What Does It Mean to Be Crucified With Christ?

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, and once again, let's just pick right up where we left off on our definition of salvation. We've got several of the items on the board, and we'll just continue on in our study in this half hour. But I guess this time I'd better let our television folk know that all past programs are available on six-hour videotapes, and then volunteers have been... I don't know if the camera's going to be on this or not. Yeah, yes it is. So volunteers have been transcribing the six-hour tapes into a little book. So every six-hour tape has a corresponding book, and it's word for word. I keep trying to tell them, well, you know, correct some of my bad English, take out some of my extraneous words, and no, they won't do that. That wouldn't be me. So it's just word for word right off the tape, and it's not dressed up or anything. But a lot of folk are enjoying these little books, and I think a lot of eyes are being opened. We've gotten several letters where folk have expressed that they saw things they never, never saw before. So anyway, you give us a call, or write to us, and we'll get you the necessary information. Alright, for those of you here in the studio, you're already turned to Romans chapter 6. We're going to take the next item on all the things that God did on our behalf the moment we believed. Now this isn't something that is progressively unfolded upon us. This all was an act of God instantaneously the moment we believed. And that's what makes this term salvation so fantastic. To think that God has done all of this without even checking me out to see if I'm worthy of it, or anything like that. And so as we come through these, just remember that these are all acts of God. No man can touch them. It was all done by Him, and Him alone. So we're going to come down to our fifth one there, and that is that along with all the other things that God has done on our behalf, He has reckoned us as crucified with Christ. Now crucifixion can only do one thing, and that is put to death. And so you and I, as believers now, have been, in the minds of God, put to death. Now He had to, because this goes back to the very first law, if you want to call it that, that God gave the human race. When He told Adam and Eve, The day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Then He puts it in just a little, slightly different way, to I think it's Ezekiel. The soul that sinneth shall surely die. And so that brings us to the place that if the law has determined that every human being is a sinner, because we're sons of Adam, then it means that every human being has to die. We had to die. Now I don't know if it's the right term or not, but I've often called it a loophole. You know what a loophole is? When the law says such and such, but you know, smart lawyers can find a loophole, and somehow get through it or around it. Well, God has given us a tremendous loophole to that law of all laws, the soul that sinneth shall surely die. And that loophole was, He died in our place. But we still have to experience that same death that He experienced in the person of Christ, and we call that substitution. All right, Romans 6, verse 6. Now we'll be taking all of this later on again as we come on our way verse by verse. But just to show you that all of these things have been done in association with the word salvation, Paul now teaches here in Romans 6, verse 6, knowing this, that our old man, now again, a lot of people, a lot of church people don't know what the Scripture is talking about when it calls us the old man. Well, it's the old Adam, that old Adamic nature that we're born with. Every son of Adam, every child of Adam is born with this Adamic nature that is bent to rebellion. You know, I've told my classes, and I think I've said it often enough on the program. You take that sweet, innocent, lovely, little newborn babe, how soon will he or she sin? Just as quick as they can. Just as quick as they can. They'll show it one way or another, even when they're in their total innocence. That little Adamic nature pops up, and they show fits of anger, and then when they get a little older they can lie like a trooper. Did you teach them to lie? No. Where does it come from? The old nature. And the same way that as they get a little older, they'll start using the bad language. Did you teach them? Probably not. But they know where to use it. Why? The old nature. And so we're all born with that old Adamic nature, and that nature has already sinned before we're even old enough to know what's what. And so what is the decree? It has to die. It has to die. God has demanded it. But here's the loophole. Here it is now, verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified. It's put to death. It's died with Him. That is, with Christ. At the body of sin, in other words, that the controlling factor of old Adam might be destroyed or put out of commission. It has to have that power over us totally broken. And there again, no human endeavor can do that. Only the power of God can break the control of our old Adamic nature. We can't do it. Oh, to a degree, to a degree, you know, good parents, a godly home, we can teach kids a certain amount of inhibitions, and we can teach them, you know, not to do certain things, and to do certain things. But still there comes a point in the best person's life when they're still going to give in to the control of old Adam. And there's only one way we can come out from under that control, is Adam has to die. Adam has to be crucified. And that, of course, is exactly what the Scripture is talking about. That God now, in a substitutionary manner, died my death, He died your death, in your place. Now Paul makes that so plain in Galatians. Come back there with me a moment to Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. A verse I'm sure that many of you, if not all of you, know by heart, or at least you know what it's saying. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. Galatians 2, verse 20. I am crucified. See that? Just as plain as it can be. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. In other words, He wasn't actually nailed to a Roman cross, but He was crucified, and He's alive. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Now what do we call this? That's the new life. That's the new creation that He speaks of in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We are a new creation. Why? Because old Adam has been put to death. He's crucified. His power over our daily behavior has been broken. And he's dead. And that's what Paul experienced. And he says, I have been crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless I live. Not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live, in the flesh, day by day, week in and week out. See, God doesn't take us out when He saves us. He leaves us here. And we have to put up with all the things of this world. We have to put up with all of its pressures. We have to put up, yes, with old Adam, that I think is still in force, experientially. God reckons him dead. But Paul says here, the life I now live, in the flesh, I live by the faith. And I think a better word there would be by the faithfulness of Christ. Because, it's because of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. It's because of what Christ is to us, day by day, in our everyday experience, that we're able to cope. And so it's through His faithfulness, not ours. And so I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me, and what gave Himself for me. Now that's substitutionary. And it has to be an act of God. Now the way I've usually put it, over the months we've been teaching here on television, is that when Christ hung on that cross, and died, who else did God see in Christ? Every believer. God in His omnipotence saw every believer in Christ. And that's how we are reckoned then, as crucified. I didn't make it up. The book says it. And so how do I know that's the way God looks at it? He said so. And so it's a matter of faith again. We can't comprehend these things, except through the eyes of faith. That when He died, you and I died. When He laid in the tomb, for all practical purposes, God saw you and I in the tomb. Dead to the old life, ready for what? Resurrection to the new. Now I don't know if that's my next one on there. I haven't got it yet. But let's go to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. This is a natural follow-up. Ephesians 2, verse 1. Ephesians 2, verse 1. And you, the apostle writes, I mean this is written to every one of us. And you, He has, past tense, quickened. And what does quickened mean? Made alive. Why did He have to make us alive? Because He crucified us. He put old Adam to death on the cross. He reckoned us as in the tomb. But He couldn't leave us there any more than He could leave Christ in the tomb. Our faith would be for nothing had He not risen from the dead. But, He didn't leave us there either. He quickened us. He made us alive. Who were, what's the next word? Dead. See that? We who were dead in trespasses and sins. We were under old Adam. And we couldn't help ourselves. But oh God broke that power by crucifying the old Adam. By reckoning it as dead. And then He quickens us with resurrection power. And then you come down to verse 5. Even when we were dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with Christ. See how plain that all is? Do you believe it? You better. Because that's what the book says. And so He has quickened us together with Christ. And again, not by works. Not by joining something. Not by doing something. But how? By grace. The unmerited favor of God accomplished all these things. So it's by grace you are saved. Then verse 6. And He hath raised us up together and hath made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. You don't feel like you're sitting in heaven tonight, do you? I don't either. But you know what? We are. We are. So far as God is concerned, we're already seated in the heavenlies in the person of Christ. Oh hey, this is beyond the average person's mentality. I know it is. But the book declares it. And we better believe it. That this is where God already sees us as together with Him in the heavenlies. And then of course verse 8 and 9. Most of you know. For by grace are you saved. Through what? Faith. Not of yourselves. Not any work that you and I can do. Because it's a gift. Not of works. Lest any man should boast. You know how I've often put this? Wouldn't heaven be an awfully boring place