we turn tonight in the bible to romans chapter 6 romans chapter 6 we're continuing our study through the book of romans if you're visiting with us and tonight we come to verses 12 to the end of the chapter of romans 6 still dealing with this new life and how we are to think as christians about the problem the ongoing struggle with sin and sin in our lives and that is um romans 6 tonight so we're going to look at verses 12 to the end of the chapter and let's give our attention to god's word 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 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'm 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 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 gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word we've often struggled uh in reading the scriptures with certain verses uh that seem maybe to confuse us on an initial reading um verses with regard to sin that can be rather confusing for us i mean take for instance first john whoever abides in him does not sin whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him or uh take uh john 8 most assuredly i say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin what does that mean what does that mean that whoever abides in christ no longer now is is he saying that we're done with sin whoever commits any sin is a slave of sin how do you how do you read that how do we think through those kind of statements what is the difference i commit sin you commit sin then what does that mean i'm a slave to sin how do we understand that what romans has been saying to us uh paul under the inspiration of the spirit in chapter 6 what he's been saying to us is that there is a crucial difference between the believers relationship now to sin and the non-believers there's a difference between the two and romans 6 is all about that tonight romans 6 is about helping you to understand that and to think through that because uh paul knows that this is a very difficult issue for people how do we think about the problem the ongoing problem of sin if we're redeemed and that's uh really the purpose of the second half of romans 6 tonight that essentially if we could boil it down to a very simple statement he is calling us to be who we already are as new creatures under the grace of christ he's calling us to be who we already are and because the dominion of the old man has been shattered he is encouraging the christian now because that is true to fight it's a fight it's not over don't lay down you've enlisted you've enlisted in a great fight fight what is a real and what is an ongoing battle that is happening in your life that is exactly what roman 6 is about and i love this tonight i love it because notice the way that it's motivating us to do this the way that we're being called to deal with sin in our lives as christians in the life of sanctification boys and girls growing in holiness growing and becoming christ-like in the ongoing fight against sin in the great work of grace notice that he is rooting it all in the grace that we've already received in other words as paul has been uh doing he's not running around to christians and saying listen jesus died stop sinning or else it's not what he's doing is it his approach is radically different than that and that's very important for us to grapple with and understand tonight the scriptures in the life of grace being under grace take an entirely different approach in dealing with the christian an approach that goes like this since you are already raised with christ now respond this way that's the approach and that's roman 6 he is saying since jesus died remember uh verse 2 what happened to you you die since he was buried guess what happened to your old self it was buried since he was raised up guess what happened to you brand new life raised up that's how he wants you to think look at the life of christ see that and realize by faith being joined to him that is true of you so this is where we've come so far in romans 6 and so tonight he takes it even a step further for us to understand this since you are new be who you are and take seriously the fight against sin that you might glorify god in your bodies take seriously the fight and what an encouragement for us tonight because he encourages the christian in the ongoing struggle with sin in His freedom. And I hope that by the time we're done with that, in the freedom, that we understand what that means a little more. For the first time in the book of Romans, in verse 11, He told you to do something. First time. Hasn't been telling you to do anything so far. That's been a lot of doctrine, hasn't it? It's been a lot of descriptions of what the Lord has done for you. And for the first time in Romans, verse 6 verse 11 he tells you to do something and did you notice what he told you to do since god has reckoned you righteous since he has accounted you righteous dead to sin now you do it you reckon yourselves dead to sin but alive to him learn to think of yourself this way learn to go through life thinking i'm dead i'm alive now i've got to count what he's already accounted to me now i've got to think that way of myself and that is premised and dependent upon the truth of what jesus said in john 8 when he said you shall know the truth and the truth shall do what set you free you're free now paul knew that's the most difficult thing for the christian to understand and to live in freedom very hard for christians to live in freedom and so what romans 6 is doing tonight ultimately is describing two different principles at work and there's one of the most important statements for understanding the new life that is made in verse 14 and i just i believe this is absolutely crucial for understanding what he's doing here tonight notice what he says in verse 14 he says sin shall no longer have dominion over you it will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace that is a crucial verse a crucial verse a misunderstood verse but an absolutely crucial verse this is all over the scriptures contrasting these things john would say right out of the gates the law came through moses but grace and truth came through jesus christ notice there's this constant contrast of law and grace going on everywhere and paul just made a crucial distinction there when he said you as christians are no longer under the law you're under grace now again this all goes back to thinking how we are to think about ourselves now and so the question that comes out is if you were to contrast this what would be the difference what would be the crucial difference since he made the contrast here what would a life look like being under the law and what would a life look like being under grace because paul sees it as pretty radical paul has told us that whatever the law says remember back to chapter 3 whatever the law says what does the law say don't don't don't right you shall do this do not murder do not do this the law were commanding the life whatever the law says paul said in back in chapter romans chapter 3 he said it is says to those who are under the law that every mouth might be stopped now who did god put under the law israel and you see that whole phenomenon on sinai things got really dark didn't it and the law paul said was given and then he said when the law when they were put under the law we should look at israel and it we should go like this stop up the mouth because we have no excuse before god because paul says by the laws the knowledge of what sin so when sinai happened and the commandments were given Israel was put under the law to teach the whole world that everyone's guilty that was the basic fundamental purpose and the wilderness experience was not real good for a lot of them was it and we should look at Israel in the wilderness and say whoa being under the law is not something i ever want to be under i don't really want to be under the law because i don't want to go through that and this is what the lord was teaching us by putting israel under the law and that's why he's using israel as an example we'll see this in in chapter 10 and uh he here in chapter 4 remember he made that very important statement in fact if you look back you don't have to paul said in chapter 4 the law brings about wrath so paul's made this distinction here the old life in adam and the new life in christ and at the end of chapter 5 he said the law entered that the offense might abound what does the law do well you know this i've used the simple illustration that when you take a chocolate cookie and you put it in front of a kid and you say don't what does he want to do eat it and the law just aroused the sin didn't it that was in the heart now he wants to do it because he was told don't do it so that's what paul says the law entered that the offense might abound it increased it it showed it it showed what was going on in the heart now it showed everyone the problem of sin and to be under the law then meant this to be under the law meant you had to keep all of its demands when people were under the law there was a threat wasn't there the lord came and he said do it or else that's why our heidelberg picks it up and galatians picks it up when it says the curse of the law this is how it speaks the curse of the law was do this and live in other words cursed is everyone who does not continue to do all things written in the book of the law to do them god said i don't just want you to try hard you need to do all of it that's my standard i don't accept half efforts that's under the law god gave his law here's the standard of perfection but here's the problem tonight beloved the law never and it does not lead to righteousness shocking the law itself is unable to produce righteousness it condemns us that's the problem of the human heart and so the bible will contrast two kinds of ministries. It will say in 2 Corinthians 3, there's the ministry of condemnation, which was that of the law, and then there's the ministry of righteousness, which is that of the Holy Spirit and grace. And this is really important tonight that we have some basic understanding of the contrast of law and grace, because if we confuse this, Paul is saying you're not going to get how to deal with the ongoing problem of sin in your life. You're not going to know how to think about it you're not going to know what to think about sin and where you stand in relation to it and so paul says to the christian i want you to know god's not speaking to you as under the law but he's speaking to you as under grace and what's the beauty of being spoken to under grace tonight think of the practical consequence of that think of the practical outplay of that have you ever thought for a minute of the two different kinds of ministries the ministry of putting people under the law and the ministry of grace the difference here there's two ways you could do it let's just look at for just a second what if it was a ministry of putting people under the law what would it sound like you ever just stopped and processed that for a minute what would it sound like if moses represents the law you could have two different ways of putting people back under the law you could have nice moses couldn't you nice moses is the the slick guy who stands up and he has a lot of good nice tips for you about to become a good you that's nice moses then you got mean moses what would mean moses be like well it would be the pastor preaching really hard crushing condemning sermons and never freeing people putting them under the law for condemnation wouldn't it i would suggest that the tendency for the reformed pastor would be to be the mean moses because we're really good at preaching the law i think the reformed are the best at preaching the law I think we can stand with the best of them and I could put you into the ground tonight oh I could put you in the ground what kind of fruits would that produce in you think about it what kind of fruits would that produce in you tonight if that were the approach hellfire and brimstone Gordon you know what would start happening out here there would be a lot of fighting and over ridiculous little things. And there would be major divisions happening. And the people would not be happy. The people would go through a lot of lack of joy. It would arouse all sorts of things in you that you didn't even know were there. And it would put you back under the law so as to condemn you that's a danger that's a real danger that's not what romans 6 is doing did you catch that notice how paul motivates new obedience he's not running around saying you do this or else what's he