The Free Gift of God

Well, this morning we come to the end

of chapter 6 in Paul's magnificent

letter to the Romans.

And although after today, we still have 10

chapters to go in this letter,

This is a wonderful letter. The Apostle Paul

has already in these these six chapters provided

some of the most profound theological insights known

to man. In Romans 1, verses 16 and

Romans 1:16

17, Paul gave us the thesis statement

for this entire letter.

He wrote that the gospel

is the power of God for salvation

to everyone

who believes.

Because in the gospel,

the righteousness of God is revealed from faith

for faith.

Paul then boldly echoed

the words of the prophet Habakkuk

declaring that the righteous

shall live

by faith.

So at the outset of this letter,

Paul displays before his audience the way of

salvation.

A person is saved

when God's power

works

through the gospel,

enabling the believer to appropriate

the righteousness of God

by faith.

We learned that salvation is accessible to all

peoples

whether Jew

or Gentile.

We learned that salvation is a work of

God's power.

We learned that the righteousness

necessary

for eternal life is received

by faith.

It doesn't matter who you are,

it doesn't matter where you come from,

it doesn't matter what you've done.

Paul says, Believe the gospel,

entrust yourself to God's power,

receive

God's righteousness by faith,

and you will be saved. You will enjoy

eternal life.

In just a few verses,

Paul takes us to a spiritual

pinnacle

placing before us the hope of eternal life.

It is within our reach in these opening

verses in Paul's letter to the Romans.

But then,

from Romans

118

to Romans 3:20,

Romans 3:20

Paul takes us from the heights

of the heavenly courts

down to the deepest

recesses

of the valley

of despair.

Indeed, he takes us to the very gates

of hell

as he outlines with devastating clarity

the wretched reality

of the humanist state.

And as Paul drags us through that dark

valley of gloom,

we learn that all human beings are by

nature

in rebellion against God,

that we worship and serve the creature

rather than the Creator,

that we celebrate and promote all kinds of

immorality,

that our minds are corrupt,

that our hearts are wicked,

that our eyes are blind,

that our lips blaspheme,

that our feet are swift to shed blood,

that along our path

we live nothing, we leave nothing but ruin

and misery.

We learn

that having knowledge of God's law will not

save us

because God's law only serves as a witness

against our disobedience.

We learned that circumcision cannot save us

because our hearts are uncircumcised.

They are filled with impurity

and wickedness.

We learned that there is not one person,

not one who is righteous.

No, not one Paul tells us. He stresses

that.

And thus it is apparent

that between the sinful estate of man

and the perfect righteousness

that is required

by God so that we can enjoy full

communion with Him,

there exists an insurmountable

chasm.

And the salvation that seems so close

at the beginning of Paul's letter

disappears

behind

the curtain

of God's perfect

justice.

But then

beginning in Romans 3/21, Paul introduces hope once

again.

He writes that God's righteousness,

which is the only righteousness that can save

us,

has been manifested

apart from the law,

that it has appeared

in history,

that it is attainable

to us.

In other words, Paul writes

that though we cannot save ourselves by obeying

the law,

since we none of us none of us

can offer the perfect obedience that the law

requires,

that nevertheless there is one

whom God has put forth

to accomplish

that very thing.

He writes that Jesus has fulfilled

the requirements of God's law in our place.

Therefore, in Romans 3 verses 23 and 24,

Romans 3:23

Paul offers these amazing words of hope.

He writes,

For all have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God

and are justified

by His grace

as a gift

through the redemption

that is in Christ Jesus.

And from that glorious statement

of the grace of God freely offered in

Christ,

Paul then bifurcates humanity

into 2 camps.

Those who are standing on their own

works and those who are standing on the

works of Jesus.

Those who are relying on their own merits

and those who are relying on the merit

of Christ.

Those who are united to Adam,

and those who are united to Christ by

faith,

those who are slaves of sin,

and those who are slaves

of righteousness.

And so we arrive

at our text this morning,

Romans 6 verses 20 to 23,

Romans 6:20–23

where Paul highlights

the transformative

power

of God's grace in the life

of believers.

We see in these verses that when someone

becomes a Christian

that person serves a different ruler,

that person walks

along a different road,

and that person ultimately

receives a different reward.

So these verses invite invite us today to

take stock

of our own lives

and to ask ourselves,

which ruler do I serve?

What road

am I traveling?

What reward

can I expect?

These are the questions I want us to

consider

this morning as we close Romans 6. So

let's look at the first of these questions,

Which ruler

do I serve?

In verses 17 to 19 of Romans 6,

which we consider the last time that we

looked at Romans,

Paul writes that before someone is united to

Christ by faith,

that person is actually a slave to sin,

a slave to impurity, a slave to lawlessness.

That is strong language from Paul. In fact,

he even apologizes for that language in verse

19 where he writes, I am speaking

in human terms

because of your natural limitations or literally because

of the weakness of your flesh.

He's not simply saying that we sometimes

choose to sin

or that we might occasionally and maybe even

accidentally

stumble in such a way that we transgress

God's law.

No, he writes that we are slaves to

sin, and to impurity, and to lawlessness.

He asserts that sin has mastery

over us.

Paul continues this line of thought in verse

20 where we read,

For when you were slaves of sin,

you were free in regard to righteousness.

Notice therefore that Paul in no uncertain terms

defines the condition of fallen human beings

as one of bondage.

Bondage, we are slaves.

Now in many ways, this seems rather counterintuitive

to us.

After all, the assumption

that we modern human beings make

which we might even call a basic

western

tenet, certainly

an American ideal

is that human beings are essentially

free.

We affirm that our will is free,

that we are free to think whatever we

want,

and to believe whatever we want,

and that this natural and one might say,

inherent liberty

ought to be protected.

Our founding fathers enshrined this sentiment in the

aptly titled

declaration of independence

where they affirm that every human being

has the right to life,

liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness.

The notion that human beings are by nature

under any kind of bondage is entirely

foreign

to this document and to this idea.

And the truth is that for most of

us,

before we come to know the Lord, we

don't feel like our lives

are hindered in any way, that our will

certainly is hindered

in any way, do we?

Unless

someone forcibly interferes with us,

we have the freedom to do

whatever we want.

Yet Paul writes that as unbelievers,

the only freedom we had is that we

were free in regard

to righteousness.

In other words, righteousness had no claim upon

our hearts.

We did not find

righteousness

to be compelling

in any way.

Now that does not mean that we were

not capable of doing nice things or even

good things,

like acts of kindness, or of charity, so

on.

What it means

is that since our allegiance was not to

God,

since we did not have Him as our

Lord,

certainly we didn't view Him as our Lord,

since we did not consider ourselves to be

under His authority in any way,

we never did anything, not even good things

for the glory of God.

And yet as our middle schoolers and high

schoolers have been learning in their study of

the Westminster Shorter Catechism,

our chief end,

our main purpose as human beings

is to glorify

and enjoy

God.

Paul himself teaches this in 1st Corinthians 10:31

where he writes,

So whether you eat or drink

or whatever you do,

do all

to the glory

of God.

Therefore, when it comes to our thoughts,

to our actions,

to our way of life,

the motive behind them ought to be

God's glory.

That's why we exist,

that's why He made us, that is our

purpose.

That is an imperative from God's word to

every creature in His image. Whatever you do,

do all

to the glory

of God.

But before we were delivered by Christ,

we served another Lord.

We were slaves to sin, Paul says. And

we were both uninterested in serving God, and

in fact we were incapable

of doing so because our hearts belong to

another master.

Notice, however, that in Romans 622,

Paul writes that now

we have been set free from sin and

have become slaves of God.

That is what he didn't write. He didn't

write, now that you have liberated yourselves

and are free to do as you wish.

It's not what he said.

He writes,

now that you have been set free

from sin

and have become slaves

of God

In other words,

human beings are either slaves of sin

or

slaves of God.

There's no third option

that is presented for us here.

