Dead to sin, dead to self-serving.

'(4) Stand on Romans 6.11. God’s children need to watch lest in seeking to experience the separation of soul and spirit they fall back into sin. Remember that this separating is built upon their having died to sin. Hence they should maintain daily the attitude of Romans 6.11, considering themselves verily dead to sin. Additionally, they should stand on Romans 6.12 and not permit sin to reign in their mortal bodies. This attitude will deprive their natural life any opportunity to sin through the body.' The Spiritual Man - Watchman Nee

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 

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Dead to sin.

Alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

LET NOT (meaning we have a certain amount of say so) SIN THEREFORE REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODY. Sin can reign in us, sin can rule over us, sin can guide us and we are to NOT LET sin do this. We sin when we are tempted and lusts are conceived in us.

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 

Jas_1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Sin reigns in us when those temptations we face become conceived lust within us. Remember the TEMPTATION IS NOT THE SIN. The sin comes when we ALLOW ourselves to be drawn away by our lusts and those lust are conceived. We let the lust grow, we nurture the lust, we accept the lust, we indulge the lust until it is no longer a temptation but a real, living, deadly force in our lives. What is sin?

1Jn_3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

The law-

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 

Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 

There is NO commandment to serve self, to love self in any way. There is a commandment to love our neighbor as if they were us, as we would desire to be loved by others. There simply isn't a commandment anywhere to love ourselves before others or before God, it isn't there! The law is made up of ten commandments all geared towards loving God and loving others.  So we sin when allow the temptations we face to turn into self-indulgence, self-seeking, self-serving the lusts birthed in us and nurtured by us right into sin- right into NOT loving God or others before loving ourselves.

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Being dead to sin is being dead to serving self, being dead to the soul-self in the ruling position.

Dead to self, alive to God, alive to others.

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY, the WILL of GOD all through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD now and forever, amen!