Enslaved To Righteousness

Romans 6, 14 to the end of the chapter. For sin shall not be your master because you are not under law but under grace.

! What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you're slaves to the one whom you obey.

Whether you're slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you're weak in your natural selves.

Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?

Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here is the word preached.

I found a new hero this week, someone I've never heard of. I wish I would have heard of him earlier because the more I read about him, the more of a guy I wish I could have met in person.

His name was David Ruggles, and you've probably never heard of him either. But in the 1830s and the 1840s, he lived in New York City, and he was a free black man.

Slavery was illegal in New York, New York City, but the reality was that some people still kept slaves secretly, hidden away, where no one else could see them.

So these black people would be living in other people's houses, doing all the work, and the sad thing is they didn't know that they didn't have to stay there.

They didn't know that they were really and actually and legally free, that they could walk out at any time. There was no reason, no legal reason that they couldn't just up and leave.

So what do you do in that kind of situation? David Ruggles was a man, a manly man, if you know what I mean.

When he found out about these poor black people enslaved, he would break into the houses, and he would say, you can go, you're free, you don't have to stay here.

They were free. Their masters had no right over them. And he would do everything that he could do to get them to leave and to go and help them start a new life.

He actually taught blacks how to defend themselves against kidnapping and slavers, because that was something that you had to worry about. So if kidnappers came into your neighborhood and they could catch you, they would.

And so when slave traders came looking for free blacks to kidnap or runaway slaves that they tried to bring back to the South, he formed this whole group of men that would protect and defend the black people.

He would basically grab a posse, meet these slavers, these kidnappers in the street, and drive them out of the neighborhood. He believed in more than persuasive abolition.

Persuasive abolition is where we are going to speak against it. He believed in that, and that's good, and a lot of people did. But he was a believer in practical abolition, the practical end of slavery, the practical freedom for black people.

And he didn't just want to talk to people about it. He actually wanted to set people free and help them to stay free. Now, can I tell you something, brothers or sisters?

God is a practical abolitionist. He doesn't just talk about things. He doesn't just talk about setting people free. He sets people free from sin and from death.

And if you are a Christian here, it is precisely because of that reason, that God took an interest in your slavery and decided to set you free, and you are free indeed.

And then what he does is he sends out his pastors and his preachers to be like David Ruggles, to break into people's houses, so to speak, and to tell them, tell Christians, that you are free.

You are free from sin. You don't have to stay here. You don't have to give two weeks notice. You don't have to do a single thing more for these masters. You can up and leave immediately.

You don't owe the old masters anything. Now, that's what we see Paul doing in Romans 6, verse 18. Romans 6, verse 18.

He is being this David Ruggles to these Roman believers. And the question is, at this point, is, if we are under grace and the gospel is as good as it is, and we don't have to do anything, we don't have to keep the law in order to justify ourselves, well, then why in the world would we ever keep the law?

Why wouldn't we just go crazy and sin? Why not sin? Well, this is where he starts to talk about, well, what is the result? You can't just think of it in that way, he's saying.

And you have to think about it in another way. He has to, and he's saying, what is the result? What was the result of your slavery to sin? What came of that? Think about that. And then he says, then you have to consider, who is your new master now?

What has God done? And so in verse 18, he says, you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Now, that's a very interesting thing, that we find our freedom in a new slavery. But that's God's way. He sets us free from sin and death by making us a different kind of slave.

So two points this evening. And the first is, this is the good news that you must hear. This is the good news that you must hear. We're going to talk about later about, then, therefore, what should you do?

But first of all, I want to start out with this. This is the good news that you must hear. And when I say hear, I mean hear, take in, and apply. Apply. So if I had individually, so just imagine this picture.

I'm looking you directly in the eye, and I put my hands on your shoulders, and I'm, we're eyeball to eyeball. And I'm standing in front of you, and I say, God has set you free, Christian.

God has set you free from sin. Now, you see the posture that I'm going for. You see what I'm after. Or I don't want you, I don't want anyone to say, oh, yeah, I know that.

And just walk away. No different for it. No, so if you're a parent, and you want a message to really get through to your kids, you get eyeball to eyeball with them, and you say, now listen to me. And we don't expect them to say, oh, okay, I know that, and go on.

Obviously, you need to take it in, and embrace it, and apply it. And that's what I want, that's what I mean when I say, this is the good news that you have to hear. You have to hear.

