Many of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour still feel defeated and struggle with sin, why do you think that is?
A reason maybe that we have never grasped exactly what happened on the cross. Instead of living in our new identity in Christ, we’re still seeing ourselves as hopeless sinners with no power to change or trying to change things with our own humanly strength.
To understand what a drastic transformation took place at the cross of Calvary, and when we received our salvation by faith, let’s see what God says about who we once were without Christ.
- Spiritually Dead; We weren’t simply the“walking wounded”; we were actually dead in our sins and powerless to make ourselves alive or able to relate to God.
- Deserving His Wrath and Judgment; Our sins not only put a barrier between us and God but also made us enemies destined for His righteous condemnation.
- Helpless and Hopeless; Nothing we could do would make us acceptable to God. We couldn’t even turn to Him in repentance without His Spirit’s intervention.
But God loved us! What a comforting feeling—that theperfect, holy God would show rebellious sinners love and mercy (John 3: 16). He sent His only Son to saveus by bearing our sins and suffering the divine wrath we deserved. Now all of us who believe in Christ and accept His saving work on our behalf are raised from spiritual death to eternal life, and the life we live is not our own, but Christ living in us (Galatians 2: 20).
Therefore, if at any time, we face temptations of any kind,and struggle with it, we must immediately remember that we are dead in sin, but alive in Christ living lives worthy of Him (Romans 8: 9-10)
The barriers that once kept us alienated from God have been removed in Christ. We no longer have to be defeated by sin, because we have the Spirit’s power to live in accordance with our new identity in Christ. God’s grace is sufficient—not only to save us but also to transform our lives (Galatians 5: 25), (Romans 8: 13).