GOD ON BOTH SIDES WITH US IN THE MIDDLE. Part Two

Romans 6:2 asks the believer this question: "How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ?"

The born again child of God has been, in the mind of God, crucified with Christ, buried, and risen with Christ to newness of life. [ Romans 6: 3-4]

When we are born again, there is a spiritual transformation that takes place within us. 

[ Romans 6:5]

Romans 6:6 tells us " Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Praise God, we are free from the dominion of the sin nature and we no longer have to serve the sin nature as slaves to it, all because of what Jesus did at the Cross and our faith in that.

Look at Romans 6:7  " For he that is dead is freed from sin."  If we are in Christ, we are dead to the sin nature as well as free from the sin nature and also, acts of sin in our daily lives.

Our old sinful nature, while remaining in the believer, should have no power over us.  We are dead to it. Hallelujah !!!

The way that the Christian can cause the sin nature to come roaring back to life in them is when they  commit an act of sin and then try to get victory over it by their own efforts. You will be defeated every time you do that. Keep your faith in the finished work of Christ upon the Cross and realize that, in the mind of God, you were crucified with Him. You were buried with Him, and you were raised to newness of life in Christ. 

The Expositors Study Bible notes for Romans 6: 3-4 says this "When Christ died on the Cross, in the mind of God, we died with Him; in other words, He became our Substitute, and our identification with Him in His death gives us all the benefits for which He died; the idea is that He did it all for us ........ Not only did we die with Him, but we were buried with Him as well, which means that all the sin and transgression of the past were buried; when they put Him in the tomb, they put all of our sins into that tomb as well. ......... we died with Him, we were buried with Him, and His Resurrection was our Resurrection to a " Newness of Life".

All of this is made a reality in our lives when we place our faith in what Jesus did at the Cross and that alone!

Galatians 3:13 tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. The law can never change our hearts, therefore, while it can and most certainly does, define sin; the law is powerless to give us victory over sin or make us stop sinning. It took the substitutionary death of Christ on the Cross to both pay the penalty for sin and to break the power that sin had over man. When we identify with Him in this; we can walk in a life of perpetual victory over the sin nature as well as acts of sin.

Jesus said, as recorded in the Gospel of John; " And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." [ Jn 8:32]    That is why we preach the message of the Cross. 

God wants us free today.