Romans 6:12-14 - Yield

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

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This is the third of four concepts of turning your life over to Jesus Christ and living for Him. The first: Know - mental acceptance that Jesus Christ died for your sin. Second: Reckon/Consider - based on that knowledge, orient your life and behavior following Him. Third: Yield - surrender control of your life to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

- - - Present Yourselves - - -

V. 12 - “Therefore...” - Since you know your old self died in Christ, (See: Rom. 6:4-12, above) and you know sin has died in Christ, and you now consider (that is, you reckon, or plan) your life and actions based on that knowledge, and you obey that planning...

“do not let sin reign in your mortal body” - As long as you live in this world, in this physical (mortal) body you will be tempted to sin. By the power of the Holy Spirit you can opt to not sin. By relying on Christ and the Holy Spirit to guide and help you, sin will no longer control.

You have options!

This is not a one-time event, but an ongoing situation - do not let sin have unending control of your life!

V. 13 - “And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin” - This is continuation of the thought started in verse 12 - don’t let sin reign. In addition to ending the reign of sin, stop letting your body be used by sin. Andrew Klavan, from “The Daily Wire”, has said on his podcast that our physical bodies are a manifestation of our soul and spirit. I think that description fits what God is saying through Paul in these verses.

The physical acts of sin are show what your soul and spirit believe.

You believe that Jesus died for your sin and is your savior. Good! So quit acting as if He doesn’t exist and didn’t sacrifice Himself for you! Break that pattern of sinful behavior.

“present yourselves to God” - There are negative and a positive aspects to this train of thought. The negative is yielding your body to sin. The positive is yielding your body to God. Both are an act of will - “I will not submit to God’s commands,” or, “I will submit to God’s commands and follow His ways.”
When knights pledged their allegiance to a king, they offered their sword to the king. On bended knee they held the sword in the palms of their open hands to the king. They yeilded themselves to the king. Similarly, Robert E. Lee offered his sword to Ulysses S. Grant when he surrendered at Appomattox Court House. In addition, Lee's army surrendered their weapons to the Union Army. This is picture of "yield" - no more fighting, pledging allegiance.

Our lives are not a game of “Pooh Sticks”. (In the Winnie the Pooh stories, they play a game with Christopher Robin called “Pooh Sticks”. They drop sticks off a bridge over a stream on the upper side, and then run to the other side of the bridge to see what the current has done with the sticks.) We are not dropped into the stream of life to then just float along bounced around by the stones and currents in the stream. We are active participants by the decisions we make. Peter says it this way, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’" (1 Pet. 1:14-16) Other letters by Paul, James and John echo this thought: Choose Jesus!

V. 14 - “For sin shall not be master over you” - The “For” in this sentence points us back to this reasoning:

• Do not let sin reign (v. 12)
• Yield yourselves to God, because (v. 13)
• You are in Christ (v. 11)
• He (Jesus) lives for God, (v. 10)
• So you can live for God (v. 12)

Which all lead us to what follows: Sin shall not be master over you. You are no longer slaves to sin - it has no control over you. 

That is the big picture here: You are free. You can choose between the two options.

“You are not under law but under grace” - Up to this point in the letter, Paul has mentioned ‘grace’ at least 10 times. He compares the obligation of the law to the gift of grace.

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