If you ever watch an old mob movie, you will hear the term “you are dead to me” said in reference to a mob leader cutting away one of his most loyal friends. When this happens the one who is cast away is literally dead in the sight of the mob boss and the boss doesn’t regard him in any form or fashion. In Paul’s letter to the church at Rome he emphasized the place sin has in a believers life after they accept Christ. The scripture is as follows. Romans 6: 6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;7 for he who has died is]freed from sin. Our old self was crucified with Christ on the cross and our new self is bound for eternity and resurrection just like Jesus. It is clear to see that our old life, with all of it’s failures and fleshly ways is dead to sin. Sin no longer reigns and grace has replaced the penalty of the law with total forgiveness, but not without changes. Grace does a miraculous work!!
Here is what grace does. 1. First of all it makes us right with God for eternity. No penalty for sin because it was all put on Jesus on the cross. Romans 8:1-4 says Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. We are not condemned, but we are set free!! 2. The effect of grace on our lives is seen in a changed life. The Spirit is now in control and our lives are centered around the Spirit’s leading. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [a]he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. There is not room here for if’s, and’s or but’s. The new life happens when we accept Jesus. There is no trial period that happens until we start seeing a change, like some would lead you to believe. How is this? The change is a complete change of the inner person. The soul, mind, heart, strength is all refreshed and made new. You may have seen on a church sign the phrase. “No Jesus, No Change. Know Jesus, Know Change. Well, guest what? That phrase is “right on.” Grace is a reaction to the Spirit taking control of your life at your core. “Everything” is different, not just some things. That’s what grace does and there is no hedging on this truth. 3. We long to spend time with God in prayer and Bible study. You don’t have to be offered anything to get you into God’s Word and spending time in prayer with God. From your soul you “long” to spend time with God. Some people think it makes them look better to show they pray or study God’s Word a lot, but in reality it is a very natural result of God’s grace in your life. We are drawn to it like a thirsty traveler who is parched. It is the source of our refreshment as a believer. And the opportunity to talk to other believers about it is the creme’ de la creme. Ephesian 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. This “access” is life-changing and we cannot abuse it by coming to the Father too much. He loves to hear from his children. in 1 John 3:1 the writer says See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. God lavishes on His children and we are His children. 4. We grow in our faith in leaps and bounds. The growth of a new believer is astounding and very noticeable. There is a complete turn-around and the change is evident to all who know that person.Why such a change? Because our foundation is totally different. See what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus in 2:20-22 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. For me it would be “David don’t live here anymore, but Jesus does.” Those are the effects of grace on our life and the law cannot even touch that kind of change, because the change is internal, which changes the external.
So when we accept Jesus by faith in reality we are saying, “Sin, you are dead to me!’ And we walk out of this old way of living and thinking into a new reality that is filled with the Holy Spirit. Stay away from people who say they know Christ, but have no distinction between themselves and the world. They will draw you into a weird, compromised faith that is built on their impressions and not the truth of God’s Word. Time to walk away from sin and walk with God.
The Pilgrimage continues….
David Warren
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