Zombie Revivals Outlawed

Grace, the Cross and the New Creation Evaporate Carnal-Nature Issues

By Jim Croft

Free My People From Guilt

It was our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Prudence and I had scheduled a lovely evening at a posh restaurant. We slept in late and then headed off in our respective cars to the hairdresser and barber. I was driving a new Nissan pickup that had been given to me by a member of another church.

Suddenly my bubble of contentment was burst by an all too familiar inner voice. The voice of condemnation began to taunt me. “Here you are driving along in a beautiful truck that God graciously gave you. You have a wonderful wife who has borne with you through your numerous shenanigans for all these long years. It is nearly noon on a day that most would praise God for, and you have not offered a single word of prayer or praise. You’re an ingrate that by no means deserves the quality of life that God has so bountifully showered upon you.”

Frustrated Sigh

Of course I listened, and as was my custom, I began to slip into the repentance mode of a miserable offender. Just as I was determining where to pull off the road to read my Bible and worship, I heard another voice; actually it was a sigh of frustration that audibly filled the cab of my truck. Within that sigh of supernatural origin there was an underlying message that came to me by revelation. It was as though the sigh indicated, “Oh, no. Not this song and dance again. If you are bent on praising God, you can do it while you’re driving. You don’t have to pull off of the road in order for Him to be convinced of your sincerity.” The revelation continued within me. It dawned on me that I, along with many other saints, was the prisoner of religious guilt in relation to my spiritual life. It seemed that I was never quite able to appease the inner voice of legalism. While having devotions, if I was reading my Bible, it goaded me to sing worship choruses. If I was singing, it insisted that I would be more pleasing to God if I prostrated myself in silence before Him. A kind voice now sounded from within the truck, “Free God’s people from guilt.” A revelation instantly flooded from my spirit into my soul. Many members of the body of Christ are enslaved to legalism because they do not understand grace and what it means to be a new creation in Christ. I also knew that I was assigned the task of providing them with liberating insights. I believe that the voice I heard was that of an angel.

Ban Zombie Revivals

A while later, I was meditating on the experience that I had in my truck and the Lord gave me a rather unusual vision. I saw a dandily dressed minister preaching to a congregation. He was telling them about his success in subduing the various wanton desires of the carnal-nature that indwelt him. “Every day I read the Word, praise the Lord and pray for at least two hours. I would not dare think of leaving the house without putting on my spiritual armor. In addition, I devote at least one day of the week to fasting from food and water. If you want to wrestle your old-man into submission, you need to imitate my strategy before going out to the battlefields each day. Those who are fervent in spirit and who want to be real soldiers of the Lord in the wars against the flesh come to the altar right now and I will pray for you.”

As I watched the people rush toward the altar I inwardly assessed that his sermon was quite good, as it sounded a lot like many of my own. At that moment I saw something that was rather disconcerting. The altar area of the church took on the appearance of a graveyard. Tombstones sprung up beside each kneeling parishioner. There were names such as Old-man Jones and Carnal-natured Smith inscribed on each gravestone. Then I saw teams of wicked smiled paramedics going to one grave after the other. Stopping at each grave they would put the paddles of a cardio-defibrillator on it and sound out “Clear”. When they did so, a ghastly looking corpse arose out of the earth and chained itself to the believer who knelt by the grave. I instantly understood the symbolisms of the Holy Spirit’s message. Teachings that foster a works orientation, rather than a grace orientation, within believers are impotent. Such preaching does not subdue the works of the flesh. To the contrary, they empower the old-man/carnal-nature that was crucified with Christ to be aroused from its death like a voodoo zombie. A phrase came to me. “Zombie revivals need to be outlawed.” This article will give you the biblical basis for why such teachings should be banned.

Guilt Festivals

My observation is that far too many Christians labor under unnecessary guilt. Vast sections of the Church don’t relieve the afflicted, but rather thrive from their afflictions. All too many Christian services and seminars might best be described as guilt festivals, as they don’t provide the liberation that they so often advertise. Rather than giving people the liberating truths of the Cross and the new creation’s Christ in you the hope of glory dynamics, they do just the opposite. Some clergymen ignore the pangs of conscience and use guilt as an effective agent to bolster attendance and building programs. Others, hopefully unwittingly, preach sermons that expand the vistas in which their parishioner’s are apt to experience guilt. The purpose of this piece is to expose some of the misconceptions that produce unwarranted guilt in God’s people. I want the potential for the resurrection of the zombie of your old carnal-nature to be banned from your life.

