Okay, this is Romans lecture number 13. Romans lecture number 13. We're on Romans chapter 6. If you recall what our outline of Romans chapter 1 verse 1 to verse 17 was the greeting, personal remarks, and theme, or the introduction to the book of Romans. Paul from Romans chapter 1 verse 18 to chapter 3 verse 20 Paul talked about the fact that all are lost or condemned and now we're in the section section number 3 salvation in Christ alone Romans 3 21 to the end of Romans chapter 8 Romans 3 21 to the end of Romans 3 And then Romans 4 and Romans 5 talked about justification, the moment that the believer is declared righteous, at the moment he first believes. And now chapters 6 and 7 deal with sanctification, the process whereby believers are set apart more and more for God's holy purpose. Then in Romans 8, will deal with glorification, the act whereby God perfects the sinner, glorifies him, and the mortal puts on immortality. Also in this section on sanctification, Romans 6 and Romans 7, Romans 6 verses 1 to 23, the entire chapter 6 of Romans deals with the Christian and sin. The Christian and his relationship to sin, that aspect of sanctification will be dealt with in Romans 6. In Romans 7 it will be the Christian and law, the relationship between the Christian and law, that aspect of sanctification. And then of course Romans 8 deals with glorification and perseverance. So let's take a look at Romans 6 verses 1 to 23. Brief introduction, Paul hath declared that all are condemned and that salvation comes only through faith in Jesus. Paul stated that this salvation was not something new, but it was taught in the Old Testament. He spoke of the benefits of this salvation, and he explained how grace overpowers sin. Now he discusses the Christian and sin. Verses 1-4 of Romans 6, Paul says that the believer is dead to sin. In verse 1, Paul answers the question, shall we continue in sin that grace might increase? Look at verse 1. What shall we say then, are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? Now this question flows from Romans chapter 5 verse 20. Look at Romans 5 verse 20. Now, remember, the chapter breaks were put in much later. Paul, in this original letter, it was just one continuous flowing letter. Now, verse 20, Paul stated, And the law came in that the transgression might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So, if wherever sin increases, grace abounds all the more to cover it, or to overpower it, Well then maybe the Christians should just continue in sinning, that God's grace would increase to cover it, and maybe that would bring more glory to God. And so this question flows from Romans 5 verse 20. If grace overpowers sin, why not keep sinning? And now this probably was a common attack, just as it is today, on salvation by grace. Paul's teaching was that you cannot earn your salvation through good works. God saves you by his grace. It's a free gift that you can't earn. And so a lot of people say, well, good works have nothing to do with getting people saved. Then let's just do eat and drink and be merry and do whatever we please. And so this was a common attack on Paul. Those who, like myself, who hold to the security of the believer, to persevere unto the saints, that those that God regenerates, He protects them and keeps them saved and causes them to persevere in the faith, we're often accused of teaching that a license to sin, that therefore since you're not saved, you don't have to do good works to keep yourself saved, then you might as well just go out and do whatever you please and of course he would answer the question no just as Paul does he answers in the negative in verse 2 but just the fact that the same accusations were brought against Paul that are brought against those who believe in the security of the believer is actually good evidence that Paul believed in the security of the believer as well so Paul asks that question Should we continue in sin that grace might increase? And he answers it in verse 2 of Romans chapter 6. May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? And so the answer is no. We are dead to sin. Now this is important. Most preachers will say explicitly that we are dead to sin, that the believer died to sin. But then when you listen to their message, the messages they proclaim from the pulpit, They don't really believe it. They believe that believers are dying to sin. But that is not true. Paul says we are dead to sin. Not dying, but dead to sin. Now the Greek word for death is vanitas. It means separation. It does not mean annihilation like the Jehovah's Witnesses think. It means separation. Physical death means the spirit is separated from the body. That's physical death, spirit separated from the body. Spiritual death is when a man's spirit is separated from God, when you don't have fellowship with God. So, being dead to sin is the fact that the believer is separated from sin's power over him. In other words, believers do not have to live under sin's power any longer. So, the preachers should not try to get their congregation to die to sin. He should get their congregation to recognize the fact that they are already dead to sin. Sin has been dethroned. Sin no longer has any power over them. And so they have no excuse for continuing to sin. If we are dying to sin, then we have an excuse for sinning. But if we're dead to sin, we have no excuse. And I'm not saying, I'm not teaching sinless perfection. We're going to continue to sin, we're not going to be perfect until we're glorified. But the problem there is not that sin, that the power of sin because Christ dethroned it. The problem is we underestimate the work that Christ has accomplished on the cross of Calvary. So believers do not have to live under sin's power anymore. We are dead to sin. We are separated from sin's power over us. Verses 3 and 4 verses 3 and 4, Paul says that we have been baptized into Christ's death. Look at Romans 6, verses 3 and 4. For do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father so we too might walk in newness of life. And so Paul says that we have been baptized into Christ's death. This is why we are dead to sin. This by the way refers to spirit baptism. It does not refer to water baptism. Water baptism is only symbolic and water baptism is symbolic of spirit baptism the inward washing, the inward cleansing the Greek word for to baptize is baptizo it means to immerse, to dip or fully submerge it speaks of a cleansing but it also can be used to it can also mean to identify with and so when we were spirit baptized We identify with Christ's death for our sins by trusting in Christ alone for salvation. We identify with Christ's resurrection life and therefore we have new life. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We are not the same as before. Now take a look at Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3 verse 11. In fact, take a look at verses 11 and 12. Now there was a transitional period in the book of Acts where you could be a believer and not yet be Spirit-baptized. The Holy Spirit didn't baptize the church until Pentecost. But after that transitional period ended, towards the close of the Book of Acts, now when you accept Christ as Savior, you're Spirit-baptized immediately. Take a look at Matthew 3, 11 and 12. John the Baptist is speaking and he says this, As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now a lot of Pentecostals or Pentecostal brothers like to tell people they're baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. The problem is you really can't be baptized with both. It's either one or the other. Look at verse 12. And his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor, and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. You see, the winnowing fork, what you do is you take the wheat, and you throw it up against the wind, and the wind blows the chaff, the garbage portion, if you will, of the wheat, and blows it into another pile, so you end up with two piles, the wheat and the chaff, and the chaff is burnt up, that's being baptized with fire, that's symbolic of the judgment, the lake of fire, those who are tossed into hell, and the wheat being gathered into the barn is symbolic of being saved. So John the Baptist is saying there's going to come a time when Jesus is going to baptize one group of people with the Holy Spirit, they'll be saved, and another group of people with fire, and they're going to be damned. And by 1 Corinthians 12, we see that that time has already come. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13. Paul says this, for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. So he's talking obviously about spirit baptism, he's talking about the gifts of the spirit, but he's saying that all the believers in Corinth were baptized with the spirit. Later on, he says that all do not speak with tongues, so we can see that the Pentecostal belief that you have to speak in tongues to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is, in case and point, not biblical. But the baptism referred to in Romans 6 is Spirit Baptism. And Lord of Baptism is only symbolic of this baptism. In 2 Corinthians 5.17 Paul says, therefore, if any man is in Christ, if any man is saved, he is a new creature. The old things passed away, behold, new things have come. And so therefore, since we have identified with Christ's death for our sins, in other words, when he died on the cross, we died with him, the old man died with him, And so when He rose from the dead, we rose with Him, we have new life, we are involved by the Holy Spirit, we are not the same as before. And therefore the answer is no, we are not to continue in sin, because we died to sin when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. We were separated from sin's power over us. We don't have to live under sin's power. We have new life and we are not the same as before. So we have no excuse for living like the old man because now for the first time in our lives we have the power through the indwelling Holy Spirit to say no to the sins that entrapped us, to the sins that mastered us and held us in slavery. Verses 5 to 14, Paul talks about our sanctification. how the believer is progressively being set apart for God's purposes. Now there's three key words here in the New American Standard Bible. One is found, well in verse 6 where it says, knowing this, but the word know, K-N-O-W, In order to live a godly life, the believer needs to know certain things. You need to know certain things. You need to have the right beliefs. Okay? That's in verses 5 to 10. In verse 11, Paul then says, since you know the right things, then you need to consider something. So because you have the right beliefs, now you have to have the right thoughts. And we'll talk about that in verse 11. And then in verses 12 to 14, Paul says to present our bodies, to present ourselves, and that's talking about the right behavior. So the three key words are know, consider, and present, and they speak of the right beliefs, the right thoughts, and the right behavior. In other words, when Christians start with behavior first, they're making a mistake. God wants to cleanse us from within, and so we need to know the right beliefs, and because of that, think the right thoughts, and then that will give us the right behavior. So let's take a look at what Paul says about sanctification, how the believer is progressively being set apart for God's purposes, verses 5 to 14. Take a look at Verses 5 to 10, know, and that speaks about the right beliefs, know the right beliefs. Verse 5, we are united with Christ in his resurrection life. Look at verse 5 of Romans chapter 6. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So if we have identified with Jesus, and His death. If we say, yes, I trust in Him alone for salvation, I want His death on the cross to count for me. He died for my sins, I trust in Him for salvation. Well then, Paul says, if we died with Christ, we'll also live with Him in His resurrection life. In other words, the power of His resurrection life is given to us so that we can live a victorious life over sin. Verse 6, Paul tells us that we should know that our old self that person you were before you were saved, that old self was crucified. Look at verse 6 of Romans chapter 6. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. So Paul tells us, if you want to live a godly life, you need to know something. You need to know that our old self, we need to know that our old self was crucified with Christ. The old you is gone. You need to stop acting like you're the same old person you used to be, impersonating the old man. The old man is dead. The old man is gone. The old you is gone. You have new life. You don't have to do what you used to do. Now when Paul refers to here in verse 6, the body of sin, the words in the Greek, the phrase in the Greek is, Soma teis hamartias. Soma teis hamartias. The body of sin. He's saying that the body of sin might be done away with. The body of sin is on the way out. In other words, it's mortal. The body of sin will die. It is still polluted with sin. Now, he's not necessarily saying that the sin nature was located in the body and not in the soul. There was a big debate on that particular issue. And I don't know where I stand on it. Actually, I would probably favor the soul. But what he's talking about is the fact that the body still suffers with the pollution from sin. If it had not been for the sin of Adam in the garden, our body would have conditional immortality. But the fact of the matter is, we are mortal beings, we have mortal bodies that are going to die unless Jesus Christ returns first. So the body of sin is on the way out, it will die, it is still polluted with sin, with the effects of sin. However, Romans 8.23 tells us that a day will come when even our mortal bodies will be redeemed. Romans 8.23 Paul says this, and not only this but also we ourselves having the firstfruits of the Spirit, so the Holy Spirit indwells us, that's the firstfruits, the down payment, guaranteeing the payment in full, having the firstfruits of the Spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. See, in Paul's theology, we have already been adopted as sons spiritually, but we have not yet been adopted as sons physically. That will not occur until Jesus Christ returns and we are glorified, then our bodies, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 50 to 53 or 54, He says that this mortal body will then put on immortality and will be changed in the twinkling of an eye because flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. So... It will be redeemed. The body of sin is on the way out. It will die, but it will be redeemed. It will be glorified, and this mortal body will put on immortality. But right now, we need not give in to the temptations of the flesh, recognizing that this body still needs some changes in it. But we know both points. We no longer need to be slaves to sin. Believers are now, for the first time, free to not sin. I'm going to go over a few passages here. John 15, 5. John 15, 5. Jesus is speaking. He says, I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. What Jesus is saying is that apart from him, apart from his salvation, we could not please God. The only way we could please God is through the power of Jesus in our lives. Paul says the same thing in Romans 8.8. Now hold that page in John, because we'll have to look at another passage from John. But in Romans 8.8, Paul says, "...and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." So through our own human strength, which, our own human strength is actually human weakness, We cannot please God. Only through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, only through Jesus Christ, only through the power of the Triune God at work in us can we please God. Take a look at John 8, verses 34 to 36. John 8, verses 34 to 36. Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in a house forever, the son does remain forever. If therefore the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. So Jesus Christ, when he saves us, he sets us free from our old master, i.e. sin. And believers are now free to not sin, we are no longer slaves to sin. Paul makes that even clearer later on in his chapter, Romans 6, verses 17 and 18. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. And so believers no longer need to be slaves to sin. They're now free to not sin. Therefore, when we sin, we don't have an excuse. We'll get to a little bit further. There's a lot of preachers that don't really preach that we are no longer slaves to sin. They preach that we're slaves to sin and we're slaves to righteousness simultaneously. That's not what the Bible says. In fact, I think it'd be... If you can go as far to say this, that the Bible does teach that we were sinners by nature before we got saved, so we naturally sinned. But after being saved, we no longer have a sin nature. And I know a lot of Christians teach that we have a sin nature, but I do not think that is the case. If we had a sin nature and a divine nature, then we would, as Paul calls the divine nature, that is the indwelling Holy Spirit, then we would be slaves to sin and slaves to righteousness. But Paul says we're only slaves to righteousness. Now, he lets us know that you can imitate a slave to sin, but the fact of the matter is, you are no longer a slave to sin if you're saved. You are now a slave to righteousness, period. And you can imitate a slave to sin, but the fact