Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Obeying “from the heart that form of” Selfless doctrine that we are being educated in here in the book of Romans, is how The Father would have His sons to operate in their Sanctified lives as an extension of His holiness and love.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Notice it says “who,” This refers to Satan, this world, and even ourselves, when we would rather ‘throw in the towel’ when we experience these things. But these are the things that tries to separate us from “the love of Christ,” also note that those 7 things start off from the mild sufferings, to the extreme sufferings, you see, that is the way the adversary works against the son, he works in a progressive manner because he knows how the Father progressively gives the son the doctrine that he needs to educate the son on a ‘step by step’ basis.

1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

“For thy sake” is the 3 words we to operate upon when we face any or all of these things, that’s why Paul says “as it is written” right after the sufferings, there is a difference between “as it is written,” and “for it is written.” “As it is written” draws a direct parallel between the subject, and what was written prior; “for it is written” amplifies upon what was just taught. “For thy sake,” means ‘for your cause Lord,’ or ‘for your purpose Lord,’ it should be all about His cause, and His purpose when we go through things, and we are going to go through sufferings whether we are saved or unsaved, we go through what we go through because of Adam.

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Satan knows that there is a few things that can separate you from the love of Christ, the first is “fear” the others are mentioned here in verse 35, the others in verses 38 and 39, just like Satan went to work on Job, and how Peter denied Christ, and that’s why Paul warns the saints and even Timothy, because when a saint is being afflicted, he can, and will abandon his education, and if this ailment is not properly cured, he could throw in the towel, and give up all together on his education in being conformed to the image of His Son.

Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Verse 36 says “for thy sake,” we are to operate upon “hope” doctrine, we are supposed to be ‘inspired’ by the “hope” that we have in Christ, when you hope for something, you long after it, you “obey by the heart” the thing that you have now begun to long after; we patiently “wait for it”, we are to “hope for that we see not,” this world hopes for that which they see! Because that’s all they see! Operating upon hope is like being shipwrecked at sea, and you are in the water for 3 days and you feel like you just can’t hang on any longer, and you feel like you want to give up, and in the night you see a light from a small boat far away coming your way, it might take hours to get there, but you are now encouraged, and inspired where you now have a new hope, and a new reality, you don’t feel as in distress as you once were.

Rom 6:17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

That’s why we see “God be thanked” in chapter 6:17 this comes from a saint who is thanking God for this new life that he is going to live by, he is inspired based upon grace and hope that we are privileged to live by and to put this new life into practice, and each time we do this we are being “conformed to the image of His Son,” and each and every time we do this, we not only grow and learn how to not only deal with these things, and gain comfort, but we in turn will learn to be like Paul; we will be “exceeding joyful in all’” tribulations.

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Being “killed all the day long” Satan is trying to kill your desire to get your education underway, and to separate you from the selfless love of Christ, and what He loves, which is the Ministry, and you being conformed to the Image of Christ, it’s about your continuance in these things, that’s the only way you can be killed all the day long. And the Selfless Love of Christ is what the Saints are being educated in here, and notice that the things mentioned in verse 35 pertain to the sufferings of Christ, and the things we ourselves can experience. But also God’s Selfless Love is also being shown in verses 38, and 39 in the things that He is being longsuffering in as Creator of “all things.”

Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Notice “IN” we are going to go through “these things,” but it’s up to you how you want to deal with your sufferings, if you deal with them according to man’s ways and doctrine, you will ‘never know’ how to deal with “these things,” but if you follow God’s instructions, you WILL be MORE than a conqueror in your problems because you are now operating upon grace.

Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The one thing that can separate a son from the love of Christ is “fear” as we seen earlier in 2Corinthians 7:14 and in here in 2Timothy 1:7, that “fear,” and being “ashamed” is what can cause the son to ‘clam up,’ and stall his education as a son, and much worse; it can cause the son to no longer proclaim the doctrine of Christ, which is the objective of the adversary.

2Ti 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

The godly steps that we are shown to be “more than conquerors” in Christ:

Romans 6 begins your instructions by the Father to now DO something based upon your new identity that you now have with Christ, and for the first 11 verses you are told that sin is dead unto you, and you have a “newness of life,” and you are asked of your Father to “reckon” ourselves to be dead unto sin, and to “yield” ourselves unto God, but then we are introduced to the key component in how we can truly learn how to walk in this newness of life; grace!

• But God be thanked.
• Being led by the Spirit of God, not this world and its laws Rom.8:14
• Hope doctrine Rom.8:23-25 This is what we operate upon when we are in our ‘new reality.’
• Being conformed to the image of His Son Verses 28-32 Wise sonship understanding that shows the Father’s objective for your souls, your motivating factors showing just how grace does go to work for you, and that these verses here show how we can be “under” grace, and “led” of the Spirit.
• For thy sake, It is these 3 words that we replay over and over within us, knowing that when we go through these things it is for the Lord’s sake, but because we are identified with Him, and we are being conformed to the image of His Son, it is for our benefit too, when we are more than conquerors.

Rod Jones