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The Likeness Of His Resurrection
November 25, 2012
As Jesus died and arose from the dead, when we are baptized into Him in the water and the spirit, we are born again. We arise to walk in a newness of life, rescued from death in sin and made alive in Christ Jesus through God's Holy Spirit. Once made alive, we are to learn the ways of God and practice them in our lives. We learn to serve God by serving our fellow man.
Bernie Parsons
The Likeness Of His Resurrection
by Bernie Parsons
Presented to Globe church of Christ on 11-25-2012
Presented to Load church of Christ on 12-02-2012
Jesus was resurrected from the dead to show that life continues after death
of the body, and that God has the power to raise us up. In Christ Jesus we
see the newness of life after death.
John 5:21 "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even
so the Son quickeneth whom he will."
Romans 8:10 "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.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the
flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
Ephesians 2:4 "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus:"
Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up 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 planted together in the likeness of his death, we
shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath
no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he
liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it
in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:
but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
Christ in us, through God’s Holy Spirit, brings us back from spiritual death
to spiritual life. Alive in Christ, we have an obligation to subject the
body to the spirit.
1 Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time."
1 Peter 1:22 "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one
another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that
is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ"
We see by the above that baptism in water signifies that we are born again.
Just as the natural babe comes into this world among water, blood, and
spirit, so does the spiritual babe.
1 John 5:6 "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not
by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water,
and the blood: and these three agree in one.
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this
is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son."
John 3:3 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that
is born of the Spirit."
Having been born again of water and spirit, we become newborns, new lives in
Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"
Ephesians 4:21 "If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by
him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness."
1 Peter 2:1 "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby:
3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
Being born again of the water and the spirit, we have a new life, wherein
spirituality rules the flesh. As we sustain and nourish ourselves by seeking
the food of God’s word, our minds are renewed. As we learn the teachings of
God, we mature as spiritual beings. We learn to deal honestly and kindly
with our neighbors. We serve God by serving one another.
