UNION WITH CHRIST - Author Unknown

 Our problem always was a spiritual problem: sin. Jesus didn't just identify with our problem; He became the problem. "He [God] made Him Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). The cure was radical. Jesus became sin and joined our old man to Himself. Thus, our old man died with Him. And when our old man died, sin was eradicated from our inmost being. We died to sin.

 Jesus didn't just die for us to forgive us. Through our spirit union with Him, He did something in us. He completely solved the sin problem. He took the sin nature out. As Paul said in Romans 6, he who has died is freed from --- cut off, separated from ---- sin. Says who? "I do," God says. "And if you ever catch up with Me, you'll see it."

 But if I have died to sin, why am I still tempted to sin? Why do I have this pull within me toward sin? Paul explained that in Romans 7. Though sin has been removed from our deepest inner being, it has not been eradicated from our body, our "members," as Paul put it. So we can still be pulled by the power of sin that dwells in our body, but not in our spirit.

 That's why it's so crucial to understand that our old man was crucified with Christ and that we died to sin. We are free from sin. That is a spirit level truth. Because if we live by our soul's thoughts and feelings, we feel sin's temptation and think that's the real us. It feels as if the real us wants to sin, so we conclude there must still be something wrong with the real us.

 To put it in theological terms, it feels like we have both an old nature (our old man) and a new nature (our new creation in Christ). Every outward appearance seems to verify that. The only thing that doesn't is what God says is true: "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him ... that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."

 The blood side of the cross labels us FORGIVEN. The body side of the cross labels us THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD (2 Corinthians 1:21). You're the righteousness of God. You're not just forgiven, but perfect and complete. In the unseen and eternal, you are a finished product.

We are: Forgiven  by His Blood

 We are: Righteous, Holy, Perfect, Complete By His Body

 The old man manifested his nature through us: sins. The new creation in Christ -- the new spirit man, born by God's Spirit in righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24) - manifests Christ's nature through us: righteousness. As we learn to live from the truth of what has happened in our  spirit, we will witness externally what God has already made an internal reality. We have been separated through death from the power of sin. We have become the righteousness of God. We have a total victory over sin.

 So the first thing we died to when we were crucified with Christ is sin. The second thing we died to is the law. The church drowns in confusion over the issue of the law. It has misunderstood it since the first century. Paul's epistle to the Galatians was written to set the record straight on this issue. But most of the church remains confused.

 The Scriptures could not be clearer about this. In exactly the same way that Paul said in Romans 6 that we died to sin, in Romans 7 he said that we died to the law.

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God ... But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the  Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. ( Rom. 7:4,6))

 It's not just the ceremonial or civil aspects of the Old Testament law that we have died to.  Many teach that. But after Paul stated that we have died to the law, he immediately provided an example--- straight from the Ten  Commandments: "You shall not covet" (Romans 7:7).

 Just as we no longer have any relationship to sin, we no longer have any relationship to the law, including the moral law. Just as sin no longer has any power over us, the law no longer has any power over us. We have died to sin. We have died to the law.

 Why did God crucify us to the law? Because although the law is holy and righteous and good (Romans 7:12), it has fulfilled its function in our lives. The law was given that it might reveal sin (Romans 3:20) and lead us to Christ:

 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Galatians 3:24-25)

 Once a person becomes a believer, the law actually hinders the fulfillment of God's purpose for our lives: that He might express His life in and through us. That is because the law by its nature sets a standard which we automatically try in our own effort to live up to. And the moment we do, we are living according to the flesh, from our own self-effort, rather than by faith, trusting Christ's life in us. That is exactly what Paul chastised the Galatians about:

 You foolish Galatians! ... Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1-3)

 God had to crucify us to the law, because as long as we were married to it (Romans 7:1-3) we were obligated to try (and fail) to keep it on our own. Having been crucified to it, we are free to allow Christ in us to naturally express His life through us. It is not us trying. It is us resting in Him as He produces His righteous fruit.

 The third thing we died to on the cross is ourselves as our point of reference. Paul testified in Galatians 2:20:

 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

 It's impossible for a person to know their union with Christ, and live out of that union, if they don't know that they have died with Christ. If I think that the old me is still alive, I am still my point of reference. If I am still my point of reference, I am still trying to correct me, straighten me up, make something out of me, or do something to change me. As long as my emphasis is upon me, it can't be upon Christ in me. So I'm a divided person.

 Oh, I can still live in the Romans 7 trap --- what I want to do I don't do; what I don't want to do I do --- but I've had enough of that, haven't you? I Want to be out of that. What Paul tells us in Romans 6 and 2 Corinthians 5 is that we really are out of that.

 When Paul poses the question, "Shall we continue in sin just to prove the reality of grace?" he concludes, "People who go on living like that don't really know they died in Christ." In other words, their point of reference hasn't been changed. Their point of reference is still themselves, and they think they are no good and want to sin. Consequently, they are excited about all of this grace of God that they can keep drawing on. Paul would say, "Yes, you can keep on drawing on the grace of God for everything you ever do, for every sin you ever commit. But WHY? Why not instead draw on the LIFE of God?"

 A friend of mine once said to me, "You know, until I really knew that I had been crucified with Christ, there was no way for me to get rid of me. Because I was still alive to me." It's so true. Until we know we've died, we're never going to be free of ourselves, and we will never experience union. We will still be a problem to ourselves. The spotlight will still be on us. That's where most Christians are living their life: "I've got to produce for God."

 Until the full work of the cross --- our death and resurrection with Christ --- becomes a reality to us, we will try to produce something that's not required of us. Our focus will still be on us, instead of Christ in us. And we will neglect to be involved in the glorious activity of God as He lives out through us for others. We participate in God's life when we see that we died to ourselves as our point of reference. Christ in us is now our point of reference in all things.

 Everything necessary for living the Christian life is provided in the cross, completely and properly understood. It's all in the cross. God hasn't omitted one thing from the cross that is necessary for us to allow Him to live His life through us.

 We must experientially know both sides of the cross: Christ died for us (the blood) and we died and were raised with Him (the body). In the next chapter, we will look at the "raised with Him" part. For now, it's absolutely fundamental to know that you died with Christ. You cannot know your union until God has shown you that the old you died. When you died, you died to sin. You died to the law. You died to yourself as your point of reference. As far as being an impediment to God, you are out of the way. The old you is not a factor anymore.

 It's a great victory to move into the reality of who you are in Christ. You have the privilege of seeing yourself the way He sees you. Your entire point of reference is now Christ who lives in you. You and He are one. He lives His life through you.

 We can continue to say, "That can't really mean me, because here I am and I know me. I know I'm not dead." Then we'll never know union. We'll never know Christ as our life. We may understand the concept of our death, but not truly know the truth of it in our inner being.

 If your death with Christ hasn't become an experiential reality to you yet, I encourage you to ask the Father to make it a reality: "Lord, I want to know. I want to know and experience the truth that I died with Christ. Reveal that to me and make it real in my life." He will.

 How God Saves Men

Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.

Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4

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Posted By Cecil  and Connie Spivey 

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