Quickened part 5
There was a time when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Before the cross. But that time has passed. We have been brought out of death and into life. Now let me say that another way. "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20). And I've ONLY ever heard this verse preached as a stop gap against bad behavior. "We all sin, but when grace abounds we can stop!" That sort of thing. But there's another verse in the Bible that says, "Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1 John 3:9). When we stop seeing sin as whatever society deems "bad behavior," and start seeing it as unbelief... that's when we can understand that a believer cannot sin. By definition. We can stop trying to act a certain way--which will never be anything more than an act--and we can start being who we really are. You can't be who you really are unless you know who you really are. How could you? So where sin (unbelief) abounded... before the cross... grace did much more abound... on and through the cross. Where death ruled and reigned (in a sense)... before the cross... life showed up and defeated death... on and through the cross! Look at Ephesians 2:5, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace year are saved)." Grace saved us when we were dead. LIFE saved us. When Jesus died on the cross WE died on the cross. It was the second death, the death OF death. And from that death came life. One more verse, "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die" (1 Corinthians 15:36). The seed goes into the ground and dies, and from that death comes forth life. Jesus is that seed. And we are that seed. Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin... for His seed remaineth in him! When Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross He drew all men into Himself. And He planted Himself in all men. He died on the cross... so that He--and we in Him--could live. And not just live, but experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. The life of love! Love is the difference between life and death. No love, no life. Know love, know life! The greatest expression of love that a man can have is to lay his life down for his friends. That's what Jesus did for us, and as us. He died so that we could die. Rose again to life so that we could live. So that we could experience His life as He lives it Himself in us, and through us, and as us. We have been quickened in Him. By Him. Through Him. Because of love. When we were dead in sins--before the cross--He quickened us. Brought us out of death and into life. HIS life. Because He loves us. Because He wanted us to have His life. God wanted the best for us--what father wouldn't?--so He gave the best to us. He gave us His only begotten Son so that we would have something (someONE, love) to believe in. Love is the difference between life and death. Period. You can't live without love because life IS love. To live is to love and to love is to live!