Victory Over Sin: Romans 6-7 - Feb. 15, 2009
Good morning. Turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 6. We have been going through this book written by the Apostle Paul to Christians living in Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire. He writes them to share the “good news” of salvation - explaining what our salvation means for us. In chapters 1-3 he writes about condemnation -- all men, -- out and out sinners, kind moral people who try to do good, and even religious Jews -- all men are condemned by God, because a holy, holy, holy God cannot allow sin in His presence. Our sin condemns us all.
Paul goes on in chapters 4 & 5 to talk about our justification -- the legal declaration that we are “not guilty” of our sin. Even though we are spiritually bankrupt on our own, God has “credited” to our account all the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In chapter 4 Paul shows us that this justification, this bringing us into right standing with God, does not come about by trying to keep the OT laws. The law could never make us right with God, it only ever condemned us. The law was given to us to show us our sinfulness.
And then in chapter 5, Paul goes on to talk about sanctification - the discussion of how we become “set apart” from sin and set apart unto God. We talked last week about how God develops godly character in our lives. We have been given “access” to God -- the privilege to come before the very throne of the God of all creation and bring all of our needs, wants, wishes, and concerns to Him. He invites us to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” [Heb. 4:16] God allows us to struggle in life, because the struggles make us stronger. When we suffer, it helps us to endure -- to keep on holding on and not give up. The perseverance builds character in our life, which inspires us to keep on believing in God: to have HOPE! The belief in God even when circumstances don’t seem to indicate He is at work, because we KNOW He IS, and we can trust Him.
Today, we want to go on to chapter 6 & 7, and talk about our sanctification.
• Justification has to do with our standing - that we have been declared “not guilty” of our sins: the righteousness of Christ has been credited to our account.
• Sanctification has to do with our conduct - do we “live out” the truth of who we are in Christ?
In Justification -- the declaration of our righteousness -- the sin nature does not die. Even though we have been declared “righteous” in God’s sight, we still live with the sin nature. But its hold on our lives has been broken, for when we are declared righteous in God’s sight, we are also “regenerated” - we are given a new nature.
In Sanctification -- the process of becoming like Christ -- the old nature still does not die, but we choose not to indulge it, to give in to its desires.
Paul has shown us that we are NOT Justified by the OT law: there was nothing it could do to make us right with God. It was only given to show us our sinfulness.
When you have a little child, and the child takes a cookie out of the cookie jar, you want to punish the child for their disobedience. So if the child says, “You never said I couldn’t have a cookie” then as a parent you say, “OK, from now on don’t ever take a cookie unless you ask first. If you do, I’ll have to punish you.”
In the same way, the law was given to show the sin in our hearts. It shows us that the actions we do by nature are wrong and against the laws of God. But just as the OT laws couldn’t make us right with God, so also they can’t help us get spiritual victory over sin in our lives. Because we still have the “old nature” - our natural tendency to sin, it is easy for us to struggle with sin all of our lives.
Sometimes we think that as long as we have been a Christian we should have spiritual victory in our lives. But even the Apostle Paul, great as he was, still had a struggle inside himself. He writes of hs struggle with sin in Romans 7:15+ - {NLT} - I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?
When the Apostle Paul wrote these words, he had been a Christian for about 25 years. He grew up religious, learning all the truth of the OT law; and then for 25 years he followed Christ. But he still faces struggles in his life. Can you identify with him? Maybe you know what he’s talking about.
Many times we look to the LAW to give us victory in our Christian lives. In our lives, not necessarily the 10 commandments, but we look to a system of outward performance. We try to gain victory in our lives over sin by trying to DO all the right things. We think that if we can just try harder we will gain the victory. I’ll just try harder to control my temper, to not look at pornography, to not say anything unkind, to break my bad habits and addictions. But the sad truth is that all you DO on your own strength will NEVER give you victory over sin. Instead, it will just build pride in your heart over your achievements; it will make you critical of others and give you a performance -based system of acceptance of others -- you will judge them based on how they match up to your expectations; you will be reluctant to admit your own failures, and when you struggle with an area you will hide it in your shame, and try to cover up so no one else finds out; and you will end up facing depression, discouragement, depression, and defeat in your life.
So, if the key to spiritual victory is NOT in outward performance, how do we gain the victory in our Christian lives? Many Christians simply give up trying, saying “I tried before and failed, so what’s the use trying anymore?” But that’s not the answer either. Actually, the answer is very simple. John 8:32 says, And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Remember the story of The Wizard of Oz - Dorothy leaves her home in Kansas, lands in OZ on the wicked witch, and takes her red shoes. She travels all through Oz having a variety of adventures, all the time wishing she could home to be with Auntie Em again. In the end, when she defeats the other wicked witch and meets the good witch, Glenda, she is told: You had the answer all along. The answer to getting home was on her feet: the red shoes. She just needed to know how to use them.
It’s the same way in the Christian life: Christian living depends on Christian learning. Duty is founded upon Doctrine. That’s why in all of Paul’s letters, he takes the first part of the book to deal with doctrine, and the last half to talk about duty. We learn the truth, and then apply the truth to our lives.
If Satan can keep you ignorant of the truth, you will stay impotent - having no power over sin and no danger in the fight for the truth. Satan wants us to be defeated and discouraged in our Christian lives, constantly giving in to despair. But if we know the truth, the truth will set us free. Today, we want to learn the truth of how we can have VICTORY in our spiritual lives. And the simple truth is this: Victory is as simple as A - B - C.
1. Acknowledge Christ’s Accomplishment - Paul says in Romans 6:6 - For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. There is something that we need to KNOW - this involves our MIND - we need to know that we are dead to sin. It was accomplished by Christ’s death and resurrection. We no longer NEED to be in bondage to sin. We no longer need to be a slave to sin.
The sad fact is that many Christians live their lives between Good Friday and Easter. They know they have forgiveness of sins -- they know Jesus died on the cross for their sins and they have salvation - they will go to heaven when they die. But they have never truly experienced the power of the resurrection in their lives.
The power of the resurrection is not just the power to one day live forever in heaven. Rather it is the power given to each of us to live beyond the control of sin. Paul writes in Colossians 3 - Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
We have been given the power to live a godly life. But we often fail to accept what we have been given.
While we have been given a new nature, we still have the old, sinful nature in our lives. 6:6 tells us For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with -- but the word for “done away with” doesn’t mean the old nature is “destroyed” but rather that it is “rendered inactive” or “made ineffective.” The old nature can’t control us unless we choose to give in to its power.
Our bodies are not sinful: they are neutral. They will be controlled -- by the sin nature, or by the Holy Spirit. Don’t blame your body for growing extra pounds if you eat a lot of cookies and brownies: it is simply responding to your choices. The body is not sinful. But we often choose to let ourselves be controlled by the sin nature.
Satan loves to recapture us, even though we have been given the victory over sin. In Ephesians 4 we are encouraged to put off falsehood and speak the truth and not to “give the devil a foothold.” Many times we know the truth, but we don’t accept it. We don’t accept the victory Christ has won for us. And as a result, Satan gets a foothold in our lives. But when Satan gets a foothold, that foothold becomes a stronghold. He doesn’t ever want to give up the place we have given him.
When we are on vacation, Bobby loves to get up on bed with us. We don’t let him up on the bed at home. But when we travel, he jumps up on the bed. He works his way up between us, sometimes even trying to get up by the pillow. And once he is there, if you try to move him, it’s like trying to pick up a load of bricks. He doesn’t want to move.
In the same way, when we give in an area of our life to Satan’s control, he digs in and doesn’t want to give it up. It becomes a stronghold. But the wonderful truth in 2 Corinthians 10:4 is that The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. How do we get spiritual victory in our lives? It starts with acknowledging the truth, refusing to give in to the lies of Satan. We claim the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus.
In WW2, a general in a Japanese POW camp was called to be given the news that the war was over and the allies had won. On his way back to tell the men, a guard barked some orders to him. But he simply responded to the guard that now the guard was under his authority. The guard no longer held authority over him.
In our spiritual lives, victory in our Christian life comes first from KNOWING the truth, that victory over sin’s control has been accomplished through Jesus Christ.
Victory is as simple as ABC. Acknowledge Christ’s Accomplishment --
2. Believe what Christ has done for you -- Not only to we need to KNOW the truth in our heads, but we also need to believe it in our hearts. We need to live lives of faith. Paul says in 6:11 - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. In the KJV, the word “count” is translated as “reckon.” Really this is a bookkeeping term, a financial term.
Down south, they use the term “reckon” a lot -- I reckon it’s going to rain today. But this term is not just the idea of supposing, making a guess. Rather it is a stronger word, referring to imputation, “applying a sum to someone’s account.” Paul isn’t saying we are to “feel” dead to sin, or just to understand it, but to believe it. We are to act on the truth of God’s word and claim that truth in our daily lives.
If you get a check in the mail for $5,000, would you cash it? And if you did, would you spend the money?
That all depends on whether you believe that the check is good. I know many people have received bad checks, cashed and spent the money, only to later have the bank tell them the check was no good and they owed back the money that they were credited.
But let’s say you believe the check is good: your uncle died and the executor of the estate sent you a certified check to your bank account. In fact, they might even have used direct deposit and you never even saw the check: you just got a note from your bank telling you the sum was added to your account. That is the idea of reckoning, or counting.
As Christians, we KNOW the truth, but then we are to BELIEVE that it is true for us. We know God has broken the power of sin over our lives; now we need to believe it. We don’t need to hopeless despair over the sin that controls us, but to believe that we CAN have victory over every sin that faces us.
We act with our minds and accept the truth; we act with our hearts and believe the truth; and we act with our wills:
3. Commit ourselves to following God - this is a decision of the will. Even though we know the truth, and we might believe in our heart that God can help us, sometimes we never make a commitment to turn our struggles over to God and receive the help He wants to give. In verse 12, Paul writes this:
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
The literal reading of this would be “do not continually let sin reign” and “do not constantly offer the parts of your body to sin” -- but rather “once for all, offer yourselves to God.” The word “offer” here refers to an intelligent decision, not an impulsive act. This is a choice of the will. It refers to “offering as a sacrifice.” Remember the OT system was filled with animal sacrifices, where the animal was killed and placed on the altar. In the same way, Romans 12 tells us we are “to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.” We make a commitment, a once for all choice, that we are going to serve God, and not serve sin. Look down in 6:16 - Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
The truth is that everyone will serve someone. You will either serve the passions and desires of your sinful nature, or you will serve the Lord who gives you victory over sin. But you need to make a decision, a commitment of whom you will serve.
Victory over sin in our lives comes as we commit to following God. That is how we bring about fruit in our lives. Look over in 7:4 - So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Following the law -- trying hard to follow a system of do’s and don’ts will never bring about fruit in our lives. It won’t produce joy, it will bring frustration. It won’t produce peace, it brings contention. It won’t bring patience; it produces discontent. Instead, fruit comes in our lives as we focus on a personal relationship with our God.
If I take a branch from an apple tree, and cut it off from the tree, it will never bear fruit. No matter how warm a climate I put it in, no matter how much sun it gets, or how much water I give it. Apart from the tree there will be no fruit. Jesus said the same thing in John 15:5 - I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
How do we bear spiritual fruit in our lives? Not by trying harder and harder to do good. That never does anything but bring shame and guilt. Rather fruit comes from our relationship with our God. The closer we are to Him, the more fruit we bear in our lives. And that is the main point of the ABCs - we accept the truth -- know we are free from the power of sin -- we believe the truth, we act on the truth -- and we commit our wills to living out of our relationship with Christ.
How do we experience the victory in our lives? Paul goes on in chapter 8 to talk about the key that we will look more at next week: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. . . . in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
To experience the victory over sin in our lives, we need to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Living a life of spiritual victory is not a question of trying harder to do the right thing, but rather of learning more and more to turn to God and trust His Holy Spirit to accomplish in your life what we can never do in our own strength. So often we want to work harder, instead of trusting more.
If there is an area of your life where Satan has the victory today: a habit, an addiction, a weakness, a struggle that you have given up on getting victory in: today realize that victory CAN be yours.
Acknowledge the truth that you don’t need to be in bondage to that sin.
Believe that God can give you victory.
Commit to God that you WILL turn from following that sin, and ask for the power of the Holy Spirit to help you lead an obedient life. Today, I would invite you to recommit to turning to God for His help in gaining the victory in that area of sinfulness. Let’s pray
allow to stand and recommit to turning strongholds over to the power of the Holy Spirit.
