Let's open our Bibles to Romans 6:15-18.

Either you are a slave of sin, resulting in death, or you are a slave of obedience, resulting in righteousness

1. If you think that being under grace means that you are free to sin, you do not understand God's grace

a. Legalists - they put people back under the law by emphasizing rules for what they consider to be holy living

b. Licentiousness - if we are under grace then sin doesn't matter

c. Both are two sides of the same coin whose operating principle is the flesh

d. The result of God's grace is to make us slaves of righteousness, not lawlessness

2. The only options are: You give yourself to be a slave of sin, resulting in death; or you give yourself to be a slave of obedience, resulting in righteousness

a. The master you obey shows whose slave you are

b. Obedience is not the means to salvation, but rather the result of it

c. Everybody serves somebody or something

3. The only way that you can change from being a slave of sin to being a slave of righteousness is for God to free you from sin by changing your heart

a. Salvation is neither a human project nor a joint human-divine project; rather, salvation is of the Lord

i. Slaves of sin are not able to free themselves by their own efforts

b. The way God changes us is by bringing our mind, heart, and will into submission to His word

i. The evidence of this change of mind and heart is that our wills gladly obey the truth

c. The teaching is not committed to the Christians, but rather the Christians are committed to the teaching

i. Being a Christian means being put under the authority of God's Word

d. When God saves you, He frees you from sin and makes you a slave of righteousness

i. We no longer live under sin as our master