The Old Adam Lives!

Each and every person on this planet faces their own cross.

We will either go to it in this life, or the next.

When I see a cross, that is the first thing I am reminded of…that I will not escape it. The world will have it’s way with me unto the grave.

But that grave will not hold me. Death’s power, it’s sting, is no longer permanent thanks to that very same cross.

Romans 6:3 -11

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?   4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.   5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.   7 For he who has died is freed from sin.   8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.   9 For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.   10 The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.   11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

In my baptism, God has already put me to death…along with Christ Jesus.

But He has raised me from the dead, also…along with Christ Jesus.

This is His promise.

Maybe our promises aren’t always fulfilled, but God never breaks His promises.

That is something we can count on.

And if that is not enough for us, He reinforces that promise and works in us His good and gracious will, giving us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation each time we ingest His body and blood, and each time we hear His Word preached or taught. And that is apart from anything that we do, say, feel, or think.

No, it’s not magic. 

It is the power of God through the gospel for all who have faith.  The very same faith that He gave us when we were dead in our sins and trespasses.

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Does this post give you trouble?  Do you feel uneasy with it?

Or do you feel relief?  Freedom?  The joy of a new life…yet given to you once again?

Filed under: Baptism, Death, Freedom, The Gospel |