Lesson 57
October 20, 2002
Newness
of our Position in Christ and its impact on the Individual Christian
The
Provision that makes it all a reality
Intro:
Of primary importance are three areas of the
Christian life we need to examine that are pertinent to our overall study, but
even more important, they will help us
to come to grips with the awesome provision we have: (1) freedom in Christ, (2)
life in the Spirit, and (3) warfare against the flesh.
1. Freedom in Christ
Christian freedom flows out of our
"newness" in Christ.
Christian freedom is based on three things.
First, Christian freedom is based on the work of Christ
on the cross.
Two texts are particularly relevant to this facet
of freedom: John 8:36 and Galatians 5:1.
In Romans 6 Paul teaches that Christ has freed us
from bondage to sin through being identified with His death.
By believing
the gospel, the Roman Christians had been freed from sin and were now to
be enslaved to righteousness (6:18).
In Galatians 5 as we have noted is another plea
Paul makes to the Galatians that they
not return to the bondage that characterized their pre-Christian lives by
getting entangled in a new yoke of Jewish bondage.
The line of bondage was represented by Hagar,
Ishmael, Sinai, the old covenant, the present earthly Jerusalem, and Jews.
The line of freedom was represented by Sarah,
Isaac, the new covenant, the future heavenly Jerusalem, and Christians.
What we learned in Rom. 6 points out, here is the
positional aspect, you've died to the sin nature, you've been separated from
its power, that provision has been made
and in Rom 8 and Gal 5:16-26 we
have the mechanics for maintaining the reality of this separation in our life each day, moment by moment.
Second, Christian freedom is based on the truth (John
8:32).
The John's
emphasis on truth is astounding (see John 1:14, 17; 3:21; 4:23-24; 5:33;
8:32, 40, 44, 45, 46; 14:6, 17; 15:26; 16:13; 17:17, 19; 18:37; 1 John 1:6, 8;
2:4, 21; 3:18, 19; 4:6; 5:6; 2 John 1, 2, 3, 4; 3 John 1, 3, 4, 8, 12).
These two (Jesus , Holy Spirit) reveal the truth
to believers so that we might live in truth.
For Paul, Christians are not to live according to
the old pattern of malice and wickedness but according to the new pattern of
integrity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8),
and Christian love rejoices in truth (1
Cor. 13:6).
Paul's ministry as an apostle, as a servant, is a presentation of the truth (2 Cor. 4:2).
His concern for the Galatians is that they may
exchange truth for error (Gal. 2:5; 5:7).
The new man has been created by God in
righteousness and holiness [produced by] the truth (Eph. 4:24).
The truth frees one from a bondage to asceticism (1 Tim. 4:3) and results in godliness (Tit. 1:1).