 So with that said, we're going to be looking today at chapter six here in the book of Romans. We're going to pick up at verse 12. We're going to go to the end of the chapter. And as is my normal way of teaching, I'll read a couple of verses. I'll read from verses 12 through 14. I'll give you, once again, a review. So those of you who weren't with us last time can kind of pick up, you know, come to speed with us as we're entering into this portion of Scripture today. So I'll give you a little bit of a review, then we'll move into our study and we'll go from verse 12 all the way to the conclusion of the chapter. So I'll begin reading at verse 12 or read to verse 14 and we'll get into our study. And I chose to entitle this particular installment, obeying from the heart. And you'll see why in just a moment. Romans chapter six, beginning at verse 12, reading to verse 14, Paul writes, Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 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, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. And so Paul has instructed the Romans, as we've been going through the book of Romans and in chapter six, he had instructed them that they are free from the penalty of sin. Through Adam, sin had entered into the world and as he had said, death by sin. And all humanity received his fallen nature. And because sin brings death, death has rained. And that's why all of us one day will die, unless the rapture occurs, which obviously we hope will come even right now. But if it doesn't. So anyway, his sin brought penalty, but the voluntary death of Jesus paid the price. And because of this, though many die because of Adam, we have life because of Jesus Christ. So Adam's sin brought condemnation, Paul has been saying, but Jesus's sacrifice brought what is called justification. In verse 19 of chapter five, he had said, one man's disobedience produced many sinners, but Jesus's obedience made many righteous. In verse 20, he said, where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. Verse 21, he said, sin rained in death, but grace rains through righteousness to eternal life. So this has all been accomplished through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now his theological opponents did not agree with what he was teaching. They didn't understand the nature of grace. And so what they did is they argued against it. They said that his teaching minimized sin and actually led to ungodly living. If grace abounds, then why not sin even more so that grace abounds even more is what they were saying. Well, Paul said, a genuinely saved person never takes God's grace lightly. In other words, we don't continue in sin, but we live as those who have been rescued from sin. So we're dead to sin, but alive in Jesus Christ. Now that doesn't mean that we never sin again. It speaks about us living an entirely new life. It's like what John in 1st John chapter one, verse six, it said in his letter when he, he wrote, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. And so it's not that we are sinlessly perfect. It doesn't mean that we never ever sin again. It simply means that that's not our way of life. And because of grace, we've been transformed and we no longer walk in what is called spiritual darkness. Again, in Ephesians five, verse eight, Paul, it said, at one time you were, you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. And he went on to say, walk as children of light. So we're not perfect. We're not going to be perfected until we're in heaven. It doesn't mean that we can now live in sin. It simply means that we can now live in freedom from the domination of sin in our lives. So our new life in Christ is revealed by baptism. And I made in my own notes, I wrote, our new life in Christ is revealed through the sacrament of baptism. And I put that word sacrament on purpose because sometimes I, I, I will use a word and I don't define it for you. And so I'll say it very quickly. The word sacrament, every one of us has heard the word sacrament because some of us came from what are called sacramental churches. I came from a sacramental church. What is the sacramental church? It's the Catholic church. We had seven sacraments. How many of you know that already? I just, I want to know who I'm talking to. Okay, sacramental. What is the word sacrament? Sacrament is a word that comes from the Latin sacramentum. Sacramentum speaks of an oath. And so what we had in the Catholic church, and there's a reason I'm telling you this, what we had in the Catholic church were what were called the seven sacraments, the seven sacraments. And I had several of them, you know, from, from baptism and penance to first communion and confirmation. Those are four of the seven sacraments. And so I received those as an infant. And so the word sacramentum speaks of an oath. And so I had received those sacraments. Well, in the quote unquote Protestant church, the reason we have, we call the sacraments, is we actually have what are called two, two sacraments. The two sacraments that we have are baptism and communion. Now, why do we have only baptism and communion and not the seven sacraments of the Catholic church or the other churches? It's because these are the sacraments established by Jesus. Jesus is the one who established communion. And he's the one who established Christian baptism. And so I say that to you to show you, I study. And so with that, so we spoke of the sacrament of baptism last time we were together. And I'll kind of remind you of that as we do my introduction right now. And so our new life is revealed, our new life in Christ is revealed through the sacrament of baptism. What does it do? We looked at this last time in chapter six. It expresses visibly the new life that