Romans 6:14-23
- Intro:
- The passage we are using in this lesson deals with a saved person.
- The issue that Paul is discussing is sin in the life of the saved person.
- This lesson will have two parts and in the second part we will address the question of what does sin cost a person that is already saved.
- In this lesson we are going to look primarily at verse 23 and answer the question of what did sin cost in general.
- In verse 23 the word of God says that the wages of sin is death.
- What exactly are wages?
- Wages are what you earn for doing something.
- If you have a job and you are paid $10.00 per hour and you work 40 a week then your weekly wages are $400.00 per week (before taxes of course).
- Therefore wages are simply what you earn.
- According to this verse the sin that a person commits earns them death.
- Today people say that death is caused by disease, accident, homicide, or many other causes.
- But the Bible gives us the true reason for all death and that is SIN. (James 1:14-15)
- There is a very important principle in regards to earning something.
- It will always cost you one thing to earn another.
- Remember that even though sin may be fun and seem exciting for a moment you must ask yourself what is it going to cost you in the end.
- To answer the question of what does sin cost we are going to look at several people in the Bible and see exactly what sin cost.
- 1. Sin cost Satan his original position. (Ezekiel 28:13-17 ; Isaiah 14:12-15)
- Satan was not created as Satan but as Lucifer the anointed Cherub that covereth (Isaiah 14:12 ; Ezekiel 28:14).
- Satan was lifted up in his own heart and through pride he said that he would be higher than God and as a result he lost his position as the anointed Cherub and is now the being that we call Satan.
- And if you are wondering what will happen to Satan as a result of all of this read Revelation 20:10 and you will see that he winds up in the Lake of fire for all eternity.
- 2. Sin cost Adam his physical life and living in Paradise. (Genesis 3:19, 22-24)
- God told Adam that in the day he ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would die.
- Now Adam did die spiritual at that very moment and also from that point on he began to age physically.
- Remember that the result of sin is death (Romans 5:12-14).
- Also Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and as a result of their sin and they also suffered many other physical conditions as a result their sin.
- So sin cost Adam a whole lot.
- 3. Sin cost God his only begotten Son. (John 3:16)
- Now we know that God did not sin but because of Adam’s sin it cost God something to get man back into fellowship with him.
- God is Holy, Just, and Righteous therefore he cannot just overlook man’s sin.
- So he provided his son the Lord Jesus Christ to come and die on the cross for our sins so that through the Lord Jesus Christ we could be saved and made righteous in the sight of God.
- 4. Sin cost Jesus Christ the Agony of the Cross. (Isaiah 53:1-12 ; Luke 22:63-71, 23:1-50)
- The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary was both humiliating and excruciatingly painful, not to mention he was beaten severely before he ever even got to the cross.
- And to top it all off he did not deserve any of it.
- He had never sinned in his life.
- What he was doing was paying for your sins and mine and the sins of the whole world.
- This is why Hebrews says he endured the contradiction of sinners. (Hebrews 12:3)
- So you see sin has a terrible price and it will always get paid for one way or another.
- Now if you are lost and are trying to get to heaven any other way than the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ you will not make it.
- Many are trying to earn salvation through good works but if you can earn it then why did he die.
- You see Jesus has already paid the debt that you owe for your sin when he died on the cross of Calvary.
- All you have to do is receive him as your Savior and accept this free gift of Salvation trusting in his shed blood to cover your sins and not your own works or goodness. (Romans 10:9-13 ; Ephesians 2:8-9)
- We also discussed how that if a person rejects the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior that ultimately sin will cost them death and their soul.
- In this lesson we are going to deal with what sin cost a person who is saved.
- Once you are born again you are spiritually circumcised according to Colossians 2:9-13.
- As a result of this you are sealed unto the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30).
- Therefore as a saved person when you sin after salvation you do not lose your salvation.
- There are some things that sin can cause us to lose.
- This matter is discussed for us in Romans 6:14-23.
- What is the passage telling us :
- 1. We are under grace and not the law (verse 14)
- The whole point of the law was to teach us what sin is (Romans 7:7).
