Identification Truths Plus 2012
Courtney Hemenway · Jan 29, 2012
Identification Truths Plus, No. 04
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492625937329

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Lesson four. Lesson four. Anybody need one? All right. You get the last copy that I have crinkled in traffic. All right. For this class, the first few classes that we've been focusing on, we focus on basically who you are in Atom. Last week, Mike went through a lot of things of being placed in Atom, what the identification, beginning of what this class is, identification, and being placed into Atom, we're in Atom and how we got there. And now we're looking at what that means to be in Atom.

And I hope by the end of this class you will not have any desire to be an Adam. If you look at it, typically what Christian teaching is today is how to fix yourself up and how to improve yourself. And is that what we want? Do we want to be improved in Adam? No. No. I'll tell you, by the end of class, you should all be saying, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

Because in Adam, there is nothing good in scripture. We're going to go through a lot of scripture today to find out just how bad we are in Adam. And that the best thing that the Lord could have done or that God could have done is to crucify us. Last week we talked about death, what that means, separation, and really what the best death that we can have is to be separated from Adam. Because we don't want any part of Adam.

And like I said, by the end of the class hopefully you will see that. Again, a lot of the teaching is kind of how to improve, how to make us better. And what that typically does, and if you remember in the garden, what was the tree? It was the tree of two things.

Good and evil. Okay? So good and evil. So typically what happens is we think on the evil side. you're in Adam and oh that nasty stuff, all that nasty stuff. If I only do something good, if I walk the little lady across the street, if I go down to the Salvation Army, if I go to church every Sunday, if I just whatever, you put in whatever you want, if I just do something good, that will get me out of that evil. Well what have you done? You've gone from the branches of evil over to the branches of good. Are you still in the tree of good and evil? Where do you want to be? In the tree of life. So, typically, Christian teaching and what we do, we skitter-scatter back and forth between the tree, in the tree of good and evil. Ooh, I'm doing bad, and that's really easy. I just, you know, I sinned. I screamed at somebody on the highway. Cut me off. I didn't. nasty things. I was told it was low life.

Whatever, you put in whatever you want. Whatever sin. Oh, I'm sorry, and then I'm going to go bake cookies for my neighbor. I'm going to go over the goods. Does that do anything positionally for me with relation to God and my position to Him? Absolutely not. You have to identify that self. And that's all that this class is going to be in itself.

And we're going to get into some interesting things. Mike took my questions. We've had this class before. And he added a couple questions to it. Well, as I was sitting, I was going, wow, I wonder what he means by that. So Mike and I got into some discussions this week. about this.

We've come to a resolve. It's good. I think it's all good. Iron sharpens iron. Mike and I prove that lots of times. Lots of times we do that. We are our own punching bags, I think, many times. Anyway, let's get on. In question one, we've got a lot to go through here today.

What is the dictionary definition of self? Did anybody look that up? Oh, yeah. Maturation of self is an individual process which is the goal of a healthy personality. Ooh, that's an ugly one from a biblical standpoint. No, no, no. This is the world view. Yeah, I know. Oh, yeah. That's horrid from a biblical standpoint, but I can see it earthly. Anybody else look it up? Yeah. Identity, character, qualities, personality, individuality. Good. Anyone else?

I looked it up and that's more in keeping. Where did you look yours up for us? Just out of curiosity. I was trying to remember. I just went online. That's fine. I took mine from Webster's. Mine had the first one is the essential person distinct from all other persons in identity. Second one, a particular side of a person's character. C, personal identification. Selfishness. Last one is 2, 4, or towards oneself. All right. So I kind of looked at that. And originally, it's the identification. I looked at identification. Kind of interesting.

But also, I looked in the dictionary. There were 126 words hyphenated with self. 126 words with self. So there's a lot of things that are focused on self that we have in our English language. So I looked at that, and I thought, wow, that's kind of identification.

So I was going to, in my questions, question number three was next. So I'm going to go to question number three, because it leads to some discussion. I want to get through this a little bit of a rabbit trail, but I think it's profitable. We're going to go to question three.

