Romans 6:1-2,6 ESV
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
The Bible teaches us that God’s grace, which brings
salvation, instructs (or trains) us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly
lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for
our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all
lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are
zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14 ESV; cf. Ephesians 2:10).
Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny
self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey)
him. For, he said that if we hold on to our old lives (of living in sin and for
self) that we will lose them (for eternity). But if we lose our lives (die with
him to sin and to self) for his sake, then we will live (with Christ for
eternity). For if we are ashamed of him and his words, he will be ashamed of us
when he returns to gather his bride to take to be with him for eternity (Luke
9:23-26).
Therefore, contrary to what many are teaching today, we are
not to continue in habitual and deliberate sin once we have believed in Jesus
Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives. And God’s grace is not free license
to continue in deliberate and habitual sin without guilt, without conscience,
and without consequence. For Jesus Christ died on that cross to free us from
our slavery to sin so we might now become slaves of God and of his
righteousness.
For if we believed in Jesus Christ with God-given faith in
Christ, we were crucified with Christ in death to sin and we were raised with
Christ to walk in newness of life in him. And the way we should have learned Christ,
as the truth that is in Christ, is that we are to put off our old self
belonging to our former way of life, and we are to be renewed in the spirit of
our minds, and we are to put on the new self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:17-24).
Romans 6:12-14 ESV
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
If anyone is telling you that all you have to do is “believe”
(undefined) in Jesus Christ and now your sins are forgiven, and heaven is
secured for you when you die, regardless of how you live your life on this
earth, he is lying to you. If he does not tell you that you must die with
Christ to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness as part of believing
faith which saves, he is not telling you the whole truth of the gospel message.
Since we died with Christ to sin we are to no longer live in
sin. Sin is to no longer have mastery over our lives but Jesus Christ is to be
our only Lord (Master). We are to no longer let sin reign (rule, have dominion)
in our mortal bodies to where sin makes us obey its passions. Our bodies are to
be instruments of righteousness not instruments of sin. But not many people are
teaching that today. Many are making allowances for deliberate sin.
Since so many ministers of the gospel today are teaching an
altered and diluted gospel which makes the narrow way to heaven out to be the
lie while making the broad (easy) road out to be the truth, many professers of
faith in Jesus Christ are living no differently from those making no profession
of faith in Christ. In fact they are opposed to the true gospel of our
salvation and they are resistant to allowing the truth of the gospel into their
lives.
They literally block the light of the truth of the gospel
from entering into their hearts and minds and judgment and discernment. And
this is so that they can continue in their sin guilt free. They are those who
are lacking in good judgment and common sense. They are the self-indulgent who
habitually gratify the sinful cravings of the flesh. And they also lie and
coverup their sins which they do in secret so that others will not know what
they are doing when no one else is looking.
Romans 6:15-16 ESV
“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
Not being under the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial,
sacrificial, purification and dietary laws and restrictions does not translate
to us becoming lawless. According to the New Testament we still have to obey
the commands of God, but they are the commands which Jesus taught and which are
repeated for us in the New Testament. Primarily they are God’s moral laws which
never went away. Jesus just summarized them into two laws, which are for us to
love God with our whole being and to love others as we love ourselves. And if
we do that we have fulfilled the law.
But to love God is to obey him and if we don’t obey him we
don’t love him. And to love others means we do no willful and deliberate harm
to them. But we only do good to them (good as defined by God). We can’t love God
and other people and deliberately and habitually sin against them at the same
time. For love is faithful, kind, honest, morally pure, and trustworthy, and it
considers what is best for others, not what will do them harm.
Also, we need to understand here that we cannot continue in
habitual and deliberate sin against others and still be saved from our sins and
have heaven as our eternal destiny. If we choose to block out the truth of the
gospel so that we can keep on sinning, that will not lead to life eternal but
to eternal death in the flames of hell. We need to be those who are obedient to
our Lord, for that leads to righteousness leading to sanctification, and its
end is eternal life with God.
So, it is important that we know the truth of what the
Scriptures teach about the gospel of our salvation and about sin and about
eternal life, for they teach that if we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin
that we will not inherit eternal life with God. But if we walk in righteousness
and in obedience to our Lord in faithful surrender to his will and purposes for
our lives, then we have the hope of eternal life with God. So, please take this
to heart.
[Lu
9:23-26;
Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas
1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27;
Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]
By Mark Altrogge
You are beautiful
You are beautiful
beyond description
Too marvelous for
words
Too wonderful for
comprehension
Like nothing ever
seen or heard
Who can grasp Your
infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the
depth of Your love?
You are beautiful
beyond description
Majesty, enthroned
above
And I stand, I stand
in awe of You
I stand, I stand in
awe of You
Holy God, to whom
all praise is due
I stand in awe of
You
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