Session 7: A Slave of Righteousness By Bryan Kessler Continuing what we learned from Session 6, Paul revealed that sanctification is the result of our crucifixion and resurrection with Christ. He taught that we are delivered from slavery to sin because we were crucified with Christ and that we are enslaved to righteousness because we received new life through our resurrection with Christ. As we saw in the last session, Paul revealed that deliverance from sin and enslavement to righteousness occurs by the following three changes: 1. A change of linage by death; 2. A change of heredity by resurrection; 3. A change of behavior by the obedience of faith. We already looked at our change of linage by death and saw that deliverance from the old creation in Adam comes only by death, that we were included in Christ's crucifixion, death, and burial, and that the experiences of Christ are now our experiences because we are in Him. We also looked at our change of heredity by resurrection and saw that the imputation of Christ's death positioned us for the impartation of Christ's resurrection, that the resurrection of Christ was imparted to us and His life was engrafted in us, that our spirit was resurrected, and that our body of sin was made powerless by the resurrection of our spirit. Now it is time to look at how our behavior changes by the obedience of faith. To begin, let's look at one of Paul's ultimate goals in ministry. He said, "We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake" (Rom. 1:5). Here we see that Paul received grace to be an apostle to produce "the obedience of faith" in the Gentiles. The obedience of faith implies that faith must precede obedience and that obedience must proceed from faith. Obedience before faith is equivalent to the works of the Law as we try to obey our way into favor and acceptance with God. On the other hand, faith without obedience is what James described as the faith of devils. James said, "Even so faith, if it has no works [obedience], is dead, being by itself....You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder" (James 2:17-19). When we claim that we have faith in Jesus Christ and in the finished work of the cross but never obey the Word of God, never deny ourselves, and never take up our cross in obedience to the voice of Jesus, our so-called faith is nothing more than the faith of demons, for faith without obedience is dead. In summary, we have three types of faith and only one is acceptable to God. First, we have faith in our obedience, believing that our self-righteous attempts to impress God will somehow gain His approval. Paul called this type of faith "the works of the Law." Second, we claim to have faith in Jesus Christ and in the finished work of the cross but we have no corresponding obedience. James called this type of faith the faith of devils. Third, and the only type of faith that pleases God, is faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work that produces obedience, which Paul called the obedience of faith. The obedience of faith was one of the primary goals of Paul's ministry and was one of the reasons why he wrote the book of Romans. In fact, as Paul taught about how the finished work of the cross produces justification, sanctification, and glorification, his ultimate aim

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was that faith would awaken and radical obedience would result. So as you read through the book of Romans, keep in mind Paul's ultimate aim to produce the obedience of faith in you.

A Change of Behavior By the Obedience of Faith What the constitution is to the United States of America, Romans 6 is to the gospel. Without Romans 6 there is no new birth, no resurrection of our spirit, no future resurrection of our body, and no eternal life. Yet most Christians cannot explain what it means to have died with Christ, to be included in His death, and to be united to His resurrection. That is why we need to sink our roots deep into this chapter and understand these vital concepts, even if it might be a little complicated. The obedience of faith that Paul wants to produce in us does not come from a ten-step list or an instructional video. It is much deeper than that. The obedience of faith that will be sustained steadily over decades and prepare us for eternity requires that we press into the truths of Romans 6 with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It demands thoughtful meditation, prayerful consideration, and the surrender of all that we are. Yet once we truly understand what Paul was teaching in Romans 6, in this Magna Carta of Christianity, it will change our lives. With this in mind, let's look at the following four truths that produce the obedience of faith: 1. Knowing by revelation that we have died and have been resurrected with Christ awakens faith; 2. Reckoning by meditation that we are dead to sin and alive to God strengthens faith; 3. Presenting our bodies to God consecrates us to become faith-filled slaves of obedience; 4. Walking in faith from our resurrected spirit and circumcised heart, empowered by the indwelling Spirit, produces radical obedience.

