If you wish to follow along,
turn of course to Romans chapter 6. I want to read as my main text
this morning, verses 12 through 16. My title and my subject, I could
say. is yield yourselves unto God. That's actually found within
our text. Yield yourselves unto God. Romans chapter six, verse 12,
Paul continuing. Here it says, let not sin therefore,
based upon everything that he's already said. And not just what
he said in this chapter, but especially what he said in chapter
five. because of our substitute, because
of our representative, because of who Christ is and what he
has accomplished for us at Calvary. Let not sin, therefore, reign
in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead. And that's the
prerequisite. There is no ability to do this. Either one, yielding not your
members or yielding unto God, apart from life from God, not
physical life. though that's certainly necessary,
but spiritual life from God. As those that are alive from
the dead, again, let me say this, life from God, spiritual life
from God is not some talking point that God's people speak
of. Religion talks about life from God, but they have no idea
what they're talking about. This life is spiritual, but it
is real. It is real. As those that are
alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. Four, sin shall not have dominion
over you for you're not under the law but under grace. What
then? Shall we sin because we are not
under the law but under grace? God forbid. Know you not? Now look at this. Know ye not
that 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. I know there are those out there in the world that accuse
God's people of being all kinds of things. They've come up with
all kinds of names to accuse God's people of. And I know that
there are legalists. We've had one even in our own
midst, but that person is gone now. Praise be to God. I say that now. Praise be to
God, because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. We're
not under law, but we're under grace, under it. That is, it
dominates. It is over top of us. It controls. It controls. If you're under
the law, you're under the what? Curse, curse, but look at it. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants are to whom ye obey,
whether of sin or death or of obedience unto righteousness.
And those who preach and believe and give witness to the free
and reigning grace of God in Jesus Christ are often accused
of not being concerned about our walk, but they are dead wrong. Let's get right to the word.
We are commanded by Paul to refuse sin any throne time in our mortal
bodies. That's what we're commanded to
do. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that ye
should obey it in the lusts thereof. It honors Christ's person and
work to rebel against sin. There's your way to think about
it. We like rebellion so much, it's
okay to rebel against sin. It's okay to not allow sin any
throne time in our mortal bodies. Sin, again, sin exists in us. Sin still affects us, and we
still find ourselves under the influences of its lusts. But being alive unto God, we
can. We are enabled by God to not
yield ourselves, our members, as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but that's the key. Don't yield to sin, but yield
to God. So again, it honors Christ's
person and work to rebel against sin. Sinful lust resides in us. but let us disobey its lustful
leanings. Secondly, there is a vitally
intertwined twofold facet to yielding. You can't yield to
God and at the same time be yielding to the flesh. It does not happen. It does not happen. There is
a refusal to yield our members and there is a yielding ourselves
unto God. This is something that we are
actually engaged in, that we should cry out for mercy from
God because of his mercy and grace. Cry out for the lead and
the direction of his spirit. A God-wrought life from God is
the only impetus to such a thing. Romans chapter eight, look at
what Paul will go on to say. There is therefore now no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Now let's get that first straight. To them which are in Christ Jesus,
not to those who've made a profession of faith, though those who are
in Christ do have a profession of faith. But we hold fast to
our profession, we hold fast our profession. We keep on professing
Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, but look, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law, here's the authority,
here's the law. Now here's the law that you can
be glad for. Here's the law that you can clearly
serve. for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, not by us. And we'll look at this in more
detail, not by us, but fulfilled in us, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh,
what do they do? They mind the things of the flesh.
