Gaining freedom from the grasp of sin
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
We have been dealing with repentance throughout this week, but once we get to a certain point we need to go beyond the repentance of sin and into the relationship we are developing with God. The Scriptures tells us that we as a center have been separated from God, we see his law from below just like we would see the a ladder that needs to be climbed to get to God. We may have tried many times and yet failed. Sometimes we may have fallen all the way all that platter to the ground after climbing only one or two rungs. In any case we should feel a great amount of relief when we see Jesus reaching down with open arms to lift us above the latter of the law, and to take us directly into the presence of God.
What we are starting to talk about here is the thing that Scripture calls sanctification, or being set aside especially for a relationship with God. We had the unique situation in this life even after we come to Christ for the remission of our sin. Although we reject sin and the influence of the world around us we are still subject to having to live in sin and with sin all around us. It does not mean that we are partakers of sin, but it does mean that each moment of every day of our lives. Romans 6: starts with Paul dealing with this very issue when he writes "what shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life."
All of this deals with the new covenant that Jesus brought forth in his ministry between God and mankind. God has made a change in our lives as we grow in faith. In chapter 6 Paul deals with this by explaining that believers are free from sins control. Chapter 7 discusses the continuing struggle that believers have with sin. Chapter 8 describes how we can have victory over sin. Each one of these chapters deals with a progressive relationship that are to seek after in Christ. That relationship not only draws us closer to God, but through the power of the Holy Spirit that relationship begins to transform our lives from what we have always known and understood into an eye opening and mind blowing realization of truth and what is real about life. In the passage of Scripture I referred to in Romans 6:1-4 we find that Jesus paid with his very life so that we could be forgiven. That means that the availability of God's mercy must not become an excuse for careless living or moral laxness on our part. We are always being asked within our hearts what should we do next?
While baptism is not a point of salvation it certain 3:27ly is a point of commitment. It is something that we can do personally to show our commitment to Christ. In the church of Paul's day, and Mercian was the usual form of baptism. What that means is that new Christians were completely "buried"in water; because they understood that this form of baptism was a symbol of the death, the burial of the old way of life; and of a resurrection into a new life with Christ. If we think of our old sinful life is dead and buried, we have a powerful motive to resist sin. We can consciously choose to treat the desires and the temptations of the old nature as though they were dead, and if we can do that then we can continue to enjoy our wonderful new life with Jesus. As it states in Galatians 3:27 "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have closed yourselves with Christ." Colossians 2:12 says"having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead". And then in Colossians 3:1-4 "since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. "This concept of dying to our old nature is one of the only ways that we can continue to live in a world that is surrounding us by sin, deceit, hatred, and anger. We are literally surrounded at every turn by the things of this world and the temptations that stand before us and yet we can enjoy our new life in Christ because we are united with him in his death and resurrection. This becomes the piece that is beyond all understanding. It becomes something that the world cannot fathom or understand in its natural state. Our evil desires, our bondage to sin, and our love of sin died with the old man. Now as we are united by faith with Jesus and his resurrection life, we have an unbroken fellowship with God and a freedom from sins hold on us. Since power of death over us has been broken. Our sin loving nature has been buried through our commitment to Christ and our commitment to the act of baptism, and we are no longer under sins control. We have a new nature, and now we can share Christ's new nature with the world around us. We look upon our old self is dead; and instead we will be a lie to God. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that this all comes naturally because we have to fight to not let send control us. We do that by giving ourselves completely to God. By giving ourselves to God we are free to choose our own master. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
We have been dealing with repentance throughout this week, but once we get to a certain point we need to go beyond the repentance of sin and into the relationship we are developing with God. The Scriptures tells us that we as a center have been separated from God, we see his law from below just like we would see the a ladder that needs to be climbed to get to God. We may have tried many times and yet failed. Sometimes we may have fallen all the way all that platter to the ground after climbing only one or two rungs. In any case we should feel a great amount of relief when we see Jesus reaching down with open arms to lift us above the latter of the law, and to take us directly into the presence of God.
What we are starting to talk about here is the thing that Scripture calls sanctification, or being set aside especially for a relationship with God. We had the unique situation in this life even after we come to Christ for the remission of our sin. Although we reject sin and the influence of the world around us we are still subject to having to live in sin and with sin all around us. It does not mean that we are partakers of sin, but it does mean that each moment of every day of our lives. Romans 6: starts with Paul dealing with this very issue when he writes "what shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life."
All of this deals with the new covenant that Jesus brought forth in his ministry between God and mankind. God has made a change in our lives as we grow in faith. In chapter 6 Paul deals with this by explaining that believers are free from sins control. Chapter 7 discusses the continuing struggle that believers have with sin. Chapter 8 describes how we can have victory over sin. Each one of these chapters deals with a progressive relationship that are to seek after in Christ. That relationship not only draws us closer to God, but through the power of the Holy Spirit that relationship begins to transform our lives from what we have always known and understood into an eye opening and mind blowing realization of truth and what is real about life. In the passage of Scripture I referred to in Romans 6:1-4 we find that Jesus paid with his very life so that we could be forgiven. That means that the availability of God's mercy must not become an excuse for careless living or moral laxness on our part. We are always being asked within our hearts what should we do next?
While baptism is not a point of salvation it certain 3:27ly is a point of commitment. It is something that we can do personally to show our commitment to Christ. In the church of Paul's day, and Mercian was the usual form of baptism. What that means is that new Christians were completely "buried"in water; because they understood that this form of baptism was a symbol of the death, the burial of the old way of life; and of a resurrection into a new life with Christ. If we think of our old sinful life is dead and buried, we have a powerful motive to resist sin. We can consciously choose to treat the desires and the temptations of the old nature as though they were dead, and if we can do that then we can continue to enjoy our wonderful new life with Jesus. As it states in Galatians 3:27 "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have closed yourselves with Christ." Colossians 2:12 says"having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead". And then in Colossians 3:1-4 "since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. "This concept of dying to our old nature is one of the only ways that we can continue to live in a world that is surrounding us by sin, deceit, hatred, and anger. We are literally surrounded at every turn by the things of this world and the temptations that stand before us and yet we can enjoy our new life in Christ because we are united with him in his death and resurrection. This becomes the piece that is beyond all understanding. It becomes something that the world cannot fathom or understand in its natural state. Our evil desires, our bondage to sin, and our love of sin died with the old man. Now as we are united by faith with Jesus and his resurrection life, we have an unbroken fellowship with God and a freedom from sins hold on us. Since power of death over us has been broken. Our sin loving nature has been buried through our commitment to Christ and our commitment to the act of baptism, and we are no longer under sins control. We have a new nature, and now we can share Christ's new nature with the world around us. We look upon our old self is dead; and instead we will be a lie to God. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that this all comes naturally because we have to fight to not let send control us. We do that by giving ourselves completely to God. By giving ourselves to God we are free to choose our own master. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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