“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, SET YOUR HEARTS ON THINGS ABOVE, WHERE CHRIST IS, seated at the right hand of God. SET YOUR MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE, NOT ON EARTHLY THINGS. FOR YOU DIED, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)
What does this mean, “FOR YOU DIED”? “I have been CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST AND I NO LONGER LIVE, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he tells us, “Here is a trustworthy saying: IF WE DIED WITH HIM, WE WILL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM…” (2 Timothy 2:11) False teachers were telling the Galatian churches that faith in Christ was not enough. To be saved, they said, believers must also be circumcised and become “Jewish.” Only then would they be wholly right with God. Paul disputes that idea: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the WORKS of the law, but BY FAITH in Jesus Christ. So, we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be JUSTIFIED BY FAITH in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
Paul says, “For through the law I DIED TO THE LAW so that I might LIVE FOR GOD.” Because “I have been crucified with Christ…” (Galatians 2:19-20)
Before Paul was saved, he was trying to please God by keeping the Law, he was not really living for God. The more he tried to keep the Law, the more he saw HOW MUCH HE FAILED. It was only when he gave up trying to achieve righteousness on his own and accepted the righteousness of God by faith in Christ that he truly began living for God. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ACTUALLY MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO LIVE FOR GOD. Paul said he was blinded, about noon, “…as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you TO APPOINT YOU AS A SERVANT and AS A WITNESS OF WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN AND WILL SEE OF ME.” (Acts 26:13-16) “Ananias went to the house and entered it. PLACING HIS HANDS ON SAUL, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that YOU MAY SEE AGAIN AND BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized…” (Acts 9:17-18)
PAUL WROTE ABOUT HALF OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND SAW MANY SOULS SAVED.
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham