“For
He who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:7)
We’ve encountered a lot of people who are or
have been undergoing treatment for cancer. And it’s really scary
when you think that POISONS are given to the sick person, in the
hope that the cancer will die and the patient will live. Radiation
is deadly, as history has revealed through tests, accidents, and
explosions in various places of the world, but radiation is used as
a treatment for cancer. The chemicals used in chemotherapy will
also kill you, but under the right circumstances, they will prolong
life.
The Scripture for today is amazing, especially
in the whole context of Romans Chapter 6. When the new convert is
baptized, he or she says to the world: “I
am no longer going to sin; I am giving my heart and life to Jesus
Christ – I’m going to die!” That’s Romans 6:1-4 – “What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with
Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.”
The imagery is this: Jesus Christ died on the
cross for us. When we trust in Him and receive Him for what He has
done, we die also. He died; you die with Him. But there’s more: He
who was dead has been raised to life! And when you believe in Him,
something happens inside. You are raised to new life. He lives;
you live, too!
The cross is even worse than the poisons of
radiation and chemotherapy – With radiation and chemo you might
live, but the cross is a complete death sentence. Even if you
somehow lived, ruined hands and feet would only allow you to beg on
the streets. But treatment for cancer has much in common with the
treatment God has prescribed for this sin-sick world. In cancer and
in Christ, killing the patient is not the final goal. Rather, the
goal is to kill the sick tissue, so the patient might live!
In much the same manner, Jesus Christ entered
the human race with a Cure inside Himself. This was and is the Plan
of God: Jesus left eternity, entering humanity as a Jewish infant
within a Roman Province, growing to maturity and becoming a man.
His life was utterly without sin. Unlike the rest of us, He did no
wrong and was innocent in every way. He followed the Holy Spirit of
God in all that He said and did, pleasing the Father as we could
not, and in doing so, became the Perfect Antidote for your sin and
mine. You receive Him; God receives and changes you. You’re
offered the Cure for sin – forever!
Cancer is a disease of the body. Sin is a
disease of the soul. If you die, you won’t have cancer anymore.
You die; it dies when you die. Sin is more insidious than physical
disease because it is not merely attached to actions of the human
body, but is actually a reflection of who you really are. But those
who receive Christ are changed inside.
When I was a boy, my parents took me every
Saturday night to the Tracy Theater at the beach in Long Beach,
California, for the Triple Feature! There were cartoons, newsreels
from several months before, and three movies, usually from five to
ten years in the past. And every Saturday night there was a drawing
for one hundred dollars! We never won, but it was a fun time.
Several of the movies from those days have
stuck in my memory. One of them was about a swashbuckling
swordfighter who was about to be killed by his enemies through
treachery. Another, a western, was similar because the guy in the
white hat (our hero) had been set up for a deadly ambush by the
crooks (in black hats). In each case, the good guy outwitted the
bad guys. A friend of the swordfighter pretended to run him through
and he fell on the ground as though dead. The cowboy in the white
hat also fell as if he was dead. In each case, the “bad guys” lost
interest in the hero. They had accomplished their goal and simply
walked away from him, smiling at one another because of their
“cleverness” in “killing” him.
Jesus Christ actually did die. A “friend”
(Judas Iscariot) really did betray Him, and Jesus died a terrible
death. A wealthy man and a religious man subsequently went to the
Roman authorities and asked for the body of Jesus. It was given to
them because those who killed Him no longer had any interest – He
was dead! No doubt many on earth and legions of demons smiled
because of their “cleverness” in killing Him at that time - for
about the next three days.
In Romans 6:6, we learn that “our
old man was crucified with Him.” If we receive the amazing
Cure that He has given to us through trusting Him, we die with Him,
and just as surely as the enemies of the swordfighter and the cowboy
lost interest, you will find that your enemies, your sins, will
begin to lose interest in you. Or it might be said that you will
begin to lose interest in your sins: “For
he who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:7).
The swordfighter lived to fight again and so
did the cowboy. Events were still difficult for them, but they
lived and eventually triumphed over the bad guys. Those were just
movies, but God has in mind something Real for you: Your Cure will
Heal you of cancer of the soul, when you TRUST in what He has done.
You will LIVE through placing your faith in Him: “Now
if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.
Death no longer has dominion over Him” (Romans 6:8-9).
And there’s more: “For
the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans 6:10-11). He died; you died. He lives, you live in Him.
So often in life we have counted on ourselves, but in the matter of
this “Cancer of the Soul,” there is only one Remedy and His Name is
Jesus Christ.
Father, we recognize that we have drawn back
from fully trusting in Your Son. We have tried to live good lives
through our own efforts, when in fact, He has done it all. We
receive the Cure offered to us right now. We trust in Jesus. In
His Name. Amen.
