Slaves to Righteousness (Romans 6:15-23)

We're doing a one-year Bible reading plan as a church.

So if you are not currently reading your Bible or you're not currently in a study that is grabbing you, or you just don't know where to go and you just find yourself opening the word and seeing what happens, we want to encourage you to join in this reading plan with us.

We're going to be starting it tomorrow at um, or tomorrow whenever you want to read it, I guess.

But uh there's there's little booklets, there's little booklets in the in the back there that you can uh grab and it's just a reading pace, tells you where to read for that day.

It gives you a little bit of Old Testament, a little bit of New Testament, sometimes it'll give you a psalm or a proverb in there as well.

But I just wanted to talk and read, uh I just want to talk about why we read the Bible and why we hold it so important and kind of give you a strategy as you're going through, because maybe you've never read the Bible, you know, cover to cover.

So um, first John at the end of chapter two, it talks about all that we need to follow Jesus and to live this life.

So 1 John chapter 2, and this isn't our study this morning, this is just a little thing for our Bible reading program we're doing.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

But 1 John chapter 2, verse 24 says, What you have heard from the beginning, and that's referring to God's word, says, is to remain in you.

1 John 2:24

God's word is to remain in us.

If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

So remaining in God's word is how we remain.

Some of your translations will say, abide in Christ.

And a couple of verses later in verse 27, it says, As for you, the anointing you received from him, that's referring to the Holy Spirit, it says, remains in you, and you don't need anyone to teach you.

Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, just as it has taught you, remain in him.

So we don't need any other teachers of God's word other than the Holy Spirit.

You don't need me or any of the other teachers in this church.

You know, we obviously see this time as valuable, as a big part of how we do discipleship in this church, but you don't need us to understand scripture.

You don't need any other commentaries, any other blogs, or any other sermons to listen to for you to understand scripture because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us and He is our teacher.

In fact, you've probably even heard us say, and we should probably say it more often, don't just believe us because we're back here behind the podium.

If you hear something that doesn't sit right with you, that comes from me or any of the elders in this church, you need to go home and search the scriptures.

Don't go home and search Google.

Go home and search the scriptures and find it for yourself so that you have your own biblical worldview where you're seeing everything that happens around you through the lens of scripture, through the lens of the Holy Spirit living in and through you.

And you need to know the scriptures and remain in the Holy Spirit and have your own knowledge and your own understanding and your own walk with God.

So your own biblical worldview.

So that if you do come across false teaching, you have the Holy Spirit bringing to your mind scripture that you already know, that your eyes have already touched.

Not what you've heard on the radio, not what you read on a blog, not what you learned from your old church, or even what you've heard here.

But you have that understanding for yourself.

Because other people do a lousy job of playing the role of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Don't they?

Believe me, you don't want me playing the role of the Holy Spirit in your life.

You know, I've had actually I've had quite a few people ask, you know, why don't we tell people how to vote from the pulpit at this church?

And the answer is because it's not our job as pastors and elders to teach you what to think.

It's our job to teach you how to think for yourself through a biblical worldview.

How to remain in Scripture, how to remain and walk by the Holy Spirit, and how to abide in Christ.

That's our job that we have from this pulpit.

So you can think for yourself so that you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit on your own.

Because if you start to depend on us or anyone else for those things, that should be the role of the Holy Spirit, what happens if someday you move away and you can't find a good church?

Who's going to be that voice for you if you're depending on something other than the Holy Spirit for those things?

What 1 John chapter 2 is telling us is that all you need is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, which, if you're a follower of Christ, you should have both of those things in your possession.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

So that's why we're going through the word together and encouraging you to read the whole counsel of God's word from cover to cover.

So be careful of anybody that tells you what to think.

Lean towards the people that are trying to help you come to your own conclusions through your own biblical worldview.

And that's really why we're doing this, because we all need to come to that place of understanding.

And there's something about knowing that your eyes have touched every word of scripture.

That is so comforting.

And the whole, even if you don't have those verses memorized, the Holy Spirit's going to bring those things up inside of you and say, hey, remember in that book in the Old Testament you read about this?

Something's not right with what this other person is saying.

You know, we need to be able to have that for ourselves.

So before we start tomorrow, I just want to give you a couple reminders of how to study scripture.

Just some a couple pointers of how to approach it because we're going to be reading big chunks at a time.

The first thing is context is key.

Not isolating one scripture, but knowing what comes before it and where it's heading, what's coming after it.

