{"id":19091,"date":"2016-11-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-spiritual-anatomy-part-2\/"},"modified":"2016-11-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T06:00:00","slug":"soteriology-spiritual-anatomy-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-spiritual-anatomy-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology – Spiritual Anatomy – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[91],"series_event":[485],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[152],"class_list":["post-19091","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-corinthians","series_event-soteriology-sp-anatomy","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-jim-mcgowan","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology - Spiritual Anatomy - Part 2","sermon_date":"20161120","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":4062,"sermon_slides":4061,"sermon_mp3":4067,"sermon_id":"112016954227","series_or_event":485,"service_type":[473],"speaker":152,"books_of_the_bible":91,"chapter_and_verse":"15:20-22","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Jim McGowan\n\nSoteriology \u2013 Spiritual Anatomy, Part 2 2 Timothy 2:11-13\n\nNovember 23, 2016\n\nAs you can see on the screen, we\u2019re in part 2 of a study we began a couple of weeks ago and I\u2019m endeavoring, when I come up and I fill in for Pastor Woods to maintain whatever theme that he\u2019s currently on, which is soteriology for our Sunday School class. \u00a0So that\u2019s the idea behind this and my hope is that by bringing a slightly different perspective or purview if you will, on this study that will maybe help drive home or clarify some of the things that he\u2019s been going over also.\u00a0 You know sometimes hearing something, you can hear the same thing but hear it in a different way and sometimes that\u2019ll minister to your heart.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping that that\u2019s the case.\n\nSo here\u2019s a brief outline of what we\u2019re going to talk about this morning, Spiritual Anatomy, Part 2, I\u2019m going to review some concepts for you that we went over last time and then we\u2019re going to get in a little bit deeper and farther along.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to introduce some clarifying subject, topics to you, we\u2019re going to talk a little bit about some identification synonyms and that will be helpful.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to talk about what it means when we say that death is separation, what we mean when we talk about Adam\u2019s spiritual history, that again will be a little bit of a review, and similarly with Christ\u2019s spiritual history.\u00a0 And then we\u2019re going to try to answer the question, is this just all a bunch of gobbelty-gook, is this just hypothetical, you know, is this just some way to tickle the ears or is this really important information.\u00a0 And that\u2019s our hope that we can prove that.\n\nSo let\u2019s start with our review here; we said last time that all human beings are conceived and born in Adam and what we mean by that is that they are positionally in Adam and they\u2019re identified with him.\u00a0 We said that each unbeliever has Adam as his or her spiritual head.\u00a0 And we said that Adam is the seminal head of fallen mankind.\u00a0 And we emphasized the fact that that\u2019s a fixed position\u2026 a fixed position for every unbeliever.\u00a0 And what do we mean by that?\u00a0 Basically what we mean is that there\u2019s nothing that the unbeliever can do in his own power to change that situation.\u00a0 He\u2019s fixed where he is \u201cin Adam.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And then we said all unbelievers share Adam\u2019s spiritual history and the consequences of that history through their identification with Him.\u00a0 All right.\n\nWe said all of those who are conceived and born in Adam, upon believing the gospel of salvation, what happens?\u00a0 They are now placed into Christ; they\u2019re from that time forward \u201cin Christ\u201d and that\u2019s done all by God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s an important thing that we understand.\u00a0 We said all believers being \u201cin Christ\u201d share Christ\u2019s spiritual history; just like Adam has a spiritual history, Christ has a spiritual history.\u00a0 And so we, being joined to Christ, we now share that spiritual history and the consequences of that history because of our identification with Him.\n\nI showed you this chart or this picture graphic last time and again this is just a representation to sort of give\u00a0 you\u2026 you know, some people are sight learners, I\u2019m kind of a sight learner, I kind of like to have a lot of different ways of seeing something and a pictorial representation helps me a lot of times.\u00a0 So here\u2019s a representation of what we mean when we say that we\u2019re \u201cin Adam\u201d as unbeliever, the old man is a positional person\u2026 a positional person; the old man is all of who each of\u00a0 us was as an unbeliever \u201cin Adam.\u201d\u00a0 So when we\u2019re talking about being \u201cin Adam\u201d we\u2019re talking about a whole picture here.\u00a0 What does it mean to be \u201cin Adam.\u201d\u00a0 Well, it means that we\u2019re an old man, and this old man possesses a sin nature.\u00a0 We said, when we talked about the sin nature that the sin nature is the collection of attributes and characteristics of how the old man is inclined to believe, and that\u2019s an important thing to understand.\n\nAnd we said that the sin nature is not the same as the old man, if you\u2019ll go back to the previous presentation I gave you ample documentation there and gave you a couple of links to a couple of somewhat lengthy articles that go into great depth explaining that when we talk about the sin nature and the old man they are not the same thing.\u00a0 And I encourage you to go back and review that.