Dead to Sin and Alive to God

One reason cancer is difficult to treat and cure is it often goes undetected or undeterred by our immune system.  These mutated versions of cells from your own body can rapidly multiply because the body supplies them with nutrition as if those abnormal cells promote good health when they work to undermine it.  When the immune system recognises and attacks viral or bacterial pathogens, symptoms like headache or fever send a message of discomfort we understand:  we are sick and perhaps need medical assistance.  Being able to differentiate the abnormal or foreign cells from the healthy cells of the body is important to maintain overall health and the effective treatment of illness.  A recent article said this:  "Because cancer cells are the body’s own cells that have gone rogue, they have inside information on which signals to send to trick immune cells."  It is crazy to think that our own cells can trick our body from the inside, and there is a spiritual parallel for Christians to consider.

Through the Gospel of Jesus, Christians are forgiven and cleansed of all sin.  The removal of the guilt and power of sin, however, does not mean we are perfect.  Our memories are not wiped at conversion nor are our habits broken because we have been filled with the Holy Spirit.  For a long time we drank sin like water as it was the only way we discovered to temporarily alleviate our sinful, fleshly thirst.  Paul discovered a law, that when he wanted to do good evil was present with him.  It was like he was a cancer patient whose tumours were removed by a surgeon, yet abnormal cells continued to circulate through his bloodstream.  Sin, who seduced him like an attractive woman, had been sent packing and was gone, but whispers of those sweet words she spoke echoed in his ears.  Paul wrote in Romans 7:16-17, "If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."  Sin dwelling in us seeks to trick us, but God makes us wise to this tactic.

To people who understood the Law of Moses, Paul affirmed the Law was good to fulfill its divine purpose to bring the knowledge of sin.  By the power of God's word and the indwelling Holy Spirit, Paul knew he was forgiven of all sin and born again by faith in Jesus.  This impulse and draw toward doing sin was not Paul but due to indwelling sin because in his flesh--and in our flesh, though spiritually regenerated--no good thing dwells.  This is a very important point for us to realise as born-again Christians:  we need to see sin as a dangerous foreign body, something that lingers in our flesh that is not us and has no authority over us.  Sin is no longer welcome in us.  We ought to refuse to feed sin by caving to it and do not feel sympathy for it when it cries out and begs to have its desires met.  By the death of Christ we have died to sin and thus sin and death no longer have dominion or control over us.  If God spiritually removed the tumour of sin that was killing us, should we entertain or coddle abnormal cells in our bloodstream?  Pride, fear, lusts, selfishness and deceit can now be identified by the Holy Spirit and rejected by us whenever they show themselves.  We no longer are under a yoke of bondage to sin; we are not debtors to the flesh but to God Who has raised us to new life in Him.

Speaking of Christ Romans 6:10-12 says:  "For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts."  Through His wisdom, God gives Christians the ability to identify sin we  once thought was normal as breathing and part of us--and to crucify it.  God has also provided the means of continual renewal through repentance when we do sin, for as long as we live in our corruptible bodies we can be easy prey for indwelling sin because we can be swayed, influenced, forgetful and weak.  By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are given strength to know and do God's will, to put off the sinful deeds of the flesh and to walk in the Spirit.  The victory over sin for all today is in Jesus Christ, and praise God for the new life provided by Jesus our LORD.