Resurrected with Christ

I know very well what it feels like to be enslaved to an addiction. To feel trapped, bound, and unable to run, walk or even move. I would dig up some will power and manage to resist for a time, but the urges would always return, and I would find myself in the same old patterns time and time again. I was wrapped up in chains of sin and could not find a way to escape.

It has taken years of work, but at last I have found some freedom and deliverance. I can look back now and see that while I was wrapped in chains, they were chains that I had forged myself. And while they were locked securely, I held the key, a key that had been given to me by the Lord.

Those chains were in reality lies, deceptions and false beliefs about who I was. I had deep and damaging misconceptions about my identity. One of the keys I have found to unlock those chains has come through understanding my true identity in Christ. Satan's lies convinced me that I was not a true child of God, and I could not be a real Christian if I was continually sinning and acting out with pornography. The truth is that no matter what I did or how I behaved I always have been and always will be a born-again child of God. I am in Christ and Christ is in me. I may struggle in sin, but my identity is still rooted in Christ, and nothing can change that.

In the last post we looked at the idea that when we come into a relationship with Christ, we become dead to sin. This means that sin has no power or authority over us. All too often it feels as if it does and threatens to strangle us and destroy us. But the reality is that sin is just a decaying corpse.

On the flip side of this is the truth that we are resurrected with Christ. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection... Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." (Romans 6:5-10)

When we trusted in Christ, we were crucified with him, and we are also resurrected with him. On the Cross, Jesus took upon himself all our sins and every unclean thing we ever thought or did. And then he died, taking our sin and guilt into the grave with him. After three days in the ground, by his own power and authority, he came back to life, leaving all our sins in the tomb behind him. The same power that raised Christ from the dead now resides within us and delivers us from the power of sin.

Jesus conquered death, sin and hell, there is nothing that can oppose him, and we have that same power residing within us. The resurrection power of Christ dwells within us and by faith, we tap into it and find deliverance and victory. This is who we are now. We are in Christ. We are resurrected with Christ. In Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God. His power dwells within us and there is nothing that can defeat us. We are more than conquerors through him that loves us. (See Romans 8:37) There is nothing that can stop us, there is nothing that can oppose us when we stand and fight in the power of Christ. The only reason we continue to struggle and fall is because we surrender. We lay down our weapons and stop fighting. We lose faith. We lose hope. But if we dedicate ourselves to the battle and hold fast to the sword of Truth no matter what, we cannot lose. We are already victors in Christ. We are already set free. We just need to believe it and live it out.

This means that we do not need to fight with our addictions. We do not need to wrestle with sin. We need only surrender to the Lord. We just need to rest in him, knowing, fully believing, and trusting that he has already won the battle and he will carry us through. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves, and this is okay, because Christ has already accomplished all that needs to be accomplished to secure our salvation.

Lazarus had been dead and sealed in the tomb for three days before Jesus showed up. His sisters Mary and Martha were upset and weeping, wondering why Jesus had waited three days to show up. Jesus ordered that the tomb be opened and then he called out, "Lazarus come forth!" and Lazarus came out, wrapped in grave clothes. His sisters helped him get unwrapped and they all celebrated Lazarus's return from the dead. (See John 11) Wouldn’t it be strange if Lazarus had decided to go back into the tomb? "I'm just going to live here now, guys. Jesus, thanks for resurrecting me, but I am pretty comfortable in this tomb. No need to bother unwrapping those grave clothes, I rather like them now."  That would be absurd. But this is often how we live with our sin and addiction. Christ has set us free, given us new life, why do we continue to wallow in the sin and sickness of this world?

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."(Galatians 5:1) Our bonds are broken. Our prison cell is unlocked. We are dead to sin and alive in Christ. We just need to step out of the darkness and deception and walk in the light of the truth, one day at a time.