Title: The Divine Contrast!
Text: Romans 6: 23
Date: July 8, 2012
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Romans 6: 23: For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Our text tells us of two
very different things obtained—death and eternal life. Our text tells us two very different ways
that these are obtained.
Romans 6: 23: For the wages of sin is death;--the
sinner who perishes in death—spiritual,
physical and eternal—will have earned it as a wage owed for his labor; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.—the sinner who is saved will have been given
eternal life as the free gift of God, not by anything we have done, but through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Title: The Divine Contrast!
1) Notice the contrast in the way these two are
obtained—23: For “the wages”; but “the gift”—death are wages earned, eternal
life is “the gift” given;
2) The contrast “in the
reason” these two are obtained—23: For the wages “of sin”; but the gift “of
God”—death is the wages OF SIN—sin being the master you have served; but
eternal life is the gift OF GOD
3) The contrast through who
these two are obtained—sin is “the work of the sinner” so the sinner himself
gets all the glory for earning death; but God’s gift of eternal life is
“through the Lord Jesus Christ” so that Christ gets all the glory.
I. THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH
Sin
is described here has a master and the sinner as the servant of sin.
Romans 6: 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto
death, or of obedience unto righteousness?...19: 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;
Sinners
without the Spirit of God are servants to a master named “sin,” servants to
“uncleanness,” servants to “iniquity.” That master Mr. Sin is a tyrant. Those under him are slaves—they labor and
work hard under sin. But they are his
willing slaves. We liked all the labor
under that master sin. We called it “the pleasure of sin
The
sinner who is under the rule of that master called sin is not the servant of
God.
Romans 6: 20: For when ye were the
servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
When
ye were under that master, called sin—we were the servants of sin. But while under that master we were not the
servants of God, not the servants of righteousness.
Sinners
only have one master—sin. And believers
only have one master—Christ. No man can
serve two masters. Either sin has the
rule of our hearts or Christ has the dominion.
Some here are under the rule of sin.
Some are under the rule of Christ.
But no one here is under the rule of both. Those under the rule of
sin—hate the thought of having Christ as their Master—“the carnal mind is enmity against God.” (Rom 8: 7) But those in
whose heart Christ dwells as Master—we hate the very sin we once loved-- “O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?” (Ro 7:24)
Application:
What do you really enjoy? In what direction are you really going? Who is really
your Lord? If
sin masters us, if we delight to do evil, if we enjoy evil companions, if we
walk in darkness, then Christ is not our Master.
The
wage that “master sin” pays is death.
Romans 6: 21: What fruit had ye then in
those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Mr.
Sin, is in the iniquity business—the only thing his servants produce is sin and
iniquity. The end—the wage--which sin
pays his servants for all their labor—is death—Romans 6: 23: For the wages of sin is death;
·
The
wages of sin is spiritual death—no sinner can earn
spiritual life—spiritual life cannot be earned—God must give it. But when God gives the sinner the light of
the gospel and that sinner goes on laboring in sin, working to put God out of
his mind, laboring for his master sin, that labor will earn you the wages of
more spiritual death.
Romans
1: 21: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither
were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, [that takes labor and it
earns its wages] and their foolish heart was darkened….25: Who changed the
truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the
Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. [it takes labor to do that and it earns
a wage]26: For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections:… 28: And even as they did not
like to retain God in their knowledge, [it takes labor and earns a wage] God
gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient;
The wages of sin is physical death—laboring
in sin will earn you the wage of a body wrecked with sickness, sorrow and pain
and will eventually end in physical death.
The wages of sin is eternal death—if
we labor all our days for that master sin—having never obeyed the gospel—we
will have earned eternal separation from God in the torments of hell as a wage
which we rightfully earned for all our labors.
Application:
Sinner, there is no good fruit, no good end in continuing with sin as your
master. If you earn the wages of death,
you will have no one to blame but yourself.
Now listen very closely…NOW THE
DIVINE CONTRAST.
II. But the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God
gives the gift of eternal life.
Romans 6: 17: But God be thanked, that
ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you.
·
v17:
But God be thanked—the free gift of God
·
v17:…Ye
were the servants of sin—None but the Spirit of God could
dethrone that master in your spiritually dead heart. None but the Spirit of God
could break those chains and free you from that tyrant called sin. Through what
means did he do so?
·
v17:…but
ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. God delivered
the doctrine of Christ and him crucified to you—that form of doctrine which was delivered you—A new heart was
created within you—John 3: 5 Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
He revealed to you your vileness and revealed the righteousness of God
in Christ Jesus—(Rom 6: 6-11) He gave you the gift of repentance and the gift
of faith to believe on Christ—you obeyed from the heart, from the heart, from
the heart—the good news of Christ finished work.
Romans 6: 18: Being then made free from
sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
In
verse 7 the word 'freed' means 'justified'—freed from the guilt, penalty and
condemnation; Here in verse 18 it means 'liberated'—no longer a slave under
that old master called sin—freed from the control and servitude of sin. Its
hold over us is broken. A new Master—a
good Master—a loving Master—Christ Jesus took control in that new spirit--ye
became the servants of righteousness.
What a divine contrast!
·
Not a wage earned—but the gift given
·
Not of sin—but of God
·
Not death—but eternal life
·
Not of us—but through the Lord Jesus Christ
V23: But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. He that glories let him
glory in the Lord!
Application: Brethren, you and I are not wholly free
from sin. We carry about a body of sin and death. In thoughts, and words, and
actions, we feel the working of sin in our old nature constantly. I feel so far from being a servant of
righteousness, that I find myself constantly asking God to forgive me. But by
virtue of the redemption in CHRIST, we are delivered from the condemning power
of sin, and are brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of GOD. The holiness of GOD our SAVIOR is ours by
virtue of our union and communion with Christ.
By the gift of God we now have eternal life in Christ and the end shall
be everlasting life in glory with him when we pass from this world.
Romans 6: 19: 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…
As you have in the past
cheerfully yielded your minds, hearts, tongues and hands to do evil, now
cheerfully yield them to God and holiness.
We produced no fruit under our old master sin. All was earned and nothing given.
Romans 6: 22: But now being made free
from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the
end everlasting life.
We
are not under the law but under grace.
We have the fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5: 22…love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is
no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25: If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Application: Believer, before God gave us this gift,
the end we earned was—unto iniquity unto death—spiritual, physical and eternal.
Our sin was of no profit to anyone and especially not ourselves. But now, the
gift of God is unto holiness—the fruit of the Spirit is useful and profitable
in many ways:
·
God is glorified with all our members
·
The doctrine of Christ is adorned, honored and commended before
all
·
Our spiritual, even physical, well-being is better by the fruits
of the Spirit: our reputation is better than it was, our own peace of heart and
we are peace toward others, our neighbor and friends and loved ones are all
beneficiaries of God’s grace in taming the wild beasts we were.
·
And
the end—spiritually, physically, eternally—now and hereafter—is
everlasting life.
Sinner, which sounds
better to you—
·
Work or rest;
·
Death or life;
·
A wage earned or a gift given?
John 6: 27: Labour not for
the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father
sealed.
Go home and get your bible. Listen to these messages on your computer and look
up the scriptures to see if what God says—if what I am telling you now—is according
to the word of the Lord.
·
Ask God to have mercy on your soul.
·
Ask God to reveal true righteousness, true satisfaction, to
you.
·
Ask God to make his power known to you.
·
Ask God to reveal Christ in your heart.
·
Come to him bowed down seeking unmerited mercy
Hebrews 4: 9: There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10: For he that is entered
into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11:
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,…
Romans 6: 23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen!