September 20, 2026, Morning Service
Instruments Of Righteousness
Pastor Greg Isom
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
This was the one verse we covered in chapter 6 last week, but certainly was not all that we discussed. We reviewed five verses that tell us what “sin is” or “is sin” to help us to first define sin so we can remove it from “reigning in our mortal bodies.” We finished up discussing ways that we can prevent ourselves from creating sinful habits by putting up guard rails, fellowship and accountability with other believers, resisting the devil and drawing close to God. Paul now shows us very clearly that the path we choose to follow, sin leading to death or righteousness leading to eternal life, will become our pattern of life and our actions will line up with that choice..
Romans 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
This is the choice I am making with my life. I can choose to follow my own wants and desires or to yield my will and choose to follow Jesus. The word “instruments” here can refer to a tool or even a weapon. Paul shows us the reality of our choices in that we can choose to be tools in the hands of our enemy and allow him to use us to fulfill his agenda; which is to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) OR we can choose to do what Paul commands us to “present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” We get to choose whose tool belt we are a part of Satan’s or God’s. God has given each of us talents, abilities, and certain skills that He intended for us to use for His glory and His mission. But when we allow sin to reign in our bodies we open ourselves up to become tools that work against God instead of working for Him.
Whose tool pouch are you in this morning? Have you surrendered your will to God and are purposefully using your abilities to walk in righteousness? Or are you allowing our enemy to use you to fulfill his agenda? Do your words build others up or tear them down? Are you working to put your treasures into heaven or working towards attaining the treasures and pleasures this world offers? Are you seeking to love your brother as yourself or are you in it to get what is yours?
Whoever we choose to reign in first place on our priority list is our master whether it be for good or evil. Choose today to be used by God and bring Him glory in all you do and say! Be willing and ready when a need comes up here at the church to say “Here I am send me!” God has chosen to minister and love this world through His church, which you are a part of. Be ready to be tool in His hand and allow Him to do His work through you. There is no greater joy, happiness or contentment that to be used by God to build His kingdom.
Paul now gives us a promise from God that should comfort us in our weakness.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Sin does not have dominion over you as a follower of Jesus. You are no longer under the expectations of obeying everything in the law, but you are now under the grace of God (the unmerited favor). Thanks to grace we now don’t “have to” serve God, we “get to” serve Him. Jesus has made the way for us to attain the forgiveness of our sins breaking its hold on us. We are free to follow Christ and to become tools in His hand to do His will. So again Paul addresses the vast depth of grace and asks us again the question he started this chapter with.
Romans 6:15-16 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! (16) Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Paul again tells us that it is foolishness to disregard grace and choose to sin willfully knowing God’s forgiveness through His grace. Remember we are alive to God, but dead to sin. He then clearly shows us that whomever you are “presenting your selves slaves to obey,” that is who you are choosing as your master. By allowing sin to reign and rule in your body, you are yielding yourself to be a slave to your sin. Your disobedience will lead to death. But if you resist the temptations of the evil one in your life, God will empower you to be an overcomer and break the bond sin holds on your life. By choosing to follow Jesus as your Lord and Master, He will then use your obedience to lead to His righteousness being done through you. You become a tool in His hand to change the world! Paul continues his explanation:
Romans 6:17-18 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. (18) And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Notice how Paul describes our obedience. “You obeyed from the heart.” God is changing us from the inside out. He does not want us to serve Him through outward actions as acts of duty or service. He wants our heart. He desires us to be freed from being the slaves of sin by giving Him our heart. Our heart represents the “why” we do the “what” in our life. Why are you here today? I pray it is because you desire to experience all that God has for you, not because you feel obligated to do the “right thing.” In giving God our heart we break free from being slaves of sin and become slaves of righteousness. We willingly choose to serve our new Master and become His slave with great joy, love, and gratitude. Paul goes deeper.
Romans 6:19-20 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. (20) For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
It is impossible to be neutral. Each of us has a master that we are serving; either God or sin. Sure, in reality, we as Christians still sin and will until the day we take our last breath but it does not rule over us as our master. We simply confess that sin and trust God to cleanse you from it. (I Jn. 1:9) Jesus has made a way for us to die out to our sin and to live for God. Paul again questions us:
Romans 6:21-22 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (22) But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
Each of us have a story of our journey to Jesus and our journey with Jesus. There are many things that we once did that we are utterly ashamed of. If we had stayed in those sins, the end result would be death (separation from God). But we have been given a chance to start over and now do things that we are proud of honoring our Lord and Savior. The result of the change is a promise of everlasting life in the presence of God and all He has prepared for us. Paul sums this up well with a verse we all should know by heart.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This ties in perfectly with Romans 3:23 that tells us the “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We then see that all of us deserve our wages of our sin and that is death. I am so glad that verse does not end there because we would be found without hope but it does not. “BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have hope and His name is Jesus. See how all of Paul’s writing are coming together for us. We are not saved by our works, earning our way to heaven. We are justified by our faith as we receive the gift of eternal life Jesus has purchased for us. You never receive a gift and then offer to pay for it, that would be an insult to the giver. We must simply bring ourselves to accept this gift with joy and gratitude and then present ourselves to our new Master as instruments of righteousness for Him to use.