I invite your attention to Romans
chapter 6 verses 16 through 23. The epistle of Paul the Apostle
to the church in Rome chapter 6 verses 16 through 23. The title of This morning's lesson is, Whose
Slave Are You? You're somebody's slave. You're
something's slave. Whose slave are you? Before we read this passage and
before we expound it, Note that it speaks of people
identified as servants in some translations, but as slaves in
other translations. And it is worthy of note that
in our King James Version, there were about seven different kinds
of servants. By that we mean that the word
servant was translated or what translated about seven different
words. So not all servants were the
same kind of servants. For example, there was a voluntary
minister to others. As in Matthew 23, verse 11, the
word there is diakonos. We get our word deacon from that. So a servant could be a voluntary
minister to others. Second, there was a servant who
was an attendant to a person of rank, as in Luke 1, verse
69. The third type of servant was
a household or domestic servant as in Acts chapter 10 verse 7. The fourth type of servant was
an officer or attendant of a civil authority as in Matthew chapter
26 verse 58. Fifth, there was a servant who
was one who served out of love. Moses is said to be one in Hebrews
3, verse five. Sixth, there was a hired servant,
one who served for wages in Luke 15, verses 17 and 19, which speaks
of the prodigal son. But here we have the seventh
word, that is in some translations translated servant. It is the
word doulos and it means properly slave. Trench's synonyms of the
New Testament says that this word doulos here in Romans chapter
six means properly the bond man. One who was in a permanent relationship
of servitude to another, one whose will was completely subject
to the will of the other. This was the bond-servant, and
the bond-servant was a slave. And that is the word that is
used here in our passage, Romans chapter 6, verses 16 through
23. We're talking here about slaves. But note furthermore that this
passage speaks of spiritual slaves, not necessarily physical slaves. Not all people are physical slaves,
for many of them are physical free men, and therefore not slaves. However, spiritually speaking,
everyone is a slave, including physical free men. Even physical
free men are spiritual slaves. Now, having made those Remarks
in preface, let us now read the passage that is before us, Romans
chapter 6, verses 16 through 23. Paul writes, Do you not know
that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that
one's slaves whom you obey? whether of sin leading to death
or of obedience leading to righteousness. But God be thanked that though
you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine to which you were delivered. and having been set
free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in
human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you
presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness
leading to more lawlessness, so now, present your members
as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves
of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit
did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is
death, But now, having been set free from sin and having become
slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and at the
end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life. in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In the passage now before us,
Romans 6 verses 16 through 23, Paul cites the word slaves eight
times. In verse 16, he says, to whom
you present yourselves slaves to obey, You are that one's slaves
whom you obey. In verse 17 he says, you were
slaves of sin. In verse 18 he says, you became
slaves of righteousness. In verse 19 he says, as you presented
your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to
more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness
for holiness. In verse 20 he says, you were
slaves of sin. In verse 22 he says, you have
become slaves of God. Now let's look at this passage
and observe four points in the lesson now before us. Point number
one, all are slaves. Point number two, all are slaves
voluntarily. Point number three, all are by
nature slaves of sin. And the fourth point is believers
in the gospel have presented themselves to God as slaves of
obedience leading to righteousness. Now let's consider these four
points one by one. Beginning with the first point,
all are slaves. By that I mean you and me and
every one of us. And I speak here, first of all,
of men who are in their native state. For all of us by nature
are slaves of sin. When I say that I speak of all
of us, are by nature slaves of sin. I speak of us in our natural
state, that state or that condition in which we were born. And we
are said to be as natural people, slaves of sin three times, verses
16, 17, and 20. Furthermore, all are by nature
slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness, verse number 19. Now some of us, believers in
Jesus Christ, have become slaves of obedience, according to verse
16, slaves of righteousness for holiness, according to verse
19, and slaves of God, according to verse 22. I'm here speaking about every
one of us. Every one of us is a slave, either
of sin or of God. Now, I know whose slave I am. I am a slave of God. But I ask you, whose slave are
you? Second, observe that all are
slaves voluntarily. Our slavery is not forced upon
us against our will. Now this is quite different from
physical slavery in many instances. Physical slaves are sometimes
slaves against their will. They did not volunteer for their
