ROMANS 6:9-14 DO NOT LET SIN REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODY

Romans 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

 v9 Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion

Hebrews 10:10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Col 3:1 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

1.     v10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

2.     He died, to the penalty of sin forever breaking its dominion

2Corinth 5:21  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Heb 7:26-27 26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

Heb 9:12-14 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? {spot: or, fault}

Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

1Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

He also died, to the power of sin forever breaking its dominion

Hebrews 2:14-15 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

3.     v11 Likewise you also, Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

v11 this is the first time we are asked to do something, everything up to this point has been doctrine.

Keep on counting yourselves to be what God says you are!

Ray Steadman… The other day, a friend and I were pushing an old car because we couldn't get it started. The battery was dead. We pushed it to a station where the service man hooked on another battery to the terminals of the old one; then he said, "Now try it." We switched on the starter button, and immediately there came a surge of power into the engine -- utilizing the energy of the new battery. Where once there was no power, now there was plenty.

Now, the trouble in our lives is that we have this old battery that we got from Adam, but it is without power. God declares it to be dead, but we simply refuse to believe that it is dead. We have a certain fondness for it because we have had it so long. After all, it is the original battery that we got when we were born. As a matter of fact, it is a family battery -- it has been passed along from generation to generation, and we hate to part with these old antiques. We refuse to believe that it is no good. Of course, we are encouraged to use it by the flood of sales literature we see, suggesting ways to discover hidden power in our batteries. Or, we are told that the trouble is, we are not pushing the starter button hard enough; if we will learn how to push the starter button harder, we can get it to work -- there is nothing really wrong with the battery, it is the starter button, the motivating source. Or, we are told that if we can hook enough cars with dead batteries together, we can get enough juice to run one of them -- so we organize committees to get things done.

Across this country this morning, in one form or another, there are preachers (who should know better) who are preaching this devilish gospel of "try harder." Nothing could be worse! This business of telling Christians to "try harder and you can make a success of your Christian life" was born right in the pit of hell. I don't know who originally phrased it this way but I have heard many times someone say, "Well, I believe that if I do my best, God does the rest." That is the most damnable lie ever spoken! If you live on that basis, you'll never get beyond doing your best; and, your best isn't good enough, and it never will be! As preachers proclaim the gospel of "try harder," Christians are responding with new resolves to consecrate their old selves to do their best for God, yet, all the time, they are totally ignorant of God's provision of a new battery, available in Jesus Christ, with sufficient power to meet all the demands of life.

v12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. See Romans 6:6 …that the body of sin might be done away with

Appropriate the Power

In other words stop making excuses as to why you sin.

1Corinthians 6:12-13 ll things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

1Corinthians 9:27  But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

1Corinth 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

 V13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin,

Ro 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Don’t Keep on yielding

1 Timothy 6:11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

V13But rather present our bodies as instruments of righteousness,

The tense of the verb says this is a deliberate, decisive, maybe even a once for all commitment to yield ourselves to God.   A sense of come and stand alongside God offering yourself as an instrument of righteousness to be at His disposal to do whatever God needs us to do.

Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God

Col 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

2Co 8:5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.

James 4:7  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

v14 not under law, for we are under grace

Why does Paul bring in the Law? He brings in the Law because he is dealing with one of the most basic problems of the Christian struggle, the thing that oftentimes depresses and discourages us more than anything else -- the sense of condemnation we feel when we sin. You see, the Law produces condemnation. The Law says that unless you live up to this standard, God will not have anything to do with you. We have been so engrained with this that when we sin, even as believers, we think God is angry and upset with us and he doesn't care about us. We think that way about ourselves, and we become discouraged and defeated and depressed. We want to give up. "What's the use," we say. But Paul says that is not true. You are not under Law. God does not feel that way about you. You are under grace, and God understands your struggle. He is not upset by it; he is not angry with you. He understands your failure. He knows that there will be a struggle and there will be failures. He also knows that he has made full provision for you to recover immediately, to pick yourself up, and go right on climbing up the mountain. Therefore you don't need to be discouraged, and you won't be. Sin will not be your master because you are not under law and condemnation, but under grace. And even though you struggle, if, every time you fail, you come back to God and ask his forgiveness, and take it from him, and remember how he loves you, and that he is not angry or upset with you, and go on from there, you will win.

Titus 2;11-14 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Matthew 6:24  "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

You begin counting on him continually to operate and energize you to do whatever is in front of you to do, whatever it may be, whether it is tying your shoe, preaching a message, witnessing to someone, washing the dishes, anything, everything! You need the life of Jesus Christ to do everything!

In the same way that you received his death as sufficient payment for the penalty of sins, and rested on that fact, so you simply believe that, now, his life is in you to be to you all that you need in any circumstance:

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: {Col 2:6 KJV}

Conclusion

(1)           Man’s sin corrupts that which God has created, turning what is pure into that which is wicked

(2) The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the basis for our conduct

(3) Paul views the gospel as the core of truth by which all other doctrine and practice must be judged.

(4) Those who would advocate turning back to previous practices are strongly warned in the Bible.

2Peter 2:22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."

5) Paul teaches “positional thinking,” not “positive thinking.” A great deal of positive thinking is being peddled today, much of it in Christian circles as though it were a Christian practice. Paul is not teaching “possibility thinking.” This kind of thinking seeks to envision what could be. If we but capture the thought, the reality will be created. Paul’s “thinking” is entirely different. The thinking Paul advocates is that which is rooted in the cross of Christ. It is not based upon what might be, or even upon what we presently perceive, but on what God has already done, according to His Word. Positional thinking is that thinking which reasons and which behaves on the basis of who we really are, in Christ. Compared to “positional thinking,” “positive thinking” is what Paul would call a “myth” and “speculation” (see 1 and 2 Timothy).

6) The gospel of Jesus Christ does not offer forgiveness for those who would continue in sin, but salvation for those who would be delivered from their sins

(7) God turned the curse into the cure

1)     Though physically absent from them, He would be present with and in them through His Spirit.

(2)   His death, though the cause of a temporary separation, was the cure for a permanent separation.

Someone confronted Martin Luther, upon the Reformer’s rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of justification, with the remark, “If this is true, a person could simply live as he pleased!”“Indeed!” answered Luther. “Now, what pleases you?”

Someone told a story of a man who sold quail at a market. He tied strings around their legs and tied the strings to a little post that would spin around on its axis.  The quail would walk around and around in circles.  One man feeling sorry for the bird in their circumstances having to walk in circles all day wanted to buy the birds.  The man after buying them said to set them free.  Even after being freed, they continued to walk in circles.  So the man shooed them off and as soon as they landed they would form a circle and begin to walk in circles again.  Old habits die hard, do not live as though you are still chained to sin and have to be controlled by it.  You are free…