"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a transformational Gospel! The reality is that we have been transformed by the same power that raised Jesus Christ. Christ lives in our hearts and we can bear fruit in our lives if we abide in Him.
The Exchanged Life in Christ
Romans 8:10-13—“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.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. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
We substitute Christ’s life for the self-life.
Colossians 3:10, “… put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
We are identified with Christ in his crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We are free from the law of sin and of death through the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:2, “for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
We must acknowledge these truths by faith and present ourselves to God as people who are alive from the dead.
Romans 8:9-11, "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[d]from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you."
The basis of our salvation is also the basis of our sanctification.
Galatians 3:2-3—“Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Just as we are justified by grace through faith, so we are sanctified by grace through faith. Good works are not attained by our own fleshly efforts; they flow from the power of the Spirit of Christ who indwells us.(Galatians 5:16-25).
Brokenness and unconditional surrender are part of the process of appropriating Christ’s life.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10—“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Only Christ Himself can live the Christian life, and He does this in us and through us.
John 15:1-5—"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
May the grace of God strengthen you in these difficult days!
Jeff