Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Paul is telling us that he gets it. No one lives without sin. Yet, blessed be God, that us believers do not have to live in sin. We are free from the shame, and condemnation of sin. We are healed from the illness of our sin. However, taking steps away from sin is necessary. Here's what Paul recommends. Don't have one element of sin hanging around in your life. For instance, if I were an alcoholic, then It would not be wise to keep any alcohol in my home. Our life should not entertain sin. If I were violent, and sat around dreaming up all the ways to beat someone up, then that would be entertaining sin. Don't let sin live your life! Take control and live a life worth living! Destroy that body of sin. Whats the body of sin? It's the corruption that dwells in us. This body has many parts, and members, just like a real body does. Your job is to find the roots of the sin, and take an axe to it! Cut it out from you. It is not enough to stop the acts of sin. We must also destroy the vicious habits, and tendencies. Nor, is it enough to simply cast out of our heart the idols of our iniquity. No, we must then seal our heart. This way those idols don't come crawling back in. My prayer is that as believers we don't serve sin. In its place may we serve God. I also pray that His Spirit will help us identify those roots of sin, that we may begin our work in destroying them. May we choose a life that is free from the slavery of sin. |
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Romans 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, In the chapter that were in this week, Paul addresses the law. He points out that the law was placed so that no man would sin. Yet, what happened was the law ended up producing more, and more lawbreakers. Then Paul says, "but don't worry because where sin increased Grace increased more!" It's right about then that I imagine the sinners Hooton, and hollering, and dancing around saying,"yeah you know were not condemned." However, Paul doesn't stop there. Paul goes on to say, "don't get too excited, that doesn't mean we should keep on sinning, it's actually opposite, now that we know we are covered by Grace, because of this Grace we should sin no more" Huh?!?! Now, I'm a bit confused, let me get this right...We are covered by Grace, but we shouldn't sin? We're united together in the likeliness of his death? And we're in the likeliness of his resurrection? Now, maybe you get this, but I had to ask God to really explain this to me. This is what I got....Sherri, when you packed up and moved to your rental property did you, or could you still live in the house that was foreclosed? I said, "Well no, I had to unpack, and start a new life, making my rental property my home." That's what happens when we're baptized. When we went under that water, we left that old house of sin, and rose up into the new house of Grace. Baptism is like the burial of Jesus, and when we rise up from the water it's like the resurrection of Jesus. My husband Wally had the honor of baptizing my oldest brother several years back. Now, my brother asked Wally to hold him down in the water, so that all of his sins would be washed away. For, he wanted to rise again as a new man covered in the armor of grace, that he might fight against his sins. And as he rose from the water he let out a great Yell of Joy that later on caused others to do the same. Our old life was nailed to the cross along with Jesus. We are included in Christ's death which conquered sin. We are also included in His resurrection which saved our lives for eternity. As believers, neither death, nor sin has the final word in our lives. We are dead to our sins and alive in Christ. So stop trying to go back to a life that no longer recognizes you for who you are now in Christ! Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- Here in the verse we are in today, Paul really breaks down the who, and the how. He points out all who are ungodly. Then explains how that sad state of ungodliness came about. Law, and sin come into this equation. Adam broke the one law he had. What law you ask? Not to eat from, or touch the tree in the mist of the garden. That wasn't a, "by the way Adam," kind of thing when God said this. It was a commandment from God the Creator. You shall not eat...I like the New Living Translation for this verse, which is found in Genesis 3:3 God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'" "you must not...." That was the law in Adam's time. His sin was, not keeping that law. His punishment was, death. Spiritual, moral, and physical death. As children of Adam, we were born into this world dead in sin, spiritually, and morally dead. Not to mention the physical death that we all will encounter one day. We had no communion with our Holy God. There was no relationship with God because, of our own unrighteousness. So God, came in the form of man, died for our sins that we may be made alive. By excepting Christ as our redeemer we are made alive. As if that wasn't enough we become righteous. Through the righteousness of Jesus we have direct communion, direct accesses to our Holy God. The free gift of grace comes with, His Favor, His blessing, His authority, and His power! Romans 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. In this chapter Paul teaches of justification and reconciliation through faith in the death of Jesus Christ. He goes into great depths to teach about The benefits and privileges of this justification and reconciliation. Such as, peace with God, access to God's grace, hope of the glory of God, and joy in times of tribulation. Paul explains that Jesus died for the ungodly! I keep going back to that part of the verse where it says, For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Now, I never really thought that I was an enemy with God the Creator. The definition of enemy is; a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something. It is a noun, which is a word that identifies a person, place, or thing. This part of the verse opened my eyes to who I was before God! I was His opponent, adversary, foe, archenemy, rival, antagonist, challenger, competitor, and opposer. Yet, he sent His son Jesus to die from me. Not because I was worthy of His death, but because He died for the ungodly. So why do all this for His enemy? It was so we could be reconciled, united, and have a relationship with Him. It was because of love. That our sin would be pardoned, the sinner would be accepted as righteous, to end iniquity, and in it's place everlasting righteousness. My question is then, who can't be saved? According to this verse there's not one person who can't be saved. There's not one person that cannot be made righteous. According to this verse there is nothing that we can do to be justified. It's already been done for us. All we have to do is have faith that Jesus died for us the ungodly, that we can have a relationship with God the Creator. So let us not forget who we were identified with before we had faith. And go and share this Gospel of Grace with someone doesn't know. |