Romans 6:12-14

Our text this morning is Romans chapter 6, 12 through 14.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

I'm going to start reading in verse 11.

God's Word says,

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

! Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness,

but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.

And your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace.

Let's pray together.

Fathers, we've just sung, I need Thee every hour.

I need You this moment to guide the words that are spoken,

to guide the hearing of those words.

May the words that are spoken be Your words this morning.

As John the Baptist said,

I must decrease so that He may increase.

I pray that this morning.

That I decrease so that Christ can increase in our meeting.

So that we can see Christ.

See who He is.

See what He's done.

See how He loves us, cares for us, and has changed our lives.

We thank You for Christ.

We thank You for this great privilege to meet together.

Father, Spirit, I ask that You continue to move in the hearts of those here.

That You would penetrate the hardest of hearts.

Soften those hearts to be receptive to Your Word.

That You would convict the stubbornness, or most stubborn hearts,

that repentance can be acted out.

Let us leave here different because Your Spirit moved,

You worked, and we learned about You.

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Be seated.

Be seated.

So if this is your first time,

we are going through the book of Romans.

Verse by verse.

And as a quick review,

chapter 1 and 2 is about the illness,

or the problem with mankind,

whether you're Jewish or not,

and that is sin.

We are dead in sin.

We are totally dead.

Not just a little dead.

We don't need a band-aid.

We don't need some magic potion or serum.

We are dead.

We need a miracle.

We need God to work on our behalf.

Chapter 3 kind of sums up 1 and 2 in saying that no one is righteous.

No, not one.

No one does good apart from God.

Chapter 4 gives us the way in which those of us who are dead can be alive.

That is by faith.

We are justified by faith alone.

That faith is an act or a gift from God.

No religious activity can earn that faith,

can make that faith.

No good deed or nice to your neighbor can earn that faith.

It is completely by God's act.

Chapter 5,

as our standing with God changes because of the faith,

because of being justified by faith.

We are no longer enemies with God.

We are now at peace with God.

Verse 1,

and that peace

is good.

That peace

is

what only God

can do.

As I've said before,

we cannot earn that peace.

We cannot say,

God,

I will just stop being your enemy

because

what makes us an enemy

is inside of us.

It is what makes us who we are.

It is what we are born into.

It is God's act that gives us peace.

It is what Christ has done on the cross for us.

Later in chapter 5,

Paul compares

Adam to Christ.

Basically,

gives you the question,

gives us the question,

do you belong to Adam?

The lineage of sin?

Do you belong to Adam

or do you belong to Jesus?

Which gives us life.

And that's the question I end with.

Do you belong to Jesus

or do you belong to Adam?

Are you a child of God

or are you a child of the world?

Last week,

we talked about

God's radical grace.

This radical grace

that is radical enough

to kill us.

To kill that sin inside of us.

And it's radical enough

to give us life.

To make us new.

So that's kind of where we are.

Where we're moving forward.

This week,

we kind of get the action.

What are we doing

since we are dead to sin?

How do we live?

In 1941,

the U.S. national debt

was $48 billion.

Manageable numbers

compared to our debt this year.

In 1945,

it rose to $247 billion.

The U.S. spent more money

in four years of World War II

than it had in the first

150 years of its existence.

The cost of war is great.

World War II to this day

remains the most expensive war

the U.S. has ever fought.

418,000 men lost their lives

fighting in World War II.

U.S. men.

There was great cost in war.

Now, it's the same for us spiritually.

We too are in a war.

We fight for our own lives

to live without sin.

We fight for those around us

having the courage

to live out the Gospel

in front of them.

In this text,

there is a wartime feel,

wartime language.

It speaks of good versus evil.

And we're right in the middle of it.

We are at war,

and war is costly.

When you and I become Christians,

it costs us nothing.

It's all by grace.

It's all the work

of Jesus Christ on the cross.

It is by grace.

He paid the price.

But,

to live as a Christian,

to live out in the Christian life,

costs us everything.

It costs us everything.

This morning,

God's radical grace

is costly.

So let's dig in.

First of all,

it costs the Christian

their allegiance.

It costs the Christian

their allegiance.

Verse 13 says,

Do not present your members

to sin as instruments

of unrighteousness,

but present yourselves

to God

as those who have been brought

from death to life,

and your members

to God

as instruments

for righteousness.

Now,

when we give allegiance

to someone

or something,

we are committing

to follow and serve

that person

no matter what.

