Many will read this title and think, “if we are dead that’s it, nothing more is going to happen.” Yet nothing could be further from the truth. When God created us, we were made with an eternal soul. We will live forever somewhere, either Heaven or Hell. We will all experience a physical death unless Jesus comes back first. However, we are going to look today at how we are still physically alive, yet dead.
Throughout Paul’s writings, we will find these nuggets that teach us the pathway to Jesus is to die to self. This dying of self begins with the new birth. The Spiritual birth, where we surrender our hearts to Him as Lord of our lives.
In Romans 6:6, Paul talks about the old man. This is the person we are before our conversion to Christ. When a person is dead, the life he had before death no longer has any power over him. Before we come to Christ we are ruled by our sinful nature. Our first desire is what we want, not what pleases Christ. We are guided by how we feel. We are not guided by what pleases God. In the world’s eyes, we may be a good person, but our motives for what we do are ultimately self-serving.
Romans 6:6-8 “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. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death hath no more dominion over him.”
Paul teaches us in II Timothy 2:11, that when we die to self, we are exchanging this life of sin for an eternal life with Christ. This new life affects everything about us. How we think changes. We began to look at our lives and evaluate them by what the Bible says. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, and He will guide us and convict us when we are wrong. When we have studied, He will bring the scripture to memory when we need it. Our attitude, our desires, our thinking, will all change as we live in this relationship with Jesus Christ. For the first time in our lives, we have real hope, peace, and love dwelling within us.
II Timothy 2:11 “It is a faithful saying: For if we are dead with him, we shall also live with him:”
Many come to Christ and are full of the joy salvation brings, but they are not ready for the struggle we deal with after conversion. When the new nature comes in the old nature does not leave. The Apostle Paul affirms this struggle in I Corinthians 15:31 when he says he dies daily. Our old nature is like an unconscious reflex, it is easy to sin because it still dwells within us and it has been our practice. But now, with the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, we have a choice. We are to die to our desires and choose to live as Christ would have us to.
I Corinthians 15:31 “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.”
So, what about the times we fail? What do we do when we choose our selfish desires instead of what would please Christ? Does this failure mean our Christian lives are ruined? No, our all-knowing God made provision for us to be forgiven for making wrong choices. We all sin after we are saved either by sins of omission or sins of commission. Should we use this defect as an excuse? Absolutely not. Paul makes that abundantly clear in Romans 6:2. His statement is “God forbid!”
Romans 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
The remedy for sinning after we are saved is found in I John 1:8-10. It is important to note that John not only gives us the remedy, but he also reminds us that we all sin after salvation. If we deny that, we are lying to ourselves and the truth is not in us. When we sin, we are to come back to God, confess or agree with God about our sin, and He will forgive us and cleanse us from all sin in our lives.
I John 1:8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Being dead to our sinful nature means a daily coming to God and seeking to please Him. It means when I fail, I will yield to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and repent. It means daily I need His power and His strength to live for Him, and not for self. It means I will seek to live like Jesus. It means I am ALIVE to Him!
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