Journey through the Book of Romans

Paul abhors his Indwelling Sin & recognizes that the Law cannot save from Sin

Romans 7:13-14 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. NKJV

Paul now says that it was not the holy, just, and good Law of God that produced the corruption within him, but it was sin dwelling in him that he discovered or recognized as the Holy Spirit opened his spiritual eyes. Paul again says, “God Forbid” that he or anyone of us should accuse the Law of God for his or our sin and sinning against God’s Law. All the Law does is exposing to each of us the deep and dark gravity of our sin and depravity within each one of us. The Law of God is perfect because it comes from God who is perfect and there is nothing wanting in God’s Holy Law, but rather our sin in the inner man or woman shows us that our whole person is crippled because of the principle of sin and corruption still remaining in each one of our inner man or woman needing to be subdued that the Law of God cannot provide even in its purity and holiness. If we read the Amplified version of Romans 7:14 (AMP): “We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.” Paul wanted all of those followers of our Lord Jesus in Rome and everywhere else who would read this letter to understand what happened to each one of us when Adam fell so that we could see and understand that we all are totally incapable of meeting the spiritual requirements of the Law of God in the inner man in the power of our own human spirits.

Adam’s disobedience plunged us so deeply into the slavery to sin that our old man that was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6) still rises up within us through our members often time involuntarily when we see an image or hear some words that arouse unclean passion in each one of us, including Paul. The controversy over the centuries regarding the interpretation of Romans 7:14-25 has been a cause of fierce battles in past generations and even in our present day, but I want to say before I continue that whether Paul was speaking of himself during his unregenerate state or his regenerate state, it is clear and I pray will be made clear through his words spoken from a sincere heart of love for our Lord Jesus and for the followers of Christ in Rome that in no way was Paul living some openly sinful lifestyle before the Spirit of God brought him into the revelation of Romans 8:2. Those who twist Paul’s words to give themselves license to practice all forms of immorality, greed, racism, selfishness, gluttony, etc. do it to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:14-18). When we read all of Paul’s letters we find a man with a heart so sensitive to God the Father, through our Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit’s Power that he wrote the following: 1 Corinthians 8:13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. NKJV and 1 Corinthians 9:27 But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel {and} things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit]. Quick Bible Amplified Paul would rather die than to live in such a way as to lead another person by his words or actions washed from their sins in our Lord Jesus’ Blood into a lifestyle willfully sinning against our Lord Jesus.  

Romans 7:15-20 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. NKJV

Paul now begins to speak personally of some of his sin and he speaks with passion, frustration, and confusion in his tone. Paul says that some of the things that he finds himself doing he hates them. Now I spoke earlier above of the centuries of debate over whether Paul was speaking of his unregenerate self or his regenerate self. I want to say that I gather from his words here that he is speaking of his regenerate born again new creation in Christ man because he says he finds himself doing “what I hate” and no unregenerate natural man hates his sin at any time. The act of sinning is natural to the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:14), but to the spiritual man sin is loathsome and he wants his sin against our Lord to stop. Paul here is speaking as a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, a regenerate and born again son of the Living God. This was Paul’s heart in these words as he discovered that he still had indwelling sin present with him and he desperately wanted power over the sin that remained in him to subdue it (1 John 1:8).

I believe the Apostle Paul had been walking with our Lord Jesus since the Damascus road about 15 to 20 years when he wrote this letter. Perhaps I am off some 5-10 years but I believe he had been walking with our Lord Jesus for a while. Paul came to recognize that though he desired to do that which was honoring to God at all times he still was unable to perform it because of the sin that dwelled in him (1 John 1:10). Paul perhaps was speaking mostly of a violent temper and nature that was a part of his great success as a persecutor of our Lord’s Body of believers before he was converted (Galatians 1:13-14 & 1 Timothy 1:13). Paul comes to the conclusion that no unregenerate man ever does and that is he through the Holy Spirit’s influence saw that disposition still in him to sin and that in him dwells nothing good. We hear just the opposite of this true internal assessment from the multitudes still in the world and away from our Lord Jesus and His grace, as they often speak of themselves and others as good people. Paul saw himself as every true believer must as our Lord Jesus said of us with these words, John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” NKJV

Romans 7:21-25 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God --- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. NKJV

Paul always wanted to be led by God the Holy Spirit into all truth, even the truth that first brought him rebuke or reprimand and then led him into freedom. Paul talks now of a law of evil being present with him at all times and this again has to be the experience of a born again man because I can speak of my own personal experience before coming to Christ in repentance and faith and being regenerated, I never was concerned with, cared about, or was conscience of evil present with me because I then did not desire to do any good. It is only the redeemed of the Lord Jesus that the enemy prowls about like a roaring lion trying to devour (1 Peter 5:8) because the unregenerate sinner or goat or Apostate already belongs to him and he needs not prowl about those who are already under his control. The unregenerate sinner or goat or Apostate never wills or desires to do good (moral excellence or moral virtue) because their desire is evil continually (Psalms 119:155).

Paul took pleasure and satisfaction in God’s Law as it instructed him into the path he should walk from the very depths of his soul. Paul desired to always obey the Word of God, but he found himself in warfare with the members of his body without the power to be free or victorious on every occasion (Galatians 5:17). This is the heart cry of every true believer in our Lord Jesus Christ for the unregenerate man cares not that he sins willfully at all. Paul recognizes the indwelling sin and the battle with it for control of his mind and his thoughts and this is why he would write these words to the Corinthian believers: 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ --- who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. NKJV

It is Paul’s desire for complete and total victory over the sin the dwelled in him that activated his recognition of himself as a miserable man in the light of God’s Holiness and Purity that led him to the great Law he will expound for us all in the beginning of Chapter 8. Paul has walked so long with our Lord Jesus some 15 years and yet this raging battle continued to weigh him down as it does with every true child of God until they like Paul come to the place that cries Oh! God I am such a miserable failure before You but it is You Lord Jesus that can deliver me and keep me delivered from the sin that dwells within me. Paul wrote this letter to Roman believers around A.D. 56 or 57 and later he would write a letter to brother Titus around A.D. 64 where he would write these amazing words about God’s grace: Titus 2:11-15 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. NKJV In our Lord Jesus Christ we got not only salvation but sanctification that works in us moment by moment every day as we remain here on the earth to purify our hearts from all of sins corruption and captivity. Amen!

“You will find indwelling sin frequently retarding you the most, when you are most earnest. When you desire to be most alive to God - you will generally find sin most alive to repel you.” Charles Spurgeon

“Overcoming sin, blessed though it surely is, is but the bare minimum of a believers experience. There is nothing astonishing in it. Not to overcome sin is what ought to astonish us.” “Sins must be treated progressively one by one until all have been eliminated.” Watchman Nee

“To struggle, battle, and fight against indwelling sin is the birth mark of the true believer, because the unbeliever does not fight sin, but he or she simply, sweetly, and surely yields to its call.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

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…                  

Journey through the Book of Romans

Paul Expounds the Beauty and Duty of the Law

Romans 7:7-8 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. NKJV

Paul knew that his talk of us being freed from the law would invoke many people to think that God had furnished us a corrupt law or an inadequate law and both assumptions and conclusions would be grossly incorrect. Everything that comes from God the Father is perfect, just, and good always (James 1:17). Paul refutes this vehemently here in verse 7 by asking and answering his own hypothetical question that might come across the minds of some by saying, “God Forbid” that God’s Law is in any way sin or corruption. Paul declares of himself personally that it is only because of God’s Law that he recognized internal desires to sin as the sin of covetousness (Proverbs 27:19 & Jeremiah 4:14). Paul had always considered himself a good Jew and a proud and upstanding Pharisee and leader in the Sanhedrin and thought he kept God’s Law perfectly. Paul did not recognize how exceedingly sinful he was until he had the encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus road. The easiest sin for any person to conceal is the sin in the heart/inner man and Paul knew this all too well before he knew Christ and this is why he prayed with such fervor and urgency for the people he preached the gospel to that they would be strengthened with might in their inner man for Paul knew this is where the fiercest battles of warfare take place (Ephesians 3:14-21).

It is not the fault of God’s Law that we are enslaved by sin and incapable of obedience to His Moral Law, but it is the corruption that each of us is born with that renders us helpless to obey. This inward corruption (old man) is hostile to God’s Moral Law and will not and cannot submit to it ever under any circumstance, and this is why each one of us fallen human creatures need a new nature (new man) in us that desires and will obey God’s Perfect Moral Law (Romans 8:7-8). We can see what Paul is saying here in verses 7 & 8 played out every day in the observance of toddlers who have no knowledge at all of any Ten Commandments, but we can see in them the desire to do that which is wrong always rising to the surface and spilling out in their actions. They cannot control it and surely do not understand their actions they only want to fulfill or gratify the desires that are within them that promise to bring them satisfaction. Likewise Paul is here saying that the Law prohibited him from certain behavior, yet he desired the things or actions anyway because the Law did not come with any power to enable him to resist those evil desires. So it is with every person being drawn away by their own particular and personal lust that leads them into sin when they are not born again and being continuously led by God the Holy Spirit (James 1:13-15).

Romans 7:9-10 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. NKJV

I must say that what Paul says here in verse 9 seems at first to make no sense. Why would he be alive without the Law? Paul was a high ranking member of the Sanhedrin and knew the Law of God surely. I tell you I have studied and prayed and made notes and studied and prayed for many years now and I want to say I don’t know exactly what God the Holy Spirit meant through Paul by these words. I have made notes over the years that have drawn the conclusion that Paul was here speaking of being alive without the Law during his days of being unregenerate. Although Paul was knowledgeable of the Law of Moses and God’s Moral Law (the Ten Commandments) it was only a head knowledge and so he refers to himself in that state as being without the Law, meaning without the Law written in his heart by God (Ezekiel 36:25-27). 

Paul then found that everything he once believed and held dear to him died when he was confronted with the truth of God in our Lord Jesus Christ on that Damascus road (Acts 9:6-9). The Scripture said Paul was trembling and astonished and was led away to Damascus blind and he neither ate nor drank anything for 3 days and nights. Paul before his encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ was ignorant to the true Nature and Holy Requirements of God’s Law esteeming himself to be a righteous man and an upright man and even a moral man before he encountered our Lord Jesus in all His Splendor, Majesty, and Glory. Paul finally saw himself as the Law intended every person to see themselves before a Holy God as bankrupt having nothing good or of value to offer to God (Romans 3:10 & Romans 3:20). Paul had before seen himself as a keeper of God’s Law and able to enter into His Presence on the basis of his supposed outward keeping of the Law.

Romans 7:11-12 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. NKJV

Paul from his youth (as well as every respectable Jewish boy) was taught the Law of Moses and that he was to obey God’s Law. The problem was that Paul was not taught the truth of the coming Messiah (because so many Jews twisted the Psalms and the Prophets who spoke of our Lord Jesus Christ) and that they were to view the Law not as their Savior but as their Teacher or Schoolmaster to point them to our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:19-25). The Jews however twisted the purpose of God’s Law given to them and deceived themselves into thinking that they could and were living up to His Moral Law in totality. Paul as he grew into manhood found himself (as were many other Jews) trusting in his own goodness and not seeing himself in truth as the Law revealed, but he rationalized his sin before God until the truth penetrated his heart and he saw the holiness of the Ten Commandments at the same time revealing his depravity, sinfulness, and corruption despite all of his ritual practice and observance.

Psalms 119:172 My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness. NKJV

 “In both its precepts and penalty, the law of God in its most exacting requirements was fulfilled by Jesus. And He did this in our place as our representative and our substitute.” Jerry Bridges

“The church of Christ is the multitude of all those who believe in Christ for the remission of sins, and who are thankful for that mercy and who love the law of God purely, and who hate the sin in this world and long for the life to come.” William Tyndale

“When we willfully transgress the law of God we can never experience peace and contentment in our mind and soul. The wicked mind or soul has no peace of conscience, no deep and unceasing conviction of being right. It is often troubled. This world can furnish nothing to give peace to a mind or soul agitated with the guilt of sin.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr. from my book entitled “Silent Assassins of the Soul”

“None can hate [sin] but those that love the law of God; for all hatred comes from love. A natural man may be angry with his sin, but hate it he cannot; nay, he may leave it, but not loathe it; if he did, he would loathe all sin as well as any one sin.” Abraham Wright 1611-1690

“The moral law of God is the only law of individuals and of nations, and nothing can be rightful government but such as is established and administered with a view to its support.” Charles Finney

