Day 113 — The Way Forward — Come Forth!

“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 6:11 (ESV)

Romans 6 is a call to live like who you now are in Christ. Paul has spent the first five chapters explaining justification by faith and the riches of grace. Now he answers a natural question: If grace is so abundant, should we continue in sin so grace may increase? His answer is immediate and emphatic: “By no means!” (Romans 6:2). Grace is not permission to sin. Grace is power to live free.

Many want forgiveness without transformation, pardon without surrender, heaven without holiness. But salvation in Christ is more than escaping judgment—it is entering new life. To belong to Jesus is a matter of life or death, freedom or bondage, wages or reward.

One of the clearest pictures of Romans 6 is found in the raising of Lazarus in John 11. Lazarus had been dead four days. The tomb was sealed. The odor of death had already set in. Yet Jesus stood before the grave and cried out, “Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43). And the dead man came forth.

Then Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him go” (John 11:44).

That is the gospel in picture form. Christ calls dead people to life. He breaks the power of the grave. He removes the old wrappings of bondage. He sets captives free.

Many believers have come out of the tomb but still drag grave clothes. Saved, but entangled. Alive, but bound. Forgiven, but still flirting with old chains. Romans 6 says you do not have to live that way.

Paul explains that believers are united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. “We know that our old self was crucified with him… so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6). When Jesus died, the old you was judged in Him. When He rose, a new life became available to you.

This is pictured in baptism. Going under the water symbolizes burial of the old life. Rising from the water symbolizes walking in newness of life. Baptism does not save, but it beautifully illustrates what salvation accomplishes.

Paul says, “For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:7). Sin may still tempt you, but it no longer owns you. Before Christ, sin was master. After Christ, sin is an intruder.

That is why Paul commands believers to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11). Consider means to reckon, to count as true, to align your thinking with spiritual reality. You may feel weak, but truth says you are alive in Christ. You may feel tempted, but truth says sin is not your master.

Then Paul gets practical: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). Sin wants the throne. It wants to rule desires, thoughts, eyes, habits, speech, and choices. But Paul says do not hand it the crown.

He continues, “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God” (Romans 6:13). Your hands, mind, mouth, eyes, feet, time, talents, and body can be tools of darkness or instruments of righteousness.

Every day we present ourselves somewhere. Will your eyes serve lust or truth? Will your tongue spread gossip or grace? Will your hands grasp selfishly or serve lovingly? Will your mind replay temptation or meditate on Christ?

Paul closes this section with a triumphant promise: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Grace does not weaken holiness—it empowers it. Law commands from the outside. Grace transforms from the inside.

Later in the chapter Paul says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Wages are earned. Sin always pays exactly what it promises least: death, emptiness, shame, fractured fellowship, and destruction.

The pleasures of sin are temporary; the wages of sin are lasting. But God offers a gift. Eternal life cannot be earned, bought, inherited, or deserved. It is received in Christ.

Some believers misunderstand this verse as only evangelistic, but Paul wrote Romans 6 to Christians. Even believers who choose sin can taste its wages in history—weakness, distance, confusion, discipline, loss of joy. Not loss of sonship, but loss of fellowship.

1 John 1:9 gives hope: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When believers stumble, we do not run from God—we run to Him.

So what sin keeps trying to lure you back to the grave? Old anger? Secret lust? Substance dependence? Bitterness? Pride? People-pleasing? Greed? Compromise? 

Romans 6 says leave it buried. The enemy loves to whisper, “That’s just who you are.” But the gospel says, “That is who you were.” The flesh may still call. Temptation may still knock. But the tomb is empty, the stone is rolled away, and Christ lives in you by His Spirit.

You may need to repent today. You may need accountability, boundaries, confession, renewed habits, or a fresh surrender. But hear the voice of Jesus over your life: Come forth. Come forth from shame. Come forth from hidden compromise. Come forth from recurring bondage. Come forth from spiritual passivity. Come forth into resurrection life. You are not what enslaved you. You are not what you did. If you are in Christ, you are alive to God.

Today, stop negotiating with sin. Stop decorating grave clothes. Stop visiting tombs Jesus emptied. Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Prayer:
Father, thank You that through Jesus Christ I am no longer a slave to sin. Thank You that the old life was crucified and buried, and new life has been raised in Christ. Show me any graveclothes I still carry. Give me power by the Holy Spirit to resist temptation, confess quickly, and walk in freedom. Help me present every part of my life to You as an instrument of righteousness. I choose today to consider myself dead to sin and alive to You in Christ Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

---