The Believer Becomes Dead to Sin 

God does not speak of being dead to “sins” but to “sin.” He does not talk of “victories” but of “victory.” He does not command us to be troubled over our sin but to be “dead” to it. He makes it very clear that He does not mean mere control over outward expressions of sin but a definite dealing with inner disposition. Real victory is a glorious and marvelous change in the innermost recesses of the spirit which transforms the inner disposition and attitude as well as the outward deed and act. “Real victory never obliges you to conceal what is inside.” No, more than that, if one has real victory over sin, he longs with intensity to let others know what his treasure is.

If we are to look to the Lord Jesus to make our freedom from sin actual and if “dead to sin” is to be lifted out of its doctrinal setting in Romans 6 and made an experiential fact in your life and mine, then we must know both what sin is and what victory is. Satan blinds the minds, dulls the consciences, and deadens the spiritual sensibilities so that countless Christians never think of calling some sinful things sin. Of course, we are forced to call some glaring, outstanding offense against God and man that becomes more or less public sin. But what about that black, defiling, evil thing hidden away in the spirit, heart, or thought that has not yet found its way out into a word or deed but is open to the all-seeing, all-searching eye of our holy God? Is that sin? God would lead us to think it is.

Psalm 19:12, 14

“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Let the word of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”

Psalm 51:6, 10

“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

2 Corinthians 7:1

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Let us face a few simple tests and see if we have been cleansed “from all filthiness of the spirit” and if there is freedom from sin “in the inward parts.”

You used to lose your temper and give way to violent outbursts; now, there is a considerable measure of outward control but a great residue of inward irritation and secret resentment. Is that real victory?

Someone says something unkind or unjust to you; you do not answer back, and outwardly, you appear polite, but inwardly, you are angry and say to yourself, “I’d like to give her a piece of my mind!” Is that freedom from sin?

When someone wrongs you, you do not openly retaliate or seek revenge, but in your innermost heart, you wish the person misfortune and rejoice when it comes. Is that having “a right spirit”?

You are favored by family, position, or wealth. You do not openly boast, but your heart is filled with secret pride, vanity, and a sense of superiority. Is that counted as being “dead to sin”?

At a summer conference in China, a woman came seeking help. She was unhappy, and others around her were made unhappy. There was unlove in her heart; in fact, there was someone she hated. She was a Christian worker, and recognizing the havoc this feeling was working in her own life and others, she tried to gain gradual victories over it. She hated even the sight of the other person, but she finally acknowledged the sinfulness of that. So, she invited the person to dinner at her home but hoped she would not come! When she came to meet, she had reached the point where she was “ready to forgive” but “would never forget!” Then she compelled herself to say that she “wouldn’t hate,” but she “couldn’t love.” Not until God, who is love, really possessed her heart did she become “dead” to that sin.

In Christ Jesus, full provision has been made for you and me to be “dead to sin.” But Romans 6:11 tells us that the believer must respond to God’s act of grace by an act of faith. Man’s faith is the cooperative complement of God’s grace. Through faith, God makes real in experience what through grace He has made real in fact. Through grace, God has reversed the believer’s relationship to sin, and now God calls upon him to “reckon” upon this reversal as a fact and so to act, walk, and live.

Furthermore, Romans 6:12-13 tells us that the believer must respond to God’s act of grace by an act of the will.

Romans 6:12

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”

This is a call, a challenge, and a command all in one. It is a call to higher ground, to life on the highest plane. Taking God at His Word and proving His power as Victor is a challenge. It is a command to assert the rights of one whose real life is in the heavenlies in Christ.

Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, God has done all He can do toward the believer’s sanctification. If he enjoys experiencing real separation from sin, he must now act. His will must join God’s will and work as a unit if he is to live as one “dead to sin.” God does not let this step be shrouded in misty vagueness, but Romans 6:13 tells in the simplest and plainest language what the believer must do to keep sin from reigning in his body.

Romans 6:13

“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.”

“Yield,” “yield,” “YIELD”—by a definite, intelligent, voluntary act of the will, the believer must choose Christ as his new Master and yield himself to Him as Lord. Christ and sin cannot both “reign” over your life at the same time. There is no possibility in God’s plan for such a compromising alliance. Jesus Christ desires to enter every life as Savior, rule as Lord, and reign as King. He not only designs to take possession but to assume control. He is not content to be recognized only as the owner of the house but also as the manager of the household. He is not satisfied to become something only to us but wishes to be everything.

Romans 6:14-22 reveals two indisputable facts:

1. We are able not to sin.

2. If we sin, we sin because “we want to sin; because we will to sin; because we choose to yield to our old master instead of our new Master.

But it also clearly implies that by “reckoning” ourselves dead unto sin and “yielding” ourselves unconditionally to Christ, we may have a totally changed attitude toward sin. Love for it, and indulgence in it will become hatred for it and resistance to it. Sin is not dead and will continue to entice, but it will meet with no response from us. Our former master still lives and works hard at his task, but Christ, our new Master, makes us deaf to sin’s appeals by making us dead to sin itself.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Dear Lord, if we continue to yield to sin, You will have no choice but to tell us to depart from You on the day of Judgment!