Spring’s Transformation is Here!

It is now the season of Spring. It is the season of new growth and development. It is time to bound forward into newness of life. Take a look at Romans 6:1-7:

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin.

You can’t get much plainer than that. So, why do I find so many people who proclaim to be alive in Christ also proclaiming that sin, not righteousness, abounds in their life. I hear it all most every time I gather with a group of professing Christians.

“We are all just sinners, saved by grace.”

“We all sin everyday but thank GOD for the blood.”

“I am just a filthy wretch, Oh but for Christ.”

These are the quotes I hear all the time followed by ceremonious and sanctimonious amens. It’s like a bunch of people still standing at the bloody cross that Christ left behind talking about thank you for the blood. Romans 6 says it is time for you to show your gratefulness for the cross of Christ by transitioning through your own cross in the likeness of His death. The church still struggles with the old life because they refused to be buried in the likeness of His death to get to the new life.

¹ Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. ³ For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. (1 Peter 4:1-3 NKJV)

Everyone says they want to get to the promised land, but few are willing to suffer through the wilderness journey to get there. I see millions of people that have passed through the precious blood of the Red Sea, parted by GOD himself for their deliverance, but they refuse to walk with Him through the dry desert where the old man dies of thirst. The old man cannot enter the promised land because he was born in Egypt and his heart is still there because that is all he has known, and all he has relied on. YAHWEH has planned to birth a new man in the wilderness who relies on Him alone, but this people will not move from the Red Sea. They say no man can make it through the desert but Christ, and they are right, but they have not fully understood.

The desert is where we get the life of Christ to make it through. The desert is where we get the manna from heaven and the living water which are the life of Christ to make it through. That’s the gospel of Christ that many say they believe but really fail to understand. The old man must be put to death in the wilderness through the agony of the flesh. So, do you truly want to reach the promised land? Will you trust GOD through the whole journey? Are you willing to suffer in the flesh for the sake of righteousness? Don’t waste another morning in Easter Sunday service until you are ready to answer YES to all of those questions, because you will not see resurrection life otherwise, which is what celebrating the resurrection is all about. Those that truly love Christ celebrate the resurrection everyday by taking up their own cross daily to partake of the manna and living water. Christ triumphed that we all may triumph! Christ died for us that we all might taste newness of life! Christ came to deliver us from the bitter Winter of perpetual death to the eternal Spring of new life! The good news is that Spring is here to stay!

The stone has been rolled away from the tomb. Christ has made a way out from death on the other side. He waits on the other side of Jordan for all who persevere through the wilderness and are ready to take the promised land. A land of eternal Spring, bounding with new life.