we have because of Jesus Christ. So we're baptized, not to be saved. We are baptized because we have been saved. And we've been saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And that salvation is revealed as an outer emblem and a demonstration to a watching world through baptism. And we looked at that. It's not that water baptism saves you. Again, I mentioned this last time, there are those who believe that you must be baptized to be saved. And that's just not found in Scripture. You are baptized because you are saved. And water baptism is a demonstration of the new life you have in Jesus. In 1 Peter 321, when Peter was writing concerning baptism, he said, this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so when someone would openly submit to water baptism, they were demonstrating as an outer witness to a watching world that they were followers of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ had died. He had been buried. He had been raised from the dead. Even so, we are dead in Christ, buried in Christ and raised to newness of life through Jesus Christ. And that's what he's been pointing to here in chapter six. In Christ, our old life had been crucified with him. And that means we now are no longer slaves to sin. We are dead with him. And because we're dead with him, we are no longer expected to pay our debt. You know, when's the last time you saw a debt collector go to a grave and try and collect the debt from a dead person? It just doesn't happen, right? Why not? Because that dead person no longer is responsible for their debts. They can't pay the debt. And so that's the point. We are not expected to pay a debt because we have been forgiven completely. We no longer have a debt. So you don't expect a corpse to pay a debt. Though recently we've seen many corpses vote, but that's something else. Anyway, keeping keeping going. So if we died with Christ, we believe that we also shall live with him. Death no longer, he says, has dominion over him. And it no longer has dominion over us. And in verse 11, he had said, by faith we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, but we're alive to God and Jesus Christ. So by faith, we know because of his resurrection and because of his life, we know that we also are alive. And because of this, we understand that sin no longer has control over us. We'll look at that in some detail in a moment. By faith, we offer ourselves to God and we do not offer ourselves to a life of sin. And so we need to understand that grace provides power for us to be overcomers. And that's what we're looking at. So in verse 12, he says in chapter six, therefore, do not let sin rain in your mortal body. That you should obey it in its lust. Do not let sin rain. This is true. And because it's true, he's saying, do not entertain sin. Do not obey its evil promptings. Don't allow sin, he's saying, to rule over you. Do not allow sin to entice you, to provoke you, to enjoy it. Now that's a choice we make. As believers, and I know this sounds fantastic, but it's true. And that's what we're learning here right now. As believers, we can make choices now. Our will is free to make the decisions, to make the choices. We can make choices. And that's why he said, therefore, do not let sin rain in your mortal body. That's a choice I make. Do not let it is a decision that I make. You see, believers normally don't commit sin without an awareness of it. Believers normally don't sin just because they happen to. I've said this recently, but I've been in ministry for a long time. I've had more than one conversation, usually with a young man who will say that he fell. I fell in sin. What do you mean you fell in sin? Well, I had relationship with a young woman. I fell. Well, let me develop that with you. I mentioned that recently, but let me develop that with you for a moment. There is a guy by the name of John Bunyan. I'm pretty sure all of you have heard of Pilgrim's Progress. There's a book that was written by him. And in the book, Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan gave actually what have been called the nine stages of backsliding. And so I want to give you these for just a moment because again, believers normally don't commit sin without an awareness that that sin is wrong. There are choices that are made. He said, don't let sin rain in your mortal body. That means I have an ability to make a decision to reject it. So Bunyan, John Bunyan wrote this question is, how do Christians yield to sin when they have power to overcome it? Well, this is what Bunyan wrote. He said, first, this is a Christian who yields to sin. First, they no longer think about God, Jesus' sacrifice, death, or coming judgment. They no longer, that begins to fade from their thought life. They don't think about the Lord, his sacrifice, Jesus' sacrifice and death and anything. That begins to fade away. Second, they reject spiritual disciplines like prayer and devotions. And when they begin to stop praying and stop reading the word of God and having devotions and drawn close to him, it results in their no longer sorrowing over sin and it results in them no longer curbing their desires. Then third, he said they voluntarily reject healthy Christian fellowship. They don't want to be around believers anymore. Why? Because they're bummers, man. They judge me. They can find a thousand and one different reasons why they don't want to be around people who love the Lord. And it's usually that person's fault. The reason they don't hang with them is because he's so harsh or so judgmental or, you know, we're just not loving and that's what they'll say. But what in fact is taking place is they're under conviction and because they're under conviction, they're uncomfortable. So what do they