\n\nAnd then we also said that it\u2019s important to understand that the sin nature, when we refer to the sin nature it is pertaining to the physical human body.\u00a0 So this is what we meant when we talked about Adam, being \u201cin Adam.\u201d\u00a0 Now what do we mean when we say that we\u2019re now \u201cin Christ\u201d as believers?\u00a0 Again, here\u2019s another representation for you so this person, this new man is also a positional person and this new man is made up of all of who we now are as believers in Christ.\u00a0 And of course, part of our reason we study the Word of God is to really find out what that means.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, our entire Christian life is learning more and more and more and more what it means when we say all of who we are now \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 And we said that this new man possesses a new nature.\n\nAgain we\u2019re making a distinction here, we don\u2019t want to confuse the new man with the new nature.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we\u2019re saying here, the terms \u201cnew man\u201d and \u201cnew nature\u201d are not interchangeable terms for the same thing.\u00a0 And that becomes important as we get further in our study this morning.\n\nStill reviewing, we said that the believer continues to have the sin nature, and that sin nature you\u2019ll recall dominates\u2026 dominates the life of the person who is in Adam; they don\u2019t have a choice, they are constantly, continually under the tyranny of the sin nature.\u00a0 And we said it\u2019s associated with a physical human body even though the believer is \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Now we mentioned last time, what\u2019s the difference?\u00a0 One huge difference between the unbeliever and the believer; if both have a sin nature what\u2019s the big distinction?\u00a0\u00a0 Well, the big distinction is that now as believers who are positionally \u201cin Christ\u201d we actually not only have a choice not to sin but we have been empowered by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to enable us not to sin.\u00a0 And that\u2019s significant because the unbeliever doesn\u2019t have that enabling power and hence the reason for all the self-help books, the reason why all kinds of unbelievers are involved in all kinds of different sins.\u00a0 Many times the things they do, addictions and such, are designed to cover up that sin nature that\u2019s constantly gaining control and they\u2019re trying to squelch, they\u2019re trying to control it in their own strength and you can\u2019t do it.\n\nWe said that the sin nature will be present with the believer until he or she receives the new body which is fashioned after Christ.\u00a0 We know that when we were saved we were justified, God declared us righteous at that moment.\u00a0 We know that we\u2019re in this present stage of sanctification and we know that there\u2019s a coming glorification.\u00a0 Right?\n\nWell, what is it that remains to be redeemed, if you will?\u00a0 It\u2019s the physical human body; that\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s remaining to be redeemed; that\u2019s going to happen when we\u2019re glorified.\u00a0 And so we see here that this sin nature is just hanging around; he\u2019s trying to regain control in the life of the believer. But praise the Lord, the day is going to come when we either arrive in heaven, one of two ways, right?\u00a0 We\u2019re either going to die and be with the Lord or we\u2019re going to be raptured and be with the Lord and we\u2019re going to have a reconstituted, if you will, glorified human body, spiritual body and won\u2019t it be wonderful to not have to deal with the sin nature.\n\nHave you thought about that?\u00a0 Have you ever just stopped to think about how much time you spend every day dealing with the sin nature?\u00a0 Now I just challenge you tomorrow when you wake up, just start thinking about that; how often do you find yourself having to just literally stop and resist the sin nature.\u00a0\u00a0 You start to have bad thoughts or say a bad word or do a bad thing; how often are you struggling with that sin nature.\u00a0 You know, hopefully as believers as we grow in Christ that we\u2019re getting more and more submitted to the Holy Spirit, so that the sin nature doesn\u2019t win as often as it does.\u00a0 But if we\u2019re all honest we know that there are times when the happens, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, I can\u2019t wait, come Lord Jesus, I don\u2019t even care if I finish my message this morning, right?\u00a0 And somebody out there said \u201camen brother.\u201d\n\nWhat is the nature\u2026 we throw this word \u201cnature\u201d around and we said nature is not all of what a creature is but it is, on the other hand, a collection of attributes and characteristics that cause that creature to behave a certain way.\u00a0 And again that\u2019s the reason why we don\u2019t have crocodiles up in trees like you see here in this little picture.\n\nAnd then we introduced this concept of the continuing person and we said that the individual personhood of every person continues from Adam through to becoming \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 And we talked about the fact that what do we mean by that.\u00a0 I mean well, as much as I would have liked for it to have happened I would have just been so tickled if when I came to Christ I had the Mr. Universe body, you know, right.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get that\u2026 you knew that, right?\u00a0 I\u00a0 didn\u2019t get it, I didn\u2019t get other things, my characteristics didn\u2019t change, my personal life and dislikes didn\u2019t necessarily change; some did.\u00a0 My personal identity, you know, I didn\u2019t\u2026 from going to being in Adam to being in Christ I didn\u2019t cease to be Jim McGowan (which my wife can attest to), and others in my family.