But they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. And
I just have to be straightforward, I think that that some of God's
people, God's people, actually think they were saved before
they were really saved. They made some profession of
faith. They professed even according to the truth, but they had no
love for the truth. They love this still more down
in here, but somewhere along the line, God Almighty moves
in and saves their soul, but they're not instructed so that
they grasped that what happened before was of no avail. I don't know exactly when God
converted me. I don't know exactly when God
converted me. Now Saul of Tarsus can tell you
exactly when God converted him, but I can't tell you when that
was because I had so much baggage with me. so much things that
I was still clinging on to. But one day, one day, God finally
opened my eyes and I seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. But let's go on. For to be carnally
minded, doesn't say you will die, it says is death. but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against
God, for it's not subject to the law of God, and that means,
in other words, the law is not your schoolmaster. Well, that's
what it means to be subject to the law, having been your schoolmaster
and forced you to flee to Christ. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. No matter how moral they may
be. No matter how much they may drop
immorality for morality. And I'm not telling you, immorality
is a crime against God. Let's get that straight. Let's
get it straight. For which things sake, Paul wrote
to one church, cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God, but ye are not in the flesh, but
in the spirit, if so be. There's the question. Only God
can answer that question for you in your own soul. I cannot
answer that question for you. I have a difficult enough time
dealing with it myself, in myself, and about myself. Somebody says,
what do you think I'm saved? I have no idea. I'm more persuaded
of you all than I am of myself, but I have no idea. but you're
not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit
of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. So again, a God wrought life
from God is the only impetus to such a condition, to such
a walk. And that's why I chose this,
oh for a closer walk with God. If you can't relate to that,
then you don't know God. Because no matter how close I
have walked with him in the past, I know it has not been close
enough. I know it has not been close
enough. And the only reason I can say that and confess that is
because I'm in the spirit, not in the flesh. Because countless
thousands of people are religious, even profess Christianity, but
they're in the flesh and they feel quite well about their own
selves. That's called deception. That's
called deception. Number three, dominion is determined
by the ruling power. We see it in verse 14. I'm not
explaining every word in these things, but I'm trying to kind
of summarize these verses so far. Again, remember, number
three, dominion is determined by the ruling power. Not by you,
not by me. But by the ruling power. The
question is, what rules over me? What rules over me? I can never, ever hope to not
yield my members as members of instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin and yield myself unto God unless God's grace has dominion
over me. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under the law. but under grace. We'll deal with that, God willing,
more later. I'm not gonna deal with it in
a lot of detail, but listen, these few things, under law,
under law, sin dominates. And oh, if God would show these
legalists, if he would open their eyes to this truth, under law,
sin dominates. I'm talking about God's law.
God's holy law, God's just and righteous law. But if it's what
you're under, you're under sin. You're under its curse. You're
under its death. You're under its condemnation.
You can only be freed from sin if grace dominates you. These legalists know not what
they say. Nowhere have they affirmed. And they do not want to deal
with the truth of scripture. They'll refer to some old Baptist
document. but they don't want to deal with
the truth of the words of scripture. Under law, sin dominates. Under
grace, spiritual life in Christ dominates. Because grace is not
just a doctrine, it is an act of the almighty God. Never, never, ever in any way, let us
never in any way conduct ourselves sinfully because of the ruling
power of grace. The ruling power is grace and
not law. And that's what he says, what
then? Shall we sin because we're not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid, because whoever you subject yourself to, whoever
you yield to, that proves who your master is. It is asinine. I just like that word. Now I
will explain to you what the word means so you'll know. I
had to look it up myself. I thought I had an idea but I
wanted to make sure I was really, I just like that word. Why? Because
it upsets people. It is asinine. That means extremely
stupid and foolish. It is asinine to live by human
logic. Asinine. What then? Now, either you're under the
law or you're under grace, one or the other. If you're under
grace, you're not under the law. Period. Not gonna sit here and
debate with a bunch of legalists. You keep preaching the truth,
the legalists will get mad enough, they'll leave, they'll leave
you alone. We don't have to come out from among them, they will
run from us. if you hold firm to the truth. And you don't,
just smile at them. You don't have to yell back at
them. I've been yelled at several times here. I'm not getting yelled
at now and it feels good. But here it is. Again, it is
asinine to live by human logic. Grace does reign. Not it ought to reign, it might
reign, it'll reign if you let it reign. That ain't no kind
of reign. Now is it? Rain means something outside
of yourself comes to you and conquers you. That's what a rain
is. Listen, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound and the law still tells us what
sin is. It still defines sin for us.
