Sin Dethroned

Adapted From A Sermon By

George Burder

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14

The sermon this morning is about the Dethroning of Sin. The text is Romans 6:14.

The general power and prevalence of sin in the world is a very troubling thing to a serious mind. Whoever knows how displeasing sin is to a holy God, and how destructive it is to the souls of men, cannot but lament the awful dominion it retains, even in a country where Christianity was until recently widely preached, where the will of God has been revealed, where the consequences of sin have been clearly exposed, and where a sufficient remedy against it is presented.

This remedy, however rejected by many, is most thankfully received by a true, born again Christian, who values a deliverance from the power of sin no less than a freedom from the guilt of it. If his first question is, “What shall I do to be saved?” his next is, “Who shall deliver me from this body of sin?’ Blessed be God, the Gospel provides us with a positive answer to both these questions. The Redeemer of men “came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6) —the water and the blood which flowed from his wounded side was an wonderful picture of the two purposes of his death, which was both to justify and to sanctify—to free from guilt, and to cleanse from pollution—to purge our consciences from dead works, and to deliver us from the dominion, as well as from the danger of sin.

Sin will not condemn the believer, because Christ has died; sin will not govern the believer, because he is under grace.

This comforting declaration of the apostle Paul is introduced here, in response to a supposed objection to the glorious doctrines and privileges described in the previous chapters of this epistle, particularly in the conclusion of the fifth chapter “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”—as the exceeding sinfulness of sin is manifested by the law, so the super-abounding grace of God in the pardon of sin is made gloriously conspicuous by the Gospel. To this illustrious truth, some Pharisaical or some immoral persons may object, and connect with it this depraved inference—“Let us continue in the practice of sin, that this famous grace may abound so much the more in pardoning us.” But does the holy apostle allow this inference to be justified? No: his heart rises with indignation at the thought of such an abuse of divine grace; and he shows that believers in Christ were, by their profession and their baptism, dead to sin, and engaged to imitate their Savior in a holy obedience; to which he adds the encouraging declaration in the text—“Sin will have no dominion over you,”—over you believers; and for this reason—“you are not under law but under grace.” (6:14)

To a sincere disciple of Christ, freedom from the power of sin is an extremely desirable blessing; his desires, his prayers, his endeavours, are continually aimed at this point: whatever, therefore, may assist him in attaining this great object will be truly welcome. This text, then, which shows the means appointed of God for the purpose of delivering us from sin, demands our most careful attention. May the Holy Spirit assist and guide our thoughts while we consider,

I. The evil which we are encouraged to resist; and,

II. The means put forward for our encouragement in resisting it.

I. The evil which, as Christians, we are encouraged to resist is the dominion of sin.

In this chapter, the apostle Paul represents sin as a master, and men as his servants—sin as a lord, and men as his vassals—sin as a king, and men as his subjects. He considers sin as a mighty usurper, a tyrant, exercising absolute dominion over the sinner; taking the sinner’s heart for his throne, and the members of his body for his slaves. ‘You were,” he says, “the slaves of sin, for you are slaves of the one whom you obey; your members were instruments of unrighteousness for unrighteousness; sin reigned in your mortal bodies, so that he obeyed its passions; sin abounded; sin leads to death.” By these strong expressions he justly represents the uncontrolled power of sin over the natural man who refuses submission to the easy yoke of God’s authority, and tamely submits to the vile and destructive drudgery of the devil.

By a successful deception, sin obtained the supremacy over our first father: and his posterity, while they remain in their natural state, have never been able to break from it. Sin has reigned, and death has reigned, from that time to the present. No monarchy can pretend to an antiquity equal with this: nor has any monarchy been so extensive as this. Whatever have been the variations of climate, color, or customs, sin has been uniform in maintaining its empire. Go into all nations; and whether you call them Pagan, or Islamic, or Jewish; whether barbarian or civilized; whether Catholic or Protestant, you must call them all sinners.

In our own country, which up until recently could call itself civilized and enlightened, full of church buildings and Bibles as it still is, sin now reigns openly; sin has the dominion over Canadians, the few excepted, whom the Son of God has made “free indeed.” This awful representation of the matter is justified by the apostle John, who says—“We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” (1 John 5:19) or, “it lies in wickedness.”

Now this awful dominion of sin is advanced by various means.