- But now that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) sin does not have dominion over us.
- This is not saying that you will never sin but that as a saved person you should not let sin have dominion over you.
- 2. We do not have a license to sin (verse 15)
- Many think that because we have eternal security that we have a license to sin, but as this verse says we do not have a license to sin.
- When we do sin after Salvation we need forgiveness of that sin and to get it out of our lives.
- We should not let it have dominion over us which is why we have Jesus Christ as our advocate (1 John 2:1-2)
- 3. To whom ye yield is who you serve (verse16)
- Notice the word yield.
- To yield when driving mean to give way to the other vehicle.
- This is exactly what happens when we sin as a saved person.
- We give way to our flesh.
- As a result of the spiritual circumcision that we mentioned earlier a saved person has 2 natures, the old man and the new man.
- The old man is the flesh and that is the part of us that still wants to sin after salvation.
- So when we are tempted to sin we will have a choice to make.
- We will either yield to the flesh and sin or we will yield to the new man and avoid the sin.
- The choice is ours.
- Notice the word yield.
- 4. The result of Salvation is that we are freed from being the servants of sin (verses 17-20)
- Before salvation we were a slave to sin.
- After salvation we have been freed from being a slave to sin.
- That does not mean we will not sin but that we are no longer under the bondage of being a slave to sin.
- Before salvation our flesh was yielded to sin automatically but now as a result of Salvation we should yield our members (that is our flesh) as servants to righteousness unto holiness. (verse 19)
- Before salvation we were a slave to sin.
- 5. The fruit of sin is shame and death and the fruit of righteousness is holiness unto Everlasting Life (verse 21-22)
- Thanks to the gift of God we can now have everlasting life.
- Therefore we should strive to yield ourselves to the Lord for his work and not to our flesh for our own desires and pleasures.
- What does sin cost a saved Person :
- 1. Joy and Peace (Nehemiah 8:10 ; Ephesians 6:10)
- In Nehemiah we see that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
- And in Ephesians we see that we are to do everything in the strength of the Lord, especially overcome sin.
- Now sin always destroys and makes one weaker.
- You are never made stronger by sin.
- Therefore when we as a saved person sin and do not get it out of our lives it makes us weaker spiritually.
- Some of the most miserable people on the earth are saved people who continue to sin and never get it right with God.
- They may have fun with sin for a while but fun and joy are not the same.
- Joy and peace is what brings true happiness.
- 2. Your Testimony (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
- At the end of verse 27 Paul says “lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
- Paul was not worried about losing his salvation but Paul did not ever want to lose his testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ so that he could not preach to others.
- Your testimony as a saved person is one of the most valuable things you have.
- Once you have ruined your testimony with certain people you will never get it back, and you might not ever get to help those people.
- Sin will cost you to lose your testimony and maybe your effectiveness for serving God so you had better be careful and guard it heavily.
- 3. Your Rewards (2 John 8)
- As a saved person we are earning rewards that will be given to us at the Judgement Seat of Christ.
- Those rewards consist of crowns and reigning with the Lord Jesus Christ in the 1000 year millennial reign.
- Now sin can cost us those rewards.
- Now can you imagine standing before the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and having to watch all of your rewards burn up and have nothing to place at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- That is going to be really embarrassing for many saved people.
- John says you and I need to be careful to gain a full reward.
- As a saved person we are earning rewards that will be given to us at the Judgement Seat of Christ.
- 4. Your Physical Life (Romans 6:16 ; 1 John 5:16)
- Both of these verses have the phrase “sin unto death” found in them.
- This is not one specific sin that causes people to die.
- In the Bible people died for many different sins and some others committed those same sins and did not die immediately.
- This sin unto death is talking about when a saved person continues to sin after being chastened and warned by God over and over without getting it right God may take that person out of this world.
- Now remember that they do not lose their salvation but they may die before their time (Ecclesiastes 7:17).
- Both of these verses have the phrase “sin unto death” found in them.
- Remember God leaves us on earth after salvation to accomplish something for him and if we ruin our testimony to the point of being not useful for God why would he leave us here do to more damage to his name sake.