Romans 6:5-14 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:(6) Knowing this,that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,that henceforth we should not serve sin. (7) For he that is dead is freed from sin. (8) Now if we be dead with Christ,we believe that we shall also live with him:(9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more;death hath no more dominion over him. (10) For in that he died,he died unto sin once:but in that he liveth,he liveth unto God. (11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body,that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (13) 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. (14) For sin shall not have dominion over you:for ye are not under the law,but under grace.
For the past few weeks we have looking at the importance of death in the life of the believer in Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 6,the apostle Paul contrasts what everyone was before salvation,and what believers should be like after salvation. The blessing for the believer is that they no longer have to fear physical death,but now they must die to self – to mortify their members (body parts that can lead to sin) in order to walk in obedience to God. That does not mean believers literally slay their members,but that the believer should set aside their fleshly desires in order to follow God’s desires.
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;fornication,uncleanness,inordinate affection,evil concupiscence,and covetousness,which is idolatry:
Note that Paul points out that covetousness is also idolatry and really,all sin is idolatry because the sinner has decided that they know what is the best way for them to go. The believer should flee from sin in order to properly follow God. However,the Christian life is not about NOT doing certain things. The person cannot declare that they are right with God because they do not do certain things or that they DO certain things. The believer must have the right motivation for the things that they do and have the right motivation for the things they do not do. And that motivation must be because they love God and want to honor and glorify Him. A believer cannot do that if they have idols in their life.
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh,ye shall die:but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body,ye shall live.
Thankfully,God has given every believer the means to be able to properly follow God. That means is the Holy Spirit. People are able to mortify their members and the deeds of their body,their people that can lie down on a bed of nails believing that action brings closer to their god. Some people live in monasteries and nunneries and deny themselves marriage and wear uncomfortable clothing believing this brings them closer to God. But God does not require these types of actions by the believers in Jesus Christ. These actions are going beyond what is taught in the Bible. God gives the believer to not sin if they would follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The believer can have triumph of sin if they would continuously follow the Holy Spirit.
J.N. Darby wrote:For there is power of life in Christ to enable us to triumph over sin and death,and not to live unto ourselves,but unto Him who loved us,and died for us,and is now seated at the right hand of God. We are already risen in Him and to be manifested with Him in the glory. Shall I,then,allow any wretched object or idle vanity to occupy me instead of Christ? It may be perhaps some folly,or some piece of self-importance,or some evil disposition,or even the cares of this life!
Ephesians 4:29-30 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,but that which is good to the use of edifying,that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (30) And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
When believers are not following the Holy Spirit,they are grieving the Holy Spirit. To grieve the Holy Spirit,means to bring pain to Him because we are not following His leading. The Holy Spirit will lead the believer,but the believer must be willing to be led. D.L Moody said,“I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law,the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world,there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled.”Think about this:if you take a dog out for a walk,the dog will want to decide where it wants to go. If the dog is big enough and determined enough it will pull the dog walker all over the place even if it has a leash. The dog will dash to one spot because something smells interesting and then will want to quickly run elsewhere because something has caught its attention. But if the dog is properly trained,no matter how big the dog,the dog walker will be able to decide where the dog will walk. And the first thing that happens is that the dog is trained to follow the will of the walker not the desires of the dog. The dog is trained to obey the dog walker. The same is true for the believer in Jesus Christ – the believer must be trained to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and go where God wants. The believer must humble themselves and walk where God wants,not where the believer wants to go. The believer must be willing to say to God,“Not my will,but thine.”
D.L. Moody was to have a campaign in England. An elderly pastor protested,“Why do we need this ‘Mr. Moody’? He’s uneducated,inexperienced,etc. Who does he think he is anyway? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?”A younger,wiser pastor rose and responded,“No,but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Mr. Moody.”D.L. Moody desired to be sold out for God and he determined to follow God,not fight God.
Each believer in Jesus Christ must not grieve the Holy Spirit,because when that happens they lose discernment. The longer the believer grieves the Holy Spirit,the less and less discernment they will have in their lives. They will have trouble knowing what is right or wrong in the eyes of God,because they will have stopped praying and have stopped reading their Bible. When the believer grieves the Holy Spirit,then sin is working in the believer’s life and makes it more difficult for him or her to follow God. Sin begets sin and the believer’s neck will stiffen and their heart will harden about the things of God. The believer’s spiritual sense will dim and sin will lead the believer further away from God. This is why the believer must daily die to self and humble themselves before God so they can be led by the Holy Spirit and follow God in love and obedience. The believer must decrease so the God can increase.
Speaking to a large audience,D.L. Moody held up a glass and asked,“How can I get the air out of this glass?”One man shouted,“Suck it out with a pump!”Moody replied,“That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.”After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled,picked up a pitcher of water,and filled the glass. “There,”he said,“all the air is now removed.”He then went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not accomplished by “sucking out a sin here and there,”but by being filled with the Holy Spirit. Go back to Romans 6.
Romans 6:12-13 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body,that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (13) 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.
In verse 12,Paul warns that believers should not allow sin to control them. Sin is never full for long,once it starts it will continue to grow if the believer does not realize the sin and repent of it. Believers cannot allow sin to control them nor allow it a foothold in their lives. There’s an old story about a man who tried to save the city of Sodom from destruction by warning the citizens. But the people ignored him. One day someone asked,“Why bother everyone? You can’t change them.”“Maybe I can’t,”the man replied,“but I still shout and scream to prevent them from changing me!
In verse 13,Paul warns the believer to decide who or what they are going to yield to:sin or God. Believers have the choice and Paul is urging them to yield to God’s will and not their own will. Believers must look to follow God and not their own desires that are contrary to God. This can only happen when believers humble themselves and do not grieve the Holy Spirit. This means that the believer needs to grow and mature in Jesus Christ and not remain stagnant. J. Vernon McGee wrote:A little girl fell out of bed one night and began to cry. Her mother rushed into her bedroom,picked her up,put her back in bed,and asked her,“Honey,why did you fall out of bed?” And she said,“I think I stayed too close to the place where I got in.” And that’s the reason a great many of us fall,my friend. It is because we are actually yielding ourselves to our old nature. We’re following the dictates of the old nature;that is what gets us into trouble.
Believers are always going to have a sin nature,but believers do not have to choose to yield to it. Remember that:we choose to sin,but we do not have to sin. Romans 6:4-6 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:(6) Knowing this,that our old man is crucified with him,that the body of sin might be destroyed,that henceforth we should not serve sin.
The believer’s old man is his or her sin nature – that desire to please the flesh – but the believer does not have to be the servant of sin. Please remember that sin does not serve us,because sin does not have our best interests at heart. We become servants of sin because once we start,we desire to add to it and build it up. Sin becomes our every thought and our every imagination.
Please remember that the Christian life is not a matter of simply following certain rules and avoiding certain things. Keeping the Law that Moses delivered does not save anyone. J. Vernon McGee wrote:The Christian life is not following certain rules;you can follow rules and regulations and still not be living the Christian life. Somebody asks,”The what is the Christian life?” The Christian life is to be obedient unto Christ. It means communication with Christ. It is not how you walk,but where you walk – are you walking in the light,walking in fellowship with Christ? Sin will break the fellowship,of course,and then we are to confess our sin. The Lord Jesus said to Peter in the upper room,“If I wash you not,you have no part with me (John 13:8)”. We do not have fellowship with Him unless we confess our sins to Him as we go along. Our part is confession;His part is cleansing (see 1 John 1:9). The important thing for you and me is to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and to obey Him. Then we will be living the Christian life.
Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
When the believer is dead to sin,then they are free from sin. Why? Because a dead man cannot sin! Furthermore,because the believer has died with Jesus Christ on the cross,was buried,and rose with Jesus Christ,the believer is no longer under the penalty for sin. God looks upon the believer has has declared him or her righteous. The believer is declared not guilty,why? Because Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for the believer.
Romans 6:8-9 Now if we be dead with Christ,we believe that we shall also live with him:(9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more;death hath no more dominion over him.
Remember,the three steps for the believer:rejected,slain,risen. Every believer must go through those steps,just as Jesus Christ did for the believer. If the believer died with Jesus Christ then they will also be risen with Him. The believer has newness of life now and the believer will be resurrected one day after they have physically died. Look at verse 9 – what is the first word? Knowing,not hoping,not maybe,not possibly,but KNOWING. Paul wants the believer to realize that they should KNOW death no more has dominion and that Jesus Christ forever lives. As Jesus Christ told the apostle John:Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth,and was dead;and,behold,I am alive forevermore,Amen;and have the keys of hell and of death.
Romans 6:10-12 For in that he died,he died unto sin once:but in that he liveth,he liveth unto God. (11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body,that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Jesus Christ died once and will never die again. The believer has the same promise. The believer must realize that they are dead to sin and do not have to choose to sin. If the believer chooses to not sin,then they will live a fuller life following God in love and obedience. That does not mean they will live an easier life,but it will be a life more satisfying. Charles Spurgeon wrote:We are one with Jesus being both dead with Him,and risen in Him;ours therefore it is to live the new life,and view ourselves as dead to all the sinful joys of our former lives. Of for grace to carry this out to the full.