Romans 6:18-23

One of the most famous verses in the book of Romans is 23-

“For the wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The very first word; “For” suggests something came before this we should pay attention to, so let’s look at verse 21-

“What benefit (fruit) did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!”

Now it makes it s more sense doesn’t it?

What did the fruit (benefit) promise?

Freedom.

What did it deliver?

Bondage/slavery

Pastor Blalock made this hilarious comparison to the gorgeous burgers you see on TV ads with perfectly symmetrical seseme seeds, crisp looking green lettuce, a wet, shiny tomato, and you can almost smell the beefy aroma, right?! But what do you get in reality?

A smashed down, thin, semi-warm burger/sandwich kind of situation and you’re left thinking, “what false advertising!!”

Thats what the old world and it’s ways offer compared to living a new life in Jesus. What fruit did we reap that we are now ashamed of?

Death, darkness, brokenness.

But now… that we two words change everything!

But now, as a believer, I get the commercial-style burger. A beautiful thing, eternal life! I can’t go back to my old ways knowing that. What are false promises, the lure of more money, or bad habits going to benefit me? They aren’t. They lead to death. At least, an earlier death maybe than we were destined for.

“For the wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ JESUS!”

The hole you were digging all of your life without God, looking for buried treasure, lead to death. But now, the Holy Spirit is in you and you hunger for His word. It comforts you and leads you in the ways of righteousness.

But now, “Being free from sin and having become slaves to God, the benefit leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.

Look at verse 14-

”For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

He also told a story about getting robbed by a “friend” and how when his wallet had $43 in it that symbolized power and freedom and empty it was a thin, useless thing. Then he pulled his wallet out and showed us all the different cards representing the same, power, freedom, but once it was laying there flat and empty it was useless to him.

The wallet represents our old life. Flat, deflated, and useless without God.

So now, as you consider your new life, why would you give 100% of your time and attention to partying and only 5% to God every once in a while? No. Why not have the same zeal and dedication to Jesus that we had for our old life.

Look lastly at verse 19-

”I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.”

Yes!

Thank you for being here, I hope you get something out of it. 🙏😌