Working The Word (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus) Dead To Sin & Alive unto God

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around the Globe”

6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

² God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

³ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

⁶ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

⁷ For he that is dead is freed from sin.

⁸ Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

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.

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

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.

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

¹⁵ What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

¹⁶ Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

¹⁷ But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

¹⁸ Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

¹⁹ I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

²⁰ For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

²¹ What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

²² But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The world we live in has taken what God calls sin and changed it to things like this: “Oh, it is just that I am struggling with this” or “I just have some issues that I am working on.” To those kinds of replies the Lord looks at us and says, “Oh really?” So if you are drinking 12 beers a day and you cut down to 10, does that mean you are doing something right?” Or think of a man who is cheating on his wife. His is fornicating with other women as he engages in what the Bible clearly calls adultery. When confronted, he says something like this, “Well, I am working on it.” – the question becomes, “Working on what? Continuing in your sins?” It may sound funny, but it is anything but. To continue in the sin of idolatry which is what addiction to anything but the Lord really is, is to keep on sinning.

The world doesn’t like to use that word anymore. Why? Because it is too convicting. It convinces them to the core of their being that they are doing something morally wrong. Most folks do not want to really deal with their sin, even in the church today. What they do is make up all kinds of excuses about why they need to just keep on sinnin! In the Lord’s eyes, sin is still sin. It always has been and always will be. Whatever sin we are engaging in, if we are Christians, it must stop. We need to do everything we know how to put a stop to sinful behavior.

If a person really desires to love the Lord, they must be willing to hear the strong stuff in His word, not just the “fluffy, make me feel good stuff.” When I was walking in disobedience, I kept turning to the word of God. My prayer to God was that He would help me to stop doing what I was doing. He kept showing me strong things in the word that would cut me down to the depth of my heart. It was not easy to hear Him say those things, yet it was exactly what I needed. How many know when we go to the Dr. and have to get a shot that it will not feel good as he inserts the needle deep into our muscle tissue. But the medicine that it will release into our body will come as welcome relief.

The Lord led me to print the entire chapter in Romans 6 today. For anyone who is out there who is a born again Christian and still walking in sin, the Lord has this message for each one. Jesus took every sin and it was nailed to the cross and washed in His precious blood as He offered it to God in heaven at the mercy seat. It is finished. Jesus died for sin, and as we live in Him, we must be dead to sin also.

The good news with Jesus is that dying to sin promises a wonderful life lived for God through Him. A life free of sin is a life of peace and joy. Every day we have to deny the flesh and refuse to pick up sin again in our mortal bodies. Remember that our spirit man is regenerated at the new birth, but the flesh did not get born again. It is our responsibility to live as though we died, and to die constantly while we live.

Friends, there is no real life in us when sin is abounding in our lives. If we think we are living while engaging in addiction, we are living in a make-believe world. I know the misery that this stuff brings. I understand the “spin cycles” that the enemy tries to put us through – when we allow him to. I know the terrible feeling of unrest deep in the heart when I blew it and sinned once again because what I really wanted to do was listen to my flesh rather than Holy Spirit.

I spent a number of unnecessary years battling with sin, when Jesus was the only one who could fight that battle and win. To accept Jesus is to accept His death, His burial – the burial of all sin for all time, and His resurrection, being raised to new life with Him. But if we deny it, and that is entirely up to us, then we are making out His precious sacrifice as if it was of no effect.

Friend, I believe that anyone who will take the time to read these devotionals wants to live out their new life in Christ in victory – not defeat. If you are keeping your nose in the Bible and saying His word out loud – even the parts that are not so easy to digest, then you are someone who God can work with. He wants us to come up to a holy, sinless life. The Lord Jesus said we could live like He did. That means we have to believe it and stop letting the devil tell us that no one can really stop sinning – that was just Jesus. That is a lie. How many know that anything we hear from the devil is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS a lie.

The scriptures for today tell us not to let sin reign in our mortal body. This is our choice and our job to do. The amazing thing about grace is how the Lord empowers us supernaturally to do things when we are making it our goal and purpose in life to live sin free. One can look back and say, “Glory to God! I don’t know how I did that but for the grace of God! It is a miracle!” When I thought I couldn’t get there, I was rather confused on how I would reach my goal, or get free of a bad habit. At one point, I thought the only major issue of sin I was dealing with was food addiction. But once the Lord assisted me in getting that under control, He began to show me many other things that needed to be corrected.

The thing is, if we will do our part and show Him our faith in His power by being dead to sin, then He will shower us with the grace and strength we need to do the right thing. May I encourage you to know that these tough verses are one of God’s many ways of showing you and me how much He loves us? That’s right. A good father chastens (to purify from errors or faults) and speaks strongly to us because he knows that if he doesn’t do something about our wrong behavior, there will be death involved. Sin always brings about death. That is the wages of our sins. It can be death in our relationship with the Lord. It can be a physical death. Where sin is involved there is some kind of death that follows. This is a spiritual truth that will never change.

Friend, if you will take the time to meditate on and speak out loud these verses over and over again as they apply to your life, you will get victory. I don’t know how God does what He does, but it 100% awesome and amazing. So let’s keep working the word together, because the word works when we work it. Hallelujah!