(Read Romans 6:1-10)
I want you to hold up your Bibles and repeat after me. “This my Bible.” “I believe what it says.” “I believe I can do,” “What it says I can do.” “I believe I have,” “what it says I have.” “I believe this Word.” “This is,” “My final authority.” “Therefore” “I will not argue,” “neither will I disobey” “My Bible is” “My manual” “for Life.” “Amen”
First of all, this is a series of messages that are going to cover the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of the book of Romans, verse by verse. The subject of this series is “POWER OVER SIN”
I have found out that there are a lot of Christians who are being defeated by Satan in their everyday life. And they are being defeated by Satan not because they have not been redeemed, it’s not because they don’t have power in Christ Jesus, but it’s because they don’t know and won’t act on the power they have in Christ Jesus. Most born again believers don’t know that they can use the power of Jesus The Christ (The Anointed One and His anointing) to defeat any attack that Satan can throw their way.
So in this message you are going to find out how to destroy the works of Satan in your life. You are going to find out how to get rid of this sinful life style, and this sin consciousness.
(Read Rom. 6:1)
Paul asked a question. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” That’s a very important question. The reason Paul asked that question is because in Paul’s day people were walking around saying that Paul was teaching a false doctrine. They were saying that Paul was teaching this false doctrine that you can live in your flesh, and do what your body wants to do, because when you die, your spirit goes back to God and your body goes back to the ground.
Therefore you can do what you want to do with your body because it’s going to die and go back to the earth anyway, but your spirit goes to heaven. That doctrine is called Dualism. Dualism was taught 2000 years ago. A lot of Pharisees in Paul’s day tried to say that Paul was teaching this false doctrine.
Let me break it down a little further. This false doctrine called Dualism is really saying that God will be glorified in your sinning. It is saying that, the more you sin, the more grace God is going to give you. It is saying that, that, the more you sin, the more God will forgive you.
That is a flat out false doctrine. That’s why Paul said. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? The false doctrine was, the more you sin, the grace you will get. Paul is saying, no, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
In verse 2 Paul says “God forbid.” In other words, what Paul is saying is this, "People are walking around even today, thinking that they can do whatever they want to do in their bodies. They are thinking that God is just going to overlook anything that they do in their physical bodies, because they believe that the more they sin, the more grace they are going to have." I’m here to tell you that this teaching was even taught 200 years ago in the 19th century by a very famous monk by the name of Rasputin. Rasputin was the spiritual advisor to the Russian Royal family.
He said this “The more you sin, the more you give God the opportunity, to glorify Himself.” I believe that people today believe this false doctrine, because they don’t have any fear of God and His Holy Word. The Bible says in the book of Gal. “Don’t be deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that’s what he is going to reap." So we now can see what Paul is telling us today.
That is, We as born again believers, need to understand, that we did not get saved so we can sin more. God saved us so we don’t have to sin anymore. You see God did not save you from sin, to give you a licence to sin. God saved you so He can give you a licence to practice righteousness.
God had given you the ability, or the power, or the anointing to practice as a life style, righteousness. Paul also refuted this false doctrine of Dualism in other passages of scripture. (Read Rom. 3:5-6) What Paul is saying in Rom. 3:5,6 is, if God created this world, and God made you or created you a sinner, or created you unrighteous, then how can He judge you for sinning? If God created me a liar, and I died and stood before Him as a liar.
How could He judge me? I could say “well LORD you created me this way.” So now can you see how wrong it is to say that you were created to do wrong. When God created Adam and Eve, He did not create them in unrighteousness.
They were made in righteousness (Right Standing with God). There was no sin in Adam or Eve until they sinned. So before sin came alone, Adam and Eve were walking in righteousness. When God creates something He creates it good.
There is nothing that God created that is evil. We as a human race can’t say that God is an unjust God. The human race became unrighteous because of what Adam and Eve had done. The sin nature (the nature of Satan) was passed down from them to us.
(Read Rom. 3:6-7) Paul is saying this “You all are saying that I am teaching, that the more I sin, the more glory God is going to get from my sinning. Well if that is true, why are you still calling me a sinner?” Do you see how that does not make any sense?
(Read Rom. 3:8)
I believe that this teaching, “Let us do evil that good may come.” Is present with us today. Let me give you an example, Lets say that I had to be a work at nine o’clock in the morning. It’s good to arrive to work on time. But one day I woke up late to go to work, so I began to rush to get to work.
