Are You Alert?

How alert are you?

We are commanded many times in Scripture to be alert.

In Ephesians 6:18 Paul says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Paul is not the only one who commands us to be alert. Peter does also.

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set you hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming. 1 Peter 1:13

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 1 Peter 4:7

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
So we are to be alert.

Why? - Because of the power of sin.

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. Romans 3:9

In Genesis 4:7 look at how God describes sin. He says, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Peter compares sin to a roaring lion prowling around looking to attack and devour you. God says sin is crouching at the door waiting for you to open yourself to it so sin can have you.

Sin kills!

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:15

Well, the answer is easy: Just avoid sin.

We cannot.

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

And according to Romans 6:23a, “The wages of sin is death.” Then we read the second part of that verse which says, “But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Sin tricks us and then kills us.

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.  Romans 7:11

The law could not deliver us from that death.

Romans 8:3 says, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”

We cannot avoid sin.
The law cannot deliver us from sin.
But Jesus coming as a human being and becoming our sin sacrifice by His death on the cross can free us from the death brought by sin.

According to Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteous.”

I am physically dying because of sin. I need to be alert to that and not panic. But because Jesus is in me, I am living and being renewed daily spiritually.

It is through righteous given to me by Jesus when I surrender my life to Him through the Holy Spirit living in me that I am alive.

In Romans 6:2 Paul says that those who have Jesus are dead to sin. Then in Romans 6:7 Paul says, “Because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”

So I deal with sin by doing what Romans 6:11 says to do - “count myself dead to sin.”

If I am dead, then nothing affects me. If I hit a dead person, they don’t feel it. Dead people don’t pay taxes. Death brings a release from earthly responsibilities and concerns.

If I die to sin, then sin has no more control over my life.

That dying to sin begins with what Paul says we need to do in Romans 3:20. We have to be conscious of our sin.

We have to acknowledge our sin.
Name our sin.
Repent of our sin.

Not letting sin control you begins with being alert to sin.
Not letting sin control you then leads to being alert to what sin does - it kills.
Not letting sin control you then leads to surrendering your life which includes your sin to the authority of Jesus.
Not letting sin control your life then leads to dying to sin’s authority in your life.

When I was five years old I started school. I was in kindergarten. I didn’t want to go to school, but I had no choice because that was the law (both my parents and the state).

Most people don’t want to sin, but without Jesus they don’t have the power to resist.

When we surrender our lives to Jesus we become alert to sin.
We see the ugliness and destructiveness of sin.
We turn away from it, and we can do that because we now have the power of Jesus in our lives empowering us to overcome sin.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about becoming alert to sin.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about becoming aware of Satan and his tricks.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about dying to sin and coming alive in Jesus.         Alertly Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe