Justification to Sanctification
The Redemptive Work of Jesus Christ and our new position
God calls those who He has justified to “be holy”. For many Christians this command seems like an impossible calling as their life is like a yo yo, up and down, up and down.
Is
it at all possible to be free from the dominion of sin?
This
article is an attempt to explain our position in Christ and from an
understanding of that position to show how it is possible to be free from
habitually sinning.
First
then let us look at what justification means and what are its effects on our
life. To remember it simply, we
were taught that justification means ‘just as if we’d never sinned’.
It means to be pronounced righteous, to be established as just by
acquittal from guilt (Expository Dictionary of Bible Words by W. E. Vine).
The
words justified and righteous are both similar words in meaning.
Justified has its root in the Greek word for righteous which in turn is
from the Greek word “Dike” which means, right, justice, judgment,
punishment or vengeance (Strong’s Concordance).
From
these it can be seen that righteousness is linked to justice and punishment of
sin.
In
the Old Testament what is seen is God’s righteousness according to the law,
the person who sins is rightly punished. In
the New Testament the gospel reveals God’s righteousness according to His
grace.
Is
God right to justify the sinner according to grace? God in dealing with the guilty sinner is acquitting him of
guilt and pronouncing him righteous. Therefore
there is no condemnation, how can we condemn what God declares righteous.
Is
God just in declaring the sinner justified, what about the punishment?
God
is righteous and His righteousness is here revealed in the gospel because the
death of Jesus Christ on the cross has satisfied the wrath of God against the sinner.
God is righteous because He has punished sin, and merciful because He
Himself has suffered the consequences through the suffering and death of our
Lord Jesus Christ who God has set forth a mercy seat (propitiation).
Propitiation
means to gain the favour of those offended by appeasement or atoning sacrifice.
The wonderful thing is that even though it is the person who has sinned who
should provide the sacrifice for atonement in order to appease the person who
has been sinned against, here it is God Himself (the person who has been sinned
against) who has paid the full price of our redemption (the price of our ransom)
and even though we don’t deserve it, has justified us and favoured us freely
with eternal life.
All
those who believe and trust in the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ, God
has justified and declared righteous. That
is, all those who have faith in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
cleansing us from sin.
The
sacrifice of Jesus declares the righteousness of God in justifying all those who
believe.
Romans
chapter 4 v 3-5 says that, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness. Now to him that
works the reward is not reckoned as of grace but of debt: but to him that does
not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned
as righteousness”.
Ephesians
2 v 8-9 says that we are “saved by grace, through faith; and this not of
ourselves, it is God’s gift: not on the principal of works that no one might
boast”.
No
works can save us, only believing the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When
we believe and are justified, we are regenerated or ‘born again’ and
translated out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of
God’s love. Colossians 1 v 13.
(J. N. Darby)
We
have been taken out of the reign of Sin and placed into the reign of Grace.
Romans 5 v 21.
We
were once under law and under the curse of the broken law but now we are no
longer under law but under grace. Romans 6 v 14.
All those who are justified are also sanctified by faith in Jesus (Acts 26 v 18).
We
need to understand that before we were saved by God’s grace through faith, we
were under the authority of Sin, we were the servants of Sin.
Because Adam had chosen to obey Sin (Satan), he made himself the servant
of Sin. Romans 6 v 16 says, “know
you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you
are”. Adam yielded himself to Sin
and therefore became Sin’s slave forever.
Where
does that leave us?
The
bible shows us that Levi (Abraham’s great grandson) was in Abraham when he
paid tithes to Melchizedek (Hebrews 7 v 9-10).
He was in the loins of his great grandfather. So also we were in our first father Adam when he sinned and
therefore when he became the servant of Sin we too became the servant of Sin
(Romans 5 v 18-19). We commit sins
because it is the natural outcome of being the slave to Sin.
We are the obedient servants of Sin.
We must obey Sin. God gave us the law to curb our sins and He has established
governments to punish sin, but sin we must, it is the natural outcome of being
under the reign of Sin. We inherit
the bondage to Sin from Adam.
