Sin will have no dominion over us

The apostle Paul calls us to present our bodies. That word 'present' seems very simple but it is a very profound word; in the original Greek it has a background of presenting the Lord, of bringing something to the Lord.

In chapter 6 of Romans the apostle Paul says something very interesting, he says here in chapter 6 verse 11: "So also you" that is, we believers "consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." You see here the call to holiness again puts it in the way that we consider ourselves dead to sin as sin has already died for us and we die to sin we have no relationship with it.

Then he says: "Sin therefore does not reign in your mortal body" So do not reign sin in your mortal body. Do you see here the mention of the word body also as in Romans 12, present your bodies? We are going to talk a little later about what that word bodies means and in this case in chapter 6 verse 12: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body so that you obey it in its lusts."

Again he is telling us here that as children of God we cannot let sin rule over us, another word that Paul uses on several occasions, that sin rule over us is to say that it dominates us, governs us, controls us, determines our life, that we live for him, that we pay attention to everything that the body asks of us, right?

The children of God are not governed by the flesh or the appetites or by sin, Christ has freed us from the dictatorship of sin and now we are free to choose who we are going to serve and evidently before how we served sin now we have to serve to holiness, we have to serve the Kingdom of God, we have to serve God's purposes rather.

No Christian should say: oh I cannot control this, I am like that and I cannot change, that is a lie of the devil. If we are in Christ we are free. The Bible says that if the Son sets us free we are truly free, it also says that we will know the Truth and the Truth will make us free. In Christ Jesus we are free from sin and we are no longer supposed to serve sin and let him rule us.

It says that: "Sin does not reign in our mortal body so that we obey it in its lusts" that is to say that we are giving free rein and giving satisfaction to all the impulses and all the things that sin asks us to do, right?

In verse 13 right there he goes on to say, "Neither do you present your members to sin as instruments of iniquity." Do you see the word "present" here again? it does not say nor does it present its members, what are the members? his arms, his hands, his feet, the organs of his body, his mind, his mouth, his tongue, his eyes, his ears; do not present any of these elements, the senses of the body do not give them over to sin, give it to whom? to the Father right? "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God" not to sin but to God.

The Holy Spirit inspired mind of the apostle Paul continues to think in the same way there in chapter 6 doesn't it? do not let sin reign over you, do not let it control you, do not present your limbs, organs, limbs, sin senses as instruments of iniquity. Hey: don't let your hands, your feet, your ears, your eyes be used by the devil to do bad things, as instruments of iniquity to harm yourself or others, right?

"But introduce yourselves" again the word is in the original Greek and also the infinitive of that word is paristemi, I have here in my notes it says: "to present, to deliver, to render something to someone as their property or for their use, to become object and come under someone's control or domain, make something available to someone "all these ideas are enclosed in this idea of presenting, right? "Do not present your bodies to sin but present yourself to God."

We have to do that every day of our lives and in a solemn, serious and unchangeable way. We have to present our bodies, our lives to God "As alive from the dead and our members to God as instruments of justice." Do you see here the contradiction between instruments of iniquity and instruments of justice? What are you, what is your body, what is your life, what are your senses, instruments of iniquity or instruments of justice?

Obviously we have that our life, each sense, each organ, each member of our being we must continually be offering it to the Lord over and over again so that God takes those dimensions of our being and converts them for His glory, for His honor.

We are agents of good, our bodies are made to serve the Lord, to reflect the holiness of Christ, to advance the interests of the Kingdom, to evangelize, to proclaim the Truth of God, to exemplify His excellent and holy character not to exemplify the devil or hell values. Then let us present our bodies as living from the dead and our members to God as instruments of justice.

And I like what it says in verse 14 of Romans 6, it says: "Because sin will not rule over you because you are not under law but under grace." It is like a sudden ruling "sin is not going to rule over you" is not saying "oh I would like it not to rule" or "how good it would be if sin" no, it says: it will not rule, God has declared it that way .

People who are without Christ are slaves of sin and the devil, whoever is in Christ Jesus is free is a legal state, so what we have to do is live in that state, live that condition of freedom that God has given us. Do not confess slavery to sin but confess liberation, tell yourself: I am free, I do not have to be watching pornography or adulterating or entertaining bad thoughts or telling lies or stealing, hurting, manipulating people or abusing my wife or my husband and my children.

Say: I am free in Christ Jesus I have freedom to live as Christ wants me to live, sin will not rule over my life, I am not under the law, the slavery of sin but now under the Grace of Christ Jesus. What a wonderful passage that clarifies for us again this idea of presenting ourselves and presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. I hope this is a blessing for you, Pastor Roberto Miranda. May God bless you and until our next meeting.