Imagine Leo overdosing on cocaine and dying. They take his body to the funeral home and prepare it for burial. A few hours before the funeral starts, one of his drug buddies comes into the parlor where they have Leo’s corpse laid out. Nobody else is in the room, so his buddy walks over to the casket and leans over. “Hey, Leo,” he says. “We’re alone right now, man. I’ve got some good stuff here in my pocket.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small bag with cocaine in it. “Look man, it’s pure. Take a snort,” he says, while putting the bag under Leo’s nose. “What’s your problem, man? Here, I’ll put a little on my finger for you to taste. You’ll see, it’s good stuff.” Do you know what Leo is doing all the time this is going on? Just lying there. If Leo could speak at that moment, do you know what he would say? “Hey, stupid! I’m dead! Can’t you see that?” Dead men don’t want cocaine, even if they loved it before.
The Bible clearly teaches that a part of our inheritance is that we have died to sin. You can sin if you choose, but when you understand your new identity you will discover that you don’t want to live in sin anymore. You died to all that. Now you are alive unto God. He motivates your desires and interests. You finally have power over sin!
Before Jesus died and dealt with your old sin nature, you had no power to overcome sin. You sinned because you had no choice. It was your nature to do so. Now things have changed. You have a new nature — His! Because His life is within you, He will enable you to overcome sin as you depend on Him. Remember that the person you used to be, who loved to sin, has died (Romans 6:1-6). You were placed on the cross in Jesus Christ and crucified there with Him. Not only did he die, but you died too so that your life now consists of Christ in you (Galatians 2:20). “For he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:7).
To experience power over sin, simply rest in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ at every moment and continually affirm that you are dead to sin. Whether you feel it or not, “consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). Just act like it’s true, because it is! When you depend on Jesus and act in faith, you will see for yourself that you are dead to sin. "Sin shall no longer have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace!"
I have put all my faith in that truth. Thanks Dad.
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ReplyDeleteIt is that simple! Why do we want to call alive what God calls dead? Why do we want to call that which is holy unclean? It is simple unbelief!
ReplyDeleteFor years I was taught that we had a 'dual' or 'two' natures. No wonder why we have 'split personality believers, making God shcidzophrenic. I am so thankful that wheather I 'feel' like it or not, I am dead to sin and the old man 'is' (not needing to be) crucified with Christ. One may ask, "Ok, then why do I still sin?" Well, the "body of sin" Paul spoke of was the preprogramming our minds received from the old man that is now crucified. The 'body of sin' is simply the 'embodiment' or wrong patterns of thinking that need to be destroyed by renewing our minds to the truth, such as that we ARE dead to sin. The Holy Spirit takes what is Jesus' such as His death and makes it our reality, once we exercise faith in that truth, even though it is still a reality whether we believe it or not.I have already died in Christ but I am still 'dying to all my own self-righteous dead works' that the old man insisted I 'do' in order to 'get' the blessings of God. Just as Jesus died "ONCE" unto sin, WE HAVE DIED ONCE unto sin,Romans 6:10-11, not over and over again as religion preaches!The statement Paul made "How shall we who died (past tense) to sin, live any longer therein?" was a statement of IMPOSSIBILITY because the word sin is a noun, person, place or thing, not a verb as an action such as sinning, like it is typically preached incorrectly!BE FREE IN JESUS NAME!If you are born again, whether you 'sin/verb' or not, you are still 'dead to sin' because you no longer have 'a sinful nature' but are risen with Christ!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFor if we have been united (planted) together in the likeness of His death certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. That is a fact! His Spirit quickens our mortal bodies dwelling in us. That same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead shall give life to our bodies in other words Romans 6:5;8:11. Forgiven by God we should not only live but walk in newness of life having been baptized into His death. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life Romans 6:4,3! This is grace-walk. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
ReplyDeleteInstead of actually deadening every desire that I feel, I feel it's important instead to not let the birds flying in the air overhead build a nest in MY HAIR. We can't control some things that come at us and Christ indeed would control others if we live a living sacrifice life alive to God. Christ lives His life through us in simplicity devoted as we come as we are to the Lord. Like Romans 5 and 6 encourage our submission to God for we can't stop the birds from flying overhead and Christ directs us what to do. We can try to prevent them from building their nest in our hair because we realize Calvary paid it all in full. Bringing every thought into captivity to Christ we can go on to the offense in God's KIngdom in victory in His Name. This is my thoughts on "Dead men are free from sin." Christ indeed has to save us and its by grace through faith.
ReplyDeleteWe have no obligation to the lower desires so recognizing Jesus finished His Work we can safely go on to do right.
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