Even
the law that gives knowledge of sin (Romans 3 v 20) and therefore exposes our
sins, gives Sin strength. 1 Corinthians 15 v 56. Sin gets its strength from the law.
Law
cannot save us from Sin. It can
only condemn us and point us to Christ as our Saviour. (Galatians 3 v 24).
That
is our position before we believed in Christ but, as I said, it is now all
changed. God has taken us out from
under the authority of Sin and put us in the kingdom of His Son, the kingdom of grace
(Romans 5 v 21). We are no longer
the slaves to Sin. Sin does not
have dominion over us (Romans 6 v 14).
What
actually happened then, from a legal aspect, to set us free from being a servant
of Sin.
Under
the Old Testament the consequence of man’s transgression of the law was death.
However God would accept the sacrifice of an unblemished and undefiled
lamb. If on being offered, the lamb was accepted by God then the
man’s sins were covered. However
the Priest that offered the sacrifice on mans behalf also had to be washed and
clean and acceptable to God or he would die.
Also the service had to be performed exactly as the Lord commanded.
If it was acceptable then the Priest lived.
In
the New Testament Romans 4 v 25 says (referring to Jesus our Lord), “who has
been delivered for our offences and raised for our justification ---“
He
was the unblemished Lamb sacrificed for our sins. His death paid the price of our sins. He is also the High Priest who offered the sacrifice.
If the sacrifice is acceptable then the High Priest must live, it is the
law, therefore Christ was raised from the dead for our justification.
The sacrifice was accepted and we are justified.
Not
only that, but as I have said, we were taken out of the reign of Sin and put
under the reign of Grace.
Legally
of course that inherited life of Adam must serve sin until he dies (1
Corinthians 15 v 56). He will
always be the servant of sin. So
how can the justified person be free from the power of Sin?
Our Legal Standing
Romans
chapter 6 gives us the legal standpoint why the justified person is no longer
under the power of Sin.
It
is all to do with our identification and union with Christ when He died on the
cross.
Because
the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ Jesus we are one with Him.
We are born of the Spirit and united with Christ in His death on the
cross. When we believed and were
justified we were born of God and sanctified by God (1 John 5 v 1, Acts 26 v
18).
We received new life when we received the Son of God (1 John 5 v 12).
That which is born of God cannot sin (1 John 3 v 9).
Now
we can see that we are a new creation in Christ, old things have passed away all
things are become new and all things are of God (2 Corinthians 5 v 17).
So if we are a new creation in Christ what has happened to the old life
that came from Adam?
To
be born of God something has to happen, our link with Adam has to terminate.
We are not two men, the old man and the new man, each one struggling to
overcome the other, no, to be born again means that the old man linking us to
Adam is now dead and buried.
When
Jesus Christ died on the cross, we (that old life from Adam) died with him.
We are identified with Him in the likeness of His death.
Our ‘old man’ has been crucified with Him that the body of sin might
be annulled (Romans 6 v 6). This is
an important fact. That old man,
our link with Adam, who was a slave to Sin, is now dead and buried.
No longer to cause us any problem. We
are no longer a slave to Sin, it has no authority over us. This is our new
position in Christ. We have died to
Sin (to the rule and reign of sin) (Romans 6 v 2) because we are in Christ
Jesus. Just as He died to Sin (to
the claim of Sin) once for all, so we should also reckon ourselves dead to Sin.
Just as He lives to God so should we reckon ourselves alive to God in
Christ Jesus (Romans 6 v 10-11).
Our
old man is dead, he has been crucified with Christ. Now we are a new man alive unto God. The ‘old man’ and ‘new man’ are not battling it out,
fighting each other for supremacy. Sin
shall not have dominion over us because the ‘old man’ who was its slave is
dead and buried. This is not something we can do, God has already done it for
us, it is past tense.
We
are told to do something however and this is very important, we are told to
continually reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God in Christ Jesus
(Romans 6 v 11). We need to
continually remind ourselves of our position in Christ.
