Ron Dunn Podcast - Steps To Spiritual Victory (Ron Dunn Podcast)

Episode Date: April 10, 2020

From the sermon series on Romans

Chapter 6, verses 1 through 14, the theme of the chapter is the inadmissibility of sin in the life of the Christian, or the inconsistency of sin in the life of the Christian or the inconsistency of sin in the life of the Christian. Paul says for two reasons sin is inadmissible in the Christian's life. First of all, because of his death to sin, verses 1 through 14. Secondly, because his slavery to the Lord, verses 15 through 23. Now next Sunday morning we're going to preach that second passage, Our Slavery to the Lord is One of the Reasons Sin is Inadmissible in Our Lives. But tonight we come to chapter 6, the first fourteen verses. I want us to bow for just a moment and pray, every head bowed.

I want you to pray especially tonight that the Holy Spirit will reveal these things to us. It is possible to read this and preach from it, hear it preached, and yet never really see it. Dear Lord, we would not be so presumptuous tonight to try to preach in the energy of the flesh, or try by our efforts, our persuasiveness, anything we may be able to do, to try to communicate spiritual truth. Lord, there is no way that I can communicate spiritual truth to the people. I am merely the instrument which you use. I pray tonight the Holy Spirit will be our preacher. I pray that he will fulfill the ministry which Jesus said he would. When he has come he shall guide you into all truth.

So Lord, we need help tonight to see the truths of your word. We need, Lord, our eyes to be opened by the Holy Spirit of God to see the things that are freely given to us of God. And so we trust thee tonight for the Holy Spirit to do his illuminating work in our hearts. Reveal this truth to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that 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 for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin now if we be dead with christ we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him for in that he died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto god likewise reckon ye also

yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto god through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. For sin shall not have dominion over you. Who said? God said. Well, then, Lord, why does sin have dominion over me? God says sin shall not have dominion over you. But my everyday experience says, yes it does. What I want to discover then is how can I make real what God has made potential and possible. God says that if I understand the first 13 verses of Romans chapter 6, he says the result is sin will not have dominion over me. That

sounds like a good bargain. That's exactly what I want. I want to be able to come to the place in my Christian life where I can testify to the truth of verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Notice the first word of verse 14 is for. That means because or as a result of. So what the apostle is saying is if verses 1 through 13 are real and understood and applied in our lives, verse 14 will come to pass. The inadmissibility of sin in the life of the Christian. Paul begins this chapter by saying, what shall we say then?

What now? Shall we continue in sin? That's a good question. After a fellow has been saved, what then? Is he to go on living the same way he always did? Is he to go on subject to the sin that's in his life? Since, as Paul has been saying in chapters 1 through 5, to the consternation of many of the people in that day,

salvation is not dependent upon how good I am, it's dependent upon how good Jesus is. And salvation is a free gift that I receive when I surrender myself to the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. God declares me to be righteous. I'm not really righteous, but God looks upon me. He declares me to be righteous when I put my faith in Jesus Christ. Somebody said, well, if I believe what you believe, then I can go out here and live like I want to. Does that mean then that how we live makes absolutely no difference if salvation is

a free gift of God, if we're saved by grace through faith, and you can never lose that salvation because it depends not upon my obedience but upon the obedience of Christ. Why then doesn't that mean I can live like I want to? Because it's God forbid. God forbid. How can we who are once dead to sin live anymore therein? So the Bible says we shall not continue in sin god's ideal for every saved person is that he shall not continue to live the same kind of life he used to live god's ideal for every one of us is that sin shall not have dominion over our body and yet most of us if we were to stand

up tonight and honestly give our testimony we would have to say that for the 99 and nine-tenths percent of our christian life the reverse has been true sin has had dominion over our bodies we have continued in sin just as we did before we were saved or there have been times of spiritual renewal revival we'll go down and rededicate you know and rededicate and for a couple of weeks everything will be different but the same pressure is there the same anxiety the same frustration is there how in the world is it then that we can that we can come to this place where with the apostle paul we can say sin has no more dominion over my body how can i have spiritual victory in my life how can i no longer continue to live this same kind of defeated life? Paul says the way of victory is the way of death. You see, we have proceeded on the wrong basis. We have gone in like a man who comes into the house at night and discovers that he has