I am on the freeway driving ninety miles an hour when I should be driving sixty-five miles an hour. So now the cops pull me over. They give me a ticket for speeding. What excuse am I going to give them for driving over the speed limit?
Should I tell them that It’s good for me to get to work on time, or that I thought that I could break a law to do a good thing. They would look at me and say. “See you in court.” You cannot do evil so good can come.
That is a false doctrine. Even Hollywood makes movies that tell people that they can take the law into their own hands. But the Bible says that “vengeance is mine saith the LORD.”
(Now go back and read Rom. 6:1)
The Greek word for the word continues means to practice.
It means to habitly persist. It means to do the same thing all the time, over and over again. How shall we practice something? How shall we live our lives every day, when we have been set free from sin?
In other words, why is it that Christians are habitly, doing sinful things. Things that they use to do before they got saved or received salvation. They are continuing in sin. But how can you continue in sin?
Is it because you think that grace is going to cover your sinful lifestyle? Born again believers are to practice righteousness. My daughter is taking piano lessons every week. When the teacher gives here lessons to learn by the next time, she sees her, she expects my daughter to practice the songs.
Now if my daughter goes to her lesson that following week and does not play the songs that her teacher gave her. The teacher would say you have not practiced. But that does not happen because I make sure that she practices her music every day, no, not once a week, not twice a week, but every day.
Why? So that she can perfect the song. Or play the song without any mistakes. You see practice makes perfect. The more you practice your righteousness, the more you will live your righteousness.
But the more you practice unrighteousness, the more you will live unrighteousness. If you practice lying all the time, you are going to lie all the time. You must understand today that you have been set free from the power of sin by the power of Jesus Christ. We should not continue in sin or practice a sinful lifestyle because we have been freed from sin.
(Read Rom. 6:2)
Paul answers the question from verse one with a question in verse two. God forbid means are you crazy! Have you lost your mind?! What is wrong with you? How shall we, that are expired to sin, live any longer therein? Let me give you an example.
If I was a wife beater before I got saved. Should I continue to be a wife beater after I have accepted Christ Jesus as my savior and LORD. God forbid (Are you crazy!) After you accepted Christ Jesus as your savior and LORD, you should not live the same lifestyle you lived before you met Jesus. The word expire means to separate.
If I died physically, my spirit and soul (mind) will separate from my body. If I died spiritually, that means that I have not been born again, and that I am separated from God. If I died physically in a spiritually expired state, then I will enter into eternal expiration , where I will be eternally separated from God in Hell. Every human being is born into this world spiritually expired , until they make Jesus the LORD of their lives.
So Paul’s question could read “How shall we, that are SEPARATED FROM sin, live any longer therein?” Your question might be. “When was I separated from sin? When was I pulled away from this sinful nature? Well If we are alive in Christ, we have died to sin.
Sin is nothing more than the sinful nature of Satan. When we were born of our parents, we inherited a sinful nature. Lets go back further than that, remember Gen. 3, the Adam and Eve story. When Adam and Eve committed sin, their natures were changed.
Before Adam and Eve sinned they had a righteous nature, (the nature of God). Now when Adam committed high treason against God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he separated himself from God. God told Adam that the day he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that day he would surely die. I can hear some of you saying, “Adam did not die until he was over nine hundred years’ old.”
Yes that is true. Adam did not die physically that day, but he died spiritually, that day. The day Adam sinned, he was spiritually separated from God. We even could say that Adam was the first person born again (in a negative sense). He was created in righteousness and born into unrighteousness.
He got rid of God’s nature and picked up Satan’s nature (which is sin and expiration ). He was taken out of God’s family and born into Satan’s family by choice. Now Adam is walking around with this sin nature which is called sin and expiration , which is the nature of Satan living on the inside of him. Now when Adam and Eve had children, that sinful nature in Adam was passed down to and through his children all the way down to you and me today.
If you are a sinner, you have the “I can’t help it” syndrome. Satan’s nature is already in you. There was nothing you could have done about it. King David said. “I was born in sin and shaped into inequity.”
That’s right saints, before you got saved, you had the nature of Satan living on the inside of you. Now that you have received salvation through the Profligate of Jesus, and you repented of that sinful nature, then you invited Jesus into your heart to be your LORD and savior. Then a change took place. Now you are called born again.
That’s why when people tell me that they are liars, homosexuals, etc. because they were BORN that way. I tell them they are right. I also tell them that’s why they must be BORN AGAIN so that all the evil things that they were born with the first time from their parents will be washed away the second time when they are washed in the Profligate of the lamb (Jesus). Then a change will take place. Why does a change take place? The reason is because sin doesn’t live here anymore.
The change that takes place is that your spirit has been recreated by the power of God. You see we were on our way to Hell. You go where your daddy is. If you have the nature of Satan which is sin and expiration , then you must go to Hell where your daddy is.
The Bible says that Hell was not made for man. Hell was made for Satan and his angels. But human beings go there because they refuse to get their nature changed. So they must go, where their spiritual father is.
But one day I met a man name Jesus. Jesus changed my nature. Your nature is not going to be changed when you get to heaven, but it is changed now. Some of you might be saying, “I don’t know about that rev. I sinned last night. I messed up last week.
I’m always falling into some type of sinful trap. What do you mean that I’m changed now?” The reason we as born again believers still sin is because our minds have not been renewed by the word of God. The reason we still sin is because we don’t practice who we are in Christ Jesus.
We don’t practice what God has made us to be. We don’t practice that change that took place on the inside of us. That’s the problem with born again believers. The reason our Churches are not full is because Christians are not practicing righteousness.
(Read I John 3:9) Now the sin that John and even Paul in the book of Romans is talking about are not the sins we commit every now and then. They are talking about the sinful nature that we were born with. That nature has been changed. We as born again believers will make mistakes as long as we do our own will.
But the more we practice our righteousness the fewer mistakes we will make.
I John 3:9 mean, Whosoever have been born again, whosoever have accepted Christ as their savior. “Doeth not commit sin.” Or does not practice sin as an everyday lifestyle. “..For His seed remaineth in him..” This seed is the seed of God which is Christ Jesus.
Jesus remains in us through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, and has changed us. “...and he cannot sin..” The born again man on the inside of you cannot sin. It is through the flesh that we sin. And we sin through the flesh because we won’t keep it under control through the word of God.
That’s why the bible says that our spirits war with our flesh and the flesh against our spirit. The reason your flesh war against your spirit is because your recreated spirit does not want to sin. It is because you have your mind wrapped up in the world. It is because you love to listen to worldly music that promote ferocity and promiscuous ual activity. Your body will line up with what you spiritually feed it the most.
But if your mind was stayed on Jesus, if your mind was wrapped up in the word of God. If you listen to the word of God more than you listen to the radio. If watch the word of God on T.V. more than you watch what the world is doing, then and only then will your body line up with Gods word. That’s right. Sin doesn’t live here anymore. You cannot sin on the inside, because you have been born again. You have been born of God. You are a child of God. You see we must have our confidence in the Word of God. If we are children of God, we need to act like we are God’s children. How do children of God act? They walk by faith not by sight. They live by what they don’t see, not by what they see. They live on the promises of God not on the promises of men. After you have been born again, you have been justified by grace through faith. Now as born again believers you walk or live a life of sanctification. Sanctification means to set apart. We have been set apart to do good works unto God our father.
The main reason Christians should not is because sin has been taken out of you. Sin doesn’t live here anymore. The word of God says that your old nature was taken out of you and that God has given you a new nature. (Please read II Peter 2:4) it says that you are “......partakers of the divine nature...” When you got saved God put inside of you His nature.
He changed your spirit and made you like Himself through Jesus Christ, who is righteous. This Christian life is not as hard as you think it is. The Bible is not complicated. All we have to do is obey what God tells us to do.
Then we will have victory every single time. When you wake up in the morning, you should say, “I have the nature of God in me.” You must say it every day. You need to say who you are every morning. When I wake up in the morning, I say I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
I say, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." I say, "Greater is He, who is in me, than he that is in the world." I say, "As He (Jesus)is in heaven, so am I in this world." You are motivated by what you hear and what you see.
If you don’t believe me, just look around. Notice how people are adopting to what they are hearing and seeing. How come people wear the same clothes that are suppose to be popular? You see you are following someone else’s ideas, someone else’s dreams. God wants us to be leaders not followers.
Four reasons why Christians should not sin.