Do you think the definition reflects our identification with Adam or with Christ? This is the Webster one. Personal distinct from all other persons in identity or personal identification, selfishness. Do you think that has to do with Adam or Christ? Adam. How many are Adam? How many are Christ?

Both. How about both? Oh, we have one. Well, I originally took both. Because if you look in scripture, and with this identification, there's both old and new. And so I looked at this, and my original was I was going through and I looked at several different verses that back this up. Now, I looked at it Well, and this is just based on the dictionary description of self.

And it is identification. Well, identification, you were either identified to Adam or you were identified to Christ. So I took that English one and said, okay, it could be either one. You could be identified with Christ or you could be identified with Adam.

So, you know, some of the verses I used were in the NASB, and I'll read them just so we can get through. Ephesians 4 22 through 24 and I'll read it that in reference to your former manner of life lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and what put on the new self which is in the likeness of God which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth new self old self So, I looked at Colossians 3, 9 and 10. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free man, but Christ is all in all.

Which one was that? What was your reference on that? That one's Colossians 3.9 through 11. It's actually in 3.9 and 10 are where it's old and new.

So you have to have a new self. It's just not identified with Adam, right? I mean, you have a self. Yeah. See, now, we're getting to this. This is where I want to clarify because in the end, I want to go back to self will be related to the carnal side. And we'll get to that. What was that verse again? Colossians 3, 9, and 10 basically are the ones. Because that says you have put out yourself, is that right? Yeah, you laid aside the old self. You've already done it. Whereas it seems like the Ephesians is telling people to do it like some It's something that they need to do.

Well, and that's condition and position, which will be coming up with Randy. One's conditional, one's positional. And that's... Randy will be touching that in two weeks. So stay tuned. Okay, so I also looked at... Romans 6, 4-7, Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism and death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in what newness of life, for we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly that we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing that our old self was crucified with him, in order that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin. So there's a reference to an old self. What does that mean? There's a new self.

So, I'm proving my point. However, then when you really look into it in Zodiates, what the word is, in all these verses, the word is anthropos, which is, what's anthropology? Study of? Bugs. H. Man. Study of? Man. Man. Man. So it's man. So really the word is man. So I went back to the New King James. I put in the word self in the concordant. Zero, no, one, philemon. There's one in philemon. So New King James translates, put on the old man and the new man. So the term self, so I looked at self and really, well, Zodiates kind of goes both ways on this as far as whether it can be identified with carnal man or both.

He basically says in the New Testament, on Anthropos, used to make distinction between sinful man, whose conduct, way, or nature is opposed to God. So he attributes this Anthropos to the negative side. But he also goes on, with respect to these verses that we quoted, he basically says, metaphorically used it, the internal man, meaning the mind, soul, and rational man. In 1 Peter 3, for the hidden man of the heart, of the heart to which is opposed, blah, blah, blah.

The old man, means the old man, the former unrenewed disposition of the heart, and quote, the new man, kainos, means the disposition or attitude which is created and cherished by the new nature that Jesus Christ gives to the believer. So, all that, and I just do this because we use the word self, and what we will continue to use self as being identified with the carnal man. Because in the scripture there really isn't a self. that is brought out in the scripture. The word self or a word for self. It's anthropos or man. And so in order to avoid kind of having to put an adjective on each one being old man, new man, our definition of self is of the carnal man. And that's if you look at most of the old brethren writers and a lot of the guys, self is really attributed to the old man. So we'll go with that definition that self is identified with Adam or the old man.

Which then, if you go to question two, is self just who I am or is it something more? So that's talking about self as in Adam? Yes. When I went through most of my and the rest of the questions are all based on self being identified with Adam. But based on the English definition of self, you could go either way with those verses. When I looked them up, it's like, yeah, I can go either way.

But it's really man. So yes, self is the old man. So is there anything? Is self just who I am, or is it something more? And I was listening to Mike last week. If you come with an answer, you need to explain it. Who I am is sinful, but what I am is dead in that sin. It just doesn't, oh this is me, but I'm dead. There's a lot more than just sin there. I'm dead in the sin.

