The Fruit of Sin and Righteousness - Part III
“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” —Romans 6:22
Holiness
Holiness is simply living a holy life; it is the total opposite of iniquity. This direction Paul gives is the same principle as before in previous verses, but now it’s going in the opposite direction. Instead of iniquity leading to iniquity and dragging someone down, now, due to the cross of Christ, that person is going upward. I want you to understand that. Instead of going downward, which is where sin leads, you are now heading ever upward. Upward because of Christ. Upward because of the cross. Upward because of faith. As a result of this change, the power of the indwelling sin nature has been broken, and we no longer yield our members toward unrighteousness, but now we can yield them to righteousness unto holiness, and the only requirement is that we follow Christ.
Being A Servant Of God
Another aspect of living for the Lord is that the individual becomes a servant of God. I know that most would look at this term in a negative way, but when it comes to being a Christian, it becomes such a privilege to be known as a servant of God. The word servant speaks of being a slave, but not in a negative way. If you look in the Old Testament, when a slave was given his freedom but declined it to stay where he was, he did so for a specific reason. He did it because he loved his master who granted him protection, safety, and security. He was treated so well that he felt he would have more freedom serving his master than living outside of that particular home. To mark his decision to stay, such a servant would take an aul and pierce his ear, indicating his intention to remain there forever.
How much better do we have it now? Paul said we have a better covenant based on better promises. We have protection, safety, and security in Christ. We will have more freedom living for Christ than not, and we do it because of His love for us and our love for Him. I would much rather be known as a servant of God than a servant of the Devil. As they say, our worst day serving the Lord is ten thousand times better than a lifetime with the Devil.
Being Made Free From Sin
This is something that we need to understand, and I speak of living a victorious life in Christ. Every believer has the potential to live this more abundant life, but so many fail to avail themselves of experiencing this more abundant life, and the reason is a lack of knowledge of the cross.
There is only one cure for the sinner and the saint—Christ and Him crucified. What He did for us was for the entirety of the world, for with His death on Calvary’s cross, the sin debt was removed. But thank the Lord that this great blessing did not stop there, for not only did it remove the sin debt for those would simply believe, but it also broke the grip of sin in the life of the believer. This means that if we look to the cross daily—place our faith in Christ and Him crucified—we can be continually made free from the sin nature. In Romans 6:14 Paul said, “sin shall not have dominion over you,” which means exactly what it says: you can be free now, and you can be made free, daily, from the grip of sin that has plagued your life. However, we can experience this only if we take advantage of God’s prescribed order of victory—the cross.
Everlasting Life
Living for the Lord will lead to everlasting life. Paul concluded Romans 6 by saying, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The answer for the sin problem in the world and in the church is the same—Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We must begin this salvation life at the cross, and we must never leave the cross because it brings life and life ever more abundant.
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