God’s Solution for Our Sin

Transcript

GRM 808
9/15/2002
God's Solution for Our Sin
Romans 6:1-14
Gil Rugh

I want to continue along the theme we've been talking about the last few weeks. We talked in James 1 about the responsibility we have for our sin before God. This is true of unbeliever and believer alike. In James 1 we were told that our sin finds its source in our own fallen natures. James says each one is drawn away and enticed by his own lusts. That doesn't rule out the fact that the Devil, sinful people, the world all serve to encourage us in the indulgence of sin but no one angel or human can cause me to sin. Sin is an act of my will and that can be disheartening as I consider that I am personally accountable and responsible to God for my sinful actions. But it is also liberating to know that I am not the helpless victim of my past, of the circumstances of my life, of how people have or are or will in the future treat me. But I am a person accountable and responsible to God.

Now when we talk about our responsibility for our sin before God, we want to be clear in our thinking that it is only true believers in Jesus Christ who are in a position to exercise their will not to sin. Remember the Bible is clear, Old Testament and New Testament alike, there is none righteous, not even one who is righteous. Not even one who is doing good. Everyone has turned aside and gone astray. They've all become useless as Romans 3 reiterates, drawing heavily from the Old Testament scriptures. We would not want to imply as we consider our passage like James 1 that unregenerate people are in a position to exercise their will and not sin. Now obviously they exercise their will all the time and do not sin. But they are not in a position to live free from the slavery to sin.

This is the doctrine of sanctification. I've been reading to you of late from J. C. Rile because I want to encourage you to read it for yourself. When everybody has told me they've read it, then I'll stop reading it to you. I was looking for a few things I wanted to read to you. I think I have three different copies so I have them marked differently and then I want to find something, I can. This relates to the theological comments I read to you earlier, "I say then in the first place that a scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to that vague, dim, misty, hazy kind of theology which is so painfully current in the present age." Now remember he wrote in the present age. He wrote this in 1879. He could write about a vague, dim and misty, hazy kind of theology which is so painfully current. "It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a vast quantity of so-called Christianity now days which you cannot declare positively unsound, but which nevertheless is not full measure, good weight and 16 ounces to the pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably something about Christ and something about grace and something about faith and something about repentance and something about holiness, but it is not the real thing as it is in the Bible."

That becomes a great danger to the Church. This misty, fuzzy kind of Christianity that has elements of truth in it, but it just doesn't firmly line up to the Scripture. The title of this book is Sanctification or Holiness, and it is about sanctification. "Sanctification," he says, "is that inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Ghost when he calls him to be a true believer. He not only washes him from sins in his own blood, but he also separates him from his natural love of sin and the world. Puts a new principle in his heart and makes him practically godly in life. He who supposes that Jesus Christ only lived and died and rose again in order to provide justification and forgiveness of sins for his people has yet much to learn. The Lord Jesus has undertaken everything that His people's souls require. Not only to deliver them from the guilt of their sins by His atoning death but from the dominion of their sins by placing in their hearts the Holy Spirit, not only to justify them but also to sanctify them."

I have to say it seems to me that this truth is so biblically self-evident that I struggle with understanding the fuzziness and confusion that continues to exist right down to our very day. If you pick up this book, you'll find some very helpful unfolding, step by step of defining sanctification. Of showing how sanctification differs from justification and areas of similarity in justification and sanctification.

Let me read one more statement. Then we're going to the Scripture. "I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and different things beyond question. But one is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified and all sanctified are justified. What God has joined together let no man dare to put us under. Tell me not of your justification unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ's work for you unless you can show us the Spirit's work in you. Think not that Christ and the Spirit can ever be divided." Sound biblical doctrine from an Anglican Bishop from the late 1800's, a contemporary of Charles Haden Spurgeon in England in those days.

I want to direct your attention to Romans 6. I refer you to Romans 6 so often that you probably think we just did this. Maybe we did, but according to my notes it's been about three years since we walked through some of the details. References don't count. We have to start at the first word and walk through. It’s the foundational truths that I mention so often that get eroded and once they are eroded all of our doctrine turns into mush. If you are not clear on the issues involved in the death of Jesus Christ and the provision made in His work of salvation how can anything else in your life as a Christian, make sense and fit together. When we talk about living our lives as the people of God we are at a foundational matter. When we talk about how sin is dealt with. That's the foundational issue, is it not, in God's work of redemption - dealing with sin? But in trying to radically disassociate the doctrine of justification whereby we are declared righteous by God and the doctrine of sanctification where the holiness of His character is produced in us, we have really in effect undermined and all but destroyed the effect of the work of Christ on the cross. We have Christians providing so called answers and have developed whole systems. If you go to a Christian bookstore, other than ours and a few others, you just go and there is shelf after shelf after shelf after shelf of books that really are denying the biblical doctrine of sanctification. It matters not whether people have good intentions in what they're doing. It doesn't matter if they think they are being helpful. If they are attacking biblical truth, they are being destructive. There is no excuse for it within the camp of Bible-believing Christians. There is every reason for bottomless confusion in the world. There is no reason at all that confusion ought to infect us as God's people.

When you come to Romans 6 as you are aware. We come to a new section in the book. The first section in the book dealt with the issue of sin. You first have to be clear in your thinking on sin and if you read J. C. Riles, he'll drive that point home very clearly. He has a chapter on the doctrine of sin. If you don't understand the issue of sin, then you're confused on everything else. It's an understanding of our sin and the seriousness of our sin that prepares us for the second major division of the book of Romans which emphasizes God's provision in dealing with our sin, the doctrine of justification. He goes from talking about sin to talking about the righteousness God has provided through the finished work of Christ. When you come to chapter 6,7 and 8, he's going to deal with the matter of our sanctification, what this means to us now as we live. The subject in Romans 6 particularly in these opening dozen or so verses is the subject of death. When you get to the opening verses of chapter 8, the first part of that chapter, the subject will be life. Now he'll talk about life in chapter 6, but it will be developed as life in the Spirit more fully in chapter 8.

He concluded chapter 5, "the law came in," verse 20, "that the transgression might increase. But where sin increased grace abounded all the more." When the Mosaic Law was given and you have those 600 and some commandments given by God, it became clear how sinful people really were because now you had all these commandments, and they are shown to be broken repeatedly. But God's grace has come in and dealt with the issue of sin.

"Sin reigned in death so that grace might reign in righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The Law came through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Even the grace experienced by Old Testament saints was founded upon the righteousness that God provided through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

"What shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?" We have a chapter division and we do move to another section, but you can see this is built on what he has just said. If multiplying of sin and sin becoming more evident, clearer, simply displays the greatest of God's grace, maybe sin isn't so bad after all. We talk about in our consideration of James 1 verses 13 and following, we always look for a way to excuse ourselves for our sin and even draw God in as an accomplice in some way. Here people trying to twist the doctrine of grace into licentiousness and a reason and excuse for sin. Isn't it good to magnify God's grace. Doesn't sin magnify God's grace. Because the greater the sin, the greater the grace that provides the forgiveness and cleansing.

Paul is disgusted. He has no place for anyone who would even think such a thought. "May it never be" is his response in verse 2. Such a thought is inconceivable. It's preposterous that we would think that it's OK to sin because our sin magnifies God's grace. A very simple question, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" If you read down through the following verses from verse 2 down through verse 13, I think you'll find that the word "death" or "die" is included in every verse. Because when we talk about sin and the solution to sin, you have to understand death. There is no other provision. There is no other solution. There is no other cure. If you're going to deal with the sin problem in any real way, you have to die. You will never be free from the slavery and bondage to sin unless you're set free in Christ and that means you'll have to die with Him.