\u00a0 I\u2019m still the same person but now I\u2019m \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 We said this part of the believer that changed over time, and when we talk about these processes that the Bible talks about which are the conforming, transforming processes, the growing and maturing processes, the process of being sanctified, where is that taking place?\u00a0 That\u2019s taking place in the continuing person\u2026 the continuing person. And we said that it is this continuing person that Paul referred to as a believer when he said things like I used to be this way, I was that way, that\u2019s what he\u2019s referring to.\n\nAnd then we said also that just as there\u2019s no variation in being in Adam\u2026 remember we said that if you\u2019re an unbeliever in Adam there\u2019s no variation, right?\u00a0 You\u2019re in a fixed position.\u00a0 Well, guess what?\u00a0 Once you\u2019re in Christ\u2026 excuse me, there\u2019s also no change in the old man and the sin nature.\u00a0 What do we mean by that?\u00a0 Well, that kind of comes back to what I said previously, is that the world is out there endeavoring to fix the old man; they\u2019re endeavoring to deal with the sin nature but they don\u2019t have the wherewithal to do that.\u00a0 Why do we have so many different religions in the world?\u00a0 Because so many, really many of these religions, beside the fact that there\u2019s doctrine of demons of course, but at some level they\u2019re endeavoring to deal with this issue of good and evil.\n\nWe said that there\u2019s also no change in the new man or the new nature since there\u2019s no variation in being \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 And this is something that\u2019s very important for us to understand also, I can\u2019t improve upon what God has already done.\u00a0 I can\u2019t improve upon the new nature; I can\u2019t make it better.\u00a0 How do I make it better?\u00a0 How do I make the new man better?\u00a0 These things are fixed positionally.\u00a0 And that\u2019s something very exciting to know.\n\nAnd so then we answered the question here, does this really matter Jim, you\u2019re just wasting our time.\u00a0 Well, I hope not.\u00a0 Here\u2019s some questions that I think when we begin to understand what\u2019s going on we begin to come up with some really good answers to question, but here\u2019s the first one: Am I trying to make the sin nature better?\u00a0 We, as believers, as we engage the sin nature are we somehow under the false assumption that we can fix it?\u00a0 We can put a little makeup on it, a little rouge here, a little eye makeup there, whatever.\u00a0 No, we can\u2019t change the sin nature.\u00a0 We have to ask the question, is it God\u2019s plan for me to try really, really, really hard to be a good Christian or to be more like Christ.\u00a0 You know, many people say oh yes, that\u2019s exactly correct.\u00a0 Have you ever seen anybody doing that?\u00a0 What their life is like?\u00a0 More often than not people who are caught up in this are very legalistic and God\u2019s called us to liberty.\n\nDo we need to improve the new nature? \u00a0Jesus said \u201cIt is finished\u201d on the cross and He\u2019s referring to everything that pertains to life and godliness for the believer so now we said we\u2019re in Christ, we\u2019re a new man and we have a new nature, so do we need to somehow improve that new nature?\u00a0 Well, Jesus, You got it pretty much right but you know\u2026 as Andy\u2019s prone to say, you know, the Lord got the dinner and we want to get the tip, so to speak.\u00a0 Well let me make you laugh here.\u00a0 Do we need to improve the new man?\u00a0 No!\u00a0 Do we need to get more \u201cin Christ\u201d than we were\u00a0 yesterday?\u00a0 Oh, you know, I\u2019m just not \u201cin Christ\u201d enough, you know.\u00a0 We may not actually say that in our daily conversation but you know we think that way.\u00a0 You know, if I could just be more\u00a0 in Christ, if I could just, you know, as if something were lacking with regards to what Christ has done for us.\n\nHow about this one; where are you on this?\u00a0 Okay, today, now let\u2019s see, you know, I had a bad day yesterday so\u2026 man, I remember that low point, I\u2019m only 10% in Christ today, but you know, I\u2019ll do better tomorrow, I\u2019m going to shoot for that 75% or if I\u2019m really, really motivated, you know, REALLY motivated, I\u2019m going to get my act together, I\u2019m going to strive for that 95%.\u00a0 Now nobody out there is like that, right?\u00a0 I think sometimes we fall into these faulty ways of thinking and then that reduces the opportunity for victory in our lives.\u00a0 So I\u2019m answering my own question here, does this really matter?\u00a0 Absolutely it does!\u00a0 Getting these concepts clear is vitally important, otherwise we may find ourselves doing what?\u00a0 Trying to change things that can never change or never need to change.\u00a0 What\u2019s that old saying, \u201cif it ain\u2019t broke don\u2019t fix it.\u201d\n\nBelievers often get frustrated.\u00a0 Does this describe you?\u00a0 I have to confess that before I was introduced to some of these truths and began to live them out and experience them this described me, very much so.\u00a0 Believers often get frustrated, confused, and flustered wondering what God is doing because they don\u2019t have a clear biblical understanding of these concepts.\u00a0 Have\u00a0 you ever had circumstances really go a strange direction in your life and then what\u2019s the first thing you do?\u00a0 God, why is this happening to me, you know.\u00a0 What\u2019s going on, you know, I thought You loved me.\u00a0 Well, if you understand some of these concept there\u2019s some great answers to those types of questions.\n\nSo when we understand biblically how God made us and what it is that God is changing in us and how it is that He\u2019s producing that change in us, then our perception comes in line with God\u2019s perception and His Word instead of with that of the world, the flesh and the devil.