God has set you free from your sin. But the other part of the verse is good news, too. That would be good news, but it's even better than that. You have been set free from your sin, and you have become slaves to righteousness.

But that's really even not strong enough. He doesn't say you've become slaves. He says you have been enslaved to righteousness.

God has enslaved you to righteousness. It is not a noun, slaves. It is a verb, to be enslaved. You have been enslaved to righteousness.

And both sides of that are really good news. It's really good news. Both are part of the gospel. See, the gospel is not just about your guilt and your need for forgiveness.

It is definitely a part of that. The gospel is not just judicial and legal. It's about breaking the power of sin. And so God has done more for you than just forgive you.

He has redeemed you. He has bought you out of slavery, out of the power of sin. But he's even done more than that. He hasn't left you neutral. That's Paul's point.

He hasn't left you neutral. He's enslaved you to righteousness. Now, why is all that such good news? Why is all that such good news?

Well, it's good news because where sin was going to take you, where sin was taking you. Did you see where it was taking you as Pastor John wrote it? Sin leads to death.

As we sin, we begin to experience death. As soon as Adam sinned, he died in a way. And for every sin, we experience more and more death.

But then it reaches its climax in death and then the second death. So that's where sin is leading you. So where does slavery to sin lead you? It takes you to death.

So if you're not a Christian, if you're not a Christian here, and if you're still holding out, you're still not believing, you haven't repented, then listen to me. Slavery to sin can seem so good.

It can seem so sweet. It can seem so wonderful. It seems so sweet. The words of an adulteress drip honey.

Her speech is smoother than oil. In Proverbs 9, Lady Folly says she's throwing a banquet. And so she spreads her goods and she says stolen water is sweet.

Food eaten in secret is delicious. Slavery to sin is so powerful because there is an aspect of it that is so nice, so delicious.

Slavery to sin can seem so wonderful. It can seem to be taking us to the exact place we want to go. It can be so intoxicating. And I know because I've been there.

I've been there and every Christian has been there. And it's only the grace of God that will wake a sinner up that gets them to see otherwise. But the end is death. That's what you have to realize.

The end is death. It says the adulterous lips drip honey. But then it also says her paths lead straight to death. Lady Folly, her guests lie in the grave.

So you go into her house and you eat her food. And then the next room over is a funeral parlor. It's where you go to die. The adulterous path leads straight to death.

And so slavery to sin, it's like being addicted to heroin. And you know people don't get hooked on heroin. They don't get hooked on meth because when you shoot it up, it feels bad. You shoot it up and it feels good.

It feels like the best thing you've ever experienced. It doesn't make them feel terrible. And so slavery to sin is the same thing. It can be so wonderful. But in the end, Paul says, it's heroin.

It leaves you in the alley, in the dark, asleep, and then you die. That's actually how most heroin addicts overdose.

It puts you to sleep. And it's so powerful, your heart just forgets to start beating or keep beating. And you quit remembering to even breathe.

And then you die. The end leads to more than death, though. Slavery to sin leads to shame. To shame.

Do you guys see why this is good news? If he sets you free from this? Because you were chained to death. And not only that, you were chained to shame.

He said, what benefit did you reap at the time with the things that you are now ashamed of? He's wanting you as a Christian to think, does it make any sense to go back to your sin?

He says, no, because sin leads to death. Why would you want to get involved in that again? And then he says, but think about how you feel now. As you look back on your past and you think about the things that you did when you were a slave to sin.

Does that make you feel good? Was that just so great? Is that something that you're proud of? That you want to parade before other people? And he says, no, it's something that you're now ashamed of.

The shame is so strong that even as a Christian, there is room for regret. For saying, oh, what? Why? I don't want anyone to know about that. And so if you lived any amount of time, you know what Paul is talking about.

Sin is shameful. Shame is something that we all know that what it feels like to be exposed, to be seen. And we're less than beautiful.

Shame is embarrassment. Shame is the exposure of what we wish could be hidden. Sin. So you go through the airport security line and they take your bag and they rummage through all your clothes and they pull out your underwear in front of everyone.

And you say, why did that have to happen? Shame. You know what I'm talking about. And that is what Paul says. That's what sin does. That's where sin takes you.

Now, why would you want to say, oh, why not keep sinning? Well, who in their right mind would want more of that? Well, sin is great, isn't it? Just makes us feel so wonderful.

