Tuesday, August 7, 2012

What is this?? dead man walking!!


We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 

                                                                       Romans 6:6

Romans 6: 5 states that if believers have been united with him in a death like his, we certainly shall be united with him in a resurrection like his.  God saw all believers in Christ when he rose Christ from the dead. That is the righteous resurrection.

I want to talk about a death in this Bible study. The death described in Roman 6:6. The death of our old self. The old man, our sinful nature. Romans 6:6 tells us that the power of sin has been broken in the life of all believers. Sin's power has been broken.  Yet believer's continue to sin do we not? yes we do, so is this verse wrong? No! the Bible expresses the truth in all it expresses. Before we came to faith in Christ by the free gift of God's grace, sin was our master, we could only sin, we were enslaved to Satan and our sinful nature. We were spiritually dead.  But when God saved us we became spiritually alive. Christ not only took our sins and crucified them, he took our old self, our sinful nature and crucified it as well. Thats why sin has no power over us any longer. We are in union with Jesus Christ, our union with Christ causes us to desire to be like him. We now fight against sin, whereas before our union with Christ, we gladly sinned, and could only sin. The old self has been crucified. God obviously is working in our lives for good, when we overcome, in spite of the allurements, temptations of our sinful nature, just as he does with the devil and with the world, we are surrounded by these enemies yet God gets the glory when we overcome attempts made by our enemies. So our sinful nature although powerless, remains with us, just as the devil does, and just as the godlessness of the world does also. But the proper place for our old self is the grave, not in control of our lives. Just as the proper place for the devil and the world are not in control of our lives, that place is reserved only for Christ.

Thats why we must be alert, awake, sober-minded as Peter says, for although the old self has been crucified and its power has been broken it still remains, and we must keep our hearts set on Jesus because our old self will try to become our friend and although its mastery over us is broken we can be decieved into giving it control over our life, if you dont hold and guard your heart for only Jesus Christ. The way we do that is to put the word of God there.

Putting it on a personal level, my nickname is cody, my old self, cody wants to gain supremacy over my life, I see him rising out of the grave all the time, he thinks I want to befreind him again, smiling and luring me with smiles and thoughts and images of pleasures and sins I enjoyed and ran after, when he was in complete control, but he does not show me the pain, the anxiety, the fear, the anger, that those temporal pleasures left behind. He does not show me the grief it brings to the heart of the one who has saved me. He does not show me the hurt, the pain my sins against my family, my friends, and strangers have caused. Only my relationship with Christ and his word shows that part of the picture. So whenever I turn around and see old cody walking around, truly, a dead man walking, I must be quick to grab him around the throat and throw him back in the grave, and shovel some prayer on top of his corpse, shovel some bible reading over him, shovel some confession of sin and repentance over him, shovel some praise to the God who forgive over him, shovel church attendance and communion over him, shovel some love for my neighbor over him. I realize that this battle must go on until I die or until Jesus comes, but it is a worthy battle for out of it comes godly character. So the battle is joined all my senses are set on guard, the old cody will not give up, I realize, but I also realize that his power has been broken and Christ is my Master, and all power is in his hand. He loves me, he has died for me, he has taken my sins on the cross and I now have access to the very throne room of heaven.

Communion with the only living and true God is my course as it must be for all believers. Your old self has been crucified, sin has no power to control your life. You have been called to holiness and the means to it, have been given to us by God, as a free gift. The choice is always there grace or sin. look at the consequences of both. We have prayer, we have the gift of the Word of God, and we have the Holy Spirit in us and we have our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ interceeding for us, and all this by the Father's will.  Stop the absurdity of letting a dead man walk around in your life. Put the old self back in his grave and give Glory to God alone!!!

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