doing tonight here's the beauty of romans 6 paul is speaking to us under grace and what does that mean he roots it in your freedom paul says in verse 2 since Christ died for you you died and now he describes what that means for you what's the the principle of grace reigning in your life what does that look like when grace reigns in your life what is the life of grace what does that produce and so he links it and he explains it here for us tonight sin shall no longer have dominion over you I love that that is an important verse it's a crucial statement and it's the greatest encouragement you are being given tonight from the Lord himself since he inspired this he's not saying try really hard to make sure sin doesn't master you it's not what he said notice what he said he just said sin will no longer master you why because you're not under the law you're under grace you've been set free hasn't he been saying this the whole time in romans 6 tonight that the whole fact in the the bible you have all this language listen stop sinning because you're no longer your own you've been bought it's all over the bible and it's the crucial principle for the christian life right here here's what happened to the Christian. Here's the sum of it. The dominion of sin has been shattered. Dominion, the mastery of sin in your life. It's been totally shattered. Now, you've experienced this. When you sin under the law, what happens? You're condemned. And there's real power to condemn. The apostle wants you to realize that the power to condemn is gone under grace and this is all anticipating well it anticipates somewhat what he said in in romans 5 when he said you were saved from wrath through him wrath is done and it's anticipating what he's going to say in romans 8 verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation it's done it's over you say well what about the awful ongoing struggle i just made a distinction there's the dominion of sin the mastery of sin and the ongoing struggle there's a difference the dominion of sin has been shattered the presence of sin we still deal with this is why luther would say we're justified sinners let me capture this tonight with an illustration that i hope helps you think about this a little bit many of you have already referenced to me that new book by rosaria uh butterfield the secret thoughts of an unlikely convert and this is a really encouraging book because i don't know how many of you saw last week in light of this whole gay marriage thing how many people came out and how many people were parading it out in front of everyone of being openly homosexual this is a remarkable story well worth your time she was a leftist lesbian professor who hated christianity and hated christians and i read her article this past week uh called you know my train wreck conversion and i want you to listen to how she describes her former life what happened to her and what she now is and i believe it really captures it well she says one sunday i rose from the bed of my lesbian lover and an hour later i sat in the pew at syracuse reform presbyterian church conspicuous with my butch haircut i reminded myself that i came to meet god not fit in the image that came in like waves of me and everyone i love suffering in hell vomited in my consciousness and gripped me in its teeth i fought with everything i had i did not want this i did not ask for this but when i looked into my heart through the lens of the bible i wondered am i a lesbian or has this all been a case of mistaken identity if jesus could split the world asunder divide marrow from soul could he make my true identity prevail who am i who will god have me to be then one ordinary day i came to jesus open-handed and naked the church that had been praying for me for years was there jesus triumph and i was a broken mess my conversion was a train wreck i didn't want to lose everything that i loved but the voice of god sang a love song in the rubble of my world i weakly believe that if jesus could conquer death he could make right my world i drank tentatively at first then passionately of the solace of the holy spirit i rested in private peace then community and today shelter of a covenant family where one calls me wife and another calls me mother. I've not forgotten the blood Jesus surrendered for this life. And my former life works in the edges of my heart, shiny and still like a knife. I think that captures it really well. What I just described to you was a very vivid illustration of Romans 6, but you need to understand it. And if you can look tonight at Romans 6 through the lens of someone who left a lesbian lifestyle, coming to Christ in repentance and faith, hearing his voice stronger than losing everything that she loved in the old life, and then saying, there it is. That's the old life lurking, shiny and like a knife. You see what happened to her. You see Romans 6. How does Paul speak to Rosaria now? That's the question to grapple with. How does Paul speak to her now? How does Paul speak to you now? She's come to Jesus. She's believed the gospel. How does the Lord want her spoken to? That's what I want you to think about. How does the Lord want her spoken to? Inwardly, she says, I struggle. I face tremendous guilt from a lifestyle that I'm totally ashamed of now. it's like a knife sharp you know how the lord wants her spoken to as free you imagine how bad it would be to put her back under the law why the blood of christ freed her she received him and it's this perfect illustration of explaining what grace does in the life of someone who's been justified. You see, Paul is dealing with the ongoing struggle of sin. Yes, the presence is here. The presence of sin still goes on. We're still sinners. But I love what John Owen said. I think John Owen captured it right, hit the nail on the head when he said, sin is still acting and laboring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh. He says this, the dominion of sin has been broken through the cross. it no longer has a reign over the life of the believer but the presence the influence the rebellion of sin cannot be abolished in this life crucial to understand the nature of sin he says does not change in sanctification but its status is radically altered the controlling force or power is now ineffective and that's what paul's saying tonight in romans 6 you're free therefore act like it that's what he wants you to do act like you're free don't let sin reign in your mortal body says in verse 12 that you should obey it that's not your master anymore don't obey it verse 13 don't present your members as unrighteous as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but present yourselves to god as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to god what is the old man the old man's dead dead in trespasses and sins he always was now the lord's killed that made you alive and now alive from the dead to righteousness that's the bent of your life that's the direction of life now so this is what he's motivating us tonight saying i'm not speaking to you as under the law under the law was rough being under the law the standard was something you could never keep but i'm speaking to you this way i'm speaking to you under grace which says since christ has died now be what you now are because he accomplished it how do you feel when you hear the little statement you're not under law but under grace how do you feel a little nervous i'm sure a little bit nervous i know some reformed ministers won't even say it because they're so afraid of what people will think about that and where they might go with that but i'm saying tonight it is absolutely crucial for understanding the new life you can't get the new life if you don't get this and i know it's going to sound radical to people paul knew it was going to sound radical to people so lo and behold what does he come to in verse 15 the same problem what then shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace certainly not there it is again he's round two on the same argument isn't he paul i i can't believe what you just said did you just say that we're not under the law you're killing any good purpose of the law you took it away from us you know what you're going to promote paul put it this way can you imagine if we told people they're no longer under the law but under grace have you seen what happens to people when you take away the restraint someone could say ah gay marriage thing it was pull the law right away then paul you destroy it how could you say such things and i believe the apostle as he said in chapter the end of chapter 2 and 3 agreed we're not throwing out the law but in god's salvation by grace you don't get it yet you don't understand it yet your assumption is that the way of grace and being under grace will make us careless and you see grace doesn't work that way grace doesn't work that way at all he says notice how he deals with this do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves you are slaves of the one to whom you obey either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness so it goes like this you're making the assumption if if we're under if one comes under grace there's neutrality you could say it this way you're way to arminian that's not what i'm saying at all this is how we think right you got sin over here and you've got grace on the other side here am i the sovereign autonomous in the middle that's how we think and notice how paul deals with that argument now paul is saying remember the distinction there's only two atoms in the old atom you're dead you're a slave to sin if one is living a life as a slave to sin he's mastered by it he's controlled by it never turning that's the reality they don't care they don't even see it they're a slave it leads to death but contrast one who's come to christ one who's come to him as a refuge and trusted in him as we heard this morning by faith he's died with christ he's been raised with christ he's died to sin that means he's become speaking in our human weakness he's using an illustration here we become slaves of christ the changed life then means that i've been yoked to a brand new master not sin it's done not the dominion not slavery to but christ so being joined to him when you understand all of this comes by the wonderful grace of god god doesn't just start the project and let us go god doesn't start the project and say it's up to you all the way he is saying this is grace and there's no possible way it could promote careless living because you're joined to him in a whole new way of life put it this way the lord won't let you you're changed one pastor tells a story one day of walking down the street in la saw a man riding on his bicycle and he had a sign on his chest and on the front sign, it said, I'm a slave of Christ. And then the guy passed by and the man turned around and he said, on the back side he had a sign, whose slave are you? And I think that illustrates it. Why is it impossible for the Christian to go on living under the dominion of sin? Because he would still be under the law. Do you know what kind of message that is? I'm going to tell you a little personally about a family member who came to me recently, and I love him dearly. She asked me to do her wedding. And the problem was, is that she was living with the man who she wanted to get married to. They weren't married. And so I wrote to them, and I said, I love you. I said, I care about you deeply. I'm really thankful that you want to get married. The problem is, is you want me to give you a Christian wedding. And yet there's absolutely no fruit of your Christianity. You're living against God's will and design in a perpetual state of sin, unconfessed. But if you will repent, this was hard to write. If you will repent and you will separate and you will join yourself to a faithful church that preaches God's word, I'll do your wedding. Now what did I expect at that point? What did I expect? You know what I expected? I expected, forget you, because that would be the response of someone under the law. somebody who's dead in trespasses and sins. And this should encourage you tonight to be bold. People need to hear from us. You know what the letter said? The letter said this, Chris, we read your letter. We've been living in sin. We've gone to the Lord. We've confessed it. We are separating. And yes, we are attending a church. And I use that, believing that was sincere, to say that somebody dead in sin doesn't respond that way. Somebody who's convicted by the Spirit, that the Holy Spirit was sent to bring conviction, has the sin's