Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 40 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Rom 5:12- 6:13.Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 40 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Rom 5:12- 6:13.
Announcements /opening prayer:
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?
Rom 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin [this is the nature of us - separated from the sin nature] still live in it?
Rom 6:3 Or do you not know [are you ignorant of these truths] that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
In verses 5-10 Paul repeats these great truths.
Rom 6:5 For if we have become united with Him [literally - planted together with Him] in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
Rom 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with [rendered powerless; it is forever and will be in life through faith], that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
Rom 6:7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
This life is ours by faith. We believe that we shall also live with Him, in time and eternity.
Rom 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
This is an exposition of the words our Lord said from the cross, "It is finished."
Christ is never to die again. This removes any idea of another rebellion in God's universe. It also disqualifies all false doctrines concerning the believer's contribution to the crucifixion of Christ. All has been done to us and has been given to us by grace. These are freely given and we can add nothing to them, nor can we add to who we are now as divine natures in Christ.
Rom 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Rom 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
No matter what our past, when Christ died, our old Adamic nature died. No matter how dark the past of a believer may have been, he is dead to the sinful nature.
Our sins have been fully wiped away and we have been made clean. This is why we have been called to purity and not impurity. When He rose, we rose. As long as He is alive, we live, and He is never to die again.
So far as our present daily life is concerned, death has no dominion over us. This has far greater implications than going to heaven. It effects who you are and your personal outlook.
The believer sees himself as alive unto God, and that forever. He sees himself as having a divine nature, not separate from him, but through God's power it is him. He is not divine, but of divine creation. Who he was before is now crucified and buried. All believers will see this in eternity, but there are some that will see this clearly in time through faith in what God says that they are. This allows a certain mindset that is free to serve God and God's people. You no longer feel the need to get everything out of earthly life, but are more than willing to sacrifice it all in the service of others.
Rom 9:1-3 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh
That is the attitude of a divine nature. This has nothing to do with the notion that a believer must sacrifice certain things, that he really deep down doesn't want to, in order to impress God or earn anything from Him. He does so because death is no longer master over him. The things of time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
It dissolves all fear, for if you don't fear the mastery of death over your life then you don't fear anything. The Grim Reaper is no longer lurking but instead the believer is enshrouded with the light of righteousness and eternal life. It all belongs to him. Hallelujah!
In teaching again to Israel the real meaning behind the blood sacrifice of the animal, the Lord said through Isaiah:
Isa 1:18 "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
The potential in the believer's life is staggering to the imagination. We never stop growing and learning of the reality of this potential.
Eph 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Do you see that? Does it say that the Lord will leave heaven and swoop down to earth and present Himself to you and then do something that will just blow your mind? No. It says that He will do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. The Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father, the word of God, all within us will be used by Him to do something in our lives and to our lives that is beyond our wildest imagination.
To the new believer, or the believer new to the study of the word of God, this life seems very far off and is only slightly seen. They struggle with their understanding and faith and affections and they have much to learn before much of this life can be understood. Even mature believers don't realize to the full their potentialities, for we never arrive. Often the Lord makes believers restless or He stirs up their lives so that they will grope even more for the resurrection life. We like to coast when we reach certain levels of faith and living unto the justified life, but God is not content to let us rest there for too long.
Rom 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Rom 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In verse eleven we come to the real application of faith to everything that has been taught in this passage.
"Even so" is the Greek word houtos and it refers to what precedes it. It says in essence, "Now that these things have been settled, then or likewise or even so…"
Now that we have come to understand what Christ did to your old Adamic nature and the reign of sin and death have been destroyed and now the monarch of your life is forever abundant grace, righteousness, and eternal life by your position in Christ, and that you are now identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session, and that you are alive with Him forever, likewise or even so, consider…
"consider" - logi,zomai [logizomai] = reckon, count, compute, calculate.
I am to count myself dead to the sin nature and alive to God in my position in Christ. Considering myself alive would make for a condition of life that is the justified life, and my position in Christ is the reality of the creature that I am that has only this as its purpose. |