198. Dead But Alive.

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. - Romans 6:11-12.

How intimately the believer's duties are interwoven with his privileges! Because he is alive unto God, he is to renounce sin, since that corrupt thing belongs to his estate of death.

How intimately both his duties and his privileges are bound up with Christ Jesus his Lord!

How thoughtful ought we to be upon these matters, reckoning what is right and fit and carrying out that reckoning to its practical issues.

We have in our text—

I. A GREAT FACT TO BE RECKONED UPON. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto

God through Jesus Christ our Lord?"

1. We are dead with Christ to sin by having borne the punishment in him. In Christ we have endured the death penalty and are regarded as dead by the law (verses 6 and 7).

2. We are risen with him into a justified condition and have reached a new life (verse 8).

3. We can no more come under sin again than he can (verse 9).

4. We are therefore forever dead to its guilt and reigning power: "Sin shall not have dominion over you" (verses. 12-14).

This reckoning is based on truth, or we should not be exhorted to it.

To reckon yourself to be dead to sin so that you boast that you do not sin at all would be a reckoning based on falsehood and would be exceedingly mischievous. "There is no man that sinneth not" (1 Kings 8:46; 1 John 1:8). None are so provoking to God as sinners who boast their own fancied perfection.

The reckoning that we do not sin must either go upon the Antinomian theory that sin in the believer is no sin, which is a shocking notion.

Or else our conscience must tell us that we do sin in many ways: in omission or commission, in transgression or shortcoming, in temper or in spirit (James 3:2; Eccles. 7:20; Rom. 3:23).

To reckon yourself dead to sin in the scriptural sense is full of benefit both to heart and life. Be a ready reckoner in this fashion.

II. A GREAT LESSON TO BE PUT IN PRACTICE. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof?"

Sin has great power. It is in you and will strive to reign.

· It remains as an outlaw, hiding away in your nature.

· It remains as a plotter, planning your overthrow.

· It remains as an enemy, warring against the law of your mind.

· It remains as a tyrant, worrying and oppressing the true life.

2. Its field of battle is the body.

· Its wants — hunger, thirst, cold, etc. — may become occasions of sin by leading to murmuring, envy, covetousness, robbery.

· Its appetites may crave excessive indulgence and, unless continually curbed, will easily lead to evil.

· Its pains and infirmities, through engendering impatience and other faults, may produce sin.

· Its pleasures, also, can readily become incitements to sin.

· Its influence upon the mind and spirit may drag our noble nature down to the groveling materialism of earth.

3. The body is mortal, and we shall be completely delivered from sin when set free from our present material frame, if indeed grace reigns within. Till then, we shall find sin lurking in one member or another of "this vile body"

4. Meanwhile, we must not let it reign.

· If it reigned over us, it would be our god. It would prove us to be under death and not alive unto God.

· It would cause us unbounded pain and injury if it ruled only for a moment.

Sin is within us, aiming at dominion. This knowledge, together with the fact that we are nevertheless alive unto God, should—

· Help our peace, for we perceive that men may be truly the Lord's, even though sin struggles within them.

· Aid our caution, for our divine life is well worth preserving and needs to be guarded with constant care.

· Draw us to use the means of grace, since in these the Lord meets with us and refreshes our new life.

Let us come to the Table of Communion, and to all other ordinances, as alive unto God. In that manner, let us feed on Christ.