We have asked the Lord to bless the reading and the preaching of His Word in prayer, and let us now turn to His Word. Again, to Romans chapter 6. And our text is again one of those, do you not know, or for we know, one of the know passages. Text is verse 16 this morning. So, we'll read Romans 6, starting at verse 15. Let us give our attention to the reading of God's Holy Word. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not. 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? 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. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 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. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you then have, did you have then, sorry, 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 in the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Lord bless the reading and the preaching of his word to us. As I said, our text is verse 16. Beloved congregation and dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, this morning we're continuing in Romans chapter 6, where the Holy Spirit through Paul is correcting a heresy, the heresy of antinomianism. being against the law in one form or another. It has many forms, but basically it is this, that as believers, you know, the idea is we don't need the law. In fact, well, sin is not even so much to think about. Because where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. So, what is corrected is this distortion of the relationship between law and grace. And we have seen how this is very much sadly alive today. For example, it has been said to me about our worship here. It's been said to me, why do you have to keep reading the law in worship? Why do you have to have a prayer of repentance? We're supposed to be under grace, not under law. Well, it's very obvious, always and always again, that the things we believe, they have a consequence in what we do, even in worship. And we have seen in the first part of Romans 6 how Paul, by the Spirit, corrected this. We saw it just last Sunday. This is corrected by giving an urgent challenge about knowing, as in verse 3. Do you not know? Literally, do not be ignorant. And in the place of being ignorant, believers are to know the meaning of Christ's death, as we saw. And specifically, that is knowing, like in verse 6, knowing that our old man was crucified with Him, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. And then also, verse 9, the meaning of Christ's death is in knowing that just like Christ rose from the dead, or from death, just like that means that death no longer has dominion over Him, in the same way, believers are to think of themselves as dead to sin and alive to God. And that's the context for verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you. You are not under law, but under grace. In other words, you stand before God not under or in terms of your obedience to the law. Right? But rather, you stand before God in terms of grace. And now this also leads to our scripture in our text this morning, where Paul, by the Holy Spirit, continues to correct this distortion of law and grace, this heresy, in terms of how we see the law. Just before our text, you notice in verse 15, it says, kind of says, the sin, okay then, since we are not under law but under grace. And again, Paul, by the Spirit of God, emphatically declares, certainly not. No way! And having done that, he again challenges ignorance about whose slave we are. So, our text, verse 16, says, do you not know? It looks very much the same as, in English, as verse 3, the text from last Sunday. But the grammar of this expression, and without going into all the details, it's a bit different from that passage. And the difference is in the tense, which shows that this, do you not know, in our text, it's said as a present, listen carefully, it's said as a present condition that is the result of a past action. Okay? So, do you not know is said as a present condition as a result of a past action. It could be translated, as some English translations do, have you not known. And you see, this is said because of what God has worked in you. Now again, remember, the overall theme of Romans is the just shall live by faith. And so our theme for our text is Living by faith means knowing who your Master is. And first of all, we see, as our first point is, a true believer should know that his Master is who he obeys. We should know that our Master is who we obey. Our text says, have you not known, because of a past action, that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves, whom you obey." Now the word present means to show or to offer or to yield yourselves, to dedicate yourselves. That's what it's talking about there. The Old King James translates it as yield yourselves. And the NIV translated as, offer yourselves. Both of these are probably a bit better translations than the New King James Version. But here it says present and then look also at verse 13, a little bit earlier in chapter 6. Verse 13. There too that word is there. Do not, verse 13, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present You know, offer, yield yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Well, there the word present, it's the same word, but there in verse 13, it's an imperative. It's a command. Do not do this, but rather do this. And you notice it speaks of members like parts of a body. That's why it's all about members. But then it also says, but present yourselves to God. And also notice, out of verse 13 is what comes in verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. So that's our context to our text, verse 16, which right away challenges those who are to live by faith, the just, to know this. To know that to whom you offer or yield yourself as a slave or servant to obey, that's the one that you are a slave to obey. In other words, that's your master. Now, we can just leave it there and go on, but you see, there's something else here. Because this shows us, it is important how you live, right? Your daily life has to do with who or what you obey. And as a bit of an aside, even grammatically, we have a right to say