No Longer Slaves of Satan

Is there no benefit to be derived already in this life from the death and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ? 

• There is! 
• Our old nature was crucified, put to death and buried with Him.
• The old nature no longer rules us. 
• Sin no longer has dominion over us. 
• We are no longer slaves of Satan. 

To be sure, sin remains with us so long as we are in this life. 

• Yet over against our natural depraved spirit, we have received the Spirit of God, who leads us and rules us. 
• Thus there is the possibility that we, who are regenerated, can also live a life of gratitude to God. 
• Now already we can offer our life as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Our obedience is still imperfect and beset with great weaknesses and shortcomings, 

• but there is a beginning of that new obedience. 
• Our sin is completely removed from us at the time of our death.

Adapted Excerpt from Only By True Faith by Van Delden

From the Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 16

Q. What further benefit do we receive from Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross? 

A. Through Christ’s death our old nature is crucified, put to death, and buried with Him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves to Him as a sacrifice of thankfulness.

For the Bible Tells Me So...

Romans 6:12-14 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 

Ephesians 5:1,2 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.