Dead to Sin; Alive to God

Romans 6:11, 12

Due to Christ’s death on the cross, every sinner, who places their faith in His finished work, is made dead to the old nature, and alive to God. Since Jesus is dead to sin, and we are in Jesus, we too are dead to sin. Thank God that upon salvation, we are no longer controlled by who we used to be!

Since we are made dead to sin through the death of Jesus, then we should reckon that death to be a completely finished work. The word for “reckon” is also translated “count” or “consider”. We must consider ourselves dead to sin, even if we do not feel dead to it. The Apostle is not telling the believer to go with what they feel, but rather to walk in what the Word says about them.

Whether you reckon yourself dead to sin or not, YOU ARE! Considering yourself dead brings a freedom and a victory about in your actions and deeds, but you are no less dead to sin if you fail to realize it. This is not about considering yourself dead to sin so that you will eventually be dead to sin. NO! This is about considering yourself dead to sin because Jesus is dead to sin; and you are in Jesus. Line up the way you think with the way God thinks of you and you begin to walk in the more abundant life that Jesus promised was yours (John 10:10).

You are just as alive in Christ as you are dead to sin. Again, this is not contingent on you knowing it, but if you don’t know it, you won’t walk in it. Every believer is dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus. If they count themselves that way, they walk free from the devices of sin, and they live according to the identification of the Holy Spirit within their life. When we consider ourselves as equal to whatever symptoms that we are showing, then we walk beneath the standard of living that Jesus paid for us to have. For instance, if we fail and then consider ourselves failures or sinners because of our sin, then we are powerless to stop doing what we are doing.
Proof for this is found in the next verse, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12). Upon first glance, one might say, “See Pastor, it is my job to stop sin in my life”. Actually, within context, you counting yourself dead to sin but alive to God is the only thing that will stop sin from reigning in your mortal body. The word “therefore” is key to the understanding of this text, for it links the result of verse 12 with the action of verse 11. Realize that you are dead to sin, and sin becomes dead to you!

As long as you are trying to die out to sin on a day-to-day basis, you will find yourself in trouble. Consider the finished work of Jesus as a truly finished work, not left to be done on your part, but finished on His. Rest in the accomplishment of Christ on the cross, where He died to sin so that you will not be held under its grasp. Still struggling with an area of sin in your life? Don’t fret. Consider yourself dead to sin and then move on. With every failure, declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, consider His work finished in you and watch grace change you in miraculous ways. Under God’s grace, you will never get the credit for your changing, for you know you did nothing!

Remember, only grace can “build you up” (Acts 20:32). Let it!

You Are Dead

Colossians 3:1-4

The title for today seems kind of morbid, doesn’t it? “You are dead” is not a very encouraging way to start your day I’ll admit, but within context of the scripture, it is quite encouraging. The “old you” is gone, with all of its sins and transgressions, and the “new you” is alive through the life of Jesus Christ. When someone meets you that hasn’t seen you since your conversion, they may very well say, “You have changed. You aren’t the same person that you used to be”, take it as a compliment; for you are dead!

Just because your old man is dead does not mean that you never fail, but it does mean that when God looks at you, He sees nothing but your new man. This is why Paul emphasized that your life “is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). It is not your old man that is hid; remember it is dead, but it is your new life that is hidden. Inside of the sacrifice of Christ is the new you, for Christ is living through you to the glory of the Father.

I have heard it said that Jesus is walking next to the believer, defending them from harm. Actually, Jesus is living through the believer so that they are more than a conqueror. You never need fear that you will go somewhere that Jesus will abandon you or leave you alone. You cannot run Him off or run Him out, for He has purchased you with a price. When God views you, He cannot help but see Jesus, for it is the blood of the Lamb that marks the house of your heart.
Paul continues with, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Christ is not a part of our life, He IS our life! My life is non-existent without Christ, for the old me is dead. Without Jesus, there is nothing to define me, and that is a wonderful thing to cherish. We are all just a fading shadow without Christ; but with Him as our Comforter and guide, we are the living, breathing, righteousness of God.

Since we know that we are a new creation, and that Jesus is living through us, we should set all of our attentions on showing forth Christ in our daily lives. While we live a life of abundance and favor, we are to keep our desires toward heaven; with glorifying the Father in the forefront of our hearts and minds. The Christian life is not about doing the right and shunning the wrong; it is about a relationship with the Father. Once we know who we are in Jesus, there should be a daily desire to show His love and grace to the world around us. As long as we are consumed with getting new things and being someone on this earth, we are thinking very little about presenting Christ to a world in desperate need of salvation.

