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Victory Comes By Believing
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Believing three things, just because God's Word's says they are true! 1. Believe you have died with Christ "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." Romans 6:1-6 The point of this analogy is that a dead man cannot sin, and therefore is beyond the power of temptation. All his passions, wants, and desires are cold; "for he who has died is freed from sin" (vs. 7). If my "old self" was put to death with Christ on the cross, then I have been freed from sin. This "death" is potentially true for each Christian, but it becomes practically true only by reckoning it so by faith. I may not feel that I am "dead." I may see evidence every day that my old self is very much alive. The works of the flesh may be turbulent in me, but I am still called by God to reckon myself dead to sin and alive to righteousness. The question is, who am I going to believe: the old nature or Christ? Adam speaks to me through the temptations of my old nature. I can listen to this, refuse to believe that I really did "die" with Christ, and so deprive myself of the only basis for victory provided by God. Or, I can decline to recognize that testimony and set myself instead to hear the voice of Christ, who speaks through scripture. He tells me that I truly did die with Him, that my old self has been crucified, and that, as a dead man, I am freed from sin (from its guilt, and from its power: Jn.8:36; Rom.8:1-2; Gal.5:1). Now, if I determine to believe the word of Christ, no matter what my earthly senses may be telling me about my condition, then I have taken the first major step toward discovering the resurrection life of Christ. How can I experience resurrection unless I first die? So Paul rightly says in verse 5, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." Act now, in faith, to declare that your old self was crucified with Christ, and that you are dead to it. Do it now because God says it's so now. 2. Believe that you were buried with Christ. The second stage in the drama of redemption is the burial. By faith we must see ourselves being taken with Christ into the grave. Wrapped around us are the grave clothes of the old nature. We are buried in anticipation of the resurrection, knowing that when we rise, the grave clothes will be left behind. We see them there still: the old nature and all its works, lying entombed, death has overtaken it, and it has no power to rise again. If it should ever try to escape the grave, we bury it again by confessing the scripture: "my old nature was buried with Christ." It is a faith stance, based on the declaration of God, who calls me to believe that we have been buried with Christ, of which water baptism serves as a symbol. Picture it right now, imprisoned forever in the uttermost depths (Mi. 7:19-20). 3. Believe that you have been raised with Christ "...as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life...united with Him... in the likeness of His resurrection...If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (vs. 4,5,8) The truth that I am dead with Christ and buried with Him opens the way for me to also believe that I am now risen with Him. This fact brings me to a tangible experience of the resurrection life of Christ, by which I can now serve God in righteousness (Titus 2:11-14). Notice that this life does not come to me as a weapon to use against sin, but as a source of strength to serve God. Sin is handled passively, by reckoning it dead and done away with in Christ. Righteousness is handled actively, by an appropriation of the life of Christ that enables me to do the Father's will. Regarding the sin nature, there is nothing for me to do except to agree with God's Word and to believe that the work has been done. Regarding righteousness, there is much for me to do, as I seize the ability God Himself gives me through Christ, and then set myself to please Him (vs.9-14). None of this will happen unless I believe it (Heb.11:6). Therefore, faith is the necessary factor that places sin where it belongs and opens up the resources of the resurrection of Christ in my life; it is the only way I will ever overcome sin and serve God in a way that pleases Him. II. Victory Does Not Come By Struggling One of Satan's most successful ploys has been to get Christians to focus their attention on particular sins, instead of concentrating on Christ. Some people anxiously fast and pray to break sin habits only to end up ensnared in them again and again. We must not devote our energy in combating the old nature, but rather to the task of clothing ourselves with the new nature God has provided for us in Christ! (Gal.2:20) That is a faith process, not an emotional one. We are asked to believe, not to weep, struggle, or perform any type of religious works. How did Peter walk on water - by will-power or by faith? How did Jesus ride an untamed colt - by brute strength or by faith? How did Daniel remain in the lion's den unharmed - by physical agility or by faith? Such examples could, of course, be multiplied. But the same issue is always prominent: the servants of God did their many exploits, not by exercising human ingenuity or religious works, but by faith ( Gal. 3:1-5; Heb. 11:1-40). We too must get it fixed in our hearts that there is only one way for us to overcome the things that beset us, and this is the way of faith. III. Victory Continues in Christ "...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin...Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." (vs. 6,11-14) You must plan to obey the scriptures. Continuance in sin has to be intolerable to any Christian who has come to resurrection life in Christ. It is impossible that such a Christian could be content in sin by allowing it to maintain its mastery. Therefore, agree with God's Word and refuse to allow the old nature to rise up and haunt you from the grave. Even if sin's power should again overtake you, confess it to God, repenting of it with joyful affirmation of all that you are in Christ. Allow nothing that belongs to your old self to deter you from declaring that you are, and always will be, dead with Christ, buried with Christ, and alive with Christ, with one heart only, to joyfully serve God in righteousness. In conclusion, it's true that nearly everyone has a disgust for the consequences of sin, but God wants you to have more than that. You must also have an indisputable obedience to God's Word and a hatred for the sin that separates you from Him (Phil.2:12-13). Using Paul's teaching from Romans 6, my goal has been to focus your attention off yourself and onto Christ. The truth of being united with His death, burial, and resurrection may be the instruction you've so greatly needed for the victory you have sought. May God bless you in your quest. Have you struggled with a besetting sin and wondered, "what is the one real key to Christian victory?" Perhaps there is no single solution to every sin problem you will encounter. However Paul, in Rom. 6:1-14, certainly makes the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ a major element of a life of freedom and righteousness. Here is a powerful antidote to the problems that beset many Christians. Maybe you have struggled with lust, unruly thoughts, love of money, uncontrollable anger, jealous nature, selfish spirit, critical attitude, pessimistic disposition, addictions, quarrelsome temperament; or such things as pride, anxiety, bad language, gossip, lying, gluttony, cruelty, laziness, and so on. Paul's answer to such problems is to say that they are in fact not your problem. He described them as "works of the flesh", they belong to your old nature; they come from Adam, not from Christ. That old Adamic nature is your real problem, indeed, it is your only problem. Find a way to nullify the influences of that old nature, and all of its works will also vanish. The issue comes down to this: who is going to prevail over you? Adam or Christ? We really do not have to deal with a multitude of sins one by one. Instead, we should concentrate our faith on the fact of being dead to sin and alive to Christ. How can you begin to see this done? I'm convinced it's begun by applying the truths found in Romans chapter six.
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