Romans 6:6

"Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." Romans 6:6

So you are saved. You've attended church for weeks, months, or years. You've confessed that you are a sinner. Now you're saved by grace. The only problem is that you seem to continually fall into the same sins you used to do before you became a Christian. Now what?

Let me draw a word picture. You've been outside working hard cleaning out the yard. You're dirty, smelly, sweaty - you're a mess. So you head to the house. At the door you take off as many of your dirty clothes as possible - especially the shoes! You head to the bathroom where you remove what is left and take a hot steamy shower. A-a-a-h! That feels good. You use a really nice shower gel with a wonderful fresh scent. You scrub real hard getting off all the dirt and grime. You wash your hair and use a real special conditioner. Finally you get out and dry off. At last you're clean! You pick up your dirty clothes and put them back on. You go to the door and put on the garments you left out there - including the shoes - and head for Church. Arriving just in time for the evening service, you can't help but wonder why people keep looking at you in a weird way. Then you see that they begin to move to other seats in the building. Some even leave the service gagging! Why? You took a shower. You're clean. What's the problem?

I guess you figured it out by now - it's the dirty clothes. No matter how clean you are, dirty clothes will spoil the effect. They return you to a dirty condition. So it is with our spiritual makeup. We have been cleansed by the Blood of Jesus. Our hearts are made right. But many of us put on the old filthy rags we took off when we accepted Jesus. Is it any wonder that people look at us as though we are filthy? Is it any wonder we find ourselves doing the same evil things over and over?

"What can I do?" you ask. Paul has the answer in the context of today's verse. You must be baptized. (For sake of commonality we will accept the Greek definition of "baptize" - to be immersed. That's what it meant to Paul so we will accept that.) What happens in baptism? The old man is stripped away like the removal of an old filthy garment. We can get rid of the old man - the old nature of sin - and we can replace it with a new man - the nature of Christ. If you are suffering from the old sins, I ask you "Have you been baptized since you accepted Jesus?" If your answer is "no," head to the nearest Church and ask to be baptized. If your answer is "yes," have you taken up the old garments again? If the answer is again "yes," strip them off, give them to Jesus, ask Him to destroy them, and ask Him to clothe you in new garments of righteousness.

Oh, one more thing. When you are tempted to play with the things that made you dirty to start with, turn immediately and run in the opposite direction -- IMMEDIATELY! AMEN and Amen.