WHY SIN IS UNREASONABLE

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:1-2)

Devotion 13 of 23

ALIVE FROM THE DEAD

Mark this well, we are not only dead to sin, we are alive to God through Jesus Christ the Lord. We have been raised from a state of deadness to spiritual life! "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" (Rom 6:13). It is not enough to lose our affection for sin; we must gain one for God Himself. For us, death has occurred in order that life might be experienced. Jesus did come that we might "have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). We must, however, die to the world and sin to obtain that life.

In Christ Jesus we become receptive to Deity. We obtain a critical interest in things eternal, preferring them to the passing baubles of this present evil world. Those that are "alive to God" cannot abide sin; they are dead to it. The only way for them to live in sin is to become dead to God; insensitive of Him. When we are alive to God, we are sustained by His presence, and nurtured by His grace. His overtures to us through the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit are met with tender and receptive hearts. Such are "alive from the dead." Sin, for them, is totally unreasonable!

But mark this well! Those who lose their sensitivity to God will be overcome by the world and sin. Sin will become reasonable to them, and thus will they involve themselves in it. Enslavement to sin cannot be avoided if the heart is not tender toward the Lord, i.e., "alive unto God." This is not generally known among professed believers.

The despicable casualness that pervades the contemporary church is evidence of its aloofness from God. Those in such a state cannot live above sin. They cannot aggressively pursue the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Thus Satan overtakes and enslaves them, and that without their awareness of what has happened. Content to be "good," by way of comparison with more wicked people, they do not avail themselves of the grace of God. Supposing that identity with a religious institution is sufficient, they drift away from God into the cauldron of alienation and spiritual death. They are not "alive to God," and thus cannot distinguish or avoid sin. Sin is not unreasonable to them. Therefore, they are overcome by it.

PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank you for new life--for sensitivity to Your Person and purpose. It is You that has raised me from death in trespasses and sins. Through Jesus I praise You for this, and ask for increased sensitivity to You.

-- TOMORROW: WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE --