September 13, 2015
Dr. Montia Setzler, Senior Pastor
Series: Stand Strong
Choosing Eternal Life
Romans 6:15–23 (HCSB)
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey —either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to, 18 and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness. 21 So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification —and the end is eternal life! 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. OUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST DOES NOT GIVE US A LICENSE TO SIN. (v 15)
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!
Romans 6:1–2 (HCSB)
1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
- • The absence of the law does not sanction sin.
- • The presence of grace does not give us freedom to sin.
- • Even though we are characterized as sinners, we must continue to avoid sin and pursue righteousness.
2. CHOOSE WHICH MASTER TO SERVE. (vv 16-18)
Matthew 6:24 (HCSB)
24 “No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.
- • We have a choice when it comes to sin.
- • Before Christ, we were a slave to sin.
- • Submitting ourselves to Christ causes us to become slaves to righteousness.
3. BEING A SLAVE TO SIN PRODUCES DEATH. (vv 19-23)
- • Sin keeps us separated from God because He is holy.
- • Sin has a natural endgame producing spiritual death.
Romans 6:23a (HCSB)
23 For the wages of sin is death…
4. BEING A SLAVE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS PRODUCES ETERNAL LIFE. (vv 19-23)
- • Pursuing righteousness results in sanctification.
- • Righteousness has a natural endgame of producing eternal life.
Romans 6:23b (HCSB)
23 …but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Life really is about choices: we can be a slave to sin and receive the death sentence it pronounces, or we can choose to be a slave to righteousness and receive the eternal life it promises.
