Grace to be HOLY

- Romans 6:12-14 (NKJV)

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Topic: GRACE to be HOLY
Holiness for the believer does not mean that you never sin, but that you sin less and you are integral about your sins / no cover ups / no blame games / no taking others down with you.

The 6th chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome opens with him addressing a question that he believed to arise among the Romans after hearing of the abounding grace of God which was at the immediate deposal of every believer at the expense of Jesus Christ through His death, burial and resurrection. In essence the question was simply “since we have this grace that is given on an as needed basis, shouldn’t we sin more so the we can get more grace?”

Romans were indulgent by nature and Paul knew it, therefore he replied in such a way that would remove any attempt of carnal over indulgence at the expense of Jesus Christ. In His reply to the roman church he reveals an awesome truth regarding the new life of the believer. Paul declares that all who have been baptized into Christ have died to sin and have been resurrected to new life in Christ. This death to sin which the apostle speaks of indicates our freedom from the bondage and eternal sting of sin, which means we no longer have to sin habitually or be classified according to our sins, “I did what I did but I'm not what I've done!” -Dr. Todd Hall

This declaration can only be made by those who have been buried with Christ and resurrected in His glory, which means that you no longer live to please yourself but instead you live to please Christ.

Before we can bask in the riches of God’s grace, we must introspectively ask ourselves a question;
Have you been resurrected or merely resuscitated?
To resuscitate means to revive to a previous state from unconsciousness or apparent death. (some of us want to be saved from our situations but not from our sin)
To resurrect means to restore (a dead person) to life.
You know you’ve been resurrected when the things you used to do with ease not it kills you to do it.
As resurrected members of the body of Christ we have been given the access to the wealth of the grace of God which, if used properly will render us holy individuals.

To the text:
12: In this verse Paul implores us not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, which means that we can render the lordship of our bodies to whom ever we chose. Your heart & soul may belong to God but who does your body belong to? Remember: A. King, no matter how powerful he is can only reign as long as his people are willing to be subject to him.”\

13 In the Geek text this verse reads “do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness.

I read this verse from the Greek to highlight the two different tenses in which the word present is used. In the first tense present is used as a present participle; which indicates that its continuous without out a definite end. If you keep on sinning you’re going to keep on sinning and sin only attaches itself to parts of you that you can’t control. “you may say no in your mind, but sin will attach itself to your flesh so bad that you body will start telling you mind that you got to have it.

The second tense that present is used is present perfect, which speaks of a definite complete action which happened before now. Which means its always been God’s will for you be free from sin and live in righteousness, He’s just waiting on you to embrace what He’s already done!

14: The Apostle culminates his statement by professing over the people, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Finally he reveals to us the sharp dichotomy between the former dispensation and the dispensation we now live in;

Under the law we were born in sin, but under grace we can be born again!

Under the law if we were was sick had to the priest, but under grace by His strips we are healed!

Under the law we had to pay for our sin, but under grace He became the ransom for many!

Under the law we couldn’t see God, but under grace He came to save us!

Under the law if we killed others we had to die, but under grace He died for us!

Under the law the sacrifices was burned up , but under grace our sacrifice JESUS Rose up!