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. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 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.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV
I listened to a radio preacher this week as he exclaimed that as we sin, we drag Jesus with us through the mud. What got me interested in this particular sermon is that it was the closest this pastor had ever come to acknowledging Christ Jesus in us without actually admitting to it. So, it seems to be with the modern institutional church narrative that Jesus cannot be one with us because of our sins. How many times have you sat in church on a Sunday and left feeling more guilty than when you arrived? I noticed it a lot. I could walk into church feeling good that God had provided for the removal of my sins through the finished work of His Son. Then, without missing a beat, the pulpit pounder would start talking about some sin I'd somehow forgotten about. Never mind the fact that as Jesus died upon the cross that He cried out, "It is finished!" What was He referring to? What was finished? Sin was finished! More appropriately, our sins. Yes, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the Lord {Romans 3:23}. Yet most pastors today prefer to see sin in pre-Jesus terms instead of the correct post-Jesus era. I know that I have sinned, but that was my old man, and he was out to death alongside Jesus on that cross. Not once did Jesus cry out, it is finished...except for this or that!" Jesus did not die with only a part of His task completed. It is our sin which was one of the final obstacles to fall. For we cannot live in our post-Jesus life without Jesus having first put sin to death once and for all. The apostle Paul explains that we are no longer slaves to our sin {Romans 6:6}. I believe that many Christians have been victims of the pre-Jesus church teaching. We have been brought up to believe in a lie. Yes, when we behave wrongly Jesus is there with us. But Paul also teaches us that Jesus is with us each and every day. When we look upon ourselves, we see Jesus who is in us {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."
Galatians 2: 20 NKJV
I want to pose to you one question. How many times does Jesus need to die in order to put sin to death? How many times must He endure the torture and mocking? For when we continue with the church narrative that sin continues to plague our life, we delegitimize the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross. It is Jesus who Himself became sin that it would be put to death {2 Corinthians 5:21}. Yet there are many Christians out there who are digging up dead sins that they might somehow be revived and endured once again. I don't know about you, but I prefer knowing that those sins of my past are dead and gone. This is the truth of the Jesus life. There may be more than a few people out there who will swear up and down that the sky is not blue, but that does not make it true. Likewise, many well intentioned Christians will say that the idea of Christ in us is something along the lines of impossible. As I said, that doesn't make it true. Scripture tells us that Jesus indeed dwells in us today. Paul mentions this truth in a few places {Romans 6:8, Galatians 2:20}. We're not told to cherry pick scriptures to find that which we believe to be acceptable. It is the Word which is true and acceptable. It is the Word which has been with us from the beginning {John 1:1-5}.
I'm digging up bones
exhuming things that are better left alone
I'm resurrecting memories of a love that's dead and gone
Yeah tonight I'm sitting alone digging up bones
Randy Travis ~ Digging Up Bones
~Scott~
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