The Problem of Sin
Free, but Slaves
Romans 6:15-23
For the last couple of weeks, we've focused our minds and thoughts on the problem of sin, as well as the solution to the problem. Whether we understand it or even accept it or not, the Bible says the sin problem began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.
And in some way that defies our understanding, that initiated a nature of sin in the human race that extends all the way to us. In fact, it has touched and impacted every person who has ever lived. That the sin of one man could have such far-reaching effects staggers the mind.
But what is even more astounding is that what Christ did on the cross has even more impact for where sin was abounding, running rampant, grace showed up and did much more. Grace super-abounded. So the sin problem is ominous, but the solution to the sin problem, God's grace given to us through the free gift of Jesus Christ, is amazing!
Now I realize that the last couple of weeks have not been the most entertaining and enjoyable sermons I've ever preached. But I find it very difficult to be light and humorous when discussing the sin problem. We need to understand the seriousness of the subject and have its truth pressed deeply into our spirits.
Instead, what I'm trying to do is give you a basic understanding of the doctrine of sin with a good biblical basis and then, more importantly, what can be done about it.
It seems to me we've got a pretty good handle on what to do with the big sin problem. We understand that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave to defeat sin and the devil, and only through Him can we miss hell and go to heaven.
But what about dealing with sin after we're saved? Would you say you are successful in resisting temptation and gaining victory over habits and attitudes that are un-Christlike? That is an essential part of our sanctification.
Think about this: Sin affects every part of our life until we finally go to heaven. it dogs and chases and tracks us and hangs around until finally our life on earth comes to an end. But the scope of our salvation is such that it provides the resources to deal with sin throughout the journey, until ultimately, it is not us that dies, but death and we live forever.
Now, it seems to me that the most difficult part of the process is not justification. That is an act of God by which our standing before God is changed and we are declared to be righteous, made just as if we had never sinned.
Neither is our glorification difficult because, once again, when our life comes to an end or Jesus returns for us, God, true to His promise takes us home to heaven and we are changed to be like Christ.
The challenge sin presents to us is in the process of sanctification, that time in our life from our conversion forward to our home going. And in its purest sense, sanctification is nothing other than being separated from sin.
And that is really the focus of what Paul is addressing in chapters 6 and 7 in the book of Romans.
Now to understand the setting of these two chapters, we need to understand something of the flow of the book of Romans. Paul is presenting the marvelous story of salvation. In chapters 1 through 3, he talks about our sinfulness. Whether we have the Law or don't have the law, we are still guilty before God, Jew or Gentile. All of us are bound by sin and dominated by sin.
In fact Jesus Himself said John 8:34, "Whoever commits sin is the slave of sin." And as we'll see today, Paul employs that same language. Sin is our master, we are its slave and that is true of every person who comes into this world. "There is none righteous, says Paul in Romans 3. And the wages of sin is death.
But in the middle of chapter 3 and extending through most of chapter 5, the tone changes as Paul unfolds the doctrine of justification and how it is that God declares us to be righteous through faith in Christ.
Then in chapter 6, he introduces the companion reality of sanctification. Whoever it is that God justifies, He also sanctifies. That means whoever it is that God declares righteous, He also makes righteous.
And that is the theme of chapter 6. In this chapter we learn that in Christ the power of sin is broken because we have a new life. We have been united with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, and risen to newness of life. The penalty for sin is paid and the power of sin is broken and we walk in a new life. We will not go on sinning so that grace may abound because we can't. It is contrary to our new life.
Listen to what we read in
verses 15-23
Now the argument Paul makes in these verses is extremely important because he anticipates someone is going to say, "Man if I believed like you Baptists, I'd just go do anything I want to do. After all, salvation is all by grace. If you can't earn it and you can't lose it, then I'm going to live it up!"
Let me tell you what I've come to believe about that: That conclusion should be the expected result of preaching the gospel. If we properly preach and teach the grace of God, then we should raise those kinds of questions and comments.
And if people aren't saying that and thinking that, I've messed up the message. When confronted with the wonders of salvation people should automatically say, "Well, wait a minute. If salvation doesn't depend on what I do, and if all my sins, past, present and future are covered, and if I now live in a place of grace so that where my sin abounds, grace much more abounds, doesn't that set me free to do whatever I want?
