WWUTT 1246 Let Not Sin Reign in Your Mortal Body? (Romans 6:12-14)

Romans 6 .12 says let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. You're going to have to serve somebody. You will be enslaved to something. Be enslaved to Christ when we understand the text.

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Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Slavery to Sin or Righteousness in Romans 6

Thank you, Becky. You all are here today because you need a little Romans, right? Yeah, let's get back to it. Romans chapter 6, I'm going to start reading in verse 12 and we'll go through to the end of the chapter.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to 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.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

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. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Amen and amen. So we've been talking about this since last week when we started in on Romans chapter six that we're supposed to commit ourselves no longer to sin, that we may obey its passions, but we have committed ourselves as slaves to a new master, and that is righteousness.

If you are born again in Christ, you're no longer under the federal headship of Adam, but you are under the federal headship of Christ, then there are going to be changes in your actions that will demonstrate that you are under new authority, no longer under the authority of the passions of your flesh, but you are under the authority of the righteousness of Christ, which has been given to all who believe in and follow and worship him.

We come back to verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. As the famous songwriter Bob Dylan once said, everyone's got to serve somebody. You are a servant of something, whether you want to be or not, you are enslaved to something.

Now that is unthinkable in our Western context where that concept of slavery is like the most evil thing ever because of the sin of American slavery that exists in the history of the nation in which I live.

So slavery is always negative. There's nothing ever positive about it. How dare you ever say anything that could be positive about slavery or that you should be enslaved to something? How dare you? We're going to talk about this a little bit more tomorrow because that's where we actually see the word slave get used there in verse 15, but it comes from the Greek word doulos, which simply means slave.

There are some that translate this as bond servant, but there's no way around it. It's slave. You're either a slave to sin or you are a slave to righteousness. And here in verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

You are under the control of sin or you are under the control of righteousness. Who are you enslaved to? You are not as free as you think you are. And the more that you study this, the more that you realize the concept of free will is just simply absurd.

You are made to disobey by the thing that you are enslaved to sin, passions of your flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, uh, going after the, the sin nature that you have inherited from Adam.

You don't have any control in any of that. You are under that pattern because that is your nature to do that. Just like a, a pig's nature is to wallow in the mire. A dog's nature is to run back to its own vomit.

Your nature is to do what is sinful and in rebellion against God. Now that doesn't mean that you are as sinful as you could be, but it still means that you are from the very core of your being rebellious against God.

You are not seeking God. Everything that you do is against God. Even good and nice things that you might do for somebody else are still done in rebellion because it's to proclaim yourself as righteous.

It's to say, see, look how good I can be without God. I've got siblings that believe this way. I have friends that I grew up with in high school who went to youth group and went to church all the way through high school, a little bit in college.

And then, you know, some college professor challenged their ideas and they fell away. They realized, oh yeah, I never thought about that before. I guess God isn't real. And so they turned away from Christianity.

Some of those persons I still get in contact with every once in a while. And they will say, when I ask about, hey, we were, we were always so faithful to Christ. We were, you know, wore the WWJD bracelets and all this stuff when we were in high school.

What happened to you? They will say, I learned that I could be good without God more often than not. That's the response that they get. I learned that I didn't have to be a Christian to be a good person.

That is, that is wretched sinfulness. That is the height of blasphemy to say, I know better about moral goodness than the creator of the universe who has established all things. You are not in your free will when you go about life that way.

You are enslaved to a passion of your flesh. You are enslaved to the fallen nature of man that has been passed down through mankind ever since Adam fell in the garden. He is your prophet, priest, and king.

Adam, before you come to Christ, is your prophet, priest, and king. A friend of ours came over to the house the other night and was talking about that with me and Becky. How Adam is our prophet, priest, and king before Christ becomes our prophet, priest, and king.

And then in Christ, you likewise are with him in his ministry as prophet, priest, and king. So all three of these offices are offices of anointing. A prophet becomes a prophet by an anointing, as does a priest and as does a king.

Think of 1 Samuel 16, where David is anointed the next king of Israel after Saul. So all three of these particular offices are offices that receive an anointing by God. By some way, we would even say that rulers on this earth receive that anointing as well.

Doesn't mean that they live up to a holy anointing, but God is the one who has appointed the rulers of the nations to ultimately accomplish his will. So let's consider how Adam is our prophet, priest, and king.

Well, what does a prophet do? A prophet testifies to the people of the word of God. What was Adam's responsibility in the Garden of Eden? God gave him the command that he was to eat of every tree, but not this one.

For the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. It was Adam's job to tell that to Eve, and he did not proclaim it to Eve, did not even protect her in the understanding of that word. And then when another word came along, she listened to the false prophet instead of the true prophet and therefore became fallen.

Adam was even with her. It says that in Genesis 3, she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. How is Adam our priest? Well, the priest is the one who intercedes on our behalf before God, and he did not intercede for his wife.

Nor did Adam intercede for us as he was the representative for the entire human race. And as king, the king is the one who governs over a people by his word and his spirit. Well, in the case of Adam, that word and that spirit is fallen and sin-filled.

It's full of lies and death. And therefore, that's what we receive when we are born under that headship of Adam. But when you are born again in Christ, think of who Christ is as our prophet, priest, and king.

He testifies to us the word of God, and every word he says is true. No lies. Everything is exactly as God would proclaim it to us. He is our priest interceding on our behalf before God. In 1 Timothy 2, it says there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man, Christ Jesus.

In 1 John 2, it says that he is our advocate before the father. He is our king in that he governs us by his word and his spirit, and his word is true and his spirit is pure. So then, likewise, when you become a Christian, when you become a follower of Christ, you share in that work of prophet, priest, and king.

You are a prophet in the sense that you testify of the word of God, the word of God that is in the Bible, not these random visions and voices and stuff like that that you get in your mind. You share in the ministry of priest in the sense that you intercede on behalf of others before God.

And as king, you are seated with him in Christ in the heavenly places. Talked about in Colossians 3, Jesus to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, to him who conquers, I will give a place for him to sit with me on my throne.

So we reign with Christ by his word and his spirit. And in this way, he is our prophet, priest, and king. And we also share in this ministry as well when we call ourselves Christians. All of this to say, you are enslaved to someone.

You are either following after the pattern of Adam and his sin nature, and that's what you're walking in, or you are enslaved to Christ and you walk in his righteousness. And this is the statement that's being proclaimed since we've been in Romans 5 all the way into Romans 6, where now we're talking about sanctification and walking in holiness.

The Peace of Christ and the Call to Present Your Members to God

So the charge in verse 12 is let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Well, what would be the contrast of this? The contrast would be let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

This is the instruction that Paul gives to the Colossians in Colossians chapter three. I'm going to start in verse 15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. So what should be reigning over you is the peace of Christ.

And remember, Paul describes this in Philippians 4 as a peace that surpasses all understanding. When we talk about the peace of Christ, we're not just talking about a relaxation in the body or an absence of conflict in the world.

We're talking about peace with God. We are no longer at enmity with God. We are united with God through faith in Christ. We have the guarantee of eternal life. We have fellowship with him. We have adoption into his family as sons and daughters of God.

So if that's the peace that you have by faith in Christ, let it rule your heart. Not sin, because that would be enmity with God. If you're going after unrighteousness and you're going after wickedness and evil, the sinful passions of your flesh.

You know, when we talk about evil, we're not talking about don't become Hitler. Whenever we talk about evil things, that's generally where people's mind, that's where their mind goes. Well, I'm not an evil dictator.

Okay, right. But your desire to do anything that is apart from God is evil. Anything, even I'm going to do something nice for my neighbor, but not give God glory for it. That would be that would be evil.

Again, the statement that my siblings make and that some of my past acquaintances make and people that I encounter just on the street and share the gospel with. I can be good without God. That's evil.

Jesus said to his own disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, you are evil. If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give to those who ask of him?

So, yeah, we're all evil. We all have evil inclinations in our heart. When we believe in Christ, he reorients our desires from those things which are evil, which are which are of the flesh, the sinful desires of the body and the mind.

And instead, we desire to do what is pleasing to the Lord. So, again, coming back to Colossians 315, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.

You have that desire to be thankful unto God because God put that desire in you through his Holy Spirit. Rejoice that you're enslaved to righteousness and not enslaved to sin. That's not something that you should be sitting down going.

I don't want to be enslaved to anything. You're enslaved to someone. Rejoice that you are enslaved to Christ and not Adam or Satan or the passions of your own flesh or the pattern of this world. Be thankful that you're a slave of Christ.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Who knew that in 2020, the instruction to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs would become so countercultural, even illegal, according to the minds of some power hungry governors in our United States right now.

Anyway, just speaking of one at the moment, and that would be Gavin Newsom in California. Go back and listen to the Friday edition of the broadcast if you don't know what I'm talking about. I've got to keep going here.

Sanctification by the Word, Not Free Will

Let not sin reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Verse 13, Romans 6, 13. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

And Paul is going to summarize this when you get to Romans 12, 1, where he says, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies to God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing unto the Lord. And this is your spiritual act of worship.

Now, you may say to yourself, well, just a moment ago, Pastor Dave, you said we don't have free will. And now you're saying that verse 13 says, don't present yourselves to members as do not present. Let me try that again.

Now you're saying verse 13 says, do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. If we don't have free will, then how would we be able to follow that instruction?

That's a very good question. How would you be able to follow that instruction? You're able to follow that instruction because God has given you a new heart that does not desire to do the sinful thing, but instead desires to do the righteous thing.

And with this new heart, you got to have commands that you have to follow to demonstrate that your heart has been changed and to demonstrate a growth in holiness and sanctification. There are instructions that you must follow and you demonstrate in following these commandments that you are growing in holiness and righteousness.

Those commandments are the commands of God. They're even the law of God. Jesus said in his high priestly prayer in John 17, 17, sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. How are we sanctified by the word of God?

By just reading it. James chapter one says, do not just be hearers of the word, but also be doers of the word. Do what it says. You can be a hearer of the word, and that gives you no benefit at all. You must be a doer of the word, and you can only be a doer of the word if you have a heart that is inclined to obey God.

So now having been given a new heart, God gives you instructions that are written on your heart that you may obey it with those members that have been submitted to God as instruments for righteousness.

Free will know a new will. You had an old will that desired to go after sinful, wretched things. You have a new will that desires to do the things of God. And all of this is by the will of God. Philippians 2, 13, it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So with this new heart, this new heart of ours, we no longer want to do the unrighteous thing. We want to do the righteous thing. So present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

And the person who has a new heart for God is going to hear that instruction, and they're going to go, Amen, I'm doing it. Amen, Lord Jesus, for you, my king, my glory. Here I am. I give you all of myself.

Do with me as you will. And it is your delight to do so. Not to resist God, not to go after sin, not even to look back at it and go, Oh, but I still want to do that thing. No righteousness. That's your orientation.

That's your focus. That's what you want. That is your delight to do. Verse 14, for sin will have no dominion over you. It doesn't reign over you anymore to make you obey its passions since you are not under law, but under grace.

Now, as I've said, as we've been going through this study in Romans, that doesn't mean the law has no function. The law is our delight. Psalm 119, the love song to God for his law. We love God's law. It's not like we want that part of our Bible up and throw it away or doing as Andy Stanley says, unhitching ourselves from the Old Testament.

How are we going to be sanctified if we're not sanctified in the word of God? Since since his word is truth, but we're not under the law in the sense that we're not being judged by that law. We have the righteousness of Christ.

Our sins have been forgiven. They have been washed away. We have a new heart. The law is no longer on on stone tablets written outside of ourselves that we had no ability to keep. It is now written on our hearts that we may keep it and do it and do so to the glory and praise of God, our king.

So we're not under the law, the law. That's absolutely true. Scripture says it. I affirm it. I preach it. You are no longer under the law. You are not being judged by the law since you could not keep the law and you kept failing at it at every point, breaking it and sinning and disobeying.

You are under grace and under the grace of God. You are keeping God's law, which is a delight for you to obey and walk in as members of righteousness. How do you know what righteousness is if not for the commands of God?

So where we see in scripture, submit yourselves as instruments for righteousness. What does righteousness look like? Look to the commands of Jesus. Do what he says and you will be walking in righteousness.

All those who are in him and have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this today, and I pray that it convicts our spirits, convicts our souls, that we no longer be going after the worldly, earthly things.

We don't desire the stuff of this world, which is perishing and coming into judgment, but we desire a heavenly kingdom and we want to walk in the ways of a kingdom people of God. Teach us those things day by day.

Teach us to love you today with our whole heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves and doing all of this to the praise of God, our King. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .tt .com and click on the give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.