"How shall we who died to sin still live in it? He's talking about those who have entered into the righteousness of Christ by believing in Him. Chapter 3 verse 21 to chapter 5 verse 21 developed in some details the provision of righteousness in Jesus Christ. So, we can talk about we died to sin. He's addressing believers. "Or do you not know." Here is something . . . and he uses that expression. He uses it several times. “Do you not know” It will be used in chapter 7 verse 1, chapter 11 verse 2, to imply something, address something that they should know. You know like you'll say to one of your children when they do something, "Don't you know better?" Well, that's not a question, expecting a "No. I don't know better." That's your way of telling them they should know better. Well, do you not know. This is foundational, basic truth and you're living as though you're ignorant of it. There's no excuse for this, basically is what Paul is saying.

Now you note he said, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" Sin didn't die, but we died to sin. Significant distinction. "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death." I take it the reference here is to the baptism of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."

Look over in Colossians 2. Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians chapter 2. In this context he uses circumcision. There is the physical circumcision but there is a spiritual circumcision of the heart. The physical circumcision of the body was to physically portray a circumcision that takes place in the heart. We find the Old Testament prophets exhorting Israel. Circumcise your hearts. Remove the sin. In Colossians 2:11, "In Him [in Christ] you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead." Just as he's moved to talk about spiritual circumcision, I take it he's talking about spiritual baptism. Same thing as 1 Corinthians 12:13. The same thing as Romans 6. Water baptism is simply to be a physical expression of a spiritual reality that has happened to us. Water baptism we are portraying what? We've been identified with Christ in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection to newness of life. It's not that physical act that could bring salvation. It's what that physical act is representing, that I have believed in Christ and have been spiritually identified with Him. That's what baptism is. It's an identification. Spirit baptism is when you are identified by the Spirit of God with Christ. Water baptism is a public identification with Christ.

Back in Romans 6. "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death." We were identified with Christ in His death. "Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." This becomes the key issue in our salvation. Now again we are picking up in Romans 6. If we were reading this as the letter that Paul wrote, you would come back to chapter 3 verse 22, if you would, where he talks about the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all those who believe. The end of verse 26, "that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Verse 28, "We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." Went on to illustrate that with Abraham in chapter 4. Circumcision cannot be a requirement for salvation for salvation because Abraham was declared righteous by God years before he was circumcised. Therefore, circumcision could not be necessary for salvation. Well, water baptism can't be necessary for salvation either because as far as we know Abraham was never baptized by water. But faith in the revelation God has given is required.

So back in chapter 6. You note the process we were identified with Christ when we believed in Him in His death. The wages of sin is death. But I died. When did I die? I died when Christ died. Remember when He hung on the cross, Peter says He was taking our place. He was bearing our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Same thing as Paul writes here. We are identified with Him in His death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, it was God's dynamic power that raised Him from the dead. So, we too might walk in newness of life.

So why do we say you cannot separate justification from sanctification? There is a difference in being justified, declared righteous by God, and being sanctified, set apart by God for holiness. While there is a distinction between the two, the two can never be separated. They are part of the package of salvation. Salvation includes our justification. It includes our regeneration. Being born again. It includes our sanctification. It includes our glorification. The culmination of that work when we are brought to full perfection in Christ.

"So that we might walk in newness of life." You ought to underline the end of verse 4 if you don't have that done of highlighted. Why were we identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection? So we could be forgiven our sins. That's true. He talks about that in the previous chapter. But that's not all there is to it. We are identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection so that we might walk . . . walk, that pattern of our life, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. We live now differently than we lived before. We live in newness of life. There is a dramatic, drastic change and transformation in a person who has experienced the power of God in his life in salvation.

"For if we have become united in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." "If we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death." That "has become" is a perfect tense. It denotes something that happened in the past; the results continue on in the present. We have become united with Him in the likeness of His death. The impact of that goes on. I'm one who has died. That happened in the past. That moment I trusted Christ, I died with Him. Now that's not just an historical fact referring back to that time when by God's grace I believed the truth of the Gospel. That has ongoing ramifications. Nothing will ever be the same again. Praise God! Because when I died, the old life was over. I was raised with newness of life.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold new things have come." That's a result of being in Christ.

