January 20, 2002
Series: Romans Chapter 6
“GETTING
OUT OF THE BOAT”
in Romans 6:12-14
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body
that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your
body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as
those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to
God. For sin shall not be master over
you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
In Romans 6:11 the fact was established that we are connected with the crucified and risen Christ which allows us to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So what responsibilities do we have as a result of that wonderful fact? We are to “walk on water!” “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you may obey its lusts.” We are to take vital action (and get out of the boat) based upon what our Lord has done. We are to exercise our wills and give sin no place in our mortal bodies.
Sin is still present in our bodies but we are not to let it call the shots for us. The way we do this is to remember that sin has its outlet and expression in and through our body members. At the first hint of yielding to temptation we need to ask the Holy Spirit for the strength to resist. We are no longer to yield or present the members of our body to sin’s demands as instruments of unrighteousness, but present or yield our members to God “as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Our eyes are to focus upon that which pleases God. Our minds are to concentrate and dwell on material that is oriented to our God. The same is true with the rest of our bodies. Why? “For sin shall not be master over us” as in the past. “For we are no longer under law but under grace!”
Grace is the ruling factor in our lives now. What a glorious reality! That should put gas in our tank and give us spizerinctum!! But how do we do this, beloved? We do it by faith. We get out of the boat (not easy but oh, so rewarding!) and do a water walk.
God bless you and happy water walking!
Love
to you all,