do? Well, they're no longer reading the word of God. They're no longer thinking about the Lord. And now they don't want anything to do with believers. They don't want to be around people who love the Lord anymore. So they reject Christian fellowship and then they no longer attend church services. They just stop coming to a fellowship and they begin to reject Bible teaching. They don't want to hear these things. Well, fifth, they begin to judge other believers because they're looking at other believers to find something wrong with them. So they can say, this guy's a hypocrite. This woman's a hypocrite. So they begin to look at believers and they begin to call him hypocrites. And then Bunyan says they reject Christian fellowship and cultivate carnal friendships. So instead of being with other Christians, they start hanging around with people on the job or in the neighborhood or whatever. And they're cultivating relationships with people who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ and fellowshiping with them. And seventh, they begin to privately talk about sin and what it is and how desirable it can be. And then they begin to look at sinful people as their models and they begin to say things like, well, their life seems to be happy and fulfilled and they're not Christians. And so they begin to move in that direction. After all of this is taking place, Bunyan says, they begin to secretly practice small sins or sinful pleasures. There's something they do alone, whatever it may be. I don't want to give you a lot of ideas of what they can do by themselves, but maybe they go to the store and pick up some some alcohol. Maybe they get a joint, maybe I don't know, but they start doing it on their own by themselves. They practice it in secret. So it becomes pretty much a habit for them. And then they become emboldened and they begin to openly practice the sinful lifestyle. Those are stages from rejecting the Lord, from no longer meditating on him to rejecting prayer and devotion in the Word, rejecting fellowship with believers by absenting themselves from church fellowships and rejecting Bible studies. They begin to judge fellow believers. They call them hypocrites. Then they begin to cultivate carnal friendships, privately begin to talk amongst themselves about sin. They practice in small sins by themselves. And then finally they're emboldened to do it. I've done that as a new believer, as a young believer. These nine things, the reason I brought them to you is because I've been guilty of this. I know exactly what he's talking about because I've done it. And I learned my lessons and perhaps there's someone here or somewhere watching right now that you're doing that yourself. Practicing small sins, calling Christians hypocrites, rejecting Bible studies, calling people judgmental. That's what happens. And so you actually begin to move into sin, even though you have the ability to reject it. And so God's Word has been given to us as a warning and an instruction. But he's saying again, verse 12, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its less. And then he says in verse 13, 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. So don't offer your body up as tools and weapons of wickedness. The word instrument speaks of a tool or a weapon. So don't offer your body as a weapon of wickedness. Don't allow yourself to become a weapon that is wielded by sin. Don't use your body to become a force for evil. Don't use your hands, your speech or any part of you to be used for evil. You can become a force for evil is what he's saying. People know that you claim to be a Christian and then you go out and begin to do things that you ought not to do. You have become a weapon. You become an instrument of unrighteousness. Because people look at you and they'll say, I thought this guy was a believer in Christ, but look at him. He's all sloppy drunk. He's smoking his dope or he's spending the night with his girlfriend. They see you and what you've become, and that's why we're to be concerned and careful about this, is a weapon for unrighteousness. You become a testimony for the wrong thing. So don't allow that to happen, he's saying. Instead, he's saying, become an instrument and a weapon for God in the hands of God. You may not realize this, but whenever you read and meditate on Scripture, whenever you're praying and having fellowship, whenever you're witnessing about the goodness of God, you have become a weapon in the hand of God. You are the devil's enemy. When you're doing that, you're actually invading and taking ground from him. We need to understand our weapons are not physical. The weapons of our warfare are spiritual. In 2 Corinthians 10, verses 4 and 5, Paul said, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but our mighty in God, to the pulling down of strongholds. And that's what we have. So at one time, we were spiritually dead, but now we are alive. And being alive in Christ, we bring honor to the Lord. He says in verse 14, sin shall not have dominion over you. You're not under law, but under grace. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Now, he had said earlier in his writing in verse 6, he said, our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. And so the body of sin is done away with, we're no longer sin slaves. We can resist, in other words, its temptation. How? By determining to live for Christ. That comes through understanding who you are. And it comes to, to making a decision to do that which pleases him. And it comes through you becoming aware that in Christ you are more than a conqueror. And first Corinthians, Paul said it like this in chapter 6, 19 and 20. He said this, he said, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who's in you, whom you have received from God? You're not your own. You were bought at a price, therefore glorify God with your body. Don't you know, he's saying to the believers and by application to us as believers, don't you know that you are the temple of the Spirit of God? Many years ago, and as a young believer, I was in church service and there was a guest speaker who was speaking. I think his name was Walter Martin. I think it was Walter Martin who said this. He said that he has people approaching him and asking him, you know, is it okay if I do this or is it okay if I do that? He says, for example, he says, you know, there's a movie that probably wouldn't be a proper place to go. It's got a lot of swearing, sex and all these things in it. And he says, and yet here's a Christian saying, I wonder if I should go, if I should watch that and this and that. And so somebody approached him and said, Walter, can I go to that? And so I'll never forget Walter Martin's response and it was Walter Martin how he said, well, this is what you should do. You should say to Jesus, Jesus, I want to go to a movie that's going to have fornication. It's going to have a lot of killings and blood. It's going to have a lot of alcohol and drug use. It's going to be pretty profane. But do you want to go to the show with me? And he says, if Jesus says, ride on, let's go. He said, then let's go. Right. So it was just a simple little, little answer. But you know what really affected my life because we're to pray about all things, right? We should ask the Lord, you know, Lord, should I do that? You know, a lot of people, if you're single and dating, let me say something to you real quickly about this. You know, if you're single and dating, start your dates with prayer. Start your dates with prayer. When you pick up the girl speak from a man's perspective, when you pick up the young lady, one, make sure she's a believer. I mean, if you want to pray with her and she says, no, that's boring. But if she says, yes, yeah, let's pray, take it to the Lord, Father in Jesus' name, we're going out tonight. May we not do anything, Father, that will regret doing put us in. May we not be found in a place that we're going to be tempted, that I'll be tempted. She may look at you like, what are you thinking, you know, but, but you know what I'm saying? Because it's better to pray, God help me than later on saying, God forgive me. Right. Start out your dates with prayer. Where I'm going, what I'm doing, what we say, all of this reflects on you. And this woman thinks she's going out with a Christian man. May I be that Christian man, not act as a Christian man. Because there are a whole lot of men who know how to act, right? Ladies. And there's a whole lot of ladies. Let me hear a female amen to that one. But it's true, isn't it? A guy will be whatever you want that guy to be. All you ladies know that. He'll figure you out within five minutes. Doesn't take more than five minutes. All you got to do is ask questions. All you got to do is listen to what they're saying. Ask questions. Most men ask, most of their questions are ever going to ask in their first few dates. They want to know you. They want to figure you out so that they can find out how they can play you. I'm just telling the truth, guys. You know this is true. And once we figure you out, we find your weak spots. And we know how to play you. We really do. And so you want a godly man. You don't want a player. You don't want some guy who's just trying to figure you out. How come I know that? Because my brother told me. It took me five minutes. No more than that. Within five minutes, you know what she wants, what she likes. You know those things. And then you start playing her. What kind of music do you like? Oh, I like this. What kind of food do you like? Oh, I like that. You're just checking the boxes. Then you call her. You know, I'm going to go to hear a country singer tonight because I love country music. I hate country music. But you learn it. You know that. And I know it. So don't be a player. Don't be playing. You know, we should pray before and not after. And we should pray during. And I don't mean always holding hands and praying. I mean, Lord, help me. I want to be a godly man. Help me. That's what you do. You have to get in the habit of doing that. How come I'm telling you that right now? Because you can yield yourself as an instrument of sin. And then you can hurt somebody, undermine them, take from them what is not yours, hurt them terribly, and then leave them behind. And the broken heart is there for somebody else to pick up and heal. So as men of God, as women of God, we need to be aware of these things. And we ought to be careful not to use ourselves, our bodies as instruments of evil. He says in verse 14, you're not under law, but under grace. Now he's speaking of the law of Moses, the Mosaic law, excuse me, the commands. So as believers, we don't ignore the moral elements of the law. We live according to its directions. We don't attempt to be justified by efforts though. We're justified by the grace of God. And so he says, when he says that, sin shall not have dominion over you. You're not under law, but under grace. Notice what he goes to say in verse 15, what then shall we sin? Because we're not under law, but under grace, God forbid, or certainly not. When he says what then, it gives you the insight that he's actually anticipating a question. Well, somebody's going to say this. And so he's anticipating the question and the question would be, well, why don't you sin because you're not under law, but under grace, he's saying. And then he says, certainly not. God forbid that we should do that. God forbid that we should look lightly upon sin because its desire is to rule us. And