LIVING A RESURRECTED LIFE
1. The Cross is an inclusive term which refers to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
a. To preach the Cross means to preach what happened in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ — why the Cross happened and what the Cross provided.
b. Christians waste a lot of time and energy asking God to give them what He has already done for us and given us through the Cross.
c. Now, it is a question of us knowing what God has provided and learning to walk in it.
2. The Bible teaches that we were crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20), died with Christ (Rom 6:8), were buried with Christ (Rom 6:4), were made alive with Christ (Eph 2:5), were raised up with Christ
(Eph 2:6).
a. Jesus went to the Cross — death, burial, and resurrection — to pay for our sins, to make it possible for God to legally remove our sins, so that God could give us His life, His resurrection life.
b. Jesus took our death on the Cross or became our substitute. Once He took our place He identified with us — on the Cross He became what we were. His death became our death.
c. We were united with Jesus in death so that we could be united with Him in life, so that when life was given back to Jesus at the resurrection, it could be given to us as well because Jesus was there for us as us.
d. That life, resurrection life, was given to us legally at the resurrection. It was given to us vitally at the new birth. I Pet 1:3
3. As Christians, we are now supposed to live a resurrected life. In this lesson, we want to talk about what a resurrected life is and how you live it.
1. Jesus was raised to new life by the glory of the Father. That means we were raised to new life by the glory of the Father.
a. We are now to walk (live) by the glory of the Father which raised Jesus and us from the dead — live by resurrection life.
b. A note about the word baptism. This verse is not talking about something which happens to us when we are water baptized.
1. The word baptism in the Greek is BAPTIZO. The word was not translated from Greek to English in the KJV. The word actually means to immerse.
2. The NT refers to several immersions or baptisms besides water baptism. We can be immersed in the Holy Spirit subsequent to the new birth.
c. At the new birth we are immersed in or put into Christ — union with Christ. This verse refers to our union with Christ. At the new birth, when we are united to, immersed in Christ, the results of His death and resurrection go into effect for us, vitally.
2. What is the glory of the Father which raised Christ from the dead?
a. It is the life of God. On earth, the man Jesus lived by the life of God in His human spirit. He was cut off from that life when He was made sin on the Cross. That life was given back to Him when the price for our sins was paid (He was justified and made alive in spirit again). That life was given to us at the new birth. I Tim 3:16; I Pet 3:18
1. Eph 2:5–Our sins had made dead men of us, and He, in giving life to Christ, gave life to us, too. (Knox)
2. Eph 2:5–He gave us the very life of Christ, the same new life with which He quickened Him. (Amp)
b. It is the power of God. Eph 1:19,20
1. This power in us is the same as the mighty strength which He used when He raised Christ from the dead. (Good News)
2. And how tremendous is the power available to us who believe in God. That power is the same divine energy which was demonstrated in Christ. (Phillips)
c. We now have in our spirits the life of God, resurrection life, life that has already conquered death.
1. The life of God is the power of God because this life has destroyed and will destroy death.
2. John 1:4,5–His life is a light that shines through the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. (Living)
3. Ultimately, after the resurrection of the dead and the rapture of the Church, that life will transform our physical body and make it just like Jesus’ glorified body. Phil 3:20,21
1. Legally, when Jesus was freed from the dominion of the death and the devil, we were, too.
a. That freedom became our vital possession at the new birth. Receiving spiritual life released me from spiritual death and the dominion of the devil.
b. Rom 8:2–The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death.
2. What is the law of sin and death?
a. People who are guilty of sin are under the dominion of death. That is the law. Rom 6:23
b. Before we were saved we were in a fallen race, in sin, and were guilty of sin, and death rightfully reigned over us and in us.
c. Because of the law of sin and death, we didn’t have to pray or fast or use our faith to get sickness, depression, fear, guilt, lack, etc. They were ours in Adam.
3. Rom 6:9–Because our sins have been paid for death has no more dominion over Jesus or over us.
a. If you are not guilty of sin death cannot hold you (Acts 2:24). We are not guilty of sin anymore because Jesus paid the price for our sins and satisfied the claims of justice against us.
b. Just as receiving life broke the dominion of death over Jesus, receiving life broke its dominion over us.
4. We were legally united with Christ at the Cross. We were vitally united to Him in the new birth. We are now in Christ. We have life in Christ, in union with Christ.
a. The life of Christ in s has broken the dominion of sin and death over us, and that’s a law.
b. The wages of sin — sickness, fear, pain, depression, guilt, lack, etc. — are all trespassers now. We have the legal right to resist them in Jesus’ name.
c. And because we were raised up with Jesus and seated with Him in heavenly places, we now have the authority to command them to go.
1. When Jesus incarnated, He took on a full human nature — spirit, soul, and body. Every part of Him was put to death on the Cross. That means every part of us was crucified.
a. At the Cross, from the standpoint of God, you were legally executed for your sins.
b. At the resurrection you were legally given new life and raised up from the dead free from sin and all its consequences — free from the law of sin and death.
c. Both death and life come to us through the Cross death to the old man and life for the new man.
