2. Set Apart by Christ
Question 1: What’s something you were surprised went viral?
THE POINT
In Christ, we are dead to sin but alive to God.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
“Going viral” is a common term these days for something shared on the internet or social media that is passed around and shared quickly among people. While it may be a piece of news, a fad, or something humorous, most things that “go viral” on the internet are harmless and pass as quickly as they came. When it comes to our health and our bodies, things that “go viral” can be deadly.
For example, in the mid-1300s, when a dozen merchant ships arrived at a port in Sicily, they were found to be carrying the dead and dying bodies of plague-ridden sailors. So contagious was the great pestilence that infections became instantly uncontrollable. As people were unwittingly infected and traveled onward, they took the plague with them. Within five years, one-third of Europe would die from the disease.
Like the plague, sin ravages peoples’ lives. Though God provides a divine remedy to sin, most people are unaware of how it works. In this session, we’ll learn how to live out the truth that, in Christ, we have victory over sin and death.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Romans 6:5-7
5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin.
Everybody wants to be free. No one wants to be enslaved to their passions and the baser instincts of human nature. But each of us has experienced times when we fell short of God’s best, or, in some cases, exhibited attitudes or behaviors that were completely unbecoming and unacceptable for a child of God. Yet as believers in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells, we are set free from sin’s tight grip through a process called sanctification.
Being “set apart” is the essence and meaning of the term sanctification. The concept of being set apart in Christ is a major theological truth woven throughout the New Testament. Despite the prevalence of this teaching in the New Testament and its importance in the Christian life, sanctification remains one of the least understood aspects of biblical discipleship. The apostle Paul wanted this truth to be understood.
In Romans 6, Paul taught that believers have been made free from enslavement to sin. He based this teaching in the themes of death and resurrection. He argued that, when Christ bore human sin on the cross physically, believers participated in His death spiritually—to become free of sin.
When Jesus died, God’s divine wrath against sin was satisfied, once for all, and Christ secured forgiveness for all who would believe in Him. Since then, in a theological sense, the moment any individual repents and places personal faith in Christ, the power of Christ’s sacrificial offering is bestowed onto him or her. In this way, Jesus’s physical death for sin and temporary spiritual separation from God at Calvary is substituted for ours.
Question 2: When have you seen someone really set free from sin’s grip?
Not only are we united with Christ in His death, but we will also participate in the likeness of His resurrection. Though Christ died, He now lives. Having defeated death and sin, the Father then revived and restored Jesus’s emaciated flesh into a transformed and glorified body. This literal, physical resurrection from death demonstrated the Lord’s absolute power over death and authority over the grave.
Regarding believers, Paul explained that our former unredeemed nature has now died in Christ. This means the pre-repentant “old self” that existed prior to our spiritual conversion and subsequent rebirth has now been crucified. At the point of initial salvation, our teeming sin nature was put to death. In this new reality, we are redeemed—set apart from both the penalty and power of sin.
This is a deep spiritual truth believers need to understand. It’s a simple reality, but easier said than lived out. Scripture teaches that unless enabled our now-dead sinful nature has no ability on its own to master and exploit us as it could prior to our salvation.
Our old self has died. It is crucified with Christ. Rebellious impulses that formerly ruled our bodies have been rendered powerless. Debilitating desires, attitudes, and motivations can now be controlled and overruled. Being spiritually dead to sin, we can choose to be unresponsive to the powerful lure of sin to which we were previously enslaved.
Romans 6:8-11
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
An amazing reality about salvation is that believers possess it now. Everlasting life is already within our possession. Living in the conscious reality of possessing eternal life is liberating. Sadly, believers who don’t meditate on this truth can live far beneath the victorious life God intends. This leads to being overwhelmed by the temporary and fleeting concerns of daily life. Some even lose confidence in the assurance of their salvation. None of this is necessary, though; God wants to free us forever from these things.
Salvation is a reality that has past, present, and future dimensions.
- Past. Those who surrender to God’s mercy and receive Christ’s forgiveness move from death to life (John 5:24). Such people have been saved. Their eternal security became a reality the moment they placed their faith in Jesus. This is sometimes called initial salvation. It is initiated when a person repents from sin and believes in the gospel (Mark 1:15), resulting in justification.