we haven't been freed to sin, but we are free to resist yielding to its domination. Why? Well, we've died to sin. We're no longer to be under its power. We're no longer in the service of sin. We're in the service of righteousness. And we don't look lightly at sin. And we don't ignore the moral lessons of the law. We understand them and we actually continue to obey them. You might find this interesting. But nine of the 10 commandments that you find in the Old Testament, nine of the 10, it's called the 10 commandments, the Decalogue, the 10 words, the 10 commandments, nine of the 10 commandments are repeated in the New Testament, nine out of 10, 10 commandments that you find in Exodus 20 and other places, 10 commandments, nine of them are repeated. You don't steal, you don't kill, you don't lust. Those are things that are repeated in the New Testament. This you may find interesting. The only one of the 10 that is not repeated in the New Testament is the keeping of the Sabbath. Exodus 31 13 says, speak also to the children of Israel, saying surely my Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. The Sabbath day keeping it holy is a command to Israel, a perpetual command through their generations. The church worships on Sunday for obvious reasons. It's the day that Christ rose from the dead. So we celebrate the resurrection. Is it mandatory for us to meet on Sunday? No. We worship God daily. You'll see this later. One person holds this day to be important. Another person holds that day to be important. Some just keep every day. What is our Christianity if it's not a daily walk with the Lord? But we do meet during the week. We do meet on a Sunday morning, but those are things that we traditionally do. And that's what we do because we're worshiping God. But he's saying the law is still kept. The one that related to Israel, the Sabbath is not one that we do keep. He says in verse 15, we're no longer under the law. We're living in the grace of God. Again, that doesn't free me to sin. Again, repeating, it frees me from the domination of it. Now in verse 16, he says, do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves, whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? Now, when he says, don't you know that when you present yourselves to obey someone, he's saying you're placing yourself under someone's orders. And when you place yourself under that person's orders, in fact, you're becoming a slave to them. What does that mean? Well, it means you're no longer independent, but you follow their commands. So when you present yourself to sin, you become a slave to the sin. When you present yourself to alcohol, you're a slave to it. When you present yourself to anger, you're a slave to it. When you present yourself to bitterness of heart, you're a slave to it. To drugs, to gossip, to lying, to pornography, sexual sin, you are in bondage to it. That's what you are. If you ever speak to somebody who has had an alcohol problem, and many of you have had it yourself, I did for years, I was an alcoholic. And if you asked me in my sober moments, do I enjoy what I do? Would I like to be free? In my more sober moments, I would have said to you, you know, I wish I didn't depend on this. What was I admitting? I was admitting that I was a slave. I was admitting that I was a slave to the alcohol. And I was an alcoholic. I didn't drink a beer. I started with a quart and a half gallon of wine. That's how I started my night. And so I could out drink my father when I was 17, 18 years old. I drank a lot. I didn't drink, I drank a lot. If you left your beer or your wine in front of me and went to the bathroom, you came back to an empty glass. Hey, somebody came and stole your stuff, man. That's the way it was. True story. But if you'd have said, Dave, you want to be free of that, I'd say, no, man, I enjoy it. But in my more sober moments, I would, I did, I said, I need to be free of this. And I still remember it. I still remember I was 18 or 19. I didn't get saved till I was 20. I was 18 or 19. I still remember praying and saying, God, you got to help me. Something wrong with me. I can't do this anymore. I'm hurting too many people. I'm hurting too many people. I'm hurting my mom. I hurt my dad. I hurt my brother. I hurt my sisters. I'm hurting my friends. I'm hurting my girlfriends. I'm hurting everybody. And then I go right back to it like a dog to vomit. I just went right back to it was my habit. When I was sober, I would ask for help. And then I go back and I drink one night. I dropped five reds. How many of you know what reds are? A bunch of viejos, a bunch of old people. Reds. Second all, Lily F 40s. You guys know what that is. Some of you. It's a, it's a, it's a downer. We call them downers, barbiturates. And I dropped five of them. Now when you drop five, any red freak knows that that's a good amount. But I drank almost a half gallon of wine. That produces poisoning. And I was in the back of my car. I was 19 in the back of my car. And I began to want to vomit because when you, when you have a barbiturate poisoning, you vomit. And because you can be paralyzed, I was paralyzed. I couldn't move. You will vomit and drowning your own vomit. That's how you die. That's how many died. And I remember starting to want to vomit. I still remember my body beginning to respond. And I knew, and I prayed and said, God help me. Because what I knew was this, I was sleeping in a car in front of my parents' house because I had made my station wagon into my crash pad. So I could pull over wherever I wanted to and just pass out, wake up the next morning and drive where I was going. I used to do that. That's how I lived. And I was pulled up in front of my parents' house. And I knew that my dad would be going to work the