Romans 06 Round Two: No Longer Slaves

What if the prison door you keep rattling has already been taken off its hinges? We open Romans 6 and trace a bold claim: grace doesn’t excuse sin, it breaks its power. From the image of baptism to the language of slavery and freedom, we unpack how identity in Christ turns into daily choices that actually feel like life.

We start by grounding the story of Romans—why Paul’s letter reads like the clearest roadmap to the gospel—and then drill into the heartbeat of chapter 6. Baptism becomes a living picture of dying with Christ and rising with him, not a ritual that saves but a sign that tells the truth about who we are now. That new identity reframes everything: sin is no longer master, and our bodies can become instruments for good. We talk through practical ways to present our eyes, words, time, and attention to God so obedience shifts from pressure to friendship.

We also tackle a tension many Christians feel: the fear that one stumble ruins everything versus the shrug that says grace makes holiness optional. Romans 6 won’t let us pick either. Jesus paid for our past, present, and future sin, and that security fuels a real pursuit of holiness that leads to joy. If the wages of sin are still death, the gift of God is still life—eternal life that starts now in choices that align with freedom.

If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs courage for a fresh start, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s one step toward freedom you’ll take today?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Housekeeping
• 0:30 Why Romans Matters
• 2:48 Recap Of Romans 1–5
• 4:00 Theme Of Romans 6: No Longer Slaves
• 6:27 Reading Romans 6:1–11
• 9:00 Baptism As Picture Of New Life
• 11:20 Living Free From Sin’s Power
• 13:10 Reading Romans 6:12–23

