Epistles of Paul 74

Brethren, today we're going to be covering Romans chapter 6. But as a brief point of review, Paul, in the first few chapters of Romans, explains clearly that we have all sinned, and there is no way we can pay ourselves out of that penalty, brought about by breaking God's law. In Romans, 3 verse 20, we read very clearly that at the end of that verse, Romans 3, 20, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. In other words, the law identifies what sin is.

As I mentioned, I think last time, it is like a negative part of the law, which identifies what sin is. But there is a positive part of the law, which is very important, and we're going to talk about it in a moment. In Romans 3 verse 24, Romans 3 verse 24, we read, we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. In other words, we receive a gift, a gift of free justification in order of being made right with God. And that is only possible by the loving kindness or the grace of God and by Him sending His Son. God gave us His Son's life to buy our lives back from death, from the resurrection, through the resurrection.

He is making us right with God, and He's redeeming our lives, buying our lives back.

If we believe in what He says and that He is, is that we now need to, once we are forgiven, we need to now live a new life by obedience. In other words, we need to repent. Now this demonstrates two things. This act of God's righteousness, of freely justifying us, demonstrates in first place God's very righteousness. In Romans 3 verse 25, we read, when God set forth as a propitiation, in other words, a mercy seat, an act of forgiveness, by His blood, by the blood of Jesus Christ, through faith, through because we believe. And this demonstrates, as it says here, to demonstrate God's righteousness. So this act of free justification demonstrates God's righteousness because in His forbearance, God has passed over the sins that we previously committed. It just shows that God passes over previously committed sins. That's God's forbearance and that is God's righteousness. And then a little later, in verse 31 at the end of this third chapter, it says, do we then make the law void, or do we void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. And this is the first time that in this specific book, Epistle, that he mentions the statement, and he mentions it a few times, as we're going to see today. But this is the first time, and he basically says, we are not doing away of God's law. God's law is not done away. And it says, faith establishes the law. Now this is what today's Christianity has basically bugged and said, well, no, no, faith does away with the law. No, no, it does not. Paul clearly says, faith establishes the law. We establish the law. So, yeah, it's the positive part of the law. A little while ago, I mentioned the negative part, that the law identifies sin. But the positive part of the law is that Christ is being developed in us. And through what Christ has done, by him dying for us, by him being resurrected, by him after resurrection sending us his spirit, and through the power of his spirit, we're able to grow. And therefore, we are able to become more like Christ. In other words, we are a new man. And so, as we will see, resurrection is very important.

But it's not just the resurrection. It's the receiving of God's power, God's Holy Spirit. That Christ being now alive, being a high priest, sending us his power, his spirit, and helping us through his power, him being our defense advocate, and he through his power helping us to change.

So, we really have to work with God's Holy Spirit. We can't just lay back, I'm saved, the law is done away, Christ is resurrected, and that is all. There's more to it. There's really more to it. So, in the fourth chapter, Paul expounds how believing God is accounted for righteousness. Now, it's very important because it's easy to say, oh well, therefore, because I believe in God, that is accounted for righteousness, now I don't have to do anything. So, Paul explains that very clearly, and he starts by talking about, in verse 3, about Abraham's belief that was proven by his actions, because he believed, he acted. If we believe, we act.

We need to always see behind the word believe the action of obedience. If I believe what somebody says, I'm going to do what that person says.

That shows that I trust that person. I believe what that person said. And so, Abraham's belief was proven by his actions, and that that act of belief, of action in faith, was considered righteousness to him. In other words, these past sins were forgiven.

And therefore, we read in Romans chapter 4 verse 6, blessed if God does not impute sin upon us, it says, blessed is the man. In fact, in verse 8, now let me read verse 6, that the blessedness to him God imputes righteousness apart from works. And then in verse 8, blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. So, yeah, we have not just the point that we are forgiven, but the very point that righteousness is imputed upon us. And in fact, those two are together.

The two are together. When we are made right, when we're justified, we are forgiven. And that means God's righteousness is imputed upon us. And then in that same chapter, that's in Romans chapter 4, then in verse 21, is an amazing definition, a very powerful definition of what faith is. It says, speaking about Abraham, being fully convinced what he, God had promised, he, God was also able to perform. That's a wonderful definition of faith. It basically backs up what Hebrews chapter 11 says, verse 1 says basically the same thing.

