Romans 6:16-23
[16] Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
[17] But God be that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
[18] Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
thanked,
[19] I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
[20] For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
[21] What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
[22] But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
[23] For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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All people have a master and pattern themselves after him.
Without Jesus, we would have no choice;
we would be enslaved to sin, and the results would be guilt, suffering, and separation from God.
Thanks to Jesus, however, we can now choose God as our Master.
Following him, we can enjoy new life and learn how to work for him. Are you still serving your first master, sin?
Or have you chosen God?
To “wholeheartedly obey” means to give yourself fully to God, to love him “with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind”
And yet so often our efforts to know and obey God’s commands can best be described as
“halfhearted.”
How do you rate your heart’s obedience?
God wants to give you the power to obey him with all your heart.
The “teaching” they were to obey refers to the Good News that Jesus died for their sins and was raised to give them new life.
It is impossible to be neutral.
Every person has a master
Either God or Sin.
A Christian is not someone who cannot sin but someone who is no longer a slave to sin.
He or she belongs to God.
You are free to choose between two masters, but you are not free to adjust the consequences of your choice.
Each of the two masters pays with his own kind of currency.
The currency of sin is eternal death.
That is all you can expect or hope for in life without God.
Christ’s currency is eternal life
A new life with God that begins on earth and continues forever with God.
What choice have you made?
Eternal life is a gift from God.
If it is a gift, then it is not something that we earn, nor something that must be paid back.
Consider the foolishness of someone who receives a gift given out of love and then offers to pay for it.
A gift cannot be purchased by the recipient.
A more appropriate response to a loved one who offers a gift is graceful acceptance with gratitude.
Conclusion
Our salvation is a gift of God, not something of our own doing
He saved us because of his mercy, not because of any good things that we have done
How much more we should accept with thanksgiving the gift that God has freely given to us.
If the fruit is unto holiness, if there is an active principle of true and growing grace,
The end will be everlasting life;
a very happy end!
Though the way is up-hill, though it is narrow, thorny, and beset,
yet everlasting life at the end of it is sure.
The gift of God is eternal life.
And this gift is through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ purchased it, prepared it, prepares us for it, preserves us to it;
he is the All in all in our salvation.
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