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Romans chapter 6. And man, this one titled today is No Longer Slaves. Man, this is going to be a good one. I'm really excited to get into this, and we're going to have some fun today. And before we do that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, and subscribe to this podcast, YouTube, all the good things. Thank you so much for everybody who is doing the podcast thing. You are amazing. You are spreading the word. People are starting to leave us five-star reviews, and it really does help us get the word out. Also, if you wouldn't mind doing this, go over to my blog, brandoncannon.com. And right there on the front, you can subscribe to our weekly newsletter. And what I like to do is give you kind of a recap. This was my favorite devotion of the week that we covered. And here are some different resources. Because as I'm searching and getting ready for all this stuff, I come across stuff all the time that really encourages me. And you guys will send me stuff from time to time. And I would love to share it with you. It's just a weekly recap of everything that I found that is really encouraging my life. So if you'd like to look at that kind of stuff, please go over there. And also, as we start to unveil different things, people have asked us if we have like merch, like if we could do t-shirts, stuff like that. That's probably where you're going to see it first, is at that newsletter. So brandoncannon.com and we will do that together. Okay. Don't forget to go to our Facebook group discussion. That's also, they are doing amazing stuff over there with those devotions. I look forward to reading them every morning. So make sure you go in there as well. Okay. All right. If you want to get your Bibles out with me to Romans chapter six and you get your coffee cup ready, your tea, whatever you got going on, man, we're going to jump into this today. Let me kind of catch you up on what's going on. Imagine with me for a moment that this guy, he comes into Rome, he goes to the church and he's like, hey, I've got a letter from Paul. Yeah, that Paul, the uh, the, you know, the apostle, the missionary guy. He says he's coming, but before he comes, he wants to send the message ahead of you that he always preaches. All right, well, let's hear it. And he goes up on stage, grabs a microphone, and he unveils, unrolls the scroll, and he starts reading. And that's what we're reading today. This was the message that Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would give to people. And so that's why we're building one chapter after another. And that's why sometimes churches will spend years slowly and systematically going through the book of Romans because it is the most complete expression of the gospel you're going to see anywhere, straight from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so what we have been saying is chapter one, God's word tells us that we all have fallen, we were born into sin and we all go our own way. Chapter two, that doesn't matter who you are, everybody, Jew or Gentile, has all fallen from the righteous holy standard of God. Chapter three, God's word says that's why God sent the law, the Old Testament, the five books of Moses, was to show us what it looked like to be in a perfect relationship with God and with each other and help us to realize it's impossible to live up to. I mean, you have to be absolutely perfect, never make a mistake, and nobody, nobody alive other than Jesus, God Himself, has ever done that. Sounds like we need a Savior, right? Well, then chapter four, enter Jesus. Jesus saves us from our sins. And when we experience the gospel and understand that Jesus wants to wash away our sin, chapter five, we read yesterday, is now we receive it for ourselves and we have peace. We have the peace of God, passes understanding, and we are now called the friends of God. Well, what does that mean now that we're the friends of God? And now, chapter six, today we're going to talk about the idea of no longer slaves to sin. And this song, this reminds me of a song that is sung. Um, and there's a guy in our church that sings this song. He has an amazing, amazing voice. And he's got like this gravelliness to his voice. So if someone were ever to sing it, you know, I'm no longer a slave to sin, that's boring. You got to like act like you're Bob Dylan just a little bit, you know, I'm no longer a slave. Like, like, that's how you have to sing it, only a whole lot better. And so I was preparing for this. I was just hearing that over and over again. And like, it's like a cross between like Bob Dylan and like old school Louis Armstrong. If you're that old, remember that. But that's the idea, is just I'm no longer a slave to sin. Imagine with me for a moment. I don't know if you've ever watched these YouTube videos where people were um they were convicted of a crime that they didn't commit. And they kept saying they didn't commit it, they didn't commit it, and all this kind of stuff. But the evidence was overwhelming that they had committed this sin, right? Or this crime. And so they were, you know, convicted, life in prison, no hope. Well, then out of nowhere, this evidence comes up that completely exonerates these people. And what looked like their life was over, now they're free. You ever watched one of those videos and watched the look on those people's faces? They look like they're like at any moment someone's gonna wake them up and it's gonna be just a horrible dream. Well, that's the picture that we ought to have with one exception, and that is this we were guilty. We did do all of the sin. We we did those things, and so when God the Father, the righteous judge, lowered the gavel on all of us and said, You are guilty and you have to be separated from me, life in prison and then beyond, we had no excuse. But then entered Jesus, who said, I will pay the price for their sin. And so when we truly realize that we have been forgiven for all of our sins, all of them, the very worst ones, those sins have been washed away. Now we may have earthly repercussions for the sin that we have committed, but we're no longer bound spiritually by those sins anymore. It should be like that person who's led out of prison. It's like, don't bother me. I don't want to wake up and find out this was all a dream. Only to realize it's not a dream, it's a reality. And that's what Paul is going to share with us in chapter six. And so if you have your Bibles with me to Romans chapter six, verse one of the NLT, it says this well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his grace? Well, of course not. That would be like, that would be like the idea of, hey man, you're free. You don't have to be in prison anymore. Thank you so much. And then you sit back down in prison, be like, you idiot, get out of here. You know, that's what Paul's saying. Do you want to stay in prison to sin now that you can be free? Of course not. Beest thou free, Maya brother. You know, since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? For have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ in baptism, we were joined with him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And