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| Dead to Sin! |
Romans 6:8-11 NKJV Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Spiritual
biography is that each who receives Jesus is dead to sin. No longer controlled
by the love of sin or its ruling power in our lives. It is dead to enslaving us
with its power. Each day we have a choice whether to yield to sin, to let it
reign in our bodies or stand firm it has no place in us.
Sin has
died because Christ beat death to the
finish line. He settled the account. He lives as God and now lives in that new
relationship as the Risen One, Resurrected Christ in that new sphere where sin
cannot enter!
James 3:2
For we all stumble in many things, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a
perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
What Jesus
finished is that work He accomplished against sin. He did a work of faith. That
work was perfect faith. He revealed obedience that demonstrated the reality of
His righteousness. If anyone says it is okay to sin, is one tending toward
antinomianism. It is contrary to Paul’s whole discussion of sin and to Jesus’
own words about the law we see in Matthew
5:17-20 NKJV 17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the
Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly I say to you, till heaven
and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law
till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these
commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of
heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you,
that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no
means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus spoke
this of the scribes and the Pharisees as they taught false doctrine. This was
the tradition of the elders. They were not only legalistic but also strong in
their commitment to the false doctrine. Sadducees were those rejecting the
Pharisees. These were those coming from social families and considered
rationalists and materialistic. They did not accept the supernatural! So they
would not receive Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. And these two groups hated
each other.
For us Holy
Spirit has moved in us. He is there representing the power for holy living. And
he is motivated by love for the Savior, not as to a fear of punishment but of
God producing holiness. Romans 6:1-2 states plainly that Christians are not to
sin, that is, break God's laws. Therefore sin—and thus God's law, which tells
us what sin is—must still exist.
It cannot be both ways. If they say that the law is done away, then in the biblical context, it is logical to conclude that there can be no sin. It is therefore illogical for them to claim that it is still wrong for a person to murder or to commit adultery because those sins would not exist without the laws that determine they are immoral or illegal acts. But the true answer lies elsewhere: Their conclusion that the law is done away is wrong!
In Romans
2:1-3 we see this! Romans 2:1-3 NKJV Therefore
you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you
judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who
practice such things. 3 And do you think
this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same,
that you will escape the judgment of God?
Oh, how we can see our faults more clearly in other people indeed. Yet for us, we fail to apply them to ourselves. Our own reaction is so often to criticize negatively that we usually do not see that we are guilty of the same things as seen in others. If we find a certain type of behavior especially irritating in others, we may have the same problem!
David was a man who, when he recognized his sin, would deeply repent. So how far his heart fell at that time, we can only imagine. He must have been devastated by his own weakness in sin.
What angers us about others in God's church? Consider this carefully, since in the answer may be a clue to our secret sins. "For you who judge practice the same things."
A friend
was over this week. She has had some health issues but we expect her healing. She mentioned a specific thing going out by this gentleman criticizing
those of a new program about Jesus. A friend sent it to her to see his complaint and I guess to prove he was right! We had just started watching the Jesus series this past
year and was caught off guard about this guy bashing the new program about Christ. So we listened on her phone that was
sent by a friend of hers. We knew this had only two seasons and this man certainly pointed to some things.
But what captured us was that the man relates like the disciples are saved when walking with
Jesus. He was not crucified, dead and buried. Jesus and John the Baptist had
the Holy Spirit, but the disciples did not. They were being given the word of
God, but they stood and walked and slept in their sinful natures till they
could repent and receive Jesus as Lord. We must be cautious about people. We must
know them where they stand and if they know of the Lord. Because without Jesus, they
know not of their sin nor of their sinful natures before Him! Peter knew his sin when we refused to acknowledge that he knew Jesus, not once but three times he said he did not know Him.
Side Effects of the world are seen daily who choose to follow
a sinful life, who persist in siding with the flesh and standing tall in culture, but siding with God is love
and being full of unspeakable joy with much humility.
2023 is not the year to be deceived by satan. He as light
can make you think about the light of God, but he will force one or more of his
own designs into the pot and when deceived by them, one can choose to follow
him without any arm-twisting. You can see that with the "gentleman" choosing to bash a program of Jesus that is taken word by word of the New Testament. He rallies with his own to bring deceitful ways and
acts before you. But 2023 is to be the year for the believer with no side effects, those of the Lord’s way in truth and grace understanding that sin was done
away. He carried sin for us, & in His mercy, we are new each morning!
We arrive on the wings of the Holy Spirit’s power to be in the right
places at the right times for the plan of God for our steps are ordered in Him. May
we not be committed to that which causes side effects to death but that which
is to life and see with the light that shines at noonday in Jesus name. When we were slaves to sin, the only freedom
we knew was freedom from righteousness. Now that is a desperate condition indeed.
It is bound to evil of every form and free from every good thing. In Paul we
are challenged to take inventory of the fruits of an unsaved life, fruits in
those activities of which we believers are now ashamed. For time is certainly squandered,
influence is misused, best friends are wronged in some way, and our love is
anything but nice nor friendly.
May we become slaves to righteousness in His name for His
sake. For in you and I, we should know that to be our spiritual biography!
What Fruit When Words are passed Around
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