Romans 5 ended with the statement “Where sin abounds grace abounds much more!” Paul responds to that statement saying, “Great! If sin leads to grace, then why not keep on sinning?” In Romans 6 we look at the believer’s relationship to sin, finding out that we are:
1. Dead to Sin, Alive to God
2. Set Free from Sin, Now Slaves of God
Sin begins in the heart. The lust, the greed, the envy, the anger and every other evil thing starts there – deep within. The words of Jesus don’t leave much room for interpretation:
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, …” – Matthew 15:19-20 (NKJV)
Therefore, how crucial it is that we protect our hearts from the junk that naturally forms there, collects there and then begins to rot. Consider the wisdom of Proverbs 4:23:
“Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.” (NKJV)
Or, as the New Living Translation puts it:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.”
Let’s be careful what we think about, what we meditate upon and in what directions our hearts might tend to go when we aren’t keeping them under control. The psalms reveal how prayer and the application of the Scriptures contain the remedies discovered by ancient men of God:
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
– Psalms 19:14 (NKJV)
“Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.”
– Psalms 119:11 (NKJV)
Keeping our hearts in the right place takes effort, but the Lord is right there to help us in guarding them if we avail ourselves of His strength. The Holy Spirit in the heart of every believer in Jesus is more that sufficient for the task.
There is so much more in the words of our title than our finite minds can grasp. As believers we already have everything that pertains to life and godliness. Why do we so often live like spiritual paupers? What more do we really need? In possessing all things can we possibly not have enough? Oh that He would help us to better take hold of our spiritual possessions; that our lives and character would reflect His perfect will.
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” – 2 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)
The key to being the kind of people God wants us to be is in putting to use all that which He has already given. The believer stuck in the swamp of sin is living below his or her capabilities. Living a godly life would not be that difficult, if we would learn to draw upon His resources. Growing in godliness is not a matter of obtaining something new, but of using what we have in Christ.
“If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” (NKJV)
1 John 4:9-10 (NKJV) 9In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
All of us know what it’s like to feel guilt, some of it unwarranted, some of it genuine. As to the false guilt, it’s, well, false. We never really had to worry about that at all. In the case of false guilt, that sense of feeling guilty was always a lie.
The beautiful thing that God has done for us, by the offering of Christ for our sins, is that He has removed our real guilt. When we, in our hearts, reject our sin, turn to Him and ask for His forgiveness, He cleanses us. He declares us not guilty in His eyes.
Christ is the offering that removes our guilt. He is the propitiation for our sins – the offering that reconciles us to God. If God views us as not guilty, then we truly are not guilty; no higher standard is needed. There is no higher court that we will ever be tried in. So Christ takes care of our all-too-real guilt. And that is the kind of Savior we truly need.
Central Reflections 