ANB 72, newness of life part 1 (3-16-06)

This week we should talk about just what it means to be 'born again.' The fact is that unless we are born
again we can never go to heaven. That's right, only 'born again' Christians will go to heaven. I know that
sounds a bit harsh, but I didn' t say it first, Jesus did. "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' (John 3:3). As far as every other person on earth is
concerned, they will either come to see that Christ is the only Messiah, the only 'Lamb of God who takes
away the sins of the world,' or they will not enter heaven. Their sins have condemned them already.
Some people don't accept Christ now, but will later. I pray that everyone does, but for our purposes we
must understand, "Marvel not I said unto thee, you must be born again." (John 3:7).

Now one could say much on the reality of 'born again' status, but today I want to focus on issue: that our
sinful nature has been destroyed from off of us. We will focus on Roman 6, 7 and 8 today for our gaining
of wisdom. Praise God.

You should understand that man is born into sin, tainted by original sin, and with a sin nature. Even if
you never committed any sin (show me that person), you have this sin nature and so your heart is sinful
(Genesis 8:21). Without perfection, absolute perfection, you cannot see God. Who can say they have
kept all the commandments their entire life, no one can. There is none righteous, no not one. (See
Romans 3:10, 19 and 20). But Jesus was not factored in to that statement, He was and is the only One
Righteous. God made Jesus, Who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that w! e might be made the
Righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21). So on the cross, before Jesus went to hell, yes
Jesus went to hell and suffered there for 3 days or so, Jesus became sin. He exchanged His perfection,
His righteous nature, for our sin nature, and so He took our place in hell. He paid the penalty for every sin
that would ever be committed, so we never have to pay a single penalty for our sin. Glory to God.

Now, when we are born again we follow Christ in what He did in many ways. This happens to you in an
instant, when you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus was raised from the dead
and is Lord in today, you are born again (See Romans 10). When you are born again, you die and are
reborn. You don't die physically (you would have noticed) but you die spiritually. You are reborn
spiritually, glory to God. Instead of having a black sp! irit, a sinful spirit, you have a perfect and righteous
heart before God. There is a blood covering over your spirit, and it can never be black again. So let us
talk about this reality and look at some scripture.

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Don't you know that all of us that were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? . . . Knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Knowing
that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death has no more dominion over Him. For in that
He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise reckon you also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans
6:2,3,6,9,10,11.

What a wonderful passage, we are buried with Him and we should also live as He lives now. Christ was
freed from sin (vs. 7), so He was once joined to it (just before He died, after He exchanged His perfect
nature with ours). Similarly, we were joined to sin once, but now we are freed from it, that we may be
joined to Christ Jesus and His righteousness. "Wherefore my brethren, you also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to Him Who is raised from the
dead, that you should bring forth fruit unto God."

We are now to be married to Christ, and 1 Corinthians 6 tells us that He who is joined to the Lord is one
Spirit with Him. We have been freed from sin over us.

I believe the most powerful verse is the one that tells us to reckon ourselves dead unto sin. Any! time you
hear a Christian say something like, I'm just an old sinner, you need to think about this. Those words
should never come out of your mouth. That Christian doesn't understand that God no longer sees this
person as a sinner, He sees this person as "The Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." You should
forget sin in every way. We are to forget the past. We are to focus on the now and the future. The now
and the future is righteousness, the dead and gone is sin. Yes, you may sin again in the future, but that
doesn't change your status as righteous before God. The impenetrable wall of Jesus' blood covers all
your sins. Praise God.

If we will realize that sin has no more dominion over us, that we are dead to it, then we will realize how
God sees us, as perfect because of Jesus' perfection bestowed on us. Glory to God. Sin is destroyed
over you, you should no! more serve it (see Romans 6:13-23). You must forget the presence of sin in
your life, forget that you were a sinner and that you liked to sin. Realize you are righteous and moreover
you are empowered to live righteously. You need no more serve sin. By faith, we can now stay
connected to Christ and fulfill God's perfect will for our lives (Romans 12:2).

The battle is over, the war is won. You don't need to struggle with sin anymore. What you do have to do
is allow the Holy Spirit to lead you out of sinful behavior and into righteous behavior. You must
begin yielding yourself to God, yield yourself to goodness. (Read all of Romans 6) When you do this, you
will walk out the victory over sin that Jesus has already obtained. He obtained it for us, it's time that we
live it. Glory to God. Amen.