September 3, 2023 IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH
Romans 6:5-7, 11-13 “For if we have become united in Him in the likeness of His death, certain we shall be also in the likeness of HIs resurrection, knowing that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Jesus laid His life down; He came to earth and gave His life that we might be reconciled to God and delivered from the power of sin. The major battle, the major issue, that each believer must deal with is being and living in the likeness of the death of Jesus. Death precedes life. As believers, we cannot escape the call to die to ourselves. When one is baptized as a new believer, knowing it or not, it is a picture of dying to self as the water represents a grave, and then. being raised up out of the water represents being raised from the dead. We must get it through ‘our thick skulls,’ and into our spirits that our old self was crucified with Jesus-even thought we were not born physically for centuries after Jesus was crucified. How we ‘consider’ ourselves is critical and it determines how we live as believers. We are instructed to “consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Certainly we cannot misunderstand the instruction to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies but to be dead to sin. It is to our own hurt and it robs us of life to not consider ourselves alive to God; many believers consider themselves saved, but at the same time consider themselves to be sinners-and that is contrary to the scriptures. I’m not saying we never sin, but when we sin, it is because we choose to sin-we do not have to sin; we have been set free from the power of sin. Again, let us consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. The passage above presents awesome truths; truths that reveal what mighty works Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection on our behalf. He conquered the sin issue and has made us alive in Him. Instead of focusing on sin, let us focus on being alive in Him, freed from the power of sin. For us not to live in this truth surely grieves the heart of God. The lie of our enemy is that we are still sinners subject to the power of sin. God says we can live as those alive from the dead. Dying to ourselves is ongoing; daily, hourly we present ourselves to God, desiring to please Him in all we do. (1 John 2:1 says “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Farther, Jesus Christ the righteous.”) Note the word ‘if’.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Blessings, Buddy
Romans 6:5-7, 11-13 “For if we have become united in Him in the likeness of His death, certain we shall be also in the likeness of HIs resurrection, knowing that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Jesus laid His life down; He came to earth and gave His life that we might be reconciled to God and delivered from the power of sin. The major battle, the major issue, that each believer must deal with is being and living in the likeness of the death of Jesus. Death precedes life. As believers, we cannot escape the call to die to ourselves. When one is baptized as a new believer, knowing it or not, it is a picture of dying to self as the water represents a grave, and then. being raised up out of the water represents being raised from the dead. We must get it through ‘our thick skulls,’ and into our spirits that our old self was crucified with Jesus-even thought we were not born physically for centuries after Jesus was crucified. How we ‘consider’ ourselves is critical and it determines how we live as believers. We are instructed to “consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Certainly we cannot misunderstand the instruction to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies but to be dead to sin. It is to our own hurt and it robs us of life to not consider ourselves alive to God; many believers consider themselves saved, but at the same time consider themselves to be sinners-and that is contrary to the scriptures. I’m not saying we never sin, but when we sin, it is because we choose to sin-we do not have to sin; we have been set free from the power of sin. Again, let us consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. The passage above presents awesome truths; truths that reveal what mighty works Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection on our behalf. He conquered the sin issue and has made us alive in Him. Instead of focusing on sin, let us focus on being alive in Him, freed from the power of sin. For us not to live in this truth surely grieves the heart of God. The lie of our enemy is that we are still sinners subject to the power of sin. God says we can live as those alive from the dead. Dying to ourselves is ongoing; daily, hourly we present ourselves to God, desiring to please Him in all we do. (1 John 2:1 says “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Farther, Jesus Christ the righteous.”) Note the word ‘if’.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Blessings, Buddy
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