Passed From Death to Life
The real secret to manifesting this life as a child of God is given to us in 1 John chapter 3.
I want you to understand the foundation for it. Romans 6:1-5 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?…God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?…Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?..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…For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”
We are identifying with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Notice the illustrations God gives us here. The first thing He says is that our old man is dead. Our old man died with Christ. Romans 7:1-6 says, “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?…For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband…So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man…Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God…For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death….But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
This passage illustrates that we were once married to our old nature, our sin nature. God says that this marriage has been dissolved. You may say, “I still have the old man!” There are times that I sense this old man and there are times when sin has its way because I give in. There are times when I act as if this marriage has not been dissolved.
Notice some special words in Romans 6. The first word, “knowing,” is found in verse 6. This means that we are to know that Christ died, that He was buried, that He rose from the dead, and that He paid the sin debt in full. The word “reckon” is found in verse 11. We know and reckon this: that Christ died. No one can demand a payment from me, because I know that Christ paid the demand in full and I reckon myself to be dead with Him. Then in verse 13, notice the word “yield.” You see, I am no longer a victim of sin. If I yield my life to Him, I am going to have His resurrected power and have victory.
1 John 3:5-6 says, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin….Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” It is our vision of God that determines the difference in our daily living. It is keeping our eyes upon the Lord that makes the difference.
Then God says in verse 7, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” In other words, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). Do not be deceived by someone who is living like a child of the devil, yet telling you that he is a child of God. If he is truly a child of God, he will live righteously.
1 John 3:8 says, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” The devil cannot do anything but sin. He hates righteousness. If you take a righteous person and put him in an environment of unrighteousness and ungodliness, that person will be completely uncomfortable. If you take an unrighteous person who is a child of the devil, and you put him around the things of God and the people of God, he become very uncomfortable.
Some of you have family and friends that you love deeply. Now that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, even those you love deeply who are not followers of Christ are uncomfortable. It is your righteous living that makes them uncomfortable because they are children of the devil by nature. They must become children of God by faith. We must pray for their salvation.
The Bible says in 1 John 3:9, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” What is this “seed” that is mentioned in this verse? 2 Peter 1:1-4 says, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:…Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,…According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:…Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
The Bible says in 1 John 3:10, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” If you are not living a righteous life and do not desire to be right with God, then you are still a child of the devil. Be sure that you are a child of God and recognize that if you have never been born again, by your very nature you are still a child of the devil. The only way your can become child of God is by the new birth.
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” 1 Peter 1:15-16
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