You Can Be a Slave & Be Free at the Same Time
Romans 6:15-23
Intro: ILL: “Bought to Be Set Free”
I. v15-16 - You Are a Slave Whether You Admit It or Not
A. You may say, “I live in a free country. I can do anything I please!”
1. Even in a free society, your freedom ends where they infringe on the freedom of your neighbor.
2. The Bible says that pleasing yourself is actually serving sin.
3. So - pleasing yourself is not real freedom.
B. v16 - As a slave, you have the choice of serving one of two masters.
1. Matt 6:24 - No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
2. You can’t serve both masters at the same time!
C. Who are the masters? One is sin - the other is obedience to God.
1. The big question.
a. Why does v16 say sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
b. Shouldn’t it say “sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to life”?
c. Answer: With God, sin is disobedience & righteousness (being right with God) is life!
2. ILL: The Sin of Adam & Eve (Gen 3:1-7).
II. v17-20 - Your Master is the One You Serve the Most
A. v16 - Obey (uπακούω) (is in the present tense) so - you are slaves to the one whom you continually obey.
1. Obeying must be something you are in the habit of doing.
2. So - Your master is the one you addict yourself to!
a. The one you give the most time to. How much time do you give to fellowship, Bible study, prayer & worship in contrast to the other things you spend your time doing?
b. The one you give the most strength to. Mk 12:33 - To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength.
B. Slavery to sin. Jn 8:34 - everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
1. Sin (ὁ ποιω̂ν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν) (is also in the present tense) is, literally, the ones habitually doing the sin - in the sin habit - are the slaves to sin.
2. v19 - What is the Law of Sin?
a. It’s presenting your bodies as slaves.
b. It’s addiction! It could be addiction to alcohol, to drugs, to sex, etc.
c. Sin, in general, is the same thing.
- You commit more & more sin to get the same thrill you had when you first started.
- But - the more you do it - the less of a thrill you get.
- Soon you’re addicted - sin controls you instead of you controlling it!
C. What is conversion to the Lord?
1. You simply change masters!
2. You forsake the sin master to cling to the Lord as master.
3. Your baptism pictures you dying to the old life (the old master) & burying the corpse.
4. You are, then, free to sell yourself to a new master - the Lord Jesus!
D. What are the implications of being God’s slave?
1. v15 - As God’s slave, you would not willingly serve your former master - sin.
2. Your obedience is only to God - not the old sin life!
3. It’s a matter of focus!
III. v21-23 - So - Why Change Masters?
A. v23 - Because of the Wages.
1. Wages (oψώνιον) was the Roman military term for “pay check”.
a. A soldier was paid for risking his life.
b. Roman law said it could not be withheld or taken away from him.
2. Sin’s pay check is death!
B. v23 - Because of the Free Gift.
1. Free gift (χάρισμα) implies the Roman custom of giving every soldier a bonus on the emperor’s birthday or other holiday.
2. It was a gift - a soldier didn’t earn it.
3. God’s free gift to you is eternal life!
C. What’s the Process for Changing Masters?
1. v19 - Righteousness - having a right relationship with the Lord - leads you towards holiness.
2. Righteousness is the process - holiness is the goal!
3. The result of the process of heading toward holiness is God’s free gift - eternal life.
ILL: A well disciplined child is the happiest child because he feels secure knowing where his perimeters are. Obedience to God means operating within His well defined perimeters. This gives you all the freedom you could want by staying within those boundaries.
Jn 8:36 - So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. You see, you can be a slave & be free at the same time - if you’re serving the right master.
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