You In Christ and Christ In You

Let's see we had made it down through Seven eight We talked about the difference between sin and sins, right? We talked about did God forgive both sins and sin. We did talk about that, right? well We did Okay, if you say yes, then here comes the question. What's the difference between sins and sin? What is the difference? The difference between sins and sin? Sins and sin.

I would think that it would be the, we were born into sin and we are constantly sinning. Say that again. So that's how we were born. So that's number one. And number two is that we are sinners. Well, actually being a sinner and born with a sin nature is kind of pretty much the same thing. The sins are the things that a sinner does. The things they commit.

So there is a difference, right? And then my other question was, did God forgive both the sins and the sinner? Christ died on the cross and paid the penalty for your sins, right? And so the sinner, when he believes in Christ, his sins are forgiven and he's forgiven. How about the sin nature?

What did we decide happened to that? No. No, it was condemned. Okay, so it appears that if we are from Adam's race, we have no hope. Does man have any hope? In himself? Not in himself. No, he hasn't got a thing. He can't change who he is. You see that? It's interesting, our society and most societies think that behavior changes position. Can't. It's the other way around. You act and function based on what your position is, what your source is.

So can God carry out his purposes in the Adamic man? Could God do what he wants to do in all eternity? Could he do that through Adam? Got a couple of no's. Anybody said maybe? Couldn't fix old Adam up and make him act like he should? Yeah, all the books of the Old Testament prove that he couldn't do that. So, what does it mean? It means that he needs a new man, right? an entirely new man. It's very important when we're talking about the identification truths to get clear in your mind that God is not in the fix-up of the old man business.

He is not making you better. He's not making you a really good Christian. He's not disciplining you so that your behavior patterns change and you really look reasonably cool. He's not doing any of that. He's in the replacement business. He's replacing your old man with the resurrected life of Christ.

So your faith is not in the self-improvement society. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. See that? Most of Christianity is based on the self-improvement society. Most of it is. And you'll see it. That's what the law is for. The law is for the old man, the unrighteous guy, to get him to behave. God has set all that aside.

We now have a brand new man we're dealing with. And we're going to continue to talk about in the next, well, I'll put it this way. I want to talk enough about Adam so that you don't like him very much when we get done talking about him. So if you won't abandon him, then you're always going to try to, you know, get out the shoe polish and make yourself look a little better. I want you to abandon that whole train of thought. You aren't getting any better. But you were chosen. And when did that happen?

The foundation of the world. The foundation of the world. It was prehistoric. You were brought into being in eternity past before the universe, the world, or Adam was created. Where were you created? In Christ. You were created in the mind of God. And you were created in Christ then. Isn't that cool? Then. And so once God has created something in his mind, is it a reality? Absolutely it is.

Now you were brought forth in time, identified with Adam when we come on the planet, and then when we believe in the person and work of Christ and become positioned in Christ, now God can say, well I've always known you in Christ. I've always known you there. That's what I determined about you. I knew you in Christ then.

Now you're not going to be able to prove that. Other than the fact that your faith in the person and work of Christ is it because Ephesians 1 4 says just as he chose us in him The key in him before the foundation of the world that we should be purpose holy and blameless before him in love So when was this call given? From all eternity Psalm 139 6 says thine eyes did see my substance yet being unformed And in that book, all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." Isn't that interesting? My book's that reference.

That's Psalm 139.6. What's interesting about that is that God's sovereign will determines things about us, and what we do in exercising our will never violates what His sovereign will is. And realistically, when you grow a little bit and understand what God is doing, would you ever say to him, you know, I don't like your plan. I don't think we would ever say that. We're thankful that he has a plan that includes me. OK. All right. Streaking ahead to Lesson 5.

See how much of your homework you really did on this one. What's the dictionary's definition of self? What is self? I'll give you some of the stuff I've found. This is Marian Webster. The entire person of an individual, the realization or embodiment of an abstraction, an individual's typical character or behavior, her true self, his true self. The union of elements, body, emotions, thoughts, and sensation that constitute the individuality and identity of a person. What do you think? Did any of you look up a definition of self? What do you think about self?

Is it a problem? I love when Donna told me one day she was listening to Chester McCauley, and I've told you this before, And he was talking about what Satan's viewpoint was when he's after Adam. And he figures that if I can get Adam to disobey God, I'm going to get all of the human race to worship me. And I'll have achieved, at least partially, what my goal is, that my throne will be above God's throne. The problem was that when Adam sinned and all of his progeny, they became self-centered, not Satan-centered.

So, how would you define self? You all got one, if you want to know how it works. I would say looking inward. Okay, that's cool. You don't want to talk about self? It's just too disgusting? Well, everything that entails the person. I think it's a very lonely place because of just yourself. It's not like when you have a spirit, there's companionship. But if you have just self, it's a believer being in a lonely place.

Would you say that the self and the sin nature are the same thing? What do you think? I wouldn't think so. Here's another distinction. Would you say a person and self are the same thing? Would you say a person and the sin nature are the same thing? One includes the other. See, what's interesting is that I think the sin nature is so deceptive that it has us so self-focused that we think that that's who we are.

Understand what I'm saying? That that's the way I am. And the entire world I live in, the education process is all to enhance self, me. It's all about me. The problem is that those who are believers, who have this new nature in Christ, Christ is all about somebody else. It's all about serving the Father. It's all about self-sacrifice. It shouldn't be a sacrifice, but it is.

I would say that the person, your personality, your personhood, and your sin nature are not the same entity. Because when you're recreated in Christ, when the verse says that if anybody being in Christ sees a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all have become new. So do you become a new person? No, you're the same person. But what changes? What changes? Your position. And the other thing that changes is the source of your life. And the source of your life, the new life you have in Christ, is not self-centered.

So, if you say, well, I have a sin nature, how would you define a nature? A nature is the way a thing functions or operates, the best way I understand it. When I sin, my sin nature is functioning and operating through me. But God looks at me as being in Christ and not being in Adam anymore, right? And the sin that I've committed has already been paid for. So as He looks at me in my position in Christ, He does not see me in Adam anymore. He does not view me that way. Now I may view myself that way, but I'm the one that's being stupid about it, not Him. So how would you correlate the sin nature and self? How would you do that? Or can you?

I would say that the sin nature is a separate entity that influences the self. The self responds to the sin nature. So the self is not in itself wrong, it's a sin nature, because your new nature in Christ is working with the self too, on a whole different direction.

Okay, so would you say then that the self and the person are the same, are they synonymous terms? me as a person, myself as a person? Are they the same thing? And that the sin nature or the resurrected life of Christ influences or manifests itself through my personhood? I'm not sure we have all the answers to the questions I'm asking, but I want you to think about them. We're in union with the sin nature. That's exactly right. And then after we're saved, we're in union with Christ. And we are totally self-absorbed when we are in union and identified with the sin nature.

We can't be anything other than that. Even when we demonstrate selfless acts. We do it in a selfish mode. Our motivation is selfish, isn't it? And so it's difficult when we have the resurrected life of Christ in us and we do selfless acts. I think at first it kind of surprises us that we don't take any credit, nor do we want any. We're not proud about doing it and we're not elated that we did something. We know that it's Christ who did it through us.

So, I'm going to come back to this. I focused on this today because I want you to kind of think about it and we'll be back and talking about self, sin nature, personhood again. Okay? So, this is a great question. We'll see how smart you guys are. List four programs with scriptural references that will, when followed, allow the old man to be acceptable to God. You must not have studied hard enough. How many did you do?

I got one. Yeah? I got one. You know, the one that everybody likes to use. Yeah. We confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. He forgives us from all unrighteousness. Okay. So that's a prevailing thing. And that makes you more acceptable to God than you were before? I wouldn't think so. No, not necessarily more. Okay. But it keeps you in fellowship. Okay. Okay.

But that only applies to a believer. It does not apply to the old man. It says, allow the old man to be acceptable. The old man can confess all he wants to if he does not believe. Trust me, coming out of Catholicism, I'd be lots of confessing. That's what I said. If I'd have been an Old Testament Jew, I wanted to be a rancher. Those animals would be a lot less expensive. So there are no programs in which the old man, the sin nature, can be polished up and be acceptable to God. So if you find one, or you're fooled into thinking there is one, abandon it right away. It's a waste of your time.

So according to Romans 5.12, and hopefully you read 5.12 through at least 17, how did sin enter the world? And by the way, this is sin. S-I-N, the sin nature. How did it get there?

By one man. What's that? By one man. Okay. Through one man, sin came into the world. That dirty dog. If I had been him, I wouldn't have done that. What do you think? Well, Roger might have, but I wouldn't. Why can't I count myself innocent and a little bit upset with Adam because I think, you know, I would probably have been smarter than Adam. That tree wouldn't have been as enticing to me as it was to him. Why would that isn't the same nature? Perfect. Perfect. It was that woman you gave me.

What did Adam do? Who did he blame for the for the for the sin? Who did he blame? The woman. No, he blamed God. Gee, that's a real unique thing, isn't it? He blamed God for everything. Well, he blamed her too, didn't he? Well, the woman you gave me, you gave her to me. It's your fault. Gee, does that sound familiar?

So sin comes into the world, this thing sin, the sin nature, comes into the world through the act of one man, and we all acted in him. So you can't blame him. And what's really interesting about this is that if I were Adam, and I would have acted exactly the same way, it shows you that when you have a nature, an Adamic nature that's infested with sin, that it's going to function and act the same way every time. Every human being who comes from Adam is just like him. Now, we love to say, well, some guys are better than others, some are worse than others, and if they don't clean up their act, we send them to jail, or we make politicians out of them. You know, and we have really good philanthropists and all these other guys, you know, they must be. And you've heard the saying, oh, that guy would make a great Christian. No, he wouldn't, because he comes from Adam.

Can you, when a non, is there any time, in a non-believer's life that he just is kind of in neutral and he's not sinning? No. Is there any time when you and I are walking in the flesh that we're kind of in neutral and not sinning? No. Because the source of the life, sin, it operates 24-7. It's pumping out sins all the time.

Watchman Lee, in his book, The Normal Christian Life, the first time I ever saw this was reading about the whiskey bottles in the whiskey factory. He said, most of Christianity goes around and they're searching out the whiskey bottles and they're breaking them. Well, what about the factory that produces them? How did God deal with the factory?

He blew it up. Condemned it. It doesn't do any good for us to be justified in the sense of merely having our trespasses, those we have committed, just to have them forgiven. Because what it would mean, it would amount to counting ourselves innocent before we personally sin. When did you become a sinner? When did you become a sinner? You were born into it. I was born a sinner, okay.

Everybody agree with that? You became a sinner in the Garden of Eden. In Adam. You didn't commit a sin in order to become a sinner. The first sin you committed, it was because you were already a sinner. And you sinned in Adam. Now we think, this is really important because when we start talking about your position in Christ, these same principles hold true. Exactly the same principles hold true. So, you all sinned in Adam and you became guilty before God because you did commit personal sin. Adam sinned and when he did, he became flesh with the sin nature.

Now, when Adam sinned against God, he was condemned to death, right? Isn't that what the penalty was? He didn't get 40 years of hard labor or 700 years, however long you live. dead to God, Adam being our unsaved head in life, does the same hold for us? Were you and I condemned to death? Answer, yes we were. Because Adam's the head of the race, he took all humanity into the position of death.

1 Corinthians 5.22 says, for in Adam all die. Not just Democrats. all die.

All in Adam have his life, and are therefore by nature the children of wrath, according to Ephesians 2.3.

Among whom also you were. Also we all had our conversation, or our life in times past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." So every single human being on the planet, including your closest relatives who aren't Christians, that's who they are.

And you wonder sometimes why you have difficulty as a growing believer getting along with your family who aren't believers. That's why. That's why. It's just tough. You live in life, they live in death. You know? But your sin nature could contribute to that too. Say that again? Your sin nature could contribute to that as well.

Okay. Notice in verse 13 to 17 is a parenthesis. So, if you, somebody read verse 13 through 17. Romans chapter 5, 13 through 17. Anybody who can read, go ahead and do it. Or, until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who was the type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For on the one hand, the judgment arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation. But on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions, resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ."

Thank you. Now notice in 13 it says, for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin was not, my version says, imputed. when there is no law and that word means that put to your account and it's only used one other place in the Bible in Philemon 18 where Paul says if he has wronged you and owes you anything put that to my account that's where the same word is used again in other words I'll be responsible so the Greek word put to account occurs here so sin was not put to people's account before the law, their sins, right? You okay with that? So it signifies there's a change, a change in something to anyone was due.

Paul is about to prove that death passed to all men, not because they sinned, but why? Death passes to all men, and when it says that they didn't sin according to the similarity of Adam, what does that mean? Adam was given a law. Don't eat the fruit. Right? Did God give you and me, Cain and Abel, all these other folks, a law? Did we all pass by the tree and supposed to leave it alone? No. He didn't. So we haven't sinned like Adam sinned in the sense that we broke a law. But you know what?

We're still dying. You know, I read, Ironside talked about getting on a train and going from the west to the east, and he noticed that the cemeteries got bigger and more full of people as he went east. And he said, you know what? These people are dying everywhere.

How come they're dying? If you lived between the time of Adam and the time of Moses, right in the era of the Lawgiver, how come you died? How come? How come you died? Because we all came from Adam. Close. Okay. Why do you die? You didn't break the law. Right? So why do you die? You still have the sin nature. You've got the sin nature and the sin nature is condemned. Right? So you know what? You don't have to sin to be condemned. Isn't that interesting?