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that where we want to be as we walk with Christ.\u00a0 I think so!\n\nNow I just put this up here because sometimes people think that when I teach this material, well Jim, you know, you\u2019re letting\u00a0 your old charismania creep back in here and you know,\u00a0 you\u2019re just kind of giving us a name it and claim it thing.\u00a0 No, not at all, that\u2019s not what I\u2019m talking about at all.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about factual information from the Word of God and what did we say last time?\u00a0 When we observe the spiritual facts and we apply faith to the spiritual facts then what happens?\u00a0 We experience spiritual victory.\u00a0 \u00a0And that\u2019s what this is all about.\n\nSome points of clarification; we\u2019re saying here that once we clearly understand these concepts we won\u2019t have any false self-imposed<\/strong> problems, notice the self-imposed is bolded, we won\u2019t have any self-imposed problems that spring from an erroneous understanding of God\u2019s Word, trying to change something that won\u2019t change, and struggling to be more in Christ and more like Christ.\u00a0 Remember Paul talked about\u2026 he said \u201cI run in such a way as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air.\u201d\u00a0 [Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;\u201d 1 Corinthians 9:26]\u00a0 Do you ever feel like sometimes that that\u2019s what you\u2019re doing?\u00a0 I mean, I could confess there are times when I felt that way. We\u2019re saying that we must correctly understand the following questions again: What is God doing in the life of the believer?\u00a0 What has God already accomplished?\u00a0 That\u2019s so vitally important.\u00a0 What is God accomplishing right now in the life of the believer?\u00a0 What specific changes does God intend in the life of the believer?\u00a0 And then we ask the question, are we trying to change what never will change and was never intended to change?\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s really a gross picture, I apologize for that, a couple of guys up there in diapers, that\u2019s terrible.\n\nOkay, so that\u2019s just a review of where we have been but let\u2019s go on to the next section and the newer material; shall we?\u00a0 So we\u2019re going to talk about deeper in and farther along in this identification truth stuff.\u00a0 So identification truth, we said before, is predominantly related to the church age believer, and it\u2019s being explained most fully by the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 Now again we\u2019re not setting him off against the other writers in the New Testament, they do have some things to say.\u00a0 But again, Paul is the one from which we really get the clearest and most detailed information.\n\nIdentification truth\u00a0 is revealed and understood entirely by the will and actions of God, and the blessings of our identification with Christ are accomplished entirely by God\u2019s infinite, eternal and amazing grace<\/em>.\u00a0 And wow, all I can say is Amen to that, right?\u00a0 Ephesians 1:3-4, how do we know what I just said was true.\u00a0 Well, look at this, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places\u201d where is that now? \u201cin Christ, [4] \u00a0just as He chose us\u201d how did He choose us, \u201c in Him,\u201d \u201cin Christ.\u201d\n\nSee, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about, brothers and sisters; it\u2019s all about being \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 And we really need to grasp this.\u00a0 I would just challenge you sometime when you don\u2019t have anything else to do get your highlighter out and go through the epistles especially and just go through them and just mark every time you see \u201cin Him,\u201d \u201cthrough Him,\u201d \u201cwith Him,\u201d \u201cby Him,\u201d or similarly instead of Him, Christ, or Lord Jesus or whatever, just go through\u2026 you will blow your mind at how many times that you\u2019re going to see that and every time you see that, in almost every instance it\u2019s dealing with identification truth information.\n\nOkay, the word \u201cidentification\u201d again throwing this word around, the word \u201cidentification,\u201d what does it mean?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s just a convenient handle.\u00a0 Anybody used to use CD\u2019s?\u00a0 I remember when I was in high school some people don\u2019t even know what a CD is any more, right?\u00a0 When I was in high school the hot thing was everybody had to have a CD in your car if you had a car.\u00a0 So when I finally got a car I had to THE accessory, and THE accessory was the CD and of course you had to have a handle.\u00a0 Anybody ever do that?\u00a0 Of course, somebody \u2026. Nobody is going to be honest and admit it\u2026\u00a0 Well, do you know what my handle was?\u00a0 My handle was \u201cKing\u2019s Kid.\u201d\u00a0 So you know, \u201cBreaker, breaker, this is King\u2019s Kid,\u201d\u00a0 you know, blah, blah, blah. I thought I was so cool.\n\nWell, identification is just a \u201chandle\u201d that we use.\u00a0 When we talk about identification how do we identify, how do we locate or find identification truth.\u00a0 Well, again here\u2019s what I was saying; we see words like \u201cin,\u201d \u201cwith,\u201d \u201ctogether with.\u201d\u00a0 In Romans 6 it\u2019s \u201cunited with.\u201d\u00a0 In Romans and Colossians, \u201cbaptized into.\u201d\u00a0 These are terms that are used to introduce and describe and explain identification truth.\n\nA key principle that we need to really understand is that when we talk about identification truths that when we see the word \u201cdeath\u201d we need to understand that \u201cdeath\u201d means separation.\u00a0 All right, and if you\u2019ll stop and think about that for a minute it makes sense.