Sermon Central
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Practical Sanctification Series
Contributed by John Lowe on Oct 19, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: Yield yourself to the Lord; He is the most wonderful Master, and the “salary” He pays lasts forever.
Practical Sanctification
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
16 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?
17 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.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19 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.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22 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.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Being a Christian is a matter of bondage or freedom. Who is your master, Jesus Christ or the old life? You are not under the authority of Moses (v. 15), but that does not mean you have freedom to break God’s moral law (8:1–5). Yield yourself to the Lord; He is the most wonderful Master, and the “salary” He pays lasts forever.
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. The third and final principle in living a sanctified life is the negative principle, And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, and a corresponding positive principle is, but present yourselves to God. As those who have been justified, we are not to allow our members (i.e., our hands, our feet, our tongues, etc.) to become the instruments or weapons of unrighteousness. By knowing of our justification and reckoning ourselves dead to the penalty of sin, we are to continually keep ourselves from yielding to sin. But, on the other hand, we are to once for all, as the Greek implies, yield to God. Although we will still sin, by yielding ourselves to God, we will never again be caught in the trap of continuing in sin. Our life and all that we have will be given over to the One who has spiritually raised us from the dead.
Your members. The parts of the physical body, the headquarters from which sin operates in the believer—“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27).
The third key word in this chapter—PRESENT. It refers to a decision of the will. The same word is used in Romans 12:1—“ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” This is a presentation of yourself for service. The reason most of us get in trouble is because we present ourselves to the old nature. We must not present the members of our body to sin, to be used as weapons or tools of wickedness. Our obligation is to turn-over control of our members to God, to be used in the cause of righteousness. After all, we have been raised to life from death; and, as we are reminded in 6:4, we should walk in newness of life. The redeemed man knows that his body is the temple of God’s Spirit, and that evil powers are denied even the right of temporary entry.
But present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Why should we present ourselves to God? Because we are looking at life from a new perspective, since we are in Christ and have dedicated ourselves to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.