So you've got a sin nature and all those that are in Adam die. All of them. And you're all condemned. But there was this little trial held in the Garden of Eden, and we were all the defendants. And guess what? We lost. And the sentence was said that, OK, you guys are all sinners.

And Adam, you're condemned to death. You die. So you show up condemned. And that's the point that Paul's making, that even though you didn't break a law between the time of Adam and Moses, people still die. It's because you're attached to that sin nature and whatever happens to it, it's going to happen to you. So you're physically going to die.

Even though some of those guys lived a long time, they all died. Let's see. Would you think that the sins committed between Adam and Moses brought out a death sentence upon all humanity? Answer, no, because it's the one act of Adam that brings the death to all humanity. Let's see. Therefore, I'm going to move on to seven. I've got a whole bunch of them.

Why does the word say that death reigned from Adam to Moses even though there was no law to break? And we'll talk a little bit in the next thing about death reigning. Why does it say that it reigns? And by the way, it's tough for us as Americans to understand reigning, because we have a constitution. We're self-actualized, free will, all that cool stuff. Why? Because people died.

Is death a reigning principle? Do you understand what I mean by reigning? It absolutely controls. you know? Anybody escape it? So death is a principle under which all humanity lives. And who has control of that? Are you talking about physical death or spiritual death?

Both. Well, I think God has control of both. At that point in history, God had control of both. Between Adam and Moses, how many righteous men were there? None. Well, I mean, some were declared righteous because they believed God. Because they believed God. Yeah. Okay, but you didn't have him communicating with man.

Yeah, I think it's important to understand that when you talk about a reigning principle, that nobody escapes, that we are all under this principle and its absolute authority. And I think it's tough for us Americans to get that thought right because You know, we always figure we can weasel a little bit. We've got a lot of elbow room to work things out.

But when you live under a reigning principle like death, nobody escapes. We all have had, you know, friends, relatives, parents, some of us who have died. And death is an awful thing, but it reigns. You know, when I go look at George Watson, eventually George is going to die, you know. When I go look at Everly, she's as old as Everly. Unless the rapture happens, she's going to die. We're all moving towards death. All of us. Reigning principle. Can't escape it.

Donna and I were out walking yesterday and she mentioned that how do people that are non-believers, when they start getting a little older, how do they deal with the fact that they know it's coming? Do they ignore it? Do they drink more? What do they do? I think they just don't want to think about it. Yeah, the scarlet hair, I can't think about that today. One of these days you're going to have to think about it, you know. Let's see.

The phrase, is the figure of him to come, tells us what about Adam and Christ. Verse, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even after those even over those who do not sin according to the likeness of the transgression, who was the type of him to come." What does the type of him to come mean? We have a savior from that reigning principle. Okay. How do I say this? We have now spent almost a whole session on Adam's act brought in death as a reigning principle. Nobody escapes, right? Everybody's a sinner because of the act of one guy.

Is that also going to be true of Christ? Because of what he does, there's all kinds of accruing issues from him that's the point so the similitude or the likeness this is where you get the doctrine of the two federal heads of races from verses like this that these two men are the two most important men in history because both of them are heads of human races Adam is the head of the first race and Christ is the head of the new creation race. Do you understand that?

And it's a change of mindset and thinking because when you became a Christian, what did you think? I mean, you didn't know anything about Adam and your position in him. You just thought, well, you know, I got a great paid-up fire insurance policy for Adam. No, you didn't. You moved out of this creation and where all that was true of Adam was true of you into a whole new creation. which is Christ.

These two men, these two principles hold true for both men. Is that okay? Did I explain that pretty good? It's really important to understand that and that's why Paul in 5.12-21 here does this incredible contrast or comparison really of these two men in terms of they both brought something different to the table but both of them are heads. And what happens and what the actions of one accrue to a lot of, to many or all, and the actions of another accrue to all those who are identified or in them. Is that okay?

As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. See? So I love in Christ because I'm a realtor and location is everything to me. They say, what are the three most important things in a real estate transaction? Location, location, and location. Where you are is really important. Where you are as a human being means everything. You're either in Adam or you're in Christ. You don't have a third option.

The representative man of their respective races and the race that comes from them will be identical to them. Do you understand what I mean by that? We all came from Adam. Before we're saved, we are identical to Adam. You never committed a sin that Adam didn't think about. And I've never committed one that you probably haven't thought about.

