Weekly Sermon

Romans 6:11-13 reads, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  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.”

In Romans 6:12-13 we who are God’s children are instructed, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  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.”  Yet is this really possible for us in this life?  Can we really refuse to allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies?  Can we really refuse to obey sin and the lusts of sin?  Can we really refuse to yield ourselves to be used by sin?  Can we really refuse to walk in the ways of unrighteousness?  Can we really say, “NO,” to sin?  On the other hand, can we really yield ourselves to God to live for Him?  Can we really yield our members to be used of God for His glory?  Can we really walk in righteousness so as to be pleasing unto the Lord our God?  The answer to all of these questions rings back from the Lord our God Himself through His holy Word – Yes, we can!  

The Biblical assurance that in our daily lives we really can refuse to yield ourselves unto sin and really can yield ourselves to serve God is founded upon the fundamental change that the Lord our God produced in us at that moment of our faith in Christ for salvation.  Even so, the first half of 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”  In the context of Romans 6, this fundamental change is presented in Romans 6:11, wherein we are instructed, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  This is the believer’s foundation for daily Christian living.  Brethren, whether or not we know it and whether or not we believe it, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ every single one of us is spiritually “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God.”  Let us then consider these truths.

Weekly Sermon

Romans 5:17 reads, “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

In Hebrews 9:27 God’s Word reveals that “it is appointed unto men once to die.”  In the opening portion of Psalm 89:48, Ethan the Ezrahite asked the rhetorical question, “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?”  In the opening portion of 2 Samuel 14:14, the wise woman Tekoah stated unto King David, “For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.”  In 1 Corinthians 15:26 God’s Word declares, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”  Death reigns all around us.  Yea, death reigns within us.  Yet we might ask – Why does death reign?  Why does death even exist in this world? 

Did the Lord our God and Creator originally create this world as a world of disease and death?  No, He most certainly did not.  The opening portion of Genesis 1:31 reveals the opposite.  It reveals that after the Lord our God and Creator had completed His work of creation, He looked upon “everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.”  So then, if the Lord our God and Creator did not originally create this world as a world of disease and death, why does disease and death now exist in this world?  The answer is given in Romans 5:12 – “Wherefore, as by one man [that is – the first man Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”  Again the answer is given in the opening line of Romans 5:17 – “For if by one man’s offence [that is – the first sin of Adam] death reigned by one [that is – by the first man Adam].”

So then, in this message let us consider a matter of death and of life.  Yea, let us consider the Biblical truth concerning the reign of death and the reign of life.