Practical Theology

Part 18 - Romans 6:15-23
Lead Pastor, Darrin Mariott

Big Idea: The key to true freedom is obedience to Jesus Christ.

I. The Problem: Sin Leads to Death, v. 15-18
Romans 6:15-18
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.

A. In v. 14, Paul declares, “We are not under law, but under grace.” Anticipating that some would pervert this to mean that we are free from all moral restraint, he reminds us that what we choose to give ourselves to becomes our master (vv. 16-18). Choose Jesus, and we become instruments of His righteousness. Choose sin, and we become slaves to sin.

B. Paul reminds us that Sin is

1. Deceptive - Sin misleads us and distorts God’s truth.

Hebrews 3:12-13
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

2. Destructive - Sin has a corrosive effect on our spiritual, emotional, and physical lives.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

3. Damning - Sin is a cruel master that pays its wages in death

II. The Promise: Jesus Gives Us Life, v. 19-23

Romans 6:19-23
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.

A. If we see that the bad news is sin leads to condemnation and death, then the Good News is that in Messiah Jesus we find freedom and righteousness. Paul’s main point here is that by God’s grace and through Jesus’s atoning sacrifice we are freed from the grip of sin, so how can we then give ourselves over to it as our master? Jesus is our new Master, and this truth leads to life and gives us hope.

B. In living out these verses, we embrace:

1. God’s grace - His unmerited favor lavished on us in Jesus Christ

Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

2. Jesus’ atoning sacrifice - Jesus took our sins upon Himself so that through His righteousness we could be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

3. Faith - Trust in Jesus as Messiah and Lord

Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

4. Obedience - We are not saved by good works, but unto good works