"If we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." There is no half work. Well, I have died with Christ, so I've been forgiven my sins and declared righteous, but I haven't been raised yet. You can't be saved like that. Salvation is a package. It not only includes your forgiveness, your cleansing, righteousness from God, but it also includes a new life. You're not left in the grave. You're raised up to new life.

"Knowing this that our old self, literally our old man, was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin." For He who has died is freed from sin. This is the heart of the biblical Gospel of salvation. If you are in error here, you have nothing. I mean, this is what God's salvation is all about. Our old man, literally, in verse 6 was crucified with him. Now if we were just reading this letter, we're listening to it read, that would immediately take us back to chapter 5 because in chapter 5 he drew a contrast between Adam, the first Adam in Genesis 3 who sinned and brought sin to the human race, and Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the last Adam, who has brought righteousness. Chapter 5 verse 18, "Through one transgression there resulted condemnation, through one act of righteousness there resulted justification." So that contrast drawn, and the old man is what we were in Adam apart from the work of Christ. The old man, what I was as a fallen, sinful being, what I was as a child of Adam born in sin.

A sinner by birth and by action, under the condemnation of God. Verse 18 of chapter 5 said by one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men. The old man, sinful, depraved, under condemnation. Our old man was crucified with Him, died, nailed to the cross with Christ. The penalty's been paid. I am worthy of death. Physical death, spiritual death, eternal death. But the penalty has been paid in full. I died when Christ died. Our old man was crucified with Him.

This same truth is developed. We're not going to take time to go there but I'll mention it to you. With the same expression the old man. In two other passages by Paul in Ephesians 4:22-24. In Ephesians 4 he starts out “walk in a manner worthy of your calling”. Chapter 4 verse 17, "Don't walk any longer as the Gentiles." You don't walk in their depravity. "We have laid aside the old man. We put on the new man." Same terminology. Then in Colossians 3:9-11 we have put aside the old man and again we put on the new. So that's the picture, our old man was crucified with Him so that our body of sin might be done away with. Our body of sin I take it is a reference to our body as controlled, dominated by sin, used for sinful purposes and unrighteousness. He'll get to that later in the chapter when he talks about death down in verse 19. That before we presented the members of our body as slaves to impurity, to lawlessness (in the middle of verse 19 of chapter 6). But now our body which has been controlled and dominated by sin has been taken care of. "That our body of sin might be done away with." Doesn't mean it ceases to exit. The Greek word is "catargeto." It means here to render powerless or ineffective so that sin no longer controls me and dominates me and uses my body for its purposes. That our body is controlled by sin might be done away with.

Turn over to Hebrews 2. If you've been here long, you probably have this marked in your Bibles. Hebrews 2. This is God's plan for setting us free from the power and domination of sin. Whether it comes first and foremost from the old man, that fallen nature within, whether it is brought to us by the power of the Devil who rules over fallen sinful human beings "the whole world lies in the Evil one." Jesus said to the religious people of His day in John 8, "You are of your father the Devil and you always do his desires." But in Hebrews 2 the solution to the power and the influence of the Devil in the life is to die with Christ. Look at Hebrews 2:14, "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook the same." It was God's intention to bring redemption to flesh and blood, human beings. "That through death He might render powerless." There's our word "catargeto." Same word as we had back in Romans 6 where it was translated in my translation, "done away with." That He might do away with, render powerless, gives you more clearly the idea. Because the Devil wasn't annihilated. The Devil didn't cease to exist but His power over those that have been redeemed has been broken. So now there is a difference between the children of the Devil and the children of God. I once was a child of the Devil and always did the will of my father the Devil. But now by God's grace I have been redeemed and I have become a child of God. So, 1 John 3 draws the distinction, "By this the children of God and the children of the Devil are obvious." You can tell a child of the Devil and a child of God. Each manifests the character of his father. The children of the Devil manifest his sinful character. The children of God manifest His righteous character. You'll note here, "Might render powerless him who has the power of death that is the Devil and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."