Being under grace doesn't mean now we can sin because there's
no more sin anymore. There's still sin. and we feel
it down in here. We feel it down in here. But
look what it says, moreover the law entered, that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that
as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign. But what's the impetus? Me, me
yielding, is that the impetus? No, the impetus is through righteousness,
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the impetus
that brings about the rain. Then, if I'm so rained over,
I can yield to God. And I can refuse to yield to
my sinful passions and lusts. The reason we don't, if we ever
don't, is because we simply give in to them. You just give in
to them. And don't you kid yourself, where
we all have this asininity. I don't even know if that's a
word, but it's a new one. I'm gonna put that in Webster's
next time I do a new one. It is asinine, but it still resists
in us. It exists in us. What then? Shall we sin because we're not
under the law? That's in our minds. Since I'm not under the
law, then what does it matter? Because grace reigns. Either
Jesus Christ is all to you or he's nothing to you. He can't
be 90%, 95%, 99.9%. He is all or he is nothing to
me. And he's all or he's nothing
to you. Now somebody says, well you sound
like you're saying a believer never sins. No, I have not said
that. That's more of that assininity.
That's more than trying to bring your human logic into the equation.
You know what John said? No, I don't want to try to quote
it, because I'll foul it up miserably. You know what John said? If we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not
in us. even in light of what we're reading from this letter
from our beloved brother, the Apostle Paul. These things, don't
try to make them fit. Don't try to make two plus five
equals 12. Don't try to do none of that.
If we say we have no sin, that's talking about the foundation,
the root problem. We deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Do you see that?
The question is, what is the dominating ruling power in your
life? If you can't quit sinning, and
I don't mean become sinless, I'm talking about you got something
you're dealing with in your life and you can't say I will not
yield to that anymore. You can't stop the thoughts.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should
obey it in the lusts there. The lusts are in there, but you
don't obey them. You don't carry them out, you
don't go through with it. And if you cannot cease from
sin, Jude says you are apostate. I think it's Jude, Jude or Peter,
one of them said. Beguiling unstable souls that
cannot cease from sin. Why? Because grace doesn't dominate
them. Now, here's the fourth thing.
The proof is actually in the yielding. The sum, in other words,
I don't say this to be flippin' or funny, the proof's in the
pudding, as we say. Right, the proof's in the pudding.
Know you not? Why do we have to say it? Because
sometimes we don't. We're not gonna know until someone
instructs us. We're not gonna even really get
it until the Holy Spirit applies it to us when someone instructs
us. But we've been instructed. This group here can't say, well,
I never was told the truth about this matter. You've been told
the truth about this matter over and over and over and over and
over and over and over again. Know you not that to whom you
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to
whom you obey. And it's one or the other. You
see it? Now folks, that's just where
it's at. And somebody says, that don't give me comfort. It ain't
supposed to give you comfort. It's supposed to warn you to
keep yielding unto God. It's supposed to warn you and
give you impetus to not yield your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unseeing. It's in here, but don't give
in to it. Don't give in to it. Now, this wasn't just Paul's
take. I'm gonna read a verse. You don't
have to turn, but let me turn to the passage. Now these are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is not some fanatic. This is not some guy standing
up for Baptist doctrine or Church of Christ doctrine or Church
of God doctrine or whatever it is. Listen to what he says. This
is the Lord of glory himself. No man can serve two masters. Now Christ said it's an impossibility. If you think you're serving both,
you're really only serving one. and it's the wrong one, I can
guarantee you that if you think you're serving both. No man can
serve two masters. Four, either he will hate the
one and love the other. Now we're getting down to the
nitty gritty. Well, I gotta do this because I'm a Christian.