\u00a0 The Bible nowhere teaches annihilation, that when someone dies they just cease to exist; \u00a0right?\u00a0 That\u2019s not taught in the Scriptures. Death, all the way back to the Garden of Eden, what happened; you know, God told Adam and Eve that they weren\u2019t to eat of the tree; Satan said don\u2019t touch it, I almost messed that up there, but God said don\u2019t eat of it, right?\u00a0 And they ate of it.\u00a0 He said if you eat of it what\u2019s going to happen?\u00a0 You\u2019re going to die.\u00a0 And so they ate of it and they just dropped dead right on the spot, didn\u2019t they?\u00a0 NO, they didn\u2019t.\u00a0 In fact, for all practical purposes and all appearances there really wasn\u2019t anything external that changed, that anyone would be able to see.\n\nBut they did die, didn\u2019t they?\u00a0 They died spiritually.\u00a0 Now what does that mean?\u00a0 Does that mean suddenly they no longer had.. the spirit that they had was annihilated, it was gone?\u00a0 NO, it doesn\u2019t mean that.\u00a0 It means that because of their actions, the act of sin that they died toward God and they were now separated from Him.\u00a0 The wonderful fellowship that I can\u2019t imagine\u2026 can you imagine God walking with you in the Garden.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really sure how that worked, you know, maybe that will be a question when I get to heaven.\u00a0 So God, did you come down and was it\u2026 you know, was it a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, I don\u2019t know what happened, but just the thought of it, you know, wow, how awesome.\u00a0 Well, that was gone when they sinned; death came into the scene; they were separated, weren\u2019t they.\n\nWhen Isaiah said that the sins of the people of Israel had caused a separation from God he meant spiritual death.\u00a0 When Jesus told the Jewish leaders that unless they believed in Him they would die in their sins, remember that?\u00a0 He was pointing out that they would suffer a death that would separate them from the very God they claimed to know.\u00a0 Death is separation.\u00a0 And then Paul taught that death means separation in the following passages.\u00a0 Ephesians 2:1-3, verses 11 and 13; chapter 4:18 and Colossians 1:21.\n\n[Ephesians 2:1-3, \u201cAnd you were dead in your trespasses and sins, [2] in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. [3]Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. [11] Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called \u201cUncircumcision\u201d by the so-called \u201cCircumcision,\u201d which is<\/em> performed in the flesh by human hands.\u00a0 [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:18, \u201cbeing darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.\u201d\u00a0 Colossians 1:21, \u201cAnd although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,\u201d]\n\nSo death is separation; and guess what?\u00a0 Death is really bad news unless it\u2019s good news.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 What do I mean?\u00a0 Well, God uses the death is separation principle in a gracious way, for our benefit.\u00a0 When we were identified with Christ in His death, in Christ\u2019s death and burial and resurrection this was our benefit.\u00a0 So look what we see here; if you go look at these passages you\u2019re going to see that in each one of these instances what Paul is saying is that death means separation.\n\nSo in Romans 6:1-11 he says we\u2019re dead to the sin nature.\u00a0 Now again, does that mean the sin nature is annihilated, it no longer exists?\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0 It means we have been separated from it, it is no longer the tyrant, it is no longer the domineering force in our life; we\u2019ve been empowered over it through the Holy Spirit.\n\nIn Romans 7 he says we died to the Law, wow\u2026 we \u201cdied to the Law.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0We\u2019re going to actually talk about some of that in the next message so I don\u2019t want to get too wound up here on that.\u00a0 But 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 he said that we\u2019re dead to ourselves, isn\u2019t that interesting, and we\u2019re alive to Christ.\u00a0 Again, Galatians 2:19, I guess He was serious about this because He repeats the fact that we died to the Law, that must be important for us to know.\u00a0 Colossians 2:20 says we died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world.\u00a0 Does that mean that the world somehow for us ceased to exist?\u00a0 That, you know, we now encapsulated in a Holy Spirit bubble and we just sort of float through life, right.\u00a0 And maybe we see what\u2019s going on but it doesn\u2019t affect us or anything\u2026 NO, it may be kind of fun but NO, I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 Then he says that we\u2019re \u201cdead to sin\u201d again because we died with Christ to the world.\u00a0 All this is the concept, the idea of death being separation.\n\nLet\u2019s talk about what we mean here when we talk about \u201cbeing joined to.\u201d\u00a0 So identification means that you\u2019re \u201cjoined to\u201d something.\u00a0 We said that death separates us, right?\u00a0 Hopefully we just proved that.\u00a0 Death separates us from something but you know, we don\u2019t just get separated and then just founder around out there somewhere.\u00a0 When we die to one thing we\u2019re then joined to something else.\u00a0 So here we go; our identification, then, with death, with what?\u00a0 With Christ\u2019s death joins us to that death and that death separates us. When we were identified with Adam, in other words, when we were \u201cin Adam\u201d guess what?\u00a0 We were joined to the death of separation that Adam experienced.\u00a0 Each of us was joined\u2026 how so?\u00a0 We were joined to the sin nature, to the law of sin and death, to the world, and all of Adam\u2019s spiritual history.\n\nSo what\u2019s happening here?\u00a0 We were separated from what?