Know, Reckon, Present, Obey

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

In Dennis M. Rokser’s book, What I Want to Do, I Don’t Do, he outlines the way in which we believers can come to terms with our new identity in Christ. Unfortunately, it is not an instantaneous process, but a retooling or literally a renewing of our minds over time so that the old reality we lived in before we were saved and given eternal life (and possibly even in the early days of our new faith in Christ), is replaced with the truth revealed in Scripture about the new creation we have become and are becoming, due to our new life in Jesus.

Essentially, Rokser implies that the actual effort we need to make to live our lives as believers must occur with respect to what we believe and know. In essence, the battle is in our mind, not in our physical effort to live what we think might be the Christian life.

This is where it all begins. The problem is that too many within Christendom aren’t interested in reading God’s Word to learn and understand what His Word truly tells us about our new life in Christ. In fact, too many believers don’t even attend church on a regular basis. This tends to result in a deep biblical illiteracy, which results in defeated living.

Harbinger’s Daily published an article highlighting today’s biblical illiteracy. In their article written by David Bowen, the author makes the following statement.

One of the greatest dangers facing the evangelical church today may not be persecution from the outside, but Biblical illiteracy on the inside. We live in an age when Christians have unprecedented access to Scripture. The Bible is available in print, online, through apps, podcasts, audio Bibles, and countless translations. Yet access to the Bible does not necessarily mean knowledge of the Bible.[1]

This impacts the way Christians live and their general outlook on life because they do not go to the Word on a fairly daily basis to refresh and renew their minds. Bowen goes onto point out that too many Christians struggle to make sense of the overall picture presented to us in God’s Word, never mind, understanding such serious topics as Christ’s impeccability, His humanity while retaining His deity and what actually occurred in the life of the believer when he or she believed on the Lord for salvation initially. This is the root of most of the problems and issues faced today by believers. We Christians fall down because we simply fail to know the truth of His Word.

If a person only works out at a gym very occasionally, but would like to lose weight and firm their bodies up, that’s not going to happen. Working out once a month (if that), will show no effective change. A regular workout needs to occur along with the cutting out of foods that do more harm than good (highly processed or heavily sugar laden foods). To change weight and increase tensile strength of muscles requires a solid workout for at least three days per week over time. Eliminating certain food stuffs that offer no benefit or quality should also be eliminated. If a person doesn’t want to apply themselves to this process, they may as well not start it at all. It’s much easier to simply take a weight loss drug today, though often with terrible side effects.

It really is the same with God’s Word. How we view it determines the value that we place in it. If we find we are ignoring it often, then clearly, our value in God’s Word is little to nothing. We need to be willing to actually read the Bible, then study its meaning and how it applies to our lives. This is never more serious than in the area of Christ’s impeccability and the salvation He gained for us.

Rokser states that we need to know what the Bible tells us about our new relationship with Jesus. What does it mean? What does it entail? The first step is to know this. We cannot apply anything unless we first know what it is we are attempting to apply. That’s true of anything. When I first learned how to play the drums, it was hit or miss because I was not taking any lessons. I was musically inclined and already knew how to play the piano and the trumpet, being able to read music. With drums, I picked things up along the way and found it best to simply try to replicate specific drum beats as I played along with records. I was learning what the drummer did and copied it. In this way, I began to internalize different drum beats and eventually, I could use those drum beats on other music, even going off on my own while remaining within the specific time signature of that new musical piece I was learning.

It is the same, yet exceedingly more important that we come to a place where we are into His Word often, preferably, daily, not as a religious exercise, but as something that will help us gain knowledge and understanding about God. It is in studying His Word that we learn the truth about our new creation in Christ. Of course, it’s also possible to simply fill our heads with knowledge that may not automatically transfer to wisdom.

Rokser cites Romans 6:8-10 stating that God obviously wants us to know that truth because it speaks to our new identity with Jesus.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

The word – “if” – is better understood as since. This is a fact, not simply a possibility. Paul is telling us that we have, in fact, died with Jesus and rose with Him. Just as death no longer has dominion over Jesus (either spiritually or physically), the same is true for us. Yes, we will all physically die one day (unless taken alive in the Rapture), but the second death has no claim on us.

