Turn back tonight to Romans chapter
6. Let's begin our reading in verse 14.
For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under
the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we're not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know you not that to whom you
yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are to whom
you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free
from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. I speak after
the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh.
or as you have yielded your member servants to uncleanness and to
iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your member servants
to righteousness unto holiness. For when you were the servants
of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those
things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is
death. But now being made free from
sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness
and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. We ended last time with verse
14 and made the point that believers Every child of God is now in
a new kingdom, in a new kingdom, and it is a kingdom of light.
It is the kingdom Paul says in Colossians chapter 1. It is the
kingdom of God's dear son. We were in the kingdom of darkness,
and Satan ruled over us, but God, thanks be unto God, he translated
us. He's writing to believers, obviously,
those who knew Christ as their Lord and Savior. Thanks unto
God, who hath translated us from the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of his son. And then in verse 14 we see we
are given a promise of victory, for sin shall not have dominion
over you. And why is it, why is it that
sin shall not have dominion over you? For you are not under law,
but under grace. And you notice I left out the
article thee when I quoted that, for you are not under law, but
under grace. Robert Haldane in his commentary
on Romans points out that that definite article is not in the
original text. And he suggested it's not there
for this reason. For you are not under the law,
but under grace. If it read like that, then it
would certainly infer that believers under that old covenant and that
old dispensation that they were under the dominion of sin. But
believers are not under the law, but under grace. And they've
always been under grace, believers in Christ. One of the new covenant
promises is, I will put my laws into thy mind and write them
in their hearts. You know, when we refer to the
New Covenant, most often we talk about this promise, their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more. But there's several
other promises that we are given in that covenant also. And one
of them is that God writes his law not on tables of stone. That's what he did at Mount Sinai,
isn't it? He wrote the law on table of
stone. But when the Lord saves a person,
he writes his law upon the fleshy tables, the table of the heart. And that law in the New Testament
is called by James the law of liberty. And the royal law, it's
the law of Christ. Now in verse 15, let's notice
again, if you look at verse 15, the apostle anticipates an objection. He does that all through Romans,
doesn't he? He answers objections that he
knew some people were sure to come up with. He knew human nature. And in verse 1 here in Romans
chapter 6, it was since Paul As you say, as he did in chapter
5, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Then the
objection here is, well, shall we continue in sin that grace
may abound? More sin, more grace. He saw
that someone was surely going to come up with that. And I mentioned
that Russian monk who had influence over the czar, Nicholas II, and
that's what he taught him. The more you sin, the more grace
you experience. And of course, that's a lie.
Paul answered that objection with his famous words, God forbid. He said that several times as
you read through Romans. Well, the objection now is, shall
we sin because we're not under the law? Shall we sin because
we're not under the law, but under grace? And once again,
he answers in the same way, God forbid, perish the thought. How could you ever reason like
that in other words? God forbid. And then the apostle
we see here, he uses an illustration. He uses it in two places here. And it is an illustration that
he knew that these people to whom he was writing, those Roman
believers, they understood exactly what this meant. He uses this
illustration to show how unreasonable, how foolish, That kind of reasoning
is that we should continue in sin or sin because we're not
under law. And here's the illustration.
They knew this. Servants are subject to their
masters. Servants obey their master. Well, a believer, a child of
God, he has a new Lord. He has a new master, and his
master is Christ. And our Lord himself said, no
man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the
other. It's impossible for a man to
serve two masters. Now, servants, what I entitled
this message, Servants of Righteousness. God's people, we're servants
of righteousness. Yes, we're servants. Yes, we
have a master, but that master's Christ. He's our master, our
new master. We were under a master called
Satan, the devil, and we did his bidding at his will. We were
taken captive by him at his will. You know, most people, they like
to talk about a free will, that every man has a free will. No.
