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Today is a special Sabbath because it’s the Sabbath during Chanukkah and because it’s the last Sabbath before the New Year – which begins in a few days.

Chanukkah is the holiday of dedication – the dedication of the Temple in the time of the Maccabees. The New Year is a time of new beginning. Those are the themes I want to focus on this morning – dedication and new beginning. In the sixth chapter of His letter to Messiah’s Community in Rome, Rabbi Paul connected dedication and new life to those who are united to Yeshua the Messiah.

The moment we were saved, a lot of amazing things happened to us. We went from a state of death to one of life. We went from a state of alienation from God, and being in rebellion to God, to reconciliation with God and peace with God.

We went from being separated from God, to being united to the Son who is united to the Father.

We received the Holy Spirit. He began to live in us.

We received a new nature.

We were transferred from the kingdom of darkness to Messiah’s wonderful kingdom.

All of our sins were forgiven. The case against us was dismissed. God considered us to be righteous.

These are real things. These are great things.

Another one of the real and great things that happened to us at the moment of salvation is that we died to sin.

Romans 6:1: We are those who have died to sin. Since we have died to sin, it makes no sense for us to live to sin any longer. How can we live in it any longer? Keep sinning? Keep practicing the sins we did before we were saved? No way! Doesn’t make sense. Inconceivable!

Did we really die to sin? If so, how? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Messiah Yeshua were baptized into his death?

 

Yes, we really died to the thing called sin. When we were saved; when we realized that Yeshua is who He is – the Son of God, the risen Messiah and Lord, and we became loyal to Him, and made a serious commitment to follow Him – we were united to Him. Our lives were connected to His life.

And we were baptized – immersed, not just into water, but into Messiah Yeshua Himself. We were surrounded by Him, and enveloped and enclosed by the all-present-everywhere Son of God – like our bodies were immersed in water.

And because we were united to Messiah and immersed in Him, and are so much part of Him and so connected to Him, the important things that happened to Him happened to us. We were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

When we were united to Messiah and immersed into Messiah, since Yeshua died, we died. Our old selves, our old natures, the old us, with its weaknesses and corrupt desires and wrong priorities, died.

And since Yeshua was raised from the dead, we were raised from the dead – not just in the future, but now, in the present.

God made us new creatures. He gave us a new nature that has right desires and priorities. We were born anew with a new nature, like that of Messiah, a nature that is able to overcome sin; a new nature that is able to live a righteous life that is pleasing to God.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his (and we have been united with Him in a death like His), we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his – and that resurrection like His is available for us now, in the present, not just in the future. That means that we can live like Messiah lives like now, in the present.

What is His life like now? His life is sinless. His life is righteous. His life is lived for God. That’s how our lives can be now. That how our lives should be now. We should be living lives that are overcoming sin, lives that are righteous, lives that are lived for God.

Why have we been united to Messiah’s life and death? We have received revelation. We know. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

The body, by which the rabbi means our old self, our old nature, was dominated by sin. We were slaves to sin. Sin was our master. But because we have been united to Messiah’s death, the old self died. The old nature died. And our relationship to sin died. Sin no longer has the ability to keep us as slaves. Sin no longer is our master.

Because we were united to Messiah and immersed in Him, and are so much part of Him and so connected to Him, and because He is so much part of us and connected to us, the important things that happened to Him happened to us.

Yeshua died. He was raised from the dead and is alive now and forever. And so we died. We are alive with Him now and will live with Him forever. Now if we died with Messiah, we believe that we will also live with him.

More about Messiah’s death and life, and how they apply to us: For we know that since Messiah was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Messiah died to overcome sin. His death dealt with the sin problem once and for all. His death conquered sin. He never needs to die again to overcome sin. He will never die again. Now, His new resurrected life is lived to God. The Son of God is completely devoted to serving God.

These same truths, these same realities, apply to us. And they must become real to us, real to our minds, real to our hearts. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Messiah Yeshua.

Every day, and throughout the day, we need to think about who we are now. The old us, which was controlled by sin, died. And the death of our old nature changed our relationship to sin. We died to sin. Sin is no longer is our master. It no longer has the authority to control us. It does not have to overcome us. We can over overcome it.

 

Believe what the Word of God says – that we are dead to sin. Have faith that we are dead to sin. Realize we are dead to sin. Understand we are dead to sin. Consider ourselves dead to sin. Count yourselves dead to sin.

And every day, and throughout the day, let’s count ourselves to be alive to God. Let’s believe what the Word of God says – that we are alive to God. We are alive to love God, to serve God, to honor God, to please God.

What does being alive to God look like? It looks like holy living. It looks like proclaiming the good news to those outside the Community of Salvation. It looks like active involvement and participation in Messiah’s Community, working to build it up. It looks like loving our brothers and sisters.

By understanding these truths and these realities; by allowing them to penetrate deeply into our minds and hears – we can have mastery over sin. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

If we are not experiencing mastery over sin; if we are not overcoming sin; if sin is overcoming us; if we are letting sin reign in our lives; if we are obeying sin’s evil desires, it’s because we are not counting ourselves dead to sin and alive to God; we are not believing what the Word of God says about who we are – united to Messiah, immersed in Messiah, baptized into His death and given new life like His.

And there’s something else we need to do. We need to offer ourselves to God as people who are dedicated to do what is right. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Under the Sinai covenant, money and other valuable things were offered to God so that His purposes were advanced. People could offer themselves to God, like when a man took a nazarite vow. Children could be offered to God, like Hannah dedicated her son Samuel.

We are to offer ourselves to God – and not just once, when we first come to faith. We are to make a daily offering of ourselves to God.

And it must not be a partial offering. Partial obedience is really disobedience. A partial offering is not much better than no offering. We are to offer all of ourselves, every part of ourselves – our bodies, minds, our hearts, our souls, our time, our talents and our treasures – to God.

Wow, Rabbi Loren, that’s asking a lot, isn’t it? Not really. Offering ourselves to God is reasonable because of what God has done for us. Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.

We have been brought from the worst situation to the best situation. We have been brought from death to life. God has brought us from a state of death, spiritual death, and future death, the terrible second death in the Lake of Fire, into a state of life. We are truly alive now and will live in a state of unending blessedness.

Since God has done something for us we could never do for ourselves; since God had done something so great, so amazing, so fantastic – we owe Him. We owe him not a little, but a lot. We own Him everything. We owe Him a life debt. We owe Him our very selves.

Offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. What does an instrument of righteousness look like? It looks like Yeshua. What does an instrument of righteousness do? It does the things that Yeshua did. He put God first. He lived for God, not for Himself. He put God’s will above His own. He put God’s interests first, even if it mean not making a lot of money, or experiencing a huge amount of rejection – or even dying young. He proclaimed the gospel. He built up His community. Yeshua was the perfect instrument of righteousness. And we are to be instruments of righteousness.

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, this is Chanukkah – the holiday of dedication. And the new year starts in a few days.

Father, help us leave 2019, and enter 2020, counting ourselves dead to sin and alive to You. Strengthen our faith so we know these truths at a very deep level.

He us fully believe that because of what You and Your Son, Messiah Yeshua our Lord and Savior, have done for us, saving us from death and giving us new life, we own You a life debt.

Help us to offer ourselves to You the way we should – all of ourselves – as instruments of righteousness.

Enable us to dedicate ourselves to You and Your service as Samuel was dedicated, as the temple that was captured by the Maccabees was dedicated.

Father, if any part of us – our bodies, our minds – wants to do something wicked – give us to grace to resist. Help us, with the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, and our brothers and sisters in the Community of Messiah, overcome sin and wickedness and be those instruments of righteousness You want us to be.