Paul's Epistles Part 14 – Slaves to Righteousness

Paul's Epistles

Part 14 – Slaves to Righteousness

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

INTRODUCTION

We are going to look at the Epistles of Paul in this series of sermons. In Chapter 6 we have looked at Paul telling us to be Dead to Sin, and Alive in Christ.

Today we will take a look at being Slaves to Righteousness.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE Romans 6:15-23

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                   I.            SHALL WE SIN?

a.      Since we are no longer under The Law, but God's Grace?

                                                                         i.      If we think such a thing, then we completely misunderstand Grace

1.      Calvinism teaches - Once I am "saved", I can do anything and I am still going to heaven.

2.      That is NOT what scripture teaches. Nor does it make any sense.

                                                                      ii.      The Grace God gives us is the Liberty to live a Holy life.

1.      Adam had choice in the garden, the Israelites had a choice in the wilderness, the Jews had a choice in the time of Jesus, and we have a choice today.

2.      Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life..."

                                                                   iii.      Which we do through Christ.

b.     You will serve your master, whoever he is.

                                                                         i.      You are either a slave to Christ, or a slave to Sin

                                                                      ii.      That is what the word servant means

c.      How do you claim allegiance (Loyalty, commitment, faithfulness, duty) to God?

                                                                         i.      You used to be slaves to sin under the Covenant of Law

                                                                      ii.      However, in the Covenant of Grace through Jesus Christ, you COME (a process taking time) to OBEY (being obedient to all Jesus commands) FROM YOUR HEART (not outwardly obeying, but inwardly, even in private) the pattern of teaching (Christ's teaching), THAT has now claimed your allegiance.

               II.            I USE EXAMPLES FROM EVERYDAY LIFE

a.      Because of your human limitations

                                                                         i.      Speaking of sinful man because of the fall of Adam

                                                                      ii.      Sin, making the flesh weak

                                                                   iii.      The constant struggle between our sinful flesh and our spirit rages until we meet with the Lord

                                                                     iv.      Which is stronger? The sinful flesh or the Holy Spirit?

1.      Whichever you feed.

b.     You used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity & ever-increasing wickedness

                                                                         i.      Without Grace and Jesus Christ, the sins you are slave to will become worse and worse.

                                                                      ii.      Sin, like a festering infection, or cancer, only grows if untreated.

c.      NOW offer yourselves as slaves of Righteousness leading to holiness

            III.            THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHOICE

a.      Slaves to SIN were FREE from the control of Righteousness

                                                                         i.      Therefore, also, Slaves to Righteousness are FREE from the control of SIN

b.     What benefit did you reap from being a slave to sin?

                                                                         i.      Because you reap that from which you sow

1.      Job 4:8 "As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it."

2.      Proverbs 11:18 "A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward."

3.      Proverbs 22:8 "Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity..."

4.      Hosea 10:12 "Sow righteousness for yourselves; reap the fruit of unfailing love..."

5.      2 Corinthians 9:6 "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."

6.      Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

                                                                      ii.      What are you sowing?

c.      But now you are FREE from sin

                                                                         i.      Slaves to God and Righteousness

                                                                      ii.      Therefore you are going to reap eternal life

1.      eternal, everlasting, never-ending, timeless life with God

CONCLUSION

Dead to Sin and Alive in Christ.

Two Covenants with God, Law and Grace...Old and New Testaments.

The Law, which shows us our guilt by revealing our sin, to which, if we remain a slave to, the consequence is death.

However, if we are obedient to our new master, the Lord, we will reap everlasting life as opposed to eternal separation from God.

           

Want to learn more about Salvation and Getting Saved?    CLICK HERE!      

Passover Easter Sunday Service

Passover

Easter Sunday Service

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

INTRODUCTION

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE Isaiah 53

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,  and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

       I.            ARM OF THE LORD REVEALED

a.      Who has believed our message?

                                                             i.      Isaiah was written around 800 years before the birth of Jesus

                                                          ii.      Even at this time, Israel was not believing the prophecies of the coming Messiah

                                                       iii.      Even when God had proved Himself to them again and again, their hearts were full of disbelief.

                                                         iv.      Such is the world today.

b.     He grew up before them

                                                             i.      Isaiah then describes the Messiah's childhood.

                                                          ii.      vs 2 "He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground."

                                                       iii.      In God's Eye, the entirety of the Earth was dry ground.

1.      But God's Eye rested with delight upon one tender plant, which had a living root. It was Jesus.

                                                         iv.      The Hebrew verbs used in these verses are known as "perfects of prophetic certitude." Meaning, in the mind of God all has been finished before the foundations of the world and done so in Divine Counsels.

1.      I Peter 1:18-20 "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."

c.      Despised and rejected by mankind

                                                             i.      He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him

                                                          ii.      Nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him

                                                       iii.      Despised and rejected because He was pure Holiness, and the world pure corruption.

1.      Is He despised today? By many, yes!

2.      Why? Because of His Holiness and man's corruption.

   II.            HE BORE OUR SUFFERING

a.      Not cursed by God, but made a curse for us.

                                                             i.      For the sin and unrighteousness He bore was not His own, but ours.

                                                          ii.      The curse, the sin and the punishment were ours to bear.

                                                       iii.      However, because of God's love for us, He paid our debt, so that whomever believes Him, shall not die (the second death), but have everlasting life.

                                                         iv.      He suffered and died, and we hid our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not revere him.

b.     He was wounded for our sins, bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

                                                             i.      The price He had to pay for the redemption of humanity.

                                                          ii.      Many would die for their spouse, most for their children, some for the innocent or freedom, how many give their lives FOR the guilty? The wicked? Those who hate and despise you?

                                                       iii.      His love we cannot comprehend.

                                                         iv.      Our PEACE (knowing that we now can have our eternity) comes from Him.

                                                            v.      Jesus secured a place for us.

c.      He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, He opens not His mouth

                                                             i.      The Lord could have vindicated Himself from every charge.

                                                          ii.      He could have put a stop to His humiliation, suffering and agony.

                                                       iii.      But He kept quiet.

1.      John 1:29 "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world."

                                                         iv.      Everything He suffered was NOT for Himself, or Heaven, but for all of humanity.

III.            ASSIGNED A GRAVE OF THE WICKED

a.      vs 11 "Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand."

                                                             i.      "Determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" Acts 2:23

                                                          ii.      It pleased God because this single self-sacrifice brought about the joy of man's Redemption and Deliverance.

b.     He shall see His offspring

                                                             i.      This refers to "Followers of Christ", or Christians

                                                          ii.      True followers, which include all who were ever "Born again."

                                                       iii.      The prolonging of His day and the prospering of His hand refer to the Resurrection, and the victory at Calvary which restored everything that Adam had lost!

c.       And truly, as Jesus said from the Cross, "It is finished!"

                                                             i.      Through one man, Adam, we lost our relationship with our Father in heaven, as well as our inheritance of everlasting life.

                                                          ii.      The debt owed because of sin is death. Not a physical, for it is appointed to all m en to die once, and after face judgment, but a Spiritual death.

                                                       iii.      But because Jesus has paid that debt, all who call on Him, believe in His word, confess their sin and repent of it, will be saved.

CONCLUSION

            Vs 12 "Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors."

Want to learn more about Salvation and Getting Saved?    CLICK HERE!