Man is under the dominion and power of Satan by nature. And only the Lord, remember he
said, if the sun shall make you free, You shall be free indeed,
but no one else, no one except Christ is able to free a person
who is a slave, a servant of sin. That's just not gonna happen. Now, as I said, it's true that
all of us, when we come into this world, we come in born of
our fathers and we have inherited that sinful nature. And that
nature means that we are servants of sin. And if, here's the thing,
if God's grace does not interfere, if it does not interfere, then
those of us who are born into this world servants of sin, we
will receive the wages for our service. That's what he says
here in verse 16. Know you not that to whom you
yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are to whom
you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. And don't you see how he guards
against anyone believing that A person is saved by their works. It would be natural in this contrast
here, notice in verse 16, to whom you yield yourself servants
to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of
sin unto death or of obedience unto life. No, no, no. No, he's not going to teach that,
is he? Salvation is by grace through
faith. It's not by our obedience. Yes,
death, eternal death, that's the wages of sin, but eternal
life is not the wages of our obedience. Turn with me to, well, hold off
on that. Now, Paul, interject something
here that is true of these believers, true of all believers who were
by nature the servants of sin. How, how had they become the
servants of righteousness? That's an important question,
isn't it? Man's born into this world. He's a servant of sin.
Woman, she's a servant of sin. And then all of a sudden, they're
described as being servants of righteousness. How does that
take place? How is that possible? Well, he
tells us in verses 17 and 18, but God be thanked. God be thanked. That's the only way it's going
to happen. That God do something for us. It's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
But God be thanked. They had become the servants
now of righteousness. But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin. Look over here in 1 Corinthians
chapter six, just a moment. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and
verse 11, Paul writing to the believers and Corinth was notorious
as a sinful place. To Corinthianize a person was
to debase a person. It was just a phrase that they
used at that time because the city itself, and let me point
this out, it was a wealthy city. You know, wealth is not always
a blessing. The world, for the most part,
they think that if I could just get more money, if I just won
the lottery or something like that. No. Wealth, for the most
part, is not a blessing. As Spurgeon one time, I believe,
said that poverty had slain its hundreds while wealth had slain
its thousands. And I know so many people, I'm
not gonna name any of them, but I'm thinking tonight, people
have come through this church over the years. And the fact
that they had wealth that enabled them to have things that took
them out of church, took them away from church, took them away
from hearing the gospel, that's sad. Hath not God chosen the
poor of this world rich in faith? Isn't that what the Apostle James
said? And I know that could be referring to those who are spiritually
poor, obviously. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of God. But it has something to
do with physical wealth as well. You look at these men and women,
you see them on the news or something, have millions of dollars. man
that's the head of this company here in Houston, his salary is
$37 million a year. Can that be right? 37, but if you could interview
that man, most likely, I don't know him of course, you would
find a man that has no interest whatsoever in the gospel. Not
many, Paul said, not many. He didn't say not any, but not
many. of the proud and the haughty
and the wealthy and all of those things he names in 1 Corinthians
1. But here, he's writing to these
believers in this church, and he makes it clear that when a
person is saved, their life is changed. If any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are becoming new. or new. And when a person is
saved, and you know, to me, this is what I see in our country
today. It's hard to find anyone that
doesn't say they believe in Jesus. They believe in Christ. And they
are sure that they're on their way to heaven. But you look at
their lives and it has made no difference Made no difference. There's something wrong, obviously,
isn't there? There's something wrong. And
Paul tells these people here in Corinth, know you not, verse
nine, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you."
Such were some, were, past tense. Such were some of you. I like that word many times in
the scripture, don't you? But God. Here it is. But, but you are justified in
the name of the Lord Jesus. You're washed, first of all,
but you're washed, but you're sanctified, but you're justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. He said, all things are lawful
unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful
for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Back in our text here in Romans
6, how had these believers at Rome, how had they become now
servants of righteousness, but God be thanked. Notice, you have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
unto you. What does he mean, form of doctrine? Well, it's the gospel. It's the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does he mean by obedience?
