Deliverance From Sin

Romans 6:14
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Salvation is a Deliverance

Christians have been delivered from sin to righteousness. Salvation is about a change of who and what rules over us. Prior to Salvation we are held captive by sin. It actually holds the postion of a Master for it alone rules our life and we lack the ability to free ourselves. The power of sin is found, not in what we do, but in what we are. A few can change their behavior but none can change what they are. This is why Salvation is a deliverance; we are delivered from one identity to another, from death to life, and from being joined to Adam to being joined to Christ. Salvation takes us from the stronghold of sin and death, and delivers us into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is a Kingdom of righteousness and life. Listen to Colossians 1:13-14

Col 1:13-14
13) He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Christ Our Deliverer

To understand our victory over sin we must first understand the nature of our relationship with Christ. If we are born-again then we are not separate from Him but we are joined to Him. In fact, we are a New Creation created in Christ Jesus; our very identity is in Him. In Him we have a new heart, a new spirit, and the Scripture says that the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Apart from Him, or independent from Him, we have nothing. All our spiritual victories are victories we enjoy as the result of His redemptive work for us, and in us. Deliverance from the bondage of sin to the ministry of grace is but one of His redemptive victories for His people.

Dead to Sin Alive to God

In Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God. He is the only one who is dead to sin, and He is the only one who is alive to God. We become dead to sin by being joined to Him. We have no independent standing with God. It is as we are in Christ that we are dead to sin and alive to God. Listen to Romans 6:9-11.

Rom 6:9-11
9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Victory Over Sin is by Grace

It is the graceful work of Christ that makes us free. He, by His death, defeated sin for us. He is our freedom and our victory over sin and over its power. The Scriptures tell us that just as Christ is dead to sin and alive to God, that we are to see ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God. Noticse that the Lord says to "reckon" ourselves dead to sin. In this is a great victory for our freedom is found by reckoning the victory of another to ourselves! The Scripture says to reckon it so, meaning to count it as true; we are to accept what God says. No where are we told we are dead to sin if we are able to stop sinning. No, we are told to stop sinning because we are dead to sin which means our victory over sin is found, not in ourselves, but in Christ's redemptive work .

You Are Not Under Law But Under Grace

We are no longer under the Law for the Law is no longer external to us but it is written in our heart. A born-again Christian lives a godly lifestyle because he/she is inwardly motivated toward holiness. God is holy and those born of Him grow in holiness. But this is what grace is about, it is about growing in the Lord. It is about learning to follow Him, learning to be obedient, and learning to love Him. It is the grace of God that has brought us into fellowship with Him and it is by grace that anyone is able to maintain their faith.

Salvation is by Promise

Romans, the 4th chapter, tells us that Salvation is by promise so that it will be sure. If Salvation depended on my ability to be good enough then the chance failure would be great. But because Salvation is by God's promise then God Himself has given us the assurance that He will perform the necessary work to make our Salvation sure. This is why we are dead to sin through another. Imagine if the Lord based His work of redemption on my ability to quit sinning. I would be lost for sure. But, in Salvation by Grace, I am given victory over sin and then told that the power of God will be in me to help me live a good and holy life. But never does the Lord say that my death to sin is apart from Christ. The bedrock of my victory over sin is the fact that Jesus Chrsit is dead to sin and alive to God and I am joined to Him, and therefore, I am dead to sin and alive to God.

He Who Glories, Let Him Glory in the Lord!

1Co 1:30-31 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Jesus is the One who makes us right with God. Remember, we have been MADE right with God. Rejoice that you have a Savior who is able and willing to make you right with God.

God bless you,

Jim

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Scripture

Romans 4:3-8
3) The scripture says, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous."
4) A person who works is paid wages, but they are not regarded as a gift; they are something that has been earned.
5) But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty
to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself.
6) This is what David meant when he spoke of the happiness of the person whom God accepts as righteous, apart from anything that person does:
7) "Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned!
8) Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of !"

Rom 4:13-14, 16
13) When God promised Abraham and his descendants that the world would belong to him, he did so, not because Abraham obeyed the Law, but because he believed and was accepted as righteous by God.
14) For if what God promises is to be given to those who obey the Law, then faith means nothing and God's promise is worthless.
16) And so the promise was based on faith, in order that the promise should be guaranteed as God's free gift to all of Abraham's descendants---not just to those who obey the Law, but also to those who believe as Abraham did. For Abraham is the spiritual father of us all;

Rom 4:21-24
21) He was absolutely sure that God would be able to do what he had promised.
22) That is why Abraham, through faith, "was accepted as righteous by God."
23) The words "he was accepted as righteous" were not written for him alone.
24) They were written also for us who are to be accepted as righteous, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death.