Prologue

In the early to mid 90’s, the craze was “No Fear”. Hats, bumper stickers and t-shirts all bore this phrase to let on-lookers know that they were tough, that they weren’t afraid. As in any good marketing smear, there were those who tried to capitalize on the hype and come out with cute t-shirts poking fun. My favorite was a t-shirt my wife had. It read “No Fair! Whatever happened to the good life my parents told me about?”

As Christians, we are promised abundant life in Jesus Christ, but many Christians live lives of defeat. We enter into our Christian walk expecting victory and often find failure. We repeat the sentiment, “No Fair! Whatever happened to the abundant life Jesus talked about?”

This will be the first of 3 articles covering the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as it applies to the life of the believer. If you have struggled with sin in your Christian walk, or wondered why the benefits of Christianity somehow missed you, then I trust this series of articles will benefit you greatly.

Colossians 3:3 NKJV “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Part 1

“How do I stop sinning?” a man once asked me, as he sat across from me in my office. He was on the verge of tears, ready to give up the fight. I could tell by the desperation in his voice that he needed real answers, not some pat justification. He didn’t want to hear that we all sin. He already knew that if he sinned he could ask for forgiveness. Here was a man who had come to the end of himself; he had tried everything in the book, and a few things that never made it to the book. He wanted to be free, to experience the victory of the Christian life, but how?

I looked him in the eye and asked, “What would need to happen in order for you to never sin again?” He thought about it for a moment and said, “The only way I am going to stop sinning is if I die.” “Good,” I said, “Then death it shall be”. A look of confusion came across his face as I opened my Bible to Romans chapter 6 vs. 11, and read “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Romans 6:11&12 NKJV. I looked up at him and said, “You don’t have to overcome sin, Jesus overcame sin for you as He died on the cross. As Christians, we need to realize that when He died, we, that is our old nature, died with Him.”

There is a common misconception amongst Christians that somehow we can muscle our way out of sin, that somehow by hard work and trying we can overcome in our own strength. Most of us think that Jesus can give us a makeover, fix up what was wrong with our lives, and overhaul our old man. I once heard a southern Pastor give an illustration of a man who came to Jesus with his old car. He said to Jesus, “fix’er up, clean’er out, she needs new paint and a few dents removed, but it should look great if y’ just fix’er up”. To that, Jesus pushed a button on a crane and a large magnet came down, picked up the car, and lifted it into the crusher. He then proceeded to crush the car into scrap. Then he told the man, “Hop in the back of my limo, I’ll drive.” Jesus couldn’t reform our old man, fix us up and repair our problems. He had to start from scratch and kill that part of us that separated us from the Father.

In Romans 6:11 Paul tells us to reckon ourselves dead to sin. This word “reckon” doesn’t mean “I suppose”, as it does in the south. The Greek word is an accounting term that means to record, or reconcile, something to be so. It is when I, as a Christian, come to the realization that I am no longer alive to sin. That, in fact, I am dead to sin and I no longer have to obey it. The part of me, my flesh, old nature, or old man, that couldn’t help but sin, has been crucified with Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:22) and I am set free from the bondage of sin by Jesus’ sacrifice.

I remember the moment that this became a reality in my life, though it took me years to understand. I was alone in Mom’s house, and a newborn Christian, when I remembered that my stepfather kept some men’s magazines. He subscribed to them for the articles, or so he said. I thought to myself, I am all alone, I could read some articles myself. But then something strange happened. I realized that I didn’t have to, and that I didn’t even really want to. I was free at last from this bondage in my life. As an 18-year-old boy, that was a big deal. It would take me years to fully understand this concept, but that early victory sent me well on my way.

Maybe you’re reading this wondering, what is the practical side of this? So far we have talked about reconciling ourselves to be dead to sin. But what if I still struggle with sins in my life? If I acknowledged that I am dead to sin, how does that keep me from sinning? This can be a frustrating problem because often times our experience doesn’t match what the Bible is saying. But let me try to illustrate to you where the problem lies.

When they train elephants for the circus they take a chain and tie it around the baby elephant’s leg, then they take the other side of the chain and attach it to a big tent peg and drive it deep in the ground. The baby elephant will pull and tug against that chain and peg until its little leg is sore, maybe even bleeding. Over a short period of time, the elephant realizes that it is powerless against the chain. However, as the elephant grows, it becomes the most powerful land animal in the world, strong enough to uproot a tree and certainly strong enough to break a measly chain. No little tent peg is going to hold this powerful beast down, or will it? Over time because the chains are heavy and hard to hall around they switch out the chain for a hefty rope and the large tent peg for a smaller tent stake. They will tie the elephant down and drive in the small stake, and they don’t have to worry about the elephant running off. Why? Because it is convinced that it can’t. The pain from the chain is so engraved upon the elephant’s mind that it doesn’t dare test it.

So too are we who are saved. Our old man was crucified, and we were born again by the Spirit of God. We no longer are in the flesh, and we no longer have to serve the body appetites. But so often we remember, we remember how helpless and futile it was to try to resist sin before we were Christians. We believe that we are bound by it still, but the Bible clearly states, “Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:6&7 NKJV.

Haven’t you noticed that things are much different when it comes to sin as a Christian? Before someone is born again they are driven by their flesh, they live to satisfy their flesh. Sin, though painful and regrettable, was enjoyable. But once we are born again believers, and that old man is crucified, we soon find out that the part of us that really enjoyed sin is no longer alive. We sin, and the thrill for the moment might be there, but the uncomfortable conviction and reality of incompatibility is all too apparent, making sin unfulfilling. That is why a guy will sit in my office on the verge of tears, because he can’t stop sinning and he isn’t getting any pleasure from it. The truth is that when our flesh was crucified, we were born again and our Spirit came alive. The only thing that can satisfy the human Spirit is God and a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. If you don’t know Him, and want to be free from sin, the Bible tells us that we must turn from our sin to Jesus, believing that He died on the cross, was buried and on the third day rose again. If we put our trust in Him, He crucifies our old man and we are born again of the Spirit of God. We then begin to realize that we no longer have to serve sin, we no longer have to sin. We now, for the first time in our lives, have the choice not to sin.

In conclusion, I did want to add one thing, as I don’t want any Christians to feel condemned. The fact that we are free from sin, or that we have reckoned the old man to be dead, does not mean that we are incapable of sin, or that we won’t commit sin from time to time. What it does mean, is that I am not going to be a slave to sin. If I do sin, I have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the righteous (1 John 2:1). It also means that the part of me that has kept me from God has been crucified, and now because I am born again, I can know Him and have a personal relationship with Him. Those who haven’t accepted Jesus Christ have not been crucified in the flesh and cannot know God. If you don’t know Him, repent of your sin and turn and put your trust in Jesus Christ, believing that He died on the cross, was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead. Those who put their trust in Him will by no means be put to shame.

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 NKJV

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