A Change of Kingdoms

          Here are highlights from chapter five of The Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry
     Bridges.


          Chapter Five - A Change of Kingdoms


                                              "For we know that our old self was crucified with
                                                him so that the body of sin might be rendered
                                                powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to
                                                sin because anyone who has died has been freed
                                                from sin."
                                                                                                   Romans 6:6-7


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          God has made provision for us to live a holy life, but He also has given us
     definite responsibilities.

          In the Bible we read,

                                          "Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal
                                            body so that you obey its evil desires."
                                                                                                  Romans 6:12


          The first thing we should notice in this passage is that the pursuit of holiness --
     this not allowing sin to reign in our mortal bodies -- is something WE have to do.
     Paul's statement is one of exhortations.  He addressed himself to our wills.  He
     said. "Do not let sin reign," implying that this is something for which we our-
     selves are responsible.  The experience of holiness is not a gift we receive like
     justification, but something which we are clearly exhorted to work at.


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                                          "We died to sin;  how can we live in it
                                            any longer?

                                          "If we have been united with Him like this
                                           in His death, we will certainly also be
                                           united with Him in His resurrection.  For
                                           we know that our old self was crucified
                                           with Him so that the body of sin might be
                                           done away with, that we should no longer
                                           be slaves to sin -- because anyone who has
                                           died has been freed from sin."
                                                                                      Romans 6:2,5-7


           As we read this passage, the first thing we observe is that our dying to sin
     is the result of our union with Christ.  Because He died to sin, we died to sin.
     Therefore, it is apparent that our dying to sin is not something we do, but
     something Christ has done, the value of which accrues to all who are united
     with Him.  Because Christ died to sin, all who are united with Him died to sin.


          What does Paul mean by his expression "died to sin?"  He means we died
     to the dominion of sin, or to the reign of sin.  Before we trusted in Jesus Christ
     for our salvation, we were in the kingdom of Satan and sin.

          We "followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air
     [the devil]"  (Ephesians 2:2).  We were under the power of Satan.

                                          "(Jesus said to Saul/Paul), I am sending you
                                           to them to open their eyes and turn them from
                                           darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
                                           to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of
                                           sins and a place among those who are sanctified
                                           by faith in me."
                                                                                        Acts 26:17b-18


          We were under the dominion of darkness.


                                        "For He has rescued us from the dominion of
                                         darkness and brought us into the kingdom of
                                         the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption,
                                         the forgiveness of sins."
                                                                                       Colossians 1:13-14


          We were slaves of sin.


                                        "You have been set free from sin and have
                                          become slaves to righteousness."
                                                                                       Romans 6:18


          We were born into this kingdom of sin, slavery, and death.  Every person who
     has ever lived since Adam, except for the incarnate Son of God, has been born
     a slave in the kingdom of sin and Satan.

          But through our union with Christ we have died to this realm of sin.  We have
     been set free from sin, rescued from the dominion of darkness, and turned from
     the power of Satan to God.  Before our salvation we were in bondage to sin, under
     the reign and rule of sin.  Regardless of how decent and moral we were, we lived in
     the kingdom of sin. 

          But now through our union with Christ in His death to sin, we have been delivered
     out of the realm of sin and placed in the kingdom and realm of righteousness.

          It is because we were in this realm of sin, under its reign and rule, that we began to
     sin from infancy.  But if we have been delivered from this realm, why do we still sin?
     Though God has delivered us from the reign of sin, our sinful natures still reside
     within us.   Even though sin's dominion and rule are broken, the remaining sin that
     dwells in believers exerts a tremendous power, constantly working toward evil.


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          We are at war with Satan.   Satan has been defeated, but he has not stopped fighting.
     Our sinful natures resort to a sort of guerilla warfare to lead us into sin.  This results in
     the struggle between the Spirit and our sinful natures which Paul wrote about:


                                         "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary
                                           to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary
                                           to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with
                                           each other, so that you do not do what you want."
                                                                                          Galatians 5:17


          Further, because we are born as sinners, we have from birth developed habits of sin.
     It is our habit to live for ourselves and not for God.  When we become Christians, we do
     not drop all this overnight.  In fact, we will spend the rest of our lives putting off these
     habits and putting on habits of holiness.


          Now that we are in fact dead to sin -- to its rule and reign -- we are to count on that
     as being true.  We are to keep before us this fact that we are no longer slaves.  We can
     now stand up to sin and say no to it.  Before we had no choice;  now we have one.
     When we sin as Christians, we do not sin as slaves, but as individuals with the free-
     dom of choice.  We sin because we choose to sin.

          To summarize then, we have been set free from the reign and rule of sin, the king-
     dom of unrighteousness.  Our deliverance is through our union with Christ in His death.
     When Christ entered this world He voluntarily entered the realm of sin, though He never
     sinned.

          When He died, He died to this realm of sin (Romans 6:10), and through our union
     with Him we died to this realm also.  We are to count on this fact that we are dead to
     sin's rule, that we can stand up to it and say no.  Therefore we are to guard our bodies
     so that sin does not reign in us.


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          So we see that God has made provision for our holiness.  Through Christ He has
     delivered us from sin's reign so that we now can resist sin, but the responsiblilty for
     resisting is ours. 

          God does not do that for us.  To confuse the potential for resisting (which God
     provided) with the responsibility for resisting (which is ours) is to court disaster in
     our pursuit of holiness.