Resurrection Power

With all of the widespread popularity of the “sinners saved by grace” mindset of the sugary Gospel of Christian ‘grace,’ I just have to ask this one question? Do those who believe in this supposed ‘grace,’ really believe that Christian tradition is going to raise them from the dead one day? Do you really believe that a Gospel that doesn’t deliver from sin now is going to deliver from death at the Lord’s coming? The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). That’s pretty simple. And for those who want to cleave to this modern Christian Gospel, what do you do with the following powerful passage of scripture? "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin" (Rom.6:1-7). Friend, if you can’t see that this passage of scripture is telling us that we are going to have to be literally [not symbolically or figuratively] free from sin in order to be raised from the dead, then I’m afraid you just can’t see, period. If not though, then try this one on for size: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even AS HE is pure” (I Jn. 3:2,3). Make no mistake, the ‘hope’ that John speaks of here, is the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus said, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). That power my friend is for true deliverance from, and power over, sin; as the previous passage of scripture plainly conveys. That power is for something else as well, provided that we get power over sin and put it to death in ourselves: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11). Again the apostle Paul says the same thing: "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power" (I Cor. 6:14). Sin separates from God, and how does anyone think that they can retain sin in their life, and at the same time not be accountable for it; and also be raised from the dead at the Lord’s coming? We cannot be joined to the Lord now if we have sin, because he doesn’t have sin; and we will not be joined to him at his coming if we go to our death with sin in our lives, because we will still be separated from him. Friend that’s just plain sense. The devil has simply been allowed to tell too many lies for too long, and he really needs for his mouth to be shut! The Gospel that allows for sin is not the gospel of Christ. Jesus did not come here to suffer and die, merely for us to be in the same shape we were in before he came. "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (Rev. 3:5). Overcome what? Sin, of course. That is all that is wrong with man - sin. That is why Jesus came, to give us power to be delivered and redeemed from sin, in reality and truth, not figuratively. The symbolic system was under the law, but Jesus has provided something better that what the law could do (Rom. 8:2-4; Heb. 7:19; Heb. 9:13,14). If we’re going to expect to be real about the resurrection of the dead, we’d better be real about being delivered from sin now - by the grace of God through Jesus Christ the Lord (Tit. 2:11-14). Amen.