Pastor A

If you are a Christian, you are dead; dead to sin. Already. It is a fact established in the courts of heaven. You died with Jesus at Calvary. Sin’s power over you has been broken. You are just like a dead man when it comes to sin; you feel nothing and do nothing in response.

Romans 6:11, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.“

That may be true in heaven, but what about here on earth? How can you really live like that? Paul adds this in Romans 6:12-13, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.“

Your death to sin becomes true in your life when you act on it; when you believe it enough to refuse to yield to temptation and actively yield yourself to God for His purposes. You do not have to give in to your temptations, because in Jesus Christ you have the power to refuse sin. And the only way you can begin to experience spiritual victory is to begin to do this.

Act like the dead man you are when it comes to sin, and yield yourself to God as the living man you are in Jesus Christ.

Eleven of the greatest men in the Bible never guessed there was a phony in their midst. They had lived with him as a brother for three years, and had even trusted him with their group’s money. He had done everything they had done: he had preached, he had cast out demons, he had healed the sick as we see in Matthew 10:1-4, “And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.“

Never once in all those activities was he “exposed.” Even at the Last Supper when the disciples were told one of them would betray Jesus; they all wondered who it was. No one knew: no one except Jesus and Judas himself.

But Judas didn’t have to remain a phony. The sop Jesus handed him at the Last Supper was a ceremonial bread reserved for the meal’s honored guest. When Judas planted the kiss of betrayal on Jesus’ cheek in the Garden of Gethsemane, the ever-loving Son of God turned to him and said, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” Jesus never stopped loving Judas. He always left the door of repentance and salvation open. Judas himself slammed it shut by refusing to yield to Jesus as Master of his life. Oh, he had called him “Master” many times; even at the moment of betrayal, but his heart had said, “I will not have this man rule over me.”

How is it with you? Are you like Judas, saying all the right words, doing all the right things? Are you feeling empty, fearful, and guilt-ridden inside? Jesus waits to receive you, if you will only yield to Him as Savior and Master of your life.