You'll note verse 16, "Assuredly he does not give help to angels." There was no salvation provided for angels, you remember, who sinned. God is not required to save anyone. He is only required to meet out justice. If He had condemned every single human being to hell that would have been just. When angels rebelled and sinned, he made no provision for them to be forgiven. That's settled. Forever they're doomed to hell. Because Jesus Christ did not take upon Himself the nature of angels and die for angels. He took upon Himself flesh and blood and died for human beings. So that God could offer to human beings the free gift of His salvation. When we believe in Him, we are set free from the power and authority of the Devil. The Devil is rendered powerless in His control over us.

We're back to our will now as God's children. The Devil can never make me do it. The Devil can encourage me to do it. The Devil can entice me to rebel against God. The Devil can make sin look appealing to me. My sinful nature still wants to assert itself. Say it will be enjoyable. You'll like it. Do it. But I have been set free. I don't have to obey the old man anymore. I don't have to obey the Devil. I have been set free.

He's done this, back in Romans 6, "so that we should no longer be slaves to sin”, you’ll note this. There's a radical transformation. We've died with Christ. Our old man was crucified with Christ so that we should no longer be slaves to sin. "For he who has died is freed from sin." It can't get any clearer than that." What else can you say. That's true. We have a funeral service. We have the body of someone who has died. You know what? They don't lie anymore. They don't steal anymore. They don't commit immorality anymore. They don't get drunk anymore. They're dead. It doesn't take place. Talking about their physical body, their physical life. What? Took care of it.

You note the problem we have today? People are trying to deal with sin in every way but facing reality. You have to die. Oh, we can patch things up. Make them feel better about themselves. Maybe get them to stop doing something. You haven't dealt with the basic problem. It's sin, and the only person that is freed from sin and slavery to sin and the power and authority of sin in the life is the person who has died. We need to be careful as God's people that we don't offer an artificial Gospel. We don't try to make people feel better on their way to an eternal hell. We say that a physician who knew that a person had a fatal illness, knew the cure to that illness but just was concerned to give them some pills to make them feel better, go away and think they were doing better but nothing had changed in their condition, we'd say that's malpractice. He has a cure. Why doesn't he give him a cure? Everything else doesn't really deal with the issue, does it? There's only one solution to sin and that is the solution God has provided in His Son.

You have to die. God's intention is we not be slaves to sin. You know, we have the world, the flesh and the Devil. The flesh is the same thing as the old man. Turn over to Galatians. Galatians is like in many ways a condensed version of Romans. You get in six chapters what Romans gives you in 16 chapters. You get much fuller consideration in Romans. But in Galatians 5, Paul talks about the works of the flesh. Verse 19 of Galatians 5. He gives you some examples. What does the old man do, the flesh, you are apart from the work of Christ in the life. "Immorality, impurity, sensuality," and on it goes. Characteristic of what we are apart from the work of Christ. But the fruit of the Spirit, what God produces in the life. Look at verse 24, "Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." There's a solution to being free.

You know, we have, people who have to go and learn anger control. But you note outbursts of anger are a work of the flesh. You really don't deal with the root issue of sin when you just send the person to anger control class. They'll learn how to cope with things that make them angry. I was watching something; it might have been this afternoon. They were talking about this young person. Now he's in his twenties I believe. But when he was a young person, something happened. They were saying well really his outbursts of uncontrollable anger are a result of what happened back then. Again, I'm not saying, as we talked about, that things that happen to you do bring out the worst in the flesh. But the fact is outbursts of anger are not a result of something that happened to you in your childhood or adulthood. They are a result of being controlled by the flesh, the old man.