Look at what psalm the psalmist writes in

Psalm 49

Psalms 49:7–8

verses 7 to 8, says this,

Psalm 49 7 to 8,

Truly

no man can ransom another,

or give to God the price of his

life,

for the ransom of their life is costly

and can never

suffice.

We're slaves to sin,

and cannot purchase our own freedom.

No matter how many good things we might

do,

the price that we pay will never

suffice.

Furthermore, no one else can purchase us

because they also

are enslaved

to sin,

and they cannot afford their own price much

less our price.

But look at what the psalmist then writes

in that same Psalm, Psalm 49

Psalms 49:15

verse 15.

He writes,

But

God will ransom my soul from the power

of Sheol,

for He

will receive me.

In other words, only God

can ransom our soul because He does not

have any debt of His own.

And that is exactly what God has done

for us

through Jesus Christ.

Look at what Jesus says in Mark 10

Mark 10:45

verse 45.

He says, for even the Son of Man

came not to be served,

but to serve

and to give his life as a ransom

for many.

Christ has purchased us

by His blood. He has purchased our life

with His own life.

He alone was able to do this because

He is entirely sinless, and therefore He has

no debt of His own.

And because

at the incarnation he really

assumed

a human nature

and became like us,

he is able to represent us before God.

That's what Paul himself asserts in 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 2:5

chapter

2 verses 5 and 6

where he writes,

For there is one God

and there is one mediator between God and

men,

the man Christ Jesus,

who gave

himself as a ransom

for all.

So the first question for you this morning

is this, which ruler

do you serve?

If you don't serve God,

then you're a slave

of sin.

Where's your allegiance?

What drives you?

Who or what

are you living for?

Are you living for yourself?

Are you living for worldly things? Things that

rust will destroy?

Things that

moss will eat up

and deteriorate?

Or are you living for God? Do you

have your eyes set on heavenly matters, things

that will endure?

Perhaps the best way to answer

these questions is to look at our second

question

which is

what road

am I traveling?

In Matthew 7/21, Jesus gives us one of

the most terrifying

warnings. Matthew 7/21, he says this,

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord'

will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but the one who does the will of

my Father who is in heaven.

Therefore, the distinguishing feature for the believer,

for the one who serves God as his

ruler

is not what he is willing to say

about God,

but rather

that he does the will

of God.

Now, this does not mean that Christians always

do God's will, that we always do God's

will perfectly,

that we never sin. That's not what this

means. And in fact in fact, the very

next chapter in Romans,

will make it very clear that this life

is a struggle,

can be characterized by the struggle of the

Christian against sin.

The struggle is real and it is fierce

as we will see.

But here but that's the point

in fact.

The Christian actually

does struggle against sin. The Christian does battle

against sin because sin is no longer

his master.

That's why there's a struggle.

Therefore, the Christian, because he has been delivered

from the domain of sin, is now capable

of walking

in the path

of righteousness

and of bearing fruit for God's kingdom.

Look at verses 21 and 22 of Romans

6.

But what fruit were you getting at that

time from the things of which you are

now ashamed?

For the end of those things is death.

But now that you have been set free

from sin

and have become slaves of God,

the fruit you get leads to sanctification

and its end,

eternal

life.

Paul writes that while we were in bondage

to sin,

we would bear fruit

that now as we look back on it

would actually make us ashamed.

He writes that we were on a road

that led to death.

But now that we belong to God,

Paul writes that our fruit leads to sanctification.

He writes that we are now on a

road that leads to eternal life.

I can't help but think

of Psalm 1

as we look at these this contrast that

takes place between the unbeliever and the believer.

In Psalm 1, the Psalmist describes the downward

path

of the wicked man.

We first find the ungodly man walking

when he decides to give his ear to

the counsel of the wicked.

Then the ungodly man stops walking,

and he gives his allegiance to sinner to

sinners unashamedly

standing with them.

Finally the ungodly man

stops standing.

And we find him sitting in the miry

bog as it were, and scoffing

at God even as a squealing pig

wallows in the mud.

