As we resume our study of Romans today, remember last week we looked at Romans 6 verses 11 And we really discussed an important distinction between indicatives and imperatives. Remember we said that indicatives are facts about God, who He is, who He promises to be, whereas imperatives are more commands, what we should then do in light of those indicatives. And one encouraging thing we said was that imperatives always follow indicatives, meaning God doesn't tell you what to do before telling you who He is. and reminding you of His promises to you. We also looked at the importance of specifically presenting our members to God as instruments for righteousness. We looked specifically at the mind, at the tongue, at the ears and eyes, at the hands and feet, and gave specific application for how we can glorify God with those members of our body. Finally, we discussed verse 14. For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace." Remember, the Christian will not attain to a sinless perfection while on earth, but we should be sinning less and less by God's grace and by the help of the Holy Spirit. We're now in a state of passe non peccare, meaning we are able not to sin. We can say no to sin because of the power of the indwelling Spirit within us. Well, Paul continues in the next few verses, and these will be our verses for today, to talk about slavery. So if you have your Bibles, turn to Romans 6. We'll be looking specifically at verses 15 through 23. Beginning in verse 15, what then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means. 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? 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, here have become slaves of righteousness. I'm 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. 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 now you are shamed? For the end of those things is death. 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. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." So I want to look at this section of verses today under five headings. One, do we now have permission to sin? Secondly, we'll look at the association between obedient slaves, means loyal slaves. Thirdly, slaves of sin. Fourth, slaves of righteousness. And then we'll look at the result of slavery. Well, Paul, as you notice in verse 15, begins by asking a question. This is a similar pattern for Paul to do. If you remember the very first part of chapter 6 in verse 1, he also asked a question. Romans 6, 1, what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? He asked this question after describing the implications of the law and grace on the Christian. In this case, Paul was anticipating the Jews asking the question, okay, is the law no longer binding on the Christian? And Paul answers in verse 2, by no means. So in other words, the law is still important even though grace abounds all the more. It doesn't mean that we have a license to sin now. So Paul again in our section of verses today begins with a similar question. Notice the question comes after stating something about the law and grace again. Romans 6.14, for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace. Very next verse, verse 15, what then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? He gives an answer to his question, by no means. So can't you just hear, if you can imagine the crowd and the people that Paul is writing to, the Jewish legalists saying, okay, Paul, looks like you're saying that we're not under law. Does that mean the law is not important? Paul has shown repeatedly, hasn't he? In the first five chapters of Romans, what we've seen thus far, that the law is important. It just doesn't save. But you can also see on the other side of the equation, the antinomians, those who were against the law saying, so then, Paul, can we sin and get away with it since we're no longer under the law but under grace? Paul again says, no, by no means. What he's saying here is that if the purpose of God's grace is to free us from sin, which it is, then how could grace ever justify continuing in sin? He will go on in the next few verses to discuss obedience and presenting our members as slaves to righteousness. In other words, what he's getting at is it's important as Christians to live as becomes the followers of God. We're slaves of righteousness, presenting our members for that sake. Well, let's look now at the idea of obedience. We see in verse 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. Pastor Roy Stedman tells of walking down a street in Los Angeles years ago, and he sees a man walking toward him with one of those signs that straps over his shoulder. So you have a sign on the front and a sign on the back. And on the front sign, it's written, I am a slave for Christ. On the very back of him, the other side of the sign reads, whose slave are you? See, that's the very point of Paul's message in these verses, to consider whose slave you are. But before we get there, let's consider two false notions. One false notion is that we are autonomous and we are in control of our own destiny. How many of y'all have heard that? You're the master of your own destiny, right? The idea is that we're in control. We are, in fact, the Bible would speak about this, not autonomous human beings. although the world would like to think that we are. The world says you can be an autonomous mini-God, but this is far from the truth. The only correct word in that statement is mini. For we are small, we are finite, but we are not God and we are not autonomous. We are rather dependent upon the one to whom we are obedient and loyal. Paul writes in 2 Peter 2, 18 and 19, for speaking loud boast of folly, They entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption." And then listen, "...for whatever overcomes a person, so that he is enslaved." So whatever you are overcome by, you are a slave to. We're all enslaved. We're not independent, autonomous human beings. That's the first false notion. The second, though, is that we can serve two masters. Some Christians mistakenly think they can dabble in sin. The adage goes like this, if God doesn't forbid it, then I can do it. I heard this from someone even recently. What's the problem with that? Well, it may not be a sin, but it may not be wise. It's the wrong question to ask. Some people ask the question, and this is important to teach even our young people, but it's true for us. How much can I do and get away with without it being called sin? Have you heard that question? It's the wrong question. What we should be asking is, what can I do in my life to most glorify God and honor my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave His life for me? So we cannot serve two masters. Matthew 6, 24, no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. So, question to ask, why can a man not serve two masters? Well, the answer is really simple, because he only belongs to one master. Can't serve two masters if you belong to one. And so, you'll either serve God and you'll hate sin, or you're going to serve sin and you're going to hate God. That's what it comes down to. Well, Paul discusses the idea of obedience here because obedience is required if you're a slave. If you're a slave to God, you will obey him. If you're a slave to Satan, you will listen and obey him. So then how do we know whose slave we are? How do we know which camp we're in? Well, you have to look at your own life and think about who you're obeying. and realize that whichever one you're obeying is also the one that you're loyal to. Leon Morris writes, obedience was an essential ingredient in slavery. It was the function of the slave to do that which he was told. And, of course, a change of owner meant that the slave no longer obeyed his former master. He still obeyed that his obedience was transferred to the new owner. The obedience he rendered showed whose slave he was. And so it is true in my life and in yours. A slave was expected to obey his master, even if he didn't like it, no matter the conditions, he was to obey. No negotiations, no compromise, no arguing, strict obedience. So let's look at now what Paul juxtaposes. On the one hand, he talks about being a slave of sin, and on the other, he talks about being a slave of righteousness. John Stott writes, here there are two completely different lives, lives totally opposed to one another. On the one hand, the life of the old self, On the other, the life of the new. They are what Jesus termed the broad road that leads to destruction and the narrow road which leads to life. Paul calls them two slaveries. By birth, listen to this, by birth we are slaves of sin, but by grace and faith we have become slaves of God. How important that is. How is it when we are born we are slaves of sin? because of total depravity. By birth, we are slaves of sin. By grace and faith, we have become slaves of God. He goes on to write, the slavery of sin yields no return except a steady moral deterioration and finally death. The slavery of God yields the precious return of sanctification, and finally, eternal life. The argument of this section, then, is that our conversion, this act of yielding and surrendering our lives to God, leads to a change of status of slavery, and slavery involves obedience. Meaning, if we're now slaves of righteousness and slaves to God, we are to obey Him. So now we've got to look at the characteristics and the result of being slaves. First of all, let's consider being slaves of sin. Those who are not Christians, of course, are slaves to sin. But remember, this describes our former state as well before coming to Christ. The unbeliever's master is Satan. They are characterized by impurity and lawlessness, which we see in verse 19, and their end is destruction and death, verses 16 and 23. So being slaves to sin, the master of Satan, characterized by impurity and lawlessness, end result is destruction and death. We read in 2 Corinthians 4.4, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Satan is the unbeliever's master. and he blinds them, literally preventing them from seeing the glorious things of God. That's partly why when we pray for people that are not believers, we pray that the scales will be removed from their eyes, right? So they will behold and they will see fresh who God is and what He has done for them. But notice that Satan is also a master deceiver, and he will convince people that God is harsh. and his ways are judgmental. Jesus speaks of the deceitfulness of the devil in John 8, 44, you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies." He lies to the unbeliever. He fills their mind with wrong thoughts about God. He encourages them to do that which is natural to them in their natures, presenting their members to unrighteousness, to impurity, to lawlessness. But if you look at the word impurity in our verse today in the Greek, it refers to a state of uncleanness or depravity. This, of course, describes our natural state before coming to Christ. 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him. David would write in Psalm 51 5, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. In keeping with the parts of the body that we discussed last week, the unbeliever presents those same parts of the body to lawlessness, to impurity. The word for lawlessness here is wickedness, sheer wickedness. John MacArthur writes about these two terms, impurity and lawlessness. Those two terms refer respectively to inward and outward sin. The unregenerate person is both internally and externally sinful. As he lives out his sinfulness, it results in still further and further lawlessness. Listen to this important statement that he says, like a cancer that reproduces itself until the whole body is destroyed, so sin reproduces itself until the whole person is destroyed. That's what sin does. The unbeliever will fill their mind with pleasurable, sensual things. They will watch whatever is sensual. They will listen to the latest gospel in the streets. Their hands and feet do that which is sinful, not glorifying God but rather promoting themselves, refusing to give Him all praise and glory and honor. Well, Paul mentions the result. That word is death. He mentions it twice in this section of verses, both times referring to the end result of being a slave to sin. Verse 16, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, And then in verse 23, for the wages of sin is death. Death here refers to more than just physical death. It also refers to an alienation from or a total separation from God. One commentator, last name is Hydeland, writes, sin promotes life...I mean, I'm sorry, sin promises life and gives death. Sin promises life and gives death. Can't you see that in the world around you? People will say, oh, it just, it feels good or it's going to make me happy, so I'm going to do it because it's going to give me a better life. No, it actually promises life. That's what they're hearing, but the end result is absolute destruction and death. We discussed earlier that Satan is a great deceiver, and here we see it. The end result of an unrepentant sinner is not a better life, but it's actually death. Matthew Henry writes, death is as due to a sinner when he hath sinned as wages are to a servant when he hath done his work. So we've seen the unbeliever, as you see on your handout, a slave to sin, Master is Satan, characterized by impurity and lawlessness. End result is destruction and death. What about the believer? Well, based on these same verses in Romans, the believer is also a slave, but not a slave to sin, a slave to righteousness, whose master is God, characterized by being set free from sin, which ultimately leads to sanctification and eternal life. Now how is a Christian a slave to righteousness? Does this mean that you and I as Christians will always do what is right? No, it doesn't mean that. What it means though is that you and I have received righteousness. We've received it. When did we receive it? Jesus Christ died on the cross, imputed His righteousness to us. Now by faith, we are united to him and to God the Father and are slaves to righteousness. His standing is now your standing with God and all of this of his own free grace, not because of works done by you. It's a free gift of salvation by God the Father to you through Jesus Christ, his son. Some people mistakenly think they can earn their way to heaven. See if this description that follows is one that you've heard before. John MacArthur writes, after a businessman's luncheon at which I spoke, a man came to me and said, I've been in this group for a long time and I'll tell you how I think you can get to God. You see, there's a long stairway and at the top there's a door and behind it is this guy, Jesus. What you really want to do is try to make it up the stairs and get through the door and then hope that Jesus lets you in. As you're on your way up the stairs, you've got all these preachers and movements cheering you on, but you just continue going up the stairs your own way. I call it the stairway of hope. That's what I think the gospel is. John MacArthur says to that man, rather bluntly, Sir, you cannot be a Christian. What you said has nothing to do with the gospel, and your stairway to heaven, notice your stairway to heaven, is hopeless. You need to depend on Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. You have no idea what it means to be saved, and you cannot be on your way to heaven. See, we cannot invent our own path to God. We cannot come to God through anything or any other person than Jesus Christ. John 6 speaks of this, I am the way, the truth, and the life. We only come to God the Father through Jesus Christ our Savior. But notice, for the believer, those who are slaves to righteousness, it is God who is our master. Philippians 2.13, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. We read in Colossians 4.1, masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly knowing that you also have a master in heaven. So in looking at these two verses, we as Christians have a master who's God in heaven, who is ever with us, working in us and through us to accomplish His good purposes. So how is the believer then characterized in Romans 6? We see in verse 18, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. You're free from sin. But when you want sin, you're free from sin. Sin no longer reigns and controls you. How have we been set free from sin? Because Jesus died for that sin in your life. He died that sin-atoning sacrifice, bearing the wrath of God in your place so you wouldn't have to. Sin no longer controls us as it once did. And because of this, we were able to say no to sin with the help of the Holy Spirit working in us to glorify God by then presenting our members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification, Romans 6.19. So because we have been set free from sin, we are now able to, as we discussed last week, present our members to God as instruments for righteousness. This means that we should consecrate our lives, our very souls, our bodies to God using our mind, our tongues, our ears, our eyes, our hands and feet to glorify Him. And as we live for Him, consecrating our lives to Him, we will be further and further sanctified. Well, what's the end result for the Christian? The end result is eternal life with God. We will spend an eternity with God because of His free gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Notice it is a free gift. It's free for us, but it costs Him everything. We just celebrated Christmas season. We remembered how Jesus came to earth as God incarnate, as the babe in manger. And remember, we can't think about the manger without thinking about the cross. So we then realize and remember again what He has done for us by living a perfectly obedient life, by dying a sin-atoning death for us. No doubt as we remember the greatest gift Many of y'all and probably all of us exchange gifts with one another, right? At Christmas time. When you give someone a gift, who pays for it? You pay for it. You're giving that person a gift. The recipient does not pay for it. You never receive a gift from someone and say, here, let me pay for that. How much did that set you back? Have y'all ever done that? No, you receive it. You receive the gift in humility and appreciate the thought that the giver put into it to select an appropriate gift that you would enjoy. Well, in like manner, God gave us a free gift. It's free for us to receive it, but it's one of eternal consequence. When you receive this precious gift and rest upon Christ alone and in his sin-atoning work and saving work, believing that he died for you, seeking by the Spirit's help to live a life pleasing to him, then your eternal reward will be great. For you will spend an eternity worshiping God and glorifying the risen Savior who died and ascended for you." Well, as we conclude, I want you to notice, it's very important, notice that everything Paul says about the unbeliever once characterized you and me. You who are once slaves of sin, verse 17. You once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, verse 19. And the road that you were on was traveling. You were traveling toward death and destruction, verse 23. Brother and sister, do you not see the wondrous work of God for you? You who were once a slave to sin, your master was the devil. You lived and gave yourself to impurity and lawlessness. You were headed toward death, and yet God condescended to you and to me. He took pity upon us. And he offered up his son so that now you who were once at enmity with God and a slave to sin have now become slaves to righteousness. You are his. And he is your master. You are filled now with righteousness because of what Jesus Christ did for you. And you're no longer a slave to sin. No longer has dominion over you. And you are now headed toward not death, but life. Life with Him in heaven with God Almighty. As we close, let me close with this final quote from Martin Lloyd-Jones. It's on your handout. As you go on living, I'll say, dear Christian, this righteous life and practicing it with all your might and energy and all your time, you will find that the process that went on before in which you went on from bad to worse and became viler and viler is entirely reversed. You will become cleaner and cleaner and purer and purer and holier and holier and more and more conformed unto the image of the Son of God. That is what sanctification looks like. And the end result of that is eternal life with Him. God in heaven, You have done wondrous things for us, the most important of which is giving us Your Son, our dear Savior. And so we thank You, Father, that You have transported us from the darkness and into the light. We're no longer slaves to sin. Help us to remember that. It no longer has dominion. It no longer controls us. But now we have become slaves of righteousness. You are our Master. Lord, help us to follow You. Help us to say no to sin, to put off that which so easily ensnares and entangles, and to live for You. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.