God, if God said something, he's going to do it. Why? Because he doesn't lie. He's faithful. He will do it. Therefore, I beg your pardon, we can trust him. And then in verse 24 of the same chapter says, now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but also for us. Verse 23-24. So that example is for us. In other words, righteousness will be imputed on us if we believe in God, the God, the Father who resurrected Jesus Christ, if we believe in what he says and act upon it, that is if we repent.

And therefore, all our postcards are covered, and that is symbolized by the act of baptism, and we are justified in front of God.

You see, so once our sins have been paid by what Christ did under the instruction of the Father, and that must be because we believe in what he said, and therefore we're going to do what he says, and we therefore going to commit to repent, we now, when we commit, that means we are baptized, baptism is a symbolism of that commitment, we are baptized now, we must do our part committing ourselves to be a new man. We must do our part committing ourselves to be a new man. And how do we do that? Not because of our own human capability, but it's because we receive and use God's Holy Spirit to grow, to become like Christ.

That does not mean that all human nature is gone or done away. No, but there is a new reality. We now have God's Holy Spirit in us. We got God's power to help us overcome our frail ities. And that's the very source. We read that in Romans 5 verse 5. And our hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us, which was given to us. You see, the source, the really power to help us change is now God's Holy Spirit. So we can see the three play a crucially important part in our salvation.

Number one, God has to call us. God has to give the instruction, the command, for this great plan to be executed. Two, Christ had to come and die for us by our lives back from death. And he was resurrected, which gives us a hope that we can equally be resurrected. And three, after he was resurrected, he is our high priest. He sends us his spirit, God's power, to help us overcome. So the three, the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, play an important role, a critically important role in our change to become godly, to become like the Father. So we have a part, and in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19 says it clearly, we cannot quench the spirit. We must not quench the spirit. And so, understand, we understand that the spirit does not dominate us, does not control us, but the spirit guides us, leads us, and we gotta follow that lead. So is it Christ's blood, therefore, that saves us? In Romans 5 verse 9 says we're justified by his blood. You see, we are justified by his blood because Christ's blood brings us into a right relationship with God, justifies us. God then imputes his righteousness in us. Our partisans are forgiven through what Christ has done. We are justified. We're reconciled. And then we read in Romans 5 at the end of verse 9 and 10, we are saved by Christ's life. We are saved because he resurrected and because he went to heaven as and is in heaven as our right priest and he sends us the power of God's early spirit. So if Christ had not resurrected, obviously our faith would have been in vain. And as it then, Paul, in Romans describes, by one Adam many died physical death, but by God's gift, that's Romans 5 verse 15, even greater blessings are bound to many. In other words, eternal life. How? With the help of God's early spirit. So let's read that verse 15, because it's an important, which is, but the free gift, which is the gift of Christ and and and forgiveness and redemption that we got through Christ, that free gift, is not like the offense. The offense was the first Adam and and it has a very different outcome. The free gift by Christ has a very different outcome than the offense by Adam. You see, because of the free gift, we receive the help of God's early spirit. And that's what it says here, for if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And it gives a completely different outcome than Adam's situation. And so we read then in verse 20 and 21 that the law was codified. Now we know, and we went through it a previous week, that the law existed all the way from the beginning, from creation. Otherwise, how could sin lie at the door when it talks about Cain? And so the law was there right from the beginning, but it was codified as to a nation at Sinai. But now we have God's grace and mercy through what Christ has done, which is even greater. We've got access to that. And so that now brings us in with that all background, brings us in to Romans chapter 6. And let's read chapter 6. What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And this is, in a sense, the second time that basically the same thing is said, that this fact is said in this letter. We read the first time in Romans 3.31. So now it's re-emphasizing it that, you know, we can't continue sinning, that grace may abound. We have died to sin. We have been brought back, redeemed by God's grace.

