If… Then… Else: Slaves – Part 2

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(Romans 6:1) – 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (NKJV)

• IF a certain condition is met THEN
• Something specified occurs ELSE
• The other specified thing occurs.

I’m not trying to come up with some new way to interpret Scripture, it’s just an easy way to remember and explain some truths about our Christian walk.

We Are All Slaves

• IF we are saved THEN
• We are slaves to righteousness ELSE
• We are slaves to sin.

That’s it. Logical. Absolute. If this, then that or else. It’s helpful to remember this as we walk through Christianity.

Romans 6

• 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2B y no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
  
  We are not to go on sinning. We don’t have to. We are no longer slaves to sin. STOP sinning! What this reveals is that we sin by choice because we are NOT slaves anymore. We were saved to NEW life even though we choose to indulge in the OLD life because it pleases our flesh. We don’t have to, we do, by choice. We are slave to righteousness now, not sin.
  

• 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
  
  We WILL be united with Christ. Our old self is DEAD, GONE… we don’t have to go visit him anymore. We were buried with Christ that the body of sin MIGHT BE DONE AWAY with. God made it possible to do away with sin, so what are you waiting for? Do away with it! We are no longer slaves, we are FREED from sin, if want to be free… truth is, we don’t always want to be because it pleases our flesh.

• 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
  
  We died with Christ, now we get to live with Christ. Death no longer reigns because Jesus conquered it. Christ died once, now lives eternal. It is through this power and reality that we are no longer slaves to sin.

• 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
  
  Count yourselves dead to sin. COUNT yourself… that means CONSIDER YOURSELF, BELIEVE yourself, see yourself, act as if…. you are dead to sin. If sin reigns in you it’s because you are resurrecting it and obeying it. Don’t make your body available for wickedness, you are no longer slave to it. Sin is NOT your master anymore. Why? Because of God’s grace.

• 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 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. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

  Sounds great huh? Let’s SIN!!! We are under grace now, so let’s enjoy some sin! Lord forbid. Don’t abuse God’s grace. You don’t have to be a slave to sin, but you can offer yourself willingly as a slave. You CHOOSE to be a slave to sin now. You don’t have to. It’s important for you to understand that and accept it. No excuses… there’s no such thing as “I couldn’t help myself”… You have been set free from sin. Act like it.

• 19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  
  Now Paul hits us where it hurts: we are WEAK in the flesh. That is why sin is still an issue. We offer ourselves to impurity but we don’t have to. We should now offer ourselves to righteousness. What good does it do to still play with sin? NONE! It results in death… death in relationships, death in fellowship, death in testimony.

Are you tired of sin? Offer yourself to righteousness and reap holiness and eternal life. The paycheck for sin is death… but God has freed us from sin and given us the gift of eternal life.

If you are saved… then you are a slave to righteousness…. else you are a slave to sin.

Lord God, help us to study Your Word in spirit and truth. Help us to understand it, apply it and then tell others what we have learned. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.