Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 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. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Transformation is that process of death and rebirth whereby what was our weakness becomes our strength. Sanctification overcomes the power of canceled sin, but transformation turns the mess to glory. Often we become problem-centered rather than cross and sanctification-centered, whereby we call our sin nature to die on the cross. Although forgiven and redeemed at the time of our salvation experience, in which time we were washed in the Blood, we realized in time that we still had the propensity to sin as before. We were chosen, just as we were. Not for what we might become, someday. But, rather just as we were. So, we are already accepted, you see, the Lord's love is unconditional! We need to begin to let go and quit trying to build ourselves into the Christian man or woman that we want to be, and instead let Jesus do the building. We need to get out of the way, and quit striving for something which only He can do. 1 Peter 2:4-5 tells us to "be built" not to "build ourselves", you see, the call here is not to build but rather to die. The tragedy is that all too many Christians are still trying to build, rather than to rest in Him.
Sanctification is the process by which we come to rest in Him. Sanctification is daily death and rebirth. The final product of sanctification is not only a new person, but a clean one.
2 Timothy 2:20-21
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
Christians will see no lasting change by any other means than changing their inner heart. We are not changed from the outside in, but from the inside out.
Matthew 23:25-26
25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 "Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
A Christian's Power is first the Holy Spirit, secondly prayer, then conviction of guilt, confession, and forgiveness. We must first change inner attitudes and motives towards persons and circumstances by forgiveness and the indwelling of the loving nature of Jesus. All anger, resentment, and bitterness are born of hate; no matter how we may want to murder (slander) another, murder (slander) destroys life. Life is in the blood (Gen. 9:4). Stimulus demands response, seeds sown requires reaping; therefore every hatred requires blood. Only the blood of Jesus can stop the increasing cycle of human hate. The blood of forgiveness is thus central even to the possibility of continuance of human life.
American church history reveals that wherever piety and celebration of the blood of Jesus have preceded, So also has proceeded revival and a true loving life in our Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest difficulty concerning forgiveness, is that most often we do not know we still cherish resentment, or have lied to ourselves and forgotten. Forgiveness brings us to rest. The blood of Jesus washes away the striving of guilt precisely so that the structures of habit can be let go to death. Forgiveness happens before death, even as Jesus first petitioned, "Father forgive them," hours before He was ready to proclaim once and for all, "It is finished."
Without fullness of forgiveness, the work of sanctification and transformation is difficult. But forgiveness makes it light and easy. Thus forgiveness has two parts, the blood of Jesus washes the heart clean, but the blood will not destroy the works of darkness in the soul (1 John 3:8). Only the cross can do that. Forgiveness is central, but it only begins the process, the rest is a daily struggle from then on, to crucify the self. It is not enough merely to forgive. Bringing our sins to the cross is crucial, for the blood does not break the cycle of hate, it only washes away results in the heart. Only the cross stops the ravages of the flesh. Repentance is not a feeling; it is action. It will not effect much change to feel sorry, for change happens only as the cycle of hatred is broken and replaced by the stimuli of love. Change can only take place when hate, resentment, anger, jealously, rage, strife, and contention, are one by one crucified on the cross. Without crucifixion, change will not be affected. Always remember that it took Jesus three days to resurrect from the grave, likewise, total change may not be immediately noticed after bringing a sinful characteristic to the cross. The moment the attitude of our hearts finds its death on the cross, the structures it sustained begin to find their death on the cross. In each such successive inner death, we go through a process. Physical death is often something easy and quick, but crucifixion is slow and painful. This evolutionary process is even more slow and painful.
When I was growing up, whenever my Grandmother saw a hobo, or someone who was down-and-out, crippled or whatever, she would say, "But by the grace of God, there goes Me!" Christians need to adapt that outlook......but by the grace of God, I have never needed to enter a drug or alcohol rehab. But by the grace of God, I do not have HIV. But by the grace of God, I am not a member of some hate group, But by the grace of God, I am not a drug addict. But by the grace of God, I have never been in prison. But by the grace of God, I am not living on the streets. But by the grace of God, I have never killed anyone. But by the grace of God, I have never been molested. Although, there has been given ample opportunity for most of it, due to my past choices.