left the bathroom bathtub faucet on. And he goes in and the bathtub is full and running over and the water is running out the bathroom into the hall. So he runs and he picks up a mop and he begins mopping the floor, mopping the floor, mopping the floor. He looks like he's making a little headway. And he says, well, it looks like I've made it. And all of a sudden the water comes back again. And so all the time the faucet's running, all the time the faucet is running, he gets a new mop, a better mop. What I need is a better mop. And so he forms

a committee to make up a better mop. He buys a book on better mopping. And so he begins to mop and mop and tries to mop up the water. And we looked at a a man like that, hey, listen, I've got a simple way for you to get rid of that water. Why don't you just go over there and cut off the faucet? Now you know why some of us have been failing in our Christian life? Because we've been spending our time

buying better mops and reading study courses on how to mop better. We've been mopping up, mopping up, mopping up, and all the time the source, the source has been free to run. God never deals with the symptoms. That's what we've done. God deals with the source. I like the way Watchman Nee puts it in his book, The Normal Christian Life. God destroys the factory,

and when you destroy the factory, you destroy the products. The products of this old sinful self is irritability, anger, lust, greed, immorality. What we've been trying to do is to destroy the products. We've been trying to put down this sin and put down this weakness and put down this act. God says you'll never reach it that way. What you need to do is to go out and just blast the factory from off the face of the earth. And once you've destroyed the factory, you've destroyed the product. Once you've turned off the faucet, it'll be easy then to mop up. You see, we have proceeded on the wrong basis.

We thought if we could just treat sins, the symptoms, that this is the way to victory. God says the way to victory is not to treat sins, but to treat self, which is the source of all sin. And I said a few weeks ago, as we preached in Joshua chapter 7 on the sin of Achan, God has always and forever had only one way of dealing with sin. That's by death. That's by death. And it was a marvelous day when I began to realize that what God had planned for me in this flesh, this old nature, was not to fix it up. I had the idea that when God saved me, he saved the old nature. He saved the flesh, the old carnal nature, and he reformed it a little bit. And the way to grow spiritually and to enter into this victorious life was to keep making repairs on the old nature and the way to grow spiritually and to enter into this victorious life was to keep making

repairs on the old nature and keep trying to make the old nature better so i'd pray lord make me better lord give me more strength lord help me and all of a sudden i begin to don up on me that god when he saved me did not do absolutely one thing to the old nature he didn't touch it he didn't repair it he didn't fix it up the old nature the self the old touch it. He didn't repair it. He didn't fix it up. The old nature, the self, the old Ronald Dunn is incurable. God says the only thing to do with that is just to kill it. The only cure is death. I'm not trying to fix it up. I'm not going to reform it. I'm not going to try to salvage it and make the best of it out as I can. I'm going to junk it. I'm going to crucify it. I'm going to deal death to it. And in its place, I'm going to put a new nature, a new spirit, the Spirit of God.

Now, my failure has been, and I think probably your failure has been, I said, Lord, with your help, I'm going to make myself better. With your help, I'm going to grow. And so I keep putting refinements and sophistication and education and all sorts of efforts trying to make this flesh better.

Trying to make it better. Trying to make it better. And God says, oh, you've just missed it completely. You've missed it completely. I don't want you stronger. I want you weaker. I don't want you better. I want you dead.

And I can't get over the genius of this. I just cannot get over the genius of this i just cannot get over you know sometimes when your car begins to break down again you know when it gets so many miles on it and you start putting money into it and fixing this and about the time you get this fixed charlie something else breaks right right every day is a new day with an old car you know and you just wonder what's going to break down today. I'm always telling Brother Sheppey, get the car bug because he says, you know, this car's got so many miles on it now. Pretty soon it's going to start costing me money.

