When we come into the family of God, we are given many precious promises, but we are also given responsibility for the new life we are afforded.
You will occasionally hear ministers preach that, with regard to our new life in Christ, the battle is the Lord’s, which, of course, is absolutely correct, meaning He is very much on our side when we face tests and trials of our faith, but it doesn’t mean that we just sit back and let life happen when it comes to conduct.
We have been called to live a life of holiness and righteousness. God gives us the start in this, but we have to live it. We have responsibilities for our own actions. We have been given the license to overcome for ourselves in His name.
In His name
Just think about that for a moment. ‘In His name’ means that we are given authority to act in His stead in certain areas. He not only authorises this, He also empowers us to act. He anoints and appoints. He delegates certain abilities and juristictions.
You will also have heard that, according to some doctrine, we are just sinners saved by grace, which also has an element of truth, in that His grace was afforded to save us through faith, but this saying is subject to interpretation, and we have to look at this in context with what grace has actually given us.
We were sinners before we were saved, yes, but, according to scripture, we are no longer sinners once we have been born again. Rather, we are called saints, that is, sanctified believers, and, indeed, we are called disciples of Christ.
A disciple is, correctly, a disciplined one. Being a disciple doesn’t only mean we follow Jesus, or believe in Jesus. It means both these things, but also that we adhere to the instructions given to us as followers and as believers.
Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). What we believe we demonstrate by corresponding actions and words.
We can’t be disciples if we are not also self-disciplined. Paul likened us to soldiers, who have certain obligations (2Tim.2:3). He admonished us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, meaning we have to die to certain things that are trends to the world so that we can live for Him as His representatives (Rom.12:1)(Col.3:3). In holiness. In righteousness.
Who is it that presents themselves a living sacrifice? We do the presenting. We have the responsibility. He has give us charge over our lives and destiny. His Spirit will help us, lead us, and guide us, but we do the doing (James 1:22).
We have handed our lives over to Him. In fact, we have acknowledged that we are bought with a price and that we are no longer our own (1Cor.6:20). We belong to Him and have an obligation to obedience to His will, and to observe all that He has instructed us to do and to be as His disciples.
This means that we have put off the old person with all of his or her flaws, and we have put on the new (Col.3:12-13). Again, we do the doing. We are no longer to see ourselves as slaves to sin, but servants of righteousness (Rom.6:16).
Put off the old
The onus, then, is on us as disciples to take responsibility for our thoughts, words and actions. We are called to walk in righteousness and holiness. We are the ones who have been given this great level of accountability.
In this we need to understand that we are now to consider ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to righteousness.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:5-11
If, then, we are dead to sin, we are no longer slaves to sin. We are no longer sinners. That person died with Him. The death of Christ crucified our old person so that the new person could be raised.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:12-14
So, who is it that takes authority over sin? It is the believer. Sin no longer has dominion over us. We are in authority over sin. We can control our emotions, our senses, our passions, and our appetites.
We are empowered to be in control of our destiny. This part is our battle. It is not the Lord’s. It is our decision to take regarding those things that would hinder our faith and our walk with Christ.
The Lord has already fought the battle for us, yes, at the cross and at His resurrection, but we are now armed spiritually, through faith, to overcome the temptations to sin that, once, we were powerless against.
We are called more than conquerors, but conquerors must conquer (Rom.8:37). In other words. we have to go to battle clothed in the armour of light (Rom.13:12). We are more than conquerors because He has already conquered sin, so now we are enabled to do the same in His name.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 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?
Romans 6:15-16
We have a choice to make. We are either slaves to sin, or servants of righteousness. It is our decision. We can take authority over those things that have troubled us for so long.
No longer sinners
Do we ever sin now that we have been born again? Yes, of course, because we are learning to overcome the flesh in so many ways, but we now have power over the fleshly desires and over sin. If we fall back we need to repent and confess our sin to God our Father who will forgive and restore us to righteousness (1 John 1:9).
The thing is, beloved, that we must stop seeing ourselves as sinners. We are sanctified, justified and glorified (Rom.8:30)(1Cor.6:11). He has changed us from the inside out. We are saints. We are sanctified ones. We have been purified, made clean, guilt-free, and recreated in Christ through faith Him. Sin no longer has dominion over us.
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life..
Titus 3:3-7
We have been radically changed. We are a work in progress. We have to learn to see ourselves differently, not arrogantly or out of pride, but in humility by believing what God says about us in His Word.
If we view ourselves as sinners we will be tempted to excuse any tendencies to excesses and failings. If we see ourselves as saints we will know that we have responsibility for our words and actions. We will step up to the responsibility of living a life that is in accord with our position in Christ.
That is the difference.