\u00a0 We were separated from God, and we were joined to what?\u00a0 We were joined to Adam and his spiritual history.\u00a0 That\u2019s the bad news.\u00a0 As an\u00a0 unbeliever identified with Adam each of us again, we were what? We were separated from Christ, from His righteousness and from His spiritual history.\n\nNow this is an important point that I think sometimes people kind of get confused on a little bit.\u00a0 Adam was created in innocence; he was not created righteous.\u00a0 There\u2019s a difference.\u00a0 What do we mean?\u00a0 Innocence was simply not having sin, and that\u2019s a condition which could be lost, as was apparent with Adam.\u00a0 Let me ask you a question:\u00a0 has anyone since Adam ever been born innocent, besides the Lord Jesus?\u00a0 Thank you for helping me there a little bit, someone said JESUS, absolutely right, yeah!\n\nBut no, with regards to general humanity we all were joined to Adam in his death.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 And so there\u2019s never been anyone innocent since then with the exception of the Lord Jesus.\u00a0 But I want to make a clarification on that point here in just a second.\u00a0 He was innocent in that He had no sin nature; Adam died because he was separated from God, or he became separated from God, rather, because of rebellion in choosing his own wife.\u00a0 And all humanity has inherited a sin nature through Adam; all unbelievers are now in Adam and they share his spiritual history and the subsequent consequences because of their identification with him.\n\nWell, let\u2019s talk about Christ again for a minute.\u00a0 It\u2019s a little bit of a review\u2026 but the moment we believed we were identified with, in other words, we were joined to Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seating in heaven.\u00a0 Those are more than just words and they bear investigation on all of our parts.\u00a0 Notice that Christ is righteous, a big difference between Adam and Christ.\u00a0 Christ is righteous!\u00a0 The moment we believed we were given Christ\u2019s righteous; we were not given innocence, were we?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting?\u00a0 We weren\u2019t given innocence, we were given righteousness and it\u2019s a righteousness which is unchangeable and its eternal.\u00a0 Hallelujah.\u00a0 Right.\n\nAnd what do we say here, righteousness if right standing with God.\u00a0 The moment we believed we were positionally \u201cin Christ,\u201d a new man with a new nature.\u00a0 Identification with Christ, then, does what?\u00a0 It joins us to Christ and as believers what was true of our being joined to and identified with Adam has forever changed.\u00a0 That\u2019s very important!\u00a0 We were identified with Christ meaning we were joined to Christ, joined to His righteousness and His spiritual history, and in our identification with Christ each of us was what?\u00a0 Separated from the sin nature, the law of sin and death; the world, and we were completely, utterly, totally separated from Adam\u2019s spiritual history.\u00a0 Wonderful news, just wonderful!\n\nYou can see a comparison here in this diagram, that basically reflects what we just said.\u00a0 And again we\u2019ll come and say well, why does this matter.\u00a0 Okay Jim\u2019s fun teaching here but why does it matter, why should it matter to me?\u00a0 Is it just hypothetical?\u00a0 The answer of course is no, our understanding of identification truth directly affects at least two areas that directly touch upon what God is doing in the life of the believer.\u00a0 Would you like to get a little information about this?\n\nNumber 1, it deals with the sin nature and our continuing person.\u00a0 This is some interesting stuff; identification truth provides answers to two very important questions: why did believers continue to sin?\u00a0 Would that be important to you?\u00a0 And it also deals with a situation or answers the question, how do believers have any hope of not sinning.\u00a0 That\u2019s important stuff.\u00a0 Identification truth reveals the primary manner of dealing with the sin nature.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re getting to the good stuff.\u00a0 It\u2019s our identification with Christ.\n\nNow I\u2019m not going to read this to you here because I can barely see it myself, but if you\u2019ll go back through the notes and look at it, the main reason I\u2019m throwing this up here is I\u2019ve highlighted some of\u2026 SOME of the information that is specific to identification truth in Romans 6:1-14. I just said \u201csome of\u201d there\u2019s more.\u00a0 So I encourage you to go back and look at that passage.\n\n[Romans 6:1\u201314 (NASB95), [1]\u00a0 \u201c1<\/sup>What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2<\/sup> May it never be! How shall we who died to sin<\/u> still live in it? 3<\/sup> Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus <\/u>have been baptized into His death<\/u>? 4<\/sup> Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death<\/u>, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5<\/sup> For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death<\/u>, certainly we shall also be in the likeness<\/u><\/em> of His resurrection<\/u>, 6<\/sup> knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him<\/em><\/u>,<\/em> in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7<\/sup> for he who has died is freed from sin<\/u>. 8<\/sup> Now if we have died with Christ<\/u>, we believe that we shall also live with Him<\/u>, 9<\/sup> knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10<\/sup> For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11<\/sup> Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus<\/u>. 12<\/sup> Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13<\/sup> and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as<\/em> instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as<\/em> instruments of righteousness to God. 14<\/sup> For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.