Raise it. Why does it still raise a single head? If it was nailed to the cross for old soul, the carnal self was nailed to the cross and still function. And we'll get into that. OK. OK. So others on self. Mike, did you have more on this one? This is one of yours. It's basically. Well, go ahead. When I was after there is.

Is it something more than just self and described as old man, sin nature? I basically said everything identified with Adam. That's really what we're going to attribute self. What that means, which is in nature, I'll say everything that's nasty and that's attributed to self. Everything identified with Adam. Okay, question four, can you give some other names for self? Can I ask one question?

Why would Paul say to put on the new self, and have put on the new self, and he's not describing it in a negative way, if the self is only defined in... Because it's really not self, it's man, put on the new man. If you look at the Greek, and I've always believed the New American Standard is the best translation from Greek, but not in this instance, I don't think. I understand, I'm looking at it. No, I know, and that's what I, you know, I went through it, I went, I know it's both, but it's old man, new man, which is, from our identification standpoint, that's exactly what it is.

The old man, Adam, new man, Christ. New and self. What? No self. Yeah, and the translation, and we use the term self, and that's what I'm trying to get at. If you look at those translations, you kind of go, oh, self, that's what, well, it's really man. We use the term self. Scripture really doesn't have a lot of references to self. Like I said, it was Philemon in the New King James. The only time it's translated self is Philemon. In the New American Standard, there are a couple times But if you look at the word, it's Anthropos, which means man. So that's why I say it.

We're going to use the term self to help us describe basically Adam and all the attributes that are attributed to Adam. So in a practical sense then, like just in life living now, all the self stuff is Adam stuff. Right. Yeah, it's self, you know, cause when Mike and I were talking it was, you know, there's selfish, you know, there's all this stuff, but then there's selfless, you know, some quote good terms of it, but we use the term self is really identifying with Adam, the carnal side. Okay. So, um, Yes, I think that's basically what we want.

You know, I kind of went into this just to avoid confusion that like when I looked up some of the verses where it says new self and old self, well, really it's a bad translation. So self is the old man. So much of what we read in magazines and stuff, improve yourself. And that's what I want to get at because most of my lesson is about quote self and that's who you are in Adam and what an ugly picture that is.

OK? Clear as mud? Thank you. OK. Can you give us some other names for self? I. I. Is that ego? Ego. Ego.

Is sin nature the same or no? Yeah. I mean, I put it as part of that. Sin nature, flesh, carnal man, the unrenewed man, old man, sons of disobedience, all those things we would attribute to self. I would say that the old man has a sin nature. Yes. But, I mean, when we're saying self, attributing it, that's where, I mean, we're throwing that into that category of self.

I think the hard thing right here is the fact that the issue is the not I, but Christ life. And we're always trying to take something of self into Christ. Right. Something of me or I into Christ. is no good thing. We're going to get to those. You know, that's really the I, the self, and typically when you do self, self is more, yes, I mean self-centered, self-focused, self, you know, which is I, me. And where is God in that? Where is Christ in that?

So, self typically is a negative connotation. We'll use it as that negative being with the old man. So, when I want to get to self and who we are in Adam, you know, Mike the last couple of weeks kind of told us how we got into Adam, or the sinful nature through Adam. Now we're going to see who we are in Adam. And remember that little word in, that critical word in, that is a must because that's all important. If you're in Adam or you're in Christ, Huge difference. So, we're going to look at who we are in Adam. So, the verse is 2 Timothy 3, and I think I'll read so we can get going through this. Or maybe I'll get a couple people. I'll read the first one.

Kirk, you want to do Ephesians 4.22, Karen, Romans 1.28-31, and Nick. You want to do Romans 3, 10 through 18? Okay, first one. 2 Timothy 3, 2 through 5.

And these are the New American Standard. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, Disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power and avoid such men as these. So that was a pretty good picture. That's kind of what my daily routine looks like.

So Ephesians 4.22. You were taught with regard to the former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires. So I've improved a little. I'm just deceitful desires. Romans 1, 28 through 31.

