THE CROSS: FREEDOM FROM THE POWER OF “SIN”
Free to serve God in the beauty of Holiness (Rom 6:10-23)
Why Does the Cross of Christ Have so much Power to Change our Lives? Why can Jesus save every sinner from the Penalty of their every sin?
Because of Who Jesus Christ is! Jesus is the GOD-Man: 100% GOD; 100% Man (I Tim. 3:16; Isa. 9:6; Matt. 1:23; Phil. 2:6-8). Jesus is Omniscient. So He knows every sin that every one would ever commit. Thus Jesus could “offer one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Heb. 10:12). God could “lay on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). Jesus is Omnipotent.
He’s powerful enough to literally bare in His body every sin ever committed!
Jesus “bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (I Pet. 2:24; see Lev. 16:22; Isa. 53:11; Heb. 9:28). Jesus “tasted death for every man” (Heb. 2:9).
We learned in Part I of the Work of God on the Cross that “God was in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:19) taking my place on the Cross; paying the penalty of all my sins! Do You want to know what sin will do to you if you are not saved? Take a good look at Christ on the Cross (Isa. 52:14; Ps. 22:6).
Now in Part 2 of the Work of God on the Cross we learn how
Jesus took us to the Cross with Himself to be “crucified” with Him (Gal. 2:20), to save me from the Power of “sin” in my life. Think about it. Would God suffer so much for “sins” and not do something to help me stop sinning?
(6) “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, {to render entirely idle} that henceforth we should not serve sin. (8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” (Rom. 6:6, 8).
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God…” (Galatians 2:20).
How Can Jesus take me to the Cross to be Crucified with Himself?
Because of Whom He Really Is! Jesus is the Almighty infinite Creator God!
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Col 1:16)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, & the Word was God. (3) All things were made by him; & without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1, 3)
Who is Jesus? Jesus is the one true Creator God who holds all things together! God tells us in Col 1:17 “and by him all things consist.” That means He is literally holding everything together right now. Jesus is “upholding all things by the word of his power…” (Heb. 1:3; I Cor. 8:6)
Jesus is the Beginning & End of Everything! Everything begins & ends with Jesus. Jesus tells us in Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha & Omega, the beginning & the ending, saith the Lord, which is, & which was, & which is to come, the Almighty.” So everything begins & ends with Jesus! “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28; Job. 12:10; I Sam. 25:29; John 17:21). Jesus is so Great; so Powerful (Omnipotent), that He can do with me whatever is necessary to save me from both the Eternal Penalty of my ‘sins’ & from the Power of ‘Sin’ in my Life today.
So let’s look at the Great Things the LORD has done for us!
I.) CONVICTION of “SIN.” That I am a sinner by nature!
It is The REVELATION of SELF by the Holy Spirit.
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Rom. 7:18)
Many of us believe that we ourselves are a pretty decent person but that sometimes we do some really bad things. But The Bible reveals to me that my real problem is not just what I have done but what I am. I am not a good person who sins every now & then. I sin because I am a sinner by nature (Eph. 2:2-3; Gen. 6:5; Job 15:14-16; Ps. 51:5; Mk. 7:21-22).
Illustrations:
- Simon Peter. “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me: for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:1-11). He got a Revelation of his sinful self from observing the glory of God’s works.
- Isaiah. “Then said Isaiah, Woe is me! For I am undone: because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the king, the LORD of Hosts.” (Isaiah 6:1-7). He got a Revelation of his sinful self from observing the glory of God’s person.
II.) REPENTENCE for the sinner I am.
(in contrast to repentance for the sins I committed)
So many of us want to think that what I’ve done is bad, but I myself am still a pretty good person. (This is a false “good self image”). God says I’m all wrong: Born of the flesh, “in Adam,” in bondage to the lust of the self life. (Rom. 5:19; Phil. 3:4-8; Genesis 5:3 – Adam’s son receives his fallen image)
A.) Job. (Job 1:1, 8, 20-22; 2:3) The subject of the book of Job is not the salvation of the sinner but the sanctification of the saint. God chose the best man who ever lived (except for Christ) and showed that even he needed to repent for the sinner he was.