- Present. Because we are forgiven, we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. We are being saved in the sense that God will continue the good work He began in us at our conversion (Phil. 1:6). This is the process of sanctification, and it’s nothing other than the “Christian life.” Growing in Christ toward spiritual maturity and holiness isn’t a category for a few special saints seeking super-Christian status. If you are a Christian, you are to follow Christ wholeheartedly (Luke 9:23).
- Future. In the end, salvation ensures that we will be saved when we die sometime in the future. Theologians call this final phase of salvation glorification. The thought of one’s impending death strikes fear, even terror, into the hearts of some. But for believers, salvation ensures that we won’t be given over to eternal destruction. Because God’s Holy Spirit fills us with His divine life, Christ-followers revel in our confidence of the power of Christ over death.
Question 3:
How would your life change if you really lived as if your eternal life has already begun?
Romans 6:12-14
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.
The Christian life is often misunderstood. Some think the whole point of coming into a right relationship with God is to gain entrance into heaven. But Christianity isn’t just about evangelism and our future destiny. It’s also about discipleship and our lives here and now. Once a person is saved, the Christian life isn’t over—it has just begun.
Being a believer is more than occupying a plot of real estate in a purposeless existence, awaiting our eternal inheritance. We are to live righteous lives, not settle for decades of boring spiritual mediocrity. Every Christian is engaged in the process of sanctification, whether we fully realize it or not. The process begins with God’s inscrutable wisdom and innate goodness. He intentionally works to integrate His character into our lives. He masterminds how to lead us toward His loving will—thereby implementing His sovereign dominion across human time.
Question 4: How is life different under grace rather than the law?
All the while, God allows us great personal freedom. As we choose to pursue righteousness due to our new heart, God moves us another step toward His holy purpose in our lives. Being indwelt by the Holy Spirit who never leaves or forsakes us, God causes us to grow. Sometimes our growth process is slower than ideal, but God continues to work with us and on us so He can work through us.
As God works inside us, the Spirit draws us into an increasingly intimate relationship with Him. That produces a love for God and the things of God. We are drawn to the truth of God’s Word, which begins to renew our minds. This causes us to reject conformity with the world resulting in personal transformation. Though we will never be fully successful in overcoming sin, we can reach the point where we consistently obey the Holy Spirit and live in the victory Christ intended.
Question 5: How can we use parts of ourselves as weapons for righteousness?
Engage
SELF-EVALUATION
Consider where you are in your walk with Christ. Ask God to help you see yourself accurately. Evaluate yourself (1= I don’t do this at all; 5= Sometimes, inconsistently; 10= Often true of me.) Then write a prayer asking God to help you grow to be like Him.
I fight against controlling, ruling sins in my life.
I seek to obey the Holy Spirit’s, and not sin’s, desires for my body.
I actively fight sin, so that my body is not used as a weapon for unrighteousness.
I offer myself to God, remembering that I am alive in Him and dead to sin.
I offer every part of myself to God as His weapon for righteousness.
Sin does not rule over me.
My Prayer:
“I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
GALATIANS 5:16
LIVE IT OUT
In Christ, we are dead to sin but alive to God. Choose one of the following applications:
Consider. Consider whether you have been trying to live the Christian life from the outside-in or the inside-out. Ask God to help you rely on the power of His Spirit for overcoming sin.
Confess. During the next week, invite God to expose areas of disobedience in your thoughts, beliefs, motivations, attitudes, and behaviors. Commit to confess these, seeking cleansing and freedom.
Cooperate. God has declared you victorious over sin through Christ (1 John 5:5). That’s a fact, but we must still live out that truth through faith. Invite a fellow group member (of the same gender) or another Christian you know to meet regularly for the purpose of accountability. Develop a list of questions you can ask one another and spend time praying for one another.
The Christian life is not without its ups and downs. Though God is good, our world is broken. We suffer the effects of the Fall, but this is not God’s plan. Thankfully, through Christ we are given the opportunity to enjoy victory over sin and a life of purpose and meaning.
Teacher Notes:
The Baptism of Greg & Cathe Laurie
Sin remains a struggle even for believers. Yes, we have trusted Christ and chosen to follow Him, but the sin nature in us still tries to assert itself. As we grow in Christ, we learn more and more to resist temptation, sin, and the persistent tug of the sin nature. By His death and resurrection, Christ has rendered sin and death powerless over us, so we must learn to live in that truth, no longer letting sin have control.