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…                  

Journey through the Book of Romans

Paul declares Believers Freed from the Law

Romans 7:1-6 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another --- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. NKJV

First we must understand that this letter of Paul’s was not written by him with chapter and verses (others added that to give the readers specific locations) it was a letter just as any of us would write today written in a continuous flow expressing and conveying a specific message. Paul continues his theme right into chapter 7 of us being no longer under the law. Paul was speaking at this time in his letter to Jewish men and women in the Roman Church who knew the Law of Moses and that was not just the Ten Commandments but as we have unfolded in earlier studies it included many other laws the people were required to obey as Moses received them from God and gave them to the Jewish people. They are of course too numerous to list them all but for example they had the Law of Burnt Offering, the Law of Grain Offering, and the Law of Sin Offering just to name a few and in each one of these Laws God instructed Moses how they were to be obeyed. These 3 Laws and the others given to Moses by God for the Jewish people to obey were a shadow and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ who was to come as Israel’s Messiah/Redeemer of the World and fulfill every one of those Ceremonial Laws (Colossians 2:16-17 & Hebrews 8:3-5 & Hebrews 10:1-4).

Paul makes the point clearer by showing how the law keeps people in bondage and cannot liberate or set any soul free from sins dominion over and in their lives by setting forth the example of a wife bound by the Law of Moses to her husband as long as the husband lives. Paul wants them to make the connection between what the wife is under in obligation by the Law to remain joined to her husband as long as he lives and likewise all of the Jews were bound to obey the Law of Moses in order to be Jews. Likewise the Jews and Non-Jews (Gentiles) are bound by God’s Moral Law (the Ten Commandments) to obey them perfectly always for the Ten Commandments set the standard to be obeyed yet it did nor could it ever dispense power to the Jew or Non-Jew (Gentile) enabling them to obey it. Like the woman married to a man is considered an adulteress if she marries another man while her husband still lives, so is every Jew or Non-Jew (Gentile) considered a sinner or Law breaker before God if they do not keep the whole law (Romans 2:25 & James 2:10-11). Paul wants the believers to understand that just as only when a woman’s husband dies is she freed from the law that binds her to him and likewise we believers having received our Lord Jesus Christ (who took our sin into Himself dying for our sins) we have died to sin in Christ and now are freed from the Law by way of our union to Christ Jesus our Lord. Now that we are under grace and not under law (Romans 6:14) we have been loosed or freed from its tyrannical demands but with this freedom and liberty there does not come license to break the Law for now that we are in Christ and under grace, He (Christ) has fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17-20 & Romans 10:4-5 & Galatians 2:21) and therefore in Him we too can fulfill the laws righteous requirements as we are empowered by grace through the Spirit.

Paul explains this great mystery of us being married to our Lord Jesus Christ as His bride having been divorced from the Law as he so clearly expounds it in detail in the entire Ephesians 3 & Ephesians 5. It is this union and connection and joining in Christ’s Mystical Body that enables us to bear fruit to God the Father (Philippians 1:9-11) and Paul often prayed for other believers to be filled so with Christ for this intimacy with Him in love is how we live no longer in willful sin and rebellion to God’s Moral Law as we once did when were dead spiritually and incapable of bearing only sin which always led to death. Paul is saying that before any of us were recipients of God’s Grace the law provoked the corrupt nature in us to sin more. It was as if since as each one of us saw our inability within to obey God’s Moral Law we rationalized our lack of power (no grace) to further indulge ourselves in sin because we could not help ourselves. Instead of the helplessness sin’s power exuded over us pushing us to God for help, it kept us away from Him through guilt and shame making us rationalize or cover up our depraved condition to sin’s power as we looked to ease the guilt and shame by comparing ourselves to others. Paul, however, now wants all of us true believers to recognize, remember, and now repudiate that old defeated state of mind and being and see ourselves now as being delivered from those bonds and chains that the Law held us in and walk in the Spirit where we will not satisfy the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-18).

Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” NKJV

“Before I truly believed or trusted the Gospel of Christ I was still under the law. Where the law is, there is bondage or enslavement to sin (the sins of pornography and masturbation and all forms of sexual addiction). Being under the Law gives freedom in nothing but rather leads into, and brings about, a spirit of bondage or enslavement. The Law exacts rigorous obedience where there is no strength or power found to perform the obedience. The Law held me guilty. The Law cursed and condemned me for disobedience. Therefore, as long as I was still under law, and of the works of law, I was always under a spirit of bondage or enslavement.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr. from my book entitled “Silent Assassins of the Soul”

Galatians 3:10 (AMP): “And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.”

“Let me give you an example to illustrate this point. When a man falls into quicksand, his self-effort of struggling to free himself only sinks him deeper and deeper into the quicksand. Such was the case with me and with every person still under the curse of the Law. My self-effort to try to free myself or stop the sins of pornography and masturbation (sexual addiction) served only to thrust me deeper and deeper into my addiction and dependence. When the Gospel took effect in my heart, however, under the influence of the Spirit of God I was liberated or freed (with strength Christ gave me) to not sin. Being still under the Law is contrary to the Gospel and to the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit now dwells or lives in me by grace through faith. The principle of grace being worked out in my soul gives me liberty or freedom from the bondage and enslavement of sin. It gives me a liberty or freedom from the law’s rigorous exaction, curse, and condemnation and from the veil of former blindness and ignorance. When I was converted to Christ by truly believing and trusting Him then the veil of ignorance was taken away. The blindness of my mind and the hardness of my heart were cured and are being sanctified daily by Christ’s grace. My condition is now one of joy and freedom in the Holy Spirit.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr. from my book entitled “Silent Assassins of the Soul”

“The law, by commanding, forbidding, threatening, corrupt and fallen man, but offering no grace to cure and strengthen, did but stir up the corruption, and, like the sun shining upon a dunghill, excite and draw up the filthy steams. We being lamed by the fall, the law comes and directs us, but provides nothing to heal and help our lameness, and so makes us halt and stumble the more.” Matthew Henry

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…                             

Journey through the Book of Romans

Paul declares Believers no longer Sin’s Slave but Slaves to God

Romans 6:15-19 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. NKJV

Paul again ask and answers the same question that he did to begin this chapter in verse 1, but this time he says that just because we have been delivered from the law and its requirements to keep the law completely at all times and now Christ has placed us under grace’s authority and rule but this still does not give us a license to sin willfully that grace will cover our sins. Paul, as we can clearly see from his strong desire to repudiate this abominable, abhorrent, and atrocious teaching that must have permeated the land round about him and infiltrated the churches that he founded wanted the truth of grace to be securely known by all of those he so dearly loved and wanted them not to be deceived and says again “God Forbid” that we should live in or continue in sin because of grace (1 Corinthians 15:33 & 2 Corinthians 4:2). Paul wants to bring every one that would read this letter of his back to that moment when each one of us received our Lord Jesus Christ by faith and this glorious and great grace was applied to our dead in trespasses and sins spirit and Christ new life and love and forgiveness flooded our hearts and we were born again. Paul wants us to know with certainty that our Lord Jesus Christ has rescued us from our slavery to sin and all of its corresponding corruption.

Paul also wants us to know surely that just as our Lord did not force us to turn to Him or call upon His Name for salvation, likewise He will not make us present our bodies and its members to Him as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2). As we showed by the illustration of alcohol and how its consumption takes control of a person’s behavior and how Paul wrote that we (Christians) are not to be drunk with wine or alcohol, but filled with the Holy Spirit that He make take over and control our behavior for good and God’s Glory. We showed how we must yield to the Power of God the Holy Spirit as He will not force us to yield. Paul is continuing to drive this point home here in verse 16 by reminding us that before Christ our bodies members were continually yielded over to sin’s control (John 8:34) and that only led to death (spiritual death and for some physical death, i.e. drug over dose, car crash drunk behind the wheel, fighting brought on by alcohol intoxication, etc.), but now that our Lord Jesus Christ has placed us under grace we now desire (by the activation of grace) to yield our members unto righteousness as slaves to God for His Glory.

