Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Romans chapter 6, the chapter
that we read in your free Bibles. The Bibles that you've got have
come in. That's page 1048. 1048. Romans chapter 6, and reading
from our text, verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans chapter 6 and verse 14. All of us here are sinners. And so what we have in this word
of our text, which is a beautiful promise, not an exhortation,
not a direction, but a beautiful promise from the Lord, sin shall
not have dominion over you, should be of a concern for us each. that we are the characters to
whom this promise is made. The Apostle Paul, in writing
to the Romans, is very, very methodical in how he sets forth
the truth of God. Each chapter unfolds some new
aspect of the truth and the way of salvation. He begins in chapter
one, setting forth how men, even that do not have the word of
God, are without excuse in believing in God because of themselves,
because of how we are made. We are made in the image of God,
fearfully and wonderfully made. And when we see creation and
see how beautifully everything works together, then God says
that that shows forth my work, it shows that there is a creator,
there is one who made us, and this is then set before us as
a reason why we should believe in a God that made the heavens
and the earth, made us and formed all things. And then there's
an opening up of what sin is. Sin is a transgression of the
law of God. Our first parents sinned in Adam
and Eve in disobeying God, in rebelling against God. The Lord
said, in the day that thou eatest thereof, of the forbidden fruit,
thou shalt surely die. And as Eve and Adam listened
to Satan, rebelled against God, then they sinned. Death entered
into the world, death spiritually first, so that they lost their
communion with God, they lost their ability to know the things
of God, and death literally. And so man must die, because
we are under the sentence of death. And the apostle then,
He says forth, well, why was the law of God given? And he
tells us that the law was given so that sin does appear sin. Where there is not a law, sin
is not imputed. If our lawmakers in this land
want to be able to bring people to court or to lock them up for
crimes, they've got to have a law stating what that crime is and
to clearly show that they've broken that law, and then the
law also must prescribe what is the sentence against that
law. And so this is why the law of
God is given, why it was given on Mount Sinai. Not that we should obtain salvation,
not that we should get to heaven by the deeds of the law or by
obeying that law. We've already broken it. We're
already under the sentence of death. but it is a means of bringing
the whole world in guilty before God. It is vital that we realize
that we are sinners, we are born in sin, shapen in iniquity, sin
works in us and about us and eventually we shall die because
we are sinners and then after death the judgment and we must
stand before God's judgment throne. And so the Apostle Paul sets
forth that that is the purpose and reason that all the world
might be brought in guilty before God. So then in chapters 4 and
5, he sets forth how it is that a man can be justified, how can
a man be saved, how can he be made right with God and be delivered
from the sentence of death. And he sets it forth as It is
justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, made truly man, truly God, and by
his sufferings and by his death, fulfilling the law and making
it honourable, bearing the sins of his people, that he brought
in an everlasting righteousness for them that believe. It is
the Lord's work that puts away the sin of His people. He hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. So the way that we are saved
is through faith in Christ, and it is through the grace of God,
the free, unmerited favour of God, quickening us into divine
life, passing by us and bidding us live, and giving us firstly
to know we are sinners, and then to showing how that he has suffered
in our place and removed the sentence and condemnation due
to sin. And so that is the lead up to
the chapter where our text is, because the apostle then, in
each time, he is anticipating a reaction from those that he's
writing to when they're told that by the deeds of the law,
no man can be justified or counted free from guilt, their reaction
is, well, how can we then be saved? How can a man be saved?
So then he tells them. And then when he has told them
that it is by grace you are saved, through faith and not of yourselves,
then he poses another question that people might say, If it
is by God's grace that we are saved and not by our works, then
why don't we just still keep on sinning? Why don't we just
live as we please? Just continue in that way because
that's not how we are saved. It doesn't matter. So that is
what he addresses in Romans chapter six. And he says in answer to
this question, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in
sin that grace might abound? God forbid! How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? And throughout this
chapter is the arguments as to why God's dear people, why they
should live holy, godly lives and not desire or even want at
all to live in a way of sin. Now after dealing with that in
this chapter, he then deals with another possible thought, because
he thinks, well, God's people are then going to think, well,
there is sin still working in me. I'm still troubled with it.