Furthermore, since they do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, we gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanders, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. We're getting better, aren't we? We're looking good. This picture is becoming more pretty each time we get into this. And this one I really like on some of these. These are kind of the top ten. Romans 3, 10 through 18.

As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving.

The position of Asps? The poison of Asps. The poison of Asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swept to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Yahtzee. Okay, for all you legal scholars out there, who gets a pass on this? Who doesn't get thrown into this group?

Which one of you is not described by this? You think you're just swell people? Because you don't do this stuff, do you? I haven't seen you guys for a long time. You guys don't do this, do you? Not when you're watching. I wondered about you. I like this one because this is, if you're a legal person, Anybody who is in Adam, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who does good. There's not even one.

So if you think you're all hoity-toity and you went from the evil side of the tree over to the good side of the tree, and you're baking cookies and helping at the homeless shelters and doing all that, do you get out of this because you do something good? Is there a clause in here, I guess, from the legal side? Is there a clause that says, except for those people who are really good. Is that what it says? Find me the verse that gets you out of this, if you're an Adam. Where's the escape clause?

You know, the one verse that comes to mind, kind of legalistic, is when Christ said, you know, when I was hungry, you fed me, and when I was naked, you clothed me. And some people may look at that and say, well, Who's he talking to? I guess he's talking to the Jews. Is that the legal description? He's talking to the Jews?

Well, I believe he's believers in that when they were, I think, doing things that they didn't know. If I helped you out as a brother, that was helping Christ out. I think those verses refer to the Millennial Kingdom. Actually, I don't know what year it was. That's all Millennial Kingdom. I can remember which one you're trying to cite. So if that's in the Beatitudes and all that, and that's all Millennial Kingdom, which means these people who are doing it in the Millennial Kingdom, they didn't know where they're helping out or they're doing all that, that you're amongst the least of you and all that, that is in the Millennial Kingdom.

So that is not... That's not even applicable to Jews in Israel and now. No. Yeah, if that's what you're talking about. Because then he is talking to the Jews at that point. Jews in the Millennial Kingdom. From the Matthew quotes, yeah. But back to this.

There's no exclusions for this. There's no outs. If you're in Adam, you are this. You can only choose from these options. No matter what you do, this is you. This is a description of you in Adam. If we look at just a couple more verses, in Ephesians 2, 1-3, And you were dead in your trespasses and sin, in which you formerly walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in thee, what sons of disobedience! Among them we too all formerly lived, in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature Children of Wrath. The description just gets better and better. Yeah, this is Adam. This is who are you in Adam? Now the deeds of the flesh are evident.

This is Galatians 5.19-21. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. Again, this is who you are in Adam. This is who you are.

So how are we doing in Adam? You liking it? Cozy little warm place to be? Stunned faces. Is there anything positive about being in Adam? Did you read anything in here that says it's a good position to be in? I'm glad I'm Eve. That's not an escape clause. I hate to tell you this. Good try, but it doesn't work. So, anything good about being in Adam? This is who you are in Adam. No matter how good you think you are, this is your core in Adam. And I didn't see anything in there that said you're a swell person. This is who you are in Adam.

Actually, in fact, in Romans 7.24, this is Paul.

After him trying to do everything, knows what's good, tries to do it, what happens at the end of Romans 7? After he wants to do things, but he doesn't. I try to do something good, and I do just the opposite. It goes for Romans 7. What's the end of him in Romans 7? Praise be to God.

Well, that's the answer, but what does he say about himself? Wretched. Oh, wretched man that I am. Oh, wretched man that I am. Romans 7, 24. Now, this is Paul. This is Paul. Oh, wretched man that I am. You know, I look at Paul, and he's the guy who had time with the Lord in the desert, and here's Paul struggling with... It's not... Wretched man. Everything in the old man is bad.

But then the answer is, thanks be to God. We'll get to this. I'm just identifying what we are in Adam. Like I said, at the end of this class, you don't want anything to do with Adam. I guess it would be question three on yours. List four programs with scriptural reference that will change, fix up the old man to make him acceptable to God. Is that six? Question six. Oops. Here it is. Here's one more. I may not have redone my notes here. Question six. List four programs, or any programs, just name me one that will fix up the old atom.

Come on. The Purpose Ruined Life. Right? Come on, look at how popular that is. You know, I went in my Christian development, J.I. Packard, Knowing God. Great program, great program. What about that one? Good? That'll work? Prayer of Jabez was hot years ago. Huh? Come on, name me one. I thought it was a trick quest. It is.

There is nothing, there is nothing to fix up the old man. There is no program, there is nothing that fixes, even though we go through all these exercises and I'll tell you, Through my developmental identification and figuring this stuff out, I, again, I'm a type A-er. You know, I go out and isolate things.

I go, and if it's a program, I'll take it and attack it and go. Years of being, you know, going through different programs, and I have a flat forehead from hitting the wall so many times. You know, it's a program, oh, this is a great program, and this will, you know, make you feel good. Emotions, not actually doing anything. you know, all these programs to make you feel better, think like you're going to do something, and that you're going to make God smile just a little bit because you're helping him. You're helping him. Because I'm going to fix myself up. How about if I want to be a Jew? If you want to be a Jew? Yeah. I'm going to go back under the mosaic system. Yeah, well, and most Christians do that.

And we'll get into this as this class develops, which is, and this is critically important about Adam and then what Adam does in your life. As we get into the operating system of grace, which we operate now, it is critical about knowing who self is, or this old man, because that's the one you're going to fight. And I read a lot of the old brethren stuff, there's a thing that Miles put together, the spiritual anthology, and if you look at the hungry heart, things like that, The hardest thing to do is to identify how wicked and how ugly the old man is.

And we'll get to the two natures. There's still two natures. How ugly that old man is. And that's the hardest thing to identify and to eradicate or to control. You don't eradicate it. But to understand who's operating in your life. Which one? Your old Adamic or the new man in Christ?

Well, I think probably all of us have known people drug addicts and you know all of that they know that's evident and everybody can see it but I am going to Salvation Army and yeah volunteering so I don't I don't need to be saved right I don't need tough ones to work on the work yep yep because you know it's they feel good because God's you know what I look at me you know I am back in my life I look at times where I think yeah if I I did some things.

I built a church. I didn't want any public recognition. Just abhorred it. But in my heart of hearts, God smiled on me a little bit because I helped build this church. I don't want any of you guys to say anything, but in my heart, God, aren't you smiling because I did this?

Boom. Totally old man. Totally old man. OK. Let me get to a couple things. This is from Evan Hopkins. How infinite are the forms in which self appears. Some are occupied with good self. They pride themselves on their excellencies. Others are just as much occupied with bad self. They are forever groaning over their imperfections and struggling with flesh as they hoped in time to improve it. When shall we be convinced? It's so utterly bad that it's beyond all recovery. Our experience upward in the power of God is just in proportion to our experience downward in ceasing from self. And then Miles had one.

So many dear Christians just keep plotting or racing through the deadening routine of their multitudinous church activities and duties, expecting that in time, self will change for the better as they grow. But self never changes into anything but more of the same.

That which is born of flesh is flesh, John 3, 6. Sometimes this self is entirely bad as when it's angry, spiteful, unkind, unjust, untruthful, unloving, catty, slyly spiteful. In other cases, a good exterior conceals an evil heart. It's when we are proud of our humility, conceited about our Christian service, boastful of our orthodoxy, and over forwardness and obvious conceit at the sound of one's own voice spoils many a prayer meeting. Again, self never changes into anything else except more of itself. Great line, great line. Okay, does our academic nature want to change and be acceptable to God?

Sure. Adam, what? Yes? Yeah. He does? The old man does? Yeah. I think you said it too. So the old man wants to change. I'm going to say no. Sorry Holly, I'm disagreeing. and make itself acceptable to God, which is not the same as the flesh wanting to make itself die and therefore acceptable to God. But we read several times that we are God-haters. We are haters of God. It doesn't matter. But you just talked about people who wanted to make themselves acceptable to God.

Yeah, I think it's a little bit different. The biggest thing about Adam in the old life, I. It's all about I. Whether it's doing bad or doing good, it's all about me. Because even in the, I want to be acceptable to God, The subject is I, not God. Which is the old man who wants to do that. But he doesn't want, no. No, he wants to be better himself. But not acceptable to God. Who's the focus in there? Okay, I'm coming over. Thank you, Paul. So, yeah, and remember those ones in Romans 3? No, not one. Not one. God haters, all that.

So, and we'll see this when we get into grace. This is really critical when we get into grace, because the biggest thing you fight in grace is the old man trying to do something to make us more acceptable to God. And for you who have been in the grace class, what is our definition of grace? Unmerited favor. The unlimited and unmerited blessings from God based on the finished work or completed work of Christ on the cross. Unlimited, but unmerited. Unmerited means nothing. We do nothing for it. No matter how good.

The old man always wants to do something. And under the law system, he wants to stay under the law. Because what is the law? If I do something, I get this. So the old man just loves the law, to be under it, when we're a believer. He wants to try to do something. I shouldn't say he loves being under the law, but he wants to do something. He wants to be a part of it, where grace is unmerited.

I just want to say, even with my great-grandchildren, they always say, oh, let me do it. They're just buried in us. And with grace, well we'll get into this in the grace, you'll see grace, but you have to understand what we're talking about right now. Because you cannot understand grace if you do not understand these principles of identification. Because you always are going to try and do something.

And the old man is always trying to do something. Can I tell a joke? Romans 6.6, do we have one nature? Is the old man dead?

Somebody read Romans 6.6. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer serve, be slaves to sin. So is the old man dead? He's crucified? Is he dead? Kaputsky? No. We have a no. Do we have a yes? It's not dead, you're dead to it. Bingo. It's not dead, we're dead to it. Miles had a good thing. It's kind of long, but I think he did a really good job of this.

There are a lot of people that are one nature people, and they justify that I'm still sinning by a lot of different ways, that it's old baggage, it's memory, I don't have two nature, just memory from all that old. You can't get around sin, but we still can sin. Well, if we're just a new creature in Christ, how do you explain when I scream at the guy in the car? There are two natures. yielding to the old man and not the new.

In the first place, this is from Miles Stanford's Reckoning that Counts. In the first place, the content of Romans 6 has to do with the tyrannical reign of the principle of sin, not its symptom, sins. The problem of sins has been dealt with at the source by the crucifixion of the cross. The King James Version use of destroyed in verse 6 is far too strong for that particular Greek word.

In the Greek it has reference to enslaving power, setting forth the fact that the old man has not been annihilated, but crucified. Its power has been annulled, put down, made without effect. On the other hand, we are to view the old man as having been crucified, nailed to the cross, helpless, but not slain. Our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin, the law of sin in our members, might be, was crucified.

The Greek word carries these meanings, held inoperative, annulled, made without effect, power broken, put down. Here is further light on the principle of distinctions of Romans 7, 19 and 20. Here the mighty Paul is learning that in his own strength he is powerless against the indwelling law of sin.

For the good that I would that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Note the distinction between the two sources within. Sin is flowing from the old source, not the new. He also discovers that even as a new creation in Christ, he cannot by his own endeavors overcome and dwelling sin.

There is an allegory of a sea captain who in mid-ocean is charged with a capital offense, put in change and replaced by another. As a ship sails on, the chained one seeks to assert his old authority over the crew. Some of them might be foolish enough to respond, but there is no need, for he has been judicially disposed. It is now simply a matter of acknowledging the new captain and refusing the threats and orders of the condemned one. The death sentence has not been carried out beyond his being held in the place of death, his power broken, but he will be executed when the ship reaches port. In the meantime, he causes a lot of trouble. So it's like, if you get the analogy, a captain, he's been charged, he's like strapped to the mast, chained up. He's not the captain anymore, but as you walk by, hey, hey, listen to me, listen to me, I'm still your captain. That's how the old sin nature. He's been disposed of judicially, but he's still trying to get you to do it his way. OK. All right. Is this not a picture of the endemic source, held in place of death, replaced by the new source at the helm of our ship? Our attitude toward the old man is to be this. I reckon upon the crucifixion of the cross as your undoing, and therefore refuse your reign over me. I count the Lord Jesus as the captain of my life. When we reach the heavenly port, the conflict will be over. In the meantime, we rest in him.

