The Dead Seed with Abundant Life

Romans 6:1-7

 If I lived my life by the internal government of the mark of the beast, I would be living in sin every day. Many approve of that. The human robots, those living by the mark, are full of grace, are sweet, kind, and nonjudgmental about it. They want that sin to go on and on. They thrive on a life without the Spirit of Jesus Christ and without human sentimentality. That lifestyle is fully submerged in blasphemy and malice against God. As gracious and nonjudgmental as what others are towards sin, the stark reality is that the threat of death against those with a testimony for Jesus is present in our world today. Even so, life sprouts after death because of the forgiveness of sin and belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Today, Satan has an inside presence through the mark of the beast. When I reject the Godlessness of the mark of the beast and choose Jesus Christ, I die to sin. My old self is dead and buried with Christ’s death. I am resurrected from the death caused by sin into a new life in Jesus Christ. Satan wants that life to die. The internal presence forms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors for the purpose of killing the Spirit of Christ. As a Christian, I am in that death with Jesus, not just internally but a literal physical death will happen as well. The good news is that I also share in the same literal resurrection from the dead that Jesus experienced. Through belief in Him I have eternal life. Living for Satan through the mark of the beast is slavery to sin but dying to sin and living for God through Jesus is Salvation.

Paul explains that there is no such thing as a license to sin, but the freedom that comes through Jesus Christ cleanses a person in the eyes of God. Centuries of traditions would die by faith in Jesus, and so would the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that were not in the character of Jesus Christ. Death means dying to the old self and being resurrected to a new life in Jesus. Baptism with water was law, but Paul emphasizes the baptism into the death of Jesus Christ. It was clearly on the minds of the Christians that accepting Jesus corresponds to literal death. But Paul assures them that the promise of the eternal resurrection, like Christ was resurrected, is for everyone who believes in Him.

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!
We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know
that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 
We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him
in a resurrection like His. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 
because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”
Romans 6:1-7