Knowing By Revelation 1. A revelation of your death and resurrection in Christ awakens faith. Paul said to the Roman Christians, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" (Rom. 6:3). When the Apostle Paul says to you, "Do you not know" and you don't know, it is not a good thing! Please consider Paul's statement an apostolic rebuke if you don't know all that is involved in your death in Christ when He died. In other words, if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ and you don't know the basic, foundational truth that you were included in the death of Christ when He died, then you seriously need a revelation of your death in Christ. Paul was not talking here about knowing facts in our head; he was alluding to knowing truth by revelation in our hearts. He was talking about having eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand. Revelation is more than knowing a doctrine, quoting some Scripture verses, or teaching a Sunday School lesson. Revelation is not a vague, indefinite religious concept. Revelation is having the eyes of our hearts opened by the Spirit of God so that we have intuitive and intimate knowledge of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection (Eph. 1:17-18).

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If the obedience of faith is to be produced within us, we first need our own personal revelation that we have died to sin and are alive to God in Christ Jesus. And the path to personal revelation is studying, meditating, reflecting upon, and confessing the Word until it becomes alive within us. As we study about our legal position in Christ (Romans 6), light shines in our hearts and then we know that we know that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. It is not a hoping that we are dead to sin and alive to God or a wishing that we were dead to sin and alive to God—it is a deep, transformational, intuitive knowing in our spirit that we are dead to sin and alive to God, which transcends our intellect, burns like fire in our hearts, and awakens faith. Hear Paul once again: "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him" (Rom. 6:6). Deliverance from sin results from a very definite knowing that our old self has been crucified with Christ. The type of knowing goes far beyond understanding a theological truth or having intellectual knowledge. This type of knowing is birthed by revelation, when the eyes of our hearts are opened and we see that we were crucified, that we died, that we were buried, and that we were resurrected in Christ, our covenant representative. This type of knowing is like a light which shines into our hearts and awakens faith from the dead, creating unshakable belief where doubt and uncertainty once reigned. 2. What is true of your forgiveness is also true of your deliverance. Think about how you received forgiveness. Was it not by hearing a preacher or friend telling you that Jesus died for your sins? Or perhaps you read it for yourself in the Bible. Either way, your faith was awakened when you heard the good news that Jesus died as your substitute and bore your sins upon the cross. When you realized the reality of the finished work of the cross and that Jesus already paid the price for your forgiveness, you then received His gift of grace. You did nothing to gain forgiveness, imputed righteousness, or justification. You simply believed Jesus' finished work was more than enough and then you received His forgiveness by faith. You believed it simply because the Bible said it was true. It didn't matter if you could explain how a holy God could justify a sinner like you without violating His justice. You heard the good news, a revelation was given to you that Jesus died for your sins, faith was awakened in your heart, you believed that Jesus' blood forgave all of your sins, and then you received His gift of righteousness. What is true of your forgiveness is also true of your deliverance. When you realize the good news that Jesus died, not only as your substitute, but also as your representative and that He not only bore your sins upon the cross, He also bore you on the cross, then your faith is awakened to the fact that you died when He died. Just as we have a revelation that our sins were dealt with by the blood, we need a revelation that we were dealt with by the cross. Just as we know that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, we also need to know that we died in Him when He died. It is an accomplished fact. The work is finished. We need a very definite and intuitive knowing, a Spirit-given revelation, that when Jesus died, we died in Him. When He was crucified, we were crucified with Him. When Jesus said, "It is finished," our old self was finished in Him. The work is done. We will never again be uncrucified. To receive forgiveness, you realized what He had done. To receive deliverance, you also realize what He has done. Christ died for us, as Romans 5:8 makes clear, but we also died with Christ when He died (Rom. 6:6,8). Christ's crucifixion and my crucifixion are one historical event. Sanctification works the same way as justification. Both deliverance from sin and forgiveness of sins come by faith alone.