The subject is complex and there are many ingrained assumptions that must be unraveled. Therefore I entreat you to approach the article with an open heart. In doing so please listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as you lookup the various references cited from the New King James Version Bible and the New American Standard Bible. I equally urge you to thoroughly study the section titled, A Trek Through Romans. It is an outline for Chapters 6-8 of the Book of Romans. (The outline of the entire Epistle is available on the JCM website.). It is my prayer that this article will help translate you from a works orientation to confidence in God’s grace, and from struggles with the flesh to the liberty that is yours to enjoy as a new creation in Christ.

Mel Gibson the Prophet

On Ash Wednesday of 2004 Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of Christ, opened in theaters across America. It presented a vivid and accurate depiction of the horrendous torments that Jesus experienced to exhaust the just penalties due every man for sin. Nearly everyone, from fundamentalist Christians through liberal theologians, came forth inwardly shaken. Most confessed a new appreciation for the price that Jesus paid for their personal transgressions while on the Cross. It is my belief that Mel Gibson, perhaps unwittingly, carried a prophetic mantel as conviction compelled him to finance and direct the film.

The movie prophetically shouted that which I believe to be a heart cry of the Messiah that the Church desperately needs to heed. I believe that it is saying, “Get My people back to the centrality of what I accomplished for them on the Cross. Identification through faith with My crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection is the essence of the Gospel. My church is not licensed to proclaim any other Gospel. Those who do so impart a different gospel, inspired by a different spirit and that represents another Christ (2Co 11:1-4).”

Church – We Have Problems

Some of the primary culprits in drawing the Church into another gospel are the sermons and published works of clergymen. The problematic teachings that do so condition believers to embrace the notion that they have two natures, the nature of Christ and a carnal/sinful/fallen nature. In this regard we are being misled, hoodwinked, bamboozled, and bewitched into accepting a crippling theology.

The crippling affects are numerous. The simplicity of Christ within the hope of glory becomes complicated and blurred. This causes two interrelated maladies that I call Two-Nature-Schizophrenia (TNS) and The Acquired Religious Performance Syndrome (TARPS). TNS spirals many into an endless schizophrenic quagmire of always having to discern which nature is manifesting through them, the redeemed nature or the supposed presence of a sinful-nature. Paralyzing introspection sets in and some lose the confidence that as new creations in Christ it is their natural inclination/instinct to do the right things rather than the wrong things (Phi 2:13). In their quests to gain the approval of God and His people they turn to adherence to the Old Covenant’s laws and the man-made rules and regulations of their denominations. This is enslavement to TARPS. It is a ruthlessly cruel taskmaster. When the afflicted sense that they have been successful in their regiments of spiritual gymnastics to manufacture righteousness, they feel moderately OK. However, more often than not they are unable to maintain the self-imposed regiments. Thus they find themselves alternating from one state to another. The cycle is awareness of acquittal to guilt, a sense of holiness to shame, and feelings of divine approbation to those of a miserable offender.

Corrupted Faith

It is my observation that when Christians continually perceive themselves as miserable offenders it corrupts their faith. They cannot keep the regiment of spiritual exercises that they have imposed upon themselves and therefore continually sense guilt. Then when they come to God to apprehend something by faith their hearts condemn them. Since it is likely that whatever is condemning them is a habitual misdemeanor, they have no confidence that God will accept their repentance again. Not having the revelation that God is graciously willing to overlook the condemnation and that He is greater than that which burdens their hearts, they do not have the courage to ask for anything (1Jo 3:19-23, Rom 4:2-6). In my estimation the demoralization that ensues causes more active Christians to be deactivated from fellowship than any other single hazard of contemporary Christianity.

My now deceased spiritual mentor was the world-renowned Bible scholar Derek Prince. As a youth he regularly attended the Anglican Church of England. Each Sunday he repeated one of the general confessions with the other congregants. Portions of that prayer are totally unbiblical. They actually confess that there is no health in them and that they are miserable offenders. Post his confirmation my friend decided that he was tired of being a miserable offender and was going to work at being a better Christian. In order to act more righteous he conducted his own TARPS experiment. He made up a nice set of religious rules for himself. Working at being righteous did not make him better it made him worse. He inevitably violated his own do’s-and-don’ts. He also found himself venturing into areas of sin that he had not previously experienced. The end result was that he came to some seemingly logical conclusions. Christianity does not work. The best that church can do for me is to give me the consolation that there are others, like myself, who are miserable offenders who have no health in them. With or without church, I am indeed a hopeless offender. Therefore, if I drop church attendance I can avoid being reminded that I ought to be miserable about my offenses. Fortunately for the Body of Christ, the Lord supernaturally apprehended him years later.

