Dead to Sin

Paul said to the Colossians that they should consider themselves dead to sin and alive in Christ.  They needed to mortify the deeds of the flesh, in other words put to death the deeds of the flesh.  Do you ever consider yourself dead to sin or do you, when you fall into sin, just say well I am a sinner I can‘t help it, and use that as an excuse for yourself and your behavior?  If all you can say when you sin is, “I can’t help it,” then you will never overcome sin in your life and you will never truly repent and receive forgiveness.

When you sin, if you are a believer don’t ever make excuses for it, call it what it is, sin, and repent and ask the Lord to forgive you then go on and try your best to sin no more.  Did Paul call believers sinners or saints?  Think about it!  If all you can say is, “I am just a sinner saved by grace,” even though what you are saying, if you are a believer, is true, that statement should be considered past tense now because you are a saint, a child of God with the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, therefore you have the power to resist sin.  Sin is not your master anymore, Jesus has set you free from sin and death, neither one has a hold on you anymore.

I am not teaching sinless perfection, we have many enemies and the main one, the evil one, is very much alive and he is very cunning and crafty, he is also a liar and the father of all lies and as long as he is alive, temptation will come.  But the Bible says this in 1 Corinthians 10:13, when Paul was telling the Corinthians to avoid idol worship, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

Wrong desires and temptations happen to everyone but with the Power of God and His Holy Spirit and the name of Jesus we can resist any form of sin.  The problem is too many times we don’t look for the way to resist; instead we yield the members of our bodies to sin, so we have no excuse.  I think some of the problem is that many believers have very little knowledge of God’s Word because they don’t spend time in the Word.

Read about what happened to Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11,

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.

And they will hold you up with their hands

    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God

    and serve only him.’”

Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.”

When the temptation, or test, came through the tempter, Jesus came back with scripture so the devil had to depart.  This is a lesson for every believer to learn and do as Jesus did and what the Psalmist said in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”   The Word also says this in James 4:7, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  It also says in 1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

With all this knowledge, and the power we believers have, there is no excuse for any sin that we commit, so stop looking for one or making excuses when you sin.  Repent and tell the Lord you are sorry and ask Him to forgive you.  We have a promise in 1 John 1:9 that says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Praise the Lord!!  Something to think about; have a super day and God bless you and yours!!