physical slavery. Some of them were taken in war
or captured by people who traffic in slavery. They were taken to
a slave market. They were bought by someone and
that one who bought them became their slave master and they did
not volunteer for this slavery. They are slaves involuntarily. But in the spiritual realm, Our
slavery is not forced upon us against our will. We are slaves
voluntarily. This is evidenced in verse number
16 where Paul says that we have presented ourselves to our master
in the sense of placing ourselves at the disposal of our master. He uses that word presented or
yielded. We have presented ourselves to
our master and said, I will be your slave. Furthermore, Here
in verse 16 he says, Do you not know that to whom you present
yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you
obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading
to righteousness. Now all of us who are in our
natural state have presented ourselves as slaves of uncleanness
and of lawlessness. But some of us, and I here speak
of believers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have willfully
and voluntarily obeyed the exhortation to present your members as slaves
of righteousness for holiness. And I will tell you this, I have
done so. I have presented myself as a
slave of God, and I have presented the members of my body as slaves
of righteousness for holiness. Have you? Point number three. All are by nature slaves of sin. Now, we have already stated this
fact, but we here will expound upon it because Paul does to
some considerable length. And it should not escape our
attention that natural men are identified as slaves of sin thrice. Three times in verses 16, 17,
and 20, Paul speaks of natural men as slaves of sin. Jesus Christ also expounded upon
this fact in saying in John 8, verse 34, that whoever commits
sin is a slave of sin. Why is he sin? because sin says
so. Sin is his master. He sins because
he obeys his master, voluntarily doing so. Let's expound furthermore upon
what it is to be a slave of sin. Consider that slaves of sin are
slaves of the governing sin within them. Now here note that the
word sin is a noun, not a verb. Usually when we think of sin,
we think of some action, some deed. We think of something that
has been said, something that has been done, something that
has been thought. But here, sin is a noun. And this sin is the governing
principle, the governing power acting through the members of
our body having its seat in the wheel. This sin is the master
that sits on the throne of our will. Paul calls it in Romans
chapter 7 verse 17, the sin that dwells in me. It's taken its
residence in me. It sits there as a governor inside
me. Paul says in Romans chapter 7
verse 23 that this sin governs the flesh through the law of
sin, which is in my members. This sin. that is enthroned in
our will, in the will of the natural man. It has a law, and
this law governs those who are under its authority, and that
is every man, every woman, in his or her natural state. According to Romans chapter 6
verse 6, our physical body is therefore called the body of
sin. Our body, our physical body is
the flesh in which this governing sin resides. There in the will
of man. Slaves of this governing sin
evidence its mastery over them in their lives. As you can read
in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 2 and 3. Slaves of sin, slaves
of this governing sin within them, walk according to the course
of this world. Slaves of sin walk according
to the prince of the power of the air who is Satan. Slaves
of sin walk according to the Spirit who now works in the sons
of disobedience, among whom also they all conduct themselves in
the lush of their flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and are, by nature, children of wrath. Slaves of
sin naturally sin because sin is their master and they are
sin's slaves and obediently do sin's will. Slaves of sin must
sin and slaves of sin can do nothing sinless. Now it is rather strange. that
slaves of sin boast of having free will. Slaves of sin say,
I'm not subject to sin. What? Yes, you are, my friend,
by nature. Sin is the governing principle
in your will, and your will does what sin says to do, and in that
regard, your will is not free. It is subject to the governing
sin that sits on the throne of your will. Note furthermore that
slaves of sin are also slaves of sin leading to death, Paul
says in verse number 16. They're going to receive their
wages. They will receive what they justly
deserve. Slaves of sin leading to death
will find that the wages of sin is death in verse number 23. And this death here is the second
death in the everlasting lake which burns with fire and brimstone
in Revelation chapters 20 and 21. There in the second death,
there in Gehenna, in the lake of fire, The slaves of sin will
receive their payday and receive their wages, and it'll be death
that they will experience for all the rest of eternity. I hope
you are not one of them. Furthermore, note that slaves
of sin are also slaves of uncleanness. Verse number 19. This uncleanness
is the moral pollution and defilement of the soul, which makes it unholy. Slaves of uncleanness must do
unholy things and can do nothing holy. In Job chapter 14, verse
four, the question is asked, who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? No one, no one. Well, uncleanness is what you
are. Uncleanness governs your soul
and therefore you are the slave of uncleanness and nothing good
can come out of your uncleanness. Your slavery will not permit
it. Note furthermore that slaves
of sin are also slaves of lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness.
