“Made righteous in the works of the Holy Spirit”

Article for June 21, 2026

Romans 6:12–13 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

The keynote is this, we should present ourselves as though we are going to be brought back from death into life eternal.  Think about this!  We deserve eternal death, but God wants to give us eternal life!  Meditate on this thought, Jesus died for our sin and took the punishment for our sin and was resurrected so that we can have life in abundance. 

Not that Jesus did not suffer, but that He suffered painfully so as to enable empathy in Himself towards us.  Why not go to our knees in tears or prostate ourselves in worship with devotion, thanksgiving, and praise?  This is a God so powerful that He indeed suffered and experienced death so as to defeat death once and for all for our sake.

Our modern way of life has forgotten good biblical morals and have traded these morals for affirming ungodly sin.  This is separating us from God and affirming eternal death for all who separate themselves from God and His love for us.

Romans 6:14–16 14For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Obedience is slipping away as some of our teachers and professors teach that right and wrong does not exist unless it goes against the majority.  The majority votes on what is sin and what is not according to the world’s desire.  We are not just sliding down the slippery slope, but we are falling faster and faster each generation.

Our children are being taught that the theories of science are facts and that our faith should be in “the science rather than a God we cannot see.”  Don’t get me wrong, there is science to everything as God created the science in all that exists.  But we should realize that what our scientists think they know keeps changing the more they discover.  Science is not finite. 

The more science tries to prove there is no God the more they prove there is a God.  It’s just that science wants to call God a higher being of intelligence.  Nevertheless, it is not science that governs us and it should not be the world that governs us.  Rather we should be governed by God’s law and saved by God’s grace. 

Truthfully, I would rather be a slave to God than to be free to sin.  Sin seems to be a lot of fun to many until they get caught.  Then they blame their sin on everyone else, including the police.  As I am a puppeteer, I’d rather be a puppet of God rather than be controlled by sin.  Sin leads to eternal death, being a slave to God leads to righteousness and eternal life.

Romans 6:17–18 17But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

We fight the good fight, and we should never stop fighting it no matter how long it takes.  Jesus Christ will come again and give us rest and reward for staying in the fight.  Not that we are fighting to earn God’s grace but that we fight to be noticed as a child of God our Father in heaven.

It is hard to always be obedient and even harder to be obedient even unto death.  Jesus was obedient unto death, but Jesus also defeated death for our sake.  Listen, we can be obedient to God and His word when we realize God’s love for us.  Yes, God wants us to behave all the time.  Always remember, God knows us and can even empathize with us.  That God knows us and can empathize with us, shows us that when He says we are saved by His grace through faith we know we have a God worth obeying and loving.

Romans 6:19 19I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

As we continue to follow God’s word and our Lord Jesus Christ, we can see that He leads us to holiness which is being sanctified.  It is the Holy Spirit who works through the word of God that sanctifies us, that is, makes us holy and presentable to our Father in heaven.

Romans 6:20–21 20When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.

To be righteous in the eyes of the world is the true hypocrite and leads us down a path of false hope and moreover no hope.  But to be made righteous in the works of the Holy Spirit is righteous indeed.  Not that we can boast about our righteousness, but that we boast about our Lord who covers our sinful nature with His righteousness.

Romans 6:22–23 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is the “free” gift of God, He calls it the gospel, this is the forgiveness of sin of which we can be grateful, thankful, and praiseful.  Jesus gave us this gift through giving up His body, blood, and life.  But the gift really took light when Jesus showed Himself as the resurrected savior who will one day come again to resurrect all believers.  Truly in the will of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Written by Pastor Curtis A. May