It's as if he has succumbed

under the weight of the chains

of his bondage

to sin.

You see, sin is neither pointless

nor static.

It purposefully,

intentionally,

and relentlessly

drags you down

to the grave.

The psalmist writes

that the wicked will not be able to

stand

at the final judgment, but will be like

chaff

that the wind drives away.

How different on the other hand is the

destiny of the righteous man in Psalm 1?

The righteous man delights in God's law, and

he meditates on God's Word

day and night.

The psalmist compares him to a tree that

is planted by streams of water,

always yielding its fruit in season,

his leaf does not wither. In fact, in

everything that he does,

he ultimately

prospers.

So on what road are you traveling?

Whose counsel

has your ear?

Who are you believing

about life,

about reality,

about truth?

What role does God's word play in your

life?

Do you meditate

on God's word?

Do you let it shape you, shape your

worldview the way you think,

the aspirations of your heart?

Do you teach it to your children?

Do they know that it matters to you?

Do they know that that word is no

ordinary word, but that it is your very

life?

Whose dreams

are you pursuing?

And who is shaping your children's dreams?

Are you pursuing the happiness

that the American dream dangles before you, if

it still does that?

Or are you pursuing the blessedness

that is found in God's will?

In Matthew 7, Jesus says that many travel

on the wide road that leads to destruction.

He says it's easy to travel on that

road.

You won't find much opposition to it. In

fact, the world will push you along.

It will cheer you on

while you're on that road.

It is a popular

path

indeed.

But on the other hand, Jesus says that

few people travel on the narrow road that

leads to life.

He says that traveling on that road is

not easy.

He says it's hard.

You'll be opposed.

People will revile you for it.

They will call you all kinds of names.

They will scoff at you.

They will mock you.

All this to say,

the right path is not necessarily the most

obvious,

nor the most popular,

nor the most advertised,

certainly not the most comfortable.

In fact, chances are that the right path

is the one least traveled,

is the least popular,

is the least recommended,

and the one with the most opposition

and risk.

But Jesus calls you

to pick up your cross

and to follow him.

So on what road

are you walking? Yes. To follow Jesus is

to receive persecution. They persecuted him. They will

persecute you. He tells us that.

But what road are you walking

on? The road you walk on is a

clear indication

of your marching orders.

It bears witness to the ruler

that you are serving.

Don't be afraid to walk

in the footsteps

of Jesus

because life is only found

along that narrow and difficult path.

This is why Paul writes that the fruit

that one bears in God's service leads to

sanctification.

Because you see when you walk in Jesus'

footsteps,

when you march according

to His orders which are found in the

Bible,

that's where we get it, the marching orders

from our King. When you do that, you

become more and more like Him. That is

to say, you grow in godliness. That's what

sanctification means. It means that you are growing

in godliness,

in holiness. You are resembling Jesus more and

more. You want to resemble Him? You walk

in His footsteps.

And just like the rigorous regiment

of discipline and training prepares a soldier

to be victorious in battle,

so too your commitment to be trained by

righteousness,

to train in the righteousness of God's word

will fully equip you for every good work.

Now, before moving on to the third and

final question this morning, it's worth noting that

Paul gives you a very important and tangible

way

to discern

which road you're traveling.

He writes that when you were in bondage

to sin,

you bore fruits

that you are now ashamed to even think

about.

Perhaps there is sin in your past,

even perhaps in your recent past.

And perhaps that sin is the kind of

sin that still brings shame to you.

Well, what a great comfort

to know that such feeling of shame instead

of weighing you down,

and demoralizing

you,

is actually

evidence

of your deliverance

through Christ blood

from the domain of sin.

You don't boast in sin anymore,

but you are ashamed of it, and that

is the fruit of God's spirit working in

you. It's a painful fruit,

but it's fruit nonetheless.

So let us heed the words of the

author of Hebrews,

who in chapter 12 of his letter calls

us to lay aside every weight and sin

which clings so closely,

and let us run with endurance the race

that is set before us,

looking to Jesus,

the founder and perfecter of our faith, who

for the joy that was set before him

endured the cross,

despising the shame,

and is seated at the right hand

of the throne

of God.