In verse number 19, the King James Version uses the term iniquity,
slaves of iniquity, but lawlessness is more properly the term. This
lawlessness is complete disregard for God's law. This lawlessness
is what makes the soul of man guilty before God. A lawless
person is a scofflaw. He observed God's law and he
says, I am lawless with regards to God's law. I scoff His law. I am a scofflaw. And he does
so because he is a slave of lawlessness. He is bound and determined to
violate God's law. He is incapable of doing anything
righteousness. Note furthermore that Paul says
that they are slaves of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. What does that mean? Their lawlessness
leading to more lawlessness denotes the proclivity of their soul
to disobey God. They have a proclivity to do
so. They are bound and determined
to do so. They devote themselves to doing
so. Slaves of sin are also said in
verse 20 to be free. in regard to righteousness. Now that's an interesting expression.
Slaves of sin are free in regard to righteousness. What does that
mean? It means that they have determined
that righteousness will have no power and no authority over
them. With regard to righteousness,
they are free. It has nothing over them. Note furthermore that slaves
of sin are also slaves of Satan, and Satan is the author of sin. Satan is their slave master,
for they are, apart from divine enablement, unable to come to
their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken
captive by him to do his will." 2 Timothy 2, verse 25. This is
every man in his natural state. He is in
the snare of the devil. He has been so from his mother's
womb. From the day he was born, he
is in the snare of the devil, he is the captive of the devil,
and the devil has taken him captive in order that this one might
do the devil's will. Now he does not do the devil's
will against his own will. Jesus says in John 8 verse 44
that These who are slaves of sin are of your father the devil
and the desires of your father you desire to do, you want to
do it. Slaves of sin, not only are captives
of Satan, but also his children. And here the principle applies,
like father, like son. Satan is a liar and a murderer,
a cheat, a fraud. Everything about him is sinful. And so it is with his slaves,
his children also. Now, we have observed the first
three points. All are slaves. Second, all are
slaves voluntarily. Third, all are by nature slaves
of sin. Now we observe the fourth point. Believers in the gospel have
presented themselves to God as Slaves of obedience leading to
righteousness. Verse number 16. And believers did this when they
obeyed the gospel. According to verses 17 and 18,
we read, But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin,
Yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which
you were delivered. And having been set free from
sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Now this form of doctrine that
believers have believed is the gospel. And notice that we are
said to have been delivered to it. The gospel delivers us from sin
and we present ourselves to the gospel. We are delivered unto
it. Paul says in verse 23 that These
believers now have been set free from sin and they have become
slaves of God. These slaves of God are like
Saul of Tarsus on that road to Damascus. He started out from
Jerusalem to go to Damascus as a slave of sin. He was doing the devil's will. He was sinning, even breathing
threatenings and slaughter in his very breath. But something
happened on that road to Damascus. A master greater than Satan and
Satan struck Paul on that road, knocked him to the ground, and
brought him to his senses so that he could escape the snare
of the devil. Saul of Tarsus, having been delivered
from his slavery to sin, then said, Lord, what do you want
me to do? Do you observe what has changed? This man says, I will now become
your slave. I will now become your bond servant. I yield myself. I present myself
to obey you. What do you want me to do? Whatever
you want me to do, I voluntarily, I willingly will do it. I will
delight to do so. Indeed, in this regard, these
slaves of obedience leading to righteousness imitate Jesus Christ
in saying in John 5, verse 30, I do not seek my own will, but
the will of the Father who sent me. This is what slaves of obedience
