Slaves of Sin by Nature

Introduction: The Passage and the Context

0:03 Those of you who have your Bibles with you, will you turn please to the sixth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, the Roman letter, chapter six. May I say, if you're not in the habit of bringing a Bible with you, may I encourage you to do so, so that you may see with your own eyes in the scriptures that which is affirmed and explained by the servants of God from this pulpit. Romans, chapter six, and I shall read the last paragraph of that chapter, beginning with verse 15 and reading through to the very familiar verse, which concludes the chapter, verse 23. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience?

1:03 His servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. But thanks be to God that whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered, and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the...

1:33 ...the infirmity of your flesh.

1:35 For as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free in regard of righteousness. But what fruit had ye then? What fruit had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed?

2:04 For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. The words...

Modern Language vs. Biblical Reality

2:36 ...rights, freedom, liberation, are common verbal currency at this point in our own history, in this country, and in many parts of the world.

2:51 One can hardly expose himself to any facet of the news media, pick up a newspaper, or news magazine, or family journal, or even a Christian periodical, without confronting words that... ...at least point in the direction of the words of human rights, human dignity, human freedom, liberation.

3:17 However, in all honesty, one must acknowledge that much of the use of that language in our own day is deceptive and dishonest to the core. For many of the so-called liberation movements are simply an effort by a militant minority to impose a humanistic tyranny, ...for many of the so-called liberation movements are simply an effort by a militant minority to impose a humanistic tyranny, ...for many of the so-called liberation movements are simply an effort by a militant minority to impose a humanistic tyranny, ...for many of the so-called liberation movements are simply an effort by a militant minority to impose a humanistic tyranny, ...in the name of liberation.

3:42 But when we turn to a passage such as the one that I have read in your hearing, and we read such words as servanthood or slavery, freedom, liberty, bondage, we're dealing with language that is honest language. Language which reflects realities, realities that impinge upon the matters...

4:09 ...of the deepest concern to every single one of us.

4:13 For you will notice as I read, I emphasized in conjunction with the words freedom and bondage and slavery, the words life and death as they occur several times in this passage. In other words, the liberation motif of this passage is not a matter of political or civil law, ...of political or civil law, ...of political or civil liberties.

4:41 It is not a matter that impinges upon time alone, but it is a matter of life and of death in all the pregnancy of those words when understood in a biblical context. Life in its fullest dimension is the enjoyment of God in His presence in the new heavens and the new earth and that forever. Death is the lake of fire. ...

The Devil's Logic and Paul's Refutation

5:08 ... ...

5:09 ... ...

5:09 ... ...

5:09 ... ...

5:09 ... ...

5:09 ... ...

5:09 ... The horror and terror with which our Lord describes it as a place where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

5:20 And so as we come to this passage which may have a semblance of similarity with current motifs of thought and expression in terms of its freedom or liberation language, we're in an entirely different world and I trust you'll not import anything of the sham, terminology and language of the world into this passage for here we are dealing with slavery that is slavery indeed slavery unto death damnation the lake of fire we are dealing with life that is life indeed life in the knowledge of god and in the enjoyment of god even unto the ages of the ages tonight and god willing next lord's day evening and possibly a third our attention will be particularly riveted upon verses 17 and 18 but as we take up these verses under the general title whose slave are you i want to pause for just a moment and pick up the general thread of thought for these words do not come to us in isolation from a thread of thought you most likely in a couple of weeks those of you who attend the adult class will engage in a study of the book of romans and in that study pastor fisher the good teacher that he is will

6:48 introduce it no doubt with giving you background and then move on to the general structure and plan of the book so i don't want to steal his thunder or relieve him of his legitimate task as your teacher suffice it to say that in the earlier chapters of the book of romans the apostle has established the universality of human sin and guilt and his statements concerning this come to a climax in the middle of the third chapter in which he says that whatsoever things the law saith it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before god and from that point on through to the end of chapter five he then gives the divine answer to the human dilemma of sin and guilt how shall sinful guilty man be right with god and the answer of those chapters is that sinful guilty man becomes right with god on the grounds of the doing and dying of another even the doings and dyings of jesus christ and that we receive the benefits of his doing and his doing of the�� doing and his dying by faith and by faith alone.

8:08 And the great theme then of the middle of chapter 3 to the end of chapter 5 comes to the climactic statement of verses 20 and 21 of the fifth chapter. And the law came in beside that the trespass might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly. Grace did superabound that as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, having made this grand statement concerning the fact that guilty sinners who have broken God's law, who stand guilty and condemned before that law, are saved. Apart from all. All law obedience of their own. Paul anticipates that some will add to that wonderful gospel truth the devil's logic.

