Free from Sin and Enslaved to Righteousness

Thursday morning, November 13, 2008 [raining cats & dogs; 550F],

[CONTINUED FROM Wednesday]

OK, so we have now established that man is evil—period—and in desperately need of a Savior—One who can do for him what he cannot do for himself, even with God's help. Thankfully, we have also seen that God has provided that Savior in the Person of Jesus Christ.
The good news is this: in sending our Savior, God did not, simply, refurbish us; instead, He crucified us, buried us, and raised us up as new creations in Him—born of the seed of God! In other words, the person that you were in Adam was crucified in Christ on the Cross, buried with Him, and, finally, raised up with Him and seated at His right hand in the Most Holy Place in the heavens (see Romans 6 & Ephesians 2, if you do not believe me).
When we were born into the world, we were born in Adam bearing his seed—sinners, separated from God, with no interest in Him, not to mention helpless to do anything about our dire situation, even if we were interested in doing so. To be sure, we had no inclination for good; instead, our inclination was for self, even when we fed the poor or took warm, apple pies to widows or gave some money for the local soup kitchen or attended a funeral visitation. The ONLY reason we would ever show interest in helping another person was to make ourselves look "good," or at least better.
Thank God for Jesus! He is the Head of the family of God and has no Adamic seed whatsoever (He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not by man!); consequently, when we are born into His family, we are born free of Adam's seed.
This is significant for several reasons: (1) We are, therefore, as righteous as Jesus is righteous; (2) We have an inclination for Jesus; (3) We are privileged to do good works, the works that He prepared beforehand for us; (4) We have the option of allowing love to motivate us, instead of self; (5) It evidences God's love for us—His unconditional love; (6) and finally, (7) We are freed from the power of sin and made slaves of righteousness.
Sadly, even though they are staring Truth in the face, many believers choose to live as if they are "good with an inclination for evil." Hopefully, you can now see just how far short this falls from the Truth, not to mention how much it deprives them of the glorious freedom of living in complete dependence upon Him, the One who is our righteousness.

[more to come]