And that's all that sin ever did for us. That's all that sin ever does for anyone. You rebel against God and the end is death and shame. Adam experienced it right from the garden.

He began to die. And the very first thing he realized was that he was naked and they were ashamed. So that was the beginning of slavery to sin. It puts us on the path to hell.

It fills our lives with shame, with inadequacy, with humiliation, with regret. And this is why it's good news when it says he set you free from sin. Because he set you free from all of that.

And so if you think about it, if God, all God did was forgive us, but he left us in the power of our sin. If God just said, okay, we're going to take care of the record, but he wasn't going to take care of the power of sin in our lives.

It would be less than a complete salvation, wouldn't it? Because I would still be chained to what's going to bring me to death. And I would still be enslaved to what is so shameful.

And that's no way to live. No way to live, but God saves. And he really does save. He rescues us out of that slavery, out of that bondage.

So not only from the guilt of sin, but from the power of sin. But he does more than that. And this is what I really want to key in on. And this is what really grabbed my attention here.

He enslaves us to righteousness. Righteousness. Which leads to holiness and leads to life. It leads to things that doesn't bring any shame. That doesn't bring death, but brings life.

And that is something to thank God for. We don't think of slavery as something normally that we want to say thank you for. But slavery to righteousness? Paul says that is something to thank God for.

If he puts his chains of slavery, of righteousness around you, that is something to thank God for. Look at what he says in verse 17. But thanks be to God that you, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the teaching to which you were entrusted.

This is sort of a different way of saying what he says in verse 18. He's saying, are you a slave of righteousness? Thank God. It's God's doing. Verse 18 is all in the passive.

It's all the theological passive is what it's called. And it's saying that God did this. God set you free. God enslaved you. It's his doing. And so he says, thank God. He rescued you from sin's power.

And he did something better than leave you neutral. This is what's missing in some some aspect or some branches of Christianity.

They think that when God saves a person, he sort of puts two things and you have to choose now. And so you're sort of put in this neutral position.

But that's not what the Bible teaches. And that's not what Paul is teaching. God didn't leave you neutral. He didn't leave you to just decide which one you wanted to do.

He entrusted you to the gospel. He entrusted you to righteousness. He entrusted you to the teaching in all of its aspects.

Now, this word entrusted, it means to be put in the power of. To be put in the power of. So you drop your kids off at the babysitter or the daycare or grandma's house.

You entrust your children to them. Now, that means that more than you just put them in their in your in their care. It means that now they are in charge there.

The the the babysitter is now responsible. They're under their watch. They're under their power. And so the same the same word is used in in Matthew when John the Baptist was put into prison.

It says he was entrusted, so to speak, to the prison. So John used to be free. He used to be able to do whatever he wanted. He did. He could do what you know, he had a life to live.

But he was a power came over him. The power of Rome. And he was entrusted into the prison. He was put under the power and under the control of the prison.

And so now John can't do everything that he wants. He's controlled. Jesus uses the same word in one of his parables when where he says that in a king handed over his goods to some of his servants.

He entrusted his goods to some of his servants. And then he went away. And so now it was the servant's job to decide what. OK, what am I going to do with these goods? How am I going to use them?

How am I going to take care of them? How am I going to show that I'm serving my master? What am I going to do with them? See, God. The very same word was used. Again and again, it's the word that.

Where Judas betrayed Jesus. That word that we it's translated betrayed, it means he entrusted them. He he handed Jesus over.

And so Jesus was once free. But now the Romans came and they arrested him and they brought him. And so now they're bringing him from one court to another court to the cross.

He's put under their power. And what Paul is saying is you have been entrusted. You've been put under the power and under the control of righteousness.

You've been enslaved to righteousness. And maybe you say, but I don't feel like a slave of righteousness. If I'm a slave, why do I sin?

That's a good question. See, and I think that's actually going to be the very fundamental thing where you're you're going to have to believe what Paul says, because the thing that we always do is like, well, if I was a slave, then I wouldn't sin, but I sin.

So obviously, I'm not a slave to righteousness. I'm still a slave to sin. And Paul says, no, if you've been brought to Jesus Christ, you are a slave to righteousness. You are no longer a slave to sin.

And so you are to count it so. But what do we do with that objection? I don't feel like a slave. Why do I keep on sinning? And my answer to that is that's not really the right question.

