I am very much looking forward to teaching on Law and Grace this Friday evening with four students in our 8-month discipleship training program.
I feel so weak and I often tremble as I seek to teach such holy truths of God, truths that I don't fully grasp but truths that have fully grasped me.
However, God keeps lifting me up in my weakness to manifest the power of His glory and grace through the Lord Jesus Christ in me!
This Rest Stop is a result of my preparation to teach this Friday. I am indebted to the expository preaching of Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) at Westminster Chapel in London for helping to mentor me in these truths.
Be encouraged as you read. Pray for me as I teach.
DEAD TO SIN WITH CHRIST
Christ stepped down from the realm of glory to put Himself under the rule of the law and the realm of sin and death along with us and on our behalf. Galatians 4:4-5 says the Son of God "was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law."
Then Christ died for us. His three-day burial confirmed His death. It wasn't a temporary suspension of His life.
Sin and death did their utmost to hold the buried Christ. Romans 5:21 says that "Sin reigned unto death," but it cannot go any further! Death is sin's ultimate power.
However, read about God's power in Acts 2:24: "God raised Christ up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." Wow!
Our Lord's resurrection by the glorious power of the Father (Romans 6:4) is the ultimate proof that He conquered the realm of sin and death forever! He's now entirely outside the realm of sin and death!
Romans 6:9, 10 says, "Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. He died to sin once and for all." Jesus Christ fulfilled the demands of the law.
Now, Romans 6:11 says, "LIKEWISE you also, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin...in Christ Jesus our Lord" Did you get that?! Just as Jesus fulfilled the demands of the law and just as He died to the realm and power of sin and death, so have we!
How can this be? By the truth of the phrase in Christ Jesus our Lord, a vital reference of our living union with Christ! Romans 6:3-4 says that we were baptized (united) with Christ in His death and in His burial. In that union, we died not only to the guilt of sin, but to the realm and power of sin!
At this point, someone might say, "How can this be, for I still sin?" It is true because God says it is true. It doesn't mean we are free from sinning, but we are indeed free from the power of sin. Our experiences of choosing to sin in response to the power of sin's temptations does not establish the truth. God's Word is the truth.
ALIVE TO GOD IN CHRIST
And "LIKEWISE you also, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin AND alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Just as He has risen to "newness of life" free from sin and death, and no longer under the law, so have we (Romans 6:4)! We are alive in our union with the risen Christ!
We are no longer under the realm and reign of sin and death. It may feel like we are, but we must take God at His Word. And He promises us in Romans 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."
CLOSING
Whew! These are rich truths to meditate upon! However, these are not truths just for the super spiritual Christians. There are no such Christians. These facts are true about the life of every single Christian.
And these truths are most foundational. Every Christian needs to be discipled in these biblical truths from the very beginning of their walk with Christ.
For now, just hear the voice of our Lord in John 8:36 tell you that He has indeed set you free here on earth now. He willingly and lovingly and humbly came into our marketplace of sin and death. And with His very life, He bought us out of the marketplace.
And now He has returned to "the glory He had with the Father before the world was" (John 17:5).
We are no longer our own in the realm of sin and death. We were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). We now belong to God. We are wanted by God, dead to sin and alive to Him in His beloved Son in the realm of grace!
Wanted: Dead AND Alive
