, because there can be if people get right with God. But those that will refuse an invitation to the house of God, that will use excuses, that will go ahead and try to find some reason, it's because deep down there is a broken fellowship there, and until they really get back in church and really get under the preaching of the Word and really get right, first of all, with God themselves, they're going to feel that uncomfortable condition. Because you'll be comfortable if you're a child of God. under the preaching of the Word, you'll say, I'm glad I came. You'll say, I know where I stand. You'll have fellowship with the brethren. But if you get out of harmony with God and His Word, and you come to the place that you're yielding to sin instead of yielding to the things that are righteous, then you'll find yourself in a sad state of affairs. It says in verse 14, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Why does it make this statement? It's simply saying that though you would have a shortcoming in your life, though that you might transgress the law of God, you're not under the law. Christ has redeemed you from it. You're under grace. But you're not to use this grace of God to continue in sin. That was verse 1, wasn't it? You're to use the grace of God. God forbid that you should continue in it, because we're dead to it. But we're not to let it have dominion over you, and it shall not, because you're not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we're not under the law? The same question comes up. But under grace? God forbid! If we were to continue to sin as under grace and say, well, now because I'm under grace and not under the law, and the law will no longer condemn me, I'm just going to sin all I want to, it would reveal the fact that we were really not saved. Look at the next verse. 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. You see, it just reveals your nature. So the fellow that says, I'm saved by grace and I'm not under the law, I'm under grace and yet I'm going to continue in sin, he's just making a mockery of the grace of God is what he's doing. Now look at the next verse. It says, "...but God bethanked that ye were," look at that, past tense, "...ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness." So whose servant are you now? You're not a servant of sin, you're servants of righteousness. Even though sin may still try to creep in, you're not sin's servant, and sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. He says, I speak after the matter of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. Paul says, I know that you are capable of sins and shortcomings. I know that you need to be spoken unto as men that still have the carnal nature. But he says, For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.