Setting
In the
first 5 chapters of Romans Paul presented his case for the sinfulness of
humanity and the need of all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, for salvation. He
says that salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ and is accessible to
anyone who believes. He declared that salvation is not a product of the law or
any human effort, but an act of God’s grace motivated by His amazing love, which
was demonstrated in giving His Son.
In chapter 6, Paul
begins to describe some of the practical effects of the gospel on the lives of
those who believe. Grace had set them free from sin, but it did not give them
license to keep on sinning. In fact, transformation from death to life
resulting from God’s saving work in Christ enabled and demanded that they live
a new kind of life. Believers no longer live under the dominion of sin but have
Christ as their new Master. Paul described it in terms of being dead to sin but
alive to God.
Romans
6:5-7
For if we have been
united with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the
likeness of His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him
so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no
longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin.
In
Christ, we are set free from sin’s grip.
Because we have
died to sin in Christ, we can be certain we shall be raised to eternal life in
Him. Sin no longer has dominion over those who are united with Christ in His
death. We have been set free from sin’s dominance.
If we are freed from sin, why do we continue
to struggle?
Story of the 2-sled dogs – feed the one and starve the other.
Sinful Nature vs Spiritual
Nature
Which one will
always win the fight? The one we feed!
We can enjoy our
new life in Christ because we are united with Him in His death and
resurrection. Our evil desires, our bondage to sin, and our love of sin died
with Him. Now, united by faith with Him in His resurrection life, we have
unbroken fellowship with God and freedom from sin’s hold on us. (Ephesians 4:21-24
and Colossians 3:3-15)
The power and
penalty of sin died with Christ on the cross. Our old self, our sinful nature,
died once and for all, so we are freed from its power. The body of sin is not
the human body, but our rebellious sin-loving nature inherited from Adam.
Though our body willingly cooperates with our sinful nature, we must not regard
the body as evil. It is the sin in us that is evil. And it is this power of sin
at work in our body that is defeated. Paul has already stated that through
faith in Christ we stand acquitted, “not guilty” before God. Paul emphasizes
that we need no longer live under sin’s power. God does not take us out of the
world or make us robots – we will still feel like sinning, and sometimes we
will sin. The difference is that before we were slaves to our sinful nature,
but now we can choose to live for Christ. (Galatians 2:20)
Everybody wants to be
free. No one wants to be enslaved to their passions and the baser instincts of
human nature. But each of us has experienced times when we fell short of God’s
best, or, in some cases, exhibited attitudes or behaviors that were completely
unbecoming and unacceptable for a child of God. Yet as believers in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells, we are set free
from sin’s tight grip through a process called sanctification.
Being “set apart” is the essence and
meaning of the term sanctification. The concept of being set apart in Christ is
a major theological truth woven throughout the New Testament. Despite the
prevalence of this teaching in the New Testament and its importance in the
Christian life, sanctification
remains one of the least understood aspects of biblical discipleship. The apostle Paul
wanted this truth to be understood.
This is a deep spiritual truth believers
need to understand. It’s a simple reality, but easier said than lived out. Scripture teaches
that unless enabled our now-dead sinful nature has no ability on its own to
master and exploit us as it could prior to our salvation.
Romans
6:8-11
Now if we died with
Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that
Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer
rules over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all time; but
the life He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin
and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In
Christ, we are set apart with the promise of eternal life.
We identify with
the death and resurrection of Christ in that we died unto sin to be raised to
live a new life in Him. By His resurrection, Christ defeated death. Christ died
once for all but lives forever. Because He lives, we too live.
How would your life
change if you really lived as if your eternal life had already begun?
Because of Christ’s
death and resurrection, believers need never fear death. This assurance frees
us to enjoy fellowship with Him and to do His will. This will affect all our
activities – work and worship, play, Bible study, quiet times, and times of caring
for others. When you know that you don’t have to fear death, you will
experience a new vigor in life.
“Count yourselves
dead to sin” means that we should regard our old sinful nature as dead and
unresponsive to sin. Because of our union and identification with Christ, we
are no longer obligated to carry out those old motives, desires, and goals. So
let us consider ourselves to be what God has in fact made us. We have a new
start, and the Holy Spirit will help us become in our daily experience what Christ
has declared us to be.