9:12 And so he begins chapter 6 with the words, What shall we say then? If where sin abounds, grace superabounds, what logical deduction shall we make? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? If you've got this much sin, and grace, rises higher and superabounds beyond it, well, let's sin more that grace may abound yet more and more.

9:39 Well, the apostle deals with the devil's logic in verses 1 through 14 in this first two paragraphs of chapter 6. And in verse 14 he makes another tremendous statement, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace. Now the devil's logic says, And the devil's logic comes in again. If I am saved apart from any law-keeping of my own, and when it comes to the grounds of my justification, all law works of any kind have nothing to do with my acceptance with God, well, the devil's logic then says, What then shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? And then the apostle answers that second strand of the devil's logic. And he does so in the paragraph read in your hearing by drawing out this extended analogy between slaves and their masters. And he does so because he knows this is what we need.

The Universal Condition: Slaves by Nature

10:47 Look at verse 19, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. He said I'm speaking in this slave master terminology to refute the devil's logic, added to the glorious truth of salvation by grace alone. He said I'm doing this because as weak human beings slow to grasp divine truths, quick to pervert divine truth to ends which God never intended, he said because of the weakness of your flesh, I'm speaking in analogies which will be very clear to all of you who read my letter. And it is in that setting, of refuting the devil's logic, that salvation by grace should lead to indifference to holiness and obedience, that he takes up this whole subject of whose slave are you. Now it should be a sobering thing as you sit here tonight to know that every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, right down to the youngest of you, every single one of us, is a slave. There is not a free person upon the face of the universe.

12:08 We are either in the language of this passage slaves to righteousness and to God, or we are slaves to sin and to unrighteousness. But there is not a free man upon the face of the earth, not a one. And what I propose to do in the study tonight, and in at least one or two subsets, subsequent Lord's Day evenings, is to examine this passage with you, first of all considering tonight what the apostle says concerning the condition of these Roman Christians by nature. How does he describe what they were before the grace of God came to them? Well, their condition by nature is first of all asserted, and then it is second, and then thirdly the end of that condition is very clearly pronounced. First of all then their former condition asserted in verse 17. But thanks be to God that whereas ye were servants of sin, their former condition, and he uses a form of the to be verb,

13:36 which indicates that this was their constant unvarying state, ye were the servants of sin. Now the two key words in the assertion of their condition are servant and sin. And the word servant is a very weak translation. It should be translated slave.

14:01 The word that is used here has as its universal significance, significance the concept of a slave as opposed to a free man. It is not the house servant who comes to terms with his master and is what we would call like a domestic, but it is the servant who is owned lock, stock, and barrel by his master. It is the slave concept in which the slave is a commodity which the master owns. Now whether he is a good or a poor master is not the issue. We are talking about the sphere of reference in the choice of this word to describe the former condition of the Romans. It is a condition of servitude and of slavery. The energies, the abilities, the time, all of them are the same. It is a condition of servitude and of slavery. The energies, the abilities, the time, all

15:01 of those commodities possessed by a slave exist for the will of the master, not for himself. And the second key word is sin. Notice he says that whereas you were the slaves of sin, and in the original there is an article, you were the slaves of the sin. For you see the apostle is not here pointing to some specific sin or to sin in a general sense, but he is personifying sin into the image of a master. And he says you were the bond slaves of sin.

Manifestation 1: Voluntary Obedience to Sin

15:47 There was a principle of sovereignty in sin. Which sovereignty was exercised over you Romans as the sovereign? The sovereignty of a master is exercised over his bond slave. Now that's their former condition asserted. Now in the second place, notice their former condition described. How does this relationship of servitude to sin manifest itself? Well the apostle in this context says there were two outstanding manifestations of this. its servitude to sin. The first one was this, the voluntary obedience to the demands of sin. Look at verse 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh

16:41 for as ye presented, past tense, as ye presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity. Here is his practical description of the condition which he has asserted as existing in all of the Romans prior to their conversion. How does the slave of sin manifest that slavery? Well, he manifested in the language of the apostle by a voluntary obedience to the demands of sin in his members.

17:26 Now, what does this word mean, ye presented your members? Well, it simply means your faculties, particularly, but not exclusively, the physical faculties of the body which so often become the vehicle and the occasion of sin, but not exclusively. For in a parallel passage in Colossians chapter 3, allowing the word of God to be its own interpreter, the apostle says in chapter 3 of Colossians and verse 5, put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, passion, those are sins which obviously are committed with the physical members. But now notice he proceeds. Evil desire is called a member upon the earth. Covetousness, we do not covet with our

18:27 hands or feet, we covet with our hearts. And so when the apostle says, ye presented your members, though there may be a predominance of emphasis upon the physical members, there is to be no exclusive reference to the physical members. A synonym for members is your faculties. Now he says, in this description of their servitude, there was a voluntary yielding up of the members unto what? Two things. Unto uncleanness, which points to the subjective polluting influence of sin upon this slave. Sin defiles the one who commits it. It defiles the conscience. It defiles the heart. It pollutes a man's inners, so that the Bible speaks of

19:23 having the heart cleansed. Having the conscience purged by faith. Having the conscience purged by the blood of Christ. But then he describes this sin in terms of its objective moral condition. He says, iniquity unto iniquity, better translated, lawlessness unto lawlessness. The word he uses, the word law, with that little letter in front that makes it a negative. No law unto no law. You see, as sin is polluting in terms of its internal, subjective, defiling influence, objectively, sin is lawlessness. And that's precisely what John says in his

20:12 first epistle. The essence of sin is no law. That is, no law with reference to God. Law with reference to my own passions in my own church. And that's exactly what sin means.

20:24 It means no law to God. It means no law to my own passions in my own church. It means to me to me to me. It means to me to me to me that sin is lawlessness. And that is the own desires and my own appetites, yes, they are the master whose law I recognize, but while under servitude to sin, the description is of voluntary obedience to the demands of sin manifested in the willful, deliberate presenting of our faculties unto inward defilement and unto external lawlessness. I'll do my own thing. Then he describes in a second way the expression of this servitude. It's given to us in verse 21. Look at the language. For when ye were the slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. As surely as he

21:25 describes this servitude, it is given to us in verse 21. This condition is the voluntary obedience to the demands of sin in verse 19. In verse 21, he describes it as a total disregard to the demands of righteousness. You see, he's using the slave master imagery again. He says, when you were the slaves of sin, you regarded yourself as free men with regard to righteousness. That is God's standard of holiness. Now, he's not saying that you were the slaves of sin. He's not saying that you were the slaves of sin. He's not saying they were free from the obligations to righteousness. No, no. He clearly established in the first three chapters that all men, whether they've ever heard the gospel or not, whether they've ever heard the law of Moses or not, they are accountable to God's absolute standard of righteousness. So he would not come and contradict himself in chapter 6, but he's describing the mindset of a slave of sin. And here's the picture. Here's a man whose master is Mr. Jones, and let's call the slave John Smith. Now, when Mr. Jones speaks,

22:38 John Smith listens. Yes, sir, and he takes his orders and he does his bidding. But now, if Mr. Jones' neighbor, by the name of Mr. Reynolds, also owns some slaves, but not this particular Mr. Smith, Mr. Reynolds may call across to the slave and say, hey, come on, I've got this job and that job. He looks at him and says, you've got no rights over me. I'm a free man as far as you're concerned. I'm not a free man with regard to my master, Mr. Jones, but to you, Mr. Reynolds, you can bark your orders all day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I ain't going to listen.

23:18 Now, Paul says the slaves of sin have that attitude with regard to righteousness. When you were the slaves of sin, you were free in regard or in respect to righteousness. When you were the slaves of sin, you were free in regard or in respect to righteousness. In other words, the law of God can thunder from its remains upon your own heart, saying, Thou shalt, Thou shalt not, Thou shalt, Thou shalt not.

23:43 The law of God can thunder from the scriptures, come to the external ear and register upon the mind, saying, Thou shalt, Thou shalt not. And you know what the disposition of a slave of sin is? Who are you, Mr. Righteousness? I owe no allegiance to you. Go your way. I'm a free man in regard to righteousness.

24:09 And then he goes on in his voluntary, willful, deliberate obedience to his master's sin.

24:18 Isn't that a frightening picture? But that's the picture of the text.

24:25 So we have the former condition of the Romans asserted, slaves of sin. That former condition described. Two parts to the description. Voluntary obedience to the demands of sin.

Manifestation 2: Disregard for Righteousness

24:39 Total disregard to the demands of righteousness. Now the third thing he tells us about their former condition is the end to which that former condition leads. Verses 21 and 23. What fruit had ye then at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed?

24:58 For the end of those things is death. Verse 23. For the wages of sin is death.

