YahShua died for our sins and grace entered. Grace covers our sin a type of which we see in the sacrifices of the Old Testament. YahShua's blood covers our sin and allows us access to Yah the Father. This is called our salvation, being justified through His death. The key here is covered. The blood of YahShua covers our sin and this is called grace. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Paul asked, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Yah forbid…" If we want to please Yah we must allow the work of the Holy Spirit to purge the sin out of our life. It is not enough to come out of sin, we must allow the Spirit to get the sin out of us. Paul is showing us the path we as saved people should follow. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into YahShua Messiah were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Messiah was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
This newness of life, or perfection in our life, is by obedience being purged through the cross, our old man being crucified with Messiah. I call it the cross life. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also be found in the likeness of His resurrection." What is the likeness of His resurrection. Well, for this answer we must look at His resurrected life, the pattern He left for us in the scriptures. Understand that the question now remains; what is the likeness of His death?
Now there is a difference in being saved, and being born of the Spirit, or as some say being born again. Being saved is an act of faith upon the shed blood of YahShua Messiah. Being born again is an experience where the incorruptible seed of Yah is planted in our earth like the sperm of a man is planted in the egg of a woman. The results is a son that needs to grow and develope into maturity. This growth works within our new born spirit man bringing us to prefection while those who are saved by faith stand firm in their faith by the cross life.
The higher calling is to be conformed into the image of His dear Son. This takes a birth. Men and women in the sight of Yah all qualify for sonship, it is not a gender thing, it is a position thing. Yah has sons and daughters. Sons are those who go on to maturity and the daughters are those who remain in the "elect company" of "called out ones". Those who never come to maturity but remain carnal in their spiritual walk, and those saved by faith are the friends of the bridegroom. What is required for sonship is a spiritual birth, a revelation of the Father and a embracing of the cross life, dying out to self, religion and carnal thinking. Sons must allow the Spirit of Yah to teach them His ways.
I know a lot of people don't believe in a cross life for believers. These are usually people who will remain daughters. If all you see is YahShua' cross, accepting his grace that beings reconciled to Yah, then you are saved by faith. Having your sin covered does not change you. Spiritual birth and the cross life effects change. For the overcommers and those who wants more, it is not enough to say we are dead with Him, and now we live with Him, but we must drink His cup. He gave it to the disciples in the upper room, and He gives it to us when we accept His saving grace. He says to us, "Take up your cross and follow Me." Whose cross is it? His cross? No, it is "your" cross! Each one must die to self on their own cross just as He did on His. To become like Him in the power of His resurrection requires a birth and a death. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto Yah, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto Yah." You do not resurrect the living. But, YahShua said, " Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto Him, We are able. And He said unto them, You shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with...." This is the cross life.
This does not happen over night, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet as some think. This takes a cross life walk. It prefects the believer and matures the son. They are seeking Yah daily to shine the light of the Holy Spirit on what is in the heart and then seeking Him to remove the fallen nature when it is revealed. When you do this you are in effect asking to be crucified. Not by hanging the flesh on a tree, but the old carnal man of Adam on the cross with Messiah. It is not a pleasant thing to be crucified. It hurts! And, our carnal man wants to escape it, to run from it. But, to become the spirit being fit to enter the realms of heaven we must bring our ego and carnal selfish desires under the authority of Messiah and submit to the work of the cross. Many will not do this and will remain in the earthly carnal realm.
I will show you a mystery. Even if we take thought to crucify the old man, which is a real battle in itself, we find a problem. We can nail the feet, our walk in the world, to the cross ourselves. That is, we can stop walking where the world walks, running after the things the world runs after. We might even nail one hand to the cross and in effect stop doing in our flesh half of what we use to do that is not pleasing to the nature of the Father. But, there still remains the other hand. In saying this I am saying, it is not in our own power or determination that we are crucified. To be crucified with him take someone outside of ourselves to nail our old man on that cross. It took the Romans to put YahShua on the cross even though it was Yah’s will for him to die there. Though it is the will of Yah and work of the Holy Spirit to crucify our old man of the earth the hammer and nails he uses much of the time are people around us. Often it is even those of our own household who should be incouraging us, sometimes even the ones we love the most. It is at these times that our old man tries to come down off the cross and end the suffering. Don't you think YahShua want to do that when His body was racked with pain and His heart was filled with our sins?
However, if we want to reign with Him, then we must embrace the cross with this thought in mind. "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that since then we should not serve sin. For He that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Messiah, we "believe" that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Messiah being raised from the dead dies no more, death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he lives, he lives unto Yah. Likewise reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto Yah through YahShua Messiah our Savior."
I want you to know this is not a religious act, it is submission to the work of the Holy Spirit. Presenting our body a living ascrifice, yielding to the refining work of Yah is our reasonable service.
When YahShua was hung on his cross beside him and on either side were sinners. These two men represents you and I who suffer by hanging upon their own cross. The ones on the left are those who are saved through grace and think that through his suffering, sacrifice and works will come to prefection. They never ask to be with him in paradise. All they ever see is his death on the cross. The ones on the right are those of us desiring to be with him, and who are being crucified for the Word's sake. These no longer see his death only, but his life as a spirit being and we press toward that mark. Thus we should not look at offenses as some attack on us, but as the nails necessary to put the old man on the cross, submitting to it with a humble spirit. That is not to say that the old man will not pull the nail out on occasions. But, if we desire to be in the perfect will of Yah, and be a spirit being unto honor in our Fathers house, we will go again to the cross and reckon our old man dead.
I am not a servant. A servant knows not what the Master of the house does. I am a son of the Father. That does not mean that I do not serve, for a son differs nothing from a servant as long as he is immature. While I am "AS" a servant in my immaturity, I am heir of all things pertaining to life and godliness when mature.
I would like to make a observation based on experience. I do not believe Yah uses adversity as a training tool to bring us to maturity. Adversity is not the cross life and suffering is not how we are purged or purified. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father. It is the effectual working of the Word of Yah in our life that purges and purifies. It is in the thought realm where the battle lies. It is looking into the "PERFECT" law of liberty and not forgetting who we are, and what we are.
I am not saying that Yah will not take the adversities we find ourselves in and use them to turn what was meant for evil into that which is to our good, and the final end being a blessing. But, hardships and trouble(adversities) effects only the temporal. It is the lesson learned that changes our inner life to be more like Him. This is the true value of the thing. I think we can learn these values without going through outward distress and trouble by listening to the voice of the Spirit and absorbing His truth. For example: A child does not have to get burned to learn that the fire is hot. However, if he does not believe his guardian or teacher, he will eventually believe by experiencing it. It was not the experience that taught him not to touch the fire, but it taught him the pain of rejecting the truth of his instructor. The Spirit was given as a teacher and a teacher teaches. If you learn well, you will avoid much adversity commom to those of us who live in the earth, however, adversity is only a witness of the truth you should have received from the mouth of the teacher. YahShua said of the Holy Spirit, " Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. He will take of mine and show it unto you." This is how we learn spiritual things, and how to walk spiritually. Paul said, "Let this same mind be in you that was in YahShua Messiah." This is the key to perfection and becoming a son of Yah.
We will be tried for the Word's sake, to see if we have learned the lesson. It is the true test of the teacher, like in school. This testing usually come in the form of the opportunity to walk in what is being taught. Say for instance, we are being taught humility, sooner of later we must start walking in that truth. And, there will come in someone who will try that Word to see if you have believe it with your heart, or have only accepted it as head knowledge. If it is head knowledge or mental assent only then that seed of truth is easily stolen. People can take things out of our mind or confuse us if it is only in our mind, but no one can steal anything out of our heart. Our walk with Yah is a heart matter. A wise man once prayed, "Hide your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you." This is the place where the truth is rooted and grounded and produces fruit. Be fruitful and multiply!
When the work of the cross is finished in us, we then know we can reach out and take hold of incorruptibility and immortality. "For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality."
"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." This is salvation and coming to perfection in that realm. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of Yah, they are the sons of Yah. This requires a spiritual birth and the maturing of the new nature. "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the "children of Yah", sons and daughters by spiritual birth. "And if children, then heirs; heirs of Yah, and joint-heirs with Messiah; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Here again we see the cross life. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Being saved is a realm of Yah with many blessing and glory, however, it is the coming to maturity of sonship that is the hope of mankind. If you have accepted salvation by faith in the blood and there seems to be a empty spot still inside of you then what you are longing for is the experience of spiritual birth. Go to Yah with your hunger and seek him for the experience of spiritual birth that will put you into sonship. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of Yah. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of Yah. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." This is where we finally come into immortality for the sons of Yah being also incorruption(everlasting life)to his whole body of believers.
I am always available to answer the questions of a hungry heart. It is Yah's will that we help one another up the hill to transfiguration. However, keep in mind that it is not revelation knowledge that we should seek, but "HIM". Spiritual understand will automatically come as we become more aware of "HIM" and become more like "HIM". Many fall short of full sonship by becoming too caught up in the revelation, and not caught up "IN HIM". "HE" must have preeminence in our life even in our getting of revelation knowledge. I can not stress this enough.
