Mark Vestal Proud of nothing of myself. Freed by Christ who did it all!

At the moment of belief in the gospel of our salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) we are sealed with the holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). We then have a spiritual life in Christ (Colossians 1:24) and begin to seek spiritual blessings with the hope of the promise of our heavenly home, rather than serving our carnal and earthly desires of the flesh while still on Earth.

Colossians 3:1-3
"3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

A believer's physical body is merely the shell that contains who we truly are on the inside. Our true self (mind, emotion, and will) is invisible to those on earth, but is protected in Christ when we become a believer. We now see our physical selves as a temporal being with the understanding that God now sees Christ in us and thankfully not who we see when we look in the mirror.

Paul explains more in Romans chapter 6 how our flesh, as believers, died with Christ on the cross and was freed from the bondage of sin. When Christ rose from the grave for our justification, we then rose spiritually with Him in new life.

Romans 6:1-14

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

Our sins were forgiven nearly 2,000 years ago (Colossians 1:14,
2 Corinthians 5:19), and salvation occurs at the moment of belief in this, the gospel. Nothing that we ourselves do in the flesh can assist in what Christ completed for us (Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 2:10). It's literally how we accept Jesus Christ as our savior from this present evil world (Galatians 1:4). Only faith in Christ will work for salvation today. When you obtain faith alone in Christ alone for your salvation, you now have the license to serve Him instead of serving yourself. You are now an ambassador for Christ and a minister of the Word of reconciliation between God and man. You will desire to share the good news that saves today when you finally let go of yourself and submit to God through faith in Christ. Jesus Christ was perfect for you, did all the work for you, took the punishment on the cross that you deserved, was buried, but rose from the grave the 3rd day for your justification (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Break the yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1) and live in peace by accepting God’s free gift (Romans 5:18) through faith in Christ and His finished cross-work (Colossians 2:14).

December 07 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Justin Hale

Crucifixion is the most diabolical torture ever devised by man. The Romans studied exactly how the human body went into shock from trauma, blood loss, psychological terror and every other aspect, experimenting on 'victims' over generations and even borrowing techniques from many cultures to arrive at their 'ultimate torture.' 

They even tortured men psychologically by letting them choose their own 'path' of death, which included a quicker but unimaginably painful death, (the one Jesus chose), or an extended death prolonged by an oral anesthetic that dulled the pain enough to keep them hovering just below the threshold of shock until it wore off and they were offered this same choice again and again. 

This was very amusing to the Romans who used to eat and drink and laugh while watching it. 

So we should not look lightly on the Holy Spirit's choice to use this image and description of exactly what 'conquering Christians' are doing to the evil nature that is dedicated to opposing GOD, which the Bible calls the 'carnal nature' or the 'fleshly nature.'

"Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.
And I hoped for sympathy, but there was none,
And for comforters, but I found none.
They also gave me gall for my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
May their table before them become a snare;
And when they are in peace, may it become a trap." (Psalm 69:20-22).

These inspired verses contain a description of Christ on the cross, but also His heart's prayer for justice. Justice will be to allow their own 'table,' (place of eating, drinking and amusement), to become the very torture they inflicted on others.

"Since it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give rest to you who are afflicted and to us as well at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, executing vengeance on those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." (2 Thessalonians 1:6-8).

So this is the fate of all who repeatedly reject, insult and seek to humiliate GOD's holy people, but it is also the current fate of the 'carnal nature' trapped inside each of us like a 'prisoner of war.'

This 'person' is being tortured to death by a type of spiritual crucifixion. The 'tables have turned.' Who is this 'person?'

"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21).

Imagine if you will, one 'person' bearing all of these traits, not trying to 'restrain' himself, but actively wishing for opportunities to engage in them all the time through you, without hesitation, without remorse and with the greatest kind of harm possible. 

That 'person' is the one 'hanging' on a spiritual 'torture device.' You are the one now looking on. Do you feel sympathy or empathy, or find ways to somehow still be a 'nice' person about it?

Those are all still options for you, but they are ridiculous and they also harm you. During our lives and Christian walk, GOD is offering us the daily opportunity to experience His Justice and His actual viewpoint of these evil things. Early on, we are horrified by it all. How could a GOD of love be 'cruel' or 'mean'? For that matter, how could He be planning on returning to destroy people in 'flaming fire and vengeance?'

Many of us prefer not to think about it. We avoid verses like this one:

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good." (Romans 12:9).

We can't truly love unless we are also sickened by evil and hate it as GOD does. If we are willing, we can actually witness it 'die' inside of us first, giving us the ability to conquer it 'outside' too.

December 13 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Daniel Veler

There is an inward battle that goes on in every child of God. As Paul wrote concerning himself:

Romans 7: 22: For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

The Christian fights daily, striving to do the will of God, and still can recognize the sin of the flesh. A person who does not know God does not have this warfare going on within them. They take no thought of what they do. But those in Christ strive to please God. Therefore, the righteous crucify the flesh daily by not yielding to the desires of the flesh. When we fail (and we will fail) we can go to the Father and ask for forgiveness.

10 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report