Christ Assembly │ Studies │ The Daily Power of Justification │ Living with Christ

The Daily Power of Justification

Part Six

Living with Christ

Romans 6:8

If you do not recall a day in your life when you received eternal life as a free gift from Jesus, then this article will not make sense to you. Please click the eternal life button now and learn more about finding peace with God and being born again today.  Eternal Life

      Paul has revealed how justification works in our life every day.  Through the power of justification, we have peace with God.  This peace changes the way we live, and opens our eyes to the purposes of Jesus Christ in our lives.  One of those purposes includes developing us through the tribulation process.  As we move through that tribulation process, God wants us to exult in Him, because He will use that tribulation process to produce perseverance, proven character and hope.  Because the Holy Spirit has poured out the love of God within our hearts, that hope will never disappoint us.  Now we will see how the power of justification by faith alone empowers us to live with Christ and in Christ.  So, we will read the Word of God today to learn about how we believe that we not only died with Christ, but we will also live with Him.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over Him.

Romans 6:8-9

       We Believe We Died with Christ.  In Romans 6:1-6, God reveals to us the deeper implications of the death of Christ.  We never continue to live in sin, because in Christ we have died, once and for all, to sin.  We have been baptized into the death of Christ.  As Christ was raised from the dead, so we too have been raised with Him through the glory of the Father, so that we too might walk in newness of life.  Our old self was crucified with Christ, so that our body of sin might be permanently done away with, and so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.  In Romans 6:8-11, Paul now explains how we implement that revelation in our lives.  In Romans 6:8, notice the importance of the word “believe” (“πιστεύομεν“).   This concept of faith dominates the Bible.  We know God by faith, and that faith is the gift of God, so that no one would boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).  I meet so many people who think that faith is blind, in the sense of just a leap into space.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  God uses the term faith to mean that we trust God to keep His promises.  We believe that God told us the truth, and we rely upon God and His truth every day.  In Hebrews 11:1, God defined faith this way: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Faith amounts to assurance of things I do not seen now, but I still know about them because God revealed those truths in the Bible.  God speaks to me through the Bible.  I trust God and His power of justification by faith alone.  In Romans 6:8,  I trust God told me the truth saying that my old self was crucified with Christ, and now I live in Christ.  Death will no longer be master over me.  Remember, that death came into the world by sin, and rules over men (Romans 5:12-14).  We must take seriously, by faith, that our old man died with Jesus on the cross that day, and by faith, we have been raised not to live our old lives again, but a brand new life in Christ Jesus.  Imagine laying down in your bed one night, and waking up in the morning with a brand new body, and a brand new life.  You laid down the old self, and rose with the body, mind, and power of Jesus Christ.  You were utterly and completely transformed.  At the moment you accepted the free gift of salvation by faith from Christ Jesus, you were, in effect, baptized into His death, and raised in newness of life.  We spend the rest of our spiritual lives on earth understanding all the implications for living that simple truth, but the power of Jesus Christ simply cannot be denied truthfully. 

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.  Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:10-11

      He Lives To God.  In Romans 6:10-11,  we see that because we have died with Christ, we died to sin.  An essential part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ includes the fact that Christ died on the cross for sins.  I frequently meet people who tell me they are going to heaven because they love Jesus.  While I admire their love for Jesus, and love Him myself, the cross of Christ provides salvation.  His death brings eternal life by faith.  When you ask yourself why God should let you into His heaven, it is only because Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and you have accepted by faith His death as your death.  He died for you and paid the price of your sins.  Notice in Romans 6:10, that God died to sin, in the sense of death being master over Him.  Look back at Romans 6:9.  He said that even Christ suffered death, and, in that limited sense, death was master over Him.  He became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Now, Paul draws out the doctrine that Christ died to sin once for all.  Although I have not died, I have become spiritually identified with Christ, so that His death becomes my death.  Not only have I died with Him, but all the mastery of death and sin has died in Christ too.  I now understand more of the absolute facts of what happened to me when I believed that Christ died for me.  Christ also lives to God, because death could never hold the Prince of Life. 

      Consider Yourself Dead to Sin, and Alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Having reviewed and comprehended the spiritual truth that I died with Christ, and now live in Him, I must take action.  You see the word “consider” (“λογίζεσθε“) in Romans 6:11?  Well, it literally means to reckon, compute, calculate, reason, determine, judge, purpose, decide and deliberate.  You get the idea that this term has broad meaning.  In this passage, God tells us that we must take deliberate action, based upon the facts He has taught in the previous verses, to live upon the truth of God.  The truth in view here is that Christ died to sin, and I am dead to sin.  My life did not end with the death of Christ, just as His life did not end in death on the cross.  Because of my death in Jesus, I now live to God in Christ Jesus.  Let me unpack that statement some with you.  My entire life now centers in Christ, all day, every day.  Yet, I can lose focus and live in sin.  I must take action, by the grace of God, to make a deliberate decision to realize that I am alive to God in Christ Jesus.  I must absolutely change my complete understanding of who I really am.  I am no longer a lawyer, pastor, teacher, student, husband, wife, child, manager, employee, etc.  My work is not my life.  I am in Christ Jesus, first, second, third, to infinity.  I will consider today that I am alive in Christ Jesus, dead to sin, and forever dead to sin.  I have peace with God today, and my whole life is in Christ Jesus.  In the sense of understanding who I really am, I am in Christ Jesus today.  Do not misunderstand–I am not claiming deity for myself, but I mean the most complete connection possible with Christ.  I belong to Him, I live in Him, and I want His life to be lived out in me.  In my spiritual core and essence, I have become totally included in Christ, so that I am in Him, just as He is in the Father, and Jesus is in me (John 14:20).  Because of that spiritual truth, I can now live in spiritual freedom from the bondage of sin and death.

       So we learn more about living to God and the power of justification today.

    ●  Every believer lives to God, in the essence of who they are before God.

   ●  Because we have died with Christ to sin and its power in our lives, we now live in Christ, with all of His spiritual power.

   ●   Each day I must consider myself dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Application for Today

        As I live today, I consider myself dead to sin, because Christ died to sin once for all, and I have died with Him and in Him on the cross.  Because He rose from the dead and lives to God, I will also live to God today in Him.  With my heart and mind today, I will implement this truth and live to God in Christ today.  Will you consider yourself dead to sin and alive to Christ today?

 Christ Assembly │ Studies │ The Daily Power of Justification │ Living with Christ