You have believed. That's what it means to obey,
it is to believe. This is his commandment that
you believe on him whom he has sent and love one another. That's what the Apostle John
said. The form of doctrine is the gospel of Christ and Christ
is the gospel, isn't he? When we preach the gospel, we
preach Christ. We tell folks who he is. Who he is, to me that's a foundation. Someone said what you believe
about anything depends on who you believe. If you believe upon
the God of the Bible, then that'll determine what you believe. Yes,
we tell folks when we preach the gospel who he is, He's the
eternal son of God who was made flesh, who came into this world,
not sent on a fool's errand. No, he came here to obey his
father and do his will and save his people. If you have today's bulletin,
I hope you'll read especially that article on the back, George
Whitefield's brother. I'd never read this about him
in any of his family, in fact, but his brother was at Lady Huntington's
house, and she was a very influential person with Phil and others. She actually started a college
training men to preach. They were all preachers in the
Church of England, but they preached the sovereign grace of God. George Whitfield's brother was
at Lady Huntington's one day, and he just was in despair. He
said, I'm lost. I'm lost. I just know I'm lost. And they tried to convince him,
you know, people try to assure you that you're saved. And finally,
she said, well, I'm thankful. Lady Huntington did. She said,
I'm thankful that you're lost. And he thought within himself,
well, that's kind of mean. She said, I'm thankful because
Jesus Christ came into this world to save those that are lost. Yeah, these people that believe
the gospel, that form of doctrine, and notice they believed it from
their heart. It wasn't just a mental assent,
as Brother Streeter pointed out this morning in Sunday School
lesson about faith. It's not just agreeing that there
was a man named Jesus of Nazareth so many years ago, a historical
figure, and believing that he was the Messiah. It's trust,
it's committing yourself unto him. They believe from the heart. Later in this letter, of course,
Paul will say, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. And you notice Paul is always
careful to ascribe all the praise and all the honor and all the
glory to God who saves sinners. He doesn't say the form of doctrine
which you accepted. the gospel which you accepted,
but, he writes, the gospel, the form of doctrine to which you
were delivered. Now, this word, the form of doctrine
to which you were delivered, the writers point out that this
word that is used is a word that is used like for molten metal. I may have told you this before,
but bear with me. As a kid, we didn't have a whole
lot to play with. We tossed washers and things
like that. But I remember once there was
a time when we would take fishing weights. They're lead, right?
and put them in a can, and put a fire under them, and melt that
lead down, and we'd build us some kind of mold, you know,
pour that molten lead into that mold, and then of course, when
it dried, or when it cooled off, you pull that out, whatever you
had made. Well, that's the word that Paul
uses here, according to the writers, you were poured into this form
of doctrine. You who have become believers
have been delivered over. You have been poured into the
mold of this form of doctrine. That is why you are as you are. Once you melt that metal and
pour it into the mold, that's what it is. And once a person
believes the gospel, that's what he is. He's a servant of righteousness
now. Who's the author? Who's the author
of this great work? But God be thanked. Now I want us to go to Ephesians
2. But God be thanked. I've got a plaque, a wooden plaque,
on the back porch of our house that Brother Carl Pounds made
for me. And it has one of these scriptures
there. He burned it in the wood. And
every time I read this passage, I think of him. You know, it's
good to be remembered for a word of God, isn't it? When I think
of Brother Ray McGrew, and I know, you know what I'm talking about,
don't you? You know Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Oh, to be
remembered for a word of God, a word of scripture. What a blessing. And you, Ephesians 2, and you,
Hethikwikon, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
We all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
And we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but
God. But God. This is a verse of scripture
I have there on that plaque. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us. Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you are saved, and hath raised us up together, made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Back in our text, verse 19 states
why Paul used this illustration of servants obeying their masters. He says, verse 19, I speak after
the manner of men because, this is the reason Paul says I'm using
this illustration, because of the infirmity of your flesh. Now some see this as referring
back to what he said in verse 16, and then some see it as referring
to what he's going to say or write in verses 19 through 22. But if you take out verses 17
and 18, this whole passage here is dealing with the same thing,
that is servants and masters. This is something that they knew.