dominion shattered, does what? Repents. Turns. The reality for the Christian is that sin's dominion has been broken and you have been united to Christ. God will never let a new creature be happy in the old man. It can't happen. And if you try it, you'll be absolutely miserable. I think it's been rightly said, if you do try it and you don't confess it, He'll do it for you. He'll bring it right on out in the open if you're one of His children. And I love here how Paul is using that tonight. Overwhelmed by grace. Notice what he says. Notice how he breaks into thanksgiving tonight there. But God be thanked. What propelled Paul into this life of joy was an understanding of how wonderful the grace of the Lord was and how he had been to him. Notice that. But God be thanked. This is what drives obedience. That's what I want to say tonight. That's why the thanksgiving element comes right in in the middle of all of this. But God be thanked. Tears of thanksgiving are flowing that you who were once slaves of sin, notice this, 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 what you are. And guess what? God did something in your heart. What did He do? Do people obey from the heart being under the law? they come they go through the routine and they think they're pleasing god by doing everything right down to a t even super adding their own laws it's not from the heart this is isaiah one it was never from the heart i'm sick of your new moons and you're sat my soul loathes them i'm tired of you coming to worship and nothing's in the heart but what was god's promise always what would god do to the hearts of his people circumcise him and what would he circumcise them to love the lord their god with all their heart with all their soul with all their mind that they may live you know it's a strange kind of paradox of the whole thing we've been delivered from the law and its condemnation and when we're joined to christ we by his power in the life of sanctification now are actually given to honor and desire what the law requires that's a strange paradox isn't it we're delivered from the law and its condemnation and now being under grace we actually come to honor and desire in thanksgiving what the law requires that's beautiful that's what grace does we establish the law and paul says praise god that he did that and now here's what you need to do think of yourself this way slaves of righteousness for holiness let your body parts that are used can be used for instruments of sin take your body parts and do what now use them for outward acts of righteousness do that i'm going to close with this tonight in the heidelberg because we'll be coming back to the ascension but i just want to do one question and answer briefly and we'll close i want you to turn to page 25 number 49 and see how this connects tonight. Are you alone in doing this? Why did Christ ascend up into heaven? Notice question 49 of page 25 of the Heidelberg. How does Christ's ascension into heaven benefit us? Now let's say this together. First, He pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of His Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven, a guarantee that Christ our head will take us His members to Himself in heaven. Third, He sends His Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit's power, we make the goal of our lives not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is sitting at god's right hand i really love that because notice that union we've been talking about dying with christ buried with christ raised with christ now ascended what has happened we are so united with him we have our flesh in heaven a guarantee that he will take us his members to be with him but here we are in the struggle on earth what has he done for you he sent his spirit as a guarantee a guarantee and by his power what's going on notice how the heidelberg says it the whole goal of your life is different that's the dominion of sin being shattered the goal of your life the bent of your life the drive of your life is no longer the sins and the things of this earth but instead the spirit is helping you to do what to make the goal of your life not earthly things but the things above where Christ is sitting at God's right hand. That's what he is actively doing. And so in verse 20 of Romans 6, he says, when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness for holiness. What fruit did you have in the things of which you're now ashamed? You want to know the greatest test? Whether you've really been brought out? It's this. Every godly saint knows this. You look back over your life. You look back at the things you did so carelessly. And what kind of feeling do you get when you think about that? You hate it. You're ashamed of it. It's like Rosaria Butterfield. It's like a knife. It's a wound. I hate it. And you realize the end of those things was death, but God brought you out to see. And guess what the beauty is now? the lord is working in you fruits to holiness you have this new brand new life and at the end of it is what everlasting life isn't it beautiful people are traveling down one path or the other and the lord here is describing this new life saying coming to christ so i say to anyone who hasn't come come this night come to him and enjoy this freedom for the wages of sin is death you will go to hell if you remain dead in trespasses and sins but in jesus christ what happens the gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord that's his gift to you that is so sure nothing can take that from you and so how can you respond praise be to god thank him live now and be who Christ raised you up to be. Brand new creatures. That's what you already are. And that's how He speaks to you, being under grace. Amen. O Lord our God, we thank You that You care to speak to us this way. And that's how wonderful the freedom is that Christ has won for us. We need Your help, even in this by Your Spirit. to think of ourselves this way. It's such a radical shift, and yet we know that when you give life to the heart, this is what the Spirit works. Thank you for giving us all we need in Christ, and thank you for encouraging us in this new life and freeing us that we might know what it is to live life under your grace. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.