You Can’t Be Dead to Sin and Still Sleep with It

Romans 6:2 delivers a question that every believer must confront head-on: “Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” This is not a suggestion. It is not a rhetorical device. It is a spiritual reality check. If you are claiming to follow Christ, then your relationship with sin is supposed to be over. Done. Buried. Dead.

But that’s not what we’re seeing today. Many Christians still try to live both lives. They want the freedom of grace and the thrill of sin. They want to be counted as righteous while still nursing the very habits that nailed Jesus to the cross. They cry out for deliverance but hold tightly to the chains. They sing of surrender on Sunday and indulge the flesh on Monday. This kind of double life is not just immature. It is dangerous. Spiritually suicidal.

Let’s make something clear. Grace is not a license to sin. It is the power to leave sin behind. It is not a soft blanket to cover up compromise. It is the fire that burns compromise to the ground. The gospel of Jesus Christ was never meant to excuse rebellion. It was meant to rescue us from it.

So why do so many continue to live in sin if they claim to have died to it? Maybe the real issue is that many have never truly died. They’ve prayed the prayer. They’ve joined a church. They’ve gotten emotional during worship. But they never surrendered. They never handed Jesus the keys. They want salvation without Lordship. But Christ does not come to co-pilot your life. He comes to take over. And if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.

Some people are trying to live a resurrected life without ever having gone through the crucifixion. But without death, there can be no resurrection. No new creation. No freedom. You cannot hold on to the old you and expect to walk in the power of the Spirit. If sin still owns your decisions, your body, your habits, your desires, then the old you is still running the show.

Dead means dead. That is the entire point. Death means separation. When someone dies, they no longer interact with the world. They don’t respond to it. They don’t feed on it. They don’t crave it. When you died to sin, you were meant to be unresponsive to it. So if sin is still calling and you're still answering, then maybe you never buried the body.

Jesus didn’t die so you could add Him to your lifestyle. He died to end your old life and give you a new one. That means sin is no longer welcome. Not even in secret. Not even occasionally. Not even with a justification. He didn’t bleed so you could manage your sin better. He died to set you free from it completely.

If you're still tangled in sin, it’s not because grace failed. It’s because you’re still holding on to what Jesus already destroyed. You haven’t laid it down. You haven’t nailed it to the cross. You’ve domesticated your sin instead of killing it. You’ve renamed it instead of repenting from it.

The problem is not that God’s power isn’t enough. The problem is that many people don’t want to die. They want comfort, not crucifixion. They want emotional relief, not repentance. But the gospel demands a funeral before it ever offers a resurrection. The cross is not a charm. It is a weapon of execution. It is where the old you goes to die.

You can’t live in resurrection power without passing through the grave. And you can’t fake your way through it. God knows. You can fool your pastor, your friends, your family, even yourself. But you cannot fool the One who sees the heart. And if the heart is still in love with sin, then death has not yet come.

The call of Christ is total. It demands repentance, not excuses. It calls for transformation, not tradition. It is not just about saying no to sin. It is about saying yes to a holy God who is not interested in being part of your life. He demands all of it. Every corner. Every habit. Every secret. Every thought.

If you are still stuck in sin, do not settle. Do not justify it. Do not dress it up with religious language. Come to Christ in truth. Bring Him the whole mess. Lay it down. Let the old you stay dead and buried. And walk in the freedom He bled to give you.

The cross did not leave room for compromise. Neither should you.