Bible Study - Do Over - Indentity You Must Embrace - Romans 6:8-18 - December 29, 2013

Bible Study – Do Over – Identity You Must Embrace – December 29, 2013

This is lesson five in our series entitle “Do Over: Experience New Life in Christ.”

Our scripture is Romans 6:8-18.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

To the Christian, sin is no longer your master – CHRIST IS!!!

Grace is GOD’S gift to all who place their faith in CHRIST. Once a person has placed his or her faith in CHRIST, HIS grace is sufficient to satisfy past, present and future sins. Christians must keep in their minds that HIS grace is not a license to do whatever he or she desires to do.

Christians are accountable and responsible for their actions. If a Christian murder's, steals, cheats, commits adultery and the list goes on, he or she will suffer the consequences. Compromising our walk with CHRIST compromises our rewards because when we compromise, we are out of relationship and fellowship with CHRIST, which blocks the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Thus, we miss opportunities to obediently serve HIM.

In the first five chapters of Romans, the Apostle Paul focused upon a person’s need for “justification” which is only possible through faith in CHRIST.

In this study, we move to Chapter 6. The Apostle Paul focuses upon how the gospel impacts and empowers our daily lives. Christians are no longer slaves to sin and serve sin because they have a new Master, CHRIST. The Apostle Paul introduces something for every Christian to ponder and that is dying to self. When a person is dead, he or she does not have any desire for anything because they are dead. Let’s explore!  

Let’s read Romans 6:8-11:

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

In essence, Paul was writing that when a person places his or her faith in CHRIST, he or she died when CHRIST died; buried when CHRIST was buried; resurrected when CHRIST was resurrected; Christians ascended into heaven when HE ascended into heaven. Thus, a Christian’s citizenship is in heaven but he or she remains upon earth to be GOD’S representatives, as HE directs HIS children by the indwelling Holy Spirit. But for HIM to direct, Christians must be willing to allow HIM to direct their lives.

A dead person is not influenced by the dictates of sin. A Christian, in essence, has died to the flesh but lives in his or her resurrected body. Satan’s desire is that no Christian dies to self, whereas GOD’S desire is for every Christian to die to the desires of the flesh, be filled and led by the Holy Spirit.

So how do you die to self? When a Christian has such an intimate, personal relationship with CHRIST, HE lives through him or her. To me that is a process, which we call sanctification. It is something GOD does through the indwelling Holy Spirit but the Christian must yield his or her will to HIM.  Paul stated it best when he wrote in Galatians 2:20-21:

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.  

It is akin to marriage. When a man marries a woman, the two become one. She, generally, takes on the name of her husband. When they love each other so much, they desire the best for the other. When you love your spouse so much, he or she will give his or her life for their husband or wife. Being a Christian is no different. When we love CHRIST to the utmost, obediently serving HIM is a joy and not drudgery.

Paul put it well in verse 11: “So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

The Greek word used for “consider” is an imperative which means Christians “reckon or be of the opinion on a daily basis” to be dead to the lure of sin. It is an ongoing term, which means to keep going.

Let’s read Romans 6:12-14:

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

When you consider yourself dead, and then take on the mindset that you are dead to sin by not allowing sin to rule your life. CHRIST has conquered sin and so has the Christian.

Since you have considered yourself dead, do not allow any part of your body to lead you into sin. When a Christian offers him or herself to GOD, every part of his or her body is consecrated to GOD. Your body no longer belongs to you but to GOD.

As stated earlier, Satan will do all he can to defeat every Christian. When a Christian sins, it is easy for him or her to consider he or she either has lost their salvation or has become unworthy and no longer useful to GOD. Keep in mind that GOD knows our hearts and HIS grace is sufficient to forgive Christians for any sin he or she has committed. The Apostle John stated in 1 John1:5-10:

5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we • walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

GOD does not want the Christian to be weighted down with the burden of sin. HE makes a provision for the Christian to confess his or her sins.

Sin will not rule over the Christian because as stated in verse 14:

14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

If the Christian is under GOD’S grace, then the Christian is free to sin? Wrong!! A true Christian will not willfully sin. Paul addresses this in our next scripture.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God.

Let’s read Romans 6:15-19:

15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient • slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey —either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to, 18 and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in • sanctification .

The Apostle Paul makes it clear that because of GOD’S grace, the Christian does not have the license to sin. CHRIST came into the world not to do away with the law but to fulfill the law. CHRIST fulfilled both the letter of the law and the Spirit of the law. When CHRIST gave HIS life and shed HIS blood on the cross, HE conquered sin and fulfilled the law. The law was, in essence, nailed to the cross when CHRIST was crucified. When a person places his or her faith in CHRIST he or she receives salvation and is no longer under the law. Christians are free from the law because they are under GOD’S grace.

Who is your master? It is the one you obediently serve. Paul stated it well in verse 16:

16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient • slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey —either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

GOD made people with the freedom to choose.  Christians have placed their faith in CHRIST and as a result, Paul stated it best in verses 17-18:

“But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to, 18 and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.”

Christians have been redeemed from sin and eternal death, by the shed blood of CHRIST. They have been bought with a price and belong to GOD. They are GOD’S slaves. Paul makes it clear in verse 19:

“I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them (your body parts or body of flesh) as slaves to righteousness, which results in • sanctification .

Our natural desire is to live according to the dictates of the flesh. Now, as Christians, through the miracle of rebirth, we need to yield our wills to GOD and obediently serve HIM. The process for living in relationship with CHRIST is called sanctification.

Sanctification is committing our body parts to obediently serve HIM. It is a process. When Christians build an intimate, trusting and personal relationship with GOD through CHRIST, the closer they get to HIM and understand the reality of HIS existence, the more they see their imperfection. You find yourself seeking forgiveness for those imperfections in your life, which Christians can acknowledge but then HE reveals that HIS shed blood has blotted out those imperfections and you are righteous before HIM. You see how unworthy you are but HE reveals your worthiness through HIS love and sufficiency.

When we asked CHRIST to forgive us for our sins, HE did – past, present and future. How much sin remained for HIM to forgive? It was and is ZERO. Satan’s desire is for Christians to live according to the flesh: defeated. But GOD’S desire is for HIS children to live as HIS Sons and Daughters free from the dictates and weight of sin. Again, GOD’S grace is not a license to sin but HIS free gift for Christians not to be weighted down by sin. It is an opportunity to live in HIS presence and obediently serve HIM.

The Apostle Paul put it well in several statements:

Sanctification is a process of renewing our minds to embrace our new identity in CHRIST:

Romans 12:2:

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Transformation is not forced upon a Christian, he or she chooses whether or not to yield their will to GOD and allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide him or her.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Colossians 3:7-10:

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Yield your life in CHRIST to HIM and live as GOD’S children. This is living as led, directed and guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We decide whether or not to take off our old clothes and to put on new clothes. Christians choose whether or not to take off their old ways and put on their new Spiritual life in CHRIST.

We are facing a new year. What is our Spiritual health this year as compared to last year? What will our Spiritual health be this time next year? LORD, here I am as I am and only by Your power and guidance will I grow Spiritually. My desire is to grow Spiritually by having and maintaining a loving, intimate relation with YOU. Happy New Year and bountiful Spiritual growth in this New Year. Blessings!!!