11: *So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.*
12: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13:Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness,
but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
14: For sin will have no dominion over you,
since you are not under law but under grace.
We present ourselves to God not as sinners but as those who are born again and righteous. We come to God in faith saying,” Father I present myself to you, washed in the blood of your Son, holy and righteous because of him and I am here to see if you have anything that a righteous holy person can do today to bring you glory. I am here to offer myself to you to use for righteous acts of kingdom service in the earth. “
15:What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16: Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17: But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
18: and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
19: I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20: For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21: But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23: For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Most in the church today are fighting over law versus grace. There no fight. Grace has won. It’s time the church stopped fighting sin and embraced righteousness. If we consider ourselves dead to sin then we no longer have to fight it. You don’t fight a dead man; you bury him. True grace leads to righteousness that can never be attained by the keeping of laws.
Romans 9
30:What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31: but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32:Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33: as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Romans 10
1: Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2: For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3: For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Christ is all we need to be righteous. The problem is we have not accepted his righteousness and have set out to try to buy it by keeping rules and regulations and thinking God would accept our good behavior as righteousness. We have stumbled over the same stumbling stone as Israel. God provided us righteousness paid for by Christ but we always set out to buy it ourselves. Faith in Christ makes me righteous. He is all I need. I don’t do good things to become righteous. I do good things because he has made me righteous. I am American because I was born in America. I am righteous because I was born in Christ. It is the free gift of his grace and only comes by faith in Christ and not by my works.
5: For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6: But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (That is, to bring Christ down) 7: “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (That is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8: But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9: because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10: For with the heart one believes and is justified, (not by keeping laws)
and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11: For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13: For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
2nd Corinthians 5
14: For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15: and he died for all, that
those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16: From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
18:All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20: Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21:For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
If we believe that he took away our sins we must also believe that we are righteous because of him. It’s time to let go of the old man once and for all and embrace who we truly are in the Spirit. Our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ and we must once and for all leave him dead and walk away from that life but the only way to let go of the old is to grab hold of the new. Me must totally embrace the new creation covenant and truly become one with Christ.
Philippians 3
1:Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
2: Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3: For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4: though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6: as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7: But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9: and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11: that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Paul was the ultimate keeper of the law but he counted all those works as rubbish compared to knowing Christ. True righteousness only comes through faith in Christ and can never be attained in any other way.
Ephesians 1
1: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5: he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6: to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8: which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9: making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10:as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11: In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12:so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13:In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
14: who is the guaranteed of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
15:For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16: I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
18: having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19: and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20; that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21: far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22: And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23: which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
All of this was his plan to make salvation so simple that all it takes is faith to receive it. It has always been his plan to adopt us and all the glory for salvation does not go to our ability to keep rules and regulation but the glory goes to his amazing grace and to the love which he has for us. All this was purchased for us by Christ and it's in him that we have this wonderful inheritance. The moment we try to earn it we have fallen from grace. How glorious is God's great plan of salvation and liberty for his children!
Ephesians 2
1:And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2:in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3: among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4: But God, being rich in mercy,
because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6: and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7: so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9: not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
When we were dead with no hope in our sins he still loved us and saved us and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. It was always his plan and we could never earn it. It's all by his glorious grace!
Galatians 1
10: Oh foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2: Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
3:Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4: Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5: Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith
— 6: just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7: Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8: And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9: So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10: For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11: Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12: But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”
13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14:so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
15: To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16: Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to off-springs,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17:This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
18: For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19:Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions,
until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made,
and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20: Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21: Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22:But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23: Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law,
imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24: So then,
the law was our guardian until Christ came,
in order that we might be justified by faith.
25:But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26:for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29: And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
The law was only to be in effect until Christ came and that is why Jesus said that the law and the prophets were util John. Jesus is the end of the law of sin and death and the beginning of the law of the Spirit of life.
The law could never bring life it could only convict the sinner it could never pardon him. It's time we the church learned about our new covenant and stop trying to live in Christ by living under the rule of Moses. Trying to keep that law by the works of the flesh will only bring death. As many who try to be righteous by keeping the law are under the curse of the law.
2nd Corinthians 3
4:Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5: Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6: who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant,
not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7: Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone,
came with such glory that the Israelite's could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
8:will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
9: For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
10: Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.
11: For if what was being brought to an end
came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12: Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
13: not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was
being brought to an end. 14: But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15: Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16: But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18: And we all, with unveiled face,(without the law of Moses) beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The problem with the church today is one day we look into the face of Christ and see freedom and liberty and hope. We begin to be changed from glory to glory by looking at him to see who we are and the next day we get hammered by the law of Moses telling us that we are sinners and unrighteous and we are constantly torn between the two. We take one step forward into the glory and two steps back into the shame that comes from the law.
As we read earlier that law was done away with in Christ, and besides the law was only given to Israel and most of us who have tried to keep that law were gentiles who never were given a law to live by.
This keeps the church from seeing who we really are in Christ. The life of the Spirit in Christ is far above earthly rules and regulations and has to be lived under spiritual laws of love and lived out of a new creation being inside of us who is a spirit made in the image of our creator. We must keep our faces turned toward Christ to keep this veil from covering our hearts.
Romans 8
There is therefore now no condemnation (Remember Paul called the law the ministry of condemnation?) for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2: For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3: For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4: in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5: For those who live according to the flesh (law) set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6: For to set the mind on the flesh (law) is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7: For the mind that is set on the flesh (law) is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8: Those who are in the flesh (law) cannot please God.
9:You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10:But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12: So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh(law), to live according to the flesh(law). 13: For if you live according to the flesh(law) you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15: For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17: and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
It’s time for the church understand the true gospel. Christ didn't come to just take away our guilt. He came to make us holy and righteous. We must consider our old self to be crucified and dead. It is in embracing who Christ is and who we are in him that the old ways will be done away with. We will never live in the newness of life if we keep fighting a body of sin that is already dead. We must embrace who we really are.
We must reckon ourselves to be alive unto God. Stop seeing ourselves as guilty sinners and see ourselves as who he really made us. If it was just about sin then he could have just taken away the law and made all things lawful and there would be no transgression.
Removing our sins was just the first step in restoring us to who we really are in Christ. He took away our sin so we could live unto his righteousness. If we keep embracing the law we will continue to suffer the consequences of the law. If we embrace the new life in Christ then we will become like him.
We must embrace the Spirit of life until all the guilt and shame of the old life are completely forgotten and we are engulfed in the righteousness and holiness of God. When we awaken to this true state of our spirit then sin and death will no longer have hold of us.
He didn't just take away our sins but he took away the sins of the whole world and left us with this ministry of reconciliation. We go and preach to the world that all sin is forgiven in Christ and if they embrace him all their sins are gone and they can be born into a new creation. That is why it’s the “good news”.
Jesus took away the sins of the whole world but that doesn't mean the whole world is saved. It means they are forgiven and if they will be reconciled to God they can be saved. Their sins are taken away but they still must be born again by faith in Christ. It's not what you do that saves us it's accepting with all our heart what Jesus did for us at his cross that saves us. We could be sinless and still be lost. Sin was the only obstacle between God and man and Jesus took it away so the all who call upon him can and will be saved.
We don’t have to serve sin anymore and we aren't sinners saved by grace. We were sinners but now we are righteous and holy and blameless in his sight. We must see ourselves as he sees us and we must teach others to accept him as their savior and turn from their old dead lives and embrace the new life in him.
The only way to be free from sin is through the cross. We must once and for all see all of our sin and guilt nailed to that tree and see ourselves crucified with him so that we can be raised in newness of life with him. We must stop judging ourselves by the Law of Moses and embrace the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. I was crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me by faith. All my guilt and sinful nature was killed with Jesus on that cross.
All glory to God, I am dead to sin and I am alive unto God!
I hope you are encouraged by these words.
Until next time.
Grow rich in His Grace,
I love you all,
michael
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