Message by Joseph Horvath
Romans 6:15-23
Key Verse 6:22
“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.”
Everyone of us, you and me, and anyone who has ever lived; past, present, and those yet to come, fall (and will fall) into either one of two categories. And not one person in existence or who have ever existed or will ever exist is neutral. There is no compromise or "in between" or any sort of "to some degree this and to some degree that." Paul doesn't allow us to assume any of that. The two categories are: You are a Slave of Sin. OR. You are a slave of God. You are a slave to someone, everyone is.
You are a slave of sin OR a slave of God. That's it. Now approaching this passage we cannot connect slavery of the time Paul is speaking to the tragic horror of American history. Being a slave in Paul's day was voluntary for many so they can get fed; they traded their freedom for food and shelter, usually to someone with wealth or who perhaps owned a vineyard, so the family could survive maybe for a number of years. The problem with that was they were completely owned, their masters could do whatever they wanted with them. American slavery was different in that these slaves were held totally against their will, brought into a foreign country and was horribly mistreated for many decades. Therefore; being a "slave" here in what Paul is saying doesn't mean you are being held against your will, it is rather the will that one cannot overcome or change under his or her own power, it doesn't work that way.
This analogy of slavery to this or that was used by Paul for the people in Rome to understand. They were familiar with slaves, it was very common. So that they could understand, Paul describes being slaves of sin as being under the law and being slaves of God (or righteousness) as being under Grace. He notes his analogy's imperfections in verse 19 where he talks about having to speak "in human terms because of [their] natural limitations."
The Mastery and the Misery
So when you are slaves of sin your will is to obey its desires, the flesh; you do not fight against it, but you fall into sin every time given the opportunity. When the opportunity to sin is presented before someone under the law, under being owned by the passions of the flesh, sinning will seem very appealing and enjoyable. You cannot think of anything else and once you have committed the sin you attempt to hide it because of your shame. When you sin you wouldn't want others to know about it, why?
Because it's your master, you cannot hold your hand back and now you are ashamed, regretful, and pitiful. And this is your life. When you are a slave of sin you do not fight against it but rather you fight for it - you are instead in war with God who commands that you leave your life of sin. It goes against your master to obey God, to submit to Him. You are not just in disagreement with God; you are in complete opposition to Him.
Submitting to Him would mean to stop experiencing those temporary pleasures that you've grown so far in love with and to start experiencing some other form of pleasure, meaning doing something that dishonors your master. When you are a slave of sin, sin completely owns you. And the truth is (or once was) “we are all infected and impure with sin,” (Isaiah 64:6.) There is no life when you are ruled by impurity, you are dominated by your enemy; being Satan, sin, and death. When you live your life in sin the only result is death, there is no eternal joy after living a life shackled to sin. "The end of those things is death,” (Rom. 6:21b.)
Consequently your life is ruled by Satan and sin. Your will is in bondage to the rule and choice of the great Enemy. He owns you; you have no power over him. This happens to us when we, by nature and choice, decided to sin. Once we sin, once we fall into temptation, once we choose to enjoy the filth of temporary pleasure, we lay our hands into the shackles of slavery of sin. Later on we may no longer enjoy falling into sin because of the shame it brings us, but again and again we will fall no matter how hard we try. Sin reigns in us.
Being Enslaved to Freedom
Although this all may be very, very true to many of us there is one thing we cannot forget. One thing forever changed the course of history. This is what Christ did on the cross. Though perfect and holy, sinless and pure, he died. Why did he die?
He died for our sin. He died that we may no longer live under the power of sin in our lives but rather live life to the full, a life God offers us for free. Verse 23 in Romans 6 say the free gift of God is what? Eternal life. When we have truly experienced the love of God in our lives and we have turned from our sins, meaning that we fully desire to no longer hold on to those short term pleasures but instead want to let go of all our sins to be forgiven by God who is willing to forgive us if we would just turn… Once this becomes our desire, God does something miraculous in us. In Ezekiel 11:19-21 God himself speaks to Ezekiel in a vision. The Lord God spoke, "And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh… declares the Lord God.” Our hearts of stone, our rebellious nature against God, our self-righteous-feculence that we once held on to, in accepting Christ as our Lord and our Savior was completely changed. It is no longer a cold heart of stone but God has exchanged it with a heart of flesh, a heart that desires God, a heart that wants to be holy and seeks righteousness, this is the heart that God has given us.
When we become slaves to God and righteousness we will fight against the short-term, shameful ways we once walked. Because he has forgiven us we no longer live under the rule of sin in our lives. We no longer have death awaiting us in the end; instead we have eternal life waiting for us on the other side. This is freedom, being slaves to God is true freedom. We fall in love with this God. When you’re in love with God, His grace and forgiveness makes us slaves to righteousness. We are no longer held captive to our will to sin, instead we can't even think about sinning or even about trying not to sin; we can't help it! When we experience His love in our lives more and more we cannot help but being righteous and seeking holiness. Those who have truly been saved will never again live as slaves to sin. God has transformed and renewed their hearts (and their wills) when they converted; when they accepted Christ. Why? Because now they are in chains to the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. That is true freedom.
