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THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

Chapter 4 Reckon Yourselves As Dead To Sin And Alive To God (Romans 6.11).

Here is the secret of fullness of life. In these words all that God has available for the human race is summed up. We are to ‘reckon ourselves as dead indeed to sin, but as alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord’.

But what does this mean? Well, of course, the first thing is to ask ourselves why we should reckon ourselves as dead to sin. How can we possibly do so? For we sin daily, how then can we reckon ourselves as dead to sin?

The answer lies in the fact that Jesus Christ died for us. He came into the world and lived a sinless life, and then He went to the cross to die for us. He did not die for righteous people. He did not die for good people. If there were such (but there are not) it would not have been necessary for Him to die for them. But He did not die for such, He died for the ungodly (Romans 6.6-8). In other words, if we are prepared to be honest, He died for us.

And as we look at the cross and think of Him dying there, we must recognise that it was because of our wrongdoing and our wrongbeing that He died there. And then the wonderful truth floods into our hearts, that because He died for us we can be forgiven by God. He has suffered, the righteous One for the unrighteous that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3.18). And through His suffering our sin has been dealt with and forgiveness can be ours.

But then the second thought flashes across our minds. If He had to die for our sins how can we any longer hold on to them? How can we any longer want them to continue? ‘How shall we who are dead to sin, live any longer in our sins?’ (Romans 6.2). They were responsible for His death. Can we then look on them with complacency. ‘Never,’ says Paul. ‘Therefore reckon yourselves as dead to sin.’ Let us die to self-love and self-seeking. Let us die to arrogance and self-assertion and selfishness. Let us die to the desires of the flesh. Let us die to the love of money and the love of fame. Let us die to the approval of the world. Let us climb onto the cross and let Him crucify us there. And then let Him live only to please God through us.

But that is all very well, we say. It is one thing to say that, but the trouble is that our sin does not want to take any notice of what we say. It springs up within us and will not let us say ‘no’. Well, that is when we have to say, ‘Go away. I am dead.’

For the problem is that we are only reading the first part of the verse. What we have to fix our hearts on is that Jesus Christ not only died, He rose again from the dead. He was raised in the power of God. We must recognise that we do not just serve a crucified Christ, but a crucified and risen Christ. And as the risen Christ He comes in the mighty power of His resurrection into our lives when we believe in Him, so that He might live through us, so that we can say with Paul, ‘Christ lives in me’. When we offer ourselves to die, we must also accept Him within us to live.

What a difference that makes. We are to reckon ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God through Him. Because He lives within us we must recognise that we have within us all the power of His resurrection. And as we count ourselves as dead to sin, and reject what our past has been, we must also reckon on the fact that His risen life is within us. We reckon on His presence in lifegiving, sin-defeating power. And then we must go forward allowing Him to live through us. For, as Paul says, if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we will be also in the likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6.5). If we die with Him, we shall also live through Him (1 John 4.9).

That was what Paul wanted constantly to experience. He cried out, ‘That I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death’ (Philippians 3.10). And it was by that that he knew that he would attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Thus we are no longer to yield our bodily facilities as the tools of unrighteousness in order to sin, rather we are to yield ourselves to God as those who in Christ are alive from the dead, and our facilities as tools of righteousness to God. We are to be God’s power tools, held in the hand of God. Then, says God, sin will not have dominion over us (Romans 6.13-14). Then people will see in us the loveliness of Christ. Then people will see the true goodness of our lives and glorify our Father Who is in Heaven (Matthew 5.16), for they will see Christ in us.

So that is what the Christian life involves. Being dead as far as sin is concerned, and allowing Christ in His risen life to live through us so as to live out His life in us His perfect life which never sins. It is to ‘walk in newness of life’ (Romans 6.4). In order for this to be so we must walk in the light with everything open to God. We must come to Him daily and open ourselves up to Him. And if momentarily we do sin, and such may happen, then immediately we must simply bring it under His spotlight and confess it to Him, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son will cleanse us from all sin. He will forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1.7-9). Then we must simply again put the reins that we have snatched away back into His hands and allow Him to continue to live through us. And the risen Christ, in all His mighty power, will do just that for ‘Christ lives in me’.