Our Position in the Cross of Christ

***Forgive the repetition.

Romans 6:3–4 is speaking about our position in the Cross of Christ. It tells us that we were baptized into Jesus’ death. Since we were baptized into His death, we were also baptized into His burial and into His resurrection, to walk in newness of life.

We died in Christ. We were buried with Him. Our old man stayed in the ground, and we were resurrected into newness of life as a new creation. Old things passed away, and all things have become new. This is our position in the Cross of Christ.

This is why we must have Faith in the Cross of Christ. When I speak of the Cross of Christ, or His Finished Work, I am speaking of Jesus’ death, His burial, and His resurrection. This is our position: we were baptized into His death, we were buried with Him, and our old man stayed in the ground. We were resurrected into newness of life as a new man—a new creation in Christ Jesus.

The slate has been wiped clean. When God looks at us, He sees an innocent, blameless Child of God. That sin is gone, because the old man—the one who carried that sin debt—is still in the ground. He is dead.

When we were resurrected into newness of life, we were raised in Christ Jesus. Now, every time God looks at us, He sees His Son—blameless, innocent, and without sin. This is how we are absolved of the sin debt: the old man is dead and remains in the ground.

It is just like when a person dies while owing a debt. You cannot hold that dead person accountable anymore. He is gone. In the same way, our sin debt is gone. Though our sins were as scarlet, the Blood of Jesus has washed us white as snow. That means we are innocent, we are clean, and we are justified.

The old man who is still buried in the ground carried the sin debt. But the blood of Jesus, which flowed from Him on the Cross of Calvary—when His side was pierced and blood and water flowed—has washed us white as snow. This is why Scripture says that though your sins were as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

The old man had the sin debt. The new man—the new creation in Christ Jesus—is blameless and innocent. This is why sin no longer has dominion over you. You are a new creation. When God looks at us, He sees Jesus. One of the greatest things Jesus provided for us through the Cross is Grace.

We still have this flesh, but it is no longer our dominant nature. In Christ Jesus, we now have His Divine nature, and that divine nature is the dominant nature in our lives through the Holy Spirit, because we have been born again.

This is why it is so important that our Faith is properly placed in the Cross of Christ. We must have Faith that what Jesus did in His Finished Work—His death, burial, and resurrection—truly happened. Faith is another word for belief. We must believe, trust, and have Faith that it happened.

But not only that—we must also believe, trust, and have Faith that what He did in His death, burial, and resurrection worked for us. It redeemed us. It reconciled us to the Father. It saved us. It justified us. It sanctified us. And it enables us to live a righteous and holy life before God.

When we accept Jesus’ Finished Work—the precious gift of the Cross of Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection—we can walk in newness of life. We receive His resurrection life and His righteousness. His righteousness is credited to us.

We do not have righteousness in ourselves. We cannot produce righteousness, and we cannot produce holiness. But when we accept Him as Lord and Savior and believe and trust that what He did in His death, burial, and resurrection happened—and that it worked for us in redeeming us—His righteousness is imputed to us. It is credited to us. It becomes ours.

That is why, when God looks at us, He sees us as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus ( His death, His burial and His resurrection), because He sees His Son’s righteousness in us. This is why our Faith must be in the Cross of Christ. This is where it all started for us. This is what makes us Children of God. The Cross of Christ makes us Children of God and makes us the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

If the Cross of Christ had not happened, none of us would be saved. None of us could be Children of God. None of us could be righteous or holy, because in and of ourselves, human beings cannot produce righteousness or holiness.

It is at the Cross of Christ that it all began for us. It is there that sin was defeated for us. It is there that we were reconciled and redeemed to the Father. When we understand our position in the Cross of Christ—His death, burial, and resurrection—then we can walk in His righteousness and His holiness, because within ourselves we cannot produce any righteousness or holiness. It is all because of Him and what He accomplished on the Cross for us.

We must trust and believe that it happened—that He truly died, that He was buried, and that He rose again. We must have Faith that what He did there worked for us. Sin was defeated in our lives. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (In His death, His burial and His resurrection). Sin no longer has dominion over us.

When we understand our position in Christ Jesus, even when we make mistakes—when we say something or do something wrong—we understand that God does not want any of us to perish, but that He wants all of us to come to repentance. As Children of God, we can be forgiven because of what Jesus did on the Cross.

If you trace everything back, it always leads back to the Cross of Christ. God knows that we still live in this flesh. He knows we are not going to be perfect. He knows we will miss the mark. Does that give us a license to sin? Absolutely not. The Word of God is clear—we are not to continue/be habitual in sin.

But God also tells us in His Word that it is because of His mercy that we are not consumed in our sin. His mercies are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness. He already knew that we would miss the mark. Yet we do not have to be consumed by our failures because sin was defeated at the Cross and no longer has dominion over us.

This also reminds us that the devil has no hold over us anymore. We were bought with a price—by precious life and blood. There is now no condemnation, and sin no longer has dominion over us. This allows us to rest. This allows us to walk forward in our position in Christ Jesus.

We do not have to live in a mental or emotional prison because of past mistakes. Again, this does not give us a license to sin, but it does allow us to continue to walk in joy and peace, because we can come to our Father and receive mercy and forgiveness.

Where does this peace come from? Where does this joy come from? It traces back to the Cross of Christ. When our Faith is fixed in that one place, we understand that all of God’s promises are “Yes and Amen” because of what Jesus has done.

Sin has no dominion over me because He died on the Cross of Calvary for me. I can have the mind of Christ because He died on the Cross for me. The work of my hands can prosper because He died on the Cross for me. I have victory in Jesus’ name because of what He did on the Cross.

Every promise and every Scripture can be manifested in your life because of what He did there. When you understand your position in the Cross of Christ, nothing can stop you from receiving everything God has promised you in His Word.

When our Faith is placed exclusively in the Cross of Christ, we stop looking to ourselves. We stop trusting in church attendance, prayer, reading, and good works as the source of our righteousness. Those things are good, and God wants us to do them, but they do not save us. They do not defeat sin in our lives. Only the Cross of Christ did that.

When you understand your position in Christ Jesus—having your Faith exclusively in His Finished Work, His death, burial, and resurrection—the Holy Spirit can work in your life in His full power.

For many of us, we had Jesus, but we somehow left the Cross behind. We prayed sincerely and released our Faith, but we did not have the full truth. We had Jesus, but we left behind our position in His death and resurrection—that the old man is dead and that we have been raised into newness of life. We had Faith in Jesus, the Man, but did not know to also have Faith in the Finished Work of the Cross. Again, we cannot separate Jesus from the Cross; to do so, leads us into error.

You cannot leave out part of the truth. You cannot make a cake with only eggs and flour. You need all the ingredients. In the same way, you cannot have only part of the Gospel. We had Jesus, but we left the Cross behind. To have only part, as many do, is to preach another gospel, following another Jesus which is led by another spirit – not the Holy Spirit.

Now we know that our Faith must be in the Cross of Christ—His death, burial, and resurrection. It happened, and it worked for us. This is how all of God’s promises become “Yes and Amen” in our lives. This is how we live a victorious life in Jesus’ name.

This is how we live the victorious life God always intended for us—by understanding who we are in Christ Jesus through His death, His burial, and His resurrection.