“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust.” Romans 6:12
For a believer in Jesus Christ to overcome the power of sin in his Christian life, he must…
1. “Know” that he is “united” with Christ in “His death” and “resurrection” (6:2-10).
2. “Reckon” or count it to be true (6:11).
3. Yield or “present” himself to Christ as “alive from the dead” for God’s possession and use (6:12-13). The issue in overcoming the power of sin in his life is surrender. He can either surrender to sin’s control or Christ’s control in his life. That is what it means to present himself. Notice that a believer now has a choice not to “let sin reign” or control him so that he “should obey it in its lust” (6:12). God does not promise to keep him from having lust or fleshly desires. But He does make provision for him so he does not have to let his fleshly desires be “the boss”in his life. He does not have to do what his fleshly desires are telling him to do. The believer is to present himself to God because “sin shall not have dominion over” him since he is “not under law [which arouses sin] but under grace [which gives him a new identity to overcome sin] (6:14).
4. “Obey” Christ as his Lord (6:15-23). One reason Christians may not be seeing more victory over sin in their lives is because they have positioned Jesus as their Savior, but not as their Lord. This is why Paul writes, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness” (6:16). If we obey what sin tells us to do, we will experience “death” and “more lawlessness” in our Christian lives (6:16, 19). But if we obey what the Lord Jesus tells us to do we will experience “righteousness,” “holiness,” and “everlasting life” (6:16, 19, 22).
Tony Evans illustrates what Paul is saying in Romans 6 when he refers to performing a wedding ceremony. Near the beginning of the ceremony, Tony asks, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” Usually it is the father who says, “I do.” When that happens, the father can sit down because Tony is done with him because the bridegroom steps up to take the place of the bride’s father. He and the bride now stand before the minister, they go through the service, and then Tony closes by saying to the couple, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Then the audience stands and receives the new Mr. and Mrs. ______________.
The young lady has been changed because she is now under a new authority when her father presented her to be married to the bridegroom. She has entered into a new relationship. The first man is overruled by a newer man because the woman has transferred identities.
Romans 6 tells us that we have transferred identities the moment we believed in Christ for salvation. So when the old man called the flesh starts to tell us what to do, we can respond, “I have a New Husband now. I have a new name. I am not going to listen to you.” We must yield ourselves to Christ every day. We can begin each day by saying, “Lord Jesus, I am married to You now. I am under Your authority, so please tell me what You want me to do and help me to do it.”