Romans 6:13 Steps to Take Toward Temptation

Romans 6

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: 

but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, 

and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.


1.  Don't yield body parts to sin.
2.  Yield yourself to God immediately upon each situation and temptation
3.  This is consistent with those who are alive in Christ.  Aliveness will fail to occur if disregarded.
4.  Decisively yield your body parts to endure temptation as a living sacrifice to serve God.  Do this as a lifestyle, progressively practicing and perfecting over time.

___________________________________

Other Translations:

Amplified: Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and [1] faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness.

Phillips: Nor hand over your organs to be, as it were, weapons of evil for the devil's purposes.

Wuest: Moreover, stop putting your members at the disposal of the sinful nature as weapons of unrighteousness

__________________________________________

Which body parts do you find yourself offering to the sin nature?

• your words
• your eyes
• your ears
• your hands
• your feet
• your sexual organs

____________________________________________

Remember

Sin is no longer king.  Jesus is.  You no longer own your body.  It was paid for with a price.

1 Corinthians 6:20 

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

You have a choice how you will use your body.  But God will not let you use your body without increasingly severe conviction and chastisements.  Your successes, from God's view, will be slowed and become fruitless.  Frustration will increase.  Anger will grow.  Faith and endurance from all Satan will throw at you will diminish.  You cannot and will. not win by living a separate life of serving Christ and serving Sin.

Romans 12:1

I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

______________________________________________

1 Peter 2:9 NASB

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Please think how chosen your are.  You are a member of the royal family.  God owns you.  We do not consort with the enemy of sin.  Yes, we struggle and fall into sin.  But that is not our heart, to commit sin.  Our true heart is to display God's Light through us; children of righteousness.  It is always the better way.

Pursue that mindset.  Keep it before you.  Never make sin a conscious habit of desire or practice.

Choose this day to use your body to honor Christ at all times in every circumstance.  This is your calling, your duty, your unexpected path of blessings.


AS INSTRUMENTS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS:

God says your body is His conduit to channel life in and through you.  Your greatest fulfillment and joy is when the flow of God is actively flowing through your eyes, tongue, the hands and feet for good works.  Use your tongue to speak things that are good, praise-worthy, Christ-exalting, respectful, positive and constructive, edifying all people at all times when possible.

Your body

• is a sacrifice at all times to and for God
• your wear the righteousness of Jesus
• your have the full of armor of God for a defense and a weapon to break evil, available.  We fail because we let our mind and emotions rule us.  We allow our spirit and our will to remain neutral while thinking it is God's responsibility to do something.  Our responsibility has been stated in this chapter.  Once we realize how Christ has defeated Sin and how we must surrender to Christ at the moment of the battle, He then, not us will over come for us. We cannot overcome Sin.  But we must yield, wait, and endure in faith to Christ until the battle is won.

______________________________________

The fear of the LORD is to hate (despise, oppose, detest) evil… (Proverbs 8:13)

… By the fear of the LORD one keeps away (turns aside, departs) from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)

The fear of the LORD leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. (Proverbs 19:9)

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. (Job 1:1)

         Ps 34:11-14 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12 Who is the man who desires life, And loves length of days that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Depart from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it.

__________________________________________

Present (3936) (paristemi from para = near + histemi = place) conveys the idea of placing yourself beside God, in so doing placing yourself at the disposal to Him. 

Paul's use of this verb also conveys the ideas of yielding or surrendering because if you place something at the disposal of God, you are in essence surrendering your rights and power to God and His power (a very good exchange indeed!). copied with permission from Preceptaustin.org

This command is more than agreement, it is an action required to do each and every time when challenged by sin to succumb to its temptations.  

__________________________________________

WHAT YOU MUST DO WHEN FACING TEMPTATION

1. Before you sin, present your body to God.  
2. Express your inability to resist temptation.  
3. Present your body to Him.   Ask Him to take over. 
4. Then wait and endure temptation.  Refuse to think on it.  "set your mind on things above [not upon sin] and you will find in a short amount of time the temptation will leave.  

_______________________________

Why must we wait?  To bend our will so that faith may harden against temptation.  The longer and more we resist sin by the power of Christ, the easier it will to forsake it.

A life wholly lived to please God, a dedicated body to glorify the Father, does not go unblessed.  But rather that kind of sacrifice 

Remember, it an act of the will, not a feeling.  If you are waiting to feel like obeying God, you will fail into sin.  Choose present, to trust, to wait until the feeling leaves.  This is victory.