This is one of the reasons reading large chunks of scripture is so important.

The second thing is to realize when the text is being descriptive versus prescriptive.

You know, it's simply saying this is what happened, or is it saying this is the way that all Christians for all times should be doing something?

So, an example, a descriptive scripture out of Acts.

It says, Saul, however, was ravaging the church.

He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

So, should we all be doing that?

Absolutely not.

This is just descriptive of what Paul was doing before he came to the Lord.

Now, here's a prescriptive verse.

It says, And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit.

This is a directive for all believers for all time to obey at every moment.

So think of terms of descriptive and prescriptive as you're going through.

Understanding, okay, this is just telling what's happened, and oh, this is a directive that I need to follow all the time.

Now, the third thing is a lot of people when they read through the whole Bible, they get a little bogged down in the Old Testament, in certain books in the Old Testament.

And it happens.

You get to the middle of Leviticus or Deuteronomy or some of the prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel are just like, whoa, I don't know what's going on right now, and I don't fully understand this.

I want to encourage you to look as you're going through the Old Testament.

When you start to feel bogged down, or something seems repetitive, or you get to endless genealogies, you know, just all these people's names, and you're just not sure what's going on.

Just remember that God cared so deeply for his chosen people, Israel.

He cared to every detail of how they worshiped.

He cared about how they governed, he cared about what they ate, their diet.

And then I also want you to, as you're going through those books, to also think about God's mercy.

About God's long suffering that he had for his people.

You're gonna go through and you're gonna be reading about these kings, and then there was a bad king, and then there was another bad king, and there was another bad king, and oh, there's a good king.

Oh, then he failed, you know, and you start seeing all of these things.

But look at God's long suffering.

Look at his mercy that he had on his people as you go through the Old Testament.

And the other thing, too, is to see Jesus and see the need for Jesus that's in every chapter of every book of the Old Testament.

And when it comes to genealogy after genealogy, just see how God wanted to keep detailed records so that we could actually trace the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Now, the last thing to remember as you're studying God's Word, as you're reading through, is to remember how history was passed down within the Jewish culture.

Very much a lot of it was verbal.

And as they approach Scripture is very different than the way that we approach Scripture.

They would tell a story multiple times, and each pass through, they would fill in different details along the way.

And as you're gonna see, uh, the Israelites weren't concerned with chronological with chronology like we are.

We look at our history books, this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened.

But the way that they would write things, they would do it in order of importance often.

So sometimes as you're reading through the prophetic books, you're like, wait, I thought we were talking about Jesus, but now we're talking about current times, but but now he's talking about end times, and then now he's back to Jesus, and now he's back to current, you know, and it doesn't always line up chronologically, kind of like we're used to.

They do it in order of importance.

So don't let that confuse you as you're you're reading through, like, wait, I thought we were talking about this.

Yeah, you probably were.

It's just not in order as we expect it to be in our culture.

And then the last thing, if you have any questions along the way, Ben and Pete would love to answer them for you, right?

No, we would love to answer any of those questions that we possibly can uh along the way if there is any confusion or anything like that.

And then the last thing, if you have trouble reading and you you're just like, I can't sit down and read three chapters and and maintain that, or I'm a really slow reader, there's nothing wrong with the audio Bible.

The CSB actually has a free app that you can use where it'll read scripture to you.

Um, or some people like to listen to it and look at it at the same time because it keeps your pace going and it helps just have more stimulation going.

That's all God's word at the same time.

Um, and then the other thing too, it's a one-year reading plan, it's a five-day-a-week reading plan, so there's two grace days to catch up or do something else.

Or if you end up on a chapter and like, I just want to sit with this verse today, then you have the flexibility to just sit with that verse and then pick up uh the next day.

And if it takes you a year and a half, so what?

If it takes you two years, who cares?

As long as you get the whole counsel of God's word inside of you, that is the most important thing.

So don't get caught up in those things that often make people give up or they just kind of lose momentum or something like that because they get discouraged.

So, if you would like to join us, we're starting tomorrow.

The reading plans are in the back, and that's that's all that there is to that.

So, to our text here this morning.

Book of Romans, chapter 6, verses 15 through 23.

Romans 6:15–23

So, would you please stand with me for the reading of God's word?

What then?

Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?

Absolutely not.

Don't you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey.

Either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness.

But thank God that although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over.

And having been set free from sin, you become enslaved to righteousness.

I'm using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh.

For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of?

The outcome of those things is death.

But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for your word.

Lord, I thank you that we get to hold it in our hands, that we get to read it so freely in public places and have even multiple copies in our home.

I pray that we wouldn't take that for granted.

Pray, God, that you would just bless this time as we're digging into your word.

Lord, that you would do the speaking in our own hearts, Lord, and that you would use me as your mouthpiece, that you would help me to rightly divide your word here this morning, that you would be glorified above all else.

Lord, we give this time to you.

I pray that we would approach you with humble hearts, with open ears and open eyes, and just an openness to the things that you want to teach us, the ways you want to encourage us, the ways that you want to convict us here this morning.

Pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So let's jump right in.

Verse 15.

It says, What then?

Should we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?

Absolutely not.

So we get that absolutely not answer to Paul's own question, once again, as we've seen over and over in the book of Romans so far.

And this is, it sounds the same, but it's a little different than the last question that we went over last week in verse one of this same chapter.

Verse 1 was, what should we say then?

Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?

So last week we talked about how that means habitual sin.

It means remaining in sin or living in sin.

And here it's should we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?

This is referring really to dabbling in sin.

Not living in it, but having thoughts like, well, you know, I only get drunk a couple times a year.

It's really not a big deal.

I only smoke a joint once a week on Saturday evenings.

You know, it's really not a big deal.

Or I only look at porn occasionally.

Or I only cuss when I'm at work because everyone else is already doing it.

Or I only fear whenever I read the news.

You know, it's like I only do it from time to time.

It's really not a big deal.

That's what Paul is addressing in this question.

He's saying, should we dabble in sin because we are not under the law, but because we're now under grace.

You know, we're no longer under the law.

Occasional sin, it's no big deal, right?

It doesn't really hurt me, it doesn't really affect anybody else.

So I'm gonna allow myself to have these permissions in my life to sin just because the grace of God is so good.

And I want to reassure you again, this isn't talking about struggling with sin.

This isn't talking about wholeheartedly not wanting to sin, but then finding yourself in that temptation and falling to that sin.

It's not, you know, I know this is against God's command, but I'm going to give myself freedom to participate in this sin from time to time with zero effort to try not to do it.

That's what we're talking about.

You know, the best way to put it is that you don't live in the city of sin, and I'm not talking about Las Vegas.

Oh, really?

You don't live in this city of sin, but you like to take vacations there is really kind of what this verse is talking about.

So it's back to the question: should we sin?

Should we dabble in sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?

And as a reminder of what we've been talking about over the last handful of weeks, no law means that there is no transgression against the law.

But if there's no law given, that also means that we don't know what ultimately will lead to our death.

To follow the analogy that we've been using, we don't know what fast-paced rivers to stay away from that could sweep us away into our death.

Unless, of course, God draws a line in the sand, like we've been talking about, and like he did with the law, and says, you know, don't cross this line.

You know, it's for your own good, it's for your own benefit, it's for your own health, for your own life.

Just don't cross this line and you will stay safe.

Paul's saying, just because you're no longer under the law, it doesn't mean that the law is no longer good for us.

The law still tells us what's good for us.

But here's the difference it no longer rules us, it no longer has a say over us.

And here's the most important part: it no longer has a say regarding our standing with God.

The law condemns us before God.

Grace says we are righteous and we are in right standing with God.

Look at verse 16.

Don't you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey.

Either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness.

So that statement right in the middle of verse 16, highlight it, underline it, memorize it.

The part that says, you are slaves of that one you obey.

Whether you're a follower of Christ or not, you're a slave to something.

Everyone on earth is a slave.

And I know that that makes a lot of people uncomfortable.

Because we like to think, you know, I'm a slave to nothing.

I'm my own person, nobody tells me what to do.

Well, then you're really telling me that you're a slave to independence, which is the same thing as being a slave to pride, which is the same thing as being a slave to sin.

So try again.

That one doesn't work.

We are all slaves to something.

And I think we need to sit with this word slave here a bit.

You know, I think our minds automatically go to the thoughts of forced labor against a person's will.

And yes, that is a type of slavery, and it's a type of slavery that we see in the Bible.

But also common in this Roman culture that Paul's writing to is the idea of a bond servant or a bond slave entering into this willing servitude, so to speak.

You know, Exodus, just to be clear, Exodus 21, 16 says that anyone that's taken or kidnapped and sold into slavery, that that person needs to be put to death.

