MY NEW LIFE IN CHRIST (Rom. 6:12-14)

The ugliness of the cross

despised & forsaken

man of sorrows

stricken, afflicted

pierced, crushed, scourged

He was innocent & we were guilty

THE BEAUTY OF THE CROSS

We see what love is

We have forgiveness In Christ

We have life in Christ

so we have saved in Christ, our sins have been washed away when we were buried with Christ. We have now have died to sin and we’ve been raised in newness of life.

NOW WHAT?

THERE IS A CHALLENGER TO THE THRONE

don’t go on presenting - "Stop doing this and don’t continue to do it any more!"

The word "reign" there is the word used for a king to rule and to control.

You take the initiative and make a choice. I’m not going to live that way any more because I came out of that and into Christ.

DO NOT OBEY ITS LUST

So where does sin operate? Sin operates in that part of me that is corruptible. So the culprit is my flesh.

obey, it means to bow down to the flesh. It means to get up under it and say,"Oh, flesh! What do you want to do today? I’m going to pamper you today all day long." If you start listening to it you will start obeying it.

The word akouo means to hear, to listen. "Stop listening to what your flesh is trying to tell you," Paul is saying. "Start listening to what God is trying to tell you and base your life on the Word of God."

lust Epi means to focus on something—intensely focus and concentrate on something. Thumos means a passionate desire, to passionately desire something that you are concentrated upon. Why is that a bad word? That’s exactly what Jesus wants us to do to Him.

CHOOSE TO LIVE FOR GOD

presenting - It comes from two Greek words. One word means "alongside", and the other word means "to place yourself". What a picture he’s drawing here. He says "Don’t keep putting yourself alongside that which you are falling in." In other words, we’ve got to get sensible here at some point in time. If you have a lust problem in an immoral area, what in the world are you doing putting yourself in the position where you can be tempted and fall? Don’t keep putting yourself in a position where you can be overpowered by the flesh. It’s just waiting on you to choose to do that. Don’t keep yielding yourself. Don’t keep putting yourself up alongside that kind of thing.

Instead of presenting and putting yourself into the position where the flesh can rule over you, put yourself into the position where the Spirit who lives in you can go on and do what He wants to do. Accommodate Christ by yielding to Him.

Hebrews 11:25 NASB95

choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

1 Peter 2:11 NASB95

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

There is a war for the soul going on. Sin is fighting for the throne of your soul; it is using your desires as betrayers; and it is turning your members into weapons of unrighteousness.

The whole problem is that you’ve been focusing on NOT presenting yourself to unrighteousness. That’s not the focus! The focus is presenting yourself to righteousness!

First, God is our King. To him belong the castle of the body and the service of our desires and the weapons of our members and the throne of the kingdom.

Second, sin is a power, not just an act. Verse 12: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body." Sin threatens to reign.

SIN DOES NOT HAVE TO BE MASTER OVER YOU

because you are under grace, Because God has saved you by faith in Jesus Christ, because He has raised you in christ and freed you from sin.

through the power of Jesus and the spirit that lives in you are not enslaved to the flesh and sin, you can choose to put to present your instruments of your body to service to King Jesus.