November 30, 2008

You Are Not Free To Sin

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin [leading] to death, or of obedience [leading] to righteousness? But God be thanked that [though] you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human [terms] because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members [as] slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness [leading] to [more] lawlessness, so now present your members [as] slaves [of] righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things [is] death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:14-23 NKJV)

Everyone before salvation was free from righteousness. That doesn’t mean we were free the consequences of our sin, but that righteousness was not our master sin was. We sinned because we were slaves to sin earning the wages of death.

You are not free to sin if you are a believer. Instead, you are a slave to righteousness. Christ commands us to present ourselves as slaves to righteousness. Paul reasons, “What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?” The end of it is death.

Are you ashamed of your past life? Are you ashamed of sin? Don’t you hate it when you fail? Surely, this shame comes from the new man’s enslavement to righteousness. Believers desire holiness and mourn over their sin.

Reflect on your freedom today. It came at a great cost. Give your Lord the honor due His name. He loved you with the greatest love. We should love Him back. Amen