The final question I want you to ask

yourself this morning is this,

what reward

can I expect?

We already saw that the road under sin's

domain leads to death,

and the road under God's rule leads to

sanctification and eternal life.

In verse 23, Paul explains why this is

the case.

He writes,

For the wages of sin is death,

but the free gift of God

is eternal life in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

What we have here is a statement

so theologically

rich,

so profound

that the entire sermon

could have focused just on this verse, and

we would not exhaust its meaning

today.

But at the same time,

the majesty of this verse consists in the

fact that its meaning is so simple

and so clear.

Sin is most certainly

a harsh taskmaster,

But it always pays its slaves the wages

they deserve.

And the wages they deserve

is death.

They can count on their payment.

They can count on it in full.

They shall get their due.

And it's not simply that payment will come

on the day of judgment,

but the disbursements

have already begun.

They're on schedule.

You see the Greek word Paul uses for

wages refers primarily

to the daily rations or the daily provisions

of food that a Roman soldier would receive.

They would typically be paid in cooked meat,

usually

fish.

So too,

sin pays the soldiers in its army

with daily

rations.

It pays with food that never satisfies,

with rations that never fill,

with provisions

that leave the soldiers more poor,

more weak,

and more dependent than ever.

It would be unjust for the subjects of

sin to not receive their reward. But one

must not hope

that sin

will be unjust. Sin always

exhausts its subjects,

but it always pays its wages to the

last penny.

In contrast to the wages that are rightly

exacted by the slave of sin,

the slave of God does not receive a

wage.

He certainly and mercifully

does not get what he deserves.

Instead,

the slave of God receives a free gift.

The slave of God receives eternal life.

It is the most amazing reward anyone could

ever hope to receive.

Yet amazingly,

it is not earned

by the recipient. It is a free gift

from God.

The reason this is possible, indeed the reason

this is certain

is that such a marvelous reward

is only free for the recipient,

but it was purchased

at a humanly speaking

impossibly

high

price.

The gift of eternal life

cost the Christian nothing,

but it cost God everything.

The father gave up his son

to secure payment for such a gift.

The son gave up his life

as a ransom

for many.

Thus in his high priestly prayer Jesus says

in John 17:3,

John 17:3

And this is eternal life,

that they know you,

the only true God,

and Jesus Christ

whom you have sent.

The free gift of eternal life was purchased

by God,

so it cannot be experienced outside of a

covenant

relationship with him. You must know God and

he must know you covenantally.

If Jesus tells you, on the last day

I never knew you, you you shall not

have eternal life.

This is why in verse 23,

again we read, for the wages of sin

is death,

but the free gift of God is eternal

life

in Christ

Jesus

our Lord.

It is only in Christ Jesus

that the gift that this free gift

is found.

It is only under his lordship

that such a reward

can be enjoyed.

Thus we find the resurrected King of glory

cooking fish for his soldiers

as the sun rises upon them by the

Sea of Galilee,

and they prepare to receive their marching orders.

So you see in Romans 6

Romans 6:20–23

verses 20 to 23, Paul speaks of 2

rulers,

of 2 roads,

and of 2 rewards.

But he only speaks of 1 redeemer,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I've asked you which ruler do you

serve,

and what road are you traveling,

And what reward can you expect? But I've

saved the most important question

for now.

And the question is,

is Jesus Christ

your Lord?

If he was willing today to lay down

his life to redeem you,

won't you entrust your life

to his care?

The chains of sin's bondage subject you to

misery

and to death.

But the chains of Christ

are the unbreakable

bond of his love.

They are the precious wedding band

of your faithful bridegroom.

If you're his,

he will never leave you

nor forsake you. His yoke is easy

and his burden is light.

And where he is, there you shall be

also.

For the wages of sin is death,

but the free gift of God

is eternal life

in Christ Jesus

our Lord. Let us pray.