Now we cannot continue sin. We got to walk in a new life. And that is what Paul is now bringing Yah in chapter 6, which is the whole meaning of baptism. And so let's read verse 1 carefully, Yah. And it says, what shall we say then shall we continue in sin? Right. We saw that Romans 3 verse 20 at the end defines what is sin. That's what I mentioned, that the law is a knowledge of sin. So the law defines what is sin. So when it says shall we continue in sin, it's basically saying shall we continue to break God's law? No. No. That's what it says at the beginning of verse 2, certainly not. Once we have the death penalty paid by Christ dying for us and buying our lives back, we're no longer under that penalty. That penalty of past sins is taken away by Christ's sacrifice. So why should we get back intentionally into the same terrible situation?

We died to sin. Doesn't it say? Yeah, it says certainly not. How shall we who died to sin? It's important to understand and now Paul expounds it that the old man should be dead. We died to sin. We died. We gotta stop breaking God's law. That's what he's saying. Now, let's read verse 3. It says, or do you not know that as many of us as we are baptized into Christ Jesus, we're baptized into his death? He has a very important point that many do not understand and it says, yeah, as many of us as we're baptized into Christ Jesus, we're baptized into his death.

Do we grasp what it means to be baptized into Christ Jesus? Do we grasp what it means to be baptized into his death? The word into is the Greek word 1519a, which according to the concordance, I read that it says, it's a primary preposition to or into, indicating the point reached or entered of a place or time or figuratively a purpose and result, etc. In other words, expresses motion literally or figuratively, expresses motion literally or figuratively. So we're baptized into Christ Jesus, into his death. You see, we know Christ Jesus, the God being that came to earth, he was dead for three days and three nights. He died. Look at Galatians chapter 3 verse 23. He uses the same expression as well, but let's look at it. Galatians chapter 3 verse 27. I'll be a part of 27 not 23, 27. For as many as we're baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, baptized into Christ. Again, the Greek word 1519a is into Christ, have put on Christ.

The word put on is the Greek word 1746 that according to Concordin says, in a sense of sinking into a garment, to invest with clothing literally or figuratively, to array, to clothe with, to a Jew, to have put on. In other words, you're putting on this clothe, this new body, Christ's spiritual body.

And that's what we also, when we understand, for instance, in Colossians chapter 1 verse 24, Colossians chapter 1 verse 24, we read at the latter part, at the end there, he says, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church. And so we know very clearly that the spiritual body of Christ is the church. And we know elsewhere that the whole family is named after the Father God, so it's the church of God. But his body is the church. We, as members of God's church, are baptized into Christ Jesus. We are put into that spiritual body which is Christ Jesus.

Therefore, we're baptized into Christ, into his spiritual body, the church.

Now, it is important that we understand that being baptized into Christ is different than being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. You see, in Acts 2 verse 38, we have Peter's discourse on the day that they received the Holy Spirit. And then when the people in verse 37 realize that they believed, and then suddenly they believed indeed that they had crucified Jesus, who was both Lord and Christ. We read that at the end of verse 36. Verse 37 is, when they realized they had done that, you know, was they had believed that Christ was, Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord. Then it says, they said, what shall we do? It was they coming to a point of how do we go from this? What have we done? And then Peter says, repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. You see, being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ is a different sentence with a different meaning than being baptized into Christ Jesus.

Being baptized in Jesus Christ's name, or in the name of Jesus Christ, means by his authority.

And being baptized into Christ Jesus means we are put into his spiritual body.

And so if we put the two together, means we are baptized into the spiritual body of Christ, which is kept in the Father's name, by Jesus Christ's authority. You see, and that's what we say, as you know, in the baptismal ceremony, which it says, I'm not baptizing you into any sect or human organization, but I am baptizing you into the very body of Christ, which is kept in the name of the Father, which is God, which is kept in the name of the Son of God, which is the Son, which is also God, and is also kept in the name of the Holy Spirit, which is also the Holy Spirit of God. We are baptized into that family, which is kept by that name. The whole family is kept by the name of the Father. But with that is done by the authority of Jesus Christ. Let me give you a normal, simple example of this in our daily lives. Say, for instance, you work for a large company. Let's give you an example, for instance, Microsoft. Let's say you work for Microsoft. Okay. How does a person become an employee of Microsoft? Because obviously they went through maybe some tests or whatever they were able to qualify to whatever. And then a manager under the authority of the Human Resources Department gave that person, in other words, because he had the authority, gave that person the opportunity to be inside or employed by Microsoft. And so we see two things here. It's going to be a person with the correct authority, putting that person into that organization.

