DYING TO LIVE

Why would something die to live again, this doesn't make sense at all for us if you aren't a farmer. Well let me explain like this. For a seed to grow it first have to die and then it will grow. The seed, which contains the fullest potential of life, ceases to be a seed so that the plant inside may live. Essentially, its original form has died, and the seed becomes something new. A similar question can be asked – like the seed, how can you die unto sin and live anew?

"1So what do we do, then? Do we persist in sin so that God’s kindness and grace will increase? 2What a terrible thought! We have died to sin once and for all, as a dead man passes away from this life. So how could we live under sin’s rule a moment longer? 3Or have you forgotten that all of us who were immersed into union with Jesus, the Anointed One, were immersed into union with his death?4Sharing in his death by our baptism means that we were co-buried with him, so that when the Father’s glory raised Christ from the dead, we were also raised with him. We have been co-resurrected with him so that we could be empowered to walk in the freshness of new life. 5For since we are permanently grafted into him to experience a death like his, then we are permanently grafted into him to experience a resurrection like his and the new life that it imparts. 6Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power." - Romans 6:1-6 TPT.

In Romans 6, Paul gives three instructions for attaining victory over sin. We going to look at Dying to Live. The repetition of this indicates that Paul wanted us to understand a basic doctrine. Christian living depends on Christian learning; duty is always founded on doctrine. If Satan can keep a Christian ignorant, he can keep him impotent.

The basic truth Paul is teaching is the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. Just as we are identified with Adam in sin and condemnation, so we are now identified with Christ in righteousness and justification. "45For it is written: The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. 46However, the spiritual didn’t come first. The natural precedes the spiritual. 47The first man was from the dust of the earth; the second Man is Yahweh, from the realm of heaven. 48The first one, made from dust, has a race of people just like him, who are also made from dust. The One sent from heaven has a race of heavenly people who are just like him." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-47 TPT.

The first Adam was created by the Lord formed into the body of a man from dust of the ground, the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living individual complete in body and spirit. The last Adam is Jesus Christ. As the last Adam, he ended Adam’s race and began a new species of humans who are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit and carry the life of Christ within them.

In God’s eyes there are only two men, Adam and Christ. Every human being is a copy of one or the other. To be in Adam is to be lost and merely human, but to be in Christ is to be wrapped into the Anointed One as one who carries the life of Christ within.

What Paul wants us to understand is that we where previously born from the first Adam with a sinful nature. But when we die to our sin by excepting God's gift of grace we receive a new life in the last Adam Jesus Christ. "9One man’s disobedience opened the door for all humanity to become sinners. So also one man’s obedience opened the door for many to be made perfectly right with God and acceptable to him." - Romans 5:9 TPT. Jesus Christ not only died for our sins, but He also died unto sin, and we died with Him.

Looking at this chart you will understand what Paul is trying to bring under our attention.

Romans 3:21 - 5:21 Romans 6 - 8

Substitution: Identification:

Jesus died for me I died with Jesus

Jesus died for my sins Jesus died unto sin

Jesus paid sin's penalty He broke sin's power

Justification: Sanctification:

Righteousness Righteousness

In other words, justification by faith is not simply a legal matter between me and God; it is a living relationship. It is “a justification which brings life”. I am in Christ and identified with Him. Therefore, whatever happened to Christ has happened to me. When He died, I died. When He arose, I arose in Him. I am now seated with Him in the heavenliest! Because of this living union with Christ, we have a totally new relationship to sin.

Paul couldn't be any clearer to bring this under our attention, that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with Jesus to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power. We must understand as Christians we died to sin, our sin where crucified on the cross with Christ and to beg God for victory over sin is a refusal to understand that we have already died to sin. Sin is not suppressed by the cross; it is ELIMINATED!

Death is swallowed up by a triumphant victory of the work Jesus Christ did on the cross. It is sin that gives death its sting and the law that gives sin its power. The total victory over sin was at the cross where we were co-crucified with Jesus Christ and where we were co-resurrected with Jesus Christ into a new life. We thank God for giving us the victory as conquerors through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed One. "54And when that which is mortal puts on immortality, and what now decays is exchanged for what will never decay, then the Scripture will be fulfilled that says: Death is swallowed up by a triumphant victory! 55So death, tell me, where is your victory? Tell me death, where is your sting? 56It is sin that gives death its sting and the law that gives sin its power. 57But we thank God for giving us the victory as conquerors through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One." - 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 TPT.

What an amazing summary of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us! Although Satan seemed to be victorious, the cross of Christ defeated him, defeated death and defeated sin, making us into victorious conquerors who have hope beyond this life.

Know that you have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin!