Text: Romans 6:1 23 Aim: to warn against the dominating power of sin, and the danger of half-hearted discipleship.
Thesis: everyone will serve something or someone: there is no such thing as absolute freedom.
Introduction:
In Thomas Costain’s history The Three Edwards, he describes the life of a fourteenth century duke in what is now Belgium. Raynald III, who was called Crassus, got into a violent quarrel with his younger brother Edward, who led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room.
This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of near normal size, and none was locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size. You see, “Crassus” is Latin for “fat”: Raynald was grossly overweight. To regain his freedom, he would have to lose weight. But Edward knew his older brother well, and every day he sent a rich variety of delicious foods. Instead of losing weight, Raynald grew fatter and fatter, a prisoner of his own appetite.
When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills”. Raynald stayed in that room for ten years and wasn’t released until after his brother Edward died in battle. But by then his health was so ruined he died within a year.
[Craig Brian Larson, Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Baker Book House, 1994, p. 214]
Reynald was in a prison of his own making- but he has plenty of company there! Because in our text this morning we’re going to learn that everyone is a under the control of some master- the only question is, “Whose slave are you?”
TURN TO CHAPTER 6.
In Chapter 5 of Romans Paul outlines all that God has done for us in the death of Jesus: “justified by his blood….reconciled through his death….saved through his life” (verses 9-10). Paul ended the chapter by talking of the power of GRACE: he calls it “God’s abundant provision of grace” (v. 17), and three times he emphasizes that it the power of GRACE is greater than the power of SIN (vs. 15, 17, 20).
Well, human nature being what it is, naturally it wasn’t long until some of the Roman believers found a way to misuse even grace. It showed up in their casual attitude towards SIN. Verse 1 “Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?” Their logic seems to have been: God gives us his grace in order to forgive our sins grace is a good thing therefore, sin is not so bad! As far as they were concerned, it was the best of both worlds: They got to sin, and God got to forgive them!
Those ancient Roman believers have plenty of company in the church today, because there has never been a shortage of half-hearted disciples and partly-committed Christians who try to keep one foot in the church and the other in the world. Paul reacts to such thinking violently: Verse 2a “May it never be!” (KJV “God forbid!”). He says such disciples have misunderstood two things:
FIRST, they’ve misunderstood their BAPTISM! Verses 2b 7. It is a picture of DEATH: of the death of Jesus on the Cross, and of our own death to sin. Jesus didn’t endure such a horrible death just so we could continue to wallow in the mud of wickedness- he died to give us a “new life”. Thus verse 6 “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin”. To be baptized and then to go right on sinning is a contradiction!
But SECOND, they have misunderstood the NATURE OF SIN! Note these phrases:
Verse 12 “do not let sin REIGN in your mortal body”
Verse 14 “sin shall not be your MASTER…”
Verse 16 “don’t you know….SLAVES”
SIN is not like breaking a rule in some dusty old legal code: it is like punching a tar baby that won’t let go!
SIN is not like a toy that you take down off the shelf, and then put back when you’re finished playing with it: it is like grabbing a mountain lion by the ears!
SIN is not like going to a party to have a good time, and then going home to sober up; it is like going to a prison, and having chains put around your hands, neck, and ankles. SIN is a dominating, devastating dictator: you don’t “play” with sin, because it has claws! Sin plays with you!
In fact, we have a perfect analogy for the nature of sin in an experience that all too many people can relate to today: ADDICTION.
WHAT IS AN ADDICTION? It is any activity that you will not give up, even when it would be in your own best interests to quit, because you have surrendered your will to the power of that activity. For example, there’s a saying about the addiction of ALCOHOL: “First the man takes a drink- then the drink takes a drink- then the drink takes a man”. Some researchers have said Americans are the most addicted society on earth, and they may very well be right.
Certainly we have our problems with MARIJUANA, COCAINE, NICOTINE, and ALCOHOL. And one of the most frightening things is the fact that so many young people are once again playing with fire. The rates of drug use are going back up again! And it is heartbreaking to know that down the road we’re going to see so many lives ruined.
Not all addictions start out as sin- some people are addicted to watching television, or eating, or even to working, and they’ll keep it up even if it interferes with their family life, even it its harming their health. Not all addictions start out as sin but SIN is always addictive. People can and do get just as hooked on ANGER, PORNOGRAPHY, GAMBLING, GREED, GLUTTONY, LYING, as any drug!
And that’s what Paul is trying to warn us about in this passage: DON’T EVER TAKE SIN LIGHTLY!
READ: Verses 15-16 SIN LEADS TO SLAVERY! “slaves of sin” (cf. Jn 8:31-34)
We ARE free to choose- but having chosen, we are not free from the consequences! SIN is easy to get into- hard to get out of!
We cannot trifle with SIN! We must be absolutely, unalterably opposed to it! Don’t play around with temptation! Whenever a person says of any sinful practice, “Oh, I can take it or leave it” you mark it down, they’re taking it!
READ: Verses 19 SIN IS SELF-REINFORCING! “ever increasing wickedness”
There is a dangerous assumption: “People just need to sow their wild oats”. There is a harvest coming!
EXAMPLE: anger- “I just have to let off some steam”. But the more anger people indulge their temper, the stronger and meaner it grows!
SIN is a monster you don’t want to feed! Romans 13:14 “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh”
READ: Verses 20-21 SIN IS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE! “these things result in death”
Paul Harvey tells a grisly but revealing story about how an Eskimo kills a wolf. “First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he rcognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!”
Conclusion:
Playing with SIN is like jumping into quicksand: its easy to jump in- its another thing entirely to jump out! But thank God he has provided us with a rope, with a lift up, with a way out!
Verses 17-18 “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you WHOLEHEARTEDLY obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS”
Verses 22-23 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become SLAVES TO GOD, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
We can break the addiction of sin, we can escape the clutches of its domination- but we must give ourselves “wholeheartedly” to righteousness! Don’t take SIN lightly- don’t take your salvation lightly!
The question today is: Whose slave are you?
Dan Williams