May you relax today in the knowledge that the old man has passed away and that your new man is hidden with Christ in God. Now, take that knowledge and do something great with it! You have a chance to set your affection on Godly things, with the finished work of Christ in your sights. Will you squander another day looking for your own pleasures, or will you share of His love with a hurting world?

Waiting For the Dead

Judges 5:24-28

Sisera was the captain of the army of Canaan, an army so strong that it contained 900 chariots of iron. However, his strength came to naught when the prophetess Deborah told General Barak to take the armies of the Lord into battle against the heathen general. He fled on foot into the tent of a supposed friend, who killed him by driving a spike through his skull (Judges 4:17-21).

The song of Deborah and Barak encompasses the fifth chapter of Judges, and Deborah sings of Sisera’s mother looking out a window in her home, waiting for him to return. She is waiting for someone who is not coming back, because unknown to her, Sisera is dead. Her want for “knowledge of the truth” has deceived her.

Paul told young Timothy that there would be many in these final hours that were, “ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). In many cases, people are waiting for things to come to pass or hoping for answers, but they have little knowledge of the truth. These things are like waiting for the dead; wait all you want, but they will never happen.

If you are waiting for peace without turning to the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, then you are waiting for the dead. No peace comes without the peace that Jesus gave to His disciples (John 14:27). Accept by faith that Jesus has made peace with the Father concerning your sins and trespasses (Romans 5:1) and then do as Jesus instructed the woman healed of the issue of blood, “Go in (into) peace” (Luke 8:48).

If you are waiting for salvation to come from your labor, then you are waiting for the dead (Galatians 2:21). Jesus said that salvation comes from believing on the Son, and that if your faith is not on the Son (Jesus), then you have God’s wrath abiding on you (John 3:36).

If you are waiting on promotion to leadership without first learning to follow, then you are waiting for the dead. Jesus spoke to His disciples, who twice could not resolve the issue of who would be the greatest among them (Luke 9:46 & Luke 22:24-27), telling them that if they wished to be great they must first learn to serve. Remember that the less is always blessed of the better (Hebrews 7:7), so be ready to be the blessing if you wish to be the truly blessed.

Finally, if you are waiting for Jesus to return, then you are NOT waiting for the dead; you are waiting for the living. “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Wait with all patience on Christ to do His great work in you today. Go in His blessings and His kindness, with a full assurance that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Dead to Sin; Alive to God

Romans 6:11, 12

Due to Christ’s death on the cross, every believing sinner, who places their faith in His finished work, is made dead to the old nature, and alive to God. Since Jesus is dead to sin, and we are in Jesus, we too are dead to sin. Thank God that upon salvation, we are no longer controlled by who we used to be!

Since we are made dead to sin through the death of Jesus, then we should reckon that death to be a completely finished work. The word for “reckon” is also translated “count” or “consider”. We must consider ourselves dead to sin, even if we do not feel dead to it. The Apostle is not telling the believer to go with what they feel, but rather to walk in what the Word says about them.

Whether you reckon yourself dead to sin or not, YOU ARE! Considering yourself dead brings a freedom and a victory about in your actions and deeds, but you are no less dead to sin if you fail to realize it. This is not about considering yourself dead to sin so that you will eventually be dead to sin. NO! This is about considering yourself dead to sin because Jesus is dead to sin; and you are in Jesus. Line up the way you think with the way God thinks of you and you begin to walk in the more abundant life that Jesus promised was yours (John 10:10).

You are just as alive in Christ as you are dead to sin. Again, this is not contingent on you knowing it, but if you don’t know it, you won’t walk in it. Every believer is dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus. If they count themselves that way, they walk free from the devices of sin, and they live according to the identification of the Holy Spirit within their life. When we consider ourselves as equal to whatever symptoms that we are showing, then we walk beneath the standard of living that Jesus paid for us to have. For instance, if we fail and then consider ourselves failures or sinners because of our sin, then we are powerless to stop doing what we are doing.
Proof for this is found in the next verse, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12). Upon first glance, one might say, “See Pastor, it is my job to stop sin in my life”. Actually, within context, you counting yourself dead to sin but alive to God is the only thing that will stop sin from reigning in your mortal body. The word “therefore” is key to the understanding of this text, for it links the result of verse 12 with the action of verse 11. Realize that you are dead to sin, and sin becomes dead to you!

