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Part 4 - The Application of Faith
Reckoning the Separation through the Light of the Gospel
The believer has been set apart from darkness into the light of Christ. This
is a finished work of Jesus. Every believer has available to him the ability
to know God, for such knowledge comes through the Holy Spirit whom Christ
enabled to indwell the believer. Through Christ, the Logos, has come
God's revelation to mankind. This is the Bible, God's word. The Holy Spirit
communicates the truths of God's word to the believer, enabling him to walk
in the light.
God's part in redemption is the work, and man's part is faith. The work is
finished, but a person must apply faith to that finished work. The writer to
the Hebrews warns, "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest,
let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the
gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it" (Heb.
4:1-2).
The light of the gospel
The basic light that God has given is the light of the gospel. The starting
point of a saving relationship with God begins when the believer applies
faith to the gospel message. Paul the Apostle wrote of this to the
Corinthians: "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I
preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which
also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you;
unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which
I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to
the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 4:1-4).
Paul continues about the resurrection of Jesus, "For if the dead do not
rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is
futile; you are still in your sins!" (1 Cor. 15:16-17). Not only is faith
that "Christ died for our sins" essential, but also faith in His
resurrection. Paul expounds on this: "For since by man came death, by Man
also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:21-22). It is "in Christ" that
the believer is "made alive." This happens in the resurrection of Christ.
Concerning this Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and
believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26).
"Sanctify them by your truth"
Paul wrote previously, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1
Cor. 1:18). The message is the power of God to deliver a person when faith
is applied to that message. Satan is conducting spiritual warfare against
mankind in trying to blind them to the light of the gospel. Scripture shows,
"But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the
light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine on them" (2 Cor. 4:3-4). Because faith in the gospel message is so
powerful, there is a great attack against it by Satan.
Jesus prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is
truth" (John 17:17). As the Logos, the word of God, Jesus is
that truth. The sanctifying work of Christ is that which has
set apart the believer into the light of Christ, into the life of Christ,
into the body of Christ, and into the rule of Christ. Experiential
sanctification comes when the believer reckons this work by applying faith
and then abiding in this separation in Christ. When Jesus prayed, "Sanctify
them by Your truth," He is making a reference to that part of His
sanctifying work of bringing the believer into His light.
Baptized into Christ
Speaking of the necessity of reckoning the light of the gospel, Paul writes:
"Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through
baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if
we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also
shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man
was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that
we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed
from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no
more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He
died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God" (Rom.
6:3-10).
This is the first part of the answer to the question, "Shall we continue in
sin that grace may abound?" Paul in reply asks, "Do you not know?" It is
implied that all believers should know and reckon this basic truth of the
gospel: Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, was buried, and was
resurrected, and the believer is united together with Christ in that death
and resurrection. The believer is to reckon that he has been translated from
one kingdom to another through Christ. The death of Christ on the cross is
the death of "our old man," this being the old nature that was a slave to
sin. The believer has been freed from one life through death and now has a
new life in Christ. Death ends the dominion of sin.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind
Part of the definition of faith is that it is the "evidence of things not
seen." Here is where the believer must take an inventory of the work of
Christ and count it so: This deliverance is not visible on the worldly and
fleshly level. The believer is still living in a fallen world, and
inhabiting a fleshly body that is a part of that fallen world. The visible
kingdom is the one of sin and darkness. But on a spiritual level a whole new
reality takes precedence. The believer is a new creature in Christ, alive in
God's kingdom. The believer has a new nature, one that longs after the
righteousness of God. This spiritual reality, unseen by the flesh, is what
the believer must reckon. He must count it so and put faith in God's word
that says it is so. And he must do so despite what the flesh says.
Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God." There is a renewing of the mind that
takes place when one exercises faith in the light of God's word. A new
mindset will develop that will result in transformation. The Scripture says
to "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:2-3).
Paul demonstrates this faith in the gospel when he said, "For I through the
law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with
Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:19-20). Jesus said, "I am the ...
truth." As the Truth, Jesus is the object of reckoning, believing, and
trusting. Paul says, "Or do you not know," and again, "knowing this ..." One
is to reckon and believe the truth of Christ, and this begins with one's
deliverance from sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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