So
why do we still have a problem with Sin?
The
reason why we can still have a problem with sin is because
our ‘body of sin’ has not yet been redeemed.
Sin manifested its reign over the old man through the sins of the body.
Now that the old man is dead the power of Sin in the body is annulled
(Romans 6 v 6). However, as I said, the body is not yet redeemed (Romans 8 v
23) therefore it can still carry on sinning as it did when we were the slave to Sin that is why we must act to bring
our body members under the leading of the inner man. While ever the old man was alive, the power of Sin operated
through our body, it had every right to use our body to manifest sins.
Now that the old man is dead we are free and the power of Sin over the
body is cancelled.
The battle then is not between the old man and the new man but rather between the regenerated mind and the mind of the flesh. The regenerated mind is the rational mind that is being renewed after the things of the Spirit. The Lord has put His law in our minds. The mind of the flesh is subject to the law of Sin in our members (Romans 7 v 23) which produce wondering thoughts that pop into our mind to deceive and corrupt it, causing us to walk after the flesh. Our warfare then is to take captive these wandering thoughts bringing them to the obedience of the Christ, not allowing them to take root in our mind (James 4 v 8, 2 Corinthians 10 v 4-5, James 1 v 8, ) .
So, there are two laws working in our lives. One is the law of Sin (Romans 7 v 23) which states that our unredeemed flesh is still the servant of Sin and therefore it must sin. As Martin Luther says in his introduction to the Epistle to the Romans "This law in the flesh drives us to sin". Once we obey and commit sin, it then says you have broken the law of God and must die. Then there is the other law which, praise God, sets us free from the law of Sin and death (Romans 8 v 2). This second law has annulled the power of the first law in those who have faith in Jesus Christ. This second law is the law of the Spirit of Life. In other words if we are led by the Spirit (Romans 8 v 14) and walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5 v 16) we can put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Romans 8 v 13). One of the greatest problems in Christians is that they do not know their position in Christ and are deceived into believing that Sin still has power over them.
The reason that God has still left us with the ability to sin is for the purpose of building character in our lives as we learn to overcome and deny the flesh. However till the day we die, because we are human, we will always be prone to make mistakes and we will always be subject to the possibility of sinning due to the weakness of our flesh. If we do sin then we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The root of sin is unbelief in the heart. When things go wrong for us and people persecute us, we can lose hope and begin to despair or become distressed, which in turn produce depression or anxiety. This strengthens our unbelief. If we could trust in the Lord we would willingly take up our cross, deny self, and follow Christ with thanksgiving. Instead we indulge in some carnal pleasure to give comfort and relief to our self.
The heart of course takes an important place in our relationship with God. Although the bible says that the heart is deceitfully wicked (Jeremiah 17 v 9) we are also told to love God with all our heart (Matthew 22 v 37) and that King David was a man after God's own heart. Faith is a work of the heart (Proverbs 3 v 5, Romans 10 v 10), before we can come to God for salvation we need God to draw us to Himself and to plant the seed of faith in our hearts. When God has touched our hearts then we will desire to know Him and will seek Him with all our mind and study to grow in Him. The more we learn about Him then the more we grow in faith. The bible tells us to add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge (2 Peter 1 v 5). The heart and mind work together, the more we hear of the Lord then the more "our heart burns within us" and our faith is enlarged.
Please
understand, our spirit has been quickened and made alive unto God.
We are a new man. If we do not understand this we will be deceived into
thinking that we are under Sin’s power and still it’s servants.
If this is what we believe then this is how we will act.
If however we understand our new position then we will be free indeed and
have the victory over Sin rather than Sin having dominion over us.
Because
of God’s promises to us who believe we now have become sharers in the divine
nature (2 Peter 1 v 4). We are born
again, regenerated, and yes, sharers in the divine nature.
Now
1 John 1 v 9 says that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous
to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, meaning if we
‘continue’ to confess our sins.
This
shows then that it is still possible even for Christians to sin.
