This post is a continuation of an earlier post so please read the earlier posts before you read this one. (Read | Righteousness | Do not try to earn Righteousness | Why you will not sin) In the earlier posts, I spoke about how God's relationship with us is not based on what we do but on what Jesus did for us on the Cross. The preaching of Grace always brings up this question: Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (Romans 6:1). Paul had to answer it and so will I. I had decided to do it in two parts. The first being 'why you will not sin' and the second 'why you should not sin'.
In this post I will talk about why you should not sin.
To begin with sin is deceptive. To understand that better please read | The Deception of Sin | Media and Entertainment.
Paul gave two reasons why you should not sin in Romans 6 and that is what we will talk about in this post. The first reason is that sin no longer has power over you. (Romans 6:2) (Romans 6:6) The second is that if you sin, you give Satan power over your life to steal, kill and destroy you. (Romans 6:16) (John 8:34) (John 10:10).
These are two very good reasons why you should not sin. In Christ, you should not avoid sin because you fear judgement or guilt, because like I said earlier God does not relate to you based on what you do but he relates to you based on what Jesus did. God is not imputing sin to you but sin is still something everybody should avoid.
To begin with in Christ you are no longer under the power of sin. Paul said that we have died to sin. (Romans 6:2) He is not saying a Christian can never sin but he is talking about how we have died to the power that sin had over us before we were in Christ. Jesus broke the power of sin and satan over us on the cross of Calvary. (Colossians 2:15) (Romans 6:22). In another verse, the Spirit tells us that we have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of the Son of God. (Colossians 1:13).
In Romans 6:11-13, Paul says:
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 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.
Paul says: reckon yourselves, meaning you got to get this truth into your heart and mind. You are indeed dead to sin or in simple words separated from the power of sin over your life. He says we are now alive to God and one with him. And finally he says when you are faced with temptations, say No and let not sin reign in your mortal body. Rather offer yourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.
So that is the first reason why you should not sin.
Another reason why you should not sin is because it gives Satan an inroad into your life. Paul said: you are that one's slave whom you obey. (Romans 6:16) Paul says it is your choice. You can either present your members to be slaves of uncleanness or you can present your members to be slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:19) The latter will bear fruits of holiness and the former bear fruits of death. Now death is not necessarily, falling down and dying but the 'Loss of something good'. When a man does not have peace that is a kind of death, when a man does have enough money to meet his basic needs that is death, sickness is a kind of death, the loss of anything good is death.
When you offer the members of your body to uncleanness, God will not impute sin to you (Like I said God does not relate to you based on what you do but he related to you based on what Jesus did) but Satan will bring all kinds of death into your life. Sin always results in the loss of something good. (John 10:10)
So stay far from Sin because it always deceives and results in the loss of something good.
Thanks for sharing your post. It is important for all of us to remember what Christ did for us.
ReplyDeleteAmen. :) Glory be to God alone
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