next day and would find the body of his dead son in the back seat of that car. I knew it. And I remember saying, God help me. I'm only 19 years old. God help me. And obviously I woke up here. I am right now. But I was close. I was close. That wasn't the only time, but that's one time. And I finally got to the point, and I'm just saying this bit of testimony to you to try and emphasize the grace of God. I got to that point where I said, I can't do this anymore. God, I'm hurting everybody that loves me. I'm everything I shouldn't be. Can you imagine what a grateful heart I had when I was saved? And that was no longer going to be my life. I am no longer a slave to sin. Sin shall no longer have domination over me. But in Jesus Christ I've been set free. That's what Christianity is. And so you may be a slave to alcohol or anger. You may be a slave to bitterness or promiscuity or whatever, and you know that's a bondage. And so rather than being slave to sin, notice he said in verse 16, we become servants of God and we obey him completely. We yield ourselves voluntarily and serve him only. Now desires still rage within us, so we seek him that we might be pure. Now, some would argue if God's grace covers all sin, then why not just continue in sin? Why should we discipline ourselves? Why should we pursue godliness since grace abounds? Why not just live in sin and experience God's grace? Well, we don't continue in sin because grace is intended to free us from the bondage. Grace frees us from the bondage of sin, so we have a choice that we make. We can submit ourselves voluntarily. We can submit ourselves to sin or submit ourselves to God. But this obedience will lead us to righteousness, which is the condition of our souls as well as our life. But sin leads to eternal death. Righteousness leads to a life that is filled with God's peace. And John 8.34 through 36, Jesus said it like this. He said, Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave doesn't abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. In verse 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. You were once slaves to sin, but that cannot be said of you anymore. Why, you have been set free and you have a brand new life in Jesus Christ. If any man be in Christ is a new creation, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. When Paul was writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6 9 through 11, he said this. He said, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor drunkards, adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. You were this, but you're not that anymore. That's why I don't refer to myself as a recovering drunk. There are a lot of people who say that. Oh, I'm a recovering drunk. I'm a recovered drunk. I'm no longer an alcoholic. I'm no longer a drug. I'm no longer a, why? Because I'm new in Christ. I don't identify with the old life. I identify with the new. And that's what I'm supposed to do. I identify with what Christ has done in my life. You need to do the same thing. Who are you in Jesus Christ? You're brand new in Jesus Christ. Your sins are completely forgiven. You have the power of the Holy Spirit resident within you. You are no longer in darkness. You're walking in the light. And that's what you do. And it becomes a habit of your life. He says in verse 17, they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine. They heard and obeyed the message of redemption. God's word had been received and they'd been transformed from the inside. God's word of salvation occurs in the innermost being. So faith in Christ and obedience reveals someone who's born again. You see, by his word, God will give you a new heart and that new heart gives you new motives. In Hebrews 10, 16, this is a covenant I will make with them. After that time, say to the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts. I'll write them on their minds. He writes that it's not, it's not on a tablet of stone outside. It's written on the tablet of my heart. So from the inside, I obey the Lord. Not simply because it's written there, because it's written here. And that's what happens. And he says you have verse 17, followed the pattern of teaching that produces disciples. So he gave us a new heart and obedience from any other motive isn't accepted. You see this new heart motivates us to live in a way that brings glory to him. In Titus 214, Paul said he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people who are zealous for good works. So that's different. That's new. And then he goes on in verse 18, having been set free from sin, you became slaves, but slaves of righteousness. Sin no longer is my master. Sin no longer rules over me. You've been freed from your old master like a freed slave. So be free. We're free in Christ. And now we voluntarily serve him. He's saying you once presented yourself to sin. Sin ruled over you and sin hurt you. But now present yourself to God as servants of righteousness. And in verse 19, he says 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 moral lawlessness. So now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. So he says I speak in human terms. I'm using a human figure of speech. I'm giving you a simple illustration from ordinary life. This is because at this time you can't understand what I'm saying. You can't yet. Your spiritual depth is still informed. And so what I'm saying is really beyond your personal experience, your long life of sin has been used to dull your understanding. Now that's not an insult. It's just a concession to weakness. He's considering how he should be speaking to them. Now everyone of us understand that if you're a Christian who's been around for a while, you know that you've learned a new language. We call it