12/06/23 FACT AND FAITH

12/06/23 FACT AND FAITH

The fact of the cross (the death, the sacrificial death, the death and physical resurrection) of Christ does not save us from our sins. It is essential to our salvation, it is necessary for our salvation, but the fact of the crucifixion and resurrection does not save anyone (as evidenced in the Holy Bible). God requires that we must believe (we must have faith), we must believe and confess that Christ died for our sins and that He was raised from the dead physically (also according to the Holy Bible).

So, yes, the cross is essential, fundamental, focal in our salvation (our redemption, our reconciliation to God, our deliverance from sin).

But there are people who have a form of godliness, yet they deny the power of salvation to save them from sin.
There are people who believe in the historicity of the cross of Christ but they are not saved.
There are people who relate emotionally to the cross of Christ but they are not saved.
There are people who philosophically exalt the cross of Christ but they are not saved.

Salvation is the realization and acceptance of the fact, the intent and accomplishment of the cross of Christ.

Though there are countless millions who claim to believe in the cross of Christ is some fashion, there are relatively few people who are moved and motivated and guided behaviorally by the cross of Christ.

Many who call themselves, "Christian," think in terms of Christ and the cross, without making the personal application that Jesus requires. Just as no one is saved simply by the fact of the crucifixion and resurrection (we must also believe that Christ died for our sins and rose physically for our justification), neither is anyone saved by simply exalting Christ on the cross.
We must embrace the cross ourselves.
We must take up the cross and follow Him.
We must be crucified with Christ. We must die to sin.

When we share in the suffering of Christ and identify personally and spiritually with the cross of Christ, it is not a self saving act. Only the blood of Christ cleanses from sin. Only the resurrection of Christ gives us eternal life. But our justification and our sanctification are actualized through faith, which is evidenced by our personal experience and identification with Christ on the cross.

We are not simply admirers of the cross of Christ, we are partakers of Divine nature because we are totally committed, by faith, to the redemptive purpose of Christ's salvation through the cross.

Personal salvation is newness of life in Christ, brought about by the new birth. Personal salvation is also fullness of life in Christ, because we have died to sin and we are living sacrifices. We glory in the cross of Christ, through which the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the carnal self and the passions of the flesh.

This should not be seen as "living the crucified life," but rather living the resurrection life, since we are dead to sin and alive to God. Resurrection comes after death. The order of experiential salvation is Regeneration (creation of the new man), Crucifixion (death of the old man), The Spirit Filled Life (walking in holiness of heart and life through the fullness of the Holy Spirit).
(I encourage you to take time to read, to meditate on the great truths in the following verses) 

Matthew 16:24
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

Romans 8:1-11
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 

Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Galatians 5:14-25
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Galatians 6:14
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 

Philippians 3:7-17
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.