Dead Man Walking - Being Dead to Sin

In years past when a criminal was sentenced to die by execution the jailers would hold him in a portion of the prison known as “Death Row.”  On the day that he was to be executed, as they were leading him to be executed, the other inmates would cry out, “Dead man walking.”  It was their way of saying you are already dead if you are still walking around. 

In Romans, Paul reminds us that we “are dead to sin” (Romans 6:1) even if we are still walking around in daily life.  He is not saying that sin will no longer be a temptation to us as we live in a  body of flesh and even Paul had his struggles with sin in his flesh as he states in Romans 7:15-17, “…but what I hate, that do I.”  But what Paul wants us to grasp is that sin can be defeated in our daily lives to such a degree that we are “dead” to it.

Think about it, the day that an alcoholic dies, he no longer desires to drink.  The day that a drug addict stops breathing, he will not longer have the desire to smoke the foul addictive element.  Death brings about a cessation of desire and that is what we a true believer can do in Christ - die to sin’s power over him.

Remember that positionally believers were crucified with Christ almost 2000 years ago (Galatians 2:20) and that we were dead spiritually until the Holy Spirit of God quickened us in Christ (made alive according to Ephesians 2:1).

The key to dying to sin is found in Romans 6:11 where we are told to “…reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  In other words, we are to be alive until God and thus we will be dead to sin.

Let me be transparent in such a way that illustrates this truth.  I have had a personal struggle for many years, which I will not share directly as it is between my Lord and I, but it is a daily battle which I face.  I asked God hundreds of times to take the entire temptation and struggle from me completely.  I did this because I thought that the very act of being tempted was defeating me as a Christian and I would be a better servant if I NEVER had to face that temptation again.  But then one day I was reminded by the Spirit of God that Paul had to “die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31) and that was my need as well - daily dying to my temptation and sin.  It was like the Lord was saying, “I am not going to tempt you to sin, but I am going to allow you to require daily reliance on me to defeat that sin.”  Then I more fully understood Paul’s Romans 6.  You see,  every day now before I get out of bed I ask the Lord to help me to die to that sin - EVERYDAY!  It is a daily requirement for me to “reckon” myself dead to that sin.  As a matter if fact, there are even times where I have to ask again and again throughout the day for my will to be surrendered to God by saying again, “Let me die to that sin.”

We must come to the place in our Christians walk that we accept that temptation is not sin in itself, but, it is when we no longer DIE to the temptation that sin is conceived in us (James 1:12-15).  Jesus was tempted and thus temptation is not of itself sin (Hebrews 4:15), as Jesus never sinned.  There are some temptations that a person gets such complete victory over that it never seduces him again.  But, clearly, there are some situations where a believer must die daily to that temptation and conscientiously choose to be “Dead Men Walking.”  Dying to sin on daily basis.

Let me close with this thought, victory in the Christian life is not the absence of temptation, but, victory in the Christian life is the period of time in our lives when we are not yielding to temptation.  If you are being tempted but not yielding to that sin, that does NOT mean you are failing to walk in Christ, it means you are a “Dead Man Walking” and that, in spiritual terms, is right where God planned for you to be according to Romans 6 - dead to sin.

Why People Slam Doors in a Soul Winner’s Face

I just returned from a morning of going around a neighborhood near our church while trying to share the Gospel door-to-door (Mark 16:15).  There were some who were quite friendly but the ones which stood out are the clearly rude folks who will not even allow us a word or two with them. To be honest, we have knocked on thousands of doors in the past thirteen years here in New York and have seen very little fruit on the first visit and it is not uncommon to have doors slammed in our face each week on that first visit.  But why?  Is this solely because of the spiritual battle between lie and truth?  Surely that cannot be the only case, as other non-truth telling groups which go door to door have the same results as well.  So why do we that share the true Gospel door to door struggle to see souls saved at the door sometimes.

First, there is the most obvious reason, hard heartedness toward spiritual things.  When you approach a door and seek to share Christ, the devil and the unregenerate heart will fight it with everything they have.  The unsaved person is dead in trespasses and sins (Romans 6) and thus has no inward draw to listen to the Gospel.  Their only hope is the Holy Spirit which will be seeking to encourage the lost to listen and accept the truth of God’s Word.  The only way we as soul winners can change this part is to pray pray pray!

Second, people have become rude to new people.  There was a day when a stranger walked up to your door and you greeted them with kindness and patience.  The philosophy used to be, you may not know them but strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.  Watch an old western and you will see idea I’m talking about.  Whenever a stranger rode up to a house, the people would invite them to supper and if it was late, they would give a place to stay.  That used to be common place, but no longer.  We as a society have come to the place that everyone who walks up to the door is looked at with a narrow graze.  We have become a cynical society and that translates into lost people shutting the soul winner out.  May I suggest that if you are a Christian and someone comes to your door, be kind, patient, and loving, instead of doing all you can to get them away from your door.

Third, there are the repetitive visits from the cults.  Today, my son and I followed a Jehovah’s Witness team on the street we were on and the people of the street assumed we were with them.  I even had one which laughed when I asked if the JWs had been by recently.  His reply, “They were just here and I sent them on their way.”  The cults are persistent and will often sour the hearts and minds of true soul winners.  Our best solution here is to let folks know that we are not those groups and that we simply want to be the best neighbor we can…which is of course sharing the truth about salvation by grace.

Last, rude and obnoxious Christians who fail to realize someone will follow them at that door.  This is the one which concerns me greatest.  I have been paired with others at special events in other locations, where my “partner” was rude, boorish, and even hateful in they approach.  Now mind you I realize that souls are on their way to hell and that is serious business, but they do not realize that and just screaming at them may not be the best answer.  I have been with one “soul winner” who was asked to leave and said, “We will leave if you pray this prayer with us.”  I have also been with a “soul winner which was threatened with the police, yet, they continued to talk.  I am convinced that EVERY soul winner needs to realize that someone may follow them or that the Word of God in printed form left in the hands of the unsaved will do more good than we give it credit for.  

We must accept that people need Christ but that our reactions to them also can impact their decisions for Christ as well.  The Gospel saves but the soul winner must be loving, caring, and patient.  May we see the need to leave the unsaved door with the ability to return again soon.

John 13:35; 2 Corinthians 6:6; Galatians 5:6, 13