Our Great Commission
ROMANS II
Sin : Slave no more
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith – www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
ANNOUNCEMENTS
6:00PM Evening Service at the church –
“Seminary Students will be preaching”
Monday 5:00PM Bible Study
Tuesday Women’s at Lori’s
Men’s on Saturday at the Pastor’s House 11:00AM – 9:00PM
(Guy’s night when girls go to camp: pizza/games)
WHERE WE
† Maturing in Christ
† Understanding in Christ
† Love of God
† God’s Spiritual Fruit
This Series: The Book of Romans
Previously: Apostasy, Judgment
TODAY’S SERMON: Our Great Commission
Romans II
Part 5: Sin : Slave no more
SCRIPTURE READING
Romans 6:12-23
12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
INTRODUCTION
Are you still a slave to sin?
† Your mortal body is an instrument to its master (sin / righteousness)
† When you accepted Christ, you were set free from sin (so stop sinning)
† When you were slaves to sin, you were free from righteousness…what benefit did you get from following your sin? (sin brings nothing but sorrow)
† Let your mortal body be an instrument of righteousness! (heart-mind-body-soul)
ILLUSTRATION
In 1982, “ABC Evening News” reported on an unusual work of modern art – a chair affixed to a shotgun. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within the next hundred years.
The amazing thing was that people waited in lines to sit and stare into the shell’s path! They all knew that the gun could go off at point-blank range at any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast wouldn’t happen during their minute in the chair.
Yes, it was stupid, yet many people who wouldn’t dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. Foolishly they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction.
I. WHO IS YOUR MASTER?
1. LET NO SIN REIGN IN YOUR BODY
This warning tells us that even though you have accepted Christ, if you allow it to, sin can still rule you and lead to death (spiritually).
It IS possible to accept Jesus Christ, be set free from sin, then return to sin and lose your salvation.
If you rescued a prisoner of war from a P.O.W. camp, and he returned to the camp, can he still claim he is free?
a) Psalm 19:12,13 – “…? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”
It is the willful sins which end up ruling us…this is why we MUST confess and repent!
b) Romans 6:12 – “12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.”
2. DO NOT YEILD YOURSELF
You have been freed from sin…the only way sin can rule over you is if you allow it!
a) Ungodly lusts are carried out through the mortal body if faith is not maintained. - 1 Corinthians 1:18 “ 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
b) 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness”. – Romans 6:13
c) You must not yield to your sinful flesh, you have to die to yourself, to live in Christ! – Luke 9:23-24 – “23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
You cannot be born again until you die! Die to your sinful self…
3. SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU
a) Romans 6:14 – “14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
So stop returning to it!
b) Romans 6:21 - “21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!”
Nothing but sorrow comes from sin…
c) Revelation 1:6 – “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.”
ILLUSTRATION
A man living in a forested area found his home overrun with mice – too many to exterminate with traps. So he bought a few boxes of D-con and distributed them around the house, including one under his bed. That night he couldn’t believe his ears; below him was a feeding frenzy.
In the morning he checked the box and found it licked clean.
Just to make sure the plan worked, he bought and placed another box. Again, the mice went for the flavored poison like piranha.
But the tasty and popular nighttime snack did its deadly work. In the days that followed, all was quiet. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s good for you. In fact, it can be deadly - like sin.
II. SHALL WE CONTINUE TO SIN?
1. SHALL WE?
a) Have you confessed your sin?
b) You MUST repent (turn away from) to be forgiven!
c) You MUST die to yourself so that the new creation God will make you can be born! It is the only way.
2. THE ONE YOU YEILD TO BECOMES YOUR MASTER
a) You 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 the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
b) Double-mindedness
James 1:6-8 “he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
James 4:7-8 “ 7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
c) You cannot walk on two paths.
Matthew 7:13-14 “"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Luke 13:24 “He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”
d) You are either for Him, or against Him…which is it?
3. SIN UNTO DEATH OR OBEDIENCE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS
a) Choose this day whom you will serve!
ILLUSTRATION
Time-lapse photography compresses a series of events into one picture. Such a photo appeared in an issue of National Geographic. Taken from a Rocky Mountain peak during a heavy thunderstorm, the picture captured the brilliant lightning display that had taken place throughout the storm’s duration. The time-lapse technique created a fascinating, web out of the individual bolts.
In the same way, our sin presents itself before the eyes of God. Where we see only isolated or individual acts, God sees the overall web of our sinning. What may seem insignificant – even sporadic – to us and passes with hardly a notice creates a much more dramatic display from God’s panoramic viewpoint.
The psalmist was right when he wrote, “12 Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” – Psalm 19:12, 13
III. ARE YOU STILL A SLAVE TO SIN?
1. GOD HAS / WILL DELIVER YOU
a) He freed you at the Cross! And when you accepted Him!
b) He will free you now!
c) He is quick to forgive!
2. BE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO HOLINESS
a) Be a servant or righteousness.
b) Use your body, and all talents for Him.
3. THE FRUIT OF HOLINESS IS EVER LASTING LIFE
a) You fruit for holiness is everlasting life!
CONCLUSION
You are no longer a slave to sin, it has no power or dominion over you…unless you give it power and dominion!
Confess, repent and turn away from your sin.
Commit yourselves to be servants of the Lord.
Let your service count unto righteousness which will lead to holiness, which will lead to everlasting life!