I still wrestle with it. How can I really be a child of
God with this conflict that is going on within, these struggles
with sin? So in chapter 7, He explains
about how it was with him, how when the law came and all his
righteousnesses vanished and he became in his own eyes then
a sinner, not a Pharisee. And then he explains what happens
in his own case. He says that the law is spiritual,
I am carnal, sold unto sin. And he says, the good that I
would not, the good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I
would not, that I do. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? He says, if I do that
which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. And so then he gives the real
conflict that is going on in the lives of God's dear people
between sin and what they want to do, what they want to be in
Christ, and what they find in their own evil heart. And he
gives the answer, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,
so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh the law of sin. And so when we come then to the
text and the passage before us, we have a before and after conversion look at what sin is. Before conversion,
we break the law of God and it doesn't trouble us. Maybe it
does because of our upbringing. But we do not really resist it
or struggle against it. Sin has dominion over us. It
just pushes us to whatever our own hearts want to do. The Word
of God says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? That we go forth
from the womb speaking lies. We are full of wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. And yet by nature we do not feel
it, we do not know it. I remember questioning my own
mother of our hymn in our hymn book, Hymn 76. At peace with
hell, with God at war, in sin's dark maze they wander far. I
remember saying to her, the hymn writers got that wrong. That should be at peace with
God, with hell at war, not the other way around. But I didn't
know my own heart. I didn't know how averse to holiness
and the things of God my heart was. And it was only when the
Lord called me, quickened me, opened my eyes to see my sin,
then I realized and knew that what the Bible says about sin
and says about our own hearts is true and that I was a sinner. And so before conversion, Sin
is in us, and we go along with it. After conversion, sin is
still in us, but it is not to have dominion over us. We are delivered from the dominion
of that sin. It does not have its sway. It does not have its recourse
without resistance. And the resistance is with the
authority and promise of Almighty God that hath called us. I have some example of those
of you who know the word of God and you think of the book of
Esther when Haman first was able to get the king Ahasuerus to
make a decree that the Jews would all be slain on a certain day. And the Jews were in great distress
and great sorrow because there from the king was a decree of
death. And that decree could not be
changed. The law of the Medes and Persians,
that could not be changed. But then we have the intercession
of Esther. We have the decree not taken
away, but another decree made that the Jews then, with the
authority of the king, could resist the enemies coming against
them. They could fight. They were still
going to have the enemies come. They were still going to be under
that threat. But now they had the authority of the king so
that they could fight for their lives. And then we read, even
before that day came, even before they had dominion over their
enemies, that there was joy and gladness with the Jews because
they had the king's authority to fight. And that is the same
in the gospel. It's like from the same king,
there is first a sentence of death, and then from the same
king, because of what Christ has done, there is the decree
allowing the people of God or charging the people of God to
resist the devil and with the promise he shall flee from you.
And that authority from God makes all the difference. And so in
this chapter, The Apostle then is speaking of how we that know
the law, who know the Lord, should react and should deal with sin
in our members and in our lives. I want to look briefly at three
points. Firstly, the promise to all believers. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. And secondly, the reason is in
our called stones. Our text says, for we are not
under the law, but under grace. And thirdly, the obedient walk
by grace that is the means of the promise being fulfilled. But firstly, the promise to believers. As we said at the beginning,
this is a beautiful promise, and may nothing take from it,
for the people of God, sin shall not have dominion over you. If the Lord has made us tender
in his fear, then our prayer will be like dear Jabez, that
the Lord would keep us from sin, keep us from evil, that it do
not grieve us. And we might think, shouldn't
that be put, do not grieve the Lord? that it is put in the way,
do not grieve me. And it's a blessed token for
good when sin grieves us. It grieves us that we are sinners. It grieves us that in our thoughts,
our affections, and if often are by sin defiled, they carry
us away. Sin rises, uncalled for, unlooked
for. We can have something that comes
up before us and pride will rise up. We don't have to consciously
call it forth. Something injustice and anger
will rise up. We don't have to think, am I
going to be angry over this or not? It comes up. It might even
be a news item we hear on the news. And it suddenly stirs up
in us real anger. The old nature comes up of revenge
and hatred and the old nature, it only needs the right circumstances
and it flares up, it comes up. One of the Puritans, he said,
to impress upon a new believer that he is called to a daily
conflict with the corruptions of his own heart. that we're
not to think that the path is to be an easy path, a path where
we don't have any opposition from a fallen nature. But here
we have this beautiful promise to those who, when they would
do good, evil is present with them. To those who do know, they
have the opposition and the sin within. Sin shall not have dominion
over you. You won't go back to what you
once were. You won't go back to being serving
sin. You won't cast away all of your
faith and the things of God and go back to being under its dominion
again. You are delivered from that dominion. This is then a beautiful promise. And it has a foundation to it,
and the foundation is in our Lord Jesus Christ and what was
done at Calvary. You know when we spoke of the
book of Esther, then before that decree went out that they could
fight for their lives, there was many things that were done. and those that were bringing
that sentence had to be dealt with, Haman had to be dealt with,
there had to be those things that were done, and much prayer
was put up. And we know that God could, by
His great power, just dispense with death, with sin, but it
would not be just, it would not be holy, it would not be righteous,
and so if There is to be a promise that sin shall not have dominion
over us. It must be on a basis. There must be a warrant for that. And that warrant is at Calvary. The first promise that was given
in the Garden of Eden was that there is a promise of a seed
of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head. Thou shalt
bruise his heel, he shall bruise thine hand. The Lord Jesus Christ
should come for sin and be condemned, be made a sacrifice for sin. He should obey the law, he should
fulfil the law, he should supply the blood. Without the shedding
of blood there is no remission. He should make atonement. He
should redeem the people of God. And that is what is the underlying
cause for such a promise. You know, if we were to make
a promise to someone and say to them that we would give them
certain things, then we'd have to have something backing it
up. We'd either have to have an ability to do it, We'd have
to have money to do it. We'd have to have the occasion
to do it. And so we read in the Word that
all the promises of God, including this one, are in the Lord Jesus
Christ, yea and amen, in Jesus Christ. And so this promise is
founded there too, in what our Lord has accomplished at Calvary. and may we view every promise
in the word of God to Calvary. I give unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of mine hand. The promise that he has promised
us, even eternal life, those promises that he has promised
his people beyond the grave, that here is a promise this side
of the grave, And it is a promise to those who still feel sin within
them, who are walking the path that God has appointed for His
dear people, this side of the grave, while they're still in
a body of death, while they're still compassed with infirmity,
while they're still in the world, but by the grace of God, not
of the world, they're given a promise that is designed for their help
to walk here below to the Lord's honour and glory. This people
have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. Sinless perfection we deny, man
is not free of sin here below. But this chapter describes the
walk and the following one as well, how we are to walk in the
bodies that we have. We have a most glorious prospect
as we think of this promise relating not just to through this life,
but when it comes to death. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. We think of the Apostle Paul
absent from the body, present with the Lord. We think of Stephen
when he was dying, looking up. and seeing the Lord standing
at the right hand of God and testifying of it, death, no more
death to die, absent from the body, present with the Lord,
the sting of death taken away and instead being made a way
that this mortal shall put on immortality, this corruption
put on incorruption, that there be a bringing to the Lord, Father,
I will, that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. And the Lord changing that curse
into a blessing. Like with Ines this day, the
sentence still there, the enemy still rising up, but it's turned
into a blessing. Like with Balaam, comes to curse
the people of God, but it's turned into a blessing. like with the
sacrifice and sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the wickedness, the sin, Satan's hour, and yet turned into the
greatest blessing, the redemption of all the people of God at that
time. I lay down my life for the sheep. This commandment have I received
of my Father. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. So may, when we read the promises
of God, may we view why they can be given the basis of them. And especially with the people
of God, it is for them He has suffered, for them He has died,
for them He has risen again. So I promise to believers, sin in an unbeliever, has dominion
over them. But with those that are believers,
the promise is it shall not have dominion over them. I want to
look then secondly at the reason. The reason is in our called state. Our text says, For ye are not
under the law, but under grace. is a description of those that
are saved by God's grace. Paul says to the Ephesians, by
grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. When Paul writes to the Galatians,
he says that the law is our schoolmaster unto Christ. In Romans 7, the
following chapter, He says, I was alive without the law once, but
when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. The first step, as
it were, of a soul being quickened into life is to die first, is
to be shown their sin. Nebuchadnezzar, when He had a
dream and he knew he had a dream but he couldn't remember the
dream. He asked his wise men to tell him what the dream was
and he says that, show me the dream and I will know that you
can tell me the interpretation thereof. He accused his wise
men of preparing really lies to tell him. If he told them
the dream, they'd just make up the interpretation. But the principle
is a very good principle, especially applied to grace. Because Daniel,
he was able, through God revealing to him, he was able to tell both
sides. He was able to tell the dream
and tell the interpretation. And in the way of grace, you
show me a person that God has convinced of sin and shown them
their sin, shown them their malady, shown them what they are in need
of and the sentence of death of their under. And it is the
same God that convinces of sin, that gives life to know that