Job answered the LORD: “Behold I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth” (Job 40:3-5). “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, & repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)
Job repented most of his having accused God of wrong because of what he himself was suffering. This revelation of & repentance of our sinful self is progressive throughout our Christian life.
When Paul wrote to the Corinthians 18 years after his conversion, he said, “I am not meet to be called an apostle” (I Cor. 15:9). Five years latter he wrote to the Ephesians, “I am less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8). Two years later he wrote to Timothy: “I am the chief of sinners” (I Tim. 1:15). What was wrong with Paul. Had he grown worse? No, he only realized more and more the truth of his own internal selfish sinful nature.
III.) THE CROSS: CRUCIFIXION. I have been crucified with Christ.
“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. (Romans 6:6-7)
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…” (Galatians 2:20; Col. 1:27; Eph. 3:16-17; Rom. 5:10).
To fully enter into the life changing power of these truths of the Cross requires enlightenment by and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. (Read Ephesians 1:17-20). There is a difference between what we know with our minds simply as information, & what we know by faith by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Illustration: Our crucifixion or Death with Christ is powerfully portrayed in Biblical Baptism by immersion.
IV.) BELIEVE. (RECKON on) These spiritual truths. (Rom. 4:3, 21)
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:11)
Here we are not called upon to believe that Christ died for our sins (Rom. 5:8); but to believe that I have died together with Christ (Rom. 6:6).
It does not take faith to make these things real in themselves, but faith makes them real in our experience. Faith “substantiates” to me these truths of Christ (Heb. 11:1). Faith makes them real to me in experience.
You believe that the Lord Jesus died for your sins because God said so. Now take the next step. Accept by faith the fact that you also died on the cross with Him (Rom. 6:6). Why? Because God has revealed it to us.
What does reckoning mean?
The Greek word, “reckon” means doing accounts; book keeping. It has to do with arithmetic, which is one thing we can do with utter certainty. Why does God say we are to reckon ourselves dead? Because we are dead with Christ! We don’t become dead by the process of reckoning. We are able to reckon our selves dead because we have in fact already died in Christ.
Reckoning and believing are practically the same thing in Romans. In Romans Chapter 1thru 5:11 we read a lot about faith. But from Romans 5:12 – 8:30 we find the word reckon in place of the word faith (Rom. 6:11; 8:18). I must believe in the BLOOD of Christ to save me from the Penalty of my sins: Eternal Danmation. And I must believe in my own literal death “to the body of sin” to experience freedom from the power of sin that dwells in my flesh (Rom. 6:6; 7:18-20). I must believe all God’s Truth!
V.) APPROPRIATE. (YIELD TO) these spiritual truths.
“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Rom. 6:13,16,19).
VI.) DELIVERANCE. Delivered from the power of sin within. (Rom. 6:22; John 8:32-36)
“But now being made free from sin, we become servants to God, and have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”
“For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:22-23)
It is usually not long after being saved that the believer begins to discover something of the awful tyranny of the self life and sin nature. Victory is by faith alone in the finished work of Christ on the Cross.
Paul Closed His discussion in Romans 6 & 7 with a powerful illustration that He probably observed during his many years in Roman prisons. It powerfully expressed his own struggle with sin. One of the death penalties was chaining a prisoner to a dead body until the prisoner himself died. Paul was referring to this in Romans 7:23-4: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? There is only one answer; only one: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:25).
When we begin to see the cross for what it is – a place of crucifixion – we are hesitant to choose it. It is the last place our “old man” wants to go. Because it means death to the old life and the old ways. We will only be ready to appropriate the cross for deliverance from sin when self becomes intolerable to us (Lk 14:26). This is why God allows needs in our life that eventually bring us to the cross for deliverance & freedom. (Gal. 6:14).