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TRACT 306
Audio download at bottom of page
______________________
WE CAN LIVE ABOVE SIN
THOSE of us who are Christians were once sinners, away from God. We took our lives in our own hands and spent ourselves in sinful indulgences. The thought of God was far from us—the farther, the better. We felt no need for his help.
Although we forgot God, God did not forget us. He followed silently in our tracks through the years. Even when we did not recognize his presence, he was near. He would have spoken to us, but we were willfully deaf to his voice. He would have lifted us when we had fallen, but we preferred to rise alone. We rejected his mercy denied his justice, damned his name. Yet he followed us. At last the folly of our ways became apparent, and we turned to Him who was standing by, waiting for that very hour.
Oh, what a sense of forgiveness then swept over our souls! Nothing can compare with it. It was sweeter than the perfume of roses, quieter than a motionless mountain lake, as real as a handshake.
There was no longer that sense of being lost, but instead the sense of being found; no longer the feeling of not being owned, but of being reclaimed. Life took on an entirely new meaning. What a change!
But what now? Shall we who have been redeemed continue in sin? "God forbid," answers Paul (Rom. 6:2). Yet some professed Christians do continue to sin. Many teach that one must sin every day. Some even say that Jesus died for our sins, and if we accept him as our Savior, we may sin all we want to.
With Paul we agree that it is impossible for one to be a Christian and sin. "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom. 6:21.
Why must one sin? Is the blood of Christ of no avail? Thank God, it gives us power over sin.
Before we found Christ, our affections were on the things of this world, but now they are on Christ and things eternal. Once sinful habits served to tear down the health of our bodies, and unkind deeds hardened our conscience. But not so now that we have found Christ! Our energies are bent to constructive work.
If Jesus did not make it possible for man to live above sin, we are still under the Law of Mose and are condemned. Sin separated God and Adam. It still separates God and man. God cannot tolerate sin. Jesus came to earth that man might be elevated above sin. Under the Law of Moses all sinned. The people regularly burned offerings to atone for their sins. The high priest bore the sins of the people into the holy of holies for God to forgive.
But the crucifixion of Christ abolished all this. Then the veil of the Temple was rent in two, making it possible for all men to experience the presence of God. We can now bring our sins directly to Jesus, and he forgives us, not to continue to sin, but to go our way and sin no more. It is strange that there are still those that insist on living under the Law.
"Sin shall not have dominion over you." asserted the Apostle Paul (Rom. 6:14). The word "shall" is a positive word. Paul says here that we shall not be subject to sin. A master has dominion over his slaves. If sin has dominion over us, we are slaves to sin and hence a servant of Satan, the instigator of all evil. Can we serve the devil and God at the same time?
Of course, the new convert would fall back into sin except for the sustaining grace of God. The convert, however, is a "new creature" and being new he does not revert to the old. Salvation sets one free ---free from sin. Jesus said that whoever he set free would be free indeed. Freedom! Does that sound like being a servant of sin? It is a universal condition for man to find himself imprisoned by sin, but Jesus Christ grants pardon and freedom to man. This pardon, this freedom, is ours for the claiming.
"Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:18). Not only is a person forbidden to partake of sin; he is exhorted to good works. A Christian is not only an abstainer from evil; he is an exponent of right.
We’re told to glorify God in our body and spirit, which are his (I Cor. 6:20). Does God glory in sin? No, he abhors it. What does it mean to glorify God? Goodspeed translates, "Honor God with your bodies." It is a high calling to honor God. "Now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." (Rom. 6:22). —
Milburn H. Miller
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