Title: Free Grace is Serving Grace (Romans 6:15-23)
• Romans 6 is divided into two parts beginning with two questions.
Q#1 – “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” Romans 6:1
• A - Far from it! (1–14)
• “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (6:11)
Q#2 – “Are we free to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace?” Romans 6:15
• A - Far from it! (15–23)
• “... after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.” (6:18)
Romans 6:15 (NASB), “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Far from it! 16 Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 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 entrusted, 18 and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.”
• Paul is highlighting something true of every person... everyone is a slave to someone or something (whether a person, possession, or activity).
• There are only two masters and two slaveries: sin or righteousness.
• V. 17 is a doxology!
• Thank God for free grace that frees us to be in service to a new Lord!
• Here’s the first principle: Whatever you give yourself to becomes your master.
“Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by [acceptance]. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives.” - Rebecca Pippert
Romans 6:19 (NASB), “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
• V19, Paul admits that the slavery analogy isn’t perfect, but then he keeps on using it and pushing it even further!
• When you were slaves of sin you thought you were free. But, look at the results!
• “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
• V19, 22 – Sanctification is mentioned for the first time in Romans.
Definition from the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.”
• The promise in Romans 6 is if we present our bodies in service to the Lord, the result is -- sanctification!
The Gospel in One Verse!
Romans 6:23 (NASB), “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Here’s the second principle: Whatever master you serve will pay wages. So ask yourself, what are the wages, what is the fruit of what I am choosing to serve?
CONCLUSION:
Romans 6 in four words: Know, Consider, Present, Obey.
1. Know the old self has died with Christ. (1-7)
2. Consider the new self alive in Christ. (8-11)
3. Present your body for service to righteousness. (12-14)
4. Obey the Lord as a freed slave of righteousness. (15-23)
