Page 12 - lifeandgrace
P. 12
and more, I will begin to act like the new person I am as I become comfortable with my new identity “in
Christ”.
When I was a child, my mother and father were a moral family though they did not preach it. They
lived it before us children. The message I got was simply this: Browns do not lie, cheat and steal.
Somehow without a lot of preaching, I saw this was my identity because I was a Brown. Many a time
when I had opportunity, I was kept from sin by remembering my identity. I could not lie or cheat or steal
because we Browns did not do that. Did I ever fail? Certainly! And yet, most of the time I was
completely kept by the knowledge of my true identity of “I am a Brown”.
Now I am “in Christ,” and I can remind myself that those “in Christ” have a new identity of “saint”.
In my new Identity, I am dead to Sin and I am dead to the Law. (Rom 6:11 RSV) "So you also must
consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 7:4 RSV) "Likewise, my
brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him
who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God."
I do not need to think of sin or sins and try to avoid them. I am dead to them. I do not get up each day
and try to keep God’s Law. I am dead to that. I do not think on sins. I am dead to sin. And besides, Jesus
became sin for me. And also, Jesus shed His precious blood for the sins of the entire world. Sins are no
longer what is keeping man away from God. God has solved the problem. Is sin bad? YES!! Will it
destroy us in this life? YES!! Are there consequences of sins in this life? YES! Terrible consequences.
However, it is not sins that is keeping men away from God. (2 Cor 5:19-21 NKJV) "that is, that God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed
to us the word of reconciliation. 20Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were
pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21For He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
So what am I? I am a new creature in Christ. (1 Cor 6:17 NKJV) "But he who is joined to the Lord is
one spirit with Him." My new, reborn, holy, righteous, and complete in Him spirit is forever joined to the
Spirit of the Lord. I cannot change that. In this spirit realm, I cannot sin just as John teaches us in (1 John
3:9 NKJV) "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin,
because he has been born of God."
My spirit is completely in union with the Spirit of the Lord. This can never be a source of sin. All my
righteousness and holiness has one source: The Lord Jesus Christ. I have no other source of
righteousness. Strangely enough, if Adam had only eaten of the Tree of Life there in the Garden of Eden
instead of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, He would have ingested The Lord and lived
forever. The Tree of Life represented Jesus in effect and so Eternal Life was right there. But Adam failed
and so we must all suffer until we come back once again to the point of choosing the Tree of Life which
is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself.
So today, what is the source of my sins? It is simple. It is our flesh just as Paul abundantly teaches in
the book of Romans. No good thing dwells in our flesh. (Rom 7:18 RSV) "For I know that nothing good
dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it." As long as we allow our
Soul Man (our mind, will and emotions) to control the actions of our body, we will sin. The Soul bases
everything on feelings and whatever feels good is what the Soul Man wants. But I am fundamentally a
“spirit man” and my spirit has been born again - completely reconstituted and is now related to the Lord
Jesus Christ. My spirit man will never be the source of sins because it is in union, complete union with
the Lord who dwells in me.
If I do indeed sin, it is because I have allowed myself to walk in the flesh instead of walking in the
spirit. So long as I walk in the spirit, I will never sin. God intended that our spirit man would touch the
Christ”.
When I was a child, my mother and father were a moral family though they did not preach it. They
lived it before us children. The message I got was simply this: Browns do not lie, cheat and steal.
Somehow without a lot of preaching, I saw this was my identity because I was a Brown. Many a time
when I had opportunity, I was kept from sin by remembering my identity. I could not lie or cheat or steal
because we Browns did not do that. Did I ever fail? Certainly! And yet, most of the time I was
completely kept by the knowledge of my true identity of “I am a Brown”.
Now I am “in Christ,” and I can remind myself that those “in Christ” have a new identity of “saint”.
In my new Identity, I am dead to Sin and I am dead to the Law. (Rom 6:11 RSV) "So you also must
consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 7:4 RSV) "Likewise, my
brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him
who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God."
I do not need to think of sin or sins and try to avoid them. I am dead to them. I do not get up each day
and try to keep God’s Law. I am dead to that. I do not think on sins. I am dead to sin. And besides, Jesus
became sin for me. And also, Jesus shed His precious blood for the sins of the entire world. Sins are no
longer what is keeping man away from God. God has solved the problem. Is sin bad? YES!! Will it
destroy us in this life? YES!! Are there consequences of sins in this life? YES! Terrible consequences.
However, it is not sins that is keeping men away from God. (2 Cor 5:19-21 NKJV) "that is, that God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed
to us the word of reconciliation. 20Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were
pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21For He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
So what am I? I am a new creature in Christ. (1 Cor 6:17 NKJV) "But he who is joined to the Lord is
one spirit with Him." My new, reborn, holy, righteous, and complete in Him spirit is forever joined to the
Spirit of the Lord. I cannot change that. In this spirit realm, I cannot sin just as John teaches us in (1 John
3:9 NKJV) "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin,
because he has been born of God."
My spirit is completely in union with the Spirit of the Lord. This can never be a source of sin. All my
righteousness and holiness has one source: The Lord Jesus Christ. I have no other source of
righteousness. Strangely enough, if Adam had only eaten of the Tree of Life there in the Garden of Eden
instead of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, He would have ingested The Lord and lived
forever. The Tree of Life represented Jesus in effect and so Eternal Life was right there. But Adam failed
and so we must all suffer until we come back once again to the point of choosing the Tree of Life which
is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself.
So today, what is the source of my sins? It is simple. It is our flesh just as Paul abundantly teaches in
the book of Romans. No good thing dwells in our flesh. (Rom 7:18 RSV) "For I know that nothing good
dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it." As long as we allow our
Soul Man (our mind, will and emotions) to control the actions of our body, we will sin. The Soul bases
everything on feelings and whatever feels good is what the Soul Man wants. But I am fundamentally a
“spirit man” and my spirit has been born again - completely reconstituted and is now related to the Lord
Jesus Christ. My spirit man will never be the source of sins because it is in union, complete union with
the Lord who dwells in me.
If I do indeed sin, it is because I have allowed myself to walk in the flesh instead of walking in the
spirit. So long as I walk in the spirit, I will never sin. God intended that our spirit man would touch the