It's really not, but he's wanting to trade cars, you know. Well, have you ever had a car like that, you know? Man, you say, well, I'm going to try to drive it until it's paid for. Fanatic. I'm going to drive it until it's paid for. And so I'll put this on and I'll fix this and I'll fix this and I'll fix this and you just keep pouring money into it and pouring, putting bad money after bad and more money into it. Finally, one day you say, listen, the thing to do, the cheapest way out, the best way out. Why didn't I think of it? Boy,

just get rid of this thing and get a new one. Boy, isn't that simple? That's exactly what God did. That's exactly what God did. God said, for thousands of years, I have tried to deal with the flesh, the old nature. And no matter what you do to it, you can educate it, you can give it religion, you can give to it the highest moral ethic the world has ever known, and it makes absolutely no improvement, what I'm going to have to do is just junk it, get rid of it, and in its place put my spirit, a new nature. Oh, that's genius. God's way of dealing with sin is always by death. By death.

Now, there are three key words in these 14 verses that give to us the steps to spiritual victory. I want you, accepting a fact. The second word I want you to underscore is found in verse 11, reckon, the attitude of faith. The third word is found in verse 13, yield yourselves unto God, an act of finality. These three words are key words in this chapter, and they give to us the three steps to spiritual victory. They must be taken, and they must be taken in their proper order if we're going to experience spiritual victory.

First of all, the first step to victory over sin in our life is our acceptance of a fact. Paul writes to these Romans and he says, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? You mean after you have been saved you are supposed to go on living the same kind of life you always did? God forbid. How can we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Don't you know that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death. That 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. death, that 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. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Now verse 6, knowing this, that our old man, that simply means our man of old, the former self, our old self has been crucified, that's in the past tense, with him that the body of sin might be destroyed. And that word destroyed doesn't mean destroy, it means put out of business. It means unemployed.

That this body of sin which used to be employed in unrighteousness should be put out of business, should be unemployed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. There must first of all, Paul says, come an awareness and an acceptance of a fact. There is a fact that you don't know about, he says. Listen, don't you know that you are dead to sin? Don't you know that you are dead to sin? You can't live the same kind of life you used to because when a man dies dies he is removed from that former realm of activity he can't live the same way he used to live because he's dead

a man who is wrapped up in business can no longer be in that business because death removes him from that business a man who is immersed in politics no longer cares whether Republicans or Democrats are in office because when he dies, it's removed him from all those interests. He said, listen, you can't go on living the way you once did. Sin will not have dominion over your body because you have already died. Now you remember I said this morning that God sees every man either in

Adam or in Christ. God sees every man either in Adam or in Christ. All right, my death was established at the cross. My death was established at the cross. I want you to notice in verse 6 it says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified, look at that preposition, with, w-i-t-h, with him. When was this old man crucified? With Jesus. When was Jesus crucified? Well, nearly 2,000 years ago. Jesus was crucified 2,000 years ago jesus was crucified two thousand years ago when was i crucified i was crucified with him with him the bible says jesus was crucified and with him two thieves now when were the two thieves crucified they were crucified with jesus that means they had to be crucified at the same time jesus crucified. All right, this verse 6 says that I was crucified with Jesus.

All right, now when was I crucified? When did I die? I died when Jesus died. Why? Because God sees every man either in Adam or in Christ. Just as by Adam's disobedience I became a sinner, so when Jesus died, I died in him. As far as God is concerned, I died on the cross when Jesus died on the cross.

He took me to that cross with him. You remember in John chapter 12 when Jesus was prophesying the kind of death he would die, he said, And if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Now, so often I've heard that preached like this, that if a preacher gets up and preaches Jesus and lifts up Jesus, the marvelous magnet, that he'll draw all men to him for salvation.

That's not at all what Jesus meant. Jesus said, When I die upon the cross, I'm going to draw all men to that cross with me. And becoming a Christian is not coming and kneeling at the foot of the cross and being saved. It is coming and getting on that cross with Jesus and dying with Jesus. God sees either in Adam or he sees me in Christ. And when I trust Christ as my Savior, I can go back 2,000 years ago and say, I died 2,000 years ago. My death, my union with Christ was established at the cross. Now listen, the secret of victory is the cross. You never get away from the cross. The way God deals with sin is by the cross.

For I want you to notice that the Bible does not merely say that Jesus Christ died on the cross. It merely doesn't say he merely died for sin, but it says he died unto sin. He died to sin. That means that as far as sin was concerned, Jesus Christ was dead. And sin could not have any dominion over Jesus. Sin could not tempt Jesus. Sin could not affect Jesus. Why?

Because as far as sin is concerned, Jesus was dead. Jesus was dead. That's what it means when it says Jesus died unto sin. Now, if I die under the law of Irving, Texas, that means that the law of Irving, Texas has no claim on me whatsoever, has no authority on me whatsoever. Friend, when I die, I'll not have to pay any more income tax. I'll not have to do it.

I'll not have to pay any more property tax. I'll not have to pay any more law. Because death, when I die, I die to the law of the state of this land. That means as far as the law is concerned, I'm dead. It has no claim on me. All right. When Jesus Christ died for sin on the cross, he also died. The Bible says unto sin. That means that sin doesn't have any claim on him. It never did and it never will. And so God says, listen, you want me to tell you something i placed you in christ and when christ died on the cross you were on that cross with him and just as sin no longer has any claim on the life of christ it no longer has any claim on you because you died with christ you say well i don't feel dead

i certainly don't act dead i certainly don't live as though I'm dead in descent. We'll get to that in a moment. First of all is positional truth. Now listen, a little Bible lesson. There are two kinds of truth. There is positional truth and there is practical truth. Positional truth is doctrine. That's God looking upon me as though I'm dead. Practical truth is when that becomes real in my life, when I experience it, you see.

Just as positional truth is, God says I am righteous. Well, I'm not really righteous. I'm just as sinful as I can be. But positionally, God looks upon me as righteous, as though I've never sinned. And now, that positional truth must become experiential, practical truth in my everyday life. And so after God declares me righteous, just he looks upon me as though I'm righteous, even though I'm not, then God comes into my life and begins making me righteous through the operation of the Holy Spirit, you see. Every doctrine becomes experiential in my life. Now what we're talking about right now is this positional truth, theological truth.

We're not talking about what I'm experiencing in my daily life. First of all, I need to accept the fact that when Jesus Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago, Ronald Dunn died with him. I'm dead, as far as God is concerned. It was established by the cross, and it was expressed by my baptism. That's what baptism is all about. Know you not that so many of us,

as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death. When the Spirit, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death. When the Spirit of God baptizes me into Jesus Christ, he makes me one with the death of Jesus. And when I express that symbolically in the waters of baptism, here's what happens. I'm standing up and I go down into the water. What does that signify?

You say that signifies the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. You're right. But it also symbolizes your death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. You're right. But it also symbolizes your death, burial, and resurrection. Paul says, don't you know that when you were baptized into Jesus, you were immersed into his death? And just as Jesus was raised to new life, so you have been raised to walk in newness of life. So the first step for me to realize is

that the way God has of dealing with my sin problem, my self-problem, is through death, and that I have died already with Christ two thousand years ago. I must first of all accept that fact. All right? Secondly, there must be the attitude or the accounting of faith. Look over in verse 11. Now the first ten verses, Paul is saying to us,

you died with Christ. At the very moment Christ died, you died with him. You died unto sin, therefore sin has no more claim on your body. Now that is positional truth. Nowesus says let's make it real verse 11 likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto god through jesus christ our lord now this is the most important part of the message. Since we have died with Christ, since God looks upon me as though I am already dead, you count yourself as though you are dead.

The word reckon is a bookkeeping term. It means to keep accounts. It means to put down facts. Now listen, any bookkeeper knows the only thing you put down are facts. You don't put down fancies. You don't put down make-believe. Bookkeeping deals with facts, unless you're an embezzler. Reckoning, listen, reckoning is not pretending. I know sometimes we've talked about this matter of reckoning ourselves to be dead. We've had the idea it's make-believing, it's screwing up our faith and just gritting our teeth.

Now I'm going to pretend, I'm going to make-believe I'm dead. That is not at all what it is. Reckoning means that when you deposit a thousand dollars in your bank, you put that down in your little book you reckon it you consider it to be there all right god says here's what i want you to do i've already said the fact is you're dead now i want you just by faith to accept that and i want you every day of your life to look upon yourself and to count yourself as though you are dead you regard yourself as dead are you willing he says to take the position of death god says you've died to sin

god said you've died to self are you willing tonight to take that position you say yes lord i'm willing tonight to accept the death that's already happened, and I gladly take the position of death. I count myself as though I've already died. Okay, now, you follow me. First of all, we are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin. That is the negative side of it, and that involves two things. How do you reckon yourself dead unto sin? It involves two things. First of all,

it involves a renunciation of self. You must renounce self. Reckoning yourselves to be dead unto sin means that you constantly have the attitude, not I, but Christ. Not I, but Christ. Not I but Christ. You see, I can stand up here tonight and I can say to you you're already dead as far as God is concerned. Positionally, you're dead. Experientially, you're really alive to sin.

Are you willing tonight to come to the place where you will second the motion, where you will agree with God? Will you take the position in which God says you already are tonight, and will you accept your death? This means that you're going to have to renounce yourself. This means you're going to have to deny yourself. This means you're going to have to deny yourself. This means you're going to have to stop thinking of me, me, what I want, where I want to live, what I want to be in life, the things I want to do. You must completely renounce self.

And the attitude of your life must be constantly, not I, but Christ. I am willing tonight to die to self and to treat myself as though I no longer existed. This means I'm never going to insist on having my way. This means I'm going to let every ambition die and just my only ambition be to live under the Lord. I'm willing tonight to give up my stubborn self-will and my self-assertion, my selfishness, thinking of myself.

And I'm willing this evening to renounce self. Are you willing to do that? You cannot reckon yourselves to be dead until you do that. And that's what's keeping some of us alive tonight, practically, experientially, unto sin. Because while it's well and good that God says we're dead to sin, I like that because that means I can go to heaven when I die.

But am I really willing tonight to give up the reins of my life and completely forget about my own self and renounce once and for all forever myself and live constantly not I, but Christ. In every constantly, not I, but Christ.

In every situation, not I, but Christ. When somebody insults me, not what I want to say back to them, but Christ. Disamusement, not I, but Christ. What to do with my money, not I, but Christ. What to do with my vocation, not I, but Christ. To reckon yourselves dead unto sin, first of all, means renouncing self. Secondly, it means renouncing sin.

Look in verse 12. After he tells us to reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin, he says, Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body so these two things are necessary if you're going to reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin first of all you must be willing to renounce self that's not easy you're going to think about that secondly you're going to have to be willing tonight to renounce every sin in your life. You cannot allow one single sin to reign in your mortal body, no matter what it is. There's an unforgiving spirit, there's a sin of impurity, there's a sin of gossip, there's

a sin of stealing. Whatever it is, let not sin reign in your mortal body. You've got to deal with every sin because as long as you are unwilling to confess and forsake every known sin in your life you cannot reckon yourself to be dead so the first thing i must reckon myself dead unto sin you send a preacher you're just talking about the power of positive thinking i know what what you're talking about. You're saying that every time I come up against it, every time there's a problem, every time there's a temptation, I'll just pull old Norman Vincent

Peale out on it and I'll reckon myself, I'll say, I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I can't sin. I can't want this temptation. I can't want to say this word. I can't want to gossip because I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. You're talking about a frame of mind, power of positive thinking. No, I'm not. Not at all. I'm talking about getting yourself to a position where the Holy Spirit can operate. Now this is where we separate ourselves from the power of positive thinking. Listen, Romans chapter 8, verse 13. Listen, Romans chapter 8, verse 13. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.

But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, that's dying to self and dying to sin, ye shall live. Now listen, the Holy Spirit makes real what I reckon. This attitude of mine, this constant attitude of mine, and the word reckon there is in the present continuous tense in the Greek text and it means to do this constantly. This is to be a constant attitude. I am to be constantly reckoning myself to be dead unto sin. This means renouncing self, renouncing the sins that are in my life. Now listen, when I take that position of death,

when I say, Lord Jesus, by faith, not by feeling, I'm not concerned how I feel. I may not feel dead. I still may feel tempted. I still may feel pressured. But, Lord Jesus, by faith tonight, you said that I've already died. That's great news.

