When you hear the Bible say, sin will not be master over us, don't jump to the conclusion it's teaching perfectionism. That you in

this life can become perfect. Don't jump to that conclusion.

So what Don't jump to that conclusion.

So what does Paul mean when he says that sin will no longer have dominion over us?

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper opens Roman 6, 14 to 19 to reveal how this profound promise transforms our lives.

This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on December 3, 2000.

Last week I tried to answer the question, what does under law mean and what does under grace mean?

And in a sentence, I said that under law means that you are bound to make lawkeeping the righteousness that is the basis of your justification.

So if you're under law, you are relating to the law as that which calls lawkeeping to be the basis of your justification.

Under grace means that Christ came under law, fulfilled that for us.

And now we receive the gift of grace, the gift of righteousness, which is not our own, but his, and we are under grace with an alien righteousness imputed to us.

Today's question is why does being under grace guarantee that sin will not be master over us?

Verse 14, Notice the logic. Sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Now to get clear this, you need to make sure you don't mistake those first words for a command.

It's not,

sin shall not be master over you like thou shalt not commit adultery.

It's not a command. It's a promise. It's an assurance. The command came in verse 13 and verse 14 grounds verse 13.

Verse 13 says, do not go on presenting your members, the members of your body to sin as instruments on righteousness,

but present, is the command, present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God,

that's the command. Now here comes the ground for sin will not be master over you.

Now, if that sounds strange to you, that way of talking, there's a reason for it, and it's not a

flattering one.

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