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.
In the book of Romans, Paul explains the problem that plagues every person who has ever been born on this earth—sin! It started with the first people on this planet, Adam and Eve, and it passed to each one of their descendants, obviously, including us. We all struggle with sin, and we all have areas of sin that plague us more than others.
Worse still, sin brought death, which dooms us… except that Jesus Christ came to earth and did what no law could ever do—He paid the ultimate, once-for-all penalty for our sins. He gave us grace and righteousness. He made it possible for us to stand before God, forgiven. This is the Gospel!
But in Romans 6, Paul muses that the Gospel has implications for the sin in your life NOW. Jesus didn’t die and rise from the dead simply to forgive you. He rose to live His life through you. You are infused into the roots of his life. The old you is dead. You have a new identity. And because of that—this is one of the most shocking things Paul writes in the New Testament—because you have been united with Jesus, you don’t have to sin anymore. Sin does not control you.
Paul isn’t suggesting that you and I can ever reach some sort of sinless perfection on this side of Heaven. What is saying is that sin is no longer in control. When Jesus stepped out of the tomb, sin’s power was broken forever. We can choose to resist it!
It doesn’t always feel that way, does it? Every one of us still struggles with bitterness, anger, fear, lust, etc., etc. If Christ stripped the power from those things, why do they continue to plague us?
Think about it like this: Imagine that you are a big, beautiful oak tree in a meadow, planted about 30 years ago. Imagine that a vine has grown up around the trunk and branches. The vine is everywhere, and it represents sin. When you came to Christ, it’s like God took an ax and chopped the base of the vine. The vine is dead; the sin in your life is dead. It no longer has power. It can’t control you like it did. But you have to spend the rest of your life ripping all the vines out of the tree. That’s what we’re supposed to do.
Some of you might be thinking, “I’ve always had these vines. That’s the way I am; that’s why Christ forgave me.” But Jesus doesn’t just want to forgive you; he wants to release you from the control of sin!
Look back at verse 12. Paul said, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” Don’t let it reign! In other words, “You have a choice.” The power of sin is unplugged. Don’t plug it in. It’s present, but it’s not in charge. Don’t let it rule you.
We’ve all got besetting sins that we continually stumble over. For some of you, it’s temper. You tend to fly off the handle. For others, it’s gossip. You know it’s wrong, but just it so much. For some, it’s lust. For others, complaining.
Steve Brown used this illustration in a sermon years ago: “I went for a walk, and I fell into a hole. It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t see it. It took me a long time to get out. The next day, I went for a walk down the same road, and I fell in the same hole. It took me a long time to get out. Why did I do that? The next day I went for a walk down the same street, and I fell in the same hole, again. I got out quickly. It was my fault. The next day, I went for a walk down the same street. I saw the hole and walked around it. Finally, I took my walk on a different street.”
Under certain conditions, we will fall into holes in the street. But God has given us a different road—the opportunity to choose something different. For you, taking a different road is a day-by-day battle, sometimes a minute-by-minute battle. That’s how victory over sin happens—living moment to moment.
To that end, Paul gives two pieces of advice. He tells us to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. The word, “consider” means to press your mind down upon; to focus on a particular element of reality. Remind yourself of what is true. This is where practical change happens—when you make yourself remember the truth of the situation.
Remember that you are dead to sin. That sin you struggle with—overeating or overindulging or your tongue or your anger—that sin no longer controls you. When temptation knocks and sin beckons, remind yourself of that. Say it out loud. “I’m dead to that!”
And remember that you’re alive to God. Jesus give you a new life! The life you couldn’t live by yourself, Christ lives through you!
Don’t look at your life like a taxpayer looks at his relationship with the government—giving Him what you think you MUST give and holding back in every area you can. The result of that mindset is that nothing really changes. When you try to manufacture your own change, nothing changes.
Instead, sound the roar of a sinner who has been set free: I’m dead to sin, and I’m alive to God in Christ Jesus. That means the old me is gone, and the new me has come. I’ve been transformed, and it's awesome!
I’m not the one making the exclusive claim about salvation—Jesus is. He is the one who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). I’m simply trusting his authority to know these things. It’s like going to my excellent family physician, Dr. Lehman. If he tells me my cholesterol is too high and that I need to cut down on sweets and fatty foods, I believe him. He’s an expert on the matter. Sure, there are plenty of other voices I could listen to about my health, including celebrities, infomercials, and tabloid articles. To the extent that these voices disagree with Dr. Lehman, they’re most likely wrong. My physician has made the “exclusive” claim that his patient, me, has a certain malady that requires a certain treatment. I’m just the amateur who believes him.
Read Romans 6 along with 1 Corinthians 15:3, and record your insights on the following questions:
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