IF Anyone is In Christ

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20 ESV)

When we are born into this world, we are born with sin natures, in the image of Adam, the first man God created, and the first man to sin against God. Since the time that Adam sinned against God, we have all been born in sin, separate from God, and unable within our own selves to be found righteous in his sight and to meet with his divine approval. And that is why God the Father sent his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to the cross, that by faith in him, we might die with him to sin and now live to his righteousness.

[Rom 3:9-26; Rom 5:12-19; 1 Co 15:21-22,42-49; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Pet 2:24]

Therefore, by genuine God-provided, and God-gifted, and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we no longer are to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it leads to righteousness, and its end is eternal life.

So, in order for us to be “in Christ,” we must believe in the Lord Jesus. And belief in Christ is divine persuasion. And according to the Scriptures, what Jesus does is he persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die with him to sin and to live to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living. And the faith to believe in Jesus comes from God, is gifted of God, and is persuaded of God and is not of our own doing – not of the will nor of the flesh of man.

 

So we do not get to define what that faith looks like. God does. His word does. And his word teaches that by faith in Jesus Christ we die with him to sin that we might live to him and to his righteousness. And we don’t die to sin just once, but daily, in practice. And we follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, not necessarily with absolute sinless perfection, but no longer in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, we don’t have eternal life with God in heaven.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 1:12-13; Jn 6:44; Acts 26:18; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 3:23; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Peter 2:24; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 12:1-2; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-24; Eph 5:3-6; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

So this is why this says that if anyone is in Christ that he is a new creation, for by God-persuaded faith in our Lord Jesus our old lives of living in sin, and for self, have now been put to death with Christ so that we might now, by faith in him, walk in holiness and in righteousness in walks of faith and obedience to our Lord and to his commands, by his grace. For if I am reconciled to God it means I have exchanged my old life of sin for this new life in Christ to be lived for his glory in obedience to his commands.

So, if I am to implore you to be reconciled to God, I am imploring you to deny self, take up your cross daily (die daily to sin), and to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands. I am imploring you to leave your old life of sin behind you and to now live your life in walks of obedience to the Lord. For if you hold on to your old life of sin, you will lose it for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake you leave your old life of sin behind you to follow him in obedience to his commands, you have eternal life in him (Luke 9:23-26).

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).

Near the Cross  

Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869

Music by William H. Doane, 1869 

Jesus, keep me near the cross; 

There a precious fountain, 

Free to all, a healing stream, 

Flows from Calvary's mountain. 

Near the cross, a trembling soul, 

Love and mercy found me; 

There the bright and morning star 

Sheds its beams around me. 

 

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, 

Bring its scenes before me; 

Help me walk from day to day 

With its shadow o'er me. 

Near the cross I'll watch and wait, 

Hoping, trusting ever, 

Till I reach the golden strand 

Just beyond the river. 

In the cross, in the cross, 

Be my glory ever, 

Till my raptured soul shall find 

Rest beyond the river.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5gong-PNmY

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