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We cannot grow up into the Word if iniquity has control (i.e., “dominion,” authority, lordship) over us.
Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts. (Psalm 119:133,134)
We deny God the freedom to work in our life to bring forth His fruit where we let “other lords” have dominion over us.
LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. (Isa. 26:12,13)
God is not satisfied with our mere profession of “Jesus as Lord.” Our life must be built upon the foundation of obedience to the words of Christ. When He is truly Lord, His words are actualized in us.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:21-27)
No one has two masters, or lords. Our love for one will displace the other. Our obedience to the one, will stop our obedience to the other.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)
We cannot live both a self pleasing and a Christ pleasing life. We are obedient to our own desires and serve our own appetites (i.e., “belly”) or we serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men … (Romans 16:17-19)
There is a higher standard of obedience for those under grace than those who were under the law. We are to refuse the operation of anything that would compete with the Lordship of Christ and seek to control our body, soul, or spirit, even if it would fall under the heading of being “lawful.”
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. (1 Corinthians 6:12,13)
True salvation brings an end to personal autonomy. We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and we are no longer our own. He is Lord and we are to rule ourselves under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
The tyrannical, oppressive reign of sin in our life is broken as soon as we are in Jesus Christ our Lord. We have now been delivered from the false “freedom” we had when we were unregenerate, and have been given a true freedom in which sin has no Lordship over us. It is our duty, as those who are “free indeed” to hate oppression of any kind that would want to operate in our being. We can and must refuse every and any temptation that would want to re-establish or reassert sin’s control over us.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:11-14)
So also ye, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to the sin, and living to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not then the sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its desires; neither present ye your members instruments of unrighteousness to the sin, but present yourselves to God as living out of the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God; for sin over you shall not have lordship, for ye are not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:11-14 Young’s Literal Translation)
Repentance is nothing more than full surrender to God. When we were unsurrendered, we gave ourselves to ourselves. Our mouths were our own, our eyes were our own, our minds where our own – we did with ourselves what pleased ourselves. We answered to no one but ourselves. We were our own lords.
The fruit of our previous life of giving ourselves over to sin was shameful. We thought we were “free” and in charge of our own lives, but in actuality, we were in the grip of sin. Sin was our lord. We served sin. We presented our mind and body to sin to be its slave. We were not really our own, we belonged to the sin that we habitually yielded to.
Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death, that He might be Lord. Now, in yielding our bodies and minds to Him, and living under the control of His Spirit, we bring forth the holy fruits of His Holy Spirit.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 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. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 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. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:15-23)