Paul declares Believers Dead to Sin but Alive now to
God Part 4
Romans
6:8-10 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no
longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin
once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. NKJV
The Apostle Paul made a rock solid conclusion concerning
our condition to sin by saying that we are dead to sin just as our Lord died on
the Cross. We died with our Lord Jesus Christ those 2,000 years ago even though
in the natural we were not yet born or even conceived because our death was not
a natural death as our Lord Jesus suffered, but it was our sins that He took
into His body (1 Peter 2:24) that
died with Him (2 Timothy 2:11).
Therefore, when our sin in Christ died we died to our sin the moment we were
reconciled to Him (Romans 5:10 & 2
Corinthians 5:18 & Colossians 1:21). It is Christ new life in me that
sustains, motivates, and empowers me each day and works in me to do according
to His desires and passions subduing the desires of my old man that was fallen
and corrupted through wicked thoughts, intentions, and actions (2 Corinthians 13:4). Our Lord Jesus
Christ (while on the earth) was fully a Man in all of the physical sense just
like I am, yet He was the God-Man because He never stop being God to become a
Man. God the Father prepared a Body for Him (Hebrews 10:5) to take humanities sin into Himself and kill sin on
the Cross at Calvary so that all who come to Him in repentance and faith will
die to sin and live to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ died in His Physical body once for sins sake
and when He was resurrected, He was raised to live forevermore (Hebrews 10:12). Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the firstfruit from the dead (1
Corinthians 15:20) meaning He is the first and only Man to die and be
raised bodily in a new eternal resurrection glorified body, which every one of
His children (born ones) will receive a glorified body after His Second Coming
to the earth to judge the ungodly. We are right now a sort of firstfruits but
without the glorified body yet because we have died to sin by and through our
union with our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans
8:23 & James 1:18). Death has no more dominion or rule over our Lord
Jesus and He now lives a life to God the Father. Sin should also have no more
dominion or rule over us because we are dead to sin and we live to God the
Father now. Christ came to earth for one purpose alone and that was to take sin
into Himself and die for man’s sin thus killing sins power over man and freeing
all men who come to Him from sins enslavement over their lives (2 Corinthians 5:21 & Hebrews 9:28).
Romans
6:11-14 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore do not let
sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not
present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but
present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you,
for you are not under law but under grace. NKJV
Paul continues to drive home this truth to our
hearts by instructing us to do in the same manner as our Lord Jesus Christ did
by dying once for sin and living forever to God the Father. Paul uses the English
word reckon (which sounds like
southern slang) but it comes from the Greek word logizomai, which means to take inventory; account or conclude. Paul
is saying to each one of us that it is our responsibility (as we yield to the
Power of God the Holy Spirit) to account or conclude that we are literally and
actually dead to sins power in and over our lives every single day. Paul then
uses the commonly used (especially by us in this generation of humanity) little
seemingly insignificant phrase “let not”
but this little phrase comes from the Greek word me (pronounced as may) which is a primary particle of qualified
negation and it is meant to express an absolute denial. Paul is telling every
true believer in our Lord Jesus Christ that we are to negate sin by firmly,
fiercely, and forcefully (yielding to the Holy Spirit’s Power) denying it place
to rule in our present bodies that are but temporary tents or houses where our
redeemed soul from sin through the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ resides or
lives now.
God the Holy Spirit will not override our wills in
this matter but He will dispense power to the will yielded up to His authority
and control. This is why Paul said these words, Ephesians 5:18 “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation;
but be filled with the Spirit” NKJV Paul knew that just as a man must
choose or yield to the drinking of alcohol, but in so doing the alcohol in him
begins to take over and control his behavior (usually leading to ungodliness),
likewise a child of God must choose to yield to God the Holy Spirit in him and
He will take over controlling the persons behavior (always leading to godliness
and holiness). Paul concludes by reminding us that the reason we can overcome
sin through the Holy Spirit’s Power is because of what we are now in Christ
verses what we were before Christ. Before we were in Christ we were just like
all the others still groping in the darkness of sin due to the fact that they
are still under the law which places the sinner with the wrath of God upon them
(John 3:36). But we are no longer in
that spiritual state or condition by virtue of our regeneration and new birth
which places us under grace now totally delivered from the wrath to come and
freed to live a life (through the Holy Spirit’s Power) pleasing to God the
Father by virtue of our dying to sin with our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why
sin has no more dominion, rule, or power over us. Christ Jesus our Lord sits
now at the Right Hand of God the Father and His Throne is a Throne of Grace and
from His Throne He dispenses all the grace any of His children need daily to
walk or live in victory over sin (John
1:14 & 1 Corinthians 15:57).
“We could not take one step in the pursuit of
holiness if God in His grace had not first delivered us from the dominion of sin and brought us into union
with His risen Son. Salvation is by grace and sanctification is by grace.”
Jerry Bridges
“Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His
mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of
His love.” John Bunyan
“The man who walks in humble, loving obedience, to
an indwelling Christ, sin has no more dominion over his soul than death has
over the immortal and glorified body of his Redeemer.” Adam Clarke
“He that boasts of being one of God’s elect, while
he is willfully and habitually living in sin, is only deceiving himself, and
talking wicked blasphemy. I cannot see how any man deserves to be called ‘holy,’
who willfully allows himself in sins, and is not humbled and ashamed because of
them. How can we love sin, when we remember that because of our sins Jesus
died?” J. C. Ryle
“We must keep from sin. If Christ has indeed saved
us from sin, we cannot bear the thought of falling into it. Those who take
delight in sin are not the children of God. If you are a child of God, you hate
it with a perfect hatred, and your very soul loathes it.” Charles Spurgeon
If you do not
know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your
heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus,
I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You
shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead
proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins.
I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I
want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely
in Christ,
Clifford
D. Tate, Sr.
Author
of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and
Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into
Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s
Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod,
Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners,
Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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