I Reckon

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

You are told to reckon, consider, or believe yourself to be dead to sin. Notice—you are not dying to sin, struggling with sin, or fighting against sin—you are dead to sin. I’m going to reckon myself dead to anger, dead to impatience, dead to worry, dead to all sin! I am not an angry man trying to overcome anger—the old, angry man is dead and gone, crucified and buried with Christ. I’m going to reckon myself dead to anger. How am I going to do this? I’m going to reckon myself alive to God! I am alive to a righteous man; alive to a holy man; alive to living sin-free! I am dead to sickness and alive to health. I am dead to lack and alive to abundance. I am dead to sin and evil, and I am alive to goodness and God. It is up to you! You can reckon yourself to be dead to and alive to whatever you choose. Many consider themselves alive to sin, alive to the old man—“just a sinner saved by grace.” If you do, you will live like a sinner. Sin will stay alive in your life. Reckon yourself alive to your new nature, alive to new resurrection life, alive to a Christ-kind of life. What you reckon or think on, you will become! Reckon yourself alive to God through Jesus Christ.

Pastor Tom Kehres

Just Like Him

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. —Romans 6:5

Jesus became like you on the cross so you could become like Him in the resurrection. When He went to the cross, He became on that cross sickness, sin, guilty, condemned, and shamed—He became the entire curse. This was all done to redeem you from the curse—or redeem you from who you were (Galatians 3:13). He went to the cross and by faith took every old man and every old creation to the cross with Him and crucified them! The old man is dead. When Jesus was buried, the old man was buried once and for all. But when He was raised, you were raised. When He was seated, you were seated in the likeness of Him. When He defeated hell, you defeated hell; when He rose in glory and honor, you rose in glory and honor! You have been raised and have been made in the likeness of His resurrection. That means resurrection life is available to you, the newness of a “Christ-life” awaits you! It is available for you if you “know” the old man is crucified and buried and a new man now lives! You can live in a new, resurrected lifestyle because of Christ’s work on the cross. Identify with that! Associate with that! Think on that and watch your life change!

Pastor Tom Kehres

Have You Had Your Funeral?

We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. —Romans 6:4

Your old nature, your old person, your old being was crucified with Christ on the cross, and he was buried! Baptism is an outward sign of an inward work of God. As you were taken under the water in baptism, so was your old man taken under the ground and buried— once and for all. When you came up out of the baptismal water, it represented a new man arising, a new creature living, a newness of life available. You no longer have to live subject to sin, to sickness, to worry, to fear, to the devil. A new life has been made available to you. It is a life of righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). It is a life of being justified before God (Romans 5:9). It is a new life of being made the victor rather than the victim, the head rather than the tail, a conqueror rather than a loser. Get a picture of the old man dead—the old man gone; the old man buried—and do not claim and identify with old habits and weaknesses. You can walk in a newness of life. He has paid the price and made a way for you! Bury the old and let the new be raised up in your mind! Newness of life awaits you.

Pastor Tom Kehres

The Old Man

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. —Romans 6:6

This is something every Christian must know! The old man is crucified with Christ. The old man is not being crucified; he is not in the process of dying; he is dead! We have been taught in the body of Christ to “die to self,” but in order to be dying, you must still be alive! You (the old man) are not alive; the old man you were is dead and has passed away! Until you “know” this, you will be fighting with the old man, struggling against the old man, acting like the old man—know this: He is dead! He was crucified with Christ! You are no longer an angry man, an insecure person, a failure trying to become a success. The angry man is dead; the insecure person is gone; the failure has been made a success! You now have God’s life and God’s divine nature in you—you are a new spiritual creature. Do not identify and associate with the old man. He is crucified with Christ. There is now a new man in town—one who no longer will serve sin, one who is able to serve God!

Pastor Tom Kehres