Faith: Power of the Cross – Part 2 of 2

Written 2009

Faith in Your Crucifixion, Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension

2 titles for Jesus Christ – the first shows that He has completely ended all that was in the former humanity; the second shows that He is the beginning of an entirely new race of people. He brought death to the one and life to the other.
How? John 12:24 – the seed of grain that dies yet lives.

How do Christians exit the life of Adam and enter the life of Christ?

Vv. 3,6 – “know,” “knowing” – we need knowledge, revelation…
Vv. 2-3, 5-7 – “died,” “death,” “crucified” – that the death of our old life has already been completed…
Watchman Nee, Normal Christian Life, pp. 52, 58-59

V. 4 – “buried with Him through baptism” – baptism was the official burial of our crucified old nature…
Vv. 11 – “Likewise…reckon yourselves to be dead” – with this in mind, we must walk with the confidence that our old humanity was crucified with Jesus…
Watchman Nee, Normal Christian Life, pp. 64-65
V. 14 – “under grace,” “not under law” – the key to walking this way is seen in living by grace, not law…
ROMANS 7

V. 1 – “law has dominion” – the demands of the law rule over those who live…
V. 5 – “sinful passions which were aroused by the law” – the law reveals just how truly sinful our flesh is (that we can never meet the law’s demands)…
Vv. 4,6 – “dead to the law,” “died to what we were held by” – since our old nature has died, we are free from trying to meet the requirements of the law in our own flesh…
V. 6 – “serve in the newness of the Spirit” – We have a new way to serve God: the Holy Spirit…
V. 18 – “in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” – our old life has no power to do good…
V. 21 – “a law, that evil is present with me” – it is an indisputable fact that evil is part of our flesh…
V. 24 – “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” – How do we escape this nature of sin?…
V. 25 – “through Jesus Christ” – Thank God the deliverance has already happened through Jesus’ death on the cross…
ROMANS 8

V. 1 – “in Christ” – this is the place where our nature has been changed…
V. 2 – “the law of the Spirit of life” – the law of the Spirit can replace the law of evil in us…
V. 11 – “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead…life to your mortal bodies” – the Spirit has shown He has the power to bring you into a new way of living because He brought resurrection to Jesus…
V. 13 – “by the Spirit” – the only way to defeat sin in your life is by the Spirit…
V. 14 – “sons of God” – we take on the nature of God our Father only if we have His life in us…
V. 29 – “the firstborn among many brethren” – like the seed of wheat that “produces much grain” (John 12:24).

Vv. 1-3 – “were dead in trespasses…walked according to the course of this world…conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh” – We once lived alive to sin.
V. 4 – “But God…” – We didn’t have the power in ourselves to change, we needed God
V. 5 – “[God] made us alive together with Christ” – God brought resurrection (new life) to us
V. 6 – “raised us up…made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ” – God included us in Christ’s ascension as well as resurrection. Notice, “raised…made us,” are past tense. He is not speaking of something yet to come, but something that’s already been accomplished.
Vv. 8-10 – “saved through faith” – we need faith to gain this position in Christ
Vv. 11-13 – “brought near by the blood” – It is only by the blood that we can approach God and receive His life in Christ.

Published by brianholda