Romans 6:16
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

In the world there are two classes of people: servants of sin, and servants of righteousness.
Servants of sin will sin unto death, and servants of righteousness have obeyed unto righteousness. This is what we will consider today.

The word servant means slave (what one is bound to). We are either slaves of sin, or slaves of righteousness.

1 John 3:4 tells us what sin is: “sin is the transgression of the law”.

Transgression here means a legal violation, unrighteousness; Law means God’s Word by way of commandment. So sin is not doing God’s law: His revealed will by way of commandment (His Word).

The book of James tells us:

James 2:10
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

God tells us we all have sinned:

Ecclesiastes 7:20
For there is not a just (righteous) man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

We will see that we need “righteousness” – which is PERFECT (sinless) satisfaction to God’s Law and Justice (what God says is right= righteous).

But is anyone righteous?

God tells us: “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).

We will see in this passage that those who try to be righteous (trying to satisfy God’s Law – His will by way of commandment in His Word) by their own works and efforts are called servants (slaves) of sin. And those who have been born again are called servants (slaves) of righteousness – for they look to Jesus Christ for ALL their salvation for He is: “The LORD our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6).

Let’s look at our text for today:

Romans 6:16
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Yield here means give yourself over to. Servant, again means slaves. God is telling us here that what we give ourselves over to to obey, we are it’s slave.

“whether sin unto death”: this is the person who is a servant of sin;

(1) They come into the world as sinners: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5) – we were all born sinners. The servant of sin:

(2) Sins all His/Her life no matter what they do: “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” (Proverbs 21:4). This means that no matter what a servant of sin does- like farming his/her field for an example – all they do is sin for they are a slave of sin. The servant of sin:

(3) Dies as a servant of sin and will be under the wrath (God’s judgment without mercy) forever: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The paycheck a servant of sin will receive at death is eternal damnation. The servant of sin who dies in this state goes to hell; a servant of righteousness will be in heaven.

I want to take a moment to state there are two, and only two destinations for the soul at death: heaven or hell.

The Roman Catholic system has invented a God dishonoring doctrine called “Purgatory”- a third or intermediate state between heaven and hell. I will state that this doctrine of Purgatory is from hell itself because this doctrine is not taught in the Bible.

NO-ONE is in Purgatory for Purgatory does not exist. You’re either on your way to hell or heaven. Purgatory is a Satanic lie.

“or of obedience unto righteousness”: if one has been born again, if one has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE for ALL their salvation, they have obeyed (obedience) unto righteousness. This is a servant (slave) of righteousness; righteousness being perfect (sinless) satisfaction to God’s Law and Justice (what God says is right).

For a servant of righteousness, they come to see that their believing (obedience-obeying) in Christ ALONE for ALL their salvation is not their righteousness, for righteousness is PERFECT (sinless) satisfaction to God’s Law and Justice.

A servant of righteousness realizes they are still sinners, and have come to see that their righteousness is CHRIST!

Jesus Christ made a perfect sinless atonement once for the sins of God’s elect – those who have been ordained to eternal life.

Acts 13:48
…and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

Christ did this as a perfect satisfaction to God’s Law and Justice – RIGHTEOUSNESS!

His atonement was accepted by the Father as a perfect righteousness for His people – charged to them.

So are you a servant of sin?

Or a servant of righteousness?

These are the two classes of people who fill the earth – nearly 7 billion sinners.

A servant of sin believes they will be declared righteous by God by something or someone other than Christ alone. The servant of righteousness has obeyed the gospel and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE for ALL their salvation.

Have you believed (obeyed) the gospel?

The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ – the gospel is the good news for God’s elect that salvation is totally in and by the Lord Jesus Christ – ALONE!

The gospel is the good news of God’s promise to save His chosen people conditioned on the atoning blood and imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ alone.

Jesus has a promise for His people (His sheep):

John 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

John 10:28
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

By Craig Miklosik