In spiritual terms, it's going to be a person which has the authority of Jesus Christ to baptize or put that person into Christ's spiritual body. And so, for instance, I could not walk down the street and tell you and say and put your name, for instance, John, say, hey, John, you now are an employee of Microsoft. I couldn't do that. I could have the words, says, well, by the authority of Microsoft, you're now an employee of Microsoft.

But that is just words without meaning because you don't have the delegated authority to do that. I don't have the delegated authority to do that. It must be done by somebody with the right delegated authority. Therefore, baptizing somebody in Jesus Christ's name is not just words that come out of somebody's mouth, but it, yes, it is words that come out of somebody's mouth, but it's words that come out from somebody that has that authority to put that person into the spiritual body of Christ. Now, with that in mind, let's go back to read Romans 6 verse 4, because it says, yeah, therefore, we were buried within through baptism into death, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God.

So we were buried with him. How were we buried with him? Because at baptism, we are put into Christ's body. And so that symbolism that now we are inside Christ's body, symbolically, we buried with him, symbolically, as his body is buried. Likewise, as he resurrects as symbolically, now as a spiritual body, we also have to have the desire to actually come out and live a new life.

That's why it says, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should now walk in newness of life. You see, so baptism shows our desire to be dead to sin and no longer sin, but follow God and obey.

It is, in a sense, a commitment. It is like signing a contract, which the Bible calls it the new covenant. We're signing that new covenant through that symbolism of the baptism. And so it pictures our commitment, our desire to quit sinning, our intent that the sinfulness of ours is buried. So does it mean the ongoing struggle between the flesh and the Spirit stops? No. Paul addresses that in chapter 7 and 8, which we will look at it later.

But Yah in verse 4 says, we are buried with Him, and just like He resurrected, and brethren, He resurrected according to the Scriptures. We have faith in that. He is now at the right hand of the Father. We read in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 17 that if we do not resurrect, our faith is in vain. We also read in 1 Corinthians 15 1 through 4 that He rose the third day according to the Scriptures. And we know we've got a lot of structures. Mark 8 31, Mark 9 31, Mark 10 33 to 34, and a critical one that we quite often use, Matthew 12 verse 40, after three days and three nights being in the grave.

So He was, He rose the third day. So He died on a Wednesday, and He rose on Saturday, was the third day. So after three days, after Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, after three days, He resurrected. So we can see that that was fulfilled. And we're also in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 5 through 8. It shows there were many witnesses of His resurrection. In fact, there are well, many well-documented historical facts that prove that Christ did resurrect.

And that would might be an interesting study for one of us to do one day. So just like we die at baptism, our old man dies, the new man symbolically comes out of the water, and we come out of water. And as we come out of water, we want to breathe that air, you know, breathe the rest of our days. We should have that desire to want to breathe, to live this new way, serving God.

So this whole baptism has got a very significantly important meaning. It shows repentance, shows belief, shows making a commitment. After that, we hands are laid on, we receive God's Holy Spirit. There's a new life which is begotten by receiving the Holy Spirit. A new life has begun, a new spiritual life. And this new life is now to grow and flourish. And that, as it flourished, develops God's holy, righteous character. In the willingness to yield, yielding to God, so that finally, when one is resurrected, at Christ's Second Coming, we are unpolluted by the sinful downward pulls of the physical human nature, because we'll be spirit beings.

So let's now read verse 5. For if we have been united to gather in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.

So Yah is reiterating, restating, if Christ is in you and I, if we have God's Holy Spirit, if we're working, if we're working, becoming a new man, a new life, therefore, is being shaped. A new character is being developed. And that's what the very basis of this new life as a child of God is all about. And therefore, in verse 6, he says, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, our old way of living is crucified, it's gone, we're not going to do it again, that the body of sin might be done away, that we are not going to sin anymore, then we should no longer be slaves of sin. So we should no longer be breaking God's law.

And if you have people who say, oh well, the law's done away, and you start asking questions, well, which law? Is it killing? Can I not go and kill? No. Is it stealing? No. It always gets down to one law. Is the Sabbath. Oh, it's a burden. The Sabbath is a burden. And you can say, well, I've been keeping the Sabbath. It's not a burden to me. So by receiving God's early Spirit and growing recent knowledge, we should indeed be putting away the body of sin. But understand all the human nature has not gone away. But we are now going through a new way of overcoming and persevering. In Romans chapter 7, the next chapter I will discuss next time, Paul explains that very well, that there is that fight, that struggle, that continues. But we are now striving, and therefore we are freed from sin. We are justified from post-sins. And the whole point that Paul is making is that death penalty of those post-sins is no longer upon us. In other words, let's say, for instance, you were a criminal, you were in jail, you are not being freed from jail. You're free. It doesn't mean that now you can go out and commit the same crime. No, but you freed from the penalty of that sin. That's what it reads in verse 7, for he who has died has been freed from sin. Obviously, post-sins. Right. Verse 8, now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

Just like we died with Christ because we were baptized into his body, we died with him, we are in his spiritual body. Therefore, we shall live with him. Just like he has eternal life, we shall have eternal life with him if we are walking and overcoming, putting on this new man, that it says, walk in newness of life. And that we shall live with him, not just now, but eternally. Eternally. Verse 9, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. So we're talking about eternal life. Death no longer has dominion over him.

Now, death had a claim on Christ the moment he came out of his mother's womb. Why? Because he came to earth to die for us. He came to earth to give his life for our sins. In 1st Peter chapter 1, 1st Peter chapter 1, verse 19 and 20. 1st Peter chapter 1, verse 19 and 20. It's talking about that we were redeemed not of money and gold and this and that. Verse 19, but of the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, he indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world. It had been decided before the foundation of the world, before heaven and earth was created, before Adam and Eve had been created. That had been determined, had been foreordained. That's also looking Revelation chapter 13.

Revelation chapter 13 verse 8. Revelation chapter 13 verse 8. At the end it says, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Now, obviously, it was not slain before the world was created, but he was destined to be slain. In other words, he had a death penalty on his head. That's the very reason why he came to earth. And so, that's what he means. Death had a claim on Christ the very moment he came out of his mother's womb for our sins, to forgive us. And he knew this all his life. Imagine the mental pressure, the emotional pressure on him that he could not send.

You see, the sins of all humanity were upon him.

This does not say that he sent.

Does not say he became sent. And I'm going to look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 in a moment. But let me just read, finish explaining this point. We're going to read 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 and explain that. But does not mean that Christ sent. Does not mean that his body became sinful. No, because he was a lamb without sin, without spot. You see? But he was prophesied to be a sin offering. That's what the whole Old Testament ceremony law pointed. It pointed to Christ being a sacrificial lamb. He's the Passover lamb, and a Passover lamb was one without blemish, without spot. Christ had no sin. And so when you read in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, it says, For he, God, made him Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That is a figure of speech. That's a figure of speech they call a metonymy.

A figure of speech that uses one word to refer to something closely associated with it. And so he became a sin offering for us. I mean, let me give you some examples of that type of figure of speech.

When one talks the White House, the White House did this. It's a metonymy, metonym of for the president or the president's administration. It's not about the house. When we say the crown, it's a metonym of the British royal family.

When we say Hollywood, it's a figure of speech for the film industry or celebrities. When we say the Pentagon is also a figure of speech for the United States Department of Defense. It says, so here is a figure of speech that says he knew no sin. In other words, he was never sin.

He says, who knew no sin to be a sin for us? In other words, to be a sin offering for us. He was a sin offering for us. So he never sinned. Christ never sinned. So the moment, as I mentioned earlier on, that he came out of his mother's womb. He was destined, destined to die, to be slain for our sins. That's why he came to earth. And so Paul is getting back here to Romans and getting back to the context of this chapter six. He's talking about baptism and the soul point is the importance of baptism as we see in verse 10 and 11, which he says, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, which is symbolizing us dying to sin once for all at baptism, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Again, symbolizes us coming out of the baptism and living to God. Likewise, verse 11, it was likewise, you also, it was because of the symbolism of baptism, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So he is saying that's the whole meaning of baptism. That's the point of departure. And then he goes on in verse 12, therefore do not let sin rain in your mortal body that you should obey it in its last. Now, it doesn't say that you trip. It's talking about rain over you, your mortal body. That means rule over you. That means you give up the fight. That means you conscientiously desist and give up. You see, so it's very clear that Paul is not following the belief of the Christianity of this wall that says, once saved, always saved. No. And therefore, he's talking about the struggle, because if once saved, always saved, there would be no struggle. There'll be no struggle between us trying to overcome. And he is now going through this point about that we are struggling and that we are going to obey. Look at verse 13. Therefore 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 he says there is a struggle and therefore you've got to be overcoming. You've got to be presenting this. You've got to be doing this. You've got to be struggling. You've got to be striving to achieve. Are we perfect? No. Do we say things we wish we hadn't said? We do.