But it really didn't stop the people from doing that.

But within our context here today in Romans, we're talking about a willful participation.

Paul actually uses the same word in the first verse of Romans chapter 1, where he says, Paul, a servant, a bond slave, a slave.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

It's that same word we're looking at, doulos.

He said, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.

And we see in Acts that Paul's servitude was entered into willfully.

I mean, he definitely had a very convincing calling, the way that Jesus did that with him.

But he was, God didn't strong arm Paul into ministry.

It was still a choice that Paul had.

And you might be thinking at this point, you know, as you're putting pieces together, okay, you're saying this isn't forced slavery that we're talking about here in Romans.

But weren't we all forced into slavery to sin just by being born?

You know, isn't that the same thing as forced slave labor?

No, it's not.

Because if you have a choice at any moment to remove yourself from any slavery, then it's not forced slavery.

You're not forced to stay in that slavery.

You know, at any moment, any person in this whole world can say, I want out of this slavery to sin, and I want to serve God.

And as long as we have the option to get out, we are not forced into slavery to sin or slavery to God.

So Paul is asking here in verse 16, which are you?

Are you a slave to sin or are you a slave to righteousness?

Everybody's one or the other.

And the easy way for us here today to tell is to simply ask ourselves, what do I?

Obey.

Or maybe ask yourself, what runs my life?

What makes my decisions for me?

And the answer to that is gonna give you the answer to what you are a slave to.

Are you a slave to your desire to sin?

Or are you a slave to your desire to please God?

Look at verse 17 with me.

But thank God that although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over.

And having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

As we talked about last week, we are now dead to sin as we share in the death of Jesus Christ.

Our flesh is not in rehab.

Our flesh has been crucified with Christ.

And you can't be in slavery to something when you're dead to it.

And that's really what chapter 7 is going to be all about, and we'll jump into that next week.

But notice in verse 17 that Paul's speaking in the past tense here.

He says, You used to be slaves to sin.

And now you are dead to it.

What that really means is now if we sin, it's our choice.

We do not have to sin.

We choose to do it often, but we do not have to.

It's still a choice.

You know, I want us to think about this a little bit differently and kind of give you an analogy, so to speak.

I want you to picture in your mind two ranches that are right next to each other where horses are bred and raised.

The rancher on the left is an absolute jerk that treats his animals poorly.

And if a horse is there for any amount of time, it's either going to die of starvation or mistreatment, or the rancher just gets frustrated and shoots the horse.

And this rancher doesn't train his horses, he doesn't work his horses, he doesn't do anything with them.

And they can just do whatever they want all day.

Basically, he has a ranch full of feral horses.

Now the rancher on the right, he loves horses.

He feeds them well, he takes care of them, provides shelter for them when they need it, provides for their every need, and he does it joyfully.

And in return, his horses love him.

And they love going on rides with him and his family.

They love working cattle.

You know, these horses were bred to do this, and they love every minute of working for their master.

The good rancher often looks over at the other horses on the other side of the fence and he thinks, man, those horses could be amazing specimens if they were just under the right care.

If they just had a master that loved them and gave them everything that they needed.

And the horses from the bad ranch would often gaze over the fence at the irrigated pasture, at the fresh water, the beautiful barns that the neighboring horses got to enjoy when the weather got nasty.

So one day the good rancher makes the bad rancher an offer he could not refuse.

They come to an agreement and the good rancher bought all of the horses from him at an exorbitant price.

Then after the transaction, the good ranchers sent out his son.

Not to wrangle all the horses and drive them onto the property, but he simply told his son to simply remove the fence that divided the property.

Therefore giving the bad ranchers' horses an opportunity to make a choice for themselves where they wanted to live.

They could stay on the bad rancher's property under the same neglect and abuse, but still get to do whatever they wanted all day long.

Or they could simply walk on over to the good rancher's property, across that line where the sun removed the fence, and eat of the irrigated pasture, and drink of the clean water, and find shelter in the barn when the weather got nasty.

They had the opportunity to receive the best care they possibly could imagine for the rest of their life simply by making that choice.

The problem was some of the horses didn't want to cross that line because they thought the abuse they were experiencing was better than serving a master that wanted to train them, that wanted to get them healthy, and wanted to make them useful.

That's what we're talking about here in verse 17 and 18.

Look at it again.

But thank God that although you used to be slaves of sin, living under the bad rancher, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over.

And having been set free from sin, the fence being removed, you became enslaved to righteousness.

You became property of that good rancher.

You know, the problem is though, some of the horses want to cross the fence just to eat of the irrigated pasture.

But then they go back to the other side, so the good rancher can't tell them what to do.

And some only cross that line when there was a storm and things got wet and windy and cold.

And they go into the barn and they would weather the storm with the good rancher, but as soon as things cleared up, they strayed off to the other side of the fence again.

Because they wanted to do whatever they wanted once things started looking up for them once again.

You know, and from our perspective here today, I think we look at those horses and we say, how can they be so dumb?

Things may not be easy with a good rancher because he's gonna train you and he's gonna work you and he's gonna make you a productive part of his ranch.

And he's gonna discipline you even when you need it.

But you will be under the best care possible, under someone that really loves you.

You know, from our perspective, looking at these horses, I think it's a no-brainer.

But as Christians, I think we far too often want to dabble with the other side of the fence.

We don't live over there, but we do wander over to that side of the fence from time to time.

And sometimes we even question the goodness of the good rancher.

We question the motives of the good rancher.

And I think what Paul is saying here to the believers is thank God that we've turned from that slavery to sin.

And through faith in Jesus and the grace of God, we're free from that bondage of sin that we once lived in.

And now we have a choice.

The fence has been removed.

We do not have to remain slaves to sin.

We here today, we have a much better option that we can now choose from.

But it still needs to be our decision.

You know, Jesus is a good shepherd that leads from the front.

He's not a cowboy that drives us from behind.

You know, there's one more thing in verse 17 that I want us to take a look at.

And it's what happened that caused us to turn from slaves to sin to slaves of righteousness.

And it's where it says, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over.

This is referring to God's word.

It's God's word that brought about the change from slavery to sin to slavery to righteousness.

It's God's word that brings about sanctification.

That, if obeyed, makes us more like Jesus, which he mentions in verse 19.

So look at that with me.

He says, I'm using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh.

Actually, let's just stop right there and talk about that for a second.

The human analogy being all of these references that he's giving of slavery to this Roman church as he writes this letter, helping them to see things in a different light, to see it in an earthly analogy that they were very familiar with.

The idea of slavery and bond slavery in the Roman culture was very prevalent at this time.

And he mentions to these people that are following Jesus, he mentions the weakness of their flesh, which actually is a reference to the strength or control that the flesh has over them.

The weakness is their inability to say no to that flesh.

So he's saying, because you are so weak, I'm using this human analogy.

Look at the rest of verse 19.

For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater lawlessness, so referring to our lives before Jesus, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.

So think about the implications of being slaves or servants to lawlessness.

Having those things running and ruling and reigning within a person.

And it says it leads to greater and greater lawlessness.

It's kind of that snowball effect.

Once you head down that hill, it just gets worse and worse, and it keeps adding to and adding to and gaining more and more momentum.

That's what sin does.

Now think about the implication of slaves or servants to righteousness.

Not for self or the illusion of self mass as independence, but living our whole life in servitude to righteousness.

Think of righteousness and holiness having that same snowball effect in our life.

Adding and adding and gaining momentum in holiness and righteousness.

That's how it should be for mature believers.

That as we walk, as we grow, that righteousness and holiness starts to pile on, and we start to gain more and more momentum with those things through the Holy Spirit working in us.

And at the end of verse 19, it says, which results in sanctification.

So there's that word again.

We've talked about it a couple of times, but sanctification means that act of making something holy, referring to consecration, referring to purification.

And it starts with God's word making the change in our life through the power of the Holy Spirit, who wrote those words in the first place.

The Holy Spirit wrote our Bible.

You want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit?

Read your Bible.

And what happens is we read those words as we live in and through the Holy Spirit.

It leads to a deeper surrender to Jesus.

It leads to the fruits of the Spirit becoming a part of our life.

And it leads to more and more fruits of the Spirit, snowballing in our life as well.

And then we start looking and acting more like Jesus every day.

That's what sanctification is.

That's what it looks like to abide in Jesus Christ.

Verse 20.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

What he's saying here is actually a little comical.

He's saying the only freedom you had before Jesus was that you were free from anything good.

Righteousness means, you know, the quality of being morally right, of being justifiable before God.

And Paul is saying, the only freedom you had was freedom from being right with God.

Some commentators think that this really is Paul's way of joking with the Romans, because freedom from righteousness is not freedom at all.

Because it's actually slavery to sin.

The death, really, that Jesus saved us from.

Verse 21.

So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of?

The outcome of those things is death.

So think about how things were before you came to Jesus.

And then think about what lasting fruit was produced in your life during that time.

I say fruit meaning bad fruit.

You know, maybe it's the fruit that we really don't want to think about or we really don't want to talk about anymore.

Something that we're too ashamed, that's the word Paul uses here to talk about.

The fruit of unrighteousness in our past life.

As it says at the end of verse 21, the outcome of those things is death.

You know, Scripture tells us that we will be known by our fruit.

Jesus said in Matthew 7, 16 through 20, and I'll read it to you, and it's it's in regards to false teachers.

It says, You'll recognize them by their fruit.

Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.

A good tree can't produce bad fruit, neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Every tree that doesn't produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so you'll recognize them by their fruit.

There's that old saying that the proof is in the pudding.

You guys all heard that before?

But spiritually speaking, the proof is in the fruit.

It's a great litmus test to know if somebody is truly walking with the Lord or if they're just faking it.

Verse 22.

But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life.

Now I think this begs the question as we read this.

What is spiritual fruit?

So keep a finger in Romans, but turn a couple books to the right in your Bible to Galatians 5, verse 22.

Galatians 5:22

We're going to go back to Romans, so don't lose your spot there.

But I want you to lay your eyes on this.

And we'll see that really anything the Holy Spirit does through us that is for God's kingdom and brings about righteousness is the spiritual fruit that we're talking about.

That's Galatians 5, verse 22.

Galatians 5:22

Starting in verse 22.

We'll read through verse 25.

So here we get a list of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5.22.

It says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The law, you know, we've been talking a lot about the law.

The law is not against such things.

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

This is what it looks like when the Spirit has the reins or the steering wheel, so to speak, in our life.

When we are slaves to righteousness, the adjectives that will describe us are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

You know, I want you to think about it this way.

If I passed around a sheet of paper for each one of us, for all of the people in this room that know us, and just say, you know, this piece of paper is for so-and-so, write one word that describes them best on that piece of paper.

What would your paper say?

Would it be a complete list of the fruits of the Spirit?

Maybe some of them?

Maybe one, who knows?

You know, if we're living to God as we've been talking about, if we're walking by the Spirit and servants to righteousness, then I think those words should be the adjectives that would be all over that paper.

Now look at the end of verse 22.

Back in Romans, sorry.

The end of verse 22, it's referring to our fruit.

It says, which results in sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life.

The fruit we have through the Spirit results in us benefiting in our own sanctification.

That process of God making us more like Him.

And let's make sure that we don't get this backwards, because I think we often do.

It's not our good works that make us sanctified and make us more surrendered.

It's our deeper surrender to the Holy Spirit's work in our life that leads us to good works, which results in our sanctification.

And I think that's often the problem is that we do get it backwards.

We try harder.

We try to earn it.

And all God really wants is a deeper surrender.

To allow the Holy Spirit to live in and through us.

So that it's the Holy Spirit producing fruit in and through us.

The Holy Spirit that's producing that sanctification from a place of deeper surrender, not because we're just trying harder.

Look at verse 23.

It says, one of the most famous verses in the Bible here.

What we were owed was death.

We were owed the grave.

We were owed hell.

We deserve to be brought up under the abuse of a bad rancher, under the abuse of sin and death.

But the free gift of God, which is obtained through faith, is Jesus taking the fence down and giving us a choice of whose authority we would rather be under, under the authority of sin or under the authority of God.

And I think that's what all of this comes down to.

We have two choices.

The fence has been removed.

Will we choose to stay in what we were born into?

Or will we choose to cross that line where the fence used to be and surrender our lives to God so that He could do with and care for and use us as He pleases?

I think that's what all of this comes down to.

Are we going to dabble in sin and live on the other side of the fence?

Or are we just going to come to a full surrender under the good rancher?

Under God, under the forgiveness, under the death of Jesus Christ.

And if that's you today, if you've been living on the other side of the fence, maybe you don't even live over there, you've just been dabbling too much on that other side of the fence under the abuse of sin and death.

Today's the day to make that decision.

To surrender fully to God.

To come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, to accept that death that He died for us, for our sins and for our shortcomings.

If that's you, all you have to do is just surrender that to the Lord.

And this is actually a great Sunday for that because we're this is communion Sunday for us.

We're going to be doing that here in just a moment.