The title of the study today is purposefully phrased as a question, to get you to think. Many times believers quote Bible facts as rote and dry text rather than wonderful realities to be celebrated and rejoiced over.
Today we are going to be examining the wonderful truth that we are risen with Christ. As we see the reality of our status in Christ, this truth will become more than words and phrases that we recite, but it will become a life-changing realization that will strengthen our relationship with Jesus.
Let’s begin our study today by reading Ephesians 2:1-9:
“And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
We see here in verse 1 that we have been quickened. This is past-tense, it is already done! We are not waiting for it to happen some time in the future or when we get to heaven. We are quickened right now.
We also see from verse 2 that in the past because we were dead in our sins, we walked according to the course of the world, this is the course of pride, selfcenteredness and lust; disobedience to God as mentioned in verse 3.
Verses 4 and 5 though contain a life-saving truth, that because God is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, even while we were still dead in our own sins, has quickened (made us alive together) in Christ Jesus. Verse 5 also points out that this saving is by Grace and not the Law. Which we will examine in more detail later.
Next in verse 6, we are told that we have been raised up and made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I emphasized that last part because this tells us the secret to this raising up, and also the secret to being seated in such a position of honor and glory… it is all in Christ. None of these benefits can be achieved, received or maintained apart from Christ.
Verse 7 expounds further by showing us that it is God’s desire to show mercy, again through Christ Jesus. This is not mercy because God has gone soft on sin. Sin is deadly serious, but God can show us mercy through Christ Jesus because He has taken our place and our punishment, so that we can take His place of honor and glory.
Verses 8 and 9 make it doubly-clear again that this salvation is by Grace and through faith in Jesus Christ and not by our own good works or self-effort that we are saved from judgment and damnation.
Now please turn with me to Romans 7:1-6:
“Know you not, brothers, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
For the woman which has an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband lives, 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.
Why, my brothers, 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 we should bring forth fruit to 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 to 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.”
These are very common verses for believers, but many fail to understand the principle being taught by Paul here. These verses that we have just read, explain in detail why Jesus died and what was accomplished.
Verse 1 states that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives, as long as we are alive in our flesh we are under the law; subjugated to it.
Next in verses 2 and 3 we see that Paul draws the analogy between the Covenants of Law and Grace, and a marriage covenant. How many of you know that a marriage is a covenant and a covenant is a marriage? It’s not a little plaything that you can try out and then decide “ah well, maybe not” It is a serious decision. The world tries to diminish the importance of marriage and treat it simply as like deciding what to eat for breakfast, but no, God takes it seriously.
Notice that Paul says, a woman is married to her husband as long as he lives. So again we see that the bondage to the law is until death. Notice also, that it says as long as he lives. This is an important detail that we will see more of in a moment… If the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
Verse 4 then starts to put the pieces together, saying that we also have become dead to the law through the body of Jesus Christ. You see the Law of God can not die – it is eternal… we die, but God’s law does not. So in order to spare us from death, Jesus died in our place so that today e can be married to another without being in spiritual adultery. And it is this new spiritual covenant that causes us to bring fruit to God. You see, there are those today who are clinging to the law and they recoil at the idea of Grace because they are afraid that Grace leads to sin – but Grace is not a doctrine, Grace is the person of Jesus Christ.
These people who cling to the Law in the hope that it will produce holiness fail to understand the purpose of the law to begin with, and the nature of it. The law was never given to make people holy, but to expose our lack and need for Jesus. We know this from Romans 5:20, which tells us that the law was given so that sin would abound and we would see our own need for the Savior, Jesus.
Those who cling to the law today, are actually rejecting Jesus in favor of something that can never save them. You can not be under the Law and not be under the curse. Because the Law of God is perfect, and demands complete perfection from us. Galatians 3:9-10 makes it clear that whoever is under he Law must continue in all things written therein and all who are of the works of the law are under the curse.
Under God’s perfect Law even 99.99% obedience is 100% failure.
Those who fight for the law and cling to it say there there must be a balance, partial law and partial grace, but as we have just seen in scripture, the Bible knows no such thing. What really makes people fight for the Law is not a love for God truly deep down, but pride… they are unwilling to admit their total helplessness in needing Jesus as their Savior.
This is why verse 5 says what it says: While we were in the flesh, the motions of sins worked in us to bring forth fruit, not to God but to death, because our own efforts can never save us.
Now again, this is where some people today have a problem. They say “if you teach Grace completely apart from the law, then people can live however they want and sin freely.” but this argument demonstrates a lack of understanding of the Grace of God. The Bible calls Moses a servant, but Jesus is the Son. One of the reasons Jesus died was to move us out of the realm of being a servant, and into the realm of being a son.
So today do we obey God? Yes. But the spirit of our obedience is different. How many understand that your obedience to your boss at work is different than your obedience to your father whom you love. You obey both, but one is more formal and cold and one is more warm and close. And a servant never has the rights and privileges of a son. The son will always enjoy the privileges of family, while a servant never will.
Jesus is sinless. Peter said that Jesus knew no sin, Paul said Jesus did no sin and John said in Jesus was no sin. So Jesus was perfectly and completely without sin. Totally sinless. But when Jesus hung on that cross He took upon Himself all of your sins and mine and He hung there as the total and complete wrath and judgment of God and the punishment for sin under the law was poured out upon Him. Unimaginable suffering.
The final act of the law, the maximum that the law can do; is curse you to death. And when you die under the law the law is finished and can not do anything beyond that. My friends, you need to know that Jesus bore your death on that cross. What He did was for you, you were in Him on that cross. When He died you died, and when He died I died. Our sins were laid on Him and He before the complete punishment – even submitting to physical death. The Law is satisfied and paid for.
So when the Bible speaks of raising us up together and making us sit together in Christ, as we read earlier in Ephesians 2:6, we now understand that when Christ rose again, we rose with Him and when Christ sat down at the right hand of God the Father, we also sat down with Him. We are in Him.
If you have not accepted Christ as your LORD and Savior, you have not yet died and the law still has jurisdiction over you. Even if you go to church and smile and sing and you may even talk about Jesus and grace a lot, but if you have not received Him into your life as LORD and savior, then you have not died and rose with Him, you have not been born again and the law still has dominion over you and you are still under the curse.
Now I want you to understand that being risen with Christ Jesus today is better than merely living on this earth. When you are living, what you have to look forward to on this earth is death, but when you are risen with Christ, where is death? It is already behind you! The curse is behind you, the judgment and punishment of God is already behind you!
Does that truth make you want to go out and sin and slap Jesus in the face? Or does it make you want to laugh and sing and dance and shout praise and Thanksgiving to God!
Every believer in Jesus today should live this reality in their life. Don’t act like this is a normal life where sickness and disease and the curse of sin is a reality, but live life as if you are truly alive from the dead, in praise and thanksgiving to God for raising you. This is not a self-centered life, but a Jesus-centered life in Christ.
So I encourage you today, rejoice daily that you are risen with Christ. The devil has no power over those who are in Christ. The devil has power over those who are living under the law, remember that his name Ha-Satan, means “prosecutor”, he enforces the Law and curse in your life, but his ultimate power is death. For those who are in Christ, we have already died and are free from the law under the New Covenant of Grace.
Remind yourself of that every day, live the truly Jesus-centered life, and you will bear fruit to God, filled with praise and thanks. And I promise you, that the desire for sin will die, because sons who know that their father loves them and are filled with the father’s love will naturally honor and obey their father without any need for laws. This is the life of a son in Christ.
Give Jesus the praise, and rejoice that today you are risen and seated with Him.
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