Crucified With Christ: What It Means to Be a New Creation (Romans 6 & Galatians 2)

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the Scriptures, teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now here's your host, Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have you with us again, and those of you watching on television, we trust that if you're back after being with us last week, that you'll remember we just had to almost cut it off a little too quickly, how that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. All right, let's pursue that, because we don't like to give people the idea, well, you know, I haven't got a thing to do with it. Oh yes, we do. Now if you'll turn with me to pick that theme up to 1 Peter. 1 Peter. And let's just drop right into verse 2. Now remember what we were talking about last week, how that Jesus told the twelve, he says, you have not chosen me, I have chosen you. When he asked Peter the basis of his faith, Peter responded, thou art the Christ. And what did Jesus say? Flesh and blood didn't tell you that, but only the Father which is in heaven. And then if you'll remember, we looked at the seller of purple, Lydia, in the book of Acts, and again it was the Lord who opened her heart and attended to the things that Paul spoke. All right, now how does this work? I think 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 probably throws as much light on this whole idea of election and being chosen as any other portion of Scripture. Verse 2, where Peter writes, elect, and remember the elect of Scripture, whether it's back in Genesis, the Old Testament, whether it's during Christ's ministry, during the church age, or the elect of the tribulation, the elect are always the believer. They're the believers. All right, so Peter is talking about believers. Elect according to the, what's the word, foreknowledge of God. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit, unto obedience in the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. All right, now that word foreknowledge then I think settles all the controversy. We don't have to sit back and say, well, if someone is going to be saved, they're going to be saved regardless of what I do about it. And on the other hand, we have to realize that in the flesh we can do nothing. God has to precipitate something. And the word foreknowledge, I think, just opens it up for us. Foreknowledge means that before the world was ever created, before Adam was ever created, God knew what you and I would do with the gospel. Now that's mind-boggling. I know it is. But that's the God that the Bible presents, an all-knowing God who knows the end from the beginning, not of just the big picture, but of every individual, of every nation, and every empire. Now I can probably be a little more at ease with that whole Middle Eastern situation than a lot of people, because I look at it, the sovereign God is in complete control. Nothing is going to happen over there that isn't within His particular program. All right, foreknowledge. Now what does it mean? Well, I hope I'm not stretching the point, but you know Jesus gave, I don't know, there was a parable, but He made the statement about not casting pearls before the swine. You've heard that? What was He talking about? Well, there's no use wasting your breath with someone who is absolutely contrary, rebellious, and indifferent to the things of the Word. Now we have to approach, and we have to do our best to present God's plan of salvation to anyone and everyone. But you see, God knows which ones are going to respond. Knowing which ones are going to respond, what can He do? He opens the heart. And now this almost comes full circle. I know it does, but nevertheless this is the way I think Scripture unfolds the beginning step of coming into the plan of salvation. Now let me go back to the board then a moment, if I may. Here we are again. A body, a soul with nothing going for us but a sin nature. The Spirit is dead, and as I said in the last half hour, dead people can't even believe anything. So the first thing that has to happen, as the Word of course continues to go out amongst the human race, God the Holy Spirit somehow lights a spark within an individual. And it may take a period of time before that individual finally comes to the place of really believing. Others, it may not take as long, but the Holy Spirit has to somehow precipitate an activity within the heart, the soul of the individual. Now turn back with me, if you will, to Romans chapter 8. Now I don't know if the Lord will tarry long enough, and I don't know whether we'll be staying on the air long enough to ever get to the book of Romans, but if we were to teach the book of Romans verse by verse as we've started back in Genesis, I would point out in chapter 7 that there is no mention of the Holy Spirit whatsoever. Paul is almost bereft with all kinds of thoughts. Why is it that the thing I don't want to do is what I do? And why is it that the things that I want to do I don't do? Aren't we all in the same boat many times? But you see, the Holy Spirit is never mentioned in chapter 7. And