Arise and Shine 4 The Divine source for the power available to man to live and walk in the victorious Christ-life is in the death and resurrection of Christ and not in religious rules and rituals and pious human self-righteous efforts. The death of Christ is the means by which God has destroyed and done away with the old man, the nature or body of sin and death that dominated fallen man. And the resurrection of Christ is the means by which God raises sinful man from death to reign in newness of life in Christ. This is the essence of the Gospel. And it is knowing and believing this truth that brings the real power and experience of salvation to the believer in Christ. It is knowing and believing this truth that separates true born again disciples of Christ from mere followers of the Christian religion or any other religion. Through the death and resurrection of Christ God has made it possible for you to arise and shine in the glory of the Christ-life and not merely to try to live piously by adopting the rituals and rules of religion. To be truly saved, to experience the power of the saving grace of God in Christ you must personalize, be convinced that you have personally participated in the death and resurrection of Christ. It is in essence and experience what it is to deny self, to declare the old man or nature of sin and death that characterizes the I no longer in existence, and to take up and accept the Cross of Christ as yours, your own personal crucifixion and death and go on to follow Christ or live in the power and newness of life in the resurrected Christ. Let the Gospel be heard and believed! Attaining and embracing the knowledge of this truth seems to be an ongoing pursuit for us who believe in Christ. It is in it the devil, the liar and deceiver, relentlessly battles us in our minds in his attempt to cheat us through alternative religious ideas from the power of this great salvation to rise and shine in the glory of the Lord. Mark 8:34: “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’” Romans 6:5-6: “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Romans 6:10-11: “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Philippians 3:10-11: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 06:56:13 +0000
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