\u201d]\n\nAnd all through here, as you\u2019re reading Romans 6\u00a0 you\u2019ll recall that I said last time that we need to understand again that the sin nature is the collection of attributes and characteristics of how the old man is inclined to behave.\u00a0 And we said that when contextually appropriate that the terms \u201cflesh\u201d and \u201cbody\u201d which you will find in this passage, is often best understood as referring to the sin nature as it acts through the physical human body.\u00a0 That\u2019s a very important point as you read Romans, especially chapter 6.\n\nSO, how do we deal with this sin nature problem?\u00a0 Here it is: \u201cEven so consider\u201d or \u201creckon\u00a0 yourselves to be dead unto sin,\u201d or the sin nature.\u00a0 [Romans 6:11]\u00a0 Now most of us read this passage and this is where we stop; okay, so get out your tablet, start listing all of the sin in your life, give yourself some little check boxes so that you can reckon yourself dead to sin.\u00a0 So tomorrow morning get your little check books out and as you go through the day start checking those things off.\u00a0 Now you\u2019re not allowed to add to the list once you get started in the morning but you\u2019re going to need to, so when you get to the end of your list, guess what?\u00a0 You failed!\u00a0 All right.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that wonderful news?\n\nWell, my point here is just this, that we endeavor in our own strength to deal with the sin nature.\u00a0 How did that work for us when we weren\u2019t believers?\u00a0 Not too well.\u00a0 Guess what?\u00a0 It\u2019s not going to work very well for you as a believer, if you\u2019re trying to do it in your own strength.\u00a0 You have to add the rest of the bridge here.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you can tell that that\u2019s what that was, but if I want to get across the river I need the rest of the bridge.\u00a0 So let\u2019s add the rest of the bridge.\u00a0 Oh, okay, \u201cConsider yourself to be dead unto sin,\u201d why do I want to do that?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s part of the identification truth.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s already true about me, but that\u2019s not enough.\u00a0 I have to now also reckon myself to be alive unto God in Christ Jesus. That\u2019s the rest of the story.\n\nI have a somewhat lengthy quote here but let me read it, if you\u2019ll bear with me on it because I think this gives some great information on this particular topic.\u00a0 This comes out of Thomas Constable\u2019s notes; he says, referring to this verse, \u201cSince God has united us with Christ we should \u201cconsider,\u201d \u201ccount,\u201d or \u201creckon\u201d ourselves as those who are not under the dominating influence of sin any longer. In some parts of the United States, \u201cI reckon\u201d means \u201cI guess,\u201d or \u201cI hope\u201d.\u00a0 That is not its meaning here. It means to count on something being true, and then to believe it.\u00a0 The verb is a present imperative\u201d that\u2019s a command form, \u201cin the Greek text indicating that we should definitely and constantly view ourselves this way. We must realize that we are free to enjoy our new relationship with God forever.\u201d\n\nHe says furthermore that \u201cPaul previously stressed the importance of knowing certain facts about this identification\u201d and he lists verses 3, 6 and 9 in the same chapter.\u00a0 Then he says, \u201cNow he said that we should count on those facts as being true. We must not just understand them, we must believe them.\u201d\u00a0 He says, \u201cHe used the same Greek word [logisthesetai<\/em>] here as he did in his explanation of justification\u201d and then he lists the verses.\u00a0 [2:26; 4:3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24]. He goes on and says, \u201cGod puts righteousness down on the believer\u2019s account.\u201d\u00a0 When we\u2019re talking about justification.\u00a0 \u201cSimilarly we should put it down as true that our relationship to sin and death has changed. Only as we do so will we relate to temptation, sin, and death realistically. If we fail to believe that sin no longer dominates us, we will be much more vulnerable to yield to temptation, to practice sin, and to fear death. \u00a0However if we believe sin does not have that power, we will be more apt to resist temptation, to stay clear of sin, and to anticipate death less fearfully. \u201cConsider\u201d or \u201creckon\u201d is in the present tense in the Greek text indicating that we need to maintain a realistic view of our relationship to the sin nature.\n\nAnd then one more comment, Newell writes that \u201cthe word \u2018reckon\u2019 is a word for faith in the face of appearances.\"\n\nSo, how are we doing on time here, pretty good.\u00a0 Identification truth explains that the changes in our continuing person, which are the ongoing processes we mentioned here, conformed to being transformed, etc.\u00a0 They\u2019re always in the direction of Christ.\u00a0 So here we are, this is our path.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see if I can do that again.\u00a0 This is fun.\u00a0 All right, here we are in our Christian life, wouldn\u2019t we just love it if our paths just went like this all the time.\u00a0 But here\u2019s more realistic, we\u2019re up a little bit, we\u2019re down a bit, we\u2019re up, but we eventually get there and that\u2019s what we want to rejoice about.\n\nIdentification Truth explains that the changes in our \u201cContinuing Person\u201d take place as we \u2018walk consistent\u2019<\/em><\/u> with who we have been made to be in our eternal identity (positioned in Christ)<\/em>, and those changes are realized because\u201d notice, \u201cit is Christ, Who does the living in and through us \u2013 by faith<\/em>. <\/em>This is one of my most favorite passages in the entire Bible.