And so let's continue now. Verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. You see sin should not have dominion over us.

Why? Because you've got a god's only spirit and our past sins are forgiven and now we're striving because of God's grace our past sins are forgiven we are now striving to do to obey God. We are under his authority. Verse 15. And now this is the third time he says the same type of sentence, which is what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not. It's the third time that he's emphasizing this point. He's emphasizing this point throughout this epistle. Yes, God has done a tremendous gracious thing for us. We are forgiven. We are quote unquote out of jail gratis but that does not give us a right now to sin. Paul is teaching obedience. Look at verse 16. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves to obey?

You are the one slaves to whom you obey whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. Paul is teaching obedience. And what is righteousness? Psalm 119 verse 172. All your commandments are righteousness.

You see, so don't let people deceive and try and push, say, oh well, the law is a yoke because he's not killing a yoke, he's not stealing a yoke, not lying a yoke.

You see, it always ends up on one thing. The Sabbath all ends up on one thing, the fourth commandment. Verse 17, but God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart. You were slaves from sin, but now you've been forgiven. Now from the heart, you are becoming a new man, a new person, that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Now we serve the true doctrine to serve God, pleasing God, obeying God. You see, he's teaching obedience. Verse 18, having been set free from sin, you become slaves of righteousness.

In other words, we free from the death penalty brought on by sin, and we are now free from the inability that we had to serve God. You see, in Romans 8 verse 7, Romans 8 verse 7 says, the carnal mind is enmity against God. By human strength, you and I are not able to serve God, but, but the converted mind is able, because it is empowered by Christ in us through God's only Spirit. It is not impossible if you and I have God's only Spirit to obey God.

Are we going to fail? Yes, we're going to fail. We're going to see that in Romans 7. God does not put on us impossible demands. In the flesh, we will always keep it perfectly. No, we'll cover that next study. But as a way of life, it is possible, empowered by God's only Spirit, to please Him and to keep His commandments and to delight in them. Now verse 19 and 20, I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Yeah, the weakness of your flesh. Our flesh is weak. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanliness and 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. Yeah, you didn't practice righteousness at all. You see, Paul always uses figurative speech. He's talking about slaves of sin and things like that. That's figurative speech. We are now slaves of Christ, but is Christ a slave master? No. Christ never forces us. We still have free moral agency. So he's talking about, yeah, figuratively. Now verse 21, what fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. And then verse 22, but now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end of a lasting life. You know, what fruits are there when people sin?

You know, there's just pain and suffering and pain and suffering for them and for others around them.

Over the last six thousand years, mankind is basically getting that fruit. That fruit. That's what it says. Verse 21, what fruit did you all have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? People are not ashamed yet. They will be in the second resurrection. But what fruits do you have? The fruits that people have in this life of breaking God's law is just death and suffering and more death.

And that's what mankind's been doing for six thousand years. But there is a better way with better fruit. There is a better way. And in the Bible, in His mercy says, but now, having been set free from sin and for others, first fruits, that's applicable to us today, having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end, in the end, ever-lasting life. And so in verse 23, we see the conclusion of the matter that Paul puts it to this chapter, which is basically a baptism chapter. And he says, he says in verse 23, for the wage of sin is death, that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We all will die. There is no way we can buy our life back. The only way that our lives can be brought back is through God's gift, the gift of Christ's life and what is done for us and what God the Father wants to help us with, by giving us Christ, by Christ being resurrected and by giving us his Spirit for us to overcome.