Just Like Him

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. —Romans 6:5

Jesus became like you on the cross so you could become like Him in the resurrection. When He went to the cross, He became on that cross sickness, sin, guilty, condemned, and shamed—He became the entire curse. This was all done to redeem you from the curse—or redeem you from who you were (Galatians 3:13). He went to the cross and by faith took every old man and every old creation to the cross with Him and crucified them! The old man is dead. When Jesus was buried, the old man was buried once and for all. But when He was raised, you were raised. When He was seated, you were seated in the likeness of Him. When He defeated hell, you defeated hell; when He rose in glory and honor, you rose in glory and honor! You have been raised and have been made in the likeness of His resurrection. That means resurrection life is available to you, the newness of a “Christ-life” awaits you! It is available for you if you “know” the old man is crucified and buried and a new man now lives! You can live in a new, resurrected lifestyle because of Christ’s work on the cross. Identify with that! Associate with that! Think on that and watch your life change!

Pastor Tom Kehres

Have You Had Your Funeral?

We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. —Romans 6:4

Your old nature, your old person, your old being was crucified with Christ on the cross, and he was buried! Baptism is an outward sign of an inward work of God. As you were taken under the water in baptism, so was your old man taken under the ground and buried— once and for all. When you came up out of the baptismal water, it represented a new man arising, a new creature living, a newness of life available. You no longer have to live subject to sin, to sickness, to worry, to fear, to the devil. A new life has been made available to you. It is a life of righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). It is a life of being justified before God (Romans 5:9). It is a new life of being made the victor rather than the victim, the head rather than the tail, a conqueror rather than a loser. Get a picture of the old man dead—the old man gone; the old man buried—and do not claim and identify with old habits and weaknesses. You can walk in a newness of life. He has paid the price and made a way for you! Bury the old and let the new be raised up in your mind! Newness of life awaits you.

Pastor Tom Kehres

The Old Man

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. —Romans 6:6

This is something every Christian must know! The old man is crucified with Christ. The old man is not being crucified; he is not in the process of dying; he is dead! We have been taught in the body of Christ to “die to self,” but in order to be dying, you must still be alive! You (the old man) are not alive; the old man you were is dead and has passed away! Until you “know” this, you will be fighting with the old man, struggling against the old man, acting like the old man—know this: He is dead! He was crucified with Christ! You are no longer an angry man, an insecure person, a failure trying to become a success. The angry man is dead; the insecure person is gone; the failure has been made a success! You now have God’s life and God’s divine nature in you—you are a new spiritual creature. Do not identify and associate with the old man. He is crucified with Christ. There is now a new man in town—one who no longer will serve sin, one who is able to serve God!

Pastor Tom Kehres

The New Person

. . . He is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17

The day you received Jesus as Lord and Savior, you became a new creature. Spiritually you were born again; in your spirit you were made new. You became a new creation, a new species of being that never existed before. For most of your Christian life, you will be slowly discovering who God made you at the new birth. As you find out who you are now and start to identify with your new nature, you will start to change into a brand-new person. This is accomplished, not by your efforts, but by faith in the Word and in the promises that tell you who you are. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new! Your old nature, with its old habits, has passed away; those old habits are dead and gone. Until you know this, you will identify with your old nature and your old thought life, and you will live like the old being. Put off the old creature—allow him to be put to death in your mind once and for all, and believe who God declares you to be, what He has made you. You are a new creature, born of God.

Pastor Tom Kehres