Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
The union between Jesus Christ and the believer is a heavenly union. Our life, our identity, our value system are now hidden with Christ in God. Since we have been raised with Christ, our affections and desires are now to be set on things above. In other words, our lives should daily become altogether different. A genuine belief in The Lord Jesus Christ and heartfelt declaration that He is Lord of your life will inevitably change the way you behave. And that is what today’s study is all about. Behaving as a Christian is not about embracing certain regulations; it’s about submitting to Christ. It is about being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It is about being conformed by God to the image of His Son so that we desire and are enabled to do what His Word commands. To be a Christian is to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus is Lord, and His lordship not only affects our minds, teaching us what it is we are to believe, but it also affects our moral system, our attitudes and values, and changes the way in which we behave. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Scripture is realistic in its treatment of sin in the believer’s life. It recognizes that sin continues to pose a problem after conversion. No believer is forever done with sin because no believer is ever beyond the reach of temptation. If the devil could tempt the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, he can certainly find many areas to tempt the most holy, but flawed believer. But the good news is that because of our Lord’s victory on Calvary and the descent of The Holy Spirit, we may indeed be tempted to sin, but we need not yield, “for the law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2).
In other words, a regenerated, born again believer in Jesus Christ is not going to live a lifestyle of habitual sinning. Yes, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7), but the fact that Jesus Christ is our Advocate with The Father pleading our case for us when we confess our sin is not meant to encourage us to sin carelessly. The security and assurance that is ours in Christ is not a security that is isolated from walking in righteousness and holiness. It is not a justification that can be divorced from sanctification. The new birth that places us into Christ transforms us into His image. And this image is developed as we mortify the old life and put on the new man, or new life that we now have in Jesus Christ. The real test of our submission to the Lord Jesus Christ is pure and simple obedience. Jesus told His disciples: “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21). Repentance is much more than getting victory over sin. Repentance is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It is adopting a brand new way of thinking and living. Our repentance and love for Jesus will be as deep as our understanding the size of our debt and darkness of our sin and His love for us. Jesus taught us in Luke 7 that he who is forgiven much loves much, and he who loves, obeys. Selah