of the matter is, you no longer have a sin nature. You go against your divine nature, which God has given you through the power of the Holy Spirit within. Take a look at verse 7. The principle here, in Romans 6 verse 7, is that the dead are free from sin. And he who has died is free from sin. So we have been set free from sin. The old you died, if you just trust in Christ's salvation, the old you died with Jesus on the cross, and therefore we do not have to continue sinning. All this talk about addictions, telling Christians that they're addicted to alcohol, they're addicted to drugs, they're addicted to sexual immorality. All we're doing, we're giving a nice little title, and we're calling things mental illnesses and diseases, when in actuality, sin is sin. And sure, the more you practice the sin, the more habitual it becomes, the harder it is to stop performing those sins, but the fact of the matter is, it's sin and it takes a choice, no matter how weak that choice may be, no matter how weak that will may be, and therefore we do not have to continue to sin, because the old You died with Jesus. You are a new creation in Christ. You are now free, been set free from sin. Verse 8 of Romans chapter 6. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. So Paul says, if we died with Christ, we'll live with Him. You see, Christianity is not a list of rules and regulations. Christianity is not a... Christianity is not a relationship with God's law. Christianity is a relationship with the law-giver. Okay? So it's not saying that the laws aren't important, but we don't have a relationship with God's law. It's not just us, in our sinfulness, trying to obey God's holy standards. So Christianity is not a list of rules and regulations. Instead, Christianity is a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ who empowers us to be all that he called us to be, who empowers us to obey his laws, not because we're trying to obey his laws in our own strength, but because we're trusting in him and because we love him. That's why you'll see passages like Romans 13.10, love does no wrong to a neighbor, love therefore is the fulfillment of the law. Paul says in Romans 3.31, do we then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all, rather we uphold the law. Mark 12.30 and 31, Jesus said that the most important commandments are these, that you love God with everything you've got and you love your neighbor as yourself. Basically, the Scriptures teach you out. Again, it says faith without works is dead. that through faith and love in action. Faith and love in action, that equals obedience. The problem, we cannot keep God's laws in our own human strength. We're just offering Cain's sacrifices, what we're doing. But if we come to God like Abel and we admit we're sinners, we need innocent bloodshed to atone for our sins, if we trust in Jesus for salvation, and then if we trust in Jesus to guide us, that's called faith, and if we love Jesus with everything we've got and we love our neighbor as ourself, Faith and love and action will produce good works, will allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and produce good works through us. Christianity is not a list of regulations but a personal relationship with Christ. Now the illustration I usually give is that if you had a father who you never met You never saw the guy and he would go to work before you woke up in the morning and he'd come home from work after you went to sleep at night. But in the middle of the night he would sneak into your room and put a list of all the chores he wanted you to do and a list of rules of things not to do as well on your wall, on the door of your bedroom and then he snuck out. It would be pretty hard to obey those rules. When he says, don't eat cookies from the cookie jar, save some room in your stomach for vegetables at night, you'd be thinking, hey, you know, those vegetables taste lousy and I really like cookies and I didn't realize there were cookies in the cookie jar, now I know there are, so maybe I ought to go there and sneak a few of those. However, if your father spent time with you and hugged you and loved you, and let you know how much he cared so that you had a loving and a trusting relationship with him. That you had more faith in his judgment than in your own opinions. And if you loved him so that even if you thought maybe you were right and maybe he's wrong, but you loved him so much that you decided, hey, it's more important to please him than following what I think is right, then it would be easier to say no and not eat those cookies from the cookie jar. So we need to think of Christianity not so much as a list of rules and regulations. I'm not saying those regulations aren't important. They're very important. In God's words, thou shalt not kill. If you're killing innocent people, that's a pretty good signpost to let you know that you're out of God's will, and that level of sin probably lets you know that you're really not saved as well. So I'm not saying they're not important, but we need to recognize that ultimately Christianity is not a list of rules and regulations, but a personal relationship with Christ. Christianity is not being under the law, because the law demands a perfection that we can't attain on our own, but Christianity is being under grace. The law demands something that we can't give, but grace provides something that we can't give. Grace provides us with the power needed to obey God's commands and provides us with the salvation we could not earn on our own. Verses 9-10, in Romans 6, Paul talks about the crucifixion. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin. Once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. And so Paul talks about the crucifixion. He speaks of the death of sin and the death of its power and dominion will be fully actualized when we are glorified. Paul speaks about this in many of his letters, 1 Corinthians 15, Romans 8. So the total separation of sin from the believer and the total removal of its power and dominion in the life of the believer will be fully actualized. I mean, the total presence of sin will be removed when we're glorified. Yet Paul is saying that we can now experience its effects to some degree. Because Christ defeated death for us. Christ died to sin, that can be translated, Christ died for sin once for all. In other words, Christ paid the penalty for our sins. And now Christ, after dying for our sins, He lives for God. In other words, He has received first the sufferings, and now He has received the glory of God. Revelation 1.18 speaks about His resurrection life. He says at the end of verse 17, I am the first and the last and the living one and I was dead and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. And so Jesus Christ now lives for God. He lives in the glorified state. He, the one who died for our sins, once for all, paid the penalty for our sins, now he lives a glorified, victorious life, having conquered death. Now, Paul says we need to know certain things, and he mentioned them. in his passage, that we need to know that we're united with Christ in his resurrection life, and that we need to know that our old self is dead, it was crucified with Jesus, and that we need to know that the dead are free from sin, And that if we died with Christ, we'll live with Him. And so we need to know the right beliefs. The right beliefs are right there. It's Jesus Christ. Don't underestimate what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross at Calvary. He not only saved you from the penalty of sin. My professors just say, Jesus saved you from the penalty of sin, but it's sanctification where He begins to save you from the power of sin. That is not true. Jesus Christ in justification saves us from not only the penalty of sin, but the power of sin as well. That's why he doesn't say that we're dying to sin, he says we are dead to sin. That's why he says we're no longer slaves to sin, now we're slaves to righteousness. Jesus Christ has saved us not only from the penalty of sin, but also for the power of sin, it is the practice of sin that sanctification saves us from. And then glorification saves us from the total presence of sin. But we need to know the right beliefs. After that, we need to consider, in other words, have the right thoughts. Look at verse 11, Romans 6, verse 11. knowing these right beliefs, then we need to consider something. Verse 11, Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. So if we believe in Jesus as our Savior, if we trust in Him as our Savior and our God, then we have identified ourselves with Christ. Therefore, in Christ, we are dead to sin. In other words, we're separated from sin's power. Sin's power has been removed from over us. And being dead to sin, we are alive to God. In other words, we are able to live for God for the first time in our lives. So therefore, we should consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. So we need to know that we're dead to sin, and then we need to act upon that by considering ourselves to be dead to sin in the life of God. Most Christian counseling today, a guy will come in and say, oh, I'm addicted to... this drug, or I'm an alcoholic, or I'm addicted to pornography, and Christian counselors will say, yeah, you need to recognize how powerful that sin is, and you need other Christians to help you to stop sinning, and you need to do this, and you need to do that. The Bible does not teach that we are spiritual wimps. The Bible does not teach that we're slaves to sin, and the Bible does not teach that sin is so powerful that Jesus Christ couldn't deal with it on the cross. We are actually spitting in Christ's face and underestimating His work on the cross of Calvary when we make sin have to be this big powerful thing that we cannot say no to when we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Now I'm not saying that sin hasn't mastered man. Sin did master man. Sin did take dominion over man. Sin did overpower man. But Jesus Christ crushed sin on the cross. And therefore, through the power, the all-powerfulness of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can say no to sin. So, whereas Christian counselors continually make excuses for Christians and why they need to continue to sin in this area and that area, the fact of the matter is we should consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Now, you might feel like a slave to sin. There's lots of days that I feel like a slave to sin. But if the Bible says that I as a believer am no longer a slave to sin, then I've got to stop my pity party, I've got to stop acting like a whining loser, I've got to get off my rear end and I've got to start doing what God called me to do and stop making excuses for being everything except what God called me to be. And I don't care what the sin may be, I do not have an excuse for giving in to it. Jesus Christ nailed my sins to the cross. Well, when he was nailed to the cross, it was nailed to the cross. The old Phil Fernandes died. And so when I bring back the old Phil Fernandes every now and then and do a good impersonation of him, I've got no excuse. And the fault falls directly on me. I don't even have it in my notes, but just look at 1 Corinthians 10.13. When was the last time you heard this passage in counseling? Christian counseling today, and there's some good Christian counseling, but it's right from the Bible, but there's some slaves out there calling themselves Christian counselors that sound more like Sigmund Freud, the atheist Sigmund Freud, than they sound like the Lord Jesus Christ or the Apostle Paul. When was the last time you saw this version of Christian counseling? 1 Corinthians 10.13. No temptation is overtaking you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure it. In other words, Paul is saying just what Jesus was saying, you can say no to sin. If you're a believer, you've been saved by God's grace, He indwells you with the Holy Spirit, and now He has empowered you to say no to sin, so you don't have an excuse for continuing to sin. So you need to know that through the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, you are dead to sin, you can say no to sin, and then you are to consider yourself. to be dead to sin and alive to God. To be dead to sin, but now to be alive to righteous works that you can do for God through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Since we know the right beliefs, and then we are to consider that as applied to us, have the right thoughts, then we need to do the right behavior by presenting our bodies to God as a holy sacrifice, a living sacrifice. Look at verses 12 to 14, dealing with the presenting of ourselves, the right behavior. Look at verse 12, where Paul tells us not to let sin reign. in our mortal bodies. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust." So don't let sin reign in our mortal bodies. The word for body again is Soma. Don't obey sin's lust. Look at Romans 12, 1 and 2. Paul, after he finishes the theological and the theoretical portion of this book, he then goes on to give us the application, he starts it out in Romans 12 verses 1 and 2 and he says, I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. and do not be conformed to this world, don't be outwardly conformed to this world, but be transformed, be inwardly transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. And so we are to present our bodies, Paul uses the same language here, for presenting, in verse 13, presenting our mortal bodies as instruments for God's service. So we don't use... I don't use my body for my own glory. I sacrifice my body for the Lord Jesus. I allow... I lay down my life. He laid down his life for me, so I should live for him. 2 Corinthians 5.15. But I present my body to the Lord as a living sacrifice. No longer do we need dead, bloody sacrifices. Jesus Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. We no longer need animal sacrifices, but we need to sacrifice our bodies to the Lord Jesus. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Don't obey sin's lust. We now have the power to say no to sin through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Look at verse 13 of Romans 6. And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. to present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. So verse 13, don't use your body parts, the members of your body, as weapons of unrighteousness. The word for instruments there is haplon. It means weapons. And so Paul is saying, you're spiritually alive, act that way. Your body parts should be used as weapons of righteousness. God didn't call us to a picnic. When he saved us, he called us to a war. A spiritual war. And therefore Paul was saying, don't be a wimp, but be a weapon for God, not a weapon for Satan. Too often we use our bodies as weapons for Satan. We use our bodies to bring shame to the gospel. We use our bodies to bring shame to Jesus Christ. We call ourselves Christians and then we get drunk with our non-believing friends. We call ourselves Christians and we treat our wives and our children in an ungodly manner and it brings disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ. And we are allowing our bodies to be used as weapons for Satan and for his glory rather than as weapons for God and for his glory. Paul says, present your mortal bodies as instruments, as weapons of righteousness for the Lord Jesus Christ. We can say no to sin and therefore we should allow God to use our bodies rather than Satan or the flesh. Verse 14. of Romans chapter 6. For sin shall not be master over you if you are not under law but under grace. Paul does not say for sin should not be your master. He says for sin shall not be your master. If you are saved because you are under law and not under grace, sin has lost dominion over you. Now you might live like sin is still your master, but the fact of the matter is, sin is no longer your master. If you really are saved, sin is not your master. Now, Paul says that when he's talking about under law, he's talking about the fact that under law, if you live under the law, sin rules. Sin is the master. The reason being, because all fall short. Under the law, the law reveals God's holiness. Man in his sinfulness can't keep God's holy standards. We all fall short. So under the law, sin rules. But under God's grace, God's charity, under God's grace, God's forgiveness rules. Whereas under the law, sin rules and all fall short. Under grace, God's forgiveness rules. All are forgiven. When sin rules, death is the outcome. when grace rules, life is the outcome. Romans 6.23 Paul says, for the wages of sin is death, that's for those who are under sin, but those under grace, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the law demands grace provides, the law demands obedience Man can't do that on his own, so under the law, sin rules, and all fall short, and death is the outcome. But under grace, grace provides us with the ability to keep God's rules, but grace also gives us a salvation we cannot end, and so life is the outcome. And so Paul says to live the godly life, we need to know We need to have the right beliefs. We need to know that we're dead to sin and alive to God, that we can say no to sin. We need to consider ourselves dead to sin and we need to present our bodies as weapons or instruments for God's righteousness. And that's how we live the godly life, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ to lead us in paths of righteousness.