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Ambassador Baptist Church
1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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   You Are Here: Bridge / Galley / Pastor's Pen / Pathways Through Paul
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Pathways Through Paul Daily Devotional
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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional

February 21
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Today's Pathway:


 Romans 6:21-23
  1. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
  2. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
  3. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

His Majesty's Service

 We finished yesterday's study by asking the question, "How are you using your liberty in Christ today?" In today's passage Paul gives yet another reason why we should be using our freedom from sin to serve the Lord. He asks this question in verse 21,

"What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?"
In all those years before you got saved, what did you really accomplish that mattered? What fruit did you produce? What good did you do? The answer, of course, is "nothing". All those years were a waste as far as eternity is concerned. In fact, Paul indicates that once a man received Christ he should be ashamed of his former lifestyle. Once he knows the Lord he should be bothered by all the times that he offended God before his salvation. Even the allegedly "good" things he did served no purpose. Isaiah calls our righteousness "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Paul listed his religious "accomplishments" in Philippians 3:4-6, and then states,
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,"
If our previous life bore no fruit, and if we are ashamed of it, then why would we want to go back to it?

 In these verses Paul also lists a series of contrasts between the old life of service to sin and the new life of service to God. At the end of verse 21 he writes that the end result of our unsaved life was death, but in verse 22 he says that the end result of being a new creature in Christ is everlasting life. In verse 21 we had no fruit, but in verse 22 we have "fruit unto holiness". In verse 23 he again writes that we we used to have was death, but now we have eternal life. He also states that what we had before we got saved were "wages". A wage is something that you earn. Because of our sin we had earned death, and we were owed it. However, God offered us a gift of salvation. It was not something that we could earn; it could only be freely given and freely received. Romans 6:23 is often a verse used in leading someone to Christ, and it is very valid to use it that way. However, in light of the context in which this verse appears, I think there is a secondary way in which it can be seen. What a man receives for his sin is death. God gives the man who believes life. When God gives a man life he makes him free from sin and allows that man to become His servant. If the wages of sin are death, doesn't it make sense that the Christian would not want to yield himself to the sins that were bringing about his spiritual death? If God has given me eternal life, wouldn't I want to live in such a way that I would produce the eternal fruit of holiness? The answers would seem to be obvious.

Pastor Mark J Montgomery

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His Majesty's Service
Home of Ambassador Baptist Church
1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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