As Christians, we must be aware that we not only have been given the “new nature” from God, but that the old Adamic nature that we were born with, lies there ready to rise up at any time.
HOW CAN WE LIVE A VICTORIOUS LIFE OVER SIN?
As chapters 1-5 have taught us, we, who are saved by faith, now have to exercise the same faith that provided salvation in Christ, to give us victory over sin in our daily lives.
Illus: Many people have the idea that Christ saves us from our sins initially, but after salvation He then puts us on our own.
If we could not save ourselves initially, how can we expect that we can keep ourselves SAVED from sin, when we are tempted day by day?
If that is the case, then Christ would not have had to die for us, because we could be our own Savior.
The fact is, we did the SINNING, and Christ does the SAVING.
When we confess our sin, He is the One who CLEANSES US FROM ALL OUR unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Let’s see how He goes about doing that in this passage of scripture: Look first at-
I. OUR RECKONING
Look at verses 11-12, we read, “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.”
Notice the word, “Reckon” in verse 11. There are two definitions.
(1) The contemporary meaning is to: “Count or calculate, consider, rely (on).” We may answer a question by saying, “I reckon that is true.”
That is, while we consider the statement to be true we are not positive it is.
(2) The ancient definition, from “logizomai”, means we KNOW something is true, and day after day we live by that thing we consider to be true.
One thing we know as Christians, according to the scriptures we are dead to sin, and alive unto Christ.
Our old nature was buried in Joseph’s tomb almost two thousand years ago, because we are all in Christ, and when Christ died for sin, so did we.
We must KNOW this in order to live a victorious life over sin.
The reason many professing Christians have sin in their lives, is because they are living their Christian life by the modern definition of the word “reckon,” (I think so, hope so) instead of the ancient definition that we are supposed to live by, KNOWING we are dead in Christ.
Let us examine what is implied by this “RECKON” more closely, to see what it entails for us. First, we must consider-
A. OUR DEATH
Look at verse 11, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be DEAD indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
This verse says two things about us.
1. IT IS OUR OBITUARY
We read, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin….”
One day, if the Lord does not return first, our names will appear in the obituary column of the local newspaper. This will be the official public notice that we are dead.
But many Christians are not aware that their spiritual obituary has already been written.
Illus: In the national news on television, in January of 2001, they announced that a lady that was believed to have died was taken to the local funeral home. They had her on a cart, covered, and the undertaker heard a noise, and walked over and uncovered her, and found out she was alive. They carried her to the hospital, and she survived the whole ordeal.
She was suppose to be dead but she wasn’t!
Illus: One evening, Dr. Odell Belger was called to a home where someone had died, who had visited his church. He had a fellow from his church with him when he received the call, and he asked him if he would like to go with him. The man stated he would, and they went to the home. When they arrived, the house was full of people. Dr. Belger greeted the grieving wife. As the group of people stood in the kitchen area, the door bell rang. A man came in, and when he did, a man behind the kitchen table jumped up suddenly and said a curse word, and ran into the bedroom.
Dr. Belger, and the fellow that came with him, had no idea what would cause this man to do this. The man came out in a few minutes, and apologized for saying the curse word, and explained why he ran to the bedroom.
He said that the man who entered the house was his daddy. He then explained that when he got a call to come, he was told his daddy had died. That is why he was grieving as he was. But actually when he got the call, they told him “Eddie” had died. He thought they said “Daddy,” and when his daddy walked in, he thought he was seeing a ghost.
He said to his wife, “Honey, let’s go home!” He then said, “We left all the children at home crying, because they thought their grandfather had died. Let’s go home and tell them the good news, he is still here!”
The Bible sends a clear message to all of us Christians, that we have DIED IN CHRIST.
This is exactly what has happened to us spiritually. We, who are Christians, are all living physically, but yet we have died to sin spiritually. This is not something we wonder about, this is something we KNOW FOR SURE!
Verse 11 is OUR DEATH CERTIFICATE! But also it is-
2. OUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Look at what the Word of God says, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves…ALIVE unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Illus: There are many religious newspapers that are published across our nation. Some are uplifting, and are a real source of spiritual strength to us.
But there are others whose pages are filled with negative things.
They make you think of the national news media, that never seems to have anything good to say about anyone.
There are some preachers who are this way. That is, the bulk of their preaching has to do with WHAT YOU CAN NOT DO, not WHAT YOU CAN DO!
Yes, we are DEAD TO SIN, but praise the Lord we are also ALIVE IN CHRIST! While there are many things we can not do, there are many things we can do.
We have looked at our DEATH, but let us look at something else in the next verse. That is-
B. OUR DEDICATION
Look at verse 12, we read, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”
Illus: Wilmington said, “When we daily count ourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive unto God, there will be no temptation to continue in sin for we will refuse that temptation out of thankfulness to God for counting and treating us as if we were righteous.”
Illus: Suppose you had a beat up Volkswagen. That is all you had for transportation. Now if that is all you had, you would cherish that beat up Volkswagen. But suppose someone gave you a brand new Cadillac. If that was the case, you would no longer feel the same way about the Volkswagen. Why? Because it was replaced with something much better.
You see, when the Lord is dealing with a sinner about salvation, the devil will tell him that he will have to give up his ungodly friends if he becomes a Christian. But what he does not tell him, is that he will get better friends who really love him in the Lord.
Paul tells us that we used to care a great deal about sin, but since we now are ALIVE IN CHRIST, we have something much better.
Paul says, in verse 12, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”
We have looked at OUR RECKONING, but let us now look at-
II. OUR REIGN
The first thing we need to consider, is this-
A. OUR POWER
Look at verse 13, we read, “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.”
Notice the word, “yield.” This is the same as the word “present” in Romans 12:1. We read, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye PRESENT your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
God’s Word says that it is reasonable for God to ask such a thing of us.
Illus: We all have heard lost people express their belief that God is unreasonable in His demands. Some will say, “I do not mind giving God a couple of hours on Sunday morning, and even on Sunday night some times if it is convenient, but I certainly do not intend to give my life to Him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, let’s be reasonable.”
That is exactly what these old sinful bodies of ours think. But, it is not God who is unreasonable, it is the lost world.
• This is God, who created us, and gives us twenty-four hours a day
• This is God, who justified us through the blood of His dear Son
• This is God, who says, “Yield not your members as instruments of unrighteouness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God…”
Some might be asking, “IF WE ARE DEAD TO SIN, HOW CAN SIN REIGN IN OUR MORTAL BODIES?” It can reign by our yielding our bodies to it!
Paul tells us not to yield our members to unrighteousness, but instead, we should yield them to righteousness. We have the power to overcome any sin, when we recognize we are dead to sin, and alive unto Christ. This will cause us to use our “members” for only righteous acts.
What a source of POWER the church could become, if we would just recognize that we are to yield to righteousness, and to righteousness alone!
We have looked at OUR POWER over sin. But also let us look at-
B. OUR PURPOSE
Sin once reigned as king in our life, but he says that this should no longer be true. He said in verse 14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law. but under grace.” Notice Paul inserts these words at the end of this verse, “…For ye are not under the law. BUT UNDER GRACE.”
Why did he add those words? To help us to understand, it is not what we do, but what He did, that gives us power over sin.
It is through CHRIST’S DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION, that we can overcome sin. Man constantly wants to add to, or assist GRACE.
Religious men have always felt the need to have rules and regulations to assist grace. If we aren’t careful, our complete Christian life will be governed by man-made rules and regulations, like the Jews of old.
The purpose of the Christian life is not to follow man-made regulations, but to follow the Lord. And if we love the Lord, we do those things that please Him. He said in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
III. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
A. OUR LIBERTY
Look at verses 15-18, we read, “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.”
Remember in verse 1, Paul said, “…shall we continue in sin”. He was referring to a lifestyle. He answered his question by exclaiming, “God forbid.”
In verse 15, he drops the word “continue”, and says, “shall we sin.” This does not refer to a lifestyle, but rather to an occasional sin we might commit, since we are under grace, and not the law. Again he exclaims, “God forbid!”
Illus: Paul uses a slave market analogy. We once were servants of sin. If we start obeying sin, we are admitting that Christ is not Lord of our lives, but that Satan is still our master.
Jesus Himself taught, in Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters….”
In verses 17 & I8, we find that our yielding to sin was once a way of life for us, but since becoming Christians, we are no longer servants of sin, and for that we can be thankful to God!
We once were slaves to sin, but now we have been set free from that slavery to sin.
B. OUR LOYALTY
Look at Verses 19-20, “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of 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.”
Here Paul encourages all of those who had once been servants of sin, to now serve God with the same zeal they once served sin.
He reminded the people that when they were servants of sin, they were not servants of righteousness. The devil would try to convince every Christian that he can serve two masters.
Illus: All of us know of sinners who go out and live in sin, night after night. We have seen them get up early on the Lord’s day and go fishing.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God’s people would serve Him as faithfully, and as consistently, as they once served the devil?
C. OUR LIFE
Look at verses 21-23. First we read about-
1. OUR SHAME
Look at verse 21, we read, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.”
The person who is a Christian, has come to realize that the fruits of sin are not what they thought they would be. They had been misled.
Illus: Years ago, many sincere Christians were misled by investing in the PTL Club. They were misled by Jim Bakker and his gang. And now they are ashamed of being so foolish.
Paul said, in verse 21, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” Many are ashamed of the things that Satan has tricked them into.
But God forgives us, and we must be willing to forgive ourselves of our stupidity.
But let’s look at the bright side and look at -
2. OUR ATTAINMENT
Look at verse 22-23, we read, “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.”
Notice the contrast between the life of sin, and the life of righteousness.
• THE BONDAGE OF SIN LEADS TO DEATH
• THE BONDAGE TO CHRIST LEADS TO EVERLASTING LIFE IN HEAVEN
Conclusion:
• We have been POSITIONALLY SANCTIFIED, set aside for the Lord’s Service
• We are being PROGRESSIVELY SANCTIFIED
• One day we shall be PERFECTLY SANCTIFIED (We shall be like Him).
I. OUR RECKONING - VERSES 11-12
A. OUR DEATH
B. OUR DEDICATION
II. OUR REIGN - VERSES 13-14
A. OUR POWER
B. OUR PURPOSE
III. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS - VERSES 15-23
A. OUR LIBERTY
B. OUR LOYALTY
C. OUR LIFE