I have been in bars, I have gotten drunk, I have broken the law. I have placed myself in many situations, but by the grace of God, I was delivered from them. As Christians we need to realize that. So why does the Christian community condemn, or at the very least, lack compassion on the broken or the down trodden? We hold so much contempt for those who struggle or have struggled. The truth is, we all have struggled in some areas in our lives. But by the Grace of God, we are where we are today. And so it is, that whenever we judge another, whenever we hold onto anger, resentment, jealousy, rage, or judgment, not only are we sinning, but often we are worse off than the very ones we are victimizing.
Whenever problems arise within the body of Christ, all the parties are generally wrong to some extent. How can Christians council, witness, or help non-believers come to Christ, when often we ourselves need to bring our own attitudes to death on the cross. How many of us here would feel secure in confessing our sins, I mean, all of our sins, to one another. Yet, in James 5:16, we are commanded to ".....Confess your sins to one another......". What? And give someone here some dirt to hang over me, to spread to everyone who is not here? Not only are we to confess to one another, but we are to pronounce forgiveness to one another. Many balk, saying, only Jesus can do that!
Read Colossians 3:5-10
John 20:22-23
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained
By giving authority to forgive sins immediately upon breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, Jesus was saying that the very first consequence of having the Holy Spirit, is the authority to forgive sins. This is the first gift connected with reception of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was saying that the power to forgive the sins of others is the natural birthright and position of every spirit-filled Christian.
How important is forgiving of sins? Because it was the first gift, that makes a powerful statement as to its place in the church. This was given before any other manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was not until ten days later did the power of the Holy Spirit descend. They were to pronounce forgiveness before they had any power in the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this gift had to be given immediately before Pentecost, because in those ten days the 120 would need to confess their sins one to another, and pronounce forgiveness for one another.
I have heard many people say, I forgave them, but I'll never forget what they have done. If there is a difference between the two, it can only be the height and width of the cross. The person who has done you the wrong is forgiven, that person is ultimately better off than the one who has not forgotten.
In every church that I have ever attended, all I have to do is mention a name of a member, or make reference to someone there, then without soliciting the information, someone will begin the personal profile of the person, all of the good as well as the bad, and not necessarily in that order. Whenever that is done, it is known as defilement. If the deepest, darkest secret sin that each one of us carry in our present or our passed was exposed to all, I doubt if there would be a nickel difference from the most horrendous to the least. Reactions of resentment and judgment, however hidden and forgotten in the heart, must find its way to the cross for death and rebirth. Otherwise, no permanent or even valuable change will result.
A good tree cannot produce bad fruit. To seek love and acceptance from God or from The Body of Christ, by performance-oriented produced striving, is bad fruit. Contention caused by such as person cannot possibly arise from Christian Love. Love is good, control is bad. That bad fruit had to have come from some bad root in a Christian's life. Bad fruit, coming from a bad tree.
Hebrews 12:14-15
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.
So therefore, take personal inventory. If bad fruit is detected in your life, take an axe and cut it down at the root. In other words, bring it to the cross and crucify it. The Holy Spirit does not intend to improve us or make us better and better. If that were possible, we would be able to reach such a Godly level that we would become perfect, then in such a state of perfection, we would no longer need Jesus for we would become as He is.
Bringing our sinful nature to death at the cross, makes us anew, that process does not fully reform our flesh fully, but rather it slays its power to control us, while clothing us with the righteousness.
For the Soul, there is in a sense, no healing-----only death and rebirth.
Ps. 23:3, 19:7 speaks of restoring the soul, but Christians need continually to translate that to mean by death and rebirth in Jesus' righteousness Romans 6:4-8
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