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3. Our co-crucifixion with Christ is a divine fact and a settled issue. A revelation of the finished work of the cross and my inclusion in the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ changes everything. When God says that we died in Christ, then we died in Christ. It does not depend upon our feelings or our mental capacity to comprehend. If God says that we died when Christ died then we died when Christ died. This is a divine fact and a settled issue in the Supreme Court of heaven. Consider this example for a moment. Let's say you have a sixteen year-old son. They are listed as a dependent on your car insurance. They are at fault in a wreck which totals their car and the car they hit. What will the insurance company do? Because of your relationship to your son, they will impute the fault of your son to your account, so that you will be reckoned to be at fault, even though you weren't. Nevertheless, because you are reckoned to be at fault, your insurance premium will increase. Even if you protest and don't believe that you should be held liable for someone else's mistake, you are still reckoned to be at fault because that is the policy of the insurance company. It doesn't matter if you fully comprehend why your son's mistake was imputed to your account or if you feel like this is unfair. Your premium is going to increase and there is nothing that you can do to stop it because it is the established policy of the company. Here's another example. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion. No matter how strongly we might dislike abortion, it is an established law. Everyone in government, from the president down to the police, recognize that abortion is law. If we try to stop a teenage girl from getting an abortion, even if we believe it is wrong, we can be arrested for obstruction of justice because, from the viewpoint of the Supreme Court, abortion is the law of the land. In a similar way, because God considers us to have died in Christ when He died, God treats us legally as if we are dead to sin, regardless of whether we feel it or comprehend it. From the viewpoint of the Supreme Court of heaven, God has put all who are born of the Spirit and circumcised in heart into Christ and He treats them legally as if they died when Jesus, their New Covenant representative, died. Like the abortion protester who believes deeply that abortion is wrong and should not be legal, but is nevertheless arrested for obstruction of justice for attempting to hinder a teenage girl from aborting her baby, God deals with us on the legal basis that we died with Christ when He died, even if we don't believe it, feel it, or understand it. Like the father who cannot comprehend why his son's driving mistake is imputed to his account, but nonetheless still sees his premium increase, from a legal perspective, God's dealings with us are related to the fact that we were crucified with Christ, even if we can't comprehend it. Therefore, since God relates to us on the legal basis that we died with Christ when He died, we need a revelation that we have been crucified with Christ. 4. Much of what we are praying for already belongs to us in Christ. Imagine that your dream car is a brand new black Mercedes. Your spouse decides to surprise you for your birthday and buys the car for you. To enhance the element of surprise, your spouse blindfolds you and then escorts you into the driver's seat of the Mercedes. Sitting down, you all of sudden have this overwhelming desire to have a Mercedes and you begin to pray, "Lord God, I cry out to You, please give me a brand new black Mercedes for my birthday." Your spouse has a good laugh, takes off your blindfold, and then you realize that you were sitting in your black Mercedes all along. This is what many of us are doing. We are asking God for a brand new black Mercedes when we have been sitting in the driver's seat of it all along. We don't need a new car; we already

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have it. We are in it. What we need is for the blindfold to come off and for our eyes to be opened to see that we are already in the car we have been praying for. Likewise, much of what we think we need already belongs to us in Christ. Rather than asking God to crucify you, ask Him instead for a revelation of your crucifixion with Christ. Rather than asking for a resurrection, ask Him instead for a revelation that your spirit has already been resurrected. Some of our prayers need to shift from asking God to do something on our behalf to asking Him to reveal what He has already done on our behalf in Christ.

Reckoning By Meditation 1. Knowing leads to reckoning that we are dead to sin and alive to God. Paul said, "Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (NKJV). Once we know by revelation that we have been crucified with Christ, the natural progression is to then reckon that we are dead to sin and alive to God. To see this connection between knowing and reckoning more clearly, read verse 6 together with verse 11: "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified....Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:6-11, NKJV). For the obedience of faith to be produced within us, knowing must lead to reckoning. When we have a revelation that our old self has been crucified with Christ, the next step is to reckon it so. Recall from Session 6 that the Greek word for "reckon" is logizomai, which means to reckon or to impute. As mentioned in Session 6, Paul was emphasizing the second part of imputation in this verse—the reckoning that some event or object was credited to our account. Using the example already mentioned of the father with the sixteen-year old son, the insurance company first credited the father's account with his son's driving mistake and then the insurance company reckoned that the father wrecked two cars beyond repair, which increased his premium. Likewise, because the crucifixion, death, and burial of Christ were credited to our account, we are to reckon ourselves "to be dead indeed to sin." 2. Reckoning is deep and thoughtful meditation. According to Vine's Expository Dictionary, logizomai signifies "to reckon," whether by 1 calculation or imputation. Let's focus for a moment on reckoning by calculation and think about an accountant. For anyone who has ever been responsible for managing the books of a business, they know that having a certified accountant is a necessity. Accounting can be a very complicated and tedious process. Everything has to be precise, balanced, and error free. Accountants use their minds extensively to calculate complicated equations, balance the books, and determine liabilities. Accounting is a mind-intensive profession. Just as an accountant uses his mind continuously to calculate taxes, debt, and the balance sheet of a business, we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God by deep and thoughtful meditation. Reckoning involves aligning our thoughts with the established fact that we died when Christ died and that our spirit has been resurrected. Even though we died when Christ died and our spirit has been resurrected, we need to reflect upon these two facts.

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So often we seem to have spiritual amnesia and forget what God has done. We grope about depressed and downcast because we have forgotten who we are and what Jesus accomplished on the cross. That is why we need to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God day-by-day by meditation. In your prayer life, begin thanking the Lord that you have died to sin, that you died with Christ, and that your spirit has been resurrected. Write down these thoughts in a journal. Confess them with your mouth. Ponder these truths. Think deeply upon the reality that you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Our mind is the battlefield, and even though we have died and been resurrected with Christ, our thoughts lie to us and say, "Nothing really happened. That is just some meaningless, impractical, religious creed. You are still the same person that you have always been." At this point, we have to realize that our born-again, resurrected spirit is stronger and more powerful than our wayward and fickle thoughts. That is why we need to align our thinking with the reality in our spirit and meditate, contemplate, and reflect deeply on the truth that we have died to sin and we are now alive because our spirit has been resurrected. The crucifixion of Christ was imputed to us and we are therefore considered to have died with Christ and died to sin. But we have to reckon this true for ourselves by meditation. 3. Reckoning is not pretence but remembrance and reflection. Reckoning that we are dead to sin and alive to God is not some type of make-believe incantation. Reckoning is not a brainwashing technique by which we try to convince ourselves of something that is not real. Reckoning is not putting $1,000 in the ledger when we know that we only have $500 in the bank. No matter how much we reckon, we cannot turn the $500 in the bank into the $1,000 that we wrote in the ledger. Even if we reckon to ourselves, "I have $1,000. I have $1,000. I have $1,000," our bank account will not change in the slightest way. Reckoning does not magically turn $500 into $1,000, nor does it make what is untrue true. Reckoning is not pretending that our old nature has died, hoping that we can somehow stop sinning. Nor is reckoning acting as if we have been resurrected when our spirit is still dead. Reckoning is faith in action, aligning our thoughts, confessions, and actions with the truth of what God's Word has clearly revealed. Paul told us to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God—not so that we might magically die and be resurrected—but because we have in fact died when Christ died and we have been resurrected the moment we were born again. God never tells us to reckon what is not an established fact. We reckon because we really are dead to sin and really are alive to God. Reckoning is not a call to pretence but to remembrance and reflection. To overcome our spiritual amnesia, we have to remind ourselves continually that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We can never forget who the Bible says that we are. To illustrate, consider what John Stott, in his book, The Message of Romans, describes about the advice that King George V gave to his son: On 28 May 1972 the Duke of Windsor, the uncrowned King Edward VIII, died in Paris. The same evening a television program rehearsed the main events of his life. Extracts from earlier films were shown, in which he answered questions about his upbringing, brief reign, and abdication. Recalling his boyhood as Prince of Wales, he said: 'My father [King George V] was a strict disciplinarian. Sometimes when I had done something wrong, he would admonish me saying, "My dear boy, you must always remember who you are."'2