Unbiblical Colloquialisms

Unfortunately, many Christians have a miserable offender mentality. This is often reflected in the colloquialisms that they use when speaking about their spiritual lives. He’s got me on the operating table.God is circumcising my flesh. I’m under the knife again. He’s cutting my old-man away. The general inference is that God is continually taking them through spiritual circumcision. This kind of talk predisposes people to think that the Christian life is a painful drudgery. It can actually be blissfully joyful if you have a correct understanding about how and when your fleshly-nature underwent spiritual circumcision.

Physical Jewish circumcision takes place during the eighth day of a male child’s infancy. Though momentarily painful, it is not a long drawn-out process. It does not take years and repeated attempts to fully accomplish it. It happens in seconds. In the spiritual dimension circumcision takes place when a believer who is a spiritual infant is baptized. While they are under the water God supernaturally cuts away their carnal-flesh/the body of sin (Col 2:11-12). It was actually pronounced dead the moment that they accepted Christ. Obedience in water baptism painlessly cuts away that which was already useless and dead. Water doesn't’t hurt and the process is instantaneous and permanent. When Christians have been properly instructed about the benefits of baptism, they understand that it is not an empty religious ritual. It is an essential tool to help people live productive lives for Christ. Before immersing anyone in water I always offer instructions about what they can expect it to do for them spiritually, emotionally and physically. Scores have testified to physical and emotional healings. We can praise the Lord that God is not a knife happy surgeon who is always looking for chopping opportunities. Subsequent to Salvation the only cutting that God does is pruning where we have produced good fruit. He does so in order for us to produce more abundant crops of good fruit (Joh 15:1-2).

Scripturally Out-of-Sync

My years of global travel and fellowship with people from many denominations have brought me to an uncomforting assessment. I think that the culture that legalism has created within the Church is scripturally out-of-sync in regards to whom it deems strong in faith and whom it deems weak in faith. Generally speaking, Christians who are known to abide by their sect’s do’s-and-don’ts are admired and labeled as strong in faith. The more restricted a person’s lifestyle the more apt he is to earn that distinction. In settings where legalism reigns, people are assessed by the extent of their compliance to regulations rather than by what they might be accomplishing through confidence in God’s grace and the encouragement of the Scriptures.

On the other hand, those who are unconcerned about restrictions on amoral activities are likely to be regarded as weak faithed nominal Christians. This mind set is a contradiction to the Apostle Paul’s definition of those considered to be strong in faith and those considered to be weak in faith. Rom 14:1-6 and 15:1 indicate that believers who have the liberty to eat whatever they wish and to worship on any day that they please are strong in faith. They are admonished to be tolerant with the scruples of the weak whose consciences dictate caution in such matters. Paul saw those who walked in liberty as being strong in faith and those who were restrained as being weak in faith.

Absolutes and Variables

Biblical Christianity is not a religion that puts a priority on rules and regulations. Rather, it is a religion that emphasizes harmonious relationships with our fellow man through our submission to the lordship of Jesus. Within the faith, there are few absolutes but many variables regarding how our faith is to be expressed. Dynamic confidence about who we are in Christ, enjoying the love of God, experiencing regular fellowship, and maintaining marital fidelity, for example, are absolutes. When one prays, how one is baptized, what one prefers to eat and drink, which amoral pleasures one can choose to enjoy, and matters of conscience particular to individuals are all variables. Christians who are afflicted with TARPS focus on the restrictions of the variables and tend to overlook the power of the absolutes. A chief absolute that is overlooked is that the new creation nature is nurtured by faith and not by works.

Biblically it is impossible to attain righteousness through adherence to religious laws (Rom 3:20, 9:30). Christ is the end of the Law as a means of attaining righteousness for those who believe (Rom 10:4). Through Salvation believers are declared justified, sanctified and righteous. Justification makes Christians just-as-if-they-had-never-sinned and sanctification accredits them with holiness (Act 26:18, Rom 1:7, 3:24, 4:5-6). The antidotes for all the aforementioned problems, including TNS and TARPS, come by revelation. The remedies are revelations of the love of God, the singularity of the new creation nature and the basics of redemption.

