Spiritual amnesia. We all suffer from it. That tendency that afflicts us all as believers to forget the truth of who we are in Christ. Those united to Christ by faith, blessed recipients of the great salvation that is ours in Him.
So, why not take some time this Easter to have a look at this week's study, maybe with a friend or family member, to renew your mind in the truth of who you are in Christ and all that you have in Him.
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RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
READ:
2 Corinthians 5:17;21.
OBSERVE:
Underline every reference to the phrase IN CHRIST / HIM.
CONSIDER:
What is true of anyone who is in Christ?
INSIGHT:
BE SIN - “Christ was not guilty, and could not be made guilty; but he was treated as if he were guilty, because he willed to stand in the place of the guilty. Yea, he was not only treated as a sinner, but he was treated as if he had been sin itself in the abstract. This is an amazing utterance. The sinless one was made to be sin.” (Charles Spurgeon)
BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD - Those who through faith in Christ (Romans 3:21-26) are no longer under God’s condemnation (justified) because God the Father has punished Christ for our sins who bore them for us on the cross and credited us with the perfect righteousness of His Son. What a glorious exchange!!
DEAD TO SIN
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
READ:
Romans 6:6-7;11.
OBSERVE:
Underline the phrase WITH HIM;
Circle every reference to the phrase IN ORDER THAT / SO THAT;
Put a box around the phrase CONSIDER YOURSELVES.
INSIGHT:
OLD SELF – old nature that loved sin and hated God.
BODY OF SIN – our body controlled by sin.
CONSIDER:
V6-7 What was crucified with Christ? Why?
V11 What truth are we to believe and to live in the light of?
DEAD TO THE LAW
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
READ:
Romans 7:4-6:
OBSERVE:
Underline every reference to the phrase DIED TO THE LAW / THAT;
Circle every reference to the phrase SO THAT / IN ORDER THAT;
Put a box around the phrase NEW WAY OF THE SPIRIT.
INSIGHT:
DIED TO THE LAW – those redeemed from the curse of the Law through the death of Jesus, justified through faith in Him, and have received the promised Holy Spirit who empowers them to obey God’s commands from the heart (Galatians 3:10-14).
CONSIDER:
V4 How have we died to the law? Why?
V5-6 What ‘before and after’ picture are we given in these verses?
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
READ:
Ezekiel 36:26-27.
OBSERVE:
Underline every reference to the phrase I WILL;
Circle the phrase CAUSE YOU TO WALK.
CONSIDER:
V26 What did God promise to do in us?
V27 What will the Spirit within us cause us to do?
A promise gloriously fulfilled for all who are in Christ!!
LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
READ:
Romans 8:1-4.
OBSERVE:
Underline every reference to the phrase IN CHRIST JESUS;
Circle the phrase GOD HAS DONE;
Put a box around the phrase IN ORDER THAT.
CONSIDER:
V1-2 What is true now (and forever) for those who are in Christ Jesus?
How do these truths provide comfort and strengthen us in our ongoing battle with sin (See Romans 7:14-25)?
V3 What has God done so we could be justified (no longer condemned) in His sight?
V4 What is the evidence that we have been justified?
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
READ:
Galatians 5:16-18;22-23.
OBSERVE:
Underline every reference to the SPIRIT;
Circle every reference to the FLESH;
Put a box around the phrase WANT TO DO.
CONSIDER:
V16 What happens when we walk by the Spirit?
V17 What do those, indwelt by the Spirit, most want to do? How can this truth give us hope in our sinful failures?
V22-23 What fruit will the Spirit grow in us?
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
READ:
Romans 8:5-6.
OBSERVE:
Underline every reference to the phrase SET THEIR MIND(S);
Circle the phrase LIFE AND PEACE.
CONSIDER:
V5-6 What do those who live according to the Spirit do? What is the outcome of doing so?
INSIGHT:
“...wherever your mind goes most naturally and freely when there is nothing else to distract it – that is what you really live for. That is your religion. Your life is shaped by whatever preoccupies your mind. The overcoming of sin in our lives begins in our minds; and victory over sin is only ever the result of having minds set on the Spirit.” (William Temple)
Let’s finish then by setting our minds on one more glorious truth from Romans 8.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
READ:
Romans 8:28-30.
OBSERVE:
Underline every reference to THOSE;
Circle the phrase CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON;
Put a box around the word GLORIFIED.
CONSIDER:
V28 Who are those for whom God works all things together for good?
V29 What is the good that God works all things together for?
V30 How can we be sure that we will one day be glorified - fully and finally conformed to the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ?