ALIVE UNTO GOD

ROMANS 6:1

A. "EVEN SO RECKON YE ALSO YOURSELVES TO BE DEAD UNTO SIN, BUT ALIVE UNTO GOD IN CHRIST JESUS"
  1. A change in our lives is the constant argument of Paul in his writings to the believers:
    1. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold all things are become new; - 2 Cor. 5:17
    2. "Even so we also should walk in the newness of life" - Rom 6:4
  2. He argues that the newness of our life is based upon:
    1. What transpired on the cross
    2. The death and the resurrection of our Lord is the great gospel reason for a change in our life B. ALIVE UNTO GOD
  3. One is fascinated by the continuous insistence by Paul:
    1. That it is unthinkable to continue in sin and yet claim redemption through Jesus Christ
    2. "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound/" - Rom. 6:1
    3. To the Galatians he writes, "But while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid" Gal. 2:17
  4. He maintains that the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are:
    1. The basis of complete separation from the life of sin
    2. That does not only have reference to the forgiveness of our sins
    3. But includes also deliverance from the power of sin - Acts 26:18
  5. He maintains that the death of Christ on the cross:
    1. Purchased His right to our service
    2. When we become Christians we change Masters - Rom. 6:16-17; Matt. 6:24
    3. These then are the great objectives of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we no longer serve the enslaving evil habits, but that we serve God. C. NOTE THE IMPLICATIONS OF BEING ALIVE UNTO GOD
  6. It is a life lived in a new environment:
    1. All natural science teaches it is environment that has a dominant and quite decisive influence on every creature
    2. The whole manner of its existence is determined by the question whether it is to live in the sea or on land
    3. If the animal is brought into a new environment it must adapt itself to that environment
  7. Even so it is with one that passes from death unto life, from darkness into the light of truth:
    1. To be in the fellowship of Christ in indeed a new environment
    2. The very atmosphere is altogether different
    3. Jesus Christ is the redeemed man's new environment
  8. Note how repeatedly and how strongly Paul emphasizes the new environment:
    1. We are established in Christ - 2 Cor. 1:21
    2. We are to be steadfast in Christ - Col. 2:5
    3. We are to think of the good things in us which is in Christ - Phil 6
    4. "In Him we live, move and have our being" - Acts 17:28
  9. It is a new type of life:
    1. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; for the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." - Gal. 2:20
    2. We are to be dead to sin; now consider how absolute a word 'dead' is. It admits of no degrees or qualification. The line between the living and the dead cannot be obliterated.
    3. We are to be alive unto God; this is the positive aspect of a bible Christian. The death to sin and being alive unto God are aspects which must never be overlooked! Both have a ring of finality
  10. This raises a great moral question:
    1. The transformation from a life of sin to a life unto God comes through the operation of the Holy Spirit - 2 Cor. 3:16-18
    2. It means Christ in you the hope of glory - Col. 1:27. This then is the great secret of being dead unto sin and alive unto God!


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