If I don't, I'm gonna go to hell. That ain't without love. You love
to serve God. If you don't love to serve God,
you don't know God. You get it? For either he will
hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one
and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And what is that? Everything
else but God. Let me just put it that way. That's the simplest
way for you and I to think about this thing. You know, people,
we're indoctrinated into this stuff. Not here we're not, but
we're indoctrinated into this stuff in Sunday schools. This
is wrong and this is right. And here's the right words to
say and here's the wrong words to say. And everything seems
so cut and dried, but everything apart from the glory of God manifest
in the face of Jesus Christ is a farce before God if my first
thoughts are not of love toward God himself. We love his gifts,
but we love the gifts because we love the giver. It's not I
just want salvation. I do want salvation. But I want
to be saved by that what I love. Because I know if I love him,
it's because he first loved me. So again, number four, the proof
is in the actual yielding. So then, What is instruments
of unrighteousness unto sin versus instruments of righteousness
unto God? And as I just prefaced this statement, many people are
told exactly where you're supposed to go, exactly where you're,
you can go to the movies but it has to be under a certain
rating. Well they've changed them all up now so I can't keep
up with it. You know what I mean? And then wait a minute, I'm supposed
to be listening to Hollywood as to what's really good and
bad in their movie? Really? Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. Or you don't wanna be shootin'
pool, even if it's in your house, in your den, you don't wanna
be shootin' pool when Jesus comes. Well, why not? Eight ball side
pocket, go up to glory. That'd be a pretty good way to
go, wouldn't it not? Hmm? Hmm? Didn't hear a whole lot of answer
on that one, did I? That was tongue-in-cheek, folks, you understand
that? Look at it. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members
of instruments of unrighteousness unto God. This book will tell
you what sin is. It will tell you what to avoid
or eschew. If it don't define something
as sin, it ain't sin. Now get that out of your head.
Don't try to use your human logic again. Let me give you a passage. Now, before I do, let me give
you this statement. Man-centered, freewill-based,
legalistic, flesh-glorification mongers, did you like them kind
of, did you like their explanations, who they are? They all stress
this thing of verse 13 as this, immorality versus morality. Living
in sin versus living right. And I'm here to tell you there
is a validity to that. Don't you kid yourself. Just
cause they say it, don't make it wrong. Now look at it. 1 Timothy,
turn with me to 1 Timothy. I want us to read this. 1 Timothy
chapter one. And I know we have the Lord's
table to take, but I will try not to be too long. Look at what it says, 1 Timothy
chapter one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment
of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope,
or more directly, our hope. That's what it is, our hope.
Under Timothy, my own son in the faith, that means that. Timothy
was under Paul's ministry, and that's where Timothy got most
of his instruction, was through Paul. Under Timothy, my own son
in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus. And this is the same young man
that he told him, flee from youthful lusts. Is it not? Same one. Why'd he have to tell him that?
Because they're down in here. But there is a twofold yielding.
Yield not. unto unrighteousness, and yield
unto God. As I by salt thee to abide still
at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest
charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give
heed to fables and endless genealogies. Oh, how men love the fables of
their religious assumptions in their mind. Neither give heed
to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather
than godly edifying, which is in faith, do that, so do. Now
the end of the commandment, what commandment? Are we talking about
the law? No, the end of God Almighty's
supreme commandment. The end of the commandment is
love or charity out of a pure heart. That had to come from
God. Look, and of a good conscience
and of faith unpretended, unfeigned, from which some having swerved
have turned aside and vain jangling, just like a bell, just vain jangling. And they can do a lot of jangle,
believe you me. They loved it, the one here,
It was Mason Lilly, let me go ahead and put that right out
on the TV. I've been saying his name a lot on TV lately, and
it irritates me every time I do, so I'm gonna put this out there
when it comes along. His name's Mason Lilly. Vain jangling, and
almost every message the past, the three months before he left,
he jangled to me almost every time in that room right in there.
Just wouldn't quit, jangle, jangle, jangle. Got so angry one time,
didn't even realize that other people were standing around waiting
to talk to me as well. Look at it. From which some having
swerved had turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be
teachers of the law. What's wrong with teaching Jesus
Christ person and work? If that don't give you the impetus
to yield not unto sin, but yield unto God, you don't know Jesus
Christ. If you've got to have some law,
any law, man's law, God's law, to whip you into place, you don't
understand what you really are by nature. You really don't. And we're not the hypocrites.
For 30 some years, that man, more than 30 some years, sat
with this group. He's the hypocrite. If he always
believed this, he's the hypocrite, not us. We've always believed
what we're preaching now. Listen, don't think that, oh,
poor little so-and-so. Does that sound like the way
Paul's talking about these folks? Look, from which some having
swerved have turned aside into vain jangling, desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor where
have they, they don't know what they're talking about, he says.
But no, but we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel. Do you see it? There it is. There's the standard. Is it an
offense to God's gospel? It's definitely an offense to
God's law, but it's also an offense to his gospel. And we're to avoid
these things. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Look, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which
was committed to my trust. So then, it does have to deal
with morality versus immorality, doesn't it? It does have to do
with living in sin versus living right. But let me tell you, if
that's all you got, is the avoidance of these things, you don't have
anything. If you got all the morality and
righteousness in the world and you don't have Jesus Christ,
you'll perish with all your morality and righteousness. Because one
thing is most dear to God in all of his vast creation, that
is the dear blessed son of the Father. And he will have his
son honored or he will condemn all who dishonor his son. There's the problem. But instruments of unrighteousness,
in other words, give us a list. This book gives us a list. That
was just a partial one. Paul speaks of all kinds of things.
Look at his letter, Romans chapter one. We looked at many of them
there, did we not? You don't have to be taught in Sunday school
exactly what to say and exactly not what to say, exactly where
to go. If you find out you're in the wrong place, you made
the wrong choice, turn around and get out of there, right?
It's that simple. If you find yourself speaking
with someone and you realize this relationship's getting a
little too close where it shouldn't be, then run from it. Do like
Joseph, even if you leave your coat behind. Get out of there.
Right? That's not yielding your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yielding your members
as righteousness unto God. Run from it. Run from it. Now, where was I at? Oh, I see
where I'm at. We don't need to be taught exactly
what's right and exactly what's wrong because it's right here
in this book. We just on some occasions we reaffirm these things
that are contrary to sound doctrine. But now let me say this. All
of these things are a farce, yea even an insult to God if
we do not show forth God's praises. That is to tell the truth about
who God is. to extol his holiness and his
sovereignty and his immutability and his faithfulness and on and
on and on and on. We could have all the morality
and all the righteousness that we could possibly muster and
if we're not telling the truth about God, we are yielding our
members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin rather than yielding
unto God. And also this, if we do not confess
our utter ruin, the truth about us, our absolute demerit, then
we don't know Christ. Let me read to you, 1 Peter chapter
two, listen to what it says. 1 Peter chapter two, wherefore laying aside all malice
and all guile, hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings,
why? Because they're still down in here. They're still down in
here. Now Christ crucified the old
man on that tree and he's dead. He's dead but not in me. You
see, he's dead but not in me. As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby if so be that you
have tasted that the Lord is gracious. to whom coming, as
unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious, ye also are lively stones, or that is living
stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. unto you therefore which believe,
he is what? Precious. So if you leave the
true person and work of Christ out of the equation, you got
nothing. Somebody says, well, if I don't
have Christ, I might as well be immoral. You already are immoral.
Quit fooling yourself, you know? Well, if I believe what you believe,
I'd sin all I want. You're already sinning all you
want, and you don't believe what I believe, so there you go. and to you therefore which believe
he is precious, but to them which be disobedient, the stone which
the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the
corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to
them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. But you're not that way. You're
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a peculiar people, Look at it. What's the first thing? The first
thing doesn't have to do with our morality or our righteousness.
The first thing is this, that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light. And then read the rest of it,
then he begins to talk about our walk. Right? Our right living. because you
got to have the proper foundation. God's not gonna save you through
Jesus Christ because you're immoral, or because you're righteous.
But if you are able to yield your members unto God as members
of righteousness unto God, it's because God Almighty showed you,
look at it, mercy. Mercy. Morally, morality, apart
from honoring Christ, is self-righteousness. That's what it is. Morality,
or you could say righteousness if you want, morality apart from
honoring Christ is self-righteousness and that is dabbing. Believing
on Christ and serving self is self-centeredness and that is
damning. It's damning because whoever
you yield yourself unto, that's who your boss is. That's who
your maker is. That's who your creator is. That's
who your Lord is. Romans chapter six, and I'm gonna
read this one verse. There it is, you know it. Verse
16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey, whether of sin and of death, or of obedience unto righteousness. As I said before, the proof is
in the pudding. That's where it's at. Father, be with us as
we partake of this table, the Lord's table. Your son's table,
our Lord Jesus Christ's table. Lord, help us to have the proper
attitude as we do this, because we know we are instructed from
your word as to the way our hearts and minds are to be as we partake
of the bread and the wine. In Christ's name, amen.