We're all sinners. The Federal here in this book, we use this word as indicating the action of one for all in a representative manner for the consequences of such action. When Adam sinned, it wasn't just him who was punished. It was everybody in him from his race. The statement is that it wasn't that Adam sinned for me. It's not like that. It's that I sinned in Adam. I did it because I'm just like him.

That principle is in several other places. One of the most graphic places is in Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews is trying to make a case that the Lord Jesus Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And here's how he says it. It's a different priesthood than the Levitical priesthood. And the reason it's higher is because Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek in the loins of Abraham. Levi wasn't even alive when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. But from a biblical standpoint, those tithes were paid to Melchizedek when Abraham did it.

You see that? That same principle is the same principle here about why we're sinners. Again, when we start talking about who we are in Christ, that principle holds true there, too. What's true of Christ is going to be true of you. Why, then, is the offense of one unlike the gift of another? The verse is, but the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ abound unto many.

What makes them different? One gives death and the other gives life. OK. I didn't hear that. The one gives death and the other gives life. Thank you. about the different streams of just maybe sober simplification, condemnation against restoration. OK, that's pretty good. Anybody else? You're not saved by the bell. We stop.

I think the sinful nature is not a choice. We are into that, whereas we have to choose to accept God's gift. It's interesting, one sin by Adam, condemnation and death reigns, right? You take the many sins and you put them on Christ and what happens? There's justification because he pays the penalty. There's a reigning in life for those accepting the grace.

So like you're saying, Nick, you're forced in the first case. In the second case, What's the difference? I'm not forced. I'm presented the opportunity to believe. And when I do, that's the difference. You see the difference there? That's why he says it's unlike, it's not the same.

The difference is, the first one is not by grace, the second one is by grace. You didn't become a sinner by grace. You became a sinner because you were born an Adam. But you become the righteousness of God and reign in life because of grace. That's the big difference. Are you alright with that? Okay. In verse 16, how many came under the judgment to condemnation? Verse 16 is, and the gift is not like, well, it's a simple question. All men acted, all men came into condemnation.

So to find the death reigning principle of question 11, I think I've already talked a lot about that. So, what does reigning in life mean then? Now, we said that reigning in death means that you don't have a choice. It reigns over you. It's a principle. It's something that you've bought, but that sounds good on tape. I'll turn the volume down. If you're living under a kingdom with a reigning principle of death, nobody escapes, right? You're all tubed, in trouble. So how about reigning in life? Is life a reigning principle? Yeah. What's it look like? Christ. Looks like life? Looks like Christ. Looks like Christ, okay. Notice that the discussion here has to do with two kings and two kingdoms and two reigning principles, right? The one king is Satan, death. The reigning principle is death. The other is Christ. and the reigning principle is life. Receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. These shall reign as kings through Jesus Christ. God has the ages to come in which to manifest fully his mighty reign, but he's already begun it in Christ.

I think right here it's important for us to understand something. Most of us, including myself, try too hard to be good believers. Understand what I mean by that? We love the Lord, we want to obey Him, we want to be subject to Him, and we really try hard. How hard do you have to try to be a sinner when you live under this reigning principle? Well, why wouldn't it hold true in reigning life? Why couldn't I just relax? If I live in a reigning principle of life, why do I have to work so hard?

No. I don't. That's the cool thing. What I do is that I learn about it through the Word. And what does God want me to do? Believe. Believe. Believe. See? I mean, He's just informed me that I have lived my entire life under the reigning principle of sin and death. Well, that was good news. Not really. But it was news and I believe them about that. Well, now he's beginning to tell me that there's a new principle, reigning principle of life in Christ and just like the principle controlled me totally in Adam, the new principle of life is to control me and my job is just to believe him. No spiritual push-ups.

That's pretty cool because what you're starting to see now is the difference in the way that these two reigning principles show up. One of them shows up by death, and the other shows up by grace. See? And we're going to, three or four weeks from now, we'll tackle grace. And Macaulay's definition of grace is the best. It's the unlimited and unmerited blessings from God based on the totally adequate work of Christ. If it's unlimited and unmerited, what can I contribute to it?

Nothing. So what do I do? I believe. I believe what he tells me. That's really what it boils down to. Okay, we made it through most of 12. So we'll pick up next week for the last few and here's the next one. Am I going too fast? You sure? Most people will say, well, you're going too slow.

Okay, let's close in prayer to father how we thank you for Boy this principle that we live in the right principle of life that we live in that we might Apprehend the fullness of what that is and who your son is and be able to rest In the life that we have we thank you father. We pray in your son's name. Amen