Christ’s death literally condemns the sin nature within believers because of His impeccability (His sinless perfection). In fact, we have been severed from sin’s rule over us and are now in the position of being able to choose whether or not we will sin. This is all part of knowing the truth about our new life in Christ. We are literally dead to sin because we are alive to God in Christ Jesus. This truth is foundational to our relationship with God. Romans 8 later tells us that we are no longer condemned by God because of our new life in Christ and toward the end of Romans 8, notes that nothing can ever separate us from God. This confirms our eternal assurance in Christ.

The next step once we have begun to wrap our brains around what we are to know is in reckoning. Put simply, to reckon means to acknowledge something as true. Do we believe what the Bible tells us about our new life in Christ? Whether our faith is strong or weak in that area, we are to begin to reckon that truth. We are to reckon (count ourselves) that we are literally dead to the sin nature and alive to Christ. Rokser states, “You have died to the sin nature and it no longer has any right to rule your life; you have been raised with Jesus Christ and are now alive forever to God.”[2]

This truth must be repeated to ourselves throughout the day in order for it to sink into our brains and our hearts and create the needed change within us. Again, Rokser notes, “…your first objective every day in your Christian walk ought to be focusing on Jesus Christ and your identity and freedom in Him. When you get up in the morning you need to calibrate your thinking by reckoning these facts to be true. When you are tempted to sin, you are to reckon yourself dead to the sin nature and alive to God as the sin nature is only defeated by means of the cross of Christ. You must not get careless in this and forget or fail to reckon upon these crucial truths.“[3] Since Jesus has redeemed us from our slavery to sin, we should aspire to no longer walk in a slavery that does not exist anymore (Romans 6:6-7). This is where our efforts must occur.

Following this step, we then move onto the next one, which is to present. Paul highlights this in Romans 12:1.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Paul also mentions presenting ourselves to God in Romans 6:12-13 and again in Romans 6:16-17. In presenting ourselves to God when facing temptation, or simply facing a new day, we are acknowledging that He and He alone has the right to rule over us. Our effort is to cooperate with Him, by presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice.

This leads us to Rokser’s fourth point, which is to obey. Once we have begun to understand our new status in Christ, and are applying that new understanding by reckoning ourselves in this new state, it brings us naturally to the point of presenting ourselves as living sacrifices to God. We can then begin to move in obedience to God in His strength, not our own. As Rosker notes, we will have a Master one way or another. It will either be the old master of our sin nature or the new Master of our Lord Jesus.

Because of what Jesus accomplished for us and our faith in His work on our behalf, we are no longer under the Law in order to be sanctified. Our sanctification occurs as we willingly present ourselves to God on a daily basis. If we ignore the knowing, reckoning and presenting, we will be jumping right to obeying, putting it before everything else. Obedience stems from right thinking and that comes from understanding what God’s Word tells us.

‘Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?’ (Romans 6:16)

Obeying without knowing, reckoning and presenting is simply a legalistic way to fulfill what we think is God’s will and we generally tend to do this in our own strength or effort. Going through the process (which may seem bulky initially, but will soon become second nature), will naturally lead to an obedient spirit within us.

This ultimately brings us to the realization that the struggle to be a Christian on a daily basis comes down to the struggle between the sin nature (our flesh), that we used to obey on a regular basis and the struggle to follow the desires of our new nature. We must renew our minds and that only happens when we apply the truth of God’s Word to ourselves. In this way, God works to create within us the mind of Christ. Being obedient to Him becomes more of a second nature rather than an effort of our own will.

[1] https://harbingersdaily.com/biblical-illiteracy-one-of-the-greatest-dangers-facing-the-evangelical-church-today/

[2] Dennis M. Rokser, What I Want to Do, I Don’t Do, p22

[3] Ibid, p23

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2026/09/28/know-reckon-present-obey/