So again, it's just kind of an allegory to help you that we still have two natures. There's the endemic nature and the new creation in us, operating. Okay, everybody okay with that? So it's like myself being strapped to the mast. No. No. It would be your endemic nature strapped to the mast. Yeah, when I say myself, I threw it. self, and that's a damning nature. But yeah, you're listening to that versus the new captain of Christ, or your new creation in Christ, your new man in Christ.

Okay? You okay with that? You look perplexed. The idea of crucified, I always thought the old man was killed. No. But he's just pimp. And then reckon yourselves, okay? So it's a null, it's not dead. How do you explain your sin? It's dead in the sense of separation. Yeah, separation.

We'll get into what Randall covers. Positionally, yes. Conditionally, you can vacillate back and forth. So Randall will get into that in a couple of weeks. Positionally, separated, done. All right, let's quickly go through the true-false, because I want to read one thing out of Miles' thing here. Jesus died for your sins. Now work hard to please him. True or false? False. Any trues? Okay.

You know, there's some... I have some references, but I'll quickly go through this since we've got to get it done. Number nine. My endemic nature, with help from the Spirit, can be acceptable to God. False. False. Yeah, we went through all those verses. In myself, trying to do good is a sign of unbelief in God's standard of acceptance. True. By trying to do good, it's kind of going from one branch of the tree of good and evil, but you don't get anywhere. You're still in there. Okay, number 10. There are still some redeeming characteristics of the Adamic man that can be fixed up since he was created in the image of God.

Genesis 1.26. How about the one before that? It blew it. Huh? The one before that. Number 11. Oh, did I miss one? No,

11. Someday the sin nature will be not as strong as it is now. False. False. It's false? Sure. How about when you're on the other side? I don't know. The sin nature. Now, who you respond, the sin nature is going to be... Because I'm thinking as you grow, the sin becomes less desirable. Right, but the sin nature is still as strong.

Okay. But once we actually, you know, are raptured or are in heaven and our new bodies, so someday... Someday, absolutely. Someday you'll be free of it. Yeah, we're free. I'm hoping. Shirk this shell. Get out of it. Okay, so I missed. There was one. The redeeming characteristics. That was false. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come.

Our earthly condition has bearing on our heavenly position. True? False. Our position in heaven is eternal, immutable, and has absolutely, praise God, nothing to do with our actions on earth, other than simple faith to believe in the Lord Jesus in His death, burial, resurrection, and salvation.

Now, I hope you understand what your old nature is. And I want to get through this real quick, and I'll probably be buzzed in the middle of it, but I want to go through it. I read this at the beginning of the year when I started The Hungry Heart this year. This is a great thing from Charles A. Copes.

Before God could use these men, he had to bring them to the end of themselves. He had to teach them that self-confidence, no matter what its form, could only result in defeat. Many of these servants had to spend years of struggling with the self-life before they learned to depend on the risen Lord Jesus to be their all in all. One such man was Charles A. Copes. The following account reflects some of these lessons that he learned in his own struggle with the flesh.

As I read more of this, this is very common. It's so hard to identify the old man. You want to do something good and you think that's because of the Lord. Well, it's the old man wanting to do something. So this is his account. I had to see about some work being done the other day and was asking the contractor, how much would it cost? It won't cost very much, he said, because we can use all the old material.

Now that is precisely what God could not do. There must be a new start altogether with new material. God rejects the old material altogether and begins entirely anew. And the one who is born again begins to learn the true character of the old material, i.e., all that he is as a child of Adam and a man in the flesh, as to be as dissatisfied with it as God is.