An amazing reality about salvation is that
believers possess it now. Everlasting life is already within our possession. Living in the conscious reality of
possessing eternal life is liberating. Sadly, believers who don’t meditate on this
truth can live far beneath the victorious life God intends. This leads to being
overwhelmed by the temporary and fleeting concerns of daily life. Some even
lose confidence in the assurance of their salvation. None of this is necessary,
though; God wants to free us forever from these things.
Romans
6:12-14
Therefore do not
let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not
offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who
are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of
yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you,
because you are not under the law but under grace.
In
Christ, we are set apart to live in righteousness.
Having been made
alive in Christ, we are to make choices in our manner of living that
demonstrate our desire to be like Him. We are challenged to live as under the
rule of God and to refuse to allow sin to dominate us. As those who are alive
in Christ, we are to offer ourselves completely to His righteous service. Sin
can no longer have complete control of us because we are under the keeping
power of God’s grace.
How could your brain, ears, or mouth be a weapon for unrighteousness? How could your brain, ears, or mouth be a weapon for righteousness?
If we are no longer
under the law but under grace, are we now free to sin and disregard the Ten
Commandments? Paul says “By no means.” When we were under the law, sin was our
master – the law does not justify us or help us overcome sin. But now that we are
bound to Christ, He is our Master, and He gives us power to do good rather than
evil.
All people choose a
master and pattern themselves after him. Without Jesus, we would have no choice
– we would have to apprentice ourselves to sin, and the result would be guilt,
suffering, and separation from God. Thanks to Jesus, we can now choose God as
our Master. Following Him, we can enjoy new life and learn how to work for
Him.
As God works inside us, the Spirit draws
us into an increasingly intimate relationship with Him. That produces a love for God and the
things of God. We are drawn to the truth of God’s Word, which begins to renew
our minds.
This causes us to reject conformity with the world resulting in personal
transformation. Though we will never be fully successful in overcoming sin, we
can reach the point where we consistently obey the Holy Spirit and live in the
victory Christ intended.
“I say, then, walk
by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
GALATIANS 5:16
Closing Questions
Are you trying to
live the Christian life from the outside-in or the inside-out? (Ask God to help
with this – the help of the Holy Spirit)
Have you asked God
to expose the areas of disobedience in your thoughts, beliefs, motivations,
attitudes, and behaviors? (Commit to confess these, and ask for forgiveness)
In Christ, we are
dead to sin but alive to God. LIVE IT OUT
Conclusion
The Christian life is often misunderstood.
Some think the whole point of coming into a right relationship with God is to gain entrance into heaven. But Christianity isn’t just about evangelism and our future destiny. It’s also about discipleship and our lives here and now. Once a person is saved, the Christian life isn’t over — it has only just begun. (Karen Carpenter)
We have been
saved — a past event. Therefore, we have the hope of eternity when our
salvation will be consummated — a future event. Does the assurance we have for
the future based on an experience in the past mean we presently live in a kind
of spiritual limbo? Absolutely not! Day by day, we are to live the new,
victorious life in Christ. Living
for Christ is to be characterized by daily growing in our victory over the
power of sin and growing in the likeness of Christ. To grow in Christ,
we are to yield ourselves to godly righteousness constantly and continuously.
We live in a way that demonstrates to all who see us that we have rejected
domination by sin and have chosen Christ as Master. The struggle against sin is
real—that cannot be denied. But the victory over sin is assured — neither can
that be denied. In Christ, we are dead to sin but “like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).
This newness of life is a reality we enjoy whether or not we feel new at any given time. The reality is we still must fight the good fight of faith in a fallen world where the devil tempts us, the past can haunt us, and we can grow tired and weary. Even so, what God says is truer than our feelings, our circumstances, what is happening in the world around us, and anything and everything else that could discourage us from fully embracing God’s promises and living according to them. The new life in us is more real and more powerful than anything that comes against us. It is as real and true as the fact of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead and victory over sin and death. God has gone to great lengths to save us and set us free, and He desires that we enjoy the privilege of being His children. Rejoice in your great salvation and live as the new person you are!