This is something these members of the church at Rome, they knew
something about this, that servants serve their masters. And if Christ
is your master, you're going to serve him. If sin is your
master, you're going to serve sin. That's all there is to it. And being servants of sin, the
fruit of that service is death. Verse 21, eternal death. What fruit had you then in those
things where you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is
death. But being made servants of God,
we have the fruit of holiness and the end everlasting life. You know, verse 23, we could
preach the whole message from this verse, couldn't we? For
the wages of sin is death. And he doesn't say, but the wages
of righteousness is eternal life. No, the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God, the gift of God is eternal life. You know, death is ugly. It's ugly, isn't it? Even Abraham,
he was married to Sarah. She must have been a very beautiful
woman because of the kings that took her into their houses. And she was an older lady at
that time, too. But you know, when she died,
He spoke to the sons of Heth, I believe it was, to buy a burial
place. Let me bury the dead out of my
sight. Death is ugly. Physical death
is ugly. Spiritual death is ugly. Eternal
death is ugly. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
teach about eternal death? Turn with me to Matthew's gospel
just a moment. One of my uncles, before he passed
away, I used to, he had an office close to Greenspoint somewhere
and we'd meet sometimes for lunch at Luby's. He told me one day,
he said, you know, David, he said, my pastor, he's got several
degrees. He was a bishop. He's got several
degrees. And he told me that there is
no hell. Yeah. Well, what did Christ say? That's the question, isn't it?
I don't care how many degrees a person has. What did the Lord
Jesus Christ say about eternal death? Well, let me point out
this. In chapter 11 and verse 22, he
tells us, he shows us by these words that there are degrees
of punishment. Now, I don't believe in rewards
in heaven. I believe that Christ is our
reward. And I don't believe that any
of us are going to have a bigger mansion than the other. I believe
we're all going to be there at the feet of Christ, who loved
us and gave himself for us. But I do believe that scriptures
teach there are degrees of punishment. And I think we see it very clearly
here in this verse, verse 22. But I say unto you, this is the
Lord speaking, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for
Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you, than for
you. Capernaum, where the Lord lived
during his public ministry, where he taught in their synagogues,
where he healed many of physical infirmities. And yet they didn't
believe. They didn't believe. And our
Lord said, it's going to be more tolerable in the day of judgment
for Tyre and Sidon, because they had not had the benefit of our
Lord's ministry in person. But now look back in chapter
9 of Matthew, in verse 42, well, There is no 42. I've got the
wrong chapter here. Let's see if it's in TM. 12. Thank you. No, that's not it either. Well,
you know, the scripture, the scripture that I'm thinking of
is where the Lord Jesus Christ, three times in the short passage
there, he says, where the worm doth not and the fire is not
quenched. Where the worm doth not and the
fire is not quenched. Where the worm doth not and the
fire is not quenched. He's talking about people going
into eternity, where there worm doth not, and the fire is not
quenched." Now, those words there, they show the intensity, the
intensity of the wrath that the lost will experience in hell. The wages of sin is death, eternal
death, where the worm doth not. At that time, and I assume even
today, when people die, that's usually the way the bodies were removed. By worms, they were
put in the ground and the worms destroyed them, took them away,
or they were put in a fire and the fire burned them. And our
Lord is showing here the intensity that if you could imagine having
worms eat your flesh, or being burned alive. The intensity of the suffering
that the lost will experience. And then at the end of that passage,
he said this, they're salted with fire. Salted with fire. Now what did they use salt for? To preserve. to preserve and
what our Lord is showing there is even though now fire, it consumes,
right? It consumes the material that's,
but there is no consuming, there is no end, the perpetuity rather
is what our Lord is showing there by saying they shall be salted,
salted with fire. Speaks of their never ending.
You know, if a person went to hell and As awful as it is going
to be, if that person knew at the end of, let's say, 10 billion
years, they're going to be released, there'd be some hope, right?
Oh, that's a long time. But there'd be some little bit
of hope, but not in hell. There is no end. And the same
word which is used, they shall go away into everlasting destruction,
or into everlasting life. The same word is used both for
the saved, going into everlasting life, as is used for the lost,
going into everlasting perdition. And if you deny one, you must
deny the other. Eternal life is God's gift. It's undeserved, it's unmerited
on our part through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And just as death,
I said, is ugly, eternal life is beautiful. To know Christ,
to be with Christ, to be like Christ, and all because of God's
amazing grace. But God be thanked. No longer servants of sin. but servants of righteousness.
May the Lord bless His word to us here today.