Romans by the Book (Lesson 41)

Home Bible Study- Lutz, Florida

Established November 2008

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

(2 Timothy 2:15)

This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4

Romans by the Book                                    41 

Welcome to Home Bible study. 

I encourage you to open your Bible and follow along with us as we study God’s Word.

I trust you’ll compare what you find here with Scripture for this is my objective. 

You see I am merely your guide through this book, God the Spirit is your teacher.

Permit me to show you (using this book) exactly what I mean.

Prior to Jesus’ arrest He told His disciples, 

John 16

12: “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

13: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth…

God is the source and the giver of all truth and the Holy Spirit is the conduit He has chosen to guide you and me into these truths. 

Many Christians are unaware of this fact but when you accepted (put your faith in) Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this is equal to agreeing with Christ in all things; for He is the Head of the Body and the Church here on earth (Colossians 1:15-19).

Because Christians do not understand how the Holy Spirit teaches and leads (shows us the way) many have been missing these corrections, teachings, and leadings of the Holy Spirit.  God is communicating His will to us, through the Spirit, but the message isn’t getting through because the circuits are down in far too many Christians today. 

The Spirit teaches us and only the Spirit knows the mind of God. 

I Corinthians 2

10: For to us (Believers) God revealed them (God’s wisdom) through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

11: For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?  Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

12: Now we have received (past tense), not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we many know the things freely given to us by God.

13: which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining (or comparing) spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

Right now there are approximately 600 church denominations in America. 

They represent about 600 different ideas about how the Bible should be interpreted. 

But there is only 1 Bible and it is the only source of Spiritual Truth in the world today.

One day you will stand before the Creator God. 

You will come face to face with “What God meant in His Word.” 

It won’t matter if you were taught incorrectly by well-meaning Bible teachers, pastors, priests, etc.  You will face the Lord Jesus Christ and He is absolute truth.  

Jesus said,

John 14

6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Since Scripture teaches us that only the Spirit knows the mind of God, we need to be doing all we can to understand how the Spirit teaches and leads then we need to respond to this knowledge.  In other words, obedience is required for we are servants of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The Scriptures say? 

Proverbs 3

5: Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

Please open your Bible to Romans chapter 6 at verse 15. 

Outline for Romans 6:15-19:  the Gospel makes no provision for living in sin, anymore than the Law did; and those who commit sin (return to sin repeatedly) are slaves to sin.

Romans 6

15: What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?  May it never be!

16:  Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.

17: But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

18: and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

19:  I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.  For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

In verse 15 above the Apostle Paul returns to his opening argument stated at 6:1.

Paul warns the Believers in Rome (and us) not to take sin lightly. 

God’s good grace does not give us the liberty to sin freely! 

Paul repeats himself, “May it never be!”

What does the Word of God say?

Romans 6

16:  Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.

According to Paul, we should be aware of this truth.  When you present yourselves to someone as “slaves” for obedience, you are “slaves of the one whom you obey…

Bob Dylan wrote a song sometime back called, “Gotta Serve Somebody.”

In this song, Mr. Dylan reminds us that no matter who you are, no matter your position in life, you’re going to have to serve somebody. 

Here’s the refrain:

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Make no mistake about this truth you’re already serving somebody.

From a Biblical aspect this means you’re either serving God or Satan

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”  (Matthew 6:24)

I don’t care if you own your own business, your own corporation, or if you are retired.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a dedicated housewife, a homeless person by choice, or a busboy you “gotta serve somebody.”   

Jesus is reminding us that as human beings we are meant to be mastered (Genesis 6:5) and then serve one master only; for this is the very (sin) nature of humanity.

In verse 16, the Apostle Paul has taken us to the to the slave markets of Rome in order to demonstrate this truth:  you are a slave to the one who owns (controls) you; either to righteousness, or to sin.

If you return again and again to drunkenness, drugs, sexual immorality, pornography, envying, jealousy, strife, anger, etc. then these things “have power over” you. 

If you can’t say “No” to these harmful things, then they control you.   
You are a slave to whatever controls you and ultimately a slave to sin.  

Bondage to sin results from serving sin, as verse 16 explains

There was a time, before you became a Believer, when you were a slave to sin.

Sinning was as natural as breathing.  You didn’t even think about it – you did whatever you wanted to do, when you wanted to do it, and with little regard to right or wrong, so long as you couldn’t get caught that is…

Apart from Jesus Christ we all sinned willingly and willfully.