New Creation Nature

The word nature is defined in Webster’s dictionary as the inherent character or basic constitution of a person. The New Testament Greek word for it is phusis. That word implies natural production by lineal descent. Believers are born again by the incorruptible seed of God (1Pe 1:23, 1Jo 3:9). The Greek for seed explicitly infers something sown, i.e. seed including the male sperm. At Salvation, Father God enact a similar process within us to that which He performed in the womb of Mary when she was impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit. The egg within her virgin womb was supernaturally fertilized by the seed/sperm of God. In Salvation, a human spirit, that was formerly dead in trespasses and sin, is made alive/born again/recreated by the seed of God (Eph 2:1, 5, 2Co 5:17). In the beginning God mandated that seeds and all living things would reproduce after like kind (Gen 1:20-22). By lineal descent, like Jesus, the spirit within Christians is of the like kind of God. The inherent character/basic-constitution/core-instincts of a believer’s nature are that of God and Jesus. By the promises associated with Salvation we share in the divine nature of God (2Pe 1:4). God does not have two natures and neither do we.

Jesus Equipment

I want to reiterate what was stated in the previous section in another way. Jesus was born with a earthly nature/spirit that was perfect because it was Fathered by God. He had a soul and a body just as you do. Though His spirit was perfect, He did experiences temptations (Heb 4:15). Since His spirit/nature was perfect/divine, the temptations could not have possibly originated from within His spirit. They came to His soul by way of his five senses and hormones being stimulated by external stimuli. Of course, He never sinned. The sensations of temptations are not sin. Sin is not committed unless one obeys the promptings of a particular temptation. As a man Jesus was equipped to live a righteous and holy life. So are you!

When you were born again the seed of Father God came into your spirit and your spirit became a new creation. Like Jesus, you also have a soul and a body. In regard to your basic equipment (spirit, soul and body), it is identical to Jesus’. You have the same type of perfect/divine spirit/nature abiding in you that He had abiding in Him. The only difference is that He got His equipment the moment He was conceived in Mary’s womb. You got the spirit/nature portion of your equipment later in life. The Word says that Christians are to walk as Jesus walked and are to be holy like God (1Jo 2:6, 1Pe 1:15-16). The Lord never requires that we do something that it is impossible for us to do with His strength abiding in us. Temptations will come to your soul just as they did to the soul of Jesus. You have the power to resist them just like He did. Temptation occurring in you is not the evidence that you have fallen nature living in you, just like temptations occurring in Jesus did not indicate that He had a fallen nature abiding in Him.

Spirit, Soul and Body

The Lord designed the human species after His own image. Each person has a spirit, a soul and a body. Through Salvation the spirit, soul and body are declared blameless. If that were not so, Paul would not have prayed that those faculties would be preserved in a blameless condition until the coming of the Lord (1Th 5:23). The spirit and soul are not synonymous (Heb 4:12). Biblically speaking your spirit is located in your belly (Job 32:18-19, Zec 12:1, Joh 7:38). Your soul flows through your blood and influences your brain/mind. In Lev 17:11 it says that the life of the flesh is in the blood. The Hebrew word used for life is also translated as soul. When Jesus was crucified He poured out His soul (blood) in death (Isa 53:12). It is the spirit, not the soul that is the lead element in the lives of the redeemed. We serve God with our spirits (Rom 1:9).

You are a spirit, you have a soul and you reside in a body. The core/innermost-being/heart of a human’s nature is within his individual spirit. The capacities of his will and the ability to know God and to receive revelation from Him abide in the spirit of a person (Job 32:8). The soul is comprised of memories, imaginations, emotions and intellect. The decision- making faculty, the will, resides in a person’s spirit and it has dominion over his soul. Both King David and the Apostle Paul confirm this concept. David commanded his soul to come out of discouragement and to behave properly (Psa 42:5). The Apostle said that he served God with his spirit and that it is the Lord who puts within us the will to do good (Rom 1:9, Phi 2:13). Hebrews 4:12 says the soul and the spirit can be divided by the Word of God. Notice that the soul is mentioned first and the spirit secondly. Taking that order into consideration, the division separates the thoughts of the soul from the intents of the spirit. According to the dictionary, intent infers the activity of volition. Paul made determinations to do specific things from within his spirit (Act 19:21, 20:22). In addition, most people’s salvation experiences also affirm this truth.

