Life! By Grace Through Faith

“God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” Matt. 22:32b.

‘God is dead!’ ‘No God,’ the claim of others. Both are right - and both are ‘dead’ wrong! If you are dead, then your god is a dead god. A dead man has no god; neither has he any need for one: he is dead! But one who is living, has need of and indeed has, an Eternal and never-dying God.

“And you hath he [will He] quickened, who were [are] dead in trespasses and sins . . .Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved”) Ephesians 2:1,5. (This being true of the Believer can be true in your heart and life if only you will trust the living Christ to take away your sin and give you His life and impute to you His righteousness.)

“Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. . .the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. . .It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. . .” Isaiah 53. “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be the righteousness of God in him” II Cor. 5:20,21.

A dead man must reckon himself dead in order to live a life that is not his.

“I am crucified with Christ: [identified with Him in His death] nevertheless I live [identified with Him in His Resurrection]: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me” Gal. 2:20.

“I’m not good enough” or “I’ve led a wicked life;” “God wouldn’t save me.” That’s not the testimony of the Apostle Paul: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” I Tim. 1:15. “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy. . .I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” I Tim. 1:13,16.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. . .But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:6,8.

“I’m not that bad.” “As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. . .there is none that doeth good, no not one” Rom. 3;10-12.

“I’m a creature of habit! I couldn’t live the Christian life.” “For the love of Christ constraineth us. . .Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” II Cor. 5:14a,17.

“You’re losing it!” “What if I lose my salvation after I am saved, having trusted Christ?” Dear friend, consider this: I can understand how I might lose my life - but how can I lose His life? To ‘lose’ there is the thought of ‘misplacing’ something. One might lose or misplace his glasses; they are mere things, separate from oneself. But not Life! For that matter, who would be losing whom? “and ye are not your own. . . For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” I Cor. 6:19b,20.

“Lose, nothing!” “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. . .that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing” John 6:37,40. “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. . .Who are kept [never to be lost] by the power of God through faith unto salvation. . .I Peter 1:3,5.

“Give your life to God!” as some would say. No, quite the contrary - Give your death to God! He will take your dry, dead, lifeless being and quicken it; make it alive everlasting with His Life! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.