then all of a sudden you turn over into chapter 8, and remember there were no breaks in Paul's letters. You get into chapter 8, and what's it filled with? The Holy Spirit. Nineteen times, if I'm not mistaken. Nineteen times the Holy Spirit is referred to in Romans chapter 8, and only once before in the previous seven chapters, and that's in Romans chapter 5, where the Holy Spirit is mentioned only once. Now that should make us sit up and take attention, all right? Romans chapter 8. Let's begin with verse 5. For they who are after the flesh, this person right up here, with nothing more than body and soul, and he's dead spiritually, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. That's what Jesus meant when He said they don't seek the light. They've got no concern about it, all right? But they who are after the Spirit, you see that's capitalized, so now the Holy Spirit has come into the picture, and the Holy Spirit has done something to make us pay attention to what God has to say. But they that are after the Spirit do mind, again using the verb, the things of the Spirit. Now come down to verse 7, because the carnal, the natural, the unsaved mind, this one right up here on the board now, the unsaved mind is death, but to be...now I'm sorry, I'm in verse 6, but verse 7. For the carnal mind is enmity against God. Enmity, you know what that word means? Just what it says. He's an enemy of God. He's no friend of God, but he's an enemy of God, and that carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. Now that's strong language, isn't it? You know, and every time I read that verse, I have to be amazed that the world behaves as well as they do. It's a wonder that they behave as well as they do, and we know that it's almost coming apart at the seams anymore, but still there is no concern for the things of God amongst the carnal mind. All right, so then verse 8. So then they that are in the flesh, they who are in this state up here until the Holy Spirit moves in, they cannot please God. All right, then in verse 9, Paul draws the difference, though, between the believer and the carnal or the unbeliever, and he says, but you are not in the flesh. You're not under the control of old Adam anymore. If so be that the Spirit of God, what's the word, dwell where? In you. All right, so the Holy Spirit has to begin a work within the very heart, within the very center of the human being, and the first thing, as I said a moment ago, that the Holy Spirit convinces us of is, now if you'll turn back in your Bible to Romans chapter 3, the first thing that the Holy Spirit reminds us of and makes us aware of is that we're sinners. All right, Romans chapter 3, verse 23, where he writes, for all, everybody, anyone ever born into the human race, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now that's the first step of faith. This is what God says about me. I'm not as good as I think I am. I can in no way please God with my works, because I'm a sinner. All right, when we believe that, now the doors begin to open up, and our mind and our whole makeup begins to realize God is doing something with me. I realize that I'm a sinner. I'm a son of Adam, and there's nothing I can do. Now again, this is why I like to keep my circles up here, we have to constantly remember that when man was created by God in the first place, the body is the only part of us that is tangible and that is visible. The rest is all what? Invisible. Now something that is invisible and yet is a viable entity, something that we know it's there, the Scripture uses the illustration of the wind. You can't see the wind, but is it there? Yes, because you can see the effects of it, you can feel the effects of it, it's there. All right, now it's the same way with our spiritual makeup. Now I say spiritual because it's that invisible part of us, that soul and that spirit. They were invisible. They are all a result of the creative act of God. Now then, if we're going to deal with the invisible part of our being, doesn't it follow that there is nothing man can do to correct something that's wrong in the invisible? I mean, we can't. We can't lay it on an operating table and perform surgery on it. We can't feed it a dose of some miracle drug. We're dealing with the invisible, and this is what people have to understand, that we're in that area of a man's makeup that only God can do anything with. He alone. All right, so what does he do? He promptly shows us that we're sinners. Now when we understand that, and the Holy Spirit begins to move us to this place of believing the gospel, the power of God unto salvation, maybe we should look at it a moment. Keep your hand in Romans chapter 3. Come back with me again to 1 Corinthians 15. We looked at it several weeks ago, but I'm sure even the best of us would have forgotten by now what those verses said. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if you'll drop down to verse 1, and here's the gospel. I've told my classes over the years I wish I could just force myself to use these verses at least every week, but I don't because we get too covered up with all the other things. But here is where it all has to center, the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. Not a gospel, the gospel. What does that indicate? It's singular, there's only one. I give unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, and which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which, the gospel, by which you are saved, if you keep in memory. In other words, if you understand, and that's why I teach. Now I don't maintain that someone has to know the Bible from cover to cover to be saved, but on the other hand, we have to know what we believe. Salvation is not just something that's glib. We have to know what the book says. We have to know what God is requiring of us. Alright, and so he says, if you keep in memory, or you know and you understand what I preached unto you, unless you've believed in vain, and then here it comes in verse 3 and 4, and what does it say? For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, it was foretold in the Old Testament, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to what? To Scriptures, the Old Testament. That's the gospel. Alright, now flip back to Romans, if you will. Now when we begin to comprehend the gospel, that Christ died for our sins, and again according to the foreknowledge of God, this is all part of his plan of bringing the human race into the picture. He knew that Adam would sin. He knew that man would need a Redeemer. He knew there would have to be salvation, and so he programmed the whole thing with that in view. Alright, now in Romans chapter 6, verse 6, Romans chapter 6, verse 6. Now remember this is after the Holy Spirit has begun to work on this part of us that we're going to call the soul and spirit, albeit it's a sin nature. It is spiritually dead until God begins to open up some understanding, and the first thing we realize then as we see the gospel, that Christ died for our sins. Now, what do we do with that? You got Romans chapter 6, verse 6, and again remember Paul is writing to the believers, and he says, knowing this. Now the word knowing, as Paul uses it in the Greek, was epipnosis, full knowledge. Paul says you have a full understanding of this. Of what? That our old man is crucified with him. Now I got a question. Who is the old man? That sin nature. This is the old man of Scripture. This is the old Adam, that nature that we're born with. That one that Ephesians 2 said, the ones who were by nature disobedient. We were under the control of the sin nature. Alright, now Paul is saying that when we believed the gospel, what happened to that old Adam? He was crucified. Crucified. Alright, read it again. Knowing this, that our old man, our old Adam, is crucified with him. That is with Christ. That the body of sin, that is that old Adam, might be destroyed. Now the word destroyed does not indicate an annihilation. He's not removed, but he is merely defeated. He is put in a place where we can now control him. But, how does God see him? Oh, now get this, if you don't get anything else. When we begin to understand the gospel, that Christ died 2,000 years ago for you and I living now today. God considered this old Adam of us, of ours, you and I. He considers our old Adam. I better put the old up here, so we're sure we understand. God sees our old Adam as on the cross. And all this is basic to our salvation. Again, I have to be reminded that so many believers have told me, after hearing me teach a while, that they've enjoyed an assurance of salvation that they never had before. When they began to understand, yeah, this is what's happened to me. All right, that's the assurance. And this is what God wants us to know, that it's not just some flippant thing, it's not just some casual thing that we may have done, or we may have walked an aisle, and I'm not against that. But see, that doesn't save anybody. But oh, when it's that we get to the place that we know that our old self is on the cross, it's been crucified. Turn with me to Galatians. Galatians chapter 2, and I think Paul makes it so clear. In Galatians chapter 2, verse I'm sure many of you memorized when you were kids in daily vacation school and whatever. In Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. Galatians chapter 2, and that's right after the Corinthians, Romans, first and second Corinthians, and then Galatians. Verse 20, I, Paul says, am crucified with Christ. But read on. Nevertheless what? I live. Oh, he wasn't literally put on a cross and crucified, but yet in the mind of God he was. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Paul was living physically when he wrote it, but he'd been crucified. I, and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, in this body, I live by the faith or the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. All right, come back again, if you will, to Romans. Now let's put something on the board. Just as soon as we believe that we're sinners, and we know that the gospel is the only remedy, and we believe it, then God takes this old sin nature and He considers it crucified. Now, you remember when we were way back in the days of creation, and I do it purposely with the idea of coming to lessons like this down the road. Do you remember that I emphasized who was the Creator? Who was it? It was Christ. It was the Lord Jesus in His Old Testament personality. He was the Creator. He was the Creator God. He is the Omnipotent, Omniscient, All-Knowing God. And if He'd been anything less than that, then His death would be for nothing. Then He would have died just like the thief on either side. But He was the Creator. He was the God of glory. And as such, indeed He could suffer the punishment, the penalty for every human being. And this is what we have to understand. This is what it means to put your faith in the Lord Jesus. You know, I'm afraid that too many people are going to miss glory on clichés. You know, clichés are little handy things that we pick up along the way. Now, they're all right as far as they go, but if we'd have nothing more than a cliché, I think we're on pretty thin ice. And I'm thinking of one like, oh, I've taken Christ as my personal Savior. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. But what do you mean by taking Christ as your personal Savior? That's just a cliché. That's not in Scripture. The Bible doesn't say take the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior and thou shalt be saved. What does the Bible say? We have to believe the gospel. And when we believe the gospel, we get an understanding that Christ died my death. He took my punishment. And because I am crucified now, and all this takes place, you want to remember, instantaneously, the moment the Spirit opens our heart and we believe, as soon as this old sin nature is considered crucified, Christ begins to live in us. And I call that, then, the new nature. And it's a divine nature, and it's set right opposite of the old Adamic nature. Now, I said a moment ago, when God considers it crucified, yes, God considers it dead. He's done with. But in actual experience, where is He? Oh, He's still with us. You bet He is. But contrary to Him now, set in contradiction to the old nature, we now have a new nature. All right, we got just a couple minutes left. Let's look at that a moment. Go on again to 2 Corinthians. Go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. And if you happen to bump into Ephesians again on your way, grab on to it. We're going to go there next. In Ephesians, I mean 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, and drop down to verse 17. Normally, I like to start with verse 14, but for sake of time, let's just come on down to verse 17, where Paul writes, therefore, if any man or woman or boy or girl, if anyone be in Christ, that person is a what? A new creation. Now, the word creature in the King James, I think is better translated, a new creation. Now, who is the creator of all things? God is. So, the moment we believe God does a work of creation, and what does He do? He creates within us a new nature. See? Therefore, any man that be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Then, if you'll drop down to verse 21, for He, God, hath made Him, Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now, do you get the flow? Who is doing all the doing? God is. All we do is believe. Now, I said Ephesians. Ephesians, chapter 4. And again, our time is gone. We're probably going to have to just cut it off. For those of you on television, why, bear with us, and come back next week, if you will, Lord willing, and we'll pick this right up again, because this is so paramount. Oh, it's nice to know what the Old Testament teaches, and it's nice to know some of the other things throughout Scripture, and it's nice to know prophecy and what's coming on the scene. But listen, that's not going to determine our eternal destiny. This does. This is what's going to determine where are you going to spend eternity. And it is so, so basic and so paramount. All right, Ephesians, chapter 4. And again, let's drop down for sake of time. Verse 22, where Paul writes, Ephesians 4, verse 22, that you put off concerning the former conversation or your former lifestyle, your former manner of living, the old man. Now, I told you, who's the old man? The old Adam. All right, we got to put him out, the pastor. The old man who is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed or regenerated in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the, now divine nature, put on the new man, which after God is, again, what's the word? Created, an act of God, created in righteousness and true holiness. Now, those are all things that only God can do. And how do we get it to happen in our own life? When we believe the gospel. Oh, if you just learn to study it. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Through the Bible is a partner-supported ministry. If this program has been a help to your study of the Scriptures and you'd like to see others enjoy the teaching, your support would be greatly appreciated. Write to us at Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552, or call 1-800-369-7000. Remember, all programs are available in printed form, audio cassette, and videotape. 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