Romans 6:15-23

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore, what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.^[1]

Faith is not something to be possessed, but something to be exercised. Like the fig tree in Matthew 21, we put ourselves in a very precarious place when we do nothing with our faith. It should be obvious then that our desire must be to do the latter and not the former. When we do exercise our faith we can expect some very important things to happen. The first and most important will be a drive to know Christ more fully that we might yield to Him more completely. Out of that drive will come “virtue, morality, justice, decency, uprightness, and honesty.” Now you may well wonder that has to do with this passage today? Everything!

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, says the liberty they have received from Christ gives them “the power to overcome sin and the motive to move in the right direction.” It does not give them license to commit sin knowing they are under grace and not the law. Far too many make faith something that insures the absence of troubles and struggle, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus told us that we would have trouble in this life, of that we can be certain. What is true is that our faith in Christ causes us to conform our desires, which fuel our inclination to sin, to His Word and will. Living in the realm of faith is critical overcoming our nature that continues to be drawn to sin. It is unrealistic and foolish to expect we can overcome our nature with our own resources. It is our faith that causes us to triumph more and more as we grow into Christ. The alternative is more than a little frightening, “the wages of sin is death . . .”

Dear Lord, we have often abused our liberty by doing and saying the things that we ought not to do or say and that grieve Your Holy Spirit. We repent of our inordinate desires. We are sorry for seeking to fit in and be like everyone else. We grieve that we have been guilty of seeking after carnal pleasure rather than that which brings abundant life. Help us today to walk with integrity in the liberty we have received from You. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 6:15–23.