Apostle writes. This act takes place the very moment one is converted through faith in Christ (I Cor. 12: 13). A person who is in Christ is baptized into Christ not by some ex ternal exercise but by an internal reality. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, He fuses into us the life of Jesus Christ. We become mem bers of His wonderful body. Each member enjoys the life of His body, and acknowledges con tro l of the Head. After first knowing about your baptism, have you been aware of your crucifixion ?What in your think ing does Scripture mean by the “old man” being crucified ? You were bap tized into Christ and therefore into His death. The result is that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin. When Christ died to sin, whatever His relationship to sin was at that moment of His crucifixion (remem ber He was made sin), He terminat ed His relationship to it. Therefore, in Him you died to sin in the same way that Christ died to sin. You ter minated your relationship to sin at the moment of your conversion, that the body of sin might be destroyed. That doesn’t mean that your body is sinful. But your body can be grasped by sin and used for its de structive purposes. When it says that the body of sin might be destroyed, it is not suggesting that it might be annihilated. It rather suggests being “put out of business.” The same word is used in Hebrews 2 telling us that through Christ’s death He destroyed him who had the power of death. He put the devil out of busi ness. Your body should no longer be in business for sin. We are not to be the slaves of sin. The Bible teaches that you should not, and you need not, sin. If it were impossible for you to sin, God wouldn’t waste His breath telling you not to. The next thing I want to ask is, “Do you know about your resurrec tion?” In verse 9 it is stated, “Christ,
being raised from the dead dies no more.” God reckons to you all that He reckons to Christ. You have been raised in newness of life. When the Bible says that you died to sin in Christ, it also teaches that you now live to God in Christ. At the precise moment of your conversion you were baptized into His resurrection. Our sacred obligation now is not to live unto the dynamic of sin but unto the dynamic of the resurrection. A per son who at any given moment lives unto the risen Lord Jesus, reckoning that He died to sin, has only one obligation and that is to be available to the risen Christ. Reckoning this, he will not sin. It doesn’t mean he cannot sin but under these circum stances, he will not. Do you have a problem of indwell ing sin? Did you know that God has made provision for this condition? Did you know that the provision is th is: that you died to sin, you were raised in newness of life, your rela tionship to sin is terminated, and therefore your body is out of busi ness as far as sin is concerned. You are not intended to be the slave of
Dr.Samuel H. Sutherland (left), Biola president, looks over plans for the school's 33rd Annual Tor ey Memorial Bible Conference to be held in key churches throughout Southern Califor nia. With him is the Rev. Harold Adams, pas tor of the First Baptist Church of Downey, which will be one of the locations for the meetings, January 28 to February 2, 1968.
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