…our old man was crucified
with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves of sin. —Romans 6:6
{CHAMBERS} “Have you made the following decision about sin—that it
must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of
making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the
greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you– not
simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified— just as Jesus
Christ died for the sin of the world. No one can bring anyone else to this
decision. […] Pull yourself up, take some time alone with God, and make this
important decision, saying, “Lord, identify me with Your death until I know
that sin is dead in me.” Make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to
death.[…] Are you prepared to let the Spirit of God search you until you know
what the level and nature of sin is in your life— to see the very things that
struggle against God’s Spirit in you? If so, will you then agree with God’s
verdict on the nature of sin— that it should be identified with the death of
Jesus? You cannot “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin” (Romans 6:11) unless you have radically dealt with the
issue of your will before God.[…] “I have been crucified with Christ; it is
no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20).
{ELGIN} There is a
distinction concerning sin which escapes many of us. We can recognize that sin is bad. We acknowledge that Jesus has saved us from
the penalty of sin. But where we fail is
that we continue to accommodate our sin nature .. we make excuses for it ..
make allowances for it .. even call what is sin .. not to be sin .. at least
for us. We think that we are the captains
of our own ships .. masters of our bodies and minds … when, in fact, we are slaves
on those ships … in bondage to the god of this world. To continue the ship analogy little further … You were once a slave on the
“sin-ship” bound in chains … forced to man an oar. But Jesus broke those chains through His
sacrifice and by your faith, yet you continue to man the oars .. even though
you are no longer bound .. you are free to leave the ship. I read once about a farmer who put his pigs
in a pen with an electric fence. After a
period of time, he took the fence down, but the pigs refused to cross where the
fence had been. Even though they were
freed from their confinement … they remained.
That is how it is with us and the sin-life.
You are free. (John 8:34-36)
“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you,
everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the
family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will
be free indeed” To actually live in the truth
requires spiritual discipline. You
cannot do it using your own will-power or should I say “won’t-power”. Like Paul said in Romans 7, it takes Jesus to
save you from “this body of death.” Don’t
be satisfied … don’t accommodate any sin in your life. Stop making excuses for it .. your sin is
your sin .. don’t blame other people .. Don’t pretend like you don’t because everyone
knows you do. Instead … take it to the
Lord and yield to the leading of the Spirit … You are not God and you are not
the Holy Spirit … you are a sinner saved by grace … Praise God for that … and
live your life in such a way that it brings glory to God and points people to
Jesus.
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