One Sturdy Discrimination
"...You are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of Sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which lead to righteousness." (6:15) Proof that one has been saved is by observing whom they obey. They either obey sin and the desires of the flesh, being incapable of stopping themselves - their will isn't to seek righteousness and holiness but instead they seek impurity and lawlessness (Slaves of sin are like the swine who enjoy the filth and the mud, it brings them life and joy. They are completely ignorant of the universe that surrounds them, the multitudes of the wonders that they could be enjoying outside their little 14 x 16 mud pen.) - or, they obey and submit to God, who sets them free from the chains of sin. With this they fight against the desires of the flesh and sin, they go to war against these desires and earnestly seek righteousness for the sake of Christ. It isn't a righteousness they seek for the sake of themselves because that is pride, that is not living under grace and truth that saves them but they instead they try to save themselves and make themselves look holy before God through works. That's not obeying. Paul thanks God in verse 17 when he says, "...you...have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching in which you were committed." This isn't an obedience of self-righteous works to find favor in God; this obedience is found trusting in Jesus. Continually trusting in Jesus, that is the sign that one is a slave to righteousness.
This is the Christian life. If we are a Christian, one who has been made alive in Christ and has had their hearts of stone removed and replaced with a heart of flesh; a heart that desires God and wants holiness, then sin has no power over them. From the swine that had become a precious lamb, when we are thrown into the mud, the filth, the trash, we no longer enjoy it, and instead we want to get out. Sin has no power over us! Why? Because we're under grace!
Where we go in this determines whether we were genuinely redeemed or we remained as slaves to sin. So, what happens when you are saved and what happens after that? Two things must and will occur when you are saved, meaning when you cross from death to life; when you become a new person; when you belong to a new spiritual, everlasting family.
1. The Acquittal
The first thing is that we are to be forgiven. Preceding our repentance we find our new life in Christ. If our repentance is genuine and we didn't just cry at a conference or have an emotional episode or have some sort of dream we presumed to be from God, then our lives are hidden in Christ and we will seek Him more and more. If our repentance has been genuine we are forgiven. This is justification. Our standing before God is in Jesus; Jesus mediates for us before the Father and we are no longer held as enemies of God. Our shackles of sin have been unlocked and we are freed in the blood of Jesus.
2. Forgiveness isn't enough.
We must know that we are guilty for sinning and because of it we need forgiveness. This forgiveness is found in Christ, this righteousness is found in Christ. We are justified. But here we are still in the cell, we are free to go, but something needs to happen. After we are saved (justification) there is sanctification. This is our continual growth toward becoming a new, Christ-centered person. This is our walking out of the jail cell to move toward the world outside. In this sanctification, the one who has truly been forgiven begins to fight sin. Now sin no longer holds them captive, now they are in war with their former master. They may sin they may fall but sin is no longer their master. This is a work God does in our lives, but as well this is something that we need to do as well. Our work is dependent on God to give us strength and it is He who enables us to fight sin. 2 Timothy 4:7 doesn't say "God fight for us! We want nothing to do with this war, let us sit back and relax." It says "I've... fought the good fight of faith." This is a work of God that enables us to fight. This comes through a renewed heart and mind.
3. Our Experiencing Eternal Life is not only dependent on an unequivocal Justification, but as well on an unequivocal
Sanctification
Once you have genuinely fallen in love with God; arrested by His grace and mercy and have been released from the bondage of the gook of sin. You don't want to sin anymore. By grace you wage war against it. With this, we enjoy the fullness of the life that God has for us. This new life with Christ in a walk with Him is a life full of true joy and passion and affection, it's a life free from guilt and it's a life being alive in Christ. We can look back at the question from verse 15. "Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?...” One who says "because I am justified, I can do all of the sinning I want because God loves me and he will just keep forgiving me because I am justified," is probably not saved. Galatians 5:21 speaks of people living horrible, sin- fallen lives, "anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God."
When You're in Love
When you have fallen in love with God your life is completely different. Your relationships change, your motive changes, your whole life is made new. You are no longer in bondage to your sinful nature. Your will changes.
- The Christian life is a constant battle against the flesh.
- We are not called and redeemed to live comfortable lives; we are called to fight and to leave the cell.
- When you are in love, you wouldn’t just sit down and do nothing to be with the one you love. You will do anything is costs to be with them. In the same way, we must do everything we can to be with Christ, whom is now the aim of our affections.
- We find our need for God, we need Him so much. We come back to Him again and again (because we are in love with Him) to know him more and to not forget about Him.
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