The right question is, is why do you keep on going back to righteousness? Why do you keep on going back to righteousness? Why can't you get righteousness out of your head?

Why do you say, oh, I need to do better in that? Why for every fall is there repentance and getting back and pressing on? Well, it's because you're a slave.

You're bound to righteousness. You can't escape it. And so God's grace has its chains around you. And you can wander. But what does he do?

He brings you back. You can wander away. You can be blind to certain areas. And what happens is he brings you back. He exposed you and says, this is what you need to be doing.

Or look at it this way. Just sort of the opposite. The mirrored images. When you were a slave to sin, did that mean that you can never do anything ever right?

Do you know what I'm saying? And did you ever want to do better? Well, sometimes you said, well, I've got to start doing better.

I've got to start obeying my parents. I need to start loving my husband or my wife. I need to start taking God seriously. And so you would say that. And then you would start.

And then what would happen? Well, you're a slave to sin. And so your good start would get yanked back. And you would be back in sin. Sin had its chain around you.

Sin yanked you back. And maybe you wanted to do better. But you could never do it for very long. And you could never do it in the way that it should be done. It could never be done in the way that you kind of wish you could do it. Why?

Because you were chained. You were under the control of sin. And so you kept going right back to sin. And you could never break away from it. You could never leave it behind.

So you might be able to walk around in the prison. You might be able to walk around in the prison of sin. But you can't walk away from it. You can't escape it.

You can't jump the walls and go live a new life without sin. No, you are in the prison. And it's just like that now. Except it's not sin. It's righteousness. And righteousness is your master.

And so for every fall, you get up. Righteousness is bringing you along. And you can't get away from it. And that's the good news.

That's the good news. That should be a motivation for you to pursue righteousness. Because this is something that God has bound you to. And it's a wonderful chain that's been thrown around you.

See, at one end is God himself. It's eternal life. It is heaven. And God is pulling you toward him with his strong arms. And he's pulling you toward eternal life.

And that should be encouraging. That should motivate you to pursue holiness. Because it's not only God. The end is righteousness. The end is holiness.

The end is eternal life. And so as you give yourself to these things more and more, just like when you used to give yourself to sin, the end was death. Now you give yourself and the end is eternal life.

And that should be encouraging. That should motivate you to press on. Because God doesn't just put you in neutral. He's made you a slave to righteousness. You're under its power. He's made it inevitable.

And so does that mean you just let go and let God? No. Does that mean you don't care about obedience and righteousness? No. Not at all. That's the totally twist what Paul is teaching.

That's the whole point of all this. That's how he begins. What then shall we sin? Because we're not under law but under grace? By no means. God forbid.

The idea is that's unthinkable. That is crazy to talk like that. Because do you like shame and death? Is that what you want more of in your life?

Paul is saying. You say no. Well then you have to obey. So don't go back to serving sin.

Instead press on even further. Give yourself even more to righteousness. Give yourself more to righteousness. Don't say. Well God will take care of it.

That's not what Paul thinks about it. That's not how Paul argues. That's the devil's arguments. So what should we do? This is our second point. We saw the good news.

Because you've been freed from sin. Sin is no longer your master. You've been enslaved to righteousness. So what should we do? Well give yourself more and more to righteousness.

Give yourself more and more. To obedience. To holiness. To godliness. To righteousness. And that's how Paul applies it. Look at verse 19. So just as you used to offer the parts of your body.

To slavery. To impurity. And ever increasing wickedness. So now offer them. And slavery to righteousness. Leading to holiness. Paul says.

Just think about the old way that you used to live. And do the opposite. Just think about. What it was like to be a slave to sin. And what you wanted.

And what you did. And how you lived. And just do the opposite. Do exactly what you did then. Except the opposite. So now. Instead of offering the parts of your body. To slavery. To sin.

You offer the parts of your body. And slavery. To righteousness. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to picture. An English. A big. Fancy.

English. Manor. A large estate. I keep on thinking of Downton Abbey. I haven't seen it. Maybe it's all your favorites. I don't know. But I know that there's.

It's all the goings on. And the doings of this estate. And the staff. I've seen there's some butlers. And things like that. And so that's the picture that I want you to think of.

A large estate. With a large staff. And there's. There's a. A lord. There's a master. On that estate. And there's servants.

Now the master of this estate. Is righteousness. Righteousness. It's God. That's the master of the estate. And righteousness. It's what pleases the Lord.

