Sunday Sermon: Slaves to Righteousness (Romans 6:15-19)

You're listening to the preaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series. Here is Pastor Gabe.

Slaves to Righteousness in Romans 6

Well good morning. Open your Bible with me please to Romans chapter 6. We come back to our study in this chapter of Romans, Romans chapter 6. And as you are doing that, I came across this quote today from Thomas Case, the Puritan who said, it is no small advantage to the holy life to begin the day with God.

The saints are wont to leave their hearts with him overnight, that they may find them with him in the morning. And I hope that has been for you the case today, but even we as saints desire to begin our weeks this way.

That we would start gathering together in the name of Christ to hear his word, to be refreshed and then going through our week to live in righteousness and holiness before him. We continue to hear this call of righteousness that Paul makes here to the saints in Romans chapter 6.

The section that we are looking at today is verses 17, or sorry, verses 15 to 19. In honor of the word of the King, would you please stand. Romans chapter 6, beginning in verse 15. The Apostle Paul writing to the church in Rome, hear the word of the Lord.

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness.

But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness. So now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification.

You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, as we come again to your word, I pray that you guide us in all truth. I pray hearts would be convicted that we may know the call that you have placed upon every person being a call to holiness.

To live in the righteousness of Christ that we as saints of God have been clothed in. We no longer walk after the pattern of this world, but we would desire after the pattern of Christ to be holy as God is holy.

If there be any sinful way in us, may we pray as David prayed, God, search even my hidden faults that we may bring those things before you and be cleansed. Thank you for your continued patience with us.

And in your Holy Spirit, guide and keep us that we may be keepers of the word and doers of those things that we have heard as we read and as we hear this morning. It is in Jesus name that we pray, Amen.

The Sermon on the Mount and the Law of Christ

Matthew chapters 5 through 7 is that section of the Gospel of Matthew that we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount. And there are many debates regarding the sermon as to exactly what context Jesus is giving.

This in.

Some would even argue that the Sermon on the Mount is actually something that comes in a millennial kingdom. That's when we obey it. It is not necessary for us now. But the sermon is quite clear that in the beginning Jesus' disciples come to him and he teaches them saying.

Though the crowds are there, it is not the crowds to whom these things are being delivered. It is specifically to his disciples. A word that means learner. Those who have come to Christ to learn from him and desire to obey him.

Martin Lloyd-Jones in his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount has said, I don't give the Sermon on the Mount to an unbeliever. It would be a kind of heresy to do such a thing because an unbeliever is incapable of keeping that which Christ commands his followers to do.

But as we have read about in Romans chapter 6, we who are in Christ have been brought from death to life that we may live in the truth that God gives and the commands that he issues. Only those who have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us, who have been set free from the bondage of sin, are capable of doing those things that God commands.

And so therefore, the Sermon on the Mount is a manifesto given to a Christian people. Here is how we as Christians now should live. And those who are in Christ, none of these commands, these instructions that Jesus gives here to his disciples are too difficult for us to bear.

It is in Matthew chapter 5 verse 17 that Jesus says this about the law,. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. And even the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans says, do we overthrow the law by this faith?

By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. Jesus goes on to say, For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

And hear what Jesus says in verse 20,. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of God. Now here's the good news. The righteousness that Christ demands is also the righteousness that he gives.

And if we are in Christ Jesus, then indeed, brethren, we can say proudly to the glory of his name and not to the boasting of ourselves that we do have righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

We have been given the righteousness of Christ. And I bring that to your attention because as we hear the things that are being spoken to us here in Romans chapter six, to not be a slave to sin, but instead live according to the righteous standard that we have been called, this is not too high a demand for the people of God who have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Prior to that, it would have been impossible for us to fulfill this. But now in Christ Jesus, it is our joy to hear that we must walk in newness of life. And so we come back again to Romans six in this section where Paul describes us as being slaves of righteousness.

No longer slaves to sin, as we read about last week, but now slaves to righteousness doing that to which now we are in bondage. We've been set free from sin. We are slaves of Christ and therefore slaves of his righteousness.

Here in the passage this morning, we pick up with the statement Paul made at the end of the section that we looked at last week. You are not under the law, but under grace. I want to take a moment to recap that statement as well as draw even some more comfort and assurance from it.

But you'll notice that it's launched right out of that statement that Paul then asked this question, are we to sin because we are not under the law, but under grace, anticipating a question that would be asked by his debaters.

So as we look at this section today, we're going to see how Paul says we're either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. That's in verses 15 to 16. And then he calls us, calls all saints, all believers to be slaves instead to righteousness.

That's in verses 17 to 18. And then finally, we read of righteousness leading to sanctification in verse 19. So first of all, let's come back again to verses 15 and 16 where we hear and we understand that we are either slaves to sin or we are slaves to righteousness.

Paul says here, what then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? And this is that Greek phrase again, mygenoita, by no means. At the start of the chapter, Paul answered this hypothetical question.

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. This was in response to that charge that the gospel you're preaching means that we can just sin. We can apparently sin to the glory of God because we just go right on sinning so that His grace may abound.

And Paul says no, by no means. You've completely missed the point if that's the conclusion that you're coming to. How can we who died to sin still live in sin? If in coming to Christ I have put to death the deeds of the flesh that I may live by His Holy Spirit inside of me, then how could I go on living in that which brings death?

How could I go on living in sin? How would that be a testament to being risen again in Christ? If it is to be understood that I've been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me, then how can Christ living in me be compelling me to sin?

So by no means should we go on sinning that grace may abound. And here in verse 15, Paul again anticipates a question that is in response to his previous statement. This was the statement that we ended with last week.

Look at it again up in verse 14. For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace. Now, that's a promise. That is a statement of assurance. In verse 12, Paul said, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey.

Its passions.

That's an imperative. That's an exhortation.

That's a command.

But in verse 14, it's a promise. Now that you have been raised from death to life, sin will have no dominion over you. You are not under the rule and the control of sin, though the Christian has occasions of falling into sin.

We considered that last week. Yet we will not be mastered by our sin. Rather, we master over our sin. If someone has ever confronted you and convicted you over your sin, haven't you felt guilty? Being caught, being exposed, and perhaps it was a guilt that was already there, but now having brought it to light, you feel even all the more compelled to confess and admit the wrong that you've done.

Even if your initial response is to deny and cover it up, as time goes on, there's just nothing that you can do to shake the guilt that you feel until you come clean, as the.

Saying goes.

Listen to these words from Psalm 32. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

That's something that we in Arizona can relate to. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of.

My sin.

There are a lot of people in this world that are carrying around guilt that they have yet to confess, and it is driving them mad. And they look for all manner of things to try to cover it up. Sin upon sin, drugs, even binge watching TV for hours upon hours, or wasting time on the internet, whatever it might happen to be.

Just something else to get my mind occupied or dull the feeling that I have to ignore the guilt that I feel because of my sin. Now, to confess your sin is more than just admitting, yeah, I did that. Because I know lots of people that admit to doing wicked things, but they don't even acknowledge that they're wicked.

To confess sin is to say, I know what I've done and that it's evil. I know that it is an offense to God. And what I deserve for this is judgment. And it's acknowledging this before God so that we may receive forgiveness from God, that He may cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and that we may go on and live righteously unto His name.

As John said, your sins are forgiven for His namesake. What a burden is lifted from us when we confess our sins and receive His forgiveness. And my friends, a priest can't give that to you. It is not by the hand or the will of man that is said to you, my child, your sins are forgiven.

No one can give that to you. You know the forgiveness of God because you have read in His Word that His grace is sufficient for you, that He has forgiven our sins for His namesake. Listen to how Psalm 32 begins, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is.

No deceit.

The Holy Spirit convicts our conscience. It says to us in Hebrews 12 that the Lord does this because He loves us. In Revelation chapter 3, Jesus saying to the church at Laodicea, Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

And He will keep burning us with that holy fire until we cannot take it anymore, and we have to come to God in order to have the fire put out. A person whose sins have been forgiven, and he is not walking in it nor in pursuit of that sin anymore.

That is a person who has mastered his sin. And he's done it by the power of the Holy Spirit within him. So therefore, sin will have no dominion over you. Later when we get to chapter 8, we read,. In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

We are conquerors in the sense that we have gained victory over those things that used to be our masters. Now they have become our slaves. Now when temptation comes, it doesn't control you. You take that thought captive and you conform your mind to that of Jesus Christ.

That sin that was once over you is now under you, under your feet on your way to sanctification. And it's more than just not doing sin, but contrary to that unrighteousness that we used to walk in, now we walk in righteousness.

Now your desire, now what you are compelled to do is that which God has called you to do. And it is your delight and your joy to do that which is good and right in the eyes of God. So again, we read here, This is a promise that sin will have no dominion over you, and furthermore a promise that you are not under the law but under grace.

Something that I didn't make a point of last week, when we read this, you are not under the law but under grace, the word law here is not strictly the Mosaic law. Consider again that in verse 15 it says, Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?

There's no definite article there like there was in verse 14. Verse 14 says the law, but verse 15 simply says, in the Greek, the word is nomos, you are not under law but under grace. And I went to the Greek to make sure there was no definite article there that the ESV translators just forgot to include.

There's no definite article. So it's not the law. It's just you are not under law but under grace. Now, why do I bring that point out? Because there are teachers out there who want to say that whenever this word law appears in Romans, it's always and only in reference to the Mosaic law.

And that's not true. The reason why they say this is because they're trying to establish a basis for a doctrine of justification by faith plus works. Remember that in Romans 4, 5, Paul said, To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

They want to be able to say that the one who does not do works of the law. So it's not just any kinds of works. It's works of the law. Galatians 2, 16, Paul says, By works of the law, no one will be justified.

So they want to say that Paul was only making reference to the Mosaic law, but there are other works, new works now that one must do in order to be justified. And that's nonsense. Dare I say it's heresy.

We cannot do works unto our being justified before God. You are not under any kind of law of works righteousness. Because if you were under that law, you would be condemned. You could never be saved. I cannot do anything to merit my justification.

If I could, then grace would not be grace. And this whole statement would be a moot point. You are not under the law, but under grace. If I'm still under some kind of law of works, then how could grace possibly be grace?

Now I've had these occasions in my life, and you've probably had in yours as well, of questioning my salvation. I've even wondering myself, am I damned? What if my destiny is hell and not heaven? And when I have hit those occasions and I've hit those situations, I don't look at the works I've done to be assured of my salvation.

Because that's exactly how I got into this problem. I started looking at myself and wondering, have I done everything right? Am I doing everything that I need to do in order to inherit the kingdom of God?

I've fallen short here. Will I ever do it as well as I need to do it? And I continue to look at my own works and my own steps and seeing how far short I fall and that I'm never going to get there by my works.

And that's when I begin to doubt. That's when I begin to ask the question, am I really saved? Am I really going to inherit eternal life? And so I don't look at the works I've done. When I'm looking toward assurance, it's not looking at myself, but I look to Christ.

I look at the work that He has done by His grace. And it's looking at what He has done and the love of God shown to me through Christ's death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, even the promise of eternal life that I have in Christ Jesus, the promise, the words that God has spoken through His prophets and apostles.

It's coming back to these things, looking at Christ, that I find assurance of my salvation and not myself. And so knowing then that in Christ Jesus, we are truly saved. Then we understand we're not under law.

We are under grace. And if you're saved, you're saved. If God saved you, no one can take that away from you. Jesus saying in John 10 verses 28 to 29, no one can snatch them from my hand. I give them eternal life.

My father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one. It is one of the greatest verses I come back to over and over again when it comes to assurance.

No one can snatch them from my hand, not even you. You cannot snatch yourself out of God's hand. If you go back to the sin that you're in bondage in, back to the world to perish with them in the judgment of God, then you were never saved from it.

You were still and always in it. But if we have been set free from that bondage of sin, then we are not under the law by which all sinners will be judged. Christ has fulfilled that for us on our behalf.

And we are now under the grace of God who forgives all our sins and our transgressions. You will not have perfectly repented of every sin when you walk up to heaven's gates, and God will receive you into His kingdom anyway.

Because the righteousness that we are clothed in is not ours, but Christ's. And so then now in the grace of God, this question is asked, are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means.

And again, if that's the conclusion that you're coming to, that we just sin because we're under grace, then you've missed the point. Do you not know, Paul says, that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.

Now, we considered this last week, how everyone is in bondage to sin. So were we before we were set free in Christ. They are slaves to the one whom they obey, and that's their own flesh. Now, there are certainly believers out there who have managed to master all kinds of passions of the flesh.

Drug addicts have managed to get off drugs and stay off drugs. And the gospel didn't have anything to do with it. Alcoholics have given up the bottle. Adulterers have stopped committing adultery. Murderers stopped murdering.

I read a story not long ago of a woman who used to work in an abortion clinic, and she was appalled by what she witnessed there. And so she ended up leaving that abortion clinic and became an advocate for life, but she didn't become a Christian.

I've read more than one story like that, actually, including names you might recognize, as a matter of fact. But this does not mean, just because they've managed to give up some great sin in their life, does not mean that they've been set free from the bondage of sin.

Being enslaved to sin is not about specific sinful acts that a person does. It's a condition. A person may think that they've gained mastery over a former addiction, and they'll even celebrate it. I've been sober for two years as of this Monday, or something like that.

But they boast in their own righteousness. And what is that called? Self-righteousness. Which is what?

It's sin.

They're still in bondage. To their sin. They may have given up this sin or that sin, but then they'll just go on finding other sins. They don't submit the members of their bodies as members for righteousness.

The exhortation that we read last week in verse 13. They continue to submit the members of their bodies as instruments for unrighteousness. The sins they do are just evidence of the bondage that they are still in.

The opposite should be the case for us. The righteous things we do should be evidence that we've been set free from that sin. Even being convicted over sin and confessing sin. This is what people do who are not in bondage to sin.

We're no longer slaves to sin. We've been made slaves to righteousness. And that's what we read in verses 17 to 18. So look at that portion now. Verse 17. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.

And having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. This is like when Paul says in Ephesians 2, you were dead in your sins and your transgressions in which you once walked. Now, remember he's addressing Christians there to whom he can say, you were dead in your sins and your transgressions in which you once walked.

And here he says to Christians in Rome, you were once slaves of sin and have now become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. Now, admittedly, I think there's something missing from this particular translation.

Literally, it's a little more punchy than this. The majority text doesn't say the standard of teaching to which you were committed. It sounds more like that form of doctrine where unto ye were delivered.

Let me read to you verse 17 in the Legacy Standard Bible. It says, but thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were given over.

So you once had been given over to the way of sin, but now you have been given over to the teaching of righteousness. You're enslaved to one of two masters, either unrighteousness or righteousness. You're enslaved to one of two doctrines, either a doctrine of sin that leads to death or a doctrine of righteousness that leads to life.

You've heard me ask this question before. Do you believe that there is a doctrine that damns? And do you also believe that there is a doctrine that saves? If one believes and follows this teaching, whether they would understand it as a teaching, it leads to sin, which leads to death.

But if someone follows this teaching that we have heard from the gospel and then that other teaching that flows from the gospel that leads to godliness, it does not destroy us, but rather it sanctifies, it saves, it delivers us unto glory.

And this is the doctrine that we have now become subject to by the Holy Spirit that we may live in it and gain our sanctification as we'll read here in a moment in verse 19. So you're either a slave to sin or you're a slave to Christ.

You are either a servant of Satan or a servant of God. You're either subject to the truth or you're subject to lies. It really is that black and white. It is that either or. It is that binary. Many people believe that we can be in the state of neutrality.

We're either religious or not religious. Like there's this secular neutral zone in which a person or a people haven't really chosen a side yet. We think that even society can be this way. Let's just let the law be irreligious.

It's not Christian. It's not Islam. It's not even strictly atheist. Separation of church and state. Let man govern by his own laws. Let people pick their own way. But that's a fiction. Nothing is that way.

Our rulers either serve God or they serve someone else. People either live by truth or they live by lies. Yet there are even Christians who believe that we should just let the culture or let the society be neutral.

And I have wonder if for Christians, this is born out of C .S. Lewis's God-shaped hole analogy. In his book, Mere Christianity, Lewis presented that there is an inherent emptiness inside of every person that can only be filled with God.

But people try to fill it with everything else but God. Now, Lewis was just giving an analogy. But I wonder if many people haven't extrapolated that out and drawn the conclusion that this mystical hole is just empty neutral space.

A person is not beholden to anything until they try to fill that hole. And whatever they fill that hole with, that's what they're devoted to. But that's not what scripture says. We're not born with an emptiness and God is waiting around to see what we're gonna fill it with.

Oh, I hope he picks me. As we've read here in Romans, we're born fallen. We are born with the sin nature of Adam and our desire is to rebel against God and go our own way. Psalm 58 .3, the wicked are estranged from the womb.

They go astray from birth, speaking lies. Infants are not neutral. Your child sins because your child is your child. And you are a sinner too, in case I need to make that point. And Paul has been using two analogies here regarding our sinful condition, death and bondage.

We are born physically alive, but we are spiritually dead. And this is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Listen to what J .C. Ryle says regarding being born again.

To be born again is to enter into a new existence, to have a new mind and a new heart, new views, new principles, new tastes, new affections, new likes, new dislikes, new fears, new joys, new sorrows, new love for things once hated, new hatred toward things once loved, new thoughts of God, ourselves, the world, the life to come, and salvation.".

As we've heard from 2 Corinthians 5 .17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, the new things have come. And Peter said in 1 Peter 2 .24 -25, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By His wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. In being born again, we are set free from sin and quickened to understand and become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.

Being to which you were committed does not mean that we committed ourselves to that teaching. To which you were committed means the Holy Spirit committed us to it. I remind you again of the words of Ezekiel 36 .26 -27, which says, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove that heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules. He has caused this in us, not by our will but by His mercy and His grace to us. We had no inclination in ourselves to seek out God or His rules, let alone obey them.

When we heard God's rules, what was our sinful inclination in response? To rebel against it. It's like there are things that you don't think about doing until you hear somebody tell you don't do it. And then our sinful inclinations go, you know, I think I'll try that now that you mention it.

When we heard God's rules, our sinful natures become all the more stubborn to disobey them. But it is by His grace that He has given His Spirit to give us life, to take out that stubborn heart of stone and give us a new heart that not only understands the gospel but responds to it.

We are compelled to faith and in faith to obedience from the heart to this standard of teaching that God has committed us to.

Amen.

From Death to Life and Slavery to Freedom

So we've not only had this analogy of being brought from death to life, but we've also had this analogy of being set free from bondage. Though a man may be born in the land of the free and the home of the brave, he is born in bondage to his sin.

In Christ, we have been set free. And if the Son sets you free, then you are free indeed. Listen again to J .C. Ryle. Those set free by Christ are free from the power of sin. Sin no longer rules and reigns in their hearts and overtakes them like a flood.

Through the power of Christ's Spirit, they restrain the deeds of their bodies and crucify their flesh with its affections and lusts. Through his grace working in them, they get the victory over their evil inclinations.

The flesh may fight, but it does not conquer them. The devil may tempt and harass, but does not overcome them. They are no longer the slave of lusts and passion and obsession and moods. In all these things, they are more than conquerors through him who loved them.

This is true liberty. This is what it means to truly be set free.". I've shared this with you before. When I was in Christian Radio, there was an artist named Aaron Benward, and his debut single was a song called Captured.

And the main line of the chorus was, The moment you set me free was the moment you captured me. I will gladly, with joy, be a slave of Christ. For I am set free from my sin and made obedient unto his name.

Praise God. And this righteousness that we have now, being a slave to righteousness, is not merely a change in condition or a particular point in time where we once were this, and now on the other side of that point, now we're this.

There is something else that's happening here and continuing to happen for us who are in the righteousness that Christ has given. Let's look at verse 19. Paul says, I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations.

For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and the lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to.

Sanctification as the Goal of Righteousness

Sanctification.

So here we are told of righteousness that is leading to sanctification. This righteousness is taking us somewhere. And then we have righteousness that won't change, yet we are growing in holiness. As we are being sanctified and being made more like Christ.

Now this expression that Paul uses here at the start of verse 19, I'm speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. This is with regards to the two analogies that he's been using. Death and bondage.

You're not literally dead, you're spiritually dead. It is difficult for us in our physical limitations to try to grasp that concept. How do you have a concept of spiritually dead but now I'm spiritually alive?

Do you even know at what point in your life that took place? I was dead and then boom after this millisecond I was suddenly alive. Or even with regards to bondage and being set free. We were not in bondage to chains of some kind.

Even in a spiritual sense we couldn't feel those chains. If a veil were to be lifted from before our eyes and we could have looked into that veil to see who we were in our sinful state of slavery, we would not have seen, oh there's that guy in those spiritual chains looking him bound to the ground, fastened in stocks, there's nothing that he can do.