Key point there. We should be as dissatisfied with our old edemic self as God is. You may see that in Job and Saul of Tarsus, one of them said, I abhor myself, and the other said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Such language as this is the mark of one born again. He identifies himself with the new inward man, which is of God, and he judges everything of a contrary nature to be sin.

In itself, this is not a happy experience. It is not very pleasant for one who has been self-sustained and self-satisfied in a moral and religious life to find that there is not one bit of good in him. Some may discover this is by a single flash of divine light, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus, and others may have years of struggling and disappointment before they learn it, but it must and will be learned sooner or later by everyone that is born again.

You might be very well up in the doctrine of deliverance, Galatians 2.20, and yet all the time be secretly attempting to correct and improve yourself, and suffering a good deal of private vexation and disappointment on account of the failure of your attempts. I know how long I struggled on this way myself, praying and striving to be more holy and Christlike, and continually disappointed with the result.

I do not think that it ever occurred to me in those days that I was trying to improve the man whom God had set aside. It was at a moment when I was utterly discouraged and ready to give up the whole thing in complete despair that God showed me how I was attempting to work upon the old material which he could only condemn, and that my disgust and despair as to myself were only a feeble echo of his. I shall never forget the joy of finding out that in the depth of my disgust with myself, I was thoroughly at once with God. God had ceased to look for any good in me and had Christ before me, the perfect, infinitely acceptable object of his heart, and I, in my nothingness, had ceased to look for good in myself and was tasting the deep joy of being in Christ and free to have him as my object. While as to life, I entered in some degree into the blessedness of knowing that it was not I, but Christ liveth in me." I think that was a great summary of the struggle. Don't work on the old material. What does God think of your Adamic nature? Crucified. Get rid of it. Gone.

But as you find as you grow, that's one of the hardest things to identify. It's one of the hardest things to overcome as you grow in Christ, as you mature in your new man, is to identify the old. So it's critically important you understand this, and especially as we translate into the operating system of grace. When Paul would say the stuff, he did all this bad stuff, he said, it's not really me that's doing it.

That is... It's his old man. The old man with sin nature is doing it. O wretched man that I am. If I do it in myself, failure, Paul, at the end of all this, I know what to do what's right, and don't you do that yourself? Don't you do, you know what's right, and then suddenly you just do something stupid? And I go, what? Who am I relying upon? The old man, not the new man in Christ. But I go back to the old man, and I think I get, you know, one of the, quickly, the one thing is, like, for husbands, if you look at what you're required to do as a husband, can you do that in yourself? There ain't no way. Excuse my poor English. You cannot do it. There's no possibility of doing it. You have to rely upon Christ and the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you're done.

And that's where a lot of our struggles come from. I was just going to say, in regard to Paul, what he wrote, I said, isn't that kind of a cop-out? It's not because he took ownership for his old man. Right. Okay. Yeah, he finally identified it. And then you get to Romans 8. He takes us through Romans 6, which is our identification, goes to Romans 7, which is identifying the old man, and then, therefore, there is now no condemnation. Who I am in Christ. I've been separated.

Did you have something to say Randy? I thought I saw two hands back there. All right, let's close in prayer and we'll get going. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time again. Thank you for your word. Thank you just for what you left in the scriptures to identify who we are in Christ and who we are in Adam. Father, we are so thankful of your plan that there is nothing good in Adam and that the best thing that you did and the best thing we can realize is that to be separated from our Adamic life, our identification with Adam. And you did that on the cross. You were crucified and we as believers were crucified, separated from our old Adam life positionally. And Father, we just thank you that you did that. There is nothing good in Adam and nothing we should be clinging on to in the Adamic life.

And Father, we just thank you for your plan of salvation through your Son. We just thank you that there is nothing in your operating system of grace. The only thing we can do in grace is say thank you for all the blessings you bestow upon us. There is nothing we have to do as in the endemic life. We are so thankful of your system of grace now. Father, we just thank you again for this time and we just close by saying we love you and thank you in Jesus' name.