Christianese. You know, it's how you do it. And I'm doing great praise the Lord of Hallelujah. Do we speak Christianese, right? But when you meet somebody who's just been saved and you start using this kind of language, they don't understand it. I still remember when I first got saved, I was in a Bible study and a young lady was sharing her testimony in this little Bible study that we had. We're all seated there as hippies on the floor and she was sharing. And she said this. She said, when I was in the world, I used to do drugs and alcohol. And I turned to the person next to me and I said, isn't she still in the world? I'm looking at her. I had no clue what she was talking about. I said, what is she talking about? I mean, it's some UFO taker. I didn't have, I really didn't. I had no clue. She was using Christianese. You know, and then later on, oh, no, there's the world, there's the death system that is invigorated by a satanic spirit, this and that. And then I started learning Christianese myself. And sometimes I forget that when I'm talking to people. Well, Paul is saying, I'm using illustrations here because some of you are new in your faith. And these are things that go over your head. It's not because you're less, it's because you're still growing. And so I'll use illustrations. And so he says in verse nine and again, he says, I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. 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. Just as you used to do what I did when I was a kid and somebody said, we have a party to go to. We're going to be getting high or whatever. I presented myself to that willingly. Let's do it. He says, now present yourself to God. So somebody says, we're going to a Bible state or a prayer meeting and we're going to go and worship the Lord. Present yourself at the same fervor that you used to present yourself to the world. And that's what you do. Once at one time, you were slaves of uncleanness and lawlessness. Uncleanness speaks of impurity, the impurity of lust filled living. Lawlessness is a contempt for moral restraint. You didn't want to live with purity and you wanted to do everything you could. And he's saying, this is what mastered you. It was one time your way of life. So we did whatever our sinful heart desired, obviously somewhere worse than others. But that's no longer the way that we live, knowing that we wasted so much time. He says in verse 19, we now are slaves of righteousness for holiness. That's our new life. We want to give glory to God and the beauty of holiness. In Psalm 29, 2, it says, give to the Lord the glory, do his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. You were once known for being something. I was known for being whatever I was, so were you. Your friends may have told you to your face what they thought of you or they may have said it behind your back. But you were known for something. That guy's a doper. That guy's promiscuous. That guy, that's what they would say about you. You were known for that. What are you known for now? What are you known for now? When people speak of you, what do they say about you now? Because that matters. See, I've had people more than once in this church. I've said this before, I'll say it quickly, more than once, who have come when came to an Easter service many years ago. Somebody had invited them to come to church. They came to an Easter service. And then this person who invited them came and spoke to me and said, you remember so and so. I said, yeah, yeah, I went to high school with them and said, yeah, that's right. He remembers you. And when you came out to preach and he thought was you, he said, I don't believe a word he's saying. He's a con and a liar. I was known for something. I was known for something. I have a friend in this church who was in our church for more than a year, over a year. And his wife finally wrote me and said, may I ask you, did you go to Sierra High School in Whittier? I said, yeah, I did. She said, yeah, my husband, Art, I was real tight with Art. My husband, Art said, that's David Rosales, but it can't be David Rosales because we used to party together when you were kids. It took him a year to recognize me, not just because I'm old, but because my life was so changed. You were known for something. What was it? And what are you known for now? Because what you want to be known for now is someone who brings glory to God. Why? Because we are no longer slaves to sin, but we are slaves to righteousness. And that's what people ought to be saying about us. And so finally, verse 20, and I'll close. 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. You were slaves. You were not under the influence of righteousness. You even had the ability of so to be embarrassed over the way that you lived. And so he says, and so what fruit did you have at that time? And you understand that the end result of that lifestyle was death. But now, because you gave your heart to Christ, you've been set free and you have fruit unto life through faith in Jesus, because Jesus is our life. And we are now set free from the bondage of sin. In John 5, 24, Jesus said, most assuredly, I say unto you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. You have been set free. When sin comes knocking at the door of your heart, ask Jesus to open the door. Ask Jesus, open the door. Because you know, you just sat in a Bible study, and even when the study ends, the enemy can be tempting you to do something else. We have had people leave this Bible study, and then somebody I know has seen them later on in a bar, getting toasted after Bible study. Bible study. The enemy's after you. He's after you. You're known for something. You're known for something. Be known for Jesus. Be known for Jesus. Follow him.