It is Christ grace freely given to each one of us that makes us desire to listen to Him and His Words attentively obeying with all of our hearts out of love for our Lord Jesus Christ that we might be pleasing to Him. Even in our best forms of obedience and conformity to His Word we still know we fall far short of what He deserves from us as His children and what He gave up to purchase us by His Blood. As hard as many of us ran in the indulgence and gratifying of the flesh and spirit in all manner of evil and wickedness now that we are free from sin’s enslaving power over us by grace we should run even harder to be slaves of righteousness leading to holiness being spiritually minded which always leads to life and peace (Romans 8:6). Because true obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word of Truth always leads the obedient son or daughter into righteousness and that always bears a clear, clean, and calm conscience knowing and in full recognition that it is under grace and the control of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords free from its former pollution.

Romans 6:20-23 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV

Paul now reminds us that in our former life bound in sin and enslaved by sin we were incapable of producing any fruits of righteousness at all. Our entire life was the preoccupation with sin, planning sin, purposing sin, preferring sin, and practicing sin every day all day year after year after year. The desires of our hearts were evil continually and at all times so that even when we desired to do some “noble” thing it was covered in sin because the motivation was to bring attention, honor, and praise to ourselves hoping to ease the burning conscience within but never succeeding. We did not even so much as think about righteousness, because we did not even know what righteousness meant. This is the description of the total and complete depravity of man and it is born in the heart of every child from their mother’s womb. Paul has spent much of this part of his letter refuting the abominable lie perpetrated by many false teachers that grace gives the person permission to live as they please gratifying the sinful nature or flesh living in sin and indulging it with equal frequency and intensity as before becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. In verse 21 of this chapter Paul throws cold water on top of that false belief or understanding of God’s grace dousing its flames before they can continue to burn. Paul shows that a true follower of our Lord Jesus Christ recognizes what has been and is being worked out in his soul and that is the hatred of the old lifestyle of sin that bore nothing good in it and only brings shame to our hearts right now.

The life of enslavement to sin was one that wrought spiritual death leading to physical death and finally would have led to eternal death in hell but God (Ephesians 2:4-10). Our Lord Jesus Christ has saved us from sin by washing us from it in His own Blood (Revelation 1:5) and the reality or fact that we are saved from hell is the icing on the eternal cake. Just as we were worthless and incapable of living in righteousness (as the Word of God defines it) when we were slaves of sin, now we have been freed from sin’s enslavement by our Lord and we should be worthless and incapable of living our lives to unrighteousness (also as the Word of God defines it), but we must yield all of ourselves to God as His slave of holiness. What a glorious thought that is far more than just a thought but by yielding to the Holy Spirit it can always be a reality to be a slave to holiness for this is the will of God and the effectual call of God to every one of us who have been born again of incorruptible seed (1 Thessalonians 4:7). Everlasting life lived with our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be enjoyed but by those of us who have been made holy by our Lord Jesus and seek daily to walk or live in this newness of life ordained for us before He founded the world, for as Paul said, Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” NKJV

Ephesians 4:17-24 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. NKJV

“Conversion is, First, A freedom from the service of sin; it is the shaking off of that yoke, resolving to have no more to do with it. Secondly, A resignation of ourselves to the service of God and righteousness, to God as our master, to righteousness as our work. When we are made free from sin, it is not that we may live as we list, and be our own masters; no: when we are delivered out of Egypt, we are, as Israel, led to the holy mountain, to receive the law, and are there brought into the bond of the covenant. Observe, We cannot be made the servants of God till we are freed from the power and dominion of sin; we cannot serve two masters so directly opposite one to another as God and sin are. We must, with the prodigal, quit the drudgery of the citizen of the country, before we can come to our Father’s house.” Matthew Henry

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…                              

Journey through the Book of Romans

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…                             

Journey through the Book of Romans

Paul declares Believers Dead to Sin but Alive now to God Part 3

Romans 6:5 “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,” NKJV

Paul continues to show each one of us the tremendous, wonderful, and powerful thing that happened to us when we were united with our Lord Jesus Christ the moment we were regenerated and born again. The awesome power the Holy Spirit exerted to raise Christ Jesus’ Body to Life is the same power exerted to raise, regenerate, and resurrect our spirits dead to God the Father and His truth, goodness, holiness, and righteousness. The true believer is not someone who merely makes a decision for Christ (although he must turn to Him of his own free will because God does not force His gift of grace on anyone), but he is given new life most notably resurrection life. The English word resurrection that Paul uses here in verse 5 comes from the Greek word anastasis, (this word has a glorious meaning for every one of God’s Elect children) it means a standing up again; literally a resurrection from death (i.e. our Lord Jesus); figuratively a moral recovery of spiritual truth (i.e. you and me as we were dead in our trespasses and sins). This is why Paul said to the Philippian believers the following: Philippians 3:8-11 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. NKJV

Paul clearly understood during the duration of his sojourn here on the earth as Christ son, soldier, and slave that everything he did that was godly and had lasting eternal value all came by and through the power of Christ Resurrection Life working in him and through him to live a life that honored and brought glory to God the Father. When Christ died on the Cross the believer (by the Spirit’s Power in regeneration and the new birth) died to sin and when our Lord was raised from the dead to Life (never to die again, Revelation 1:18), so the believer was resurrected out of the spiritual death of the enslavement of his or her sins and given power to walk or live a new life in Christ forever. This fact and reality of our Lord’s Resurrection from death receiving Life to never die again is the same thing that has happened to our dead spirits (in the bondage of trespasses and sins) as they were made alive to God the Father through God the Son’s Sacrifice and by God the Holy Spirit’s Power.

Ephesians 2:4-6 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. NKJV

Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. NKJV

Now Paul says to us that since we know all of this (that is everything he has said in verses 1-5) to be true and we should believe it absolutely and be sure of it, then the result of our dying with Christ 2,000 years ago produces a supernatural dynamic in the new life given to the believer that makes us different by the sole virtue of what Christ did by taking our sin into Himself and giving us His Righteousness and then making us a partaker of His Divine Nature. Paul uses a strong Greek word to describe what Christ has done to us and to our desire for sin and to sin, that word is katargeo, which means to render entirely idle or useless; to abolish, destroy, do away with, to make of no effect, to loose, to bring to nought, to put away, vanish away, or make void. This word is incredible and signifies and testifies to every one of us that we have available the power according to Paul to live in complete and total victory over sin. We have been given the right and privilege by what our Lord Jesus has done with our sin when He took it into Himself to continuously resist temptation and resist the devil (James 4:7) and make him flee/run from us as he tries to ruin our testimony, kill our joy, quench the Holy Spirit’s power through us, pour cold water on the flame of our love for the Lord Jesus, and steal away our peace for a season by luring us into sin that our Lord has destroyed, abolished, and done away with. We must remember to submit ourselves to God by being obedient to His Word no matter the consequences for in so doing we will always resist the temptation to sin against our Heavenly Father. Sin was once our master (before we received Christ) but now Christ is our Master and it is Him we love and obey and no longer do we obey sin.

Ephesians 4:22-24 That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. NKJV

Romans 6:7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. NKJV

Paul now as a competent carpenter or construction worker does in the building of a house drives in the final nail that cements or secures all of the previous truths he has so eloquently explained to us by saying that if we truly have died with our Lord Jesus Christ, then we by virtue of His death and our union with Him being planted together with Him have been freed from sins mastery and dominion over us in our daily lives. Just as many of my ancestors who were owned by whites as slaves here in this State of Louisiana were subject to obey their masters every command, but when they died they were freed from their masters forever never to hear another command or be subject to obey it. Likewise we before we were regenerated and born again were bound and subject to sins every beck and call and we had no means by which to reject or resist sins commands, but now in our union with Christ’s death on Calvary we have died to our old master sin and have a loving, merciful, compassionate, and wonderful new Master in our Lord Jesus Christ and His Commands they are not burdensome but His Yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30 & 1 John 5:3).

“To be freed from sin is not a difficult task when viewed in the light of the finished, perfect and complete salvation of God. A believer must proceed to learn the more advanced and perhaps more formidable and deeper lesson of abhorring his life.” Watchman Nee

“Every Christian will readily allow that sin is insidious, but it is one thing to recognize this in theory and quite another to be regulated by it in practice.” A. W. Pink

“If you will not have death unto sin, you shall have sin unto death. There is no alternative. If you do not die to sin, you shall die for sin. If you do not slay sin, sin will slay you.” Charles Spurgeon

“It is because of the hasty and superficial conversation with God that the sense of sin is so weak and that no motives have power to help you to hate and flee from sin as you should.” A. W. Tozer

“I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition!” Billy Sunday

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…