Let me introduce you to the ‘old man ’ He is Adam The phrase ‘old man’ refers to Adam and those of his genetics; that is to say, those of his posterity Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned : No man can avoid the natural born posterity he is identified with. He is born that way. It is your natural born inheritance. This is what Romans 5:12 tells us; it is “ passed upon all men .” In fact, we should realize that not even God can change the fact that man is born to this world from the posterity of Adam. Neither can God ‘change’ the inheritance of that natural born posterity. “In Adam all die.” (1 Cor inthians 15:22) The inheritance is death, and God cannot change that fact. The inheritance of Adam’s posterity is ‘ a fixed principle ’ T hat inheritance cannot be changed , not even by God. A ‘just’ God cannot even ‘fix’ it, else He would not have needed to offer up His Son. I t is a mistake to think that God ‘saved’ you as you are. God cannot fix you. He cannot remodel you. Most importantly, He cannot even make you “ new. ” Each person is created naturally to this earth from Adam. This creation cannot be saved God had to ‘kill’ you if you were ever to have a chance of being ‘saved.’ God cannot have fellowship with that which is capable of sin He can only have fellowship with that which is as pure as His pure Son. He cannot place our ‘old man’ which is capable of sin , into His Son. He did not place our ‘sinful bodies’ into His Son Notice what He did do. Rom 6:6 - 7 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. For he that is dead is freed from sin ” Notice that it was not only our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified on that cross. We hung there ‘WITH’ Him. The mistake we must not make, is thinking that God ‘saved’ us just as we are We may come to Him ‘just as we are’, but He cannot save us ‘just as we are.’ And neither can we do anything about ‘ how we are. ’ We don’t have that power. This was proven with Israel under the covenant of law The covenant of law proved that we are truly completely powerless over sin , even though our pride doesn’t want to admit we are powerless The Pharisees under the law truly had ‘cleaned up’ their outward actions of sin , as the covenant of law defined it But c leaning up our ‘outward’ sins will get us nowhere as concerns the ‘inward’ root of sin (See Matthew Chapter 5) This inward root of sin is found in the posterity of Adam. Just as we cannot change the stripes on a tiger, neither can we change the root of sin in us. And neither can God change this truth of ‘sin in us.’ (See Romans Chapter 7) The flesh will always be the flesh. The sin nature will always be the sin nature. This is a ‘fixed’ principle, it will never change. The only solution is God’s righteousness. God must kill Adam and start over The cross is not an instrument of salvation, it is an instrument of death And this is where a person must start in understanding what Christ truly died for . We must understand that God put us ‘in Christ’ for the purpose of death , otherwise we cannot be ‘in Christ’ for a resurrection to life eternal 2Co r. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new Even though we still remain on this earth with a sinful body, in God’s eyes, that sinful body has “passed away.” He has ‘buried it’ out of His sight. We cannot skip being in Christ for death , else we are not in Christ for life Satan has blinded the eyes of “many” as to this important first step Our Lord Jesus explained it in Matthew Chapter 7. Mat 7:22 - 23 “ Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord , have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity Even though these ‘Christians’ believed they were ‘saved’ and ‘ working for the Lord ’ , they were not T he ‘ corrupted reasoning’ which is of the posterity of Adam , has yet today ‘deceived’ “ many ” Satan has a counterfeit gospel . He simply deceives people as to what happened at Christ’s cross . He has people believing that God put their sinful body ‘in’ the ‘risen’ Lord Jesus Christ. The result then causes people to be somewhere within a wide ranged spectrum of ‘unbelief’ concerning the ‘forgiveness of sin’ . On the extreme side of this spectrum, we find people worried they may lose their salvation by ‘sinning.’ On the more subtle side of this spectrum, we find those who very often think they need ‘more’ forgiveness, in order to get ‘back in fellowship’ with God. But God’s Word is clear ; Heb 9:26 For then (If that were the case) must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world (age) hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself God never put the ‘sinner’ in our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. He put only a ‘new creation’ in the resurrected Christ. This new creation is not the one who sins. It is the ‘old’ crucified man who sins. And this is how the person of ‘true faith’ will then consider himself; it will be as a ‘saint’ not a ‘sinner.’ Consider Paul here, 1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth , to them that are sanctified (Those of true faith) in Christ Jesus , called to be saints .... These Corinthians were anything but ‘saints’ in the flesh . Bodily, they were sinners. But God didn’t put them as ‘sinners’ in Christ. He put them as ‘saints’ in Christ. So , we are to consider our ‘former’ selves as ‘bodily sinners,’ but the new creation who God has made us to be “IN CHRIST JESUS” as ‘saints.’ We must see our ‘ former selves ’ in Adam as ‘dead’, never to be in fellowship with God The former person whom God has killed , can never have fellowship through Jesus Christ. Not even through our only mediator Jesus Christ can our former selves ever find fellowship with God ! That person is not who God put in Christ. He is “dead with Christ.” (Romans 6:8) Paul explains it far more than we might realize. Speaking of how his former ‘bodily identity ’ still sins, Paul says this. Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me Rom 7:18 For I know that in me ( that is, in my flesh ,) dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not Notice in verse 17 how Paul says, “ it is no more I ...” Paul now sees himself as being “ in Christ ” , a saint, not a sinner. The man who is capable of sin , Paul recognizes as being of the posterity from which he was naturally born Yet, this is not Paul. That old Paul has died. That old Paul was crucified WITH Christ. Gal 2:20 - 21 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I , but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God , who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain Notice in this passage the same idea we find in Romans 7:17, “ yet not I ...” In Romans 7:17, Paul said, “ no more I .” Paul is not seeing his present identity ‘in Christ’, as being from the ‘ sinning posterity ’ of Adam, but of the ‘sinless’ posterity of the Son of God This is because God never saved the posterity of ‘sinner Adam ’ , but created a new ‘sinless’ posterity from the Body of His Son This was always God’s plan. Yes, just as with Paul, in our flesh “dwelleth no good thing.” These bodies will indeed sin, even though God has given us a solution through His grace. (See Rom. Chapter 8) It is a matter of us agreeing with God , that it is no longer I I cannot do it. Only He can do it ‘ in my body .’ Because Israel was using the ‘old man’ under the covenant of law, new sin required ‘new forgiveness.’ But not so today. Otherwise... Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world (age) hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (On the cross.) Those today who think ‘new sin’ requires another measure of forgiveness in order to stay in fellowship, are still operating as though we are under law. They have never understood HOW our Lord Jesus “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” , and fulfilled the law. He killed the ‘old man’, so that He could create a ‘new man.’ This new man is of the Seed of God Himself. 1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God !” Now that’s a new man! Does a ‘son of God’ have the ‘root of sin’ in him? Certainly not! But the ‘old man’ and his ‘seed’ sure do es 1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil Indeed! Satan’s work in Adam was ‘destroyed’ at the cross , by bring ing about a ‘ new creation’ from a ‘ new posterity ’ This would be the Seed of the Body of Jesus Christ , in regeneration now , and a resurrection from the grave to come , simply by faith alone 1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God It is a big mistake to think that our bodies at this present time are “born of God.” No, ‘ this ’ body is the body of sin and death. But a t this moment , the spirit of the person of ‘true faith’ is in fellowship with the very Spirit of God, never to find himself ‘out of fellowship.’ The reason many Christians today believe we can fall out of fellowship with God, is because they don’t accept or understand what Christ did at Calvary. They therefore do not understand what is written in 1John They are still using the ‘natural man’ to try and discern the Bible. 1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned It seems ‘foolish’ to the natural man that we a r e forevermore in fellowship with God. Yes, it seems foolish to him But, Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh ? May we understand and grow in GRACE. THE OLD MAN AND THE NEw MAN THE DOCTRINE OF FORGIVENESS AND FELLOWSHIP Colossians 3:9 - 10 Romans 6:6 - 8 Ephesians 4:22 - 2 4 Ephesians 2:15 - 16 www.blackhillsgracechurch.com