I mean that's what it says here, doesn't it? Here's the works of the flesh. But those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. If you want to deal with your anger problem? I've got a solution. You've got to die. You want to deal with your problem with morality and immorality? I've got a solution. Die. You lie? Die. You drink? Die. I mean, that's God's solution for every sin. There is not you have to go through and learn and how to deal with this kind of sin, how to deal with this kind of sin. God has a blanket solution. If your problem in sin is drunkenness, I can cure it. You've all heard my example. You come into my office. You say I can't quit committing immorality. I open my drawer, pull out a gun, pull the trigger. I've solved your problem. Your immoral relationship is over. I can't quite seeing her. I just can't stop. I can help you. A person comes in and says you know; I just can stay away from the bottle. I just keep going back to the bottle. I have a solution for you. You'll never have another drink again. Open the drawer.

I mean, it's painfully the obvious, isn't it? Death takes care of it whatever your sin is. I mean, we just stop. What is it? Death takes care of it. We've categorized sin and there's a certain way you have to deal, and you have delved in and there's certain things you have to do to deal with this kind of sin and sinful behavior, and this kind of sin and sinful behavior, and this kind of sin. Understand the world is caught in this confusion, but the only solution to sin is death. The wages of sin is death. We're happy if one person exchanges one kind of sin for another. You understand a person can stop being a drunk and there's benefits to that in their life, but they are no closer to heaven than they were before. In fact, Jesus said the worst people of His day and the people who were the furthest from heaven were the most self-righteous people, the people who would not have thought of indulging in various forms of immorality, who could go to the temple and pray, "I thank you, Lord, that I am not like other people. I'm not a sinner like this tax gatherer." The hardest people to reach. So sometimes we do damage. We just want to help a person clean up their life, but we all know it's a lot harder to share the Gospel with someone who's life cleaned up and he's doing so well than it is with someone who is at the bottom. That's why Jesus said it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom than it is for a camel to go through the eye of the needle, and that's not hyperbole. It takes a special work of God. It takes a special work of God in all our lives, and it takes a special special work of God when you are dealing with those who are doing well.

You have to die. I just don't know where we get all these Christian programs that are talking about all of this, and we are working through it all. All we've done is take what the world has put a few ribbons on it, pass it out the door as Christian. What we have is the Gospel. It's simple but it's the only thing that's effective. This will do it. You take the Gospel by faith, and it cures you. Praise the Lord for such a solution.

While you're in Galatians chapter 6, turn over from 5 to 6. Look at verse 14, "May it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." We have the world, the flesh and the Devil and you've known what? I've died to the world, the flesh and the Devil. It's taken care of. What about the world and it's influences? I was crucified. What about the Devil? It was rendered powerless. I died with Christ. What about the flesh, the old man? It was rendered powerless. I died with Christ. That takes care of the problem of sin. We have been freed.

Back in Romans 6:7, "He who has died is freed from sin." It doesn't mean that we can never sin or never do sin. But it means life is dramatically different. The Devil hasn't ceased to exit. The world hasn't ceased to exit. The old man hasn't ceased to exit. Sometimes I exercise my will. What James was dealing with. Each one of us becomes involved in sin when we are drawn away by our own lusts. When I decide yeah, I think I would enjoy that. The old man says look, you would like it. Look, it won't hurt anything. Look, no one will ever know. You know what? I don't have to obey the old man anymore. I've been set free.

Verse 8, "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe we shall live with Him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. The death that He died, he died to sin, once for all; the life that he lives, He lives to God." Note the parallel. Christ dealt with sin once for all. He never has deal with it again. He's coming a second time Hebrews 9 says, not to deal with sin. The issue of sin has been dealt with. You know what, when I die with Christ, the issue of sin has been dealt with me as well.

Verse 11, "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God." Wait a minute. I can't indulge in that. I died to that. I'm alive to God. I now exercise my will to obey Him, to honor Him, to please Him and enjoy Him and His blessings for me. I have to think now as a child of God consider yourself with a careful reckoning.

"Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts." You know, that's the realm in which the unsaved person lives, but it's not my life anymore. Now I have a choice. I've been set free. I am not to allow it to reign in my mortal body.

Now this picks up the context back at the end of chapter 5 verse 21. Sin reigned in death. Grace will reign through righteousness. The concept . . . There is a total change. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, the members of your body as instruments of righteousness to God for your sin shall not be master over you. You're not under law but under grace." The Law provided no power, no enablement. It set down a perfect standard. Nothing wrong with the Law but I'm consumed with sin. But in grace I have been set free. Now the new man with the indwelling Spirit, I can serve righteousness. That doesn't mean I'm free to do as I please because I'm under grace. No. I've been set free to serve God. That's the last part of Romans 6 which we don't have time to deal with.

We have to be careful we don't get lead astray from the simplicity of purity of devotion to Christ. Sounds like we've come up with things that are even more helpful. They work. Nothing works but the plan of God. Isn't it exciting to know God's plan takes care of all my sin. As ugly as my past may be. As wretched as my sin is, praise God I can die to all that. I don't want to go back and root through that. That was an old person. He's no longer here. He's dead. You know what they did? You know what kind of person they were? No, and I don't care because they're a new person. That old person's dead. Don't tell me you are going to find a solution. You're going to find the secret to new life in Christ by going back and digging in the vile filth of what that old person was. I just praise God every day he's dead. I died to that life. I'm new in Christ. It does grieve me that I don't live more perfectly than I do. But I praise God to know the provision is there.

That's the foundation really for what James is talking about. He talks about the way we are to live. Sin finds its roots in our own lusts, the fallen old man. We'll put that into context. The reason believers can function and live righteously is not because they've learned the power of positive thinking. They've developed a discipline and a stamina. They make the right choices. No. It's by the grace of God they have been set free by dying. I deal with people who say look, I can't get free. The first thing I want to settle is are they really saved. Maybe they're right. They can't get free. Maybe the problem is they've been trying to live like a Christian, but they've never been saved. They've been trying to free themselves from the power and domination of sin and they can't do it. I never want to presuppose who I know they're saved and they're just struggling. The first thing I can resolve is have they ever truly been born again. If they have not died with Christ, they're right. They are hopelessly entangled with their sin. They are consumed and controlled by it. I have to be honest. There is no hope for you except in the gracious provision of God. If you have been set free by Christ, it is a lie to say you cannot stop sinning. The issue is I do not want to.

I shared with the early class today I was watching a program. I believe it was Saturday. It was on addictions. Now I didn't see the whole thing. I don't know the context. But they made a statement there. You may debate it. I don't know. This is what came from the program. They are dealing with alcohol and drugs. They say we can take a person and put them in a room, cut them off from their drugs and alcohol and in 48 hours physically their dependence has been broken. The tremors and all of that, you know, they can be set free from that. What they have to grapple with the desire of that person to go back to that addiction. There is something in it that they find so desirable that even when they may have been . . . had that broken. We realize the real issue is back in the desires. Now the unregenerate person is controlled by his sin. But we don't have to. If you’ve truly been set free you know what? It's a lie to say I can't stop. I can't help it. I can't help being involved with this person. I can't help doing this. I can't stop myself. The issue is if you're telling the truth, you're not saved. If you're saved saying you cannot do it, you're lying. What you're really saying is I don't want not to do it. It's nice to know we're that free. Our salvation is that great. I am truly free. The Spirit of God dwells in me as chapter 8 talks about to enable me to live as God would have me to live. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for Your grace. Thank you for Your power. Thank you that in Christ we are truly set free. Glorious liberty. Freedom from the slavery to sin, its bondage, its ruin. God forbid that we should be satisfied with the reformation of the world when you bring regeneration and newness of life to all who believe in Christ. We praise you in His name. Amen.