[Faith-talk] FW: IBGN~NEWSLETTER~ UNION WITH CHRIST PART 2 of 3 ~GRACE DAILY INSPIRATIONAL~ MARCH 14, 2012

[Eric Calhoun]

Original Message: 
From: PARIS <GraceNtheTruth at Cox.net>
To: GSmi2 at aol.com
Subject: IBGN~NEWSLETTER~ UNION WITH CHRIST    PART  2 of  3       
~GRACE DAILY INSPIRATIONAL~ MARCH 14, 2012
Date: 
Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:52:02 -0700




*UNION WITH CHRIST*
*PART  2 of  3*


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.








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