But even before

anything is even asked

of us,

we commit ourselves

and we must make

a choice

who we're going

to serve.

Who are we going

to give that allegiance

to?

Is it going to be sin

based on our text?

Is it going to be sin

where then our body

is used for unrighteousness?

Our members

are used for unrighteousness?

Or will it be to God

where our body

is used

as instruments

for righteousness?

These are the questions.

This is the questions

that we need to be asking

ourselves

based on our text.

Now,

the word present

here in our text

is not an offering

or a yield

in a passive way.

It's not,

okay,

here it is.

I present this gift

to you.

It's not that.

The language

is much stronger

than that.

It's more like

I give in service

to.

Like war.

I give in service

to fight.

I give in service

to go into battle

for you.

You are giving

your loyalty

as a subordinate

to a superior.

So for us

as Christians,

we're giving

our loyalty

to God

and it puts

everything in

proper order.

So what we have

is we have

creator,

creation.

Man,

God.

This is a proper

order of way

that things should be.

Adam and Eve

in the garden

had it the other

way around.

Remember,

they were deceived

to think that they

could become

like God.

Man,

God,

not God,

man.

See,

when we pledge

our allegiance

to God,

then we put

things in

proper order.

And this is

important.

We must,

we must,

must,

must,

as Christians,

we bear His

name,

we must put

ourselves under

the authority

of God

and His

ruling.

And the

gospel,

the truth

about Jesus

Christ,

the good

news is

what empowers

us to do

that.

The gospel

tells us

who we

were.

Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1,

2,

and 3.

We were

dead in

our sins.

There was

nothing good

in us.

We could

not achieve

righteousness.

It shows

us what

we deserve.

We deserve

death.

We deserve

damnation.

Our sin

deserves a

punishment.

It reveals

to us what

God has done

through Christ's

life,

death,

and

resurrection.

which is

He has

made us

righteous.

He has

given us

His

righteousness

and taken

from us

our sin.

And then

finally,

the gospel

compels us

to give

our allegiance

to God.

Or at least

it should.

And there's

where the

rubber meets

the road.

The gospel

isn't just

a one-time

decision

made for

the unbeliever.

And then

once you

become a

Christian,

there's no

need for

it.

That's

not the

gospel.

The gospel

is the

fuel of

the

Christian

life.

It is

what

fuels

us

and

empowers

us to

keep

going.

And it

is what

compels

us to

surrender

our

allegiance

to God

and not

to sin.

The beginning

of verse 13

says,

do not

present your

members.

This is

not a

one-time

thing.

This is

a lifelong

action.

Continuous

action.

I wish

it was a

one-time

thing.

That would

be so

much

easier.

So many

less

struggles,

but that's

not what

it says.

Our

allegiance is

worth fighting

for.

We must

make a

decision.

And that

decision is

whether or not

we're going to

give to the

enemy or

give to

God.

God.

In a

speech before

the Battle

of Long

Island in

1776,

George

Washington

said,

the fate

of unborn

millions will

now depend

under God

on the

courage and

conduct of

the army.

Our cruel

and unrelenting

enemy leaves

us only the

choice of

brave resistance

or the

most abject

submission.

We have

therefore to

resolve to

conquer or

die.

Our

enemy,

our enemy

is not

terrorism.

It is not

Iran.

It is not

North Korea.

It is not

the crazy

kooks up in

the mountains

somewhere

hoarding

weapons.

Our

enemy is

sin and

it is cruel

and unrelenting.

And we

must be

brave and

unrelenting

in our

allegiance to

God.

God has

already

defeated

that sin.

Our

enemy is

cruel and

unrelenting

and it

will tell

you anything

to gain

your

allegiance.

It will

tell you

anything.

John 8

says that the

devil is a

liar and the

father of

lies.

He is the

owner of

sin.

He lies

sin.

So that

we can

give our

allegiance to

the enemy.

Jesus has

already fought

the fight

and he

has won.

He has

already fought

the fight.

We must

now live

like it.

Live like

we have

been brought

from death

to life

as our

text says.

live.

Jesus made

that possible

for us

because we

have been

brought from

death to

life.

He makes

it possible.

He it

is.

He empowers

us over

the enemy.

to give

your allegiance

to God

isn't a

fatal move.

It's not

this passive

okay God

I'm yours.

No.

There's a

fight to be

had.

There's a

battle to

be won.

It's a

decision with

action.

Look at

verse 16

of chapter

4.

Looking

ahead just

a little

bit.

Verse 16

says do

you not

know that

if you

present

yourselves

to anyone

as obedient

slaves you

are slaves

of the

one whom

you obey

either of

sin which

leads to

death or

of obedience

which leads

to righteousness.

There's no

neutral ground.

You are

one or

the other.

You are

on one

side or

the other.

We must

make our

decision based

on what

God has

done.

And not

what we

can do.

Not what

we think

we can do

or what

we have

done.

See when

we do

that when

we base

our decision

and we

make our

decision

of who

we're

going to

give our

allegiance

to based

on what

we do.

And there's

only two

outcomes.

Those outcomes

are either

moralism or

legalism.

Moralism,

the idea

that we

can be

holy and

do acts

of righteousness

as verse

13 says,

just by

doing them,

just by

being good,

just by

not cursing

or just by

loving our

neighbor,

being a

good person.

Holiness

does not

come from

what we

do.

Okay?

Does not

come from

what we

do.

The other

side of

it is

legalism.

The idea

that if we

follow rules

and if we

make rules

to live by,

then that

will make

us holy.

If we just

make a list

and check

them off.

I've done

this and

I've done

this and

I've done

this.

If I stay

away from

this sin,

then I

won't cross

that line

and do

that sin,

so I'm

just

going

to step

further

back.

It does

not lead

to holiness

either.

Both

are a

deception

of sin

and the

evidence

that your

members,

your body

has been

used for

unrighteousness.

So the way

you defeat

both of

these tendencies,

the way you

don't fall

off one

side or

the other

is by

being who

you are.

Or another

way to put

it,

become who

you are

becoming.

In other

words,

you have

been brought

from death

to life.

Now live

like it.

That's

where the

rubber meets

the road.

You have

been brought

from death

to life.

Now live

like it.

It's the

indicative

of what God

has done

and who

we are

in Christ

followed

by the

imperative.

What we

should do.

What should

we be

like?

How we

should

live.

When we

think about

what Jesus

did and

who we

are now,

that we

are made

righteous,

we are

standing

before God

righteous

because of

the blood

of Jesus

Christ,

we should

be compelled

to place

our allegiance

to God

and not

to sin.

Place our

allegiance

to God

because of

what He

has done

for us.

Galatians

5.16

says,

walk by

the Spirit

and you

will not

gratify the

desires of

the flesh.

Now if you're

in Galatians

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5,

you look a

little further

down and

you get

the list.

Not an

exhaustive

list,

but you

look through

that list

and you

go,

yep,

yep,

yep,

I got

that.

I see

that.

The list

of the

fruits of

the flesh.

If you

don't want

to gratify

the desires

of the

flesh,

if you

have a

sincere,

convicting

desire to

not sin,

and walk

by the

Spirit.

But,

we cannot

walk by the

Spirit without

allegiance to

God.

You cannot

walk by the

Spirit without

being in

service to

God.

If you're in

service to

sin,

you cannot

walk by the

Spirit.

There is

sin.

There is

no

neutral

stance.

You're

one side

or the

other.

God

or sin.

So,

verse 13

says,

do not

present your

members to

sin as

instruments for

unrighteousness,

but present

yourselves to

God as

those who

have been

brought from

death to

life,

and your

members to

God as

instruments

for

righteousness.

not only

does God's

grace cost

the Christian

their

allegiance,

it also

costs the

Christian

their

obedience.

Verse 12

says,

let not

sin therefore

reign in

your mortal

body to

make you

obey its

passions.

Therefore,

it connects

us to what

has been

previously

said.

In other

words,

since you

are dead

to sin

and alive

to God,

since you

have been

brought from

death to

life,

do not

let sin

reign.

And the

only way that

happens is if

you are a

Christian,

if you love

Jesus and

He is your

Lord,

can you

not let

sin

reign?

You have

died to

sin.

When Jesus

died on the

cross,

He paid

the price.

He paid

the price

for us.

And in so

doing,

He took

on our

sin and

gave us

His

righteousness.

That

righteousness

makes it

possible to

live as

if we

are dead

to sin.

That

righteousness

is also

how we

can approach

the throne

room with

boldness

and confidence

because it's

nothing of

our doing,

it's all

of Christ's

doing.

So Hebrews

4 and

Hebrews 10

tells us,

approach with

confidence.

Verse 12

of Romans

Romans 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6,

let not sin

therefore

reign.

It's

actually

connected

to

verse 14.

Verse 12

without

verse 14

is like

telling somebody

who's

drowning,

just swim

to the

shore.

It

doesn't

help

them.

If

somebody

is

drowning,

you have

to get

in and

help

them.

You have

to throw

them

something.

You have

to do

something

to help

them.

You

can't

just

say,

man,

you're

drowning,

just swim

over to

the shore.

It's

right

there.

Ten

yards,

you got

it.

That

doesn't

help

them.

Verse 12

without

verse 14

is the

same way.

Look at

verse 14.

For sin

will have

no dominion

over you.

Verse 12,

let not

sin

therefore

reign

in your

mortal

bodies.

I said

last week

that sin

is a

choice.

Sin

is

voluntary.

Voluntary.

We choose

to sin.

We choose

to give

sin

power.

Verse 12,

let not

sin

therefore

reign

in your

mortal

body

because

sin

will have

no

dominion

over

you.

For us,

without

verse 14,

verse 12

is useless.

Without

verse 14

being dead

to sin

and knowing

that it

has no

dominion

over us,

verse 12

does not

help.

God's

grace

costs you

and me

our

obedience.

Look at

the last

part of

verse 12.

To make

you obey

its

passions.

We will

obey

one

or the

other,

but only

one.

We are

at war

and you

cannot

fight

both

sides.

There's

no

secret

spies.

There's

no

double

agents.

You

can't

do it.

It's

black and

white here.

The battle

is a

spiritual

battle

that is

fought

and won

or lost

on the

daily

decisions

you and

I make

and how

we're

going to

use

our

body.

How

are we

going to

do

action?

If I

told

Britain,

my

beautiful

Britain,

if I

told her,

Britain,

go clean

your room,

and 30

minutes later,

she comes

back and I

said,

Britain,

did you

clean your

room?

And she

says,

no,

but dad,

I thought

a whole

lot about

what you

said.

I

memorized

what you

said.

Britain,

go back

to your

room and

clean your

room.

30

minutes later,

she comes

back.

I said,

Britain,

did you

clean your

room?

She

says,

no,

but dad,

I thought

about it a

lot.

I thought

about what

you said.

I looked

up in the

Greek what

you meant

to say,

what it

really

means.

that's not

obedience,

is it?

That's

disobedience.

That's

straight sin.

Good

intentions,

maybe.

Good

thinking,

but that's

not

obedience.

It's the

same for

us.

The same

for us

as we

know

what God

has

commanded

us to

do,

and yet

we don't

do it.

God,

I've

memorized

half of

Romans.

Okay,

but have

you lived

it out?

Did you

clean your

room?

Did you

put things

away?

God,

I know

exactly what

verses 12

through 14

means in

the Greek,

what it's

saying.

I know

the tenses

of the

words,

and I've

actually

memorized

it in

Greek.

And I

can tell

you the

Greek

alphabet,

and I

can tell

you the

Hebrew,

and God,

I'm doing

a lot

for you.

Are you

living out

my words

to you?

That's

where the

rubber meets

the road.

See,

we are at

war.

We are in

a battle.

And the

question to

you,

and to

me,

is are we

willing to

pay the

price of

obedience

to God?

Are we

just going

to skip

out on

obeying

Him and

continue

in sin?

God's

grace

costs us

our

obedience.

When Jesus

called His

disciples in

Matthew 4,

what does

He say?

He says,

follow Me

and I

will make

you fishers

of men.

I'm pretty

sure that

follow is

a verb.

There is

action there.

And He

doesn't give

them,

follow Me

and I'll

do this

for you

and it'll

be happy

and it'll

be great

and you'll

do a lot

of things.

He doesn't

really give

them a lot

of information.

He doesn't

give them

the core

syllabus

of what's

going to

turn out.

The

disciples

obeyed.

Action.

In

Matthew 13,

Jesus is

teaching

some

of the

parables

and in

verse 44

He says,

the kingdom

of heaven

is like a

treasure

hidden in

a field

which a

man found

and covered

up.

Then in

his joy

he goes

and sells

all that

he has

and buys

that field.

And again,

the kingdom

of heaven

is like a

merchant

in search

of fine

pearls

who on

finding one

pearl of

great value

went and

sold all

that he

had and

bought it.

There is

great price.

God's

grace is

costly.

And there's

action

that needs

to

follow

our

obedience.

obedience.

A kingdom

of heaven

requires

obedience.

Will you

obey?

Will you

obey God?

If you

obey God,

you cannot

obey the

passions of

your bodies.

