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Showing posts with the label baptized

How do I die to sin?

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What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. — Romans 6:1–4 Paul knows his audience, as he’s been proclaiming the gospel to communities like the Romans for a long time. He skillfully anticipates the objections in the hearts of his hearers. When they heard in Romans 5:2 that we stand in God’s grace, they may have thought—as you and I may sometimes think—that if there’s more grace when I sin, and grace is good, why not sin more? He replies emphatically, as he has a few other times so far, “By no means!” May we never rationalise our sin as a way to display more of God’s grace. To do so is to misunderstand God’s grace, at best, and ex...

I thought Jesus was all about love, preace and harmony?

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Dr Ted Tripp Most think Jesus taught about peace, love, gentleness, and heaven. They probably would not cite these words: “I came to cast fire on the earth and would that it was already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house, there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.” (Luke 12:49–52) Consider three words in Christ’s statement. DIVISION Christ’s audacious claims produced division. He claimed to be sinless (John 8:46–47), to be the only way to God (John 14:6), to forgive sins (Luke 5:20–21), to give eternal life (John 6:40), to share the glory with the Father (John 17:5), to be the heavenly King (18:36–37), and to be the One who would judge the world (Matt. 25:31–32). These are polarizing claims. According to C.S. Lewis, they force the conclusion, “Either He was and is the Son of God...