Romans 6 and Romans 7:15-25

"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."  Romans 6:11

Jesus Christ has died on the cross to pay the penalty of punishment for our sins.  We now have a righteous and pure standing before God.  When God now looks at us, He does not see our sins, but He sees Christ's righteousness!  We are free from the power or tyranny of sin.  As a child of God, we have the power to say "no" to the devil and "yes" to God.  We as believers, however, will not be completely free from the presence of sin in our lives until we go to be with the Lord.

As a child of God we must struggle against the sins still present in out lives.  Romans 6:2b tells us, "We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"  We already have a righteous standing before God because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  Now we need to struggle to show practical holiness and righteousness in our lives.  Because we are united with Christ through His death and resurrection our old sinful selves were "crucified" with Jesus Christ so that as Romans 6:6 tells us "we should no longer be slaves to sin."  As children of God we have already experienced new spiritual birth in Christ.  Now we need to increasingly display that new life in Christ in our struggle against sin and in practical holiness in our lives. 

Hence, Romans 6:11b tells us that we must count or consider ourselves "dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."  We must choose against sin, and we must choose for the Lord.  We must do all that we can to guard against our sinful natural appetites.  We must do all we can to live in the light of the truth found in God's Word.  We must saturate ourselves with His Holy Word.  Romans 6:13 tells us that we must seek to do all we can to reject sin in our lives, and to offer ourselves to God as "instruments of righteousness."  We must experience in practice what we already are in position-dead to devil and sin and alive in Jesus Christ.

We have a choice, either to be a slave to sin and the devil, or to be a slave to obedience and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Slavery to sin leads to destruction and death.  Slavery to Christ leads to life and righteousness.  We must not let sin be our master, But Christ must increasingly become the Master and Lord of every area of our lives.

We will continue to struggle against sin our entire lives until we go to be with the Lord.  Paul said in Romans 7:15b, "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Paul said this because of the sin still living or present in him.  In frustration Paul said in Romans 7:18b, "For I have a desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."  We, as believers today, also struggle against sin in our lives.  What is the answer to all this?  Paul tells us the answer to this question in Romans 7:24b-25a, when he says, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!" 

We will and must continue to struggle against sin in our lives, but we must increasingly grow in practical holiness in our lives.  The Lord Jesus must increasingly become Lord of every area of our lives.  Then we will have ultimate victory in the Lord!