Romans 6

17: But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

18: and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

But God has set every Believer free from sin – to serve Him and righteousness. 

In verse 17, we read that this “obedience” comes from the heart of a saved person to that form of teaching, to which you were committed…

Note:  For those of you who only use one Bible to study God’s Word be advised the old version misses the entire sense of this 17^th verse in its translation.  Allow me to explain.  First I’ll present the old version from the King James Bible.

Romans 6

17: But God be thanked, that ye were servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  (KJV)

The true interpretation of this verse should read: that form of doctrine unto which ye were handed over (or) delivered.  For the verb is in the plural – ye were delivered over!

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were “delivered over” to Moses and the Law.

It was not only that the Law was delivered by Moses to them; they were themselves delivered over to a legal dispensation – to a mold of doctrine, which had the Ten Commandments as the foundation, and then numerous details contained within the Mosaic Law with which they had to abide by.  The Jews knew they were under the Law.  They knew they had been “handed over” to it, to its demands, and to its entire system.

Verse 17 is saying, likewise Believers now are “delivered over” to a form or pattern of teaching and that is the gospel of your salvation or Christ’s work on the cross.   

These “teachings” include: their guilt has been put away on the cross, their connection with Adam died with Christ, their history in Adam has ended before God, they share the risen life of Christ, and are now before God as risen ones (Romans 6:10-11). 

Let’s move on to the next verse.

Romans 6

19:  I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.  For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Paul explains at the beginning of verse 19 why he uses the word “slaves” in this teaching - I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh…

Our “flesh” is weak, therefore, we MUST be slaves to something; either to sin or to God.

Rome was full of slaves.  Many of the Christians to whom Paul was writing were slaves.  In the Roman Empire, freedom was difficult to achieve (Acts 22:28). 

So, Paul speaks/writes in “human terms,” after the manner of men, and he reports that we are without strength and that comes to each of us naturally.  He reminds us that we must be bondservants to someone, either to God or to Satan…“No one can serve two masters;   

This theme of being a bondservant to someone runs throughout Scripture Paul didn’t create it.  Please turn in your Bible to the Old Testament book of Leviticus, chapter 25.

Leviticus 25

55: ‘For the sons of Israel are My (what) servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt.  I am the LORD your God.

The sons of Israel suffered in cruel bondage for 400 years (Genesis 15:13) in the land of Egypt and were made to serve under harsh masters.  But now, being “delivered over” from there, were now obligated to serve the LORD their God readily, and cheerfully.

Likewise, we who have been bought and redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 7:23) have been “delivered over” to that form of teaching which is the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) which we are now “servants” to and obey from the heart. 

This is the message of verse 19.  Out with the old and in with the new!  …so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

I want you to focus on the word “sanctification” in the latter part of verse 19.

Sanctification is the process of change that takes place in a Believer’s life after they are saved.  God’s number one plan for you is that you become like His Son (Romans 8:29).

The Apostle Paul likened this lifelong activity to that of a race.

I Corinthians 9

24: Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win.

No one wins a race by remaining behind at the starting line.

The act of "running" is a motion forward, a following on to know the Lord in an intimate way, a going from strength to strength, from one degree of grace to another.

It’s a pressing forward toward the mark for the prize; and requires spiritual strength from Christ, and a daily renewal of it.

It is to be performed with readiness, swiftness, and cheerfulness, in opposition to a slowness of heart to believe, and a sluggishness and apathy in the service of Christ.

Paul says; present your members (body parts) as slaves to righteousness…

Here’s how you get started.

True sanctification begins with renewing your mind.  You must know the truth, plain and simple.  There’s no premium on ignorance in sanctification.  You’re not going to get there through some emotional or mystical experience.  Spiritual growth won’t happen by osmosis—it requires the discipline of constantly putting God’s truth in your mind.

Don’t confuse childlike faith with childish thinking.  There are no shortcuts in sanctification—a lack of biblical knowledge will always retard your spiritual growth.

Apart from the truth of Scripture, there simply is no mechanism to restrain your sinful flesh. Legalism can’t do it.  Common sense can’t either.  The only certain method for true spiritual growth starts with absorbing God’s eternal truth.

(To be continued)

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GJ Heitzman’s Ministry

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