who or what here. Because when it says to whom you present yourselves, that word whom, it's both masculine, so it would be to who, But it's also neuter. So it would be to what? It can be both. So who or what you obey, that shows who your master is. So you see, if you think that sin is not so important, it's not so serious, we don't need to keep hearing the law. Because after all, You're not under law, but under grace. Well then, don't you know? Are you ignorant that who or what you give yourselves to obey, that's who your Master is? See, that's who or what is telling you what to do. That's why you do it. Now, brothers and sisters, remember, this is being said to correct the wrong idea about the law in terms of grace. And the law isn't necessary. Grace is all that's needed. And when you think about that, then it's so important. It's so important. Just think of it. Paul doesn't respond to this by saying, don't you know the law is your master? If we're honest, that's probably how we would respond. to this idea. Don't you know the law is your master? But he doesn't do that. He says, don't you know the way you live? That shows who your master is. So, if you keep living in sin, supposedly under this umbrella of trusting that God's grace abounds much more, if you keep living in sin, That, that's your master. And then we have to right away go to our second point. A true believer should know that there are only two possible masters. Our text shows these two masters who rule over you. And of course, this is true for all mankind. See, here is a question of dominion or control or ruling. It says, whether of sin or of obedience. And brothers and sisters, literally the way this is written, it's a very strong form of either or. There is no other option. It's only one or the other. Brothers and sisters, this is so important, it's worth having a separate point on it. I trust that you'll agree that it goes against what many say and how they live. It goes against our culture today. Most of what we have around us, and it's also included within our own sinful natures. There's this desire to have, you know, kind of many options. and kind of have grey areas. You know, not right and wrong. Not one or the other. It can be both. It can be many. You know, it kind of works out like this. I can live in sin, And I didn't say fall into sin, I said live in sin, practice it. But I'm also a Christian. See, in other words, we really are saying, the rules are mine to make. That's what we're saying. I can live the way I want to live. What feels good, what passes with others in my quote-unquote group, whether it's in my church group, whether it's in my work, it doesn't matter, even in my family group. I'll choose the way I want to live. But that doesn't mean that I'm not a Christian. Another way to look at this is, you know, my daily life, that's one thing. You know, when I'm with my friends, when I'm at work, when I'm playing sports, and so on. And then my Christian life, that's another thing. You know, I go to church, I pray, and so on. Basically, in my life, I want to see myself as my own master. While as a Christian, Jesus is my Master. And it's so sad that this is also taught even in the church. I'm sure that you've all heard this idea. You know, Jesus can be your Savior, but you have to make Him your Lord. Just think of what that means. You can be a believer, but Jesus still isn't your Master. See? It doesn't have to be one or the other. And you see, even it means then that when I sin, even fall into sin, It doesn't have to right away be the case that then I'm obeying another master than Jesus. To say that, that's too strict. It's too sharp. See, the point is we don't like this either or business. Well, think of Adam and Eve. Think of Adam and Eve in the garden in Genesis 2 and 3. They were given God's law. Genesis 2, 15 to 17. And right away, the test was. What was the test? Put in very simple terms. Here was the test. Who are you going to listen to? Who are you going to obey? That was the test. And it's so abundantly clear there were only two options. And if they were going to obey one, it meant they would not listen to the other. It was that sharp. And as you know, they decided to give an ear to another authority other than God's. So, it was one or the other. And you see, it's exactly out of this that Jesus taught, as we read for the law earlier. In Matthew 6, verse 24, you cannot serve two masters. In other words, there are only two and you can't serve both. So, in our text, it's either sin or obedience. And then our text right away shows the results or the consequences of both. Let's do our last point, our third point. A true believer should know the consequences of these two masters. This is what we should know. Our text says the one is of sin Leading to death. The New King James has that word, at least in my version of the New King James, and I'm assuming yours. The word leading is italicized, and that's italicized because it's added for English purposes. But you see, it's used to show the force of the preposition that's there. In a way, the Old King James has a more literal translation in saying, of sin, it doesn't say leading, sorry, it says, of sin unto death. And that's more literal. Well, the point is, it's declaring that if you yield yourself to obey sin, that will result or it will lead to death. That's the consequence. And when we think of this consequence of death, it's way more than, you know, just the physical reality of dying, of a separation of body and soul. Although that too is a consequence, physical death is. God didn't create man for death. He created man to be united as body and soul. And death separates that. So, that also is a consequence of sin. But it's more than just physical death. It is also, and perhaps especially, it has to do with the judgment of God. when you think of this consequence of death. Remember, when God spoke to Adam about the law in Genesis 2, He told Adam, the consequence of breaking the law, God said, in the day you eat of it, you shall surely, you all can finish it, right? Die. That would be God's judgment. And then if you look at the verses after our text, They explain more of this consequence of death as God's judgment. Verse 19, just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness. That's part of the consequence of death. In fact, the NIV translates this as leading to ever increasing wickedness. Well, it's not literally what it says, but it is the force and the intent of that verse, of leading to ever increasing wickedness. And brothers and sisters, children, we all need to know, we need to have no doubt about this, that a life of yielding to sin, that's a master, that is harsh and deadly. That's why Jesus said, for example, in John 10.10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. Oh, if we could only think of that when we talk about, well, I know this is sin, but you know, God's going to have to forgive me, as we talked about a little bit in Peace and Theology. You yield yourself to sin, That's only something that comes to steal and kill and destroy you. See, here's a Master who loves to have people think and to believe, you know, that one sin, that's okay. It'll just stay there. But it's never the way it is with this Master. It's never that way. I know I've said this with other parts of Scripture, that sin never walks alone. One sin never stays with one sin. As true believers, as those who are the righteous who are to live by faith, we need to know that one sin always leads to another sin. Always. And that's what we need to teach to our children. There is only one way to stop one sin from leading to another sin, and on and on. The only way is to confess that sin as a sin, and to seek forgiveness, and then to also know forgiveness in Jesus Christ. All other ways, no matter what they might be, You know, avoiding the reality of sin. Ignoring it. Excusing it. Blaming others for it. And on and on. All these other ways. They all will lead to ever increasing wickedness. They lead to what Paul, by the Holy Spirit, has already shown us in Romans 1 earlier. In verses 21 and following, You have what I have come to call that downward spiral of sin. It just keeps worming its way down. And there is no stopping it, apart from what we've said. Seeing it as sin, confessing it, and knowing forgiveness. Just briefly and quickly, in Romans 1, verses 21 and following, they knew God. They did not glorify Him as God. They were not thankful. You think giving thanks to God is a small thing? They were not thankful. It's part of the downward spiral of sin. And this is the sequence. Became futile in their thoughts. Their foolish hearts were darkened, professing to be wise. That's what man does when he refuses to see his sin as sin. professing to be wise, they became fools. And becoming fools, they changed the glory of God for the lie. And it just keeps going on and on. To where it says, God gave them up to vile passions. God gave them over to a debased mind. Why do I waste time in this? Brothers and sisters, we need to see how important it is for man to truly confess his sins. And how important it is for man to truly know forgiveness. Otherwise, he goes down the path to death. So, verse 19, that's one passage that further explains this consequence of death. The other one is in verse 21. But first of all, leading to it, look at verse 20. It says this, For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Well, this is not saying you were free in terms of needing righteousness. It's saying you were the opposite to being a slave to righteousness. The idea is that you are independent or not yielding to righteousness. And in the context, you are a slave to sin. And then verse 21, thinking of that now, verse 21 says, what fruit, what's the result did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. You notice how this is said. It's a past condition, right? It's speaking of what were the benefits, what was the harvest, the results of yielding to sin. And then it says, of which you now are ashamed. You see the point that obviously it's showing a great contrast, an opposite between the past when you were obeying that master and the present when you obeyed another master. So you see, when sin is confessed and it's forgiven, and we know forgiveness, you notice it says, then we are now ashamed. When I read that and I started studying it, I thought right away of Romans 1.16 where Paul declared, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. And yet here, believers are ashamed. They don't like to even talk about it. They see the ugliness of it. They're just so thankful to be forgiven. It's covered. They know that the end of those things is death. Like we confessed earlier in the WCF. They know that's what they deserve was death. And yet here they have life. Brothers and sisters, there's something very seriously wrong. When someone who claims to be a believer, when someone who claims to be the just, the righteous, and yet yielding to sin that doesn't give him a sense of shame, then something's wrong. So, you know, the just live by faith also in this, that they see their past sins as something shameful. Being ashamed is not always a bad thing. It can drive us. We don't want that. That's the idea here. So, the consequence of this master of sin, just to repeat or to review, it's God's judgment unto condemnation and eternal death. The consequence of this master of sin is an ever-increasing downward falling into evil. The consequence of this master of sin is a life of shame. Which, of course, only a true believer has a sense of. Don't expect unbelievers to have a sense of shame over sin. In fact, the more they do it, the more brazen they get into it, and the more they boast of it. So, then also there is this matter concerning the master or dominion of obedience. And brothers and sisters, it's so important here. Don't miss this. When it says this is a master of obedience, this is obedience to what? The big issue before us. God's law. See, this isn't just, you know, obedience in some vague idea or some vague way. Our text says, or of obedience leading to righteousness. What's righteousness? Can you define what righteousness is? Righteousness is not some, you know, vague being good. Feeling good. Making sure others are happy with you. Righteousness is not even some big idea of, I'm so holy. I would never do that. Righteousness, according to the Bible, is very simple. It has that word right in it. It's a good handle, good thing to think of. Righteousness is simply being and living according to God's law. doing what's right according to God's law. And yeah, that's true of no one, right? There's none righteous, no not one. So, apart from God's grace and Jesus Christ, as we said earlier, apart from forgiveness for our unrighteousnesses, there's none righteous. So, you see, here we have to see that indeed that chain of ever-increasing wickedness, when you have a master unto obedience, obviously the chain to ever-increasing wickedness has been broken. And just look at the next verse after our text, verse 17. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart That form of doctrine, which is a form of teaching, to which you were delivered. Well, obviously, when it says, you obeyed from the heart, that shows a heart that's been renewed in Christ, right? Here is someone that's born again. And he was renewed in obedience to biblical teaching. In fact, notice how it says this. It says, to which you were delivered. And that's a good translation. To which you were delivered. See, we would expect it to say that the teaching was delivered to you, right? The teaching was, if you will, be brought to you. But no, it says you were brought to it. You were delivered over to it. It's passive. God gave you to be subject to this teaching in righteousness. That's how you're made free from the other master, which leads to death. God gives us to be given over to teaching, to hearing and receiving biblical truth. So that we become obedient from the heart. So this isn't just, you know, teaching so that we can spout off a bunch of doctrines. But rather it's unto life, right? So we become obedient. But obedient even then, not just, you know, so everybody else says we're good, and not just outwardly, but from the heart. We've been made willing and able to do it. And then look at verse 22. But now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness in the end everlasting life. So you see in this, it shows that being slaves of God, that's not, you know, the kind of slavery where one is unwilling and he's being forced and so on. Rather this kind of slavery to God, this is a freedom to obey from the heart. So, the term slavery here is defining a profound, deep-seated commitment to a master who's God. So, to summarize the consequences of this master of obedience, it's first of all to be freed from the other master. That has to happen. And that master's sin, So, right away, just by way of a bracketed comment here, right away there should be no talk, no thought in our hearts and minds about, well, sin is no big deal. After all, we're not under law, but we're under grace. Well, we're free from that. So, that's one consequence, to be freed from that master of sin and ever-increasing wickedness. And then also it is to live in holiness. You have your fruit of holiness. That's talking about a life of living and keeping with God's law, but living from the heart, right? That's the holiness, which is the consequence of serving this Master. So, it is a restoration to life from death. It's eternal life. And remember, eternal life is in this life And ultimately, it's everlasting. So, in conclusion, brothers and sisters, all this is what the true believer should know. He should know his Master is who he obeys. So, as soon as I even fall into sin, I say, I don't want to serve that Master. Are you kidding me? And then you can hear the excuses from within our own hearts and with a lot of help from others. Ah, but it doesn't have to be that way one or the other. No, no, no, no. The true believer also knows there are only two masters. It can never be more and it can never be both at the same time. And then the true believer also knows there are consequences either unto death or unto life. Now, having heard all of that, that well-known verse, I don't know, but I know that I, when very young in my life, I was taught to memorize this verse, Romans 6, 23. And until I studied this, I never really thought, I don't think I ever understood it. You think of how much more sense it makes now. Romans 6, 23. Think of it as you hear it. For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Wow! One is a wage. It's what you get from sin. It's what you earn. Death. That's what you deserve and I do too. And the other is a gift from God. You receive eternal life. Do you know it? May we know, by God's grace, the more we grow in knowing this, in the same way, the more we will hate the one and we will love the other. Just like what we read in Matthew 6 earlier for the law. That's how we want to live. We want to live in obedience to God's law. We're like slaves. We're like slaves in the sense that from our hearts we are driven to obey by God's Word and Spirit dwelling in us. And you see, that's how the just shall live by faith. That means I don't do what I often, in my old sinful self, I want to do. I don't do it. And when I find myself doing it, I hate it. And it means I don't say what I often in my old sinful self I just want to say. And on and on. Instead, I do and I say what I know God, my Master, wants me to do and to say. I set my will aside. in the sense of setting my old sinful self aside. I set it aside and I submit, I give myself, I yield myself to trust in and to do God's will. Brothers and sisters, may the Lord deliver each of us over to this teaching. Amen. Let's pray. Most loving and gracious Heavenly Father, we are moved to think of how gracious you have been to us. We don't deserve any of your goodness and your blessings, and yet we really can know the forgiveness of our sins, to be in a path of life, and to grow in holiness, in obedience, to this Master that you have become to us. Give us hearts like a heart of a slave that just is driven to do your will. We can't give this to ourselves. We pray more and more, grant this to us. May you be glorified in our lives. May your Word accomplish the purposes for which you have given it this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.