Jesus, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of our Father, now we also may live new lives. Pause for a moment. So what he's saying is, is don't you remember when we baptized one another, when you were baptized, that representation of going down into the water and back up again was a representation of what happened when you got saved, that you died to yourself and you rose again in the new life of Christ. So he's not saying that baptism is salvation. He's saying that baptism is that representation, it's that picture of that salvation. So verse five, since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. For know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. Remember that. I'm no longer, you know, that guy. Verse 7. For when we died with Christ, we are set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will all live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. And when he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. So once again, the analogy is now that you have been freed from sin, and you can hear the soundtrack of that guy and his amazing voice, like his amazing voice singing that for us. Why would you want to sit back down in your prison cell anymore? Why would you want to do that? Instead, we now have the ability not to sin. That's one of the things that salvation is for us, is salvation is the freedom not to have to be bound by sin so we can walk out of that prison and be free. Verse 12 says this Do not let cons do not let sin control the way you live, and do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you are dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin no longer is your master, for you are no longer under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under freedom of God's grace. Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean that I can go on sinning? Well, of course not. We're Paul like, you idiot, of course not. Don't you realize that you became a slave or you become a slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death. So are you or can you choose to obey God, which also leads to righteous living? Thank God. Once you were slaves to sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey his teaching, and you have been that has been given to you. Now you are free from slavery to sin and you have become slaves to righteous living. Because of the weakness of our human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all of this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which lit led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. When you were slaves to sin, you are free from the obligation to do what is right. And now what was the result? You are ashamed, or you are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end with eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, what he just said is the answer to the debate that many of us struggle with. So that's the application point of today, and that is this. We have people who say, Once you give your life to Christ, man, you better not sin one time, because if you sin one time, you're going to hell. That's called Armenianism. Then there's the other side that says, once you give your life to Christ, it don't matter. Sin all you want to. You got your get out of jail free card, it doesn't really matter. Just do whatever you want to do. And that is a form and it's of Calvinism, but it's different. It's it's way different than that. But that is a extremely actually extremely bad representation of it. But you get the point. One says, once in, you go to hell. One says it doesn't matter. Do what you want to do. But then when you read God's word, you see that both are wrong. First of all, when you have been forgiven of all your sin, you've been forgiven of all your past, all your present, and all of your future sin. Sin no longer has an eternal hold on you as long as you hold to Christ and only to realize eventually you realize Christ is actually the one holding on to you. On the other side, if you think that salvation is the free, you know, get out of jail free card to sin however you want to, it's like I got my fire insurance, you know, then I would question as to whether or not you're truly saved, or question whether or not you truly understand what Jesus did for all of us. Because when he died for us, he broke the power of sin so that we no longer have to sin. And therefore, it's the idea of unlocking the key, opening the door, actually more like taking the door off its hinges and say, now you are free. And so if you've been granted your freedom, but then you choose to stay in jail, I would question as to whether or not you understand what freedom even is. And what it cost the person who gave it to you so that you could have it. And so what Paul is saying is, why would you want to remain in sin anymore when now you can be free? And so what I would say to you is to truly think about this, about this idea. Christ has set us free. We now have the ability not to sin. Before we found Christ, it was very hard for us not to sin. But now we're no longer bound by that brokenness anymore. We can walk toward freedom every day. And so the application point today is why are you walking toward freedom? Is it because it's the right thing to do? Or is it because you now realize you don't have to walk in sin anymore? But it is through Christ that we've been truly set free. And that is why we no longer let s sin be our master. And now, as he said, we become a slave of doing what is holy. And he said, I'm using that to help us understand we're fully committed. He's saying, You're you know, it's it's not out of legalism, it's out of fully committing to do our lives in a way or live our lives in a way for freedom because the one who set set us free is worthy of the effort. And I think that is an amazing way to look at it. Can we sin? Yeah. Should we sin? Absolutely not. Why? Because Jesus set us free, and now I live my life as an act of worship, and I live more free every day because that is why he set us free. God's word said it's for freedom that Christ has set us free. So are you walking in as much freedom as you could? If not, what course corrections do you need to make? Because all the freedom is available to you through Christ. Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your goodness, your mercy, your kindness. Thank you, God, that it is for freedom that you have set us free. That your word says that the cost of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through you, Jesus. I pray you will reawaken us to that to realize that we are no longer slaves to sin. Therefore, we shouldn't act like it. We should walk in the freedom that you have given us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget, God's word says this. It says in Romans 1.16, I am not ashamed of the good news about Christ. Why? Say it with me. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes. My prayer today is that you will experience the power of God as the good news works its way into your life, and then as you share it with somebody else. Let's think about this for a few moments, and I will see you tomorrow for Romans chapter seven.