2. When you make Jesus Lord of your life what happened at the Cross goes into effect in you and for you, vitally. But the vital results affect each part of our makeup — spirit, soul, and body — differently.
a. At the new birth the life of God came into your spirit and drove out your old spiritual nature (death) and your spirit was made totally and instantly new.
b. However, the benefits of the Cross affect you soul and body differently.
1. Your soul and body are still alive with natural human life which is corrupt. There are still selfish, sinful desires in your soul and body (your flesh). And, your body is still subject to sickness and disease.
2. The fact that your soul and body were crucified with Christ means that the power of your natural human life (your flesh) to dominate you was broken.
3. The fact that your body was crucified with Christ means that sickness and disease have lost the right to dominate you. Their power to dominate you has been broken.
3. You must now appropriate by faith the benefits provided for your soul and body through the Cross. To appropriate means to come into physical possession of the benefits of the Cross.
a. That means you must believe you have it before you see it or feel it because you know what the Cross has provided.
1. Your diseases were put on Jesus and He took them to the grave and left them there. Isa 53:4,5
2. When Jesus was raised to new life, He was freed from your diseases and so were you, legally.
Through the new birth you now have healing, health, in your spirit. From God’s point of view you are healed — legally and vitally. I Pet 2:24
b. However, your body is still mortal and therefore subject to sickness and disease. Now, the invisible spiritual reality you have in your spirit (healing) must become a visible, physical reality in your body.
1. That takes place as you know what happened at the Cross and through the new birth and agree with God about what He has done for you through the Cross and the new birth.
2. Thank you Lord that Jesus bore my sicknesses on the Cross as well as my sins. I am now free from both. Thank you that I am healed, that I am free.
3. Then, the Holy Spirit brings the reality of it into your physical body. The life of Christ is manifested in your body and it produces physical results. Rom 8:11
c. Even though you are born again, there are still selfish, sinful desires in your soul and body because they are still animated by, alive by, natural human life.
1. When you feel sinful desires coming out of your natural life — either your soul or body — you must count on the fact, agree with the fact that it (they) was (were) crucified with Christ.
2. Thank you Lord, this desire was crucified with Christ and no longer has the right or power to dominate me.
3. Then, the Holy Spirit will put to death or make to die that evil desire or give you the experience of the freedom which the Cross provided. Rom 8:13,14
4. According to the Bible, you and I must reckon ourselves dead to sin and its wages and alive to God.
a. To reckon literally means to take an inventory — to consider or to count. You must assess what you are, what happened to you, what will happen to you according to God’s word.
b. Rom 6:11–In the same way you must regard yourselves as dead to sin and live to God, in union with Christ Jesus.
5. To live a resurrected life you must understand the two-sided benefit of the Cross for us. We were crucified with Christ yet we are alive with the life of God. Gal 2:20
a. And, you must reckon or count it so despite what you see or feel.
b. The number one way you count it so is with the words of your mouth — words that agree with what God has done to you by crucifying you with Christ and by raising you up with Christ.
c. Then, the Holy Spirit gives you the experience or brings it to pass in the physical realm.
d. Your confession is not to make it happen. Your confession is because it has already happened.
1. The crucifixion was a means to an end — so God could execute us for our sin and then start over by giving us new life, His eternal life.
a. To live a resurrected life means to live with an awareness of the power that was broken or cut off at the resurrection — the power of sin, sickness, and death.
b. To live a resurrected life means to live with an awareness of the power that was given to us in the resurrection — the power (life) of God to recreate us, empower us, work in us, and bring to pass everything the Cross provided.
2. To live a resurrected life, you must do these things.
a. You must first know what the Cross has provided. That is why we take time to study. I Cor 1:18
b. Ask God to give you understanding of what has happened to you because of the Cross.
Eph 1:16-20; Phil 3:10
c. Focus your attention on unseen realities through looking at God’s word. Col 3:1,2
1. Affection is the word mind in the Greek. We are to keep our mind focused on God’s word so we won’t be moved when what we see and feel contradicts God’s word.
2. Num 21:8–Whoever looked at a type of Christ on the Cross (John 3:14) was healed. Looketh has the idea of gazing continually.
d. Hold fast to saying what God says about you because of the crucifixion and resurrection — despite what you see or feel. Rev 12:11; Heb 10:23
3. Three things hold us back from a resurrected life: lack of knowledge, lies of the devil, not staying with it on our part until we are fully persuaded of what we cannot yet see.
a. It’s not about getting God to do something. It’s knowing what has been provided.
b. Jesus has broken the power of death over us in all its forms. When we become so persuaded of it that we are no longer moved by what we see and feel, then we will see the power of the resurrection demonstrated in our lives.