THE COMPLETE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CROSS
Romans [ESV] 12:1-2 I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.
2Timothy 2:15 Do
your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need
to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Have you ever
heard or read that the whole message of Christ’ crucifixion is that Jesus died for
our sins in order that we may be forgiven? If you have, think again for the
statement is incomplete in that it does not encompass all that Jesus
accomplished.
Jesus foretold
that He would provide complete freedom from the law for those that trusted Him;
freedom from the weight of rules, rites, and regulations. “free indeed”. Paul
explained this. James called it the “perfect law of liberty”! (Jn.8:32, 36;
Jam.1:25; 2:12, 16, 19) Said liberty being in, by, with Jesus, thanks to His complete
efficacious work on the cross. This He verified when He said “It is finished”.
(Jn.17:1-26; 19:30)
Jesus enables John
1:12 brothers and sisters as dead to sin, alive to God! Indeed sin did not die
nor has not died . . . our old self is crucified with Jesus, we are dead to
sin; forgiven and free from sin’s power in our lives!
Romans 6:1-22 What
shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no
means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that
all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in
a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like
his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the
body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we
have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know
that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer
has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all,
but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves
dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign
in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your
members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to
God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God
as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you,
since you are not under law but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness. What then? Are we to sin because
we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if
you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one
whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads
to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of
sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which
you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves
of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural
limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity
and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as
slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were
slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit
were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For
the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from
sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification
and its end, eternal life.
Galatians 2:18-21 For
if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For
through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 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. I do not nullify the grace of God, for
if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Colossians 2:16-23 Therefore
let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard
to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things
to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you,
insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about
visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding
fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through
its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ
you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive
in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste,
Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according
to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom
in promoting self-made religion [rules, rites, and regulations] and asceticism
and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence
of the flesh.
For some reading
this as they trust the Word (Jn.1:1; 2Tim.2:14-16; 3:16; 2Pet.1:20) they have
been living in Jesus “free indeed”. For others it is revelation to be accepted
and lived. For yet others this truth will be rejected as they continue to
embrace traditions as did so many that Jesus walked and talked among those many
years ago.
EBB4