25:14 And death in the Pauline language and in the language of scripture means in context such as these nothing less than the punishment of God judicially executed upon the willful bond slaves of sin. A punishment. Which though it may have as it were its first fruits in this life. Romans 1.18.

25:42 The wrath of God is now being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. When the word death is used it brings within its compass not just those previews of present manifestations of the frown of the almighty. But it brings within its compass. And to such things as we find described in chapter 2 of this epistle and verse 8.

26:11 But upon them that are factious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness shall be wrath, indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil. Of the Jew first and also of the Greek. Is not that reminiscent of the words of our Lord. They shall be cast.

26:35 Into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Or in the language of Revelation chapter 20 and verse 15. Whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

The End of Slavery to Sin: Death

26:55 Now to me that's a terribly foreboding, discouraging, heavy description. Of what the Romans were. But that's the Pauline assessment of every single Roman Christian in terms of his past. Now that raises a very burning question.

27:22 How could the Apostle having never been to Rome to observe the lifestyle of the Romans. How could the Apostle having never interacted with them and seen the level of their morality or lack of it. Their religiosity or lack of it. How could he make such a sweeping description that included every single Roman who is now a Christian.

27:47 And say of all of them without exception you were the slaves of sin. You manifested that slavery by the voluntary yielding of your members to the service of sin. By the total disregard of the demands of righteousness. And you were in the pathway to death.

28:09 Which is nothing but hell itself. How could he be sure that there weren't some pretty nice people. Who through the gospel had simply become better people. How could he be so sure there weren't some people who weren't quite good enough to make it to heaven.

28:25 But they weren't so bad as to be on their way to hell. Isn't it rather presumptuous for the Apostle to group the whole kit and caboodle together. And say all of you were slaves of sin. They weren't all drunkards.

28:41 They weren't all first century junkies. They weren't all idol worshippers. They weren't all whore monks. But he says they were all the slaves of sin.

The Universality of Sinful Slavery

28:57 They all voluntarily yielded their faculties to sin. They all totally disregarded the demands of righteousness. They were all in the path of death. Well you see he could make such assertions and descriptions.

29:11 Not because he went to Rome and psychologically analyzed the people. Or sociologically evaluated them. Or religiously evaluated them. He could say this because this condition at Rome.

29:24 Was no different from the condition that exists in every single human being. From the time of Adam. Until this present hour. Until grace arrests a man, a woman, a boy or a girl.

29:41 The condition described in this passage is true. Of every man, woman, boy or girl. I want to bring it closer to home. It is true of every person in this building.

29:53 And my friend. Until what you are by nature. Becomes a spiritually oppressive. Burdensome.

30:04 Vexum reality. You will never. I say. Embrace the son of God.

30:20 As your only hope of salvation. Until what you are by nature. Becomes a burdensome. Vexum.

30:32 A slave of sin. Until death overtakes you. And you land in the pit. Of eternal burdens.

Biblical Basis for Natural Sinfulness

30:48 So in the time that remains. Having opened up the text. Being honest with the words. Which the Holy Ghost has given.

30:58 I want to go back now. And apply. Each of these dimensions of truth. To the consciences of my hearers.

31:06 Your natural condition is that. Of a slave to sin. If you are not in Christ. If you are in Christ.

31:16 This was. Your condition. How do we know it is so? How did Paul know it was so?

31:23 Because the scriptures. Prior to the truths. That he unfolds in Romans. Had already clearly established.

31:31 The fact. That all men are conceived. In sin. Psalm 51 in verse 6.

31:39 Behold. I was shaped. In iniquity. And in sin.

31:47 Did my mother. Conceive me. When that egg. And sperm were joined.

31:57 And there began the formation. Of a man called David. In the womb of his mother. From the point of conception.

32:06 That which was formed. In my mother's womb. Was a sinner. In sin.

32:16 Did my mother. Conceive me. And we are born. In sin.

32:21 And we have no less an authority. Than our Lord Jesus. For that truth. John chapter 3.

32:27 That which is born. Of the flesh. Is flesh. And when our Lord uses.

32:33 The term flesh. In that context. He doesn't mean. Flesh.

32:37 In terms of that. Which constitutes. The covering. Of our bones.

32:41 That which is born. Of the flesh. That is. That which comes forth.

32:47 From a creature. That is morally. Polluted. Is of necessity.

32:52 Stained. With that pollution. So the scriptures. Teach us.

32:57 That we are conceived. In sin. We are born. In sin.

33:02 And then. Our lives. Are simply. A commentary.

33:06 On the sin. That is. Bound up. In the heart.