they are dead in the first place, is the one that will. give the
remedy to sin and deliverance from it. It is God's work both,
and it's vital to remember that. When the Lord first worked in
my heart and gave me spiritual life, it was four years before
I was baptised, and it was so many months before the Lord first
blessed me, but the first was to open my eyes, to see myself
as a sinner, And wherever I went in the Word of God, it was, even
in the Gospels, it condemned me, it brought me in as guilty,
as if the Lord shut up the Gospel. I couldn't see it, couldn't see
it in the Bible. All I saw was everything to condemn
me. And then the time came that the
Lord turned that around, and even in the law I saw the Gospel. Even at Mount Sinai, I saw in
the unbroken tables that fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's a vital thing that we be brought as sinners first. Sinners
can say, and none but they, how precious is the Savior. And that's
not just a realization at the beginning of the way. It is known
afterwards as well. Paul, when he writes in chapter
five, he says then, God commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners Christ died for us and he says when we were
without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly and
he's telling them in chapter 5 that if while we were yet strangers
to the Lord and while we were in sin the Lord passed by us
and bid us live How much more, being justified or being quickened
and made alive, shall we be saved through His life? And it is only
really God's people that know what sin really is. And for their
comfort, for their help, they're the ones that need a very clear
view of how that sin is dealt with in Christ. how though they
remain as sinners, that it will not have dominion over them. And the reason here is the called
state of God's children. They're not under the law. Yes,
we still have regard to the law. There's a curse on everyone that
turneth away his ears from hearing the law, because by the law is
the knowledge of sin. And if we are to walk in this
chapter six, then we are to know what sin is. But we are not under
it as a condemning law. We are not under it doing and
obeying it with the thought that we shall obtain life by it or
acceptance with God by it. We might have two people and
they both do the same deed. One is doing it with the thought
that it shall be a bargaining tool to get them to heaven, to
make God pleased with them. The other one is doing it out
of gratitude to the Lord for what He has done for them at
Calvary and with no thought whatsoever that there is any merit in it.
In fact, realising that even in what they are doing there
is sin mixed with it. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. It is vital that our cool state,
that we realise this, that we are not under the law as a condemning
law. And you might say, how do we
know you're not under the law? It's because when the Lord passes
by and gives life to his dear people, it is life that makes
known that malady and delivers from the condemning of the law. The law of God then becomes schoolmaster. It becomes that which is used
by the Lord for the good of His people. That law that He Himself
suffered under, bled and died, that He fulfilled, they now see
the law as He saw it. They see it in its holiness.
And now also that which they've received is by God's grace. The Lord freely imparting to
his people the blessings and benefits of his death. And it is vital to realize that
state, the different state of the people of God. Everything
is freely given to a child of God. They lie from the dead,
their hope of heaven, the grace to bear infirmities and weaknesses
and trials, the grace to walk in the ways of the Lord, a hearing
ear, an obedient spirit, the hunger and thirst after righteousness,
the desire after God, a love to God. All of those blessings
come from the Lord, not from law, not from ourselves. Every
blessing comes to us through Jesus' precious blood. And so
the reason for this promise is our cold state. And that's why the promise is
not given, cannot be given to those who are still under the
law, because the law aggravates and it stirs up sin. As the Apostle
describes in the following chapter, it makes us as a hard taskmaster
to labour with no relief and no help and in slavish fear of
condemnation and judgement to come and never having peace at
all. But the Lord Jesus Christ has
come to completely pay the debt, completely set is people free. And so in going through this
life, there's that realisation that the Son of God has already
set free at Calvary, has already paid the debt. And this is why
the promise then can be given, is given. Sin shall not have
dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace. And by the law is the knowledge
of sin, but through grace is the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who suffered, bled and died for the sins of his people. I want to notice lastly the obedient
walk by grace that is the means to the promise being fulfilled. And before we look at the context
here, just to notice, just to think of the means, how the promises
were fulfilled in the Old Testament. The Lord gave promise to Abraham
that in thee and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed. That is, not seeds as many, but
one which is Christ, in Christ. And Abraham saw, said Christ,
my day and rejoiced at it. He also gave promise that his
seed, as in his descendants, that they should be a stranger
in a strange land, that they should be afflicted 400 years
and in the fourth generation be brought forth and into this
place. He gave them the promise of Canaan.
One might say then, how were those promises actually fulfilled? means were used. It was a miracle that Abraham
and Sarah had Isaac, vital for this promise to be fulfilled
that they did, that they did. And then when Isaac is to have
a wife and the servant is sent to get a wife, the very clear
direction of God in leading him to the house of his master's
brethren and to Rebekah. Then Bethuel and Laban, they
say, the thing proceedeth from the Lord. And yet there were
means. Abraham's servant went there.