1. By ignorance of God’s will.

In some countries, this is almost total; in ours it is growing day by day, and in a great measure wilfully. If we do not know our master’s will, it is because we do not want to know it; it is because we do not “see fit to acknowledge God;” (Romans 1:28) it is because we “loved the darkness rather than the light because our works are evil.” (John 3:19) And this, no doubt, is a main reason why so many do not attend church, and neglect to read their Bibles; they are not disposed to do the will of God; why then should they learn it?

2. Our corrupt passions and sensual tendencies reject divine control.

What a strong inclination we have to evil! how strong our desires! beloved lusts will be gratified, though health, reputation, fortune, life itself, are at stake. “How abominable and filthy is man, who drinks injustice like water!” (Job 15:16) “who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,” (Isaiah 5:18) whose “hands are on what is evil, to do it well!” (Micah 7:3) This is how God, by his prophets, describe the vigorous and determined actings of sin in the corrupt nature of man.

3. The power of sin is promoted by the worldly interests of men

to which they readily give the decided preference, when they happen to clash, as they often do, with their duty to God. When profit may be obtained, when pleasure may be enjoyed, when fame may be acquired, farewell duty! farewell the will of God! farewell heaven! They will sacrifice conscience and their everlasting interests to the gratification of the moment. And in this way, for the sake of the world, the guests invited to the Gospel feast, with one accord, sought to be excused, and the rich man departed from Jesus full of sorrow.

4. The dominion of sin is promoted by the powerful temptations and subtle deceptions of Satan;

he goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; he presents the pleasures of sin in the most alluring colors; he hides from men the disastrous consequences; encourages them to venture boldly on the most daring offences; tells them that God is very merciful, and repentance very easy: and in this way supports his cruel empire over the world of sinners.

5. The approval and example of the multitude contribute much to the support of sin’s dominion.

Sinners readily follow the multitude to do evil. The broad road that leads to destruction is crowded with travellers; and natural men smoothly follow the course of this world. This has a powerful tendency to silence the objections of conscience, and to prevent that shame which would be unavoidable, were sin less common. Sinners are kept in line by the majority of their fellow-creatures; if they are the slaves of iniquity, so are the greater part of their friends, and neighbours, and countrymen; and they are ready to hope, that what is so general cannot be very dangerous.

Some go further, and venture to glory in their shame. “Were they ashamed,” said God by the prophet, “when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord.” Jer. 6. 15. It demonstrates an awful degree of hardness of heart, and incites the fear that God has given sinners entirely up, when “though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32) Sin is the daily business, the chosen portion of some; they make “provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires;” (Romans 13:14) “Come, they say, let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.” (Isaiah 56:12)

Such is the dominion of sin! such its absolute power over the children of Adam! such the means whereby it is promoted and maintained.

By some, it is true, it is occasionally opposed. The power of conscience, the influence of education, the exhortations of ministers, the fear of death, or the love of reputation, induce some to oppose its entire dominion. There have been, in all ages, persons struck with the beauty of virtue, and shocked at the deformity of vice, who have made considerable attempts to deliver themselves and others from the government of sin: but, without the knowledge of Christ, their efforts were unsuccessful.

Many of the heathen philosophers were themselves awful and pitiable proofs of the weakness of fallen nature to contend with the power of sin. Nor have many nominal Christians succeeded much better. Like the formal Jews, they “pursued a law that would lead to righteousness,” and with great apparent zeal; but they did not attained it. Why did they fail? The apostle Paul says, it was—“Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone.” (Romans 9:31, 32) Let us beware of this error. Let us profit by the instruction of the text. This is a light to our feet in this very important matter “sin will have no dominion over you.” What will prevent it? The apostle adds, “since you are not under law but under grace.” And this is the second thing we proposed to consider,

II. The means put forward for our encouragement in resisting it: these are included in the words—“since you are not under law but under grace.”

Grace is here placed in opposition to the law, and stands for the Gospel; which, in Scripture, is frequently opposed to it, as in John 1. 17, “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Gospel may, very accurately, be called grace, because it is a declaration of the wonderful grace of God in the redemption of sinners by Jesus Christ; and it is to be understood in this way, 2 Cor. 6. 1. “We appeal to you,” says Paul to the Corinthians, “not to receive the grace of God in vain:” that is—that your reception of the doctrine of the Gospel may not be unprofitably. So the apostle Paul exhorted the people at Antioch to “continue in the grace of God;” Acts 13. 43

The apostle mentions it as a reason why the believing Romans should not continue under the power of sin, that they were no longer under the law, but under the Gospel; and so it appears that those who are under the Gospel dispensation have greater advantages for the destruction of sin, than those who were, or are, under the law.

Now by the law, we are to understand not the ceremonial or judicial law of Moses, which was peculiar to the Jews, and to which most of the Roman Christians had never been subject; but the moral law, or the law of the ten commandments; for it is this law by which the apostle himself learned the true nature of sin. chap. 7. 7. This was the law which he says is “holy, righteous, good, and spiritual;” the law in which he says he ‘delighted in his inner being;” and compared with which he adds, “I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”

This holy law of God was a just but awful and severe system; it was given at Mount Sinai in so tremendous a manner, that Moses himself was completely terrified. But God had wise and holy goals in establishing it. “The law came in to increase the trespass.” (5:20) It was introduced among the Jews, not that they might be justified by it, but, by discovering how far they fell short of the obedience it required, and how their native corruption was rather incited than suppressed by its most holy precepts, that they might be more deeply impressed with a sense of their abounding sins; and in this way it became (together with the ceremonial law) a ‘guardian until Christ came;” (Gal 3:24) and prepared the way for the Gospel, in which the grace of God is as brightly displayed, as his holiness was under the law; and that so, where sin had abounded, grace might much more abound.

Now, believers in Christ are “not under the law;” they are “dead to the law;” they are “delivered from the law.” By these expressions, we are not to suppose that they are discharged from their obligations to obedience to God; for the apostle expressly says of himself, 1 Cor. 9. 21, that he was “not ... outside the law of God but under the law of Christ;” but believers are no longer under the law considered as a covenant, the terms of which are, “The one who does them” (all and every one perfectly) “shall live by them.” Jesus Christ has fulfilled all righteousness for his people, and is the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes. Being accounted righteous through faith in Christ, they are redeemed from the curse of the law; there is no more condemnation for them; and the Gospel (which is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus) has set them free from the law of sin and death. Rom. 8. 2.

It should be remembered, that while the law justly demanded obedience, it gave no help in carrying it out. Nor could it encourage anyone to hope for pardon, in case of disobedience. It is not surprising then that the law excited fear and a spirit of slavery, God dealing with his people who were under it rather as servants than as sons.

But now things have changed. We are not called to “Mount Sinai,” to hear the terrible threatenings of the law; but we are come to “Mount Sion,” where grace, free, sovereign grace and mercy are published. Here indeed the holiness and justice of God are also gloriously displayed; but not, as under the law, in demanding from us a perfect un-sinning obedience as the condition of life, and in threatening the just wrath of God upon any failure to do so; but in showing that Jesus Christ, our glorious surety, has magnified the law, and made it eternally honorable, by his own obedience to death in our behalf, on account of which God is now just, while he is the Justifier of the ungodly.

The Gospel has another advantage above the law. The law included the substance of all the holy precepts now contained in the New Testament; but in the Gospel they are expanded and full-blown, and appear in all the loveliness and beauty of holiness. Jesus Christ, our only lawgiver, has divinely explained the duties briefly contained in the ten commandments, especially in his majestic sermon on the mount. And the epistles of his inspired apostles to the churches adapt the general precepts of the law to every relation and condition of life; showing exactly the distinct duties of subjects, of husbands, wives, parents, children, servants, members of Christian societies, so that nothing is lacking to clearly disclose the full meaning of the two grand commandments—the supreme love of God, and the unselfish love of our neighbour.

The Gospel dispensation is superior to that of the law on another account; there is a more abundant measure of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the people of God, by which they not only attain a clearer knowledge of his will, but a larger degree of his gracious assistance in overcoming sin. It is the peculiar promise of the covenant of grace, Heb. 8. 10, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts.” Now this is a great deal more and better than having the laws of God written in a book, or fixed against a wall (though these are useful too). It includes the renovation of our souls, by the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit, whereby the mind is divinely enlightened, and the heart powerfully disposed, and enabled to comply with the will of God.

The Gospel assures us of sufficient grace for every purpose required. All grace is treasured up in Jesus for the use of his people; in him “all fullness dwells;” and “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1. 16. There is an inexhaustible fullness of grace in him, as the head of the church: and it is intended for the provisions of believers; so that in all their needs and sorrows they may, by prayer and faith, receive abundant grace. Whatever duties they have to perform, whatever trials they are called to bear, whatever sins they have to oppose, they may depend on sufficient strength and grace to help them through. On this ground, the apostle Paul boldly says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) He was weak in himself, but strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, who, on a certain occasion, said to him, for his encouragement, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12. 9.

The love of Christ is another mighty assistant in our victory over sin. Love is the most strong and generous of all the passions, and the hardest service becomes easy when it reigns. This was that which supported the first Christians in their almost incredible labors and sufferings. The vivid sense they had of his wonderful affection for their souls, in dying for their sins, brought them to spend themselves in his cause, led them to glory in his cross, and to esteem themselves happy in laying down their lives for his sake. “The love of Christ,” said the apostle Paul, “controls us”—it carries us away like a strong and irresistible torrent, (2 Cor. 5. 14.) while we reason in this way, that, if Christ died for our redemption, even when we were in a state of condemnation and death, it is fit that our ransomed lives should be sacred to him: this contemplation will have a powerful effect on the believer when tempted to sin. Will that sin which Christ hated—that sin for which Christ suffered—that sin which he died to deliver me from, have dominion over me? By no means! Am I not baptized into his death? engaging in this act to be conformed to it? that, as he died for it, I should die to it; and that, as he was raised from the dead, so I should arise from the grave of sin, to walk in newness of life? Is my old man of sin not crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on I should not serve sin? Such is the reasoning of the holy apostle in this chapter, and such is the holy reasoning of every child of God, in his right mind.

The grace of the Gospel provides yet more help in this great conflict by the encouraging views it provides of everlasting glory. We are engaged in a severe warfare, but under the Captain of our salvation, we are assured of victory. Though we have been the slaves of sin, we may boldly reject its unrightful authority, and transfer our allegiance to the service of Christ, with the certainty of being accepted and protected. Let our members from now on be used as weapons in the Lord’s warfare. And though we are at such a disadvantage against our natural depravity, against the inveterate habits of evil, against an alluring or threatening world, against a raging and subtle devil; when enlisted in Christ’s service, we may truly say, “there are more on our side than against us:” indeed, “If God is for us,” (and he certainly is, if we are fighting against sin) “who can be against us?”

Nothing, however hostile and formidable, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Our perseverance to the end is guaranteed by the promise and power of God; and we will be more than conquerors through him. We will be enabled to say, at the solemn close of life, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” Covered with unworthiness and shame, in ourselves considered, we will be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Our weak and defiled bodies will become heavenly and incorruptible; living under grace, we will die into glory, and rise to eternal life.

Such are the solid and sublime hopes of the Christian. And will these have no holy influence upon his conduct? Hear the apostle John: “Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:3) The heirs of glory will turn away from the low gratification and defilement of sin. They know that their Savior is holy, the society they expect to join is holy, their employments and delights will be holy; their hope therefore, as well as their faith, will purify their souls, influence their walk, and prevent the dominion of sin.

Conclusion

Who can look upon the general dominion of sin over the world without the deepest concern! How sad it would be if ever this cursed foe to God and man should rule unopposed! “Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jeremiah 9:1) If sin continues to reign, it will lead to death; the wages of sin is death. Sin unpardoned, sin unsubdued, must lead to the sinner’s everlasting destruction. What then is your own state? Does sin reign over you; or have you obtained dominion over sin? Let your conscience ponder this sincerely, and give a faithful answer.

Having learned by this sermon, that nothing can effectively stop the progress of sin but the Gospel of grace, let this serve to make the Gospel more dear and precious. It is not by the knowledge of the law, nor by endeavors in our own strength to fulfill its precepts, that the power of sin can be destroyed. No; it is only the Gospel that is the power of God for salvation—salvation from the guilt, or salvation from the dominion of sin. It is the knowledge of Christ crucified; it is faith in him; it is union to him; it is love to him; it is hope in him; that must energize my soul in this holy war. Let me then highly value the Gospel of grace, and earnestly pray for the grace of the Gospel; that so, having obeyed from the heart that form (or mould) of doctrine, into which I have been delivered, my whole character and life may be transformed into a glorious resemblance of it; and having been “set free from sin, and become a servant of God, my fruit may lead to sanctification, and my end be eternal life.”

All of this overthrows that evil accusation which is so unjustly cast against the doctrines of grace, as if they were conducive to sin, and unfriendly to holiness. The very reverse is the truth; for while the professed advocates of righteousness by the law can make no effectual stand against the power of sin, but are commonly its wretched servants; humbled believers in Jesus, justified by his blood, and saved by grace alone, are enabled to fight the good fight of faith, and subdue their most powerful iniquities;

and so, “grace … reign(s) through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:21) To whom, the Conqueror over sin, and death and hell, be glory in all the Churches, world without end.