1.) (Read Rom.6:3A) Christians should not practice a lifestyle of sin because we have been baptized with Christ. The word baptized means to submerge. We have been submerged into the family of God by Jesus Christ. When you were baptized by Jesus Christ into the family of God, Jesus took the sinful nature out of you, and placed in you His nature which is righteousness. II Cor. 5:21 says “For Him (Jesus the Christ) who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” In other words, Jesus became like us (sinners) through His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, that we might through His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross become like Him (righteous). Jesus put on your coat of sinfulness so you can put on His coat of righteous.
2.) (Read Rom. 6:3B,4) We were buried with Jesus. That means Jesus became our substitute. When Jesus was hung on the cross, He was not hung because of His sins, because He had none. He was hung on the cross and buried because of our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, it is as if you died on the cross because He did it as your substitute. You could not die for yourself, because you were not worthy to die for your own sins. But Jesus stepped in and said, I’ll do what you could not do. I remember when I was a little boy about 10 years old. There were some older boys picking with me, and starting fights with me. But I called my big brother, and he stepped in front of me and said to them, “If you want to fight him, you got to go through me first.” You see Jesus is my big brother, and He stands in front of Satan and tells him, “If you want E’Lon you must go through me first. Jesus became my substitute.
You died with Him, you were buried with Him. If we are identified with Jesus, then we are identified with His resurrection. What kind of resurrection life does Jesus have? Was He sick, and poor, in His resurrected body? Then neither should we be. Why, because, I am in Him, and He is in me, and we are in the heavenly Father, and whatever Jesus has belongs to me.
3.) (Read Rom. 6:5) Born again believers we need to walk in the newness of life. That’s the problem with Christians. It’s not that you are not saved. It’s not that God has not redeemed you. The problem is we as born again believers will not use the name of Jesus against Satan, because we think we are not worthy enough. If sin has been destroyed by Jesus Christ at the cross, and sin has no power over Jesus, and I am in Jesus, then sin has no power over me.
(Read Rom. 6:6) The old man is that nature you were born with from your parents, the nature of sin and expiration . You don’t have two natures after you get saved. This verse says that the old man has been crucified with Christ. You don’t have the old man and the new man living on the inside of you because Jesus and Satan cannot dwell in the same house.
Your body is the temple (house) of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of you, How can Satan live on the inside also? (Read verse 7) Let me ask you a question, If you know someone that has expired, who was very close to you, can they still go to the mall with you if they are expired? Can they watch T.V. with you if they are expired? When you have expired, you cannot continue or practice the things you use to do. Now if I am (separated) from sin how can I continue to do what Satan tells me to do.
4.) (Read verse 8-10) The reason we as Christians don’t have to sin is because Jesus changed our nature. We are going to live with Christ. If that is true, then we should live a lifestyle now as if Jesus was coming at any minute. Satans nature has no power over Christ. If we are in Christ, then why do we get up set over our problems, why do we get up set, when people talk about us.
We should not care because we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Verse ten says that Jesus died once. That’s right Jesus is only going to die once, He is not going to die anymore. You need to join the club, and live like Jesus died for you.
Jesus died to set you free. He died to give you the victory. Jesus died so you won’t have to walk in a sinful lifestyle. Sin doesn’t live here anymore.
It has been taken out of your spirit, and your spirit as been recreated by the shed bl. of Jesus. You are a new creature, created in Christ Jesus, old things are passed away, and all things have become new. (II Cor. 5:17) The next time the Devil comes your way, with situations and problems, you must tell him that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. The next time somebody comes up to you and say, “I remember when you use to drink all the time and curse all the time.”
You tell them, “I am a new creature created in Christ Jesus, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. I don’t know whom you are talking about, but that person has expired and is gone. I died with Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, I just realized it and accepted Him and what He did for me in 1976 when I was 9 years old. Whatever I have done, He washed it away in His shed bl.
You must understand that sin doesn’t live here anymore. Sin does not live in you anymore. The righteousness of God lives in you. Joy lives in you.
Peace lives in you. Happiness lives in you. Power lives in you. Victory lives in you.
Prosperity lives in you. Freedom lives in you. The Holy Ghost lives in you. Christ Jesus lives in you.
Your heavenly Father lives in you. Sin doesn’t live here anymore. Sin has been destroyed by the power of God. Sin has been destroyed by the shed Bl of Jesus.
Jesus will turn your life around. Jesus is the strength of my life. Jesus is the power of my life. Jesus is the strength of my soul. Sin doesn’t live here anymore.
May God bless you and keep you.
THIS SERMON IS AVAILABLE ON AUDIO CASSETTE.