And there were means, of course, of prayer. How Abraham's servant
made such a matter of prayer as to those that were coming
out to the well at that time, and that God would show whom
he had appointed for his master's son. He knew there was an appointment,
there was a wife, and he was directed to where that wife was. Then we think of how was it that
that promise to Abraham about his seed being a stranger in
a strange land, how would that be fulfilled? And we see the
life of Joseph and how they came then into Egypt, then how are
they to be brought out of Egypt? And then we have the life of
Moses, and all the things that happen, the decisions by his
parents, the acts by faith, what happened with Pharaoh, what happened
in the backside of the desert, and those things are happening,
and the promises are being fulfilled. The Lord then uses means. We go to Calvary, the greatest
promise of all. How was that fulfilled? Ye have
taken and by wicked hands crucified and slain him that was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. The Romans
were used. The enmity of the Jews were used. These things were the means.
It didn't excuse sin. It didn't excuse the way they're
acting, but we notice the means that the Lord uses, especially
in bringing forth to pass the promises that he makes. And so here as well, there are
means to the promise. In verse 11, we are told, Concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord is set before us in the verses
before, how that He died, how that He rose again, died unto
sin once, but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise
reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that's the first means
that is mentioned here. a reckoning, a reckoning that
we are dead to sin, that sin, we don't hear it, we don't listen.
If someone is dead, that they can't hear, they can't know,
something cannot come upon them at all. And so with the people
of God here, it is a reckoning to be dead unto sin. Then in
verse 12, We are told, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. And you
see, the people of God, you might say they still have this choice,
whether they sin or not, whether they sin that grace might abound. And the Word of God instructs
them, exhorts them, how they are to act in this. Paul, he
says, I keep under my body, lest when I preach to others that
I be a castaway." Our Lord, he suffered four sins and we have
Paul setting him forth in Hebrews 12 to consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds. And then he says this, you have
not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And the idea that the people
of God should be so blessed that they don't have any striving,
any conflict with sin, is not upheld in the word of God. They
have a constant wearisome battle we have in Ephesians, the weapons
of our warfare that are not carnal, that are spiritual, mighty to
the pulling down of strongholds. And so what is exhorted here
is, rather than just a sinning that grace might abound, a resisting,
a mortifying through the spirit, the deeds of the body, and not letting that run. You say,
but the promise is? Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Why is there the exhortation,
let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body? And we find
the authority from God, the promise of God, is joined with the exhortations
of the word. Without that, if we were doing
it in our own strength, we'd have no power or might at all. But with the Lord, then we have
that strength. Resist the devil. By what power
are we to resist the devil? But then we have the promise,
and he shall flee from you. And there's that authority, there's
that power that is with it, that gives the reason why these things
can be set before the people of God. In verse 13, neither
yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness unto sin, And
we think of our members, our hands, our feet, our eyes, and
how in unregeneracy we think of the Apostle Paul. He used
all his body to hail men and women to prison, everyone who
called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And after conversion,
he certainly wasn't using his hands, his feet, his mouth, his
energy to condemn them. but to edify them and to support
them and strengthen them and to preach to them. And he is
using his body in a very, very different way. And that is what
is set before us here. The grace of God makes a real
change in a person. And in that change, there's really
a daily evidence of the life of God within. And so then we
have the remainder of this chapter from verse 16 right through to
the end of 22 of the picture of a servant. Know ye not in
verse 16, to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience
unto righteousness. Really the whole chapter is a
real encouraging for the people of God to walk in obedience to
the Lord in the midst of real opposition from a deceitful evil
heart, sin within, a tempting devil without. And you say, but
my poor obedience, sin is mixed with everything. Well, he shows
in the next chapter on that. But what a blessed thing. to
be desirous to serve the Lord. This people have I formed for
myself, they shall show forth my praise. His servants shall
serve him. And we are to be mindful of whom
we serve. Sin is a constant adversary for
the people of God, that we are to be directed constantly to
Christ, to Calvary, to His precious promises, and to blessings that
flow to us through His precious blood. Some will think, well,
as long as we are saved by the Lord to go to heaven, is not
that enough? But if we are truly called, that
beautiful name given our Lord, His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. will be very
much related to this life, that we might be saved from our sins
and walk in sweet fellowship with the Lord and with his people
and be helped to fight that good fight of faith and lay hold upon
eternal life. May this promise be sweet to
us, especially those who know what it is to know the hell within,
the sin within, and to know the need of the authority of heaven
to fight against that evil sin and to seek that which is pure
and holy from above. May we be truly his servants
and obey his voice and all his will, esteem the Lord at his
blessing. Amen.