\u00a0 \u201cFor we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus\u2019 sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested\u201d where\u2019s that going to happen? \u201cin our mortal flesh.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 4:11]\n\nSo isn\u2019t interesting that we have this sin nature vying for control of what-- \u201cour mortal flesh.\u201d\u00a0 And then we have the Lord Jesus asking us, begging us, to allow Him to live His life through \u201cour mortal flesh.\u201d\u00a0 Identification truth explains that these changes that these changes take place as we walk consistent with the One we have been joined to and what we have been separated from in Christ.\n\nSo, let\u2019s wrap it up here.\u00a0 We\u2019re saying here that God Himself is carrying out specific processes in each believer to produce actual spiritual change.\u00a0 He\u2019s doing it.. He\u2019s doing it!\u00a0 And that this spiritual change is taking place within our continuing person.\u00a0 God\u2019s processes are not random or vague.\u00a0 It feels that way sometimes.\u00a0 We think that sometimes, God has forgotten us,\u00a0 you know, we get caught up in our own little world and we forget that God is still on the throne, He still loves us, He\u2019s still working in and through our lives.\u00a0 His processes are not random and vague but they\u2019re directed toward a person, which is Christ.\u00a0 God\u2019s processes are not merely to change\u00a0 our character but also have as their end that we will be like Christ when we see Him as He is.\n\nSo as I said last time, we are in this life as believers; what are we doing?\u00a0 We are running to catch up to who we already are in Christ.\u00a0 God sees us \u201cin Christ,\u201d complete.\u00a0 God wants us to see what?\u00a0 That everything that happens to us, in us, and around us, is part of His plan to accomplish His processes in us.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a powerful statement right there and I pray that you\u2019ll let that seek into your heart.\u00a0 If you understand this, and if you allow the Holy Spirit to meet that right there to your heart it will change your perspective on your life and how you live it.\u00a0 God\u2019s processes in us are what?\u00a0 What are they doing?\u00a0 They\u2019re conforming us and they\u2019re transforming us into the image of His Son, so that when we walk through heaven\u2019s gate we will be like Him.\n\nI hesitated to put this up here but I thought that I wanted to give a realistic example of where I\u2019m understanding identification truth might possibly help us.\u00a0 Let\u2019s talk about secular counseling here for a second.\u00a0 Now if you\u2019re a secular counselor out there bear with me.\u00a0 Secular Counseling always focuses on what?\u00a0 It focuses on our personal history \u2018in Adam\u2019\u201d and that\u2019s gone for a believer, is it not?\u00a0 That\u2019s all that they can do because secular counseling doesn\u2019t understand or even recognize Christ.\u00a0 In fact, they to the very opposite direction.\u00a0 Secular counselors (and sadly, uninformed Christian counselors) struggle to improve the old man and the sin nature!\n\nOn the other hand, why is true biblical counseling important.\u00a0 Because \u201cBiblical counseling focuses on\u201d what? \u201cour personal shared history \u2018in Christ.\u00a0 Only informed<\/em> Biblical Counselors can share real hope and encouragement because they do not address the Old Man \u201cin Adam\u201d, but deal with the New Man who has a New History \u201cin Christ.\u201d\n\nYou see, where you start from has a lot to do with where you\u2019re going to end up when you\u2019re counseling someone.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Now, as a biblical counselor one of the first things that I should do is when I\u2019m engaged in counseling someone is determine are they a believer or not.\u00a0 Does that make a difference where I\u2019m going to start my counseling?\u00a0 Absolutely, doesn\u2019t it.\u00a0 It would be ludicrous for me to endeavor to try to counsel someone about Godly Christian principles if they don\u2019t even know Christ, because it won\u2019t even make sense to them.\u00a0 Do you see where I\u2019m going here?\n\nSo what I\u2019m saying here is that,\u00a0 you know, if a person needs counseling and there may be a time in life where any one of us might need counseling; use great wisdom in where you go to get your counseling, make sure you know the source, the fount from which they\u2019re going to draw, if you will, to counsel you.\u00a0 And if I back up again I\u2019ve got some pictures on that one, and sometimes if you want to do an interesting read, go read on the key figures in the secular counseling movement and it\u2019s going to absolutely blow your mind the kind of things that they believe and participated in.\u00a0 And I will leave that to your further discussion and research.\n\nAll right, that brings us to the end of our lesson this morning.\u00a0 I hope that I\u2019ve challenged you in some small way begin to investigate the truths of God\u2019s Word a little bit more and let\u2019s close in prayer.\n\nHeavenly Father, I just thank You so much for the faithfulness of Your Word and for how when we\u2019re exposed to truth we become responsible for that truth, Lord.\u00a0 And I just praise You and just give You the glory because as we submit ourselves, Father, to the truth of Your Word, if we submit ourselves and yield our bodies as instruments of righteousness to the Holy Spirit that You are everything to us, You are our Counselor, our Provider, You are the lover of our souls, You are the One who leads us to personal victory and Father, I just thank You for that.\u00a0 Thank You so much now for these people present today.\u00a0 I pray that\u00a0 You would help them and me to be able to recognize what is the chicken and what is the bone and to apply it appropriately.\u00a0 In Jesus name, Amen","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t