Know

Romans 6:16 (NKJV) 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?

Born Free?

The Bible assumes that every human being has a deity. In fact, we are so made that we must have a God. Even the man who says there is no God, worships a god notwithstanding, and that god is, “to whom he yields himself a servant to obey.”

Now God claims to be the Deity of the soul of every human being; but Satan has supplanted God, and he has done it in many ways. He has assumed many different forms in order to suit different classes and conditions of men.

For one class of person he finds one idol, for another class another. But the principle laid down is, that whatever the outward form may be, that which seizes in a man’s affections, life, and action, the place of God, becomes his deity.

He need not outwardly label it idol, or bow his knees and worship it. The supremacy which he gives to it in his affections and life is the point.

Slaves/Servants

(doulosδούλους) Outline of Biblical Usage

a slave, bondman, man of servile condition
1. a slave
2. metaph., one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men
3. devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests
a servant, attendant

1 Corinthians 7:23 (NKJV) You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
Galatians 1:10 (NKJV) For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
Ephesians 6:6 (NKJV) not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
Philippians 2:7 (NKJV) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Titus 1:1 (NKJV) Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness,
James 1:1 (NKJV) James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
2 Peter 1:1 (NKJV) Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Jude 1:1 (NKJV) Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:
Revelation 1:1 (NKJV) The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants–things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
Revelation 22:6 (NKJV) Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.

Sin unto death—obedience unto righteousness

The deception is that you are born free to do whatever you want. That the church and Jesus takes your freedom away, but that is not true.

Romans 6:17-18 (NKJV) 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.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Galatians 5:1 (NKJV) Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:1 (NIV) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Obedience is the true contrast of sin, since sin is disobedience, and righteousness is life.

Loyality to Christ will not permit occasional crossing over to the other side to Satan’s line.

Every man must choose between two ethical principles. Whichever one he chooses is master, and he is its bond-servant.

Matthew 6:24 (NKJV) “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
James 4:4 (NKJV) Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Matthew 7:18 (NKJV) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Sanctification

Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV) ¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

John 15:4-6 (NIV) ⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

God’s fruit making process in you is called sanctification

The third section of Romans, chapters 6 – 8 deal with this.

These three chapters belong together and should not be studied independently,
it would be wise for you to read all three chapters carefully.
Chapter 6 deals with the believer being dead to sin;
Chapter 7, with the believer being dead to the Law; and
Chapter 8, with the believer alive in Spirit-given victory.

All three chapters are an explanation of the little phrase in 5:17—”reign in life.”

Romans 5:17 (NIV) For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
- Chapter 6 tells us how sin no longer reigns over us (6:12);
- chapter 7 explains how the Law no longer reigns over us (7:1); and
- chapter 8 explains how the indwelling Spirit gives us life and liberty (8:2-4).

The believer faces two problems:

How can I achieve victory over the old nature (the flesh, the body of sin)? and
How can I live so as to please God?

Chapter 6 answers the first question: we get victory over the old nature by realizing that we have been crucified with Christ. But the second question is more complex; for how can I please God when everything I do—even the “good things”—is tainted by the old nature? Sin is not simply an outward action; it also involves inward attitudes and dispositions.
Chapter 7 answers this problem (along with chapter 8) by showing that the Christian is dead to the Law and that the Spirit fulfills the righteousness of the Law in us (8:4).

The secret of victory over the flesh is found in our obeying those three instructions: Know, reckon, and yield.

Romans 6:1-10 (NKJV) ¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin.
⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

This is the wonderful truth of our identification with Christ. Not only did Christ die for us, but we died with Him. When the Spirit baptized us into the body of Christ, then we were buried with Him and raised to newness of life.
Verses 3-4 do not refer to water baptism but the operation of the Spirit in putting us “into Christ” as members of His body. (This operation is illustrated by water baptism.)
When Christ died, we died with Him; when He was raised, we were raised to newness of life with Him. This is our new position in Christ. Christ not only died for sin, but He also died unto sin (6:10). That is, He broke the power of sin and put out of commission (destroyed) the old nature (6:6). The old nature is still there, this we know; but it has been robbed of its power by the cross of Christ, for we died with Christ to all that belongs to the old life.

Reckon

Romans 6:11-14 (NKJV) ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
¹³ 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.
¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

It is not enough merely to know our new position in Christ; we must, by faith, reckon it to be true in our own individual lives.
Reckoning is simply that step of faith that says, “What God says about me in the Bible is now true in my life. I am crucified with Christ.”
Reckoning is faith in action, resting on the Word of God in spite of circumstances or feelings.
God does not tell us to crucify ourselves, but rather to believe that we have been crucified and that “the old man” has been put to death.
Crucifixion is one death you cannot inflict on yourself; you must be crucified by another. Reckoning is that step of faith that believes God’s Word and acts upon it.

Yield/Offer/Present

Romans 6:19 (NKJV) 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.

Romans 6:19 (KJV) I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

If believers truly reckon themselves dead to sin, then they will prove their faith by yielding themselves to God. This is step three in the process of getting victory over the old nature, the flesh.

Notice that stern “Let not!” in v. 12. This yielding is an act of our own wills, a step of obedience to the Lord.
It is not enough to know this wonderful doctrine, or even reckon on it; we must take this final step of yielding the members of our bodies to Christ.

It is important that we keep these three steps in order.

We cannot yield to God and get victory over the flesh unless we first reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin and alive in Christ.
But we cannot reckon ourselves dead unless we know our position in Christ. Satan does not want us to live up to our high position in Jesus Christ, so he tries to confuse us about our victory in the Son of God.
It is not enough to know that Christ died for us; we must also know that we died in Christ. It is not enough to know that we have new natures within; we must also know that the old nature was dealt with on the cross.

Know—reckon—yield: these three steps lead to daily victory over the flesh.
These three steps lead to the throne where Christ is exalted on high, and where (with Him) we “reign in life,” servants of righteousness and not slaves of sin.
We enjoy life and true freedom in Him.

Keep in mind that these three steps should represent a daily attitude of life. They are not “emergency measures” that are to be used when we face some special temptation.

Believers who spend time with the Word of God daily will know their position in Christ. They will have the faith to reckon themselves dead to sin and will be able to yield themselves to the indwelling Spirit, obtaining victory.

The answer to the problem of sin is not simply determination, discipline, reformation, legislation, or any other human endeavor.

Victory comes through crucifixion and resurrection.