It's what the Lord desires from you. And when you serve him. You serve God. And so this. Romans 6. Talks about slavery to righteousness. And it also talks about slavery to God.

They're one in Paul's mind. So there's the estate. There's the master. There. Now on a large estate. There were housekeepers.

Housekeepers were. Women who were in charge of. The house. Obviously. And they had servants under them. The servants were responsible to the housekeeper.

Now on really big estates. There were house stewards. And a house steward. Was in charge of. The housekeepers. And the head gardener. And the guys out in the stables.

He's in charge of the whole show. He had his own office. And everything. Now the house steward. That's you. Or if you're a lady. And you want to be the housekeeper.

You can be the housekeeper. I don't know. And so you have your servants under you. Okay. You have your servants under you. And we'll meet them. There's Mr. Hand.

And Mr. Eye. And Mr. Tongue. And Miss Ear. And Miss Heart. And Mr. Mind. And they all work on the estate.

They have different things that they do on the estate. And what Paul says is now. Offer. Or present. The parts of your body.

To righteousness. To serve. Serve him. And so. There you are. You're the housekeeper. Or you're the. The steward. And you.

You go into a room. And there's the master. There's righteousness. There's what pleases the Lord. And. You say. Okay. Today. Let's see who's here.

It's Mr. Hand. And Mr. Tongue. And Miss Eye. And Miss Ear. And Miss Heart. And Mr. Mind. And all the rest. What do you want them to do today? You're in charge.

They're your servants. What do you want them to do today? I present them to you. For your service. What should I do with them? You offer them.

You present them. And. And Paul says. Do it more and more. When you were a slave to sin. You were never satisfied. With the amount of sin. That you had in your life.

You always wanted bigger sin. Badder sin. Ever increasing wickedness. And. Sin is. Never satisfied. And. So just think about. The creativity.

And the zeal. And the persistence. That you serve sin. You used to do it. With all your heart. Whatever you wanted. Whatever you could get away with. That's what you did. So sin is this runaway train.

Faster. And faster. Wilder. And wilder. And now Paul says. Serve. Righteousness. In the same way. With the same sort of. Persistence. The same sort of zeal. I want more.

I want to do more. I want to offer more. And so. We can't stop where we are. That's what Paul is saying. Have you been in the Christian life.

Ten years. You have more to give. You have more to offer. You can do a better job. Of serving the master. Have you been in the. The Christian. Walking the Christian life. For 50 years.

More and more. Keep offering. And so. Look over your life. Do you have a servant. On your estate. Not serving righteousness.

Is there a servant. On the estate. That is not serving righteousness. A Mr. I. And this ear. Mr.

Hand. And all the rest. Not serving righteousness. Do you have a servant. Who is leaving the estate. And going and working. For someone else.

Now. If you are the house steward. If you are the housekeeper. What do you need to do. You need to get that servant. In line. Don't you. Jesus said.

Maybe it is time to fire him. So Jesus died. For your eyes. Men. Ladies. Jesus died. For your mouths. Jesus died.

To have all the servants. On your estate. Serve him. He gave up his eyes. And his heart. And his mind. And his mouth. He gave it all up. And laid it all down.

And with his blood. He bought. All of us. So if you are the house steward. And you have a servant. That is going and working. For someone else.

You have a servant. Who is. Not serving. Righteousness. It is time to get him in line. Is what Paul says. And then the other thing. Is quit listening.

To your old master. Quit listening. To your old master. Sin is not your master anymore. You don't have to stay. You don't have to stay there.

You don't have to give. Two weeks notice. You don't have to. Slowly. The only thing. To do. Is to go cold turkey. So quit listening.

To the old master. This is the illustration. I think Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones used. I think I heard it. From him. Or I heard that he used it. I don't even know. But. It's like this. There.

There are two fields. Right next to each other. One field is owned by. The master. Sin. And the other field is owned. By the master. Righteousness.

There they are. They have. Two fields. Right next to each other. And when you grew up. You grew up on the plantation. Called. Where sin was the master. You were born there.

And you were used to doing. What he said. And you were sin's slave. And you worked in his field. And. And for years. He told you to do something. And you did it. And you did it gladly. You did it willingly.

And after years and years. Of what he said. You got so accustomed. To listening to him. You lived to please him. You believed his promises. You shook when he. He threatened you. But one day.

The neighbor came over. He came over. To your field. He saw you enslaved. And. The neighbor. Bought you. And he didn't buy you.

With silver or gold. He bought you. With his own precious blood. And he laid down. His life for you. And then he took you. To live with him. But he has something. For you to do. He has a field.

For you to work in. And so he sends you. Out into his field. And remember. The two fields. Are right next to each other. And every. Now and then. Or more often than.

We would like to think. We're out in the field. And we hear our old master. Yelling. We hear our old master. Screaming. We hear our old master.

Threatening. And. And promising us. Things. Like he still. Like we still. Belong to him. And sometimes. His voice is so powerful.

And his screams. Are so insistent. And his promises. Are so inviting. That before you know it. What have we done? We've jumped the fence. And now we're not working. In the field of righteousness. We're working in the field of sin.

So what do we do about that? Well how do we stop? Well we first realize. That you know what. He doesn't have the right. To tell me what to do anymore. I don't have to sin.

And we don't listen to him. You don't have to listen to him. Because God has set you free from sin. So count on it. Believe it. It's true. You don't have to jump the fence.

And he can yell. And threaten. And promise. And scream. And he can go on. And on. And on. And on. As long as he likes. But you don't have to do what he says.

Because you're not a servant anymore. So you're like those. Those black people. That were in that house. Doing all that work. And David Ruggles comes in. And says.

You don't have to be here. So you leave. So you don't have to listen. But what else do we do about it? You stay busy doing your master's will.

I don't think it's for nothing. That saying about. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. If you're busy doing. What the Lord wants you to do. The voice of sin.

While we still might hear it. It will lose its power. It becomes harder to hear your old master's voice. If you're busy doing your new master's will. And so Paul says.

Keep offering yourselves to God. And so when you've done one thing. Go back and say. What do you want me to do now? What do you want me to do now?

Lord here are my hands. What do you want me to do with them? Lord here are my eyes. What do you want me to do with them? Here's my mouth. Here's my mind. Here's my voice. Here's my heart. Here's my time.

Here's my money Lord. These are all servants on the estate. What do you want me to do with them? And then after you've done that. What do you want me to do with them? Be persistent about it.

And grow in it. And this is the wonderful news. That at the end. What we are going to reap. For all that service. Is holiness. And eternal life. Eternal life.

When payday comes. The wages of sin is death. But he doesn't say the wages of. Righteousness. He says. But the gift of God.

Is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Our Lord. That gift is given at the end. Of this life of giving yourself. To righteousness. So that's what we're looking forward to.

The great reward. Lord. So what should we do. Brothers and sisters. Well. You keep offering yourselves. To righteousness. So what have we seen.

We've seen. God has done more than forgive you. Of your sin. He's broken you. Of the power of that sin. You can think of that sin. That you're struggling with. And apply this truth to it.

He saved us from death. And he saved us from shame. And he set us free from sin. But he's done more than that. He's enslaved us to righteousness. So maybe the thing to do. Is to think about that sin. That you're struggling with.

And then now realize. And count on the fact. That you are actually enslaved. To the opposite virtue. I'm not enslaved to my anger. I am enslaved to patience. Because of what Jesus has done.

And so you count on it. And so what should you do. Brothers and sisters. You keep offering yourselves. To righteousness. And praise the Lord. At the end. The end is godliness. Holiness. Life.

Eternal. And so God is for you. He is so committed. To your eternal life. And your righteousness. That he's actually enslaved you. To righteousness.

To make sure it's. To make it sure. Well let's pray. Our heavenly father. We thank you. That you have done so much for us. In forgiving us.

Of all of our sin. And justifying us. Giving us the very righteousness. The very obedience. Of Jesus Christ. Christ. And you've done more. You've adopted us.

You've brought us into your family. You've. And you've set us free from sin. You've enslaved us. To righteousness. You've put our feet.

On a path. That leads to eternal life. And it's all because of your grace. It's all a gift from you. We didn't. Start this. And we didn't earn it.

It was all. Your grace. So we praise you. For what you've done. We thank you. For the way. That. You meet us. In the middle of our struggle.

With sin. And our struggle. With temptation. And you give us real help. So that we might experience. Freedom. And holiness.

And righteousness. Pray for those who are lost. I pray for a light. To break in. In their hearts. And in their minds. Make the shadows flee.

And make salvation come. For your honor. And your praise. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.