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Like the Duke of Windsor, reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God is an act of remembering who we truly are. We are no longer who we used to be before new birth. No matter how we feel or think at any given moment, because God says that we are dead to sin, we are dead to sin and because God says that we are alive, we are alive. Reckoning is aligning our thoughts with the truth of who God says that we are. 4. Meditating on our position in Christ changes our living condition. Meditation is the secret to the sanctified life, for the mind determines whether we will live a holy life or continue in sin. Meditation on our position in Christ changes the way we live. When we reflect upon who God says we are—that were crucified with Christ, that we died when He died, that we were buried with Him, that our spirit has been resurrected, and that our body of sin was made powerless by the resurrection of our spirit—faith is awakened and strengthened. Then we naturally begin to live according to who we are. As we recall, ponder, grasp, and register these truths in our mind, our actual living condition is transformed. On a daily basis in prayer, whether we are in the car, shower, walking the dog, or locked away in the secret place with the Lord, we should remind ourselves who we are. We were united to Christ in His death and resurrection. We have died to sin. Old our self was crucified with Christ. Our spirit is alive. The indestructible life of Christ has been engrafted into us. Meditate upon these truths and confess them on a regular basis. Please don't quit reckoning yourself dead to sin and alive to God after two days. Make it a regular part of your prayer life. Establish a habit of meditating upon these truths daily. Confess it repeatedly until your mind aligns with the reality in your spirit. Over time, if you persistent in reflecting upon and confessing the truth that you are dead to sin and alive to God, Satan's lies and your unbelief will dissolve and your actual living condition will align with your legal position in Christ. 5. Reckoning is faith in the finished work of the cross. Whereas faith usually looks forward and is assured that God's promises will be realized in the future, reckoning is a form of faith which looks backward and has confidence in established facts. Whereas faith usually looks forward and believes what is yet to be, reckoning is a form of faith which looks backward and believes what has already been done. Whereas faith usually looks forward and says, "God can" or "God will", reckoning is a form of faith which says, "God has already done it." The Darby translation of Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is [the] substantiating of things hoped for, [the] conviction of things not seen." Notice that faith substantiates. In relation to a future promise, faith substantiates the promise by waiting patiently until it comes to pass and is made real in our experience. In relation to an established fact, faith substantiates it so that what is true in Christ becomes true in me. Faith makes the real things real in my experience. This is what Paul meant by reckoning. To reckon that we are dead to sin and alive to God, therefore, means to actualize the finished work of the cross by faith into our personal lives. In our reckoning that we are dead to sin and alive to God, we have to remember that we are not dealing with promises but with facts. Promises are usually conditional upon our faith and obedience whereas facts are true whether or not we believe them. If we are having a bad day, lose our temper, and don't feel as if we are dead to sin and alive to God, we still are. If we slip up, look at a woman to lust, and then claim that we really aren't dead to sin

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and alive to God, we still are. God's established facts are true whether or not we feel them, comprehend them, or believe them. Faith does not make the finished work of the cross real, for it has been real for over twothousand years. Faith makes the finished work of the cross real in our lives. Faith actualizes what Jesus did on the cross into our personal experience. Faith makes who we are in Christ who we are in experience. Even though God's established facts are true they have no value to us if we don't substantiate them by faith.

Presenting Ourselves to God By Consecration 1. Knowing and reckoning leads to presenting our bodies to God as slaves of obedience. Knowing by revelation and reckoning by meditation leads to presenting ourselves to God by consecration. The divine order for obedience, therefore, is knowing, reckoning, and then presenting. To see this connection between knowing, reckoning, and presenting more clearly, read Romans 6:6 together with 6:11 and 6:13: Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him]....Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord....Present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness to God (NKJV). After knowing that we have died and been resurrected with Christ and having reckoned ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, the next step in our journey of obedience is to present our bodies to God as slaves of obedience (Rom. 6:16). 2. Presenting is an act of consecration that produces sanctification. Presenting all that we are and all that we have to God is an act of consecration. For those familiar with the Old Testament, you know that consecration is setting apart someone or something to God for sacred use. For example, in the Old Testament, because God is holy, the priests were required to be consecrated before they could minister to Him. The priests were consecrated and set apart by the garments they wore, by animal sacrifices, and by having their heads anointed with oil. Other examples of consecration were:   

The firstborn of Israel, both of man and beast, being set apart exclusively to God (Exod. 13:1-2); The tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant, and all of the furniture devoted for the singular purpose of worship (Exod. 30:26-29); The seventh day of the week and every fiftieth year dedicated solely to God (Gen. 2:3; Lev. 25:10).

In the Old Testament, whatever was set apart and dedicated to God for sacred use was considered sanctified and holy. For example, the Lord said, "You shall also consecrate them [the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant, and all the furniture], that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy" (Exod. 30:29). A common tent and everyday pieces of furniture, when set apart for God's exclusive use, service, and purpose, were made holy and then whatever touched them were also made holy. In a similar way, we become holy by being separated unto God. Just as a prophet, priest, animal, or common utensil in the Old Testament was sanctified by consecration, we are

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sanctified by presenting all that we are to God. Paul said, "Present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification" (Rom. 6:19). When we consecrate the members of our body to God, setting apart our eyes, ears, hands, feet, and mouth for His exclusive use, service, and purpose, it results in sanctification or holiness. Holiness to the Old Testament Hebrews carried the meaning of being set apart. Therefore, whatever was consecrated and set apart was considered to be holy to the Lord (Exod. 28:36). Likewise, holiness is the result of giving ourselves wholly to Christ on a daily basis by presenting ourselves to God "as those alive from the dead" and by "presenting the members of [our] body...as instruments of righteousness to God" (Rom. 6:13). Presenting ourselves to God is a daily recognition that we are altogether His and that we are no longer our own. He is our Lord and Master. We are His slave. All of our rights and privileges were surrendered at the foot of the cross, and now, "having been...enslaved to God," we "derive [our] benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life" (Rom. 6:22). As we yield all that we have, all that we are, and all that we hope to be to Jesus day-by-day, surrendering our time, money, dreams, and plans, He truly becomes our Lord and Master and we truly become His slave. And as His consecrated bondservants, devoted to exclusive and radical obedience to Jesus, we become holy. Presenting ourselves to God is an act of consecration that states, "Not my will but Yours be done." Consecration is the daily surrender of our strong, self-assertive, independent will, choosing to take up our cross and obey God's Word and voice no matter the cost. Consecrating our bodies as a living sacrifice to God declares that we want to be and do whatever He desires, for we have yielded all of our rights to Him. We are not our own, but were purchased at a great price and now we have no say in the matter. A consecrated slave does not consult with friends, family, or even one's own desires in making a decision. Our hands, feet, mouth, eyes, ears, mind, and heart now belong exclusively to Christ and the only thing that matters is what He says. This type of consecration produces holiness, for only when we are wholly His are we truly holy. 3. Conversion is an act of self-surrender which makes us permanent bondservants of Christ. Having seen that knowing and reckoning lead to presenting and that presenting is daily act of absolute consecration to God, we have to conclude that true salvation is our first act of consecration, whereby we surrender all to Christ and vow to become His permanent bondservant. Paul questioned, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey" (Rom. 6:16). In the days of the Roman Empire, slaves were usually captured in war or bought in the marketplace. But there was such a thing as a volunteer slave. Those who were in dire poverty could offer themselves as slaves to someone simply to be fed and housed. In a similar way, every born-again Christian enters the kingdom of God by poverty of spirit (Matt. 5:3; John 3:5). We see that our self-righteous works can never make us acceptable to God, and that without Christ, no matter how many treasures we might posses, we are destitute beggars. This type of poverty of spirit, realizing that apart from Christ we have nothing and are nothing, leads to absolute surrender. Only then does Jesus become our Master and we His permanent bondservants. This is the essence of saving faith.

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All who are truly born-again do not belong to themselves any longer. We have no rights to do what we want. Jesus is our Master and we are His slave. Paul made this clear when he said: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Cor. 6:19). He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf (2 Cor. 5:15). We are not our own any longer, for Jesus owns us, we are His exclusive property and permanent possession, and therefore we can no longer live for ourselves. This means if Jesus wants us to be a missionary to another nation, we have no right to say no. If Jesus wants us to be a businessman, we cannot decide to be a pastor. Whatever Jesus wants for us, down to the minute details of our life—who He wants us to marry, how many kids He wants us to have, where He wants us to work, what church He wants us to serve in, and when and where we will go on vacation—we are obligated as His bondservants to obey Him. We have died to our right to make our own decisions and to choose our own way. Conversion is an act of self-surrender that inevitably leads to enslavement to Christ and to radical, exclusive, and total obedience to Him, for no one can be the slave of two masters (Matt. 6:24). Whether the competition is between God and money, God and ourselves, God and a family member, or God and sin, we can only have one lord, master, and king. We are greatly deceived if we live for ourselves Monday through Saturday and attempt to live for Christ on Sunday. Jesus is not Lord at all until He is Lord of all. Having offered ourselves to Christ as His slave, we are permanently and unconditionally at His disposal. Whatever He says goes. There is no going back. Our life is found in complete, immediate, and radical obedience to His Word and voice. Our conversion to Christ is an exchange of slaveries (Rom. 6:12-23), for every person alive is either "slaves of sin" or "slaves of righteousness" (Rom. 6:17-18). Everyone who has been born of the Spirit has been transferred from the lordship of sin to the lordship of Christ, from the dominion of darkness to the dominion of light. Conversion, therefore, liberates us from slavery to sin and enslaves us to God. 4. We consecrate the members of our body because our spirit has been resurrected. Paul said, "Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead" (Rom. 6:13). Notice carefully that we consecrate ourselves because we are "alive from the dead." In other words, we consecrate ourselves wholly to God after we have a deep revelation that our spirit has been resurrected and is now alive in Christ. Before new birth, when our spirit was dead and sin reigned uncontested in our body, consecration was a fruitless endeavor, for we were powerless against the bodily lusts which raged uncontrollably within us. No matter how devoted or dedicated we wanted to be, no matter how often we attempted to consecrate our bodies to God, we had no choice but to sin. We were "slaves of sin," helpless in our war against sin, with no hope of victory (Rom. 6:17). New birth, however, changed everything. Now that we are a new creation in Christ with a new spirit and a new heart, now that our body of sin has been rendered powerless by the awakening of our spirit from the dead, we have a choice of whether to let sin reign in our body. Paul said, "Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts"

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(Rom. 6:11-12, NKJV). Because we are alive from the dead and our spirit has been infused with Christ's indestructible life, we now have a choice of whether or not to sin. If we sin in Christ, it because we made a choice to sin. We let sin win. Before we were born of the Spirit, we were slaves of sin and had no choice but to sin, for our spirit was powerless to overcome the sinful urges, sensations, and temptations that pulsated through our bodies. As slaves of sin, consecration was pointless because we were helpless against the bodily lusts which raged uncontrollably within us. Now that our spirit has been resurrected and infused with Christ's very own life, we have a choice to sin or to walk in holiness. This emancipation from sin demands something vital from us, however, and that is consecration. Consecration is essential because we have two realities within us. First, our spirit is alive, joined to the Holy Spirit, and pulsating with Christ's righteousness, holiness, and indestructible life. Second, because our body is not directly affected by the new birth, we have bodily lusts that will remain with us until we are resurrected at the end of the age. Knowing that there is a war which rages between our spirit and body, consecration is a critical part of walking in holiness. We are to present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead and to present the members of our body as servants to our redeemed spirit. Consecration is a volitional act that puts the members of our body into submission to our resurrected spirit. Presenting ourselves to God, we say to Him, "Here I am. My spirit is alive because of Christ's life and righteousness. My spirit is joined to Christ Spirit-to-spirit. Therefore, I give you my unresurrected, unredeemed body to use for Your purposes. Here are my hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, heart, and mind. Let my body be put into submission to my Christunited spirit." In presenting ourselves to God, we are to consecrate our un-resurrected, unredeemed, oldcreation body to Him. Paul made this clear in two verses, stating: Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Rom. 6:13). Just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification (Rom. 6:19). Consecration is an act of our will that decisively puts the members of our unredeemed body into submission to our resurrected, righteous, and Christ-like spirit for the purpose of radical, exclusive, and total obedience to God's commands. Day-by-day in prayer we should set apart the members of our body, still of the old creation, to be used only for God and His purposes. We consecrate our eyes by setting them apart from looking at anything unholy or defiled. We vow by God's grace and power not to look upon anything that offends Christ or is an affront to the cross, whether television shows, movies, websites, magazines, or anything which stirs up lust. In prayer, we say to God, "By Your grace, please bring my eyes into submission to Your Spirit." We consecrate our ears by setting them apart from hearing anything that accuses or criticizes those for whom Christ died. By God's grace and power, we consecrate our ears

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from listening to gossip, slander, judgment, folly, and course jokes. In prayer, we say to God, "By Your grace, please bring my ears into submission to Your Spirit." We consecrate our mouths by setting them apart from speaking any words of accusation, gossip, slander, judgment, anger, and folly. By God's grace and power, we consecrate our mouths from cursing others, speaking words of doubt and unbelief, grumbling and complaining, and criticizing those in authority. In prayer, we say to God, "By Your grace, please bring my mouth into submission to Your Spirit." We consecrate our arms, hands, and fingers from handling or touching anything that would defile us. We consecrate our legs, feet, and toes from walking into places were darkness looms and sin reigns. We consecrate every part of our unredeemed body to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to control us, subdue us, and to have dominion over our bodies. 5. Consecrating our bodies is an act of worship. When many people think of worship, they imagine a worship band with guitars, drums, keyboards, and singers leading a room full of people into the presence of God. They think of people singing, lifting their hands in adoration, dancing, and enjoying the presence of God. If you live in the western world, you might even think of a dark room with fancy lights directed onto a stage that has been designed with creative skill, smoke machines to enhance the atmosphere, and a high-tech video-projection system. Though all of this can be worship that is pleasing to the Lord, it was not the type of worship Paul had in mind when he said, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship" (Rom. 12:1). Take note of the word "present." This is the same word that Paul used five times in Romans 6 when talking about consecration. This shows us that setting apart the members of our body for God's exclusive use and service and bringing our unredeemed body decisively into submission to our resurrected spirit is an act of worship. Think about it for a minute. Is our worship really acceptable to God if we sing to the Lord with our mouth for thirty minutes and then use the same mouth to gossip, slander, curse, and criticize those for whom Christ died? Does our worship really please God if we lift our hands in adoration on Sunday and then on Monday use the same hands in activities that dishonor God? Is God ministered to by the dancing of our feet when these same feet run swiftly to evil? Can our worship truly glorify God for one hour on Sunday when we use the members of our body to sin the remaining 167 hours of the week? Of course not! Bringing our unredeemed body into complete submission to our regenerated and righteous spirit should be our first act of worship. For until our eyes, ears, mouths, hands, arms, feet, and legs are completely set apart to God and submitted fully to the Holy Spirit, our worship on Sundays is not that much different from a rock concert. We might lift our hands, sing songs, dance, and experience goose bumps, but this type of worship is meaningless to God if our bodies are still being used as instruments of sin. That is why the consecration of our bodies should be our first act of worship.

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6. Consecration is a practical way that we transition from slaves of sin to slaves of righteousness. Whereas conversion is an initial act of consecration, whereby we surrender for the first time all that we have and are to Christ, consecration is also an act of worship and an essential part of sanctification that must be practiced day-by-day. Paul said, "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?" (Rom. 6:16). As we develop the daily habit of presenting ourselves to God and consecrating the members of our unredeemed body to Christ, in a practical way, we are transitioning from slavery to sin to slavery to righteousness. Notice carefully that slavery is determined by obedience. When we obey sin, we are slaves of sin, and when we obey God's commands, we are slaves of righteousness. A slave of sin is characterized by "lawlessness" (Rom. 6:19), which simply means that one disobeys the moral Law of Moses and the commands of the New Testament, detailed in such places as the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of Jesus, the epistles, and the book of Revelation. When we do not consecrate our bodies and put the members of our unredeemed bodies into submission to our resurrected spirit, we will remain slaves of sin, "resulting in further lawlessness" and death (Rom. 6:19, 21). That is why consecration is so vital and is of utmost importance. Consecration is the practical way that we transition from slaves of sin, deep lawlessness, and death to slaves of righteousness, sanctification, and eternal life (Rom. 6:19, 22). Though we are not justified by obedience, we are sanctified by obedience, and without sanctification, there is no eternal life and no one will see the Lord (Rom. 6:22; Heb. 12:14). This means that we are saved apart from obedience (justification) and that without obedience we are not saved (sanctification). Put another way, obedience certifies that our justification is real and demonstrates that we have saving faith (James 2:14-26). If we are not a slave of righteousness, enslaved to God and striving for full obedience to the Word of God, then we are not on the road to sanctification nor the road to eternal life. Whereas a slave of sin is characterized by lawlessness, a slave of righteousness is characterized by radical, exclusive, and total obedience to the moral Law and to the New Testament commandments. Whereas a slave of sin is in bondage to "impurity," "lawlessness," "further lawlessness," and is on the path toward eternal "death," a slave of righteousness is progressively becoming righteous in their mind, will, and emotions, leading to "sanctification," and ultimately to "eternal life" (Rom. 6:19-22). Obedience to God's commands liberates us from slavery to sin. Paul said, "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart... and...became slaves of righteousness." (Rom. 6:17-18). Because our body of sin was made powerless by the resurrection of our spirit and we now have a choice of whether or not to sin, obedience from consecration is the only way to break the chains of slavery to sin. As we obey God's Word, both the moral Law of Moses and the New Testament commands, righteousness is worked out from our spirit into our soul, liberating us from slavery to sin.

The transition from slaves of sin to slaves of righteousness involves knowing by revelation that we have been united to Christ's death and resurrection, reckoning by meditation that we are dead to sin and alive to God, presenting our bodies by consecration so that our un-resurrected body is in submission to the Holy Spirit

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and our born-again spirit, and walking from our new creation (our righteous spirit and new heart) in the power of the indwelling Spirit (we will look at in the next two sessions).

1

Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for logizomai (Strong's 3049), Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. See http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3049&t=NASB, referenced on August 13, 2012. 2 John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), pp 187-188.

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