Over the last four weeks we’ve explored the various aspects of New Covenant deliverance from strongholds. We’ve seen the foundation of what strongholds are, how they come, and how they fall. And last week, we began looking at how to attain freedom from strongholds through Christ— and that’s a crucial distinction.
The draw of Christian performance, legalism, and religiosity can be very strong. And oftentimes, we resort to self-effort to attempt to break free from strongholds or when we feel pressure from circumstances.
Today we will conclude our series on New Covenant deliverance by seeing how to apply what we have learned in daily life, to break free from strongholds, through Christ, without any self getting in the way.
Escaping the Cycle
As we’ve seen over the past few weeks, the thoughts, feelings, and outward appearances of strongholds can be debilitating; they can stop your progress, cause you to step back, or even wreck your life if you let them.
Many times, strongholds come into our life because of our past— the things we’ve done, the mistakes we’ve made, and the haunting memories of them. And we want so desperately to be released, that we rely on our strength and self-effort to try and earn freedom; to impress God enough for Him to say “yeah okay, I guess I’ll release you on good behavior.”
This behavior can result in a repeating loop of legalism leading to more failure, and then doubling-down on more legalism.
While the natural reaction is to try and use our strength to escape the cycle, the gospel according to scripture describes a different way, a better way… as we know Jesus is the way, He doesn’t just point to the way, He is the way!
A lot of Christians get caught-up in the idea of serving Jesus, living for Him, instead of living through Him… and that’s a huge difference!
Jesus said hat he has not called us servants, but friends the emphasis is on the relationship, and it’s not a master/servant dynamic, but one of friendship and love. And receiving this truth does not diminish Jesus deity, righteousness, holiness or honor as the King of kings. In-fact receiving true unity with Him gives Jesus glory because it honors His sacrifice and the words which He spoke about the redemption of our relationship with Him. His Spirit wrote the scriptures, not you or I.
This is challenging for many of us to accept, because traditional church preaching is still laced with religious legalism which has the effect of keeping us captive to our selves, rather than live in the freedom of Christ… let me explain that.
Traditional church preaching tells you that you’re a sinner, it’s your fault that Jesus went to the cross, and now you owe God. When you leave that service you’ve learned next to nothing Jesus except that He suffered for you, and it’s all your fault. There’s no power there! Beating people down with guilt does not empower change. It just makes them more sin conscious and feeds into the shame and condemnation that drives them further into the pit! All my childhood I was beat over the head with “Jesus died because of my sin” but it never went any further than that,. So when I was 26 years old, I was done with that… I couldn’t handle any more guilt I didn’t want to read the Bible because my perspective with flooded with guilt and self-condemnation, and it just made me feel worse. No-one ever told me that the purpose of Jesus dying was to actually restore and redeem me from sin, and bring me back into the kingdom and family of God and edify me through Christ back to my created value.
Romans 2:4 says that the goodness the grace of God leads to repentance. This repentance is not a reintroduction of the Old Covenant Law of works, sin, and death. It’s the changing of mind about Jesus, His sacrifice and your new identity in Him.
The Real Relationship
You see, what’s missing from Christianity at-large today, is the personal revelation of your relationship with Him. And while I know that it’s somewhat popular to say that “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship,” we’re often left in the dark about what that actually means.
A relationship with Christ is not like an imaginary friend. It’s not that he’s an invisible playmate that you talk to and hang out with. Don’t get mad at me if that’s been your experience because we need to stick with scripture on this… we’re not here to swap experience stories, we’re here to see Jesus clearly through the scripture.
Jesus makes clear in John chapter 17, that the revelation of our relationship with Him and the Father that He came to bring through His sacrifice was nothing less than unity empowered by the permanent indwelling of His Holy Spirit in us.
See, we’ve turned Christianity into going to church, singing a few songs and hanging out with likeminded people, and all of that is fine and has it’s place— but we’re neglecting the unity with Christ that gives us power and victory in day-to-day life, and yes, true deliverance.
Jesus didn’t sacrifice Himself because He needed your works. He didn’t come so that you could go to a church building. He didn’t come for any of the standard Christian reasons that you might think. He came and died on that cross so that the entirety of your sinful old identity would be killed, and that you would be reborn as a new creation in Him. That is where your new life is, and that is where you have power and victory. The old you is GONE! The old you trapped in hopelessness, despair, failure, and shame died on the cross with Christ, and the new you is alive in Him, apart from all that old stuff— it’s not who you are anymore!
Living Your New Identity
So all of this sound good, it may give you a nice feeling, but how do we apply this in daily life?
We experience this in our lives through what the scripture calls “putting on Christ”
1st Corinthians 15:53-58 says
“53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
When most people read these verses, they immediately think of the resurrection that is going to occur in the future. But there’s a great danger of always relegating everything off to the future. We rob ourselves of the power and position that Jesus paid for us to have. These verses here are talking about your new nature, and the identity that Jesus redeemed for you.
Watch this, Paul uses this same language of “putting on…” in many of his letters, and specifically when talking about our victory, and putting on incorruption, I believe we have missed what he is saying.
Let me ask you a simple question: when do we put on incorruption?
Most people, without even thinking, would just assume that it is at the resurrection. However, I want you to stop and actually think about this… Just for a moment drop all of the church indoctrination, drop all of the high-minded theology, and consider:, when do we put on incorruption? And if you’re still struggling, ask yourself this:
Who is the incorruptible One?
That’s Jesus!
Now, When did you put on Jesus?
You put on Christ when you were reborn! When you were saved!
And that, dear friend, is the point that grounds you in your new identity! The place of victory and power.
Consider the following verses where Paul uses the same language, as an example:
Romans 13:14:
“But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
Galatians 3:27:
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
So we can see from these verses, that the putting on of Christ is not something that happens later when we get to Heaven; it’s not something that we wait for, but it is something that happens in the here and now.
Now, stay with me here, this is how you get free. You live in Him and through Him.
This reality of you being completely in union with Christ is not just a nice idea. It is your new nature. That means when you wake up every day, you are righteous, holy, blameless and above reproach. That’s in your Bible, it’s Colossians 1:22. So whenever a thought, feeling, or circumstance tries to tell you otherwise, you shrug that thing off, because it’s not your reality any longer! You walk passed that thing like a stranger in the crowd because you have been reborn into Christ. This isn’t high-mindedness, and it’s not arrogance, it’s your obedience to the truth of Christ! You have shed the old identity, and put on Jesus, and don’t you ever take off the glorious attire that He gave you and wear the tattered clothes of circumstances and feelings ever again.
This is new covenant deliverance in Christ. And there’s no self-effort involved. It’s your reality that you are blessed and honored to live every day because of Jesus.
Be blessed.