Let
us take another look at Romans 7. In verses 19-25 Paul says, “For the good that I would I
do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no longer I that do it
but sin that dwells in me. I find
then a law, that, when I would do good evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another
law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
I
believe that here we are talking about a Christian. He is a person who hates to sin yet finds that he can still
sin. He delights in the inner man
after the law of God, but finds that he still sins at times.
Now remember, we are an outer man and an inner man.
Before we were saved our inner man (Matthew 7 v 15, Colossians 1 v 21) was the
mind of the ‘old man’ in Adam, now
however the inner man (2 Corinthians 4 v 16) is the 'spirit of the mind' which
is constantly being renewed (Ephesians 4 v 23).
The new man cannot sin so the sins are only in the flesh. They still
cause the person anguish because being a Christian the slightest sin or wrong
thought will greave the Spirit within him.
Every sin is magnified out of proportion causing him to cry “O wretched
man that I am”. This cannot
happen to a non-Christian.
(The mind, of course, is part of the brain and has stored in it all the things that have happened to us and how we perceived these things. It is important that we renew the mind in accordance with the Word and Spirit of God. As the mind is renewed we are changed in our attitude and character and start to express the new man {Romans 12 v 2, Ephesians 4 v 23} I think Kenneth Wuest New Testament, Expanded Translation of Romans 12 v 1-2 is worth quoting here and sums up what is often the main problem in Christian lives, that we don't express ourselves according to the inner man but rather according to the age we live in.
"I therefore beg of you, please, brethren, through the instrumentality of the aforementioned mercies of God, by a once-for-all presentation to place your bodies at the disposal of God, a sacrifice, a living one, a holy one, well pleasing, your rational, sacred service (rational, in that this service is performed by the exercise of the mind). And stop assuming an outward expression that does not come from within you and is not representative of what you are in your inner being but is patterned after this age; but change your outward expression to one that comes from within and is representative of your inner being, by the renewing of the mind, resulting in your putting to the test what is the will of God, the good and well pleasing and complete will, and having found that it meets specifications, place your approval upon it.").
In
Romans chapter 7 Paul
recognises it is not the new man that is sinning but rather Sin that is in the
flesh. Romans 7 v 17-18 says, “Now then, it is no more I that do it but Sin
that dwelleth in me. For I know
that in me, (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.” Sin does not have dominion over the new man, it is just in
his genes causing him behavioural problems (to talk in modern jargon). Research
in this area seems to suggest that genes can influence behaviour and therefore
behavioural patterns can be heredity.
What Paul has said however is that the power of Sin in his flesh is
cancelled. Because we are human and
our body is still not redeemed, we will sin, make mistakes, and do things that
we regret. Because we hate Sin
these are magnified in our mind and even our mistakes will grieve us and leave
us feeling wretched. However the
fact is that our inner man is the spiritually minded man who desires the things
of God.
The power of Sin over the body has been annulled, cancelled, finished.
Paul
is gradually bringing us, in his letter to the Romans, through justification and
the position of identification and union with Christ, to the act of continually
reminding ourselves of the death of the old man and the life of the new man.
He moves on to the problem of Sin in the flesh and then brings us to the
answer in chapter 8 of being in Christ and therefore in the Spirit which can be
summed up by Galatians 5 v 16 which says, “walk in the Spirit and you shall
not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”.
How
do we walk in the Spirit?
Colossians
2 v 6 says, “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you
in Him”.
We
walk in the Spirit by faith. It is
not a dead faith but rather a faith that produces works. The link between faith and works is obedience.
If we believe God’s word then we will obey God’s word, the fruit will
be good works.
Jesus
Christ said, “Deny self, take up the cross and follow me”.
Is this still applicable to us now that we are under grace?
Titus
2 v 11-12 says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to
all men. Teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in
this present world”.
That
is what the grace of God teaches us, not that we can sin but rather the
opposite, that we should turn from sin and live godly.
Paul
said that those who are of Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts (Galatians 5 v 24). But,
some might ask, isn’t this a contradiction to what was said earlier, that we
have been crucified with Christ, it is something that God did to us when we
believed. Why does Paul now tell us
that it is something we did?