In my case, before salvation I was a violent, foul mouthed, ill-tempered man. I raised pit-bulldogs and entered my dogs in dogfights. I seldom uttered a sentence that was not punctuated with profanities and vulgarities. My screaming fits of impatient rage made life miserable for my entire family. God supernaturally revealed Himself to me one night in a hotel room and I was born again. The next day I discovered that I had been totally transformed. Without any conscious effort, my use of unbecoming language was gone. I had no interest in attending dogfights and switched breeds. To my family’s relief I was instantly easier to live with. Some people remarked that I even looked different and seemed to glow. The changes were brought about by the power of God’s grace overflowing from my newly created spirit and into my soul. For the most part I seldom had any conscious concerns about sin. If a temptation came my way I immediately rejected it and gave no further thought to it.

Don’t Awaken the Zombie

Of course I was not perfect. There were a few residual elements of other old thought patterns within my soul. Overtime they gave way to the power of my regenerated spirit and the Word of God that was being engrafted into my soul and renewing my mind (Jam 1:21, Rom 12:1-2). However, I must emphasize that these were soul problems and not the evidence that I was still dragging my old carnal-nature around. Temptation and sin are not the functions of a second nature within a Christian unless something that is empathically forbidden in the Scriptures has occurred.

If a Christian goes under the Law in an effort to improve his behavior, it can arouse his old carnal-nature from the dead like a voodoo zombie (Rom 7:5). In such instances the old nature attaches itself externally, rather than internally, to the afflicted. The key is not to resurrect the zombie. Put your trust in God’s grace and the power of the new-man within you. If the zombie has been aroused, send him back to his grave by confessing that the body of sin is dead and buried (Rom 6:6-11). The old-man/zombie does not have jack-in-the-box capabilities. The only way that he can pop up is for you to continually choose works over grace.

It is essential to be aware of these factors because those who condition believers to think that they possess two natures confuse the functions of spirit and soul. They interpret the temptations to sin that come to the soul to be indicative of the fallen nature abiding within a person as a second nature. Unless the zombie has been awakened temptations do not originate from a second nature/spirit. Most often they originate from stimuli coming through the five senses that play upon the portions of a believer’s soul/mind that have yet to be renewed. As we will see in the section entitled Basic Redemption, the old-man/carnal-nature was crucified with Christ. It is dead and was buried in the waters of baptism. God has no other plans for it beyond execution. He does not require that we attempt to domesticate it or to take it to counseling sessions. It is totally corrupt and at enmity with God (Rom 8:7). No amount of inner healing will persuade the old-man/carnal flesh to bear witness to a person that he is a child of God. That witness can only be affirmed between the Holy Spirit and the new creation nature (Rom 8:16). Counseling and inner healing certainly have their place. However, any technique that does not ultimately point people to what was accomplished for them at Calvary is doomed to failure.

Two Perspectives

The basics of what one believes in regard to his nature, as a new creation in Christ, is primary in determining the extent of liberty that he can experience. The ideal perspective for a Christian is the belief that he solely possesses a redeemed nature. He knows that his born again spirit cannot sin and that by nature it is totally holy and produces nothing other than righteousness (1Jo 3:9). Thus he can easily obliterate the temptation intrusions that life sends his way (Jam 4:7). He reckons his carnal-nature as dead and refuses to comply with the sensations of temptation that register upon his soul and thus avoids habitual falls into sin (Rom 6:2, 6-7, 11-14).

The other perspective is tragically all too common. This Christian knows that he is a new creation in Christ. However, he has also been conditioned to believe that his old-man/old self/carnal-nature is alive and well as a co-inhabitant within him. His ignorance of the fact that his sinful-nature is dead and buried causes him to anticipate and receive an excessive number of temptation and sin episodes. He turns to works rather than the Spirit of grace to subdue his unruly impulses. The works of the Law endow his old-man/sinful-nature with resurrection power. Like a voodoo zombie it arises from its grave. This living-dead apparition begins to terrorize his life with intensified cravings for diverse sins. His life becomes like that of a one-armed paperhanger. There is always something falling out of place that he thought that he had in place. The next thing you know he is hovering in defeat. Sin, rather than Christ, now reigns, exercising dominion over his life. If you identify with this man’s condition there is a pathway out for you. First, remember what you experienced when you were initially saved. That will remind you of the dynamic power of your new spirit-man to overrule the temptations that come to your soul. Secondly, embrace grace and the basic truths of redemption.

Basic Redemption

Jesus’ execution was your execution (Gal 2:20). When He was brutalized and died, your sinful-nature was in Him being brutalized and it died. In Him, your lifeless old-man/carnal-nature/body of sin, the slave of sin, was taken down from the Cross. It is no longer a living entity. Your baptism in water was a contