The Victories Of Christ For The Believer Sample

Co-crucifixion with Christ

B. THE KINGDOM OF SIN KEEPS A HUMAN BEING A SLAVE

Sin has a characteristic: it’s addictive. Christ could have freed us from the power of sin, but if we go back to it, it’s not that we will lose our salvation, but we stay trapped in our net.

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Or Paul explained it, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

If you begin to participate in gossip, you make yourself a slave of gossip, or if you lie after being in Christ, you make yourself a slave of lying, and what the passage says is that if you or I persevere in sin, we convert to being slaves of sin. And there’s no reason to be slaves of sin when Christ has given us the freedom. Sin promises freedom, yet, meanwhile we continue to be slaves of corruption, because one is a slave of what has defeated them.

C. WE WERE TRANSFERRED TO THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Paul not only tells us that we were freed from sin but that we have been united to another kingdom, Christ’s kingdom. Paul used the word death for separation of sin’s kingdom, and now uses the word baptism which means to submerge. Baptism in Christ means submerged spiritually in Christ, implying intimate and spiritual union with Christ in this new kingdom.

Paul is pretty much asking how we can possibly return to slavery once we’ve been freed. Let me explain this another way. It’s as if you’ve been held hostage and a military commander rescues you, shots fired in the midst of your rescue mission, yet is able to save you and takes you to your freedom but then you say, “I want to go back to being held hostage, to continue being tortured and abused.” That’s what Paul is saying. If you have been freed from addiction and sin, from the terrible life you had, you cannot go back to the addiction and say “Here I am, make me your slave again!” That’s spiritual masochism. Absolutely never in any way! You are free!