In Romans 6:1-2 reads What shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? For the next two chapters the Apostle deals with this issue of sin in the believers life and how he ought to relate to it and it is interesting because he doesn't give us a formula of how not to sin without first giving us a picture of the believers state in relationship to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words he is telling us that unless we are first dead with Christ and raised to new life, all of our fighting against sin is futile. The believer is ultimately delivered from sin because of his identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.We have died with Christ (Rom.6:6) and we are dying with Christ (Rom.6:11). The Christian is justified by faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done on the cross and coming out of the tomb and is at that moment brought into union with Christ and His work in redemption and then in sanctification that work is continued and worked out in his life. The Christian life is characterized by 2 primary aspects 1- (positive) That he will always default to The Lord Jesus or he will always find his hope, confidence, forgiveness, righteousness, wisdom and any other positive benefit in the person and work of The Lord Jesus Christ and 2nd (negative) he will be in this continual battle against sin. Oh! My friends, please do not lie to yourself, if your sin doesn't disturb you and you are not taking steps to get rid of it you are not a Christian. Yes, a Christian does sin but it is his greatest burden. One preacher said that to the professing Christian Romans 3:23 is their couch, but to the true Christian is is their bed of nails. Our sin is our greatest burden because it is what put our Lord on the cross and now we have victory because our lives are no longer our own because we have been crucified with Him. We sin because we take back our lives and think that there is something other than Christ and obedience to God's will that will bring us fulfillment. However for the Christian we are continually recongnizing that we have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
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