As long as you are trying to die out to sin on a day-to-day basis, you will find yourself in trouble. Consider the finished work of Jesus as a truly finished work, not left to be done on your part, but finished on His. Rest in the accomplishment of Christ on the cross, where He died to sin so that you will not be held under its grasp. Still struggling with an area of sin in your life? Don’t fret. Consider yourself dead to sin and then move on. With every failure, declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, consider His work finished in you and watch grace change you in miraculous ways. Under God’s grace, you will never get the credit for your changing, for you know you did nothing!

Remember, only grace can “build you up” (Acts 20:32). Let it!

You Are Dead

Colossians 3:1-4

The title for today seems kind of morbid, doesn’t it? “You are dead” is not a very encouraging way to start your day I’ll admit, but within context of the scripture, it is quite encouraging. The “old you” is gone, with all of its sins and transgressions, and the “new you” is alive through the life of Jesus Christ. When someone meets you that hasn’t seen you since your conversion, they may very well say, “You have changed. You aren’t the same person that you used to be”, take it as a compliment; for you are dead!

Just because your old man is dead does not mean that you never fail, but it does mean that when God looks at you, He sees nothing but your new man. This is why Paul emphasized that your life “is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). It is not your old man that is hid; remember it is dead, but it is your new life that is hidden. Inside of the sacrifice of Christ is the new you, for Christ is living through you to the glory of the Father.

I have heard it said that Jesus is walking next to the believer, defending them from harm. Actually, Jesus is living through the believer so that they are more than a conqueror. You never need fear that you will go somewhere that Jesus will abandon you or leave you alone. You cannot run Him off or run Him out, for He has purchased you with a price. When God views you, He cannot help but see Jesus, for it is the blood of the Lamb that marks the house of your heart.
Paul continues with, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Christ is not a part of our life, He IS our life! My life is non-existent without Christ, for the old me is dead. Without Jesus, there is nothing to define me, and that is a wonderful thing to cherish. We are all just a fading shadow without Christ; but with Him as our Comforter and guide, we are the living, breathing, righteousness of God.

Since we know that we are a new creation, and that Jesus is living through us, we should set all of our attentions on showing forth Christ in our daily lives. While we live a life of abundance and favor, we are to keep our desires toward heaven; with glorifying the Father in the forefront of our hearts and minds. The Christian life is not about doing the right and shunning the wrong; it is about a relationship with the Father. Once we know who we are in Jesus, there should be a daily desire to show His love and grace to the world around us. As long as we are consumed with getting new things and being someone on this earth, we are thinking very little about presenting Christ to a world in desperate need of salvation.

May you relax today in the knowledge that the old man has passed away and that your new man is hidden with Christ in God. Now, take that knowledge and do something great with it! You have a chance to set your affection on Godly things, with the finished work of Christ in your sights. Will you squander another day looking for your own pleasures, or will you share of His love with a hurting world?

Waiting For the Dead

Judges 5:24-28

Sisera was the captain of the army of Canaan, an army so strong that he had amassed 900 chariots of iron. However, his strength came to naught when the prophetess Deborah told General Barak to take the armies of the Lord into battle against the heathen general. He fled on foot into the tent of a supposed friend, who killed him by driving a spike through his skull (Judges 4:17-21).

The song of Deborah and Barak encompasses the fifth chapter of Judges, and Deborah sings of Sisera’s mother looking out a window in her home, waiting for him to return. She is waiting for someone who is not coming back, because unknown to her, Sisera is dead. Her want for “knowledge of the truth” has deceived her.

Paul told young Timothy that there would be many in these final hours that were, “ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). In many cases, people are waiting for things to come to pass or hoping for answers, but they have little knowledge of the truth. These things are like waiting for the dead; wait all you want, but they will never happen.

If you are waiting for peace without turning to the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, then you are waiting for the dead. No peace comes without the peace that Jesus gave to His disciples (John 14:27). Accept by faith that Jesus has made peace with the Father concerning your sins and trespasses (Romans 5:1).

If you are waiting for salvation to come from your labor, then you are waiting for the dead (Galatians 2:21). Jesus said that salvation comes from believing on the Son, and that if your faith is not on the Son (Jesus), then you have God’s wrath abiding on you (John 3:36).

If you are waiting on promotion to leadership without first learning to follow, then you are waiting for the dead. Jesus spoke to His disciples, who twice could not resolve the issue of who would be the greatest among them (Luke 9:46 & Luke 22:24-27), telling them that if they wished to be great they must first learn to serve. Remember that the less is always blessed of the better (Hebrews 7:7), so be ready to be the blessing if you wish to be the truly blessed.

Finally, if you are waiting for Jesus to return, then you are NOT waiting for the dead; you are waiting for the living. “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Wait with all patience on Christ to do His great work in you today. Go in His blessings and His kindness, with a full assurance that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.