if every believer you met on those streets of gold would collar you and say, Hey, can I tell you what I did to get here? Hey, that'd be awful. That wouldn't be heaven. Be listening all the days of eternity to people tell you what they did to get there. No, that's not going to happen. Because you see, every believer is only going to be able to claim the same thing. I'm here for one reason. The finished work of the cross. Faith plus nothing. See? And then we haven't got any room to boast. Even if you said, Well, it's faith plus work for it. Uh-uh. Because then again, what are you going to be able to do? Boast. Then you can brag. You know, I know a lot of people say, Well, yeah, you're saved by faith, but you've got to work to keep it. Well, it's the same thing. You're still going to be able to brag, Look what all I did to keep and maintain my salvation. But we can't do that. We have to reckon that God has done everything I have done, nothing but simply appropriate it by faith. Oh, this is beyond comprehension. I know it is, but this is what I know. Now I want to bring you back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Well, again, I'm getting away from my list on the board, but I'm going down to number 7. We'll come back to number 6 in just a second. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Drop down to verse 14. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14. Now, like I told the class here, I think in our last taping, studies like this aren't as exciting as the book of Revelation, and I know that. Boy, it's a lot easier to keep people's rapt attention when you can tell them about the mark of the beast, and you can tell them about the coming of the Antichrist and Armageddon and all these things. Boy, you know, that's easy to keep people's attention. Well, see, this is the nitty-gritty of everyday Christian living. This is what every believer has to set his hooks into and to strengthen his faith and not be blown about with every wind of doctrine. This is, like I said a few weeks ago, this is fundamental. This is the basics. And it all began with what God did on our behalf. Alright, 2 Corinthians 5, beginning at verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us, drives us on, because we thus judge or conclude that if one died for all, then we're all what? Dead in trespasses and sins. We're under the old Adam. Verse 15, And that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live to themselves. Remember what I said last program? Grace is not license. Just because God has declared us forgiven, justified, redeemed, and reconciled, and all the rest of it, that doesn't mean we now live as we please. Oh, rather it brings on such a love requirement, such a debt for such love, that we should want to do everything we can to please Him. So we should not live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again. What is that? The Gospel. Plain as day. Verse 16, Paul writes, Wherefore henceforth from this time on know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. What's he referring to? His earthly ministry. My, did you see any of this taught in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Not a word of it. Not a word. Why? Because this is all based on His death, burial, and resurrection, and that hadn't happened yet. They couldn't teach doctrine that was based on His death, His burial, and His resurrection, and so I can with a straight face tell people, you won't find this in the four Gospels. It's impossible. Now, I know men were justified in the Old Testament, but not on the same basis that you and I are under grace. And so Paul says, I don't even look back at Christ's earthly ministry. That isn't where our doctrines lie. Yea, he says, I did know Christ after the flesh. Well, I'm sure he did. He must have been about the same age. He was contemporary, and I'm sure that Saul of Tarsus, that religious Jew, was threatened and fuming every time somebody came to the temple area and told him what Jesus was doing. Oh, he knew all about Him, even though he never had a personal contact, so far as we know from Scripture, but he knew all about Him. And so he says, yea, though I have known Christ after the flesh. That's his earthly ministry. Yet, now, henceforth, we know Him no more. Why? Oh, because that earthly ministry was finished. He died. He was buried. He rose from the dead. Everything is now different. Everything. Now, verse 17. This is where I wanted to bring you in. Therefore, because of His work of the cross, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. In other words, when old Adam dies, God again imparts to us a new divine nature. And that new nature, beloved, cannot sin. It's divine. It is placed there by an act of God. But, we still have the old flesh. We still have the old Adam that is still capable of tripping us up. But, so far as the new man is concerned, no, it can't sin. And then, verse 18. All things are of God, who hath, what's the word? Reconciled. Now, we hear a lot about reconciliation lately. Broken families. Broken homes. What's the best thing that can happen, usually? To be reconciled. To be brought back together and into full fellowship. Well, it's a lot like redemption. Redemption and reconciliation are a lot alike. Because redemption, you've lost control of something. The only way you can gain control is to buy it back. Someone that has need of reconciliation has been separated by some gross disagreement or whatever. But, to bring them back together is reconciliation. And this is what God wants to do with the whole human race. He's already reconciled. Read on. All things, verse 18, are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, or that is to say, that God was in Christ reconciling the few, just the believers. No. Who? The world. I maintain that when Christ died, He paid the sin debt for every human being that has ever lived. No one need ever wake up in their eternal doom and say, Well, God didn't supply my need. Yes, He did. I gave an interesting little story to one of my classes the other night, and I haven't got time on the program to lay it out in detail, but a gentleman had been convicted of murder. And the whole community was up in arms because he was such a pious individual, they just couldn't imagine that he could be guilty of such a crime. But there was no doubt, he had killed a man. And as he was waiting in death row to be hanged, the governor pardoned him. Wrote him the pardon. But in his anger and his rebellion, he tore up his pardon and stomped it on the floor, not realizing, of course, what it was. And so he went on to the gallows, and as they were about ready to open the trap door, they asked him if he had anything to say, and he says, Yes. He said, Tell the world I'm not dying for murdering a man. I'm dying because I rejected my pardon. But you see, that's exactly where every human being is. They've been pardoned. They've been reconciled. They've had everything done on their behalf that needed to be done, but they wouldn't believe it. And so they stomped it underfoot. And so they're going to go to their eternal doom, not because of their sin. They're going because of their unbelief. They're rejecting the pardon. And as I said several weeks ago, that's what's going to make hell, if you want to call it that, and the lake of fire is different than hell, really. But for those who end up in the lake of fire, I think it's going to be that eternal regret that they're there because they rejected their pardon. They could have escaped it if they had just simply believed it. But they will not. They don't want to hear it. My, how many of my class people told me as they approached even some of their fellow church members, don't bother me. Leave me alone. I'm comfortable. Well, they may be comfortable now, but the day is coming and they won't be. But the pity of it is he has reconciled the world to himself. All right, read on. He's reconciled, verse 19, the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses. See that? I think too many people think that lost people are going to go out to their eternal doom because of their sin. Now, that's going to enter in, no doubt, because they're going to be judged to the great white throne according to the books, plural. But it isn't their sin that is condemning them. It's their what? Unbelief. Oh, let's look. Hebrews. I think I've got a minute or two left. Go back to Hebrews, and this is such a graphic illustration. Hebrews chapter 3, where Paul is rehearsing the activity of Israel when they rejected the land of promise, Canaan, at Kadesh Barnea. When God had promised earlier, He says, I'll send hornets ahead of you to drive out the Canaanites. By the time you get ready to settle in, everybody will be moving out ahead of you. But what did they do? They rejected it. They said, no, we can't take the land. We're like grasshoppers. The cities are walled. We can't defeat the Canaanites. No way. And so they wept all that night and all the next day because here it was in front of them, but they couldn't take it. And God said, I'll give it to you. All right. What it all boiled down to, come to the end of this chapter, chapter 3 of Hebrews, and come in at verse 15. Verse 15 of Hebrews 3 where I think Paul wrote Hebrews. He's rehearsing this event at Kadesh Barnea. And he says, While it is said today, if you will hear his voice hardened, not your hearts, as in the provocation, in other words, when they turned out into the wilderness, for some, when they had heard, did provoke, albeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, which Canaan would have been, you know, but to them that committed adultery, but to them who worshiped the golden calf? That's what we would think. Because you want to remember just a few months earlier while Moses was up in the mount getting all of his instructions, the people came to Aaron and said, Well, we don't know what's happened to Moses. Make us some gods that we can worship like the Egyptians had. And you know the story. And so Aaron took all their gold and their earrings and everything like that, and he made the golden calf. When Moses came down from the mountain, here they were in all their nakedness and their seductive dancing. Gross immorality was taking place. And you know the story. But you see, several months later as they get ready to move into Kadesh Barnea and turned around in unbelief and said, We can't take it. God didn't remind them of their immorality. What did God remind them of? Their unbelief. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.