33:10 For Jesus said. In Mark 7. Beginning with. Verse 19.

33:14 For from within. Out of the heart. Of man. Proceed.

33:18 And then. He lists. These general. Categories.

33:22 Of sin. Ranging. All the way. From evil.

33:26 Thoughts. To moral. Looseness. To religious.

33:30 Perversions. And he says. These. Proceed.

33:34 From within. Out. Of the. Heart.

33:38 Of man. He doesn't say. They are. Pressed.

33:42 In. From without. By the pressures. Of society.

33:46 He does. Not say. They are. Programmed.

33:50 In. By materialistic. Forces. He says.

33:54 They proceed. Out. Of the. Heart.

33:58 Of man. And my friend. I would ask. You tonight.

34:04 To come. Home. To your. Heart.

34:08 Until. It. Has. Been.

34:12 An. Oppressive. Vexing. Clarking.

34:16 Reality. I. Am. A.

34:21 Slave. Of. Sin. Well.

34:27 If. It. Hasn't. You're.

34:31 Living. In. A. Fool's.

34:35 Paradise. The. Manifestation. Of.

34:39 Your. Condition. Is. Exactly.

34:43 The. Same. As. Was.

34:47 That. Of. The. Romans.

34:51 What. Was. The. Two.

34:56 Fold. Manifestation. Remember. It.

35:00 Look. At. It. Again.

35:04 Verse. Nineteen. One. Love.

35:09 And. One. Life. But.

35:15 Wonderful. It. Is. Life.

35:19 But. It. Is. Not.

35:23 A. Life. Manifest. And It.

35:27 Is. In. My. Life.

35:32 That. Is. Just. Life.

35:36 It. Is. Life. All.

The Mind as a Slave to Sin

35:41 is given deliberately to think your own thoughts about God, it's the height of blasphemy.

35:51 To form God after the dictates of your own notions. Almighty God, who existed from eternity in the perfection of His triune being, independent, self-sufficient, what the old theologians call the aseity of God, in perfect love and tranquility, eternal Godhead,

36:24 that God is pleased to create and make a creature that is dependent upon Him for all the stuff of His creatureliness, physically, emotionally, and mentally. And now that which God has made turns around and tries to remake God after its own notions. It's the height. It's the height of blasphemy.

36:52 But that's what you're doing. Some of you sitting here now, you are presenting your members, your mind, as a willing slave of sin. Sin says, hey, make a God who doesn't punish sin. And you're trying to make a God like that.

37:09 Just a little sin. Not great, not bad. Make a God who can wink at sin. The God who made you says, I am of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity.

37:21 I will by no means clear the guilty. Be sure your sin will find you out. The wages of sin is death. The God who made you says, that's what He's like.

37:38 And you know what your sin is saying? Make a God who doesn't see all sin. Make a God who doesn't get upset with some sins. And you know what you've done as a foolish lackey of the sin that will damn you?

37:51 You've presented your mind, a willing bond-slave to your sin.

The Body as a Slave to Sin

37:57 Then you've given your heart to bitterness, to selfishness, to lust, to covetousness. You've given your hands to theft. You've given your hands to licentiousness. There are young men here whose hands have touched the bodies of women in a way that they ought not.

38:17 Hands that have taken things from Mom's pocketbook or from Dad's dresser drawer that they ought not to have taken when sin said, it's just a little thing, go ahead and take it. You said, yes, sir, sin. At your service. And your hands took the forbidden objects, touched the forbidden objects.

38:35 Your feet have walked in paths forbidden by the word of God. Your sexual organs have been given to adultery, to fornication, to perversion, to lesbianism, to homosexuality, to self-abuse. Sin says, use your sexual faculties any way you want. There you are.

38:55 And you say, yes, sin. At your service. He presented your members, servants, to uncleanness. And listen, listen.

39:09 You cannot deny that sitting here tonight is a slave of sin. You're conscious of moral uncleanness. That's why you feel uncomfortable around God, where His presence comes near. That's why some of you, if you had your choice, the last place you'd be is here.

39:30 Where God is real to people. When people pray, you know they're not mouthing words. God is real to them. And when the word is preached, eternal issues are real.

39:41 That's why you're uncomfortable. Why? Because you're conscious that you've given your members to sin unto uncleanness. And also unto iniquity, unto iniquity.

39:54 That is lawlessness unto lawlessness. You've lived as though God's law had no claims upon you. And you've broken that law. You see, the proof of your slavery is your voluntary obedience to the demands of sin.

Disregard for Righteousness as Proof of Slavery

40:11 But secondly, as in the case of these Romans, verse 21, verse 20, when you were the slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Your total disregard to the demands of righteousness. You have the remains, or the evidence, or the evidences of the work of God's handiwork, in that in the language of chapter 2 of this very epistle, you show the work of the law written in your heart. You have a conscience.

40:42 And for some of you, that is a terrible thing. Conscience is the one great barrier between you and the unfettered abandonment of yourself to sin. And that conscience is living proof that you were made in God's image and he inscribed his law upon the creature. For that law that is written upon the conscience, upon the heart, manifesting itself in conscience, and then sitting in this place, the law of God comes to you from the scriptures.

41:14 And you know what your life is? It's a living proof of verse 20. You regard yourself a free man, a free woman, a free boy, a free girl, with regard to righteousness. God's law says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

41:31 And you say, Who's God to boss me around? If I want to make a God of my own plans and ambitions, that's my business. If I want to make a God of my friends, that's my business. If I want to make a God of my notions, my appetites, it's my life.

41:49 They're my faculties. I'll do my own thing, my friend. That's living proof that you're a slave of sin. Because you regard yourself a free man, with regard to righteousness.

42:01 The righteousness expressed in the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The righteousness expressed in the second, the third commandment, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in a light and frivolous manner. And yet you've done that times without number. The fourth commandment, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

42:23 And the Sabbath day is a burdensome drudgery to you. Why? Because it's a day when there's too much concentration upon the world of the Spirit and upon the truth of God. My friend, that's the living proof.

42:41 What's the proof? Total disregard to the demands of righteousness. The fifth commandment, Honor thy father and thy mother. Children, obey your parents.

42:54 And what do you do? You say, I don't care that God says I've got to honor my old man and my old woman. I'll do as I please. And if I've got to rip them open in the pursuit of my own lust, too bad, that's their problem, not mine.

43:10 I didn't ask to be born. I didn't ask them to have standards that if I violated them they would get them upset. That's their problem. Be in regard to the righteousness of the fifth commandment.

43:25 Firstly, you're to be pitied. Your vaunted freedom is the most vicious slavery this side of hell. The seventh commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Whoso looketh to lust, some of you young men, you deliberately feed into your eyes by way of television, magazines, that which causes lust to burden, that which causes you to commit mental adultery with woman after woman after woman. You regard yourself a free man with regard to righteousness. God says thou shalt not commit adultery. You say, who's God that says that?

44:18 You say, who's God that tells me what to do? He doesn't have to wrestle with my sexual drive. What does He know about a sex drive? I do what I gotta do.

44:30 That's the proof you're a slave of sin. You regard yourself a free man with regard to righteousness. What about the ninth commandment? Thou shalt not bear false witness.

44:39 Now you children, listen to me. Perhaps the greatest living proof of the slavery that you have to sin, for you children, is in the realm of whether or not you tell the truth. Lying is a peculiar sin to children. And I'm speaking to some children sitting here who have lied to their moms and dads not once, not twice, but five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred times.

45:10 You know what that proves, children? You're a slave of sin. God says don't bear false witness. Speak the truth!

The Wages of Sin: Death

45:22 You say, I don't care what God says. If I told the truth, I'd get a spanking. So to avoid a spanking, you lie, and you show that sin is your boss and not God. You see, we're not dealing in theories.

45:43 When the Apostle said to the Romans, ye were the slaves of sin, the assertion was valid then, it's valid right now. When he said the manifestation of that slavery was twofold, voluntary obedience to the demands of sin, ye presented your members, total disregard to the demands of righteousness, you regarded yourself as free men. It's as relevant right here as it was then. And my friend, I must be honest and say that as the Apostle tells them what the end of that condition was for them, it will be the same for you.

46:24 Verses 21 and 23, the end of those things is death. But tell us, when those things have done their work to the ultimate, they result in what? Not what you're pursuing them for. Sin says, do my will and you'll really live.

46:50 And God says, do sin's will and you'll surely die. And my friend, the yawning mouth of hell and the multitudes who've already descended into it, is a monumental witness that sin is lying and God is speaking truth. You remember the first words breathed by the tempter? Oh, Eve, you shall not surely die.

47:21 Death? That's radical. I mean, let's be reasonable. You're God's creature, Eve.

47:30 Does God treat his creatures with such radical destruction as death? Eve shall not surely die. Well, something a little along the way, in the way of expressed displeasure may come, but death? Surely not death.

47:50 And rarely do I pass a cemetery, but what I look at every gravestone and I say as I pass that cemetery, engraved upon every single tombstone, is what you can visibly see, Mary Smith, 1822 to 1878. But etched by the finger of God upon every tombstone are these words, Thou shalt surely die. Thou! And though sin is death, my friend, you can't escape the conviction that that's what your slavery to sin deserves. You know, that's a wonderful thing when you preach. I know I've got a friend in your bosom when I preach. I do.

48:57 Paul describes it in Romans 1. Look at it for a moment. Speaking of the Gentiles who never had the written law of God, who never heard the Gospel, what does he say of them? After describing in graphic detail detail that it's almost indiscreet to read in a public congregation, he says of these people, verse 32, Who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practice such things are worthy of death.

49:36 Now how do they know it? They've never had the law of God coming to them in written form or preached, but they know it because of that law written upon the heart. And sitting here tonight, my unconverted man, woman, boy, girl, young person, you know that what God says is true. The end of your slavery is death.

50:02 The wages of sin is death, not extinction. But in the language of Hebrews 10.31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Oh, what a frightening concept.

50:19 To fall into the hands of the living God who is alive with pure and holy wrath to the sinner who said, I will not acknowledge your law. I will not acknowledge your claims over me. I'll take the life you've given and live it to my own ends. And the day comes when God takes that into his hands and says, if that's your choice, then to hell you must go.

50:52 My friend, as long as sin is your master, he's going to pay your wages. The wages of sin. Is death. Now that was the former condition of the Romans.

The Glimmer of Hope: God's Intervention

51:15 It's the condition of each of us by nature. And as we bring our study to a close tonight, I'm not going to go in to the new condition of the Romans. It's described beautifully in this passage. Nor am I going to expound in detail how they came into that new condition.

51:37 But oh, I would not leave you on this base note. But look, just catch as it were the glimmer of light that breaks through these words. Notice how they began in verse 17. But thanks be to God that whereas ye were, ye have become.

51:58 You see, God has broken in to this miserable state of human slavery to sin. And according to verse 23, the activity of God which brings about the transformation centers in the gift that he imparts in his Son. The free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, it's wonderful to know that the God who's been offended, the God whose law we have despised is the God who's come to the rescue so that man might be delivered from the tyranny of sin. But now listen to me. You know the only escape from the tyranny of sin? It's to come into slavery to Christ.

52:53 That's why I began with the question, who's slave are you? You see, my friend, you're either sin slave or Christ slave. And the only way to escape the slavery to sin is to become the bond slave of Christ. Now what kind of a master is he?

Christ as the New Master

53:16 Well, he's a master who says, I will exert my claims from a bloody cross. He's a master who says, I so love the rebel sinner that I will in all the dignity of my sinless humanity join to all the worth of my essential deeds and I will go and be stripped naked. I will be taken by cruel hands of pagan soldiers. I will be hung up upon a cross to be made the object of the rude stare of apostate religionists and hardened soldiers.

54:00 And then I will swallow up in myself all of the billows of my father's wrath. To what end? That I might come to the slaves of sin and bid them become my slaves from my passion. My friend, how in the name of the God of heaven can you cling to a master who dragged you to hell when such a master appeals from his cross?

54:38 But he's no longer on that cross. He cried, it is finished. And the father raised him from the dead to stamp as it were upon the words of Jesus. Amen.

54:51 It is finished. Raised for our justification. Now he's the exalted Lord and he says on the ground of my passion, my suffering for sinners, my promise to receive the vilest of sinners and set them free. Come and embrace me as your new master.

55:12 But my friend, a master you must have, sin or the Savior. There's a wonderful hymn and I checked into six or seven of my hymn books at home to try to find the entire hymn and couldn't track it down. But I'm glad I remember the first lines of it. It goes like this.

55:37 Make me thy captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword. Force me to render up my sword.

56:03 And I shall conqueror be. My friends, that's the message of this passage. Can you find it in your heart to say tonight to the gracious, loving Lord Jesus Christ, make me thy captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword and I shall conqueror be.

Application for Believers: Zeal in Service

56:39 My friend, whose slave are you? Whose slave are you? Sin slave? It will lead to death.

56:49 The bond slave of Christ, Jesus said, where I am, there shall my servants be. Also. And some of us, and I know I speak for many of you tonight, would stand here and say, how gracious a master is the Lord Jesus. We think back to the years in which we presented our members servants to sin.

57:22 And we think of the toll that was paid short of hell. And we can say, if, if we only knew what we've known of the gracious rule of Christ in this life, it is far better to be the bond slave of Jesus than the slave of sin. Will you add your amen to that child of God? Dear Christian, this has a word for you and for me.