After all, if what I do or don't do has no impact on my standing before God then am I not free to do whatever I want?"
- think good gospel preaching should raise that question. And Paul's answer to that is what we have here in verse 15 and following. And primarily, what he writes here is to make sure his hearers understand their relationship to sin as believers.
And in a nutshell, the bottom line is as believers, we have died to it. And we have been resurrected to a new life. And all of that happened in Christ. And this section, in particular, focuses on our new Master.
Notice, he begins with
1. The Question
verse 15
If we aren't saved by keeping the law, and we are saved by the grace of God, and where sin abounds, grace super-abounds, are we free to free to sin and do anything we want to do? Is that what salvation is all about?
2. The Answer
Well, Paul's answer is very short and to the point. Certainly not! And you almost get the feeling Paul is saying, "Don't be foolish!" That is an absurd and absolutely unacceptable response to grace.
He expands his answer in verse 16, and notice, his answer is not even a theology-based answer. This is just an axiomatic, common sense truth. It is so obvious it doesn't even need any proof or Biblical support.
verse 16
If you voluntarily surrender yourself to a master and then become obedient to that master, then you are the slave of that master. Once you choose your master, you're bound to obey. And if your master is sin, then you're going to obey sin. If your master is righteousness, then you're going to obey righteousness. That is a universal law. Everybody lives with a master. You will serve somebody.
Remember, there are only two families in the human race. There is the family of Adam and the family of Jesus and everyone belongs to one of those two families. That means we are either under the reign of sin and death or we are under the reign of righteousness and there is no middle ground.
Then, beginning in verse 17 and following, Paul gives
3. The Argument
So Paul answers this question regarding sin in the life of a believer and how that is to be viewed, gives this short answer and emphasizes it with this axiomatic truth.
Then he unpacks the meaning of all that by contrasting these two slaveries of sin and righteousness and that's really where I want to spend the bulk of our time today.
To help us understand our relationship to sin now that we are saved, he begins by explaining
- Our Position
verse 17
Our position in regard to sin, as well as God is that we used to be slaves of sin, but when we obeyed God, we were transformed into slaved of righteousness. And when you realize that, it just makes all kinds of sense that he would begin by thanking God.
Once we realize what we were and what we now are and how much and how radically our position has been changed, it will compel us to be on our knees in praise and worship and thanksgiving to God because He's the only One Who can accomplish that. He's the only One that can deliver us from slavery to sin and overcome death and change our nature. It is all of God, and for that He deserves to be thanked.
- changed and it all roots back to a heart decision. Notice, they obeyed "from the heart". This is not a superficial, external response. This is not just doing religious stuff and performing rituals. This is heart obedience.
That means there was a change in nature and will and desire. That's what the miracle of salvation does. It changes our "want-tos" and desires and appetites. That's why it makes no sense for a born-again child of God to say, "Well I'll just get saved and gl live any way I want to!" No you won't! Not if you really got saved and obeyed from the heart!
By the way, there is a very interesting word picture used in this verse. Notice he uses the phrase "you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered".
I want to unpack that a little and let you see the picture he is painting through those words. He says when they obeyed, they obeyed a form of doctrine. Let's stop right there for a moment.
The word "form" is a word that means a mold. Like hot metal is poured into a mold and when cooled, it comes out of the mold and holds that shape, that's what happens when a person believes.
When you get saved, the old you is melted down and poured into a mold and what comes out is in the shape of the gospel. As believers, you and I have been poured into the mold of biblical truth and we emerge from that in the very image of that truth.
That means we are living patterns of what we believe. We are models of righteousness and holiness. In fact, we are literally, models of Jesus Christ Himself! Another way to say it would be that our obedience to the gospel has reshaped us. We have been stamped with the image of Christ
The great Bible teacher, Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, "Scriptural teaching is not a vague, formless impression of truth It is a definite body of teaching, a hard mold of truth into which the Christian is to be melted and poured until he takes on a shape which is the Lord Jesus Christ living in him and controlling him.
Because they are part of this divine mold, all the doctrines of the Christian faith are closely related, therefore if one of them is destroyed, the mold is shattered."
We are shaped by sound gospel doctrine and that means we will never again be what we once were. When you come out of the mold , you come out totally different. You come out to live a life of obedience to your new master who is God. You have a new motivation which is to pursue holiness. Your desire is now to be righteous. There's a brand new love for God and His Word and His people.
Is that not what the Bible means when it says if anyone is in Christ , they are a new creation? Old things have passed away; behold all things are new!
We are in every sense men and women made completely new. Everything has changed. We come in to this world as dead men waling. Our old nature controls us. We are slaves of sin.
But when we encounter and obey the gospel, we are remade and reformed and given new life that is completely different than it was before!
Notice how Paul describes it in
verse 18
This is what characterizes the newly molded believer. That doesn't mean you're free from temptation. Of course not, you're going to be tempted. It doesn't mean you're free from sinning. You're going to sin. And if you say you have no sin, according to 1 John 1, you call God a liar.
But you are forever set free from the tyranny and mastery of sin. In fact, you no longer have to sin.
And if you do, there is no one to blame but yourself. Before salvation, you could blame Adam. And if it makes you feel better, you could blame Eve.
But you are no longer an involuntary slave. You have been set free from sin and there has been placed in you the incorruptible seed of righteousness and as a slave of righteousness, His righteousness as defined by God in His character and in His Word and in His Son, that righteousness is what you desire.
It doesn't mean that we simply admire righteousness or even that we desire righteousness or that we are trying to be righteous. To be a slave of righteousness means that we are dominated and controlled by righteousness.
And just as we were once controlled and ruled by and governed by sin, we are now ruled and governed by the character of God, the pages of Scripture and the person of Jesus Christ.
So to return to the original question: are we then going to continue in sin and lawlessness? You tell me! That is ridiculous. After all, our position has changed!
You show me someone who says they're a Christian and because of grace and because they are not under the threat of the Law, they are just going to go live any way they want and do anything they want and I will show you someone who has never been saved.
That doesn't fit the new mold. In fact, your new Master and new life won't let you do that. In fact, your new freedom is a freedom that, for the first time in your life, lets you do what pleases God. Your liberty in Christ is not to do wrong, but for the very first time in your life, to do right.
So Paul explains these two slaveries in regard to position as he unfolds this argument. Next, he talks about
- Our Practice
verse 19
He moves from our position in regard to sin and righteousness to how that plays out. Since our position has changed, so also our practice, what we do and how we live, has changed also.
And notice, in verse 19, he says, "I'm using a human analogy to help you understand this. And because you need some help to understand what I'm talking about, I'm putting it in simple, understandable terms."
But here's what I want you to get: In the same way you lived as a slave to sin, now live in the same way as a slave to righteousness.
Just as sin caused you to grow more and more a sinner, righteousness can make you more and more like Christ. We used to be sinners on the inside and sinners on the outside and everything about us was sinful.
But now, just as you once lived 100 percent as a slave to sin, now live 100 percent a slave to your new Master.
And it seems to me what the Apostle is saying is that as you yield all of your life, your thought life, your actions, your words, your motivation, your emotions, to righteousness, as you follow the driving impulse of that new and holy creation that is in you, as you go in that direction, you're going to find that you will go from righteousness to righteousness to righteousness. You can just keep becoming more and more righteous. Isn't that amazing?
Just as sinners go to lower and lower and lower levels of sinfulness, Christians keep growing and maturing and developing in the image of Christ.
So does that mean Christians don't sin or can reach a place where they don't sin? No, but only because we don't always yield up that fallen part of us that is susceptible. That's why verse 19 tells us to present our members as slaves of righteousness. It doesn't just automatically happen. It's not easy. It requires discipline and structure and self-control.
In fact, next week we're going to hear Paul himself talk about this evil principle that dwells in him and how he doesn't do what he wants to do and does what he doesn't want to do!
He was a new man who hungered for and pursued righteousness, but there was a present reality, an evil within that was involved in that process. In fact, it eventually led Paul to evaluate himself as a "wretched man".
Yes, you can and will make progress as a true believer from righteousness to righteousness to righteousness as you yield your members and the Spirit does His sanctifying work and you'll go from one level of glory to the next, to the next, to the next. But you've got to make righteousness the practice and habit of your life.
- in fairness, I just want to remind you that when Paul said that he was a wretched man, he was a very mature believer. In fact, that is one of the ironies of becoming more like Christ.
As you mature and develop in righteousness, you will sin less, but you feel worse. Why is that true? It is because you have grown to a deeper and deeper love for righteousness and a greater and greater animosity toward sin so even though you sin less, you understand more the significance and impact of sin and therefore, any sin, the slightest sin, the most insignificant sin will burden your spirit.
If you are without Christ, you go from bad to worse and you become more wretched and more wretched. But if you are in Christ, you become cleaner and cleaner and purer and purer and holier and holier and more and more conformed to the image of Christ as the power of that new life and the Holy Spirit and the work of the Word operating within you move down the path of sanctification.
So he contrasts the position, slave to sin, slave to righteousness, contrasts the progression, lawlessness to more lawlessness, righteousness to more righteousness and sanctification.
And then in verses 20 to 23 he shares
- Our Promise
verse 20
So we have these two slaveries, one to sin, one to righteousness, and each one leads down a path to more and deeper levels of commitment. So where do these slaveries eventually lead?
He begins with the life that is free of righteousness, which is just another way of saying, "There isn't any." This is a life that is void of anything godly.
What is the end destination of that kind of life?
verse 21
You look back on your sinful life, he says, and you're ashamed. The fruit of sin leaves people with nothing but shame and death. The progression of their existence was from one level of sin to the next and eventually that life of shame ends in death.
- by the way, as we've already discovered in this series, that's not just physical death, it is eternal death of the soul in a hopeless and everlasting hell. For all those who believe you just live and die and they bury you and everything is over, they wish that were true. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Only eternal death in hell awaits the godless who lived a life of shame.
But on the other hand, notice
verse 22
Those whose position has been changed can expect a completely different eternity. Not only do you have the privilege of living a Christ-like life that is filled with holiness, you also enjoy everlasting life.
And it couldn't be put any more clearly or directly that Paul says it in
verse 23
So can we whose position has been changed, who are growing and maturing and developing into an ever-deeping likeness of Christ himself, those of us who are bearing the fruit of holiness and are on our way to eternity in heaven with God, can we willingly, happily, gladly sin because after all, where sin abounds, grace abounds more?
- not! In fact, even the suggestion of that through sounds ridiculous. After all, we have a new life and a new Master. We've been remade in a brand new mold. We understand that our position is different, our practice is different and the promised end is different. If you are one with Christ and having died with Him and now risen to new life, you have a new Lord.
Listen: A born-again child of God can never have the same relationship to sin that we once did. We have died to sin and been made alive to God. We have died to the dominance and slavery of sin and you have a new master!
So much so that we are a holy people! God's plan of salvation is to take sinners and make them into holy people. He begins with our standing and position through justification. He then calls us to live up to that position. That is sanctification. And as we die, we become more and more like Christ.
And one day, our glorification will come to pass as we leave this earth to enjoy everlasting life in the presence of God.
In regard to sin, God forever changes our relationship to it by saving us. He removes its influence and power and dominance as we are sanctified. And one day, we will forever be delivered from its presence when we go home to be with Him.
- you know anything about Benedictine monks, you know their days are filled with prayer, meditation, study, isolation and silence as they pursue a deep relationship with God and each other.
Preparing to be a Benedictine monk is a four-year process. In earlier centuries, they had a policy that a man accepted into a monastery came there for a year on probation. During that time he was given a little cell and the clothes that he wore when he came there were hung in his cell.
Anytime in that first year he could put on those clothes and walk out. Only at the end of the year were those clothes thrown away. They wanted them to take time to count the cost. After that it was for life.
I found interesting one of the comments I came across while researching the monks. I believe the comment was on the website of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Chicago, Illinois. It said, speaking of the monks, "If we really give ourselves over to this, if we don’t insist on distracting ourselves with ‘more important’ things, then God can really mold us into saints."
That is God' desire for every one of His children. God is seeking to" mold us into saints". Not saints that live in isolation in a monastery somewhere, but saints who show the world what the grace of God looks like. We do that, not by how much we sin, but by how much we look like Jesus.
We are not under law, but under grace! Let's make sure we live like it!
Let's pray.