There
is a very important difference that we must understand.
Romans 6 v 6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified
with Him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve
Sin”. This was something that was
done to our “old man” not the flesh. It
is because this has been done that we were able to crucify the flesh with its
affections and lusts. In Ephesians
4 v 22 we are told that we need to have put off according to the former
conversation (manner of life) the old man.
The old man is dead but his deeds will still function in the flesh.
We should have put off this manner of life and put on the manner of life
that is associated with the new man (righteousness and holiness).
Others
might say that it sounds like we are back under the law.
No, we are not back under the law. Law
gives us condemnation and death, under grace there is no condemnation and we
have eternal life. Our position
under law was of a servant to Sin, while under grace it is as a servant to
righteousness. Sin calls us to sin,
while righteousness calls us to be righteous.
Before grace came we tried to obey the law by the strength of the “old
man” but since grace came we put to death the deeds of the body by the power
of the Spirit (Romans 8 v 13). In other
words where we are
Isaiah
32 v 15-17, tells us that when the Spirit has been poured upon us then we will
be under the reign of righteousness whose work is peace and whose effect is
quietness and assurance forever. Isn’t
that beautiful.
Now,
we know our position (old man dead, new man alive to God), we know where we
stand in God (by faith on Romans 6 v 11), we know where the problem lies (in the
flesh) and we know what to do about it (put off the old, put on the new and
change our behaviour). How do we do
it in practice? How do we live a
holy life?
The first main essential in living a holy life is that we have faith in all the promises of God concerning what our position is now that we are a new man. Some people need to see a manifestation of the finished product before they can believe. The bible says we are dead to sin yet because they cannot see the fruit of this truth in their lives then they find it difficult to believe. Jesus said "Blessed are they who have not seen yet believe" (John 20 v 29). It is by believing the promises and receiving them (John 17 v 8) that we become partakers in the divine nature (2 Peter 1 v 4). If only we can believe the Truth without having to see it manifested first. Jesus Christ asked the Father that He might sanctify us through the Truth which is God's word (John 17 v 17).
It
is also essential to be filled with the Spirit.
This is a command given by God through Paul in the letter to the
Ephesians chapter 5 v 18-19. It is
also absolutely essential, if we want to live a holy life, that we maintain the
Spirit filled life by nourishing and edifying our spirit.
It
is only by being filled with the Spirit and having the revelation of the Spirit
that we can know ourselves and know the Lord Jesus. Without this revelation of ourselves, and revelation of who
Jesus is in relation to ourselves, our effort to live a holy life will be a
continual struggle.
When
the Holy Spirit reveals to us our sinful state and our helplessness to change
then all man’s effort will be seen to fall far, far, short of God’s calling
to be holy.
When
He reveals to us Christ in all His offices relating to us we will see
that our need can only be met in Christ and our love for Christ will grow.
Even
so, Paul does give instructions on basic Christian living that need to be
followed in order to display a practical holiness. Basically Paul says,
“if you have been sinning then change your behaviour and stop sinning, you are
a new man, you have the Holy Spirit, you can change” (Ephesians 4 v 21-32).
However he also gives us some insight into things we should be doing in
order to express holiness in our lives. The
first one, as I have said is to continually remind ourselves that we are dead to
Sin and alive unto God.
Andrew Murray says that the whole secret of the Christian life consist in the personal relationship to Jesus. "The Holy of Holies to which Christ has taken us to dwell, and the holiness which is to be our characteristic, are closely linked. --- There is the place where we are made holy. --- He who does not know what it is to enter in, and tarry and worship in the Holiest, -- will seek in vain by his prayers or efforts to become holy. Holiness is found nowhere but with God in the Holiest of all." (The Holiest of All by Andrew Murray).
Consecration
Another
important step is consecration. We
dedicate ourselves to the Lord for His service. When He accepts our ‘sacrifice’ He sanctifies us and
anoints us for His use.
We dedicate ourselves to the Lord's service and He consecrates us.
Isaiah recognised he was a man of unclean lips. A glowing coal was taken off the altar and placed on his lips. This was not something he did to himself, but it was done to him. His lips were sanctified for the Masters use. The Lord was then able to ask, "Who shall I send, and who will go for us". Isaiah had been consecrated to God's service so he could now say, "here am I, send me", and God said "go".
Consecration
means to be set apart as sacred and to be devoted to the service of God.
It is not just to work for God but first involves the separation from all
that is unclean. It means putting our lives on the sacrificial altar for God.
Only what is offered to God can He sanctify.
We lay our lives as a gift on the altar for God.
It is the altar that sanctifies the gift (Matthew 23 v 19).
Before we can offer our gift on the altar we have one clear instruction from the word of God, Matthew 5 v 23-24 says, "If therefore thou should offer thy gift at the altar and there should remember that thy brother has something against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and first go, be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift".
When
we have offered ourselves on the altar of God for His service, without holding
anything back, then we can accept by faith that God has sanctified us.
We are a sanctified people fit for the Masters use.
But how can we know that we have not held anything back?
We ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us anything we are withholding from
God, anything of the world that we are still holding onto.
If He does then we need to deal with it, if He doesn’t reveal anything
to us then by faith we can believe we are sanctified.
God
calls His people to separation from the world and all that is unclean and He
promises that He will be a Father to us, so let us purify ourselves from every
pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear (2
Corinthians 6 v 17 to 7 v 1).
In
Romans 12 v 1-2 Paul tells us, rather beseeches us, to present our bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service, and
not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our
minds.
So
there we have it, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
A gift to God which He sanctifies for His service.
It needs to be a sacrifice, King David said “neither will I offer burnt
offerings unto the Lord my God of that which does cost me nothing” (2 Samuel
24 v 24).
What must we do?
First we need to understand that when we are talking about the works of a Christian we are not talking about the works of the law by which we hope to attain salvation but rather works of faith that are a result of our love for the Lord. Faith then produces works of love.
By faith we know that God is working in us all that is needed to perfect that which concerns us. As we trust in God we also work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Philippians 2 v 12). Our works are a result of our faith in the internal operation of God's power. For the power of the Spirit to work effectually within us then our foundation must be Christ and Christ alone, "On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand". If we build on man's ideas then those ideas become sinking sand for us no matter how zealous for God the man might be. Our foundation is Christ and we build on that foundation by obedience to His teachings (Matthew 7 v 24-27). As we obey in faith then the Holy Spirit is able to take those teachings and work them within us thus making them one with us. The manifestation then will be a true manifestation of our inner man and not just head knowledge. Take for instance our Lord's teaching on forgiving others and loving our enemies, if, against all our natural feelings and inclinations, we choose to obey these instructions, although at the time we may not feel them, by continually appropriating them we find that they become, not only head knowledge but flowing from our heart as the Holy Spirit works them within us.
It is very important that we have faith in the inner working of the Holy Spirit. Our whole outworking should be in accordance to His inner working which works in us mightily (Colossians 1 v 29, Philippians 2 v 13, Ephesians 3 v 20).
In order for the work of God to shine through then we need to deal with the workings of the flesh in our outer man. Deny self it's indulgencies, go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, fast and pray. The Roman Catholics would often go to great extremes to punish self, Protestants often go to the opposite extreme and indulge self, having no thought of denying self. No, we don't need to punish ourselves but we do need to take up our cross daily. How do we react to those things that come against us to put us down and hurt our pride, do we accept them from the hand of God or do we refuse to be humbled by them?
2 Corinthians 4 v 7-12 says, "But we have this treasure (the reflection of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ) in earthenware containers, in order that the super-excellence of the power might be from God as a source and not from us. We are being hard pressed from every side, but we are not hemmed in. We are bewildered, not knowing which way to turn, but not utterly destitute of possible measures or resources. We are being persecuted, but not left in the lurch, not abandoned, not let down. We are being knocked down but not destroyed, always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus in order that the life of Jesus might be clearly and openly shown in our body, for, as for us, we who are living are perpetually being delivered unto death for Jesus' sake in order that the life of Jesus might be clearly and openly shown in our mortal body. So that death is operative in us but the life is operative in you." (Kenneth Wuest, Expanded Translation of the New Testament).
Now
we come right back to Romans chapter 6. Paul
has been explaining to the Roman Church their position in Christ, their
relationship to sin and their relationship to God, now he comes to the point of
what we should do. In verse 18 he
says, “Now, having got your freedom from Sin”. Isn’t this wonderful, Paul says that we are free from Sin.
We are justified and having turned from serving Sin, "you have become servants
to righteousness."
Where we once
served Sin we now serve righteousness. Now
Paul says (verse 19), as we gave our members (the members of our body, eyes,
ears, tongue etc) to Sin in uncleanness and lawlessness, now, we should give, as
a once for all act, our members to righteousness unto holiness (the practical effect
produced).
The problem here can be that although we have asked God to take our life and let it be consecrated to Him we don’t trust Him to keep it. This is an essential part of our daily walk. Our daily prayer should be to ask God to keep us from temptation (Luke 11 v 3-4), so that temptation might not cause us to stumble and sin. Although we have the responsibility to live right, our reliance is not in our own strength or ability but rather in the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us from sinning. We need to continually recognise our own weakness and trust in the power of God. When we start looking to our own ability it is then that we will fall. The Lord said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for thee for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12 v 9). Paul replied, " Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me".
The first place that temptation attacks us is in the mind, in our thoughts. If we entertain those thoughts for a second then we are on the slippery slope. The longer we entertain the thoughts we will experience the same emotional feelings as if we are indulging ourselves in the flesh. Sometimes an incident from the past which involved negative emotions will be triggered in our memory and all the past feelings and emotions will resurface. These may be hate, anger, fear, lusts, or just carnal worldly pleasure that we might find ourselves entertaining longer than we should by reliving the incident in our minds. Immediately that a wrong thought comes to our mind we need to refocus our mind. Turn to Jesus and thank Him for all He has done. The Bible says that whatsoever is honest, just, pure, and lovely to think on those things (Philippians 4 v 8). In other words think on things that will produce the fruit of the Spirit in our minds, love, joy, peace, meekness etc Galatians 5 v 22-23). To resist that wrongful thought by the strength of the flesh will only feed the sinful thought until it overcomes us and we fall into sin. If we find some temptation easily besets us then it may call on much discipline to turn from it.
Research has shown that obsessive thoughts cause a brain
pattern to develop which is like a groove in a record which the needle gets stuck
in. The way out and the way to change the brain pattern is not to give in
to the urges. Eventually the brain will change its pattern and the
obsession will lose its strength. (Brain Lock by Jeffrey M. Schwartz) The way we resist is not by meeting it head on and thereby thinking about
it but rather to use it as a trigger to cause us to turn to Jesus Christ and
tell Him that we love Him (we can still confess the wrong thought but after
telling Jesus we love Him. It is a mistake to dwell on the thought even
in confessing it).
The opposite to sinning is to love the Lord Jesus, therefore to nurture and build up our love for the Lord will result in a holy character.
Now
although the gift on the altar is sanctified by the altar it cannot look upon
itself as anything special. It is
only as it is on the altar that it is sanctified.
Likewise it is only as we remain ‘in Christ’ that we are sanctified.
We cannot come before God thinking that we are holy by our works (our
works should reveal our holiness). We
can only come to God ‘in Christ’ standing by faith in His righteousness and
His holiness. When God looks upon
us he sees Christ and His wrath does not touch us.
Our standing is by faith in Christ who is made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and holiness and redemption; that according as it is written, he that boasts, let him boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1 v 30-31).
Exposition of Romans chapter 6 The New Man, by D. Martyn lloyd-Jones
The Epistle to the Romans, by H. C. G. Moule
Sanctification, by Charles G. Finney
Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Volume 1, Romans, by Kenneth Wuest.