If you

obey God,

no matter

what happens,

no matter

where that

takes you,

no matter

how hard

it seems

to be,

see,

the disciples

didn't

know.

Peter

had no

clue,

no clue

that he

was going

to be

crucified

upside

down.

But he

did,

and he

went.

The

disciples

gave up

everything

they knew.

They were

fishermen.

This is what

they did.

That was

their livelihood.

That's how

they did

things.

That's how

they paid

for things.

That's how

they lived.

And yet,

they gave

it up to

follow Jesus.

And the

same call

is on

your life

and my

life.

God said

to Abram

the same

thing.

Go.

Just go.

And I'll

show you

the way.

Didn't give

any details,

but Abram

was obedient

to God

and he

acted on

God's

commands.

He

obeyed

with

action.

See,

the good

news is

that as

daunting

as it

may sound,

as crazy

or dangerous

or radical

as the

command

that God

has in

your life.

No matter

the situation,

for some

of you,

it may be

obeying

and not

dating a

certain

person.

For some

of you,

it may be

quitting a

job.

For some,

it may be

having to

have a talk

with somebody

that's going

to be

difficult

and a

little

scary.

It may

be raising

your kids

an entire

new way.

A paradigm

shift.

Shifting

what you

know.

It may

be stop

drinking

certain

things.

It may

be giving

up your

addictions.

Whatever

it is,

God gives

us the

strength

and the

endurance

and the

ability

to do

these

things.

He will

not let

us flop

around like

a fish

out of

water,

gasping

for air.

He enables

us to

do what

He commands.

Augustine

put it

this way,

grant

what

thou

command

and

then

command

what

thou

will.

Grant

what

thou

command.

Enable

me to

do it

and

then

command

what

thou

will.

In other

words,

I'll do

what you

say if

you enable

me to

do it.

God

will guide

and help

His

children.

The

question is,

will you

obey?

Are you

willing to

pay

your

obedience

to Him?

We are

at war

and our

obedience

determines

which side

we're on.

Plain and

simple.

Which side

are you

fighting for?

Are you

fighting for

God?

Are you

fighting for

sin?

Are you

obeying

God or

are you

obeying

sin?

So not

only does

God's

grace cost

us our

allegiance

and our

obedience,

but thirdly,

it costs

the Christian

their

security.

Now this

is a little

bit of a

play on

words,

but you'll

see what

I mean.

It costs

the Christian

their

security.

Verse

13 again,

do not

present your

members to

sin as

instruments for

unrighteousness,

but present

yourselves to

God as

those who

have been

brought from

death to

life,

and your

members to

God as

instruments

for

righteousness.

Now the

word

instrument

here can

also be

translated

weapon.

So your

member,

do not

present your

members to

sin as

weapons for

unrighteousness,

and your

members to

God as

weapons for

righteousness.

Our bodies

are either

weapons for

righteousness or

unrighteousness.

When we

place our

allegiance to

God, we

are giving

up our

security to

live under

His rule and

His commands.

Sounds

confusing.

Here's what I

mean.

When our

bodies are

weapons of

unrighteousness,

we fight for

only one

person and

that's

ourselves.

We fight for

ourselves.

We're on the

side of sin.

We obey

sin.

We obey the

passions of

our flesh.

And our

security is

found in

what we do.

We think

as long as

we're fighting

that we have

security.

As long as

we have

weapons, we

are secure.

It's kind of

like the

Occupy Wall

Street stuff

going on.

Occupy Wall

Street, New

York, Oakland,

whatever city

you name.

It's like that

because no

one knows why

they're doing

what they're

doing.

Inside the

camp or

outside the

camp, nobody

can really,

there's no

unity to

what they're

trying to

accomplish.

And the

only thing

positive, the

only thing

coming out of

that is

they're

accomplishing

more work

for the

police, more

work for the

street cleaners,

and more

work for the

coffee shops.

See, nothing

positive is

being accomplished.

But they

think that

because we're

protesting and

we're doing

something, we

are accomplishing

something great.

In reality,

there's no

unity there,

there's nothing

being done.

Likewise, when

we use our

bodies as

weapons of

unrighteousness,

we think we're

doing something,

we think we're

accomplishing

something.

And in

reality, we

are doing

nothing.

Nothing is

being accomplished.

We, in

fact, are

being devoured

by the

enemy.

And we

don't even

know it.

If you take

a frog and

you throw

them in a

hot boiling