leading to righteousness do. I do not seek my own will. I
put my will in subjection to the Father's will, and I delight
to do His will. Note furthermore that believers
are slaves of obedience leading to righteousness, verse 16. And this is the opposite of what
they were before when they were slaves of sin leading to death. As slaves of obedience, They
are in the service of God, obeying Him in all things, just as they
formerly served Satan and obeyed Him in all things. Notice that
their obedience is leading to righteousness. What is this obedience leading
to righteousness? It is not the imputed righteousness
of Jesus Christ. It is not the imparted righteousness
or the divine nature that is put within us, a nature of righteousness. We do not merit these through
our obedience, but rather this obedience leading to righteousness
speaks of practical righteousness. It is a righteousness that is
not imputed, not implanted, but rather practiced. Slaves of obedience
to God prove themselves to be so by the righteousness they
practice, according to 1 John 2, verse 29. You can mark and
identify Slaves of obedience by the righteousness
they practice in their personal everyday lives. Furthermore,
believers are also slaves of righteousness. Not only are they slaves of obedience
leading to righteousness, but they are said to be slaves of
righteousness itself. In verse number 18, Paul writes,
and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Who was it that set us free from
our bondage to sin? It was our liberator, Jesus Christ. And our liberator from sin has
become our master. He is Jehovah, our righteousness. Jeremiah 23 verse 6. We have submitted to his lordship,
we have made ourselves to be his slaves, and we obey him as
slaves of righteousness. And ultimately, Christ Jesus
is that righteousness. Furthermore, believers are also
slaves of righteousness for holiness, which is the opposite of what
they were before, slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness, leading to
more lawlessness. Slaves of righteousness for holiness,
as they are identified in verse 19, have yielded and presented
themselves to their new master, They willfully live according
to God's law. They willfully do what is righteous
and holy. They imitate Christ and say,
I delight to do your will, oh my God, and your law is within
my heart. Psalm 40 verse 8. When Jesus
Christ liberates us from our slavery to sin, He puts God's
law in our hearts. It is a law of righteousness
and we devote ourselves to obeying it. And we delight to do so because
we are slaves of righteousness for holiness. Note furthermore that believers
are therefore slaves of God. Verse 22. But now, having been
set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have
your fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life. Oh, my friend, note this. God
is good. to his slaves. They who have
been delivered from the snare of the devil have put themselves
totally voluntarily and willingly into the service of God and God gives to them far more
than they can imagine They have the fruit of holiness and everlasting
life for all eternity. Slaves of God obey the exhortation
of verses 12 through 14. Therefore, do not let sin reign
in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts.
and do not present yourselves as members, or do not present your members
as instruments of righteousness to sin, but present yourselves
to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments
of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. Senate one time had dominion
over us. We served it. It was our master,
but that is not the case now. We have made ourselves slaves
to God, slaves of righteousness, slaves of holiness, slaves of
Jesus Christ. So I ask you, whose slave are
you? Are you a slave of sin and Satan? By nature, you are. But oh, my
friend, I hope that is no longer the case with you. And I hope
that you can say, I have been delivered by the grace of God
through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ from my
slavery to sin and Satan, and I have now presented myself as
a slave of God and of righteousness, and I will do my Father's will. I hope that's true of you. Whose
slave are you? O God, our Father, bless this
lesson, we pray, to your glory in Jesus' name,
amen.