Romans 6:8-14 Now it we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Why is sin no longer our master? What is the purpose of the story of Jesus Christ being raised from the dead? These are questions we sometimes ponder in our religious activities and thinking. Why do we read the word of God? What makes the Bible so precious to us? The answer is in the above passage: Now it we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. When we talk about Christianity, we speak of a parameter extending beyond this temporary existence: eternal life with God. Christians know this life is not all there is. Life is not just an accident: something that is because it is. A Creator who has always existed designed life. Christianity merges into this power that will never cease. Since Christ was raised from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit, we who believe in this resurrecting power through faith in Jesus Christ and his works will arise also. Death no longer has mastery over him (Jesus). If we abide IN HIM, death is no longer our master. Therefore, the Bible says we are alive forever because of the power of God in us. Consequently, we count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. This is cause for great rejoicing and for complete commitment to God. The Bible says, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. (Hebrews 12:1) We must flee from sin because it leads our feet into temptation and causes us to struggle with the faith we have in Christ Jesus. Sin leads us to unbelief, to an Adam centered life. Sin desires to end our lives and is lethal to our Christian walk. Adam’s sinful disobedience removed him from the Garden of Eden, and he received a sentence of death. Instead of immortality with God, the dust of earth would be his and his progeny’s destiny. The Bible warns us about living in rebellion. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. We are to live a good life for God is good. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:9-12) As Christians, we are instruments of righteousness, forsaking the sin that so easily besets us. We will consider all temporary waywardness in our souls as an aberration. We will not dwell in darkness, constantly doing evil. We will consider the fleshly part of our mortal lives as having no influence on our righteous souls. God has redeemed us through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. JESUS THE CHRIST has made us perfect before all. No one can condemn us, for we have been bought with a high price: the blood of Jesus Christ.
The law would place us under the master of the flesh, for our sins would be ever before us. The law condemns us, but Christ redeems us. Consequently, we no longer live by the voice of the law or instructions of the law; no, we live by the voice of the Holy Spirit within us. As the Bible says, The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. (John 6:63) We obey his voice of comfort and guidance that leads us to serve God. We reach out to mankind with love, preferring others above ourselves. The apostles lived by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Nothing deterred them from following God’s will in their lives. In the city of Philippi, Paul and Silas were followed around by a demon possessed girl. She was a fortune teller who was given that gift by a demon. She shouted about Paul and Silas: “These men are servants of the Most High.” But, a demon was shouting this truthful statement about the apostles. Being men living by the voice of the Holy Spirit, Paul recognized this fact and cast the demon our of her. This action of Paul’s caused him and Silas to be cast into the deepest part of the Philippi dungeon. Before they were thrown in the dungeon, they were beaten severely with rods. Seemingly, an awful result for following the voice of God. But God is dealing on an eternal level, not an earthly or fleshly level. Within that dungeon the voices of two men could be heard praying and singing praises to God. The apostles were praying and singing to God when an earthquake struck that prison. The shackles on their bleeding bodies broke loose and the doors of the prison opened widely. They were free to run. But the voice of God within them had them stay in that dungeon. The jailor was going to kill himself, for he knew the authorities would kill him if any of his prisoners escaped. Paul stopped him, “We are here.” The jailer went to Paul and asked him, “What must I do to be saved? How can I have eternal life?” Paul responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and YOU WILL BE SAVED!” (See Acts 16 for this account) That is what the Bible is about: salvation, eternal life. We can pray and sing in any prison life brings our way, for God is Lord of everything!
When a person takes a hatchet and chops down every bridge between God and himself or herself through unbelief and fear, there is no way to eternal life. God will not force his mercy and eternal grace upon that person. The timeless God will give that person his or her wish: to remain finite in a world dictated by time. Death reigns in time, but eternity rests in God. He alone possesses eternal life. Freedom comes to the timeless ones living by God’s grace, but bondage comes to those who are caught in time without a way of escape. They will serve their master, the devil, with their lives dictated by fleshly desires. Our God has given us a way to timelessness through the resurrected Jesus. If we plant our hopes and faith in Him, we will be eternal, for we will be resurrected through faith in him. Why should we hold sin in abeyance? Why should we not commit to the life of self-interest, self-direction, and the fleshly pursuit of happiness that we see all around us? Christians do not submit to such a life because we display a powerful alternative that is eternal, not temporary. We manifest the attributes of God on Earth, not the characteristics of the first Adam. God is our master—sin shall no longer be our master, because we are not under the law, but under grace. We are no longer under condemnation and the sentence of death for our souls. No, we are under the mercy and grace of the living God, a life of eternity. As Paul will write a little later in this letter: But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:10-11) Walk in his life and light today!
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