I don't feel dead. I don't see how in the world I'm dead to sin. But Lord, I accept that position of death. I accept that. And I count myself dead unto this problem, dead unto this sin. When I do that, the Spirit of God comes in in dynamic power, making it real

in my life. I'm not talking about power of positive thinking. I'm talking about the dynamic of the Holy Spirit of God that dwells in every Christian who wants to make you holy, but he cannot make you holy until you take the position of death. The Spirit of God cannot fill you until you take the position of death. The Spirit of God cannot give you until you take the position of death. The Spirit of God cannot give you victory over sin until you take the position of death. All victory over temptation and sin and worry and frustration comes through the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. And the only way he can operate is when I take the position of death. That's the only way. All the time I live, every day, the Spirit of God is dwelling in me, wanting to manifest

Himself, wanting to give me victory, wanting to give me peace, wanting to free me from worry and slavery of sin. He's wanting to do this all the time. But you know what's in the way? Self. I'm in the way. There's unconfessed sin in my life. I've got a not-Christ-but-I attitude, what I want, what I want to do. And the Holy

Spirit is saying, oh, if you'll just die to self, if you'll just get out of the way and give me free reign to work. And so when I come to that place, Lord Jesus, I count myself, I'm willing to take the position of death and I recognize myself, I look upon myself as dead to this thing. Then the Holy Spirit says, hallelujah, he's out of the way now i can work and you write it down and don't you forget it the holy spirit makes real what you reckon so first of all reckoning means i reckon myself dead into sin secondly the positive i must reckon myself alive unto god verse 11 says likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So here is a twofold reckoning that's going on

all the time. First of all, reckon myself dead unto sin, but also accepting by faith, reckoning, alive unto Jesus, Jesus in me. And this is to be going on all the time. This is a constant attitude. As one of my friends says, it means making Calvary current, bringing the cross up to date. L.A. Maxwell says that every problem then becomes a new cross on which to die. Now, how does this work? Here's what Paul is talking about.

I'm to reckon myself dead and Jesus alive. So when a temptation comes, when a problem comes, when an injury comes, I say, Lord, I die to this. I reckon myself dead to this. And I thank you that you are alive in me, and you are equal to this problem. You are adequate for this situation. And I take the position of death. I am not going to worry about this thing because I am dead. The dead man is not supposed to have worries and problems. Lord, I just die. I take the place of death. I die to this problem. I die to this frustration. I die to this panic. I die to this thing right now. And I'm alive for you. I just thank you that you're living in me, and I know that

you're equal to this situation. Now, when you take that position, the Holy Spirit is able to be the dynamic in your life he wants to be. That's the way to victory. The way to victory isn't struggling. The way to victory is not trying. The way to victory is not through your efforts. The way to victory is through reckoning yourselves to be dead and Jesus alive in you. Now, there is a third and final step which cannot be left out.

It is an act of finality and it is found in verse 13. The apostle says, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto god all right the second word yield but yield yourselves unto god i want to say two things about this yielding now the word yield means is a sacrificial word that means to present yourself to place yourself at the disposal of another. It means to give yourself unreservedly to someone else or to something else. Now, two things I want to say about this.

I want to say, first of all, this is an act subsequent to salvation. I thought a lot about this. For a long time I would not accept this fact. Because I do not believe we are supposed to take Jesus Christ as Savior today and then down the road somewhere take him Lord. That is not what I am talking about. If a man comes to Jesus for salvation and says, I want to be saved, but I am not going to have Jesus as Lord, God will not save that man. He just will not save him. If you are not willing tonight, if you are lost and you're not willing to let Jesus Christ become Lord and Master of your life, no use coming to him, no use praying where he'll save you.

He won't do it. But I cannot escape the fact that while many of us come to Jesus, most of us, 99% of us come to Jesus, and we do surrender our lives to him, shortly after conversion, we reassert ourselves. And we begin saying no to the Lord and begin living the not Christ but I attitude. Paul is writing to Christians. He is writing to people who have already been saved. And yet he's saying to them, I want you to yield yourselves unto God. Well, I thought they were already saved.

