Page 50 - lifeandgrace
P. 50
Col 1:27 (RSV) "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the
riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Yes, we begin to allow Jesus to live out His life through us. We lay down our lives to Him, give
ourselves over to Him to do with as He pleases. That is what a sacrifice is. It is like the day Abraham was
told to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Apparently Isaac willingly allowed his father to bind him and put him
on the wood for the fire. There is no indication that Isaac tried to escape his father, and yet he must have
figured out what was coming as he lay there bound and on top of the wood for the fire, and Abraham had
the knife raised!
When Jesus begins to live out His life, we no longer operate on the basis of trying to stop our sinning
by keeping rules and laws. We rather give up our lives to Jesus every day. We have become a New Man
or New Creation
2Cor 5:17 (RSV) “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has
passed away, behold, the new has come."
The New Man has a new heart just as God promised in Ezek 36:26 (RSV) "A new heart I will give
you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give
you a heart of flesh."
Now this new heart along with our sanctified minds receives God’s laws: Heb 8:10 (RSV) "This is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws
into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
This is not something we work at; God does it all Himself. So through much tribulation and much
failure, we learn one thing: We cannot live the Christian life! Everyone’s history is the same. The more
we struggle and try and the more rules we put on ourselves, the less successful we are.
On the other hand, as we give ourselves over to Jesus or “Let go and let God”, Jesus begins to live
out His life through us. Amazing! Jesus is the only one who ever lived a sin free life! Amazing! We
always thought we could do it and we learn we cannot. But when we allow Jesus to take over and begin
to live in God’s grace, and when we set our focus on Jesus and not on ourselves or on sin, our lives begin
to come into order. Victories begin to come. But even if we fail, we remember that wonderful scripture in
Romans Chapter 8:
Rom 8:1-2 (RSV) “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin
and death."
We quit wringing our hands and worrying and striving over sins. We are dead to sin. It has no hold
over us. When sinful thoughts come at us, we know they are not ours, but they are from the devil. We, in
Jesus’ strength and believing He is working in us and through us, take every thought captive.
2Cor 10:5 (RSV) "We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of
God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,"
(Let me inject at this point: One of the ways Satan gains access to us is something Paul refers to in
Romans Chapter 7 as “sin that dwells in us”. This is a sort of “persona” of sin which Paul does not
explain, but through our flesh and the work of Satan, it feeds us thoughts from Satan which are lies. We
just need to understand that this “persona” is not us; it is not our thoughts and the source is the devil. So
we can take those thoughts captive unto Christ just as scripture tells us. We do not need to follow
ungodly thoughts that come to us as they are not from our “mind of Christ” but from the devil! A
riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Yes, we begin to allow Jesus to live out His life through us. We lay down our lives to Him, give
ourselves over to Him to do with as He pleases. That is what a sacrifice is. It is like the day Abraham was
told to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Apparently Isaac willingly allowed his father to bind him and put him
on the wood for the fire. There is no indication that Isaac tried to escape his father, and yet he must have
figured out what was coming as he lay there bound and on top of the wood for the fire, and Abraham had
the knife raised!
When Jesus begins to live out His life, we no longer operate on the basis of trying to stop our sinning
by keeping rules and laws. We rather give up our lives to Jesus every day. We have become a New Man
or New Creation
2Cor 5:17 (RSV) “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has
passed away, behold, the new has come."
The New Man has a new heart just as God promised in Ezek 36:26 (RSV) "A new heart I will give
you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give
you a heart of flesh."
Now this new heart along with our sanctified minds receives God’s laws: Heb 8:10 (RSV) "This is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws
into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
This is not something we work at; God does it all Himself. So through much tribulation and much
failure, we learn one thing: We cannot live the Christian life! Everyone’s history is the same. The more
we struggle and try and the more rules we put on ourselves, the less successful we are.
On the other hand, as we give ourselves over to Jesus or “Let go and let God”, Jesus begins to live
out His life through us. Amazing! Jesus is the only one who ever lived a sin free life! Amazing! We
always thought we could do it and we learn we cannot. But when we allow Jesus to take over and begin
to live in God’s grace, and when we set our focus on Jesus and not on ourselves or on sin, our lives begin
to come into order. Victories begin to come. But even if we fail, we remember that wonderful scripture in
Romans Chapter 8:
Rom 8:1-2 (RSV) “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin
and death."
We quit wringing our hands and worrying and striving over sins. We are dead to sin. It has no hold
over us. When sinful thoughts come at us, we know they are not ours, but they are from the devil. We, in
Jesus’ strength and believing He is working in us and through us, take every thought captive.
2Cor 10:5 (RSV) "We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of
God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,"
(Let me inject at this point: One of the ways Satan gains access to us is something Paul refers to in
Romans Chapter 7 as “sin that dwells in us”. This is a sort of “persona” of sin which Paul does not
explain, but through our flesh and the work of Satan, it feeds us thoughts from Satan which are lies. We
just need to understand that this “persona” is not us; it is not our thoughts and the source is the devil. So
we can take those thoughts captive unto Christ just as scripture tells us. We do not need to follow
ungodly thoughts that come to us as they are not from our “mind of Christ” but from the devil! A