58:00 In the light of the time, I'll not dilate upon it much, but look at verse 19. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. You see what he's saying?

58:31 Be no less earnest and thorough in your servitude to Christ and to righteousness than you were to sin and to the devil. You know, it's an amazing thing. You see a lecherous man giving his energies to booze and to brods and to filthiness and to rottenness, and he'll work till six and he'll carouse till two in the morning and get four hours sleep and go to work and carouse. He's very earnest and zealous in his servitude to sin.

59:14 And God graciously saves him. And for a while the zeal that was poured into the service of sin is poured into prayer and witnessing in the cause of Christ. Every time the church doors are open he can't get enough. The thought of his Savior brings joy to his heart and tears to his eyes.

59:34 And then you see him a few years later and he can skip prayer meetings sitting consistently with no pangs of conscience, not feel the loss of the Savior's presence in his gathered people. He sleeps in mornings, rushes off to work, no longer prays, no longer reads the word what's happened. He's not presenting his members as zealously in the servitude of righteousness as he was in the servitude of sin. And you know what he's saying in essence?

60:05 Sin is a more worthy master than Jesus. Oh, my friend, does your life eloquently bear witness to the fact that Jesus is a worthy master, far more worthy than the devil? And I have found as I've entered my mid-forties the idea of a long life is not very attractive to me. But the thought that I might expend my energies for my blessed Savior is the most wonderful thing in the world.

60:42 If that can be had with a long life, then thank God. But if the price to pay for a long life is lassitude and dullness and lethargy, then away with it all! Let the worms eat us before we see our fiftieth birthday, so long as we shall live well and die in the flush of our zeal for Christ and go out in a blaze of glory rather than peter out as a bunch of has-beens. Is that romantic?

61:22 Well, you may want to call it that. But it seems to me it's apostolic. I count not my life as dear unto myself that I may finish my course. Why mean ye to weep and to break my heart?

61:39 Paul says. Don't play on my heart strings. You're all upset because they said when I go to Jerusalem I'm going to have a rough time? He says, look, I'm prepared not only for a rough time but for the end of time.

61:52 I'm prepared not only to suffer but to die! And the sign is Christ! That's why his favorite title for himself in the epistles is what? He doesn't start off by polishing his brass and saying, hey, I'm one of the Lord's generals here, take a look.

62:14 He starts off, Paul what? A doulos. Paul, slave of Christ! Then he says, call an apostle.

62:28 A bond slave before apostle. Oh, my dear Christian friend, how much of your energies fit the description of verse 19. As your servitude to sin was extensive and real and tangible, is your servitude to Christ more real, more tangible, more extensive? If not, then go back again and sit down before the cross and gaze upon him.

Concluding Exhortation and Prayer

63:03 Think of the price he paid for your release and for mine. God willing in our next study we'll take up what the Romans became and the means that were effectual to bring them to that new state. But I leave you where we began. Whose slave are you?

63:23 And I hope as you leave this building that question will just burn itself into your conscience. And my friend, if you have no more regard for your soul than to try to stifle the voice of conscience by whatever means you will use, then I fear, I fear for the state of your soul forever. For he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be cut off and that without remedy my spirit shall not always strive with man. Oh, that you would pray those words.

64:08 Make me thy captive, Lord. Then I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword and I shall conquer thee. Amen.

64:25 Let us pray. Our gracious and almighty Savior, we worship you tonight. We praise you that you were so set upon the release of captives as to come from the unlimited glory and freedom of your eternal place in the bosom of the Father as the eternal word to take to yourself our humanity. And in that humanity to live, to suffer, to die, that we might be released from bondage.

65:10 Lord Jesus, cast, we pray, the mighty cords of your own redemptive love around those who this very moment are the slaves of sin. Rest them from the grasp of that fiendish master. And, oh, Lord Jesus, make them in this, the day of your power, your willing servants. And we who have been captured by your love and your grace and power, oh, forgive the paltering measure of our zeal.

65:51 Forgive the meager measure of our love. Help us, oh, help us. Help us, Lord Jesus. Look upon us with pity in all of our vacillation, in all of our coldness.

66:10 And be to us what you are promised to be as Messiah, the one who would not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax, who would deal gently with his lambs and carry them in his bosom. Lord Jesus, be merciful to us. And may that great day of unveiling reveal that this night this word did not go forth in vain. Oh, God, for the sake of your Son, seal the word we pray in his name.

66:48 Amen.