I thought they already belonged to God. That's right. But this is an act subsequent to salvation. It's the same word used in Romans chapter 12, verse 1. The same word, the same tense. Where he says, present your bodies a living sacrifice to God. This is an act subsequent to salvation. You say, what are you talking about? I'm talking about a man who's been saved and is living a life of defeat. He's gone

through the wilderness. God has led him through the wilderness and he wakes up one day. He realizes that if he is ever to have victory in his life, he must recognize and take the position of death, but also he must come to this place where he is willing to place his body, to place his daily life, to give it absolutely, unreservedly over to God. Just give it to him, acknowledge his ownership of it. That means that if god wants me to tithe and i'm not tithing that means i'll tithe that means if god wants me to move to chicago and go into business i'll do it that means if god wants to take as walter wilson said this body of mine and and uh put it on a hospital bed with cancer it's his business it's no longer my business what god

does with this i'm willing tonight to take hands off my body off my life and yield it up to god it's his it's his that's an act subsequent to salvation second it is an act never to be repeated it is a once for all act in this verse verse and also in Romans chapter 12, the apostle uses the aorist tense which indicates a never to be repeated act, a once for all act. Now listen, he's not talking about rededication. The more I think about that and the more I pray about it and the more I study about it, the less and less I like that term, rededication. Rededication. Rededication. Listen, you never rededicate your life. This is a once-for-all act where you come to the Lord Jesus and say, Lord Jesus, I recognize you own my body. But I recognize I've tried to keep some control of this. And tonight, for the first time in my life that I can know anything about,

willfully, knowingly, deliberately, I take hands off my life. I give my life to you. I'll never take it back. There's no fine print in the contract. I even give up the right to take my life back. It is yours forever. Whatever you want to do with my body is your business. It's no longer mine.

I give myself totally unreservedly to you. I yield my body to you once and for all. You cannot do that but once. Now you need to keep your sins confessed up to date. You need to keep getting right with God and repenting of your sins, but you can never rededicate your life. This is a once-for-all act. Have you ever done that in your Christian life?

I'm not going to give an invitation not to everybody come down and do this. I want you to think about it. I want you to pray about it. I want you to search your heart and ask the Lord if you've ever done this. If you have ever, by an act of your will, knowingly, willfully, deliberately said, Lord Jesus, I recognize your possession, your ownership of my body.

You bought it when you died for me on the cross. And I am willing tonight. I am willing at this moment, possession, your ownership of my body. You bought it when you died for me on the cross. And I am willing tonight, I am willing at this moment, forever, never to be taken back, never to be taken back, to say, Here is my body. Whatever you want me to do, whatever you want to do with it, I am yours and I recognize it. I place myself 100% at your disposal. And I want to say to you, you can be a preacher and never having done that. You can be a music director, an education director, a youth director, and never having done that. Because it is possible for you to say, Lord, I'll preach the gospel for you. He's not talking about giving to him your vocational life. He's talking about your

life, your body, your mind, everything you are. Giving over to him, absolutely 100%. a never-to-be-repeated act. And then he says you can surrender for special service if you want to. See, he says, yield yourselves unto God and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Now, here's what we've been doing. We've been reversing the process.

We've been surrendering the process. We've been surrendering our members, our parts of our body, our vocation as instruments of God. We've been surrendering to the ministry. We've been surrendering to the deaconship. We've been surrendering to teach a Sunday school class. We've been surrendering to tithe. But but we've never given to him ourselves steps to victory except the fact when Jesus Christ died on the cross two thousand years ago you died with him

secondly the attitude of faith you reckon yourself Lord Jesus I take the position first of all I reckon myself dead unto sin and alive unto God boy the only

the only person I'm alive to is the Lord as far as everything else gets in turn I'm dead the allurements of the world the attractions of the world

the ambitions of the world everything else I'm dead to that getting by getting ahead pushing forward everything else, I'm dead to that. Getting by, getting ahead, pushing forward, I'm dead to that. The only thing I'm alive to is God. I reckon myself to be dead to everything except to you, Lord. I'm alive to you.

When the world calls, I'm dead. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.