Incorruptible part 1
I feel like I've been working on this idea for a while, but I guess I haven't preached it all out of my heart yet, so here we go again: Through the cross a total and complete transformation took place. From old to new. From bondage to freedom. From death... to life. And this change was so complete that instead of merely turning over a new leaf, we were grafted into an entirely new tree! No longer the tree of death (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) but the Tree of Life! Look at 1 Peter 1:23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." A new seed. Not the old man polished up and made to (try to) shine. Because the old man was from the earth and he was earthy. I've heard it said, "Adam was a dirtbag," because he was made from the dust of the ground. He was connected to that earth realm. He tried to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. But that old man died in the watery grave of baptism. Actually, he died over 2,000 years ago on the cross. But in our individual lives, there is a powerful act of identifying with Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. It makes what is already true true for YOU, if I can say it that way. It is the laying aside of the sin that so easily besets us. The letting go of all of that "stuff" that would try to drag us down. And without all of that "stuff" tripping us up and dragging us down... we can walk in newness of life. Look at 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Ok. Right now I'm going to say what I think is the most important thing I'm going to say today: A seed can only produce after it's own kind. Apple seeds can only produce apple trees. So when we understand that Jesus IS the incorruptible seed, and when we understand that if the root is holy then the lump is holy, then we can begin to see OURSELVES as incorruptible! Because He is the vine and we are the branches. His seed remaineth in us because He lives in us. And because He lives in us, we live in Him! So what I'm saying is, the ONLY thing that can come from the Tree of Life... is life. A good tree can't bring forth bad fruit. And since we are "merely" branches of the tree anyway, it's not "us" doing the producing at all. We simply partake of the fruit that HE has produced, and we simply bear it; we share it with those who we come into contact with. Now watch this: "Incorruptable" in 1 Peter 1:23 is number 862 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "undecaying, immortal." Remember when Jesus said whosoever believed in Him would not perish? But have everlasting life? That's what we're dealing with here. When we were drawn out of Adam and into Christ... out of death and into life... we were drawn into JESUS' life. The incorruptible, everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of God. Something better, in both quantity and quality, than we could ask for or even think about. My point is, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). He is the light of the world. And YOU are the light of the world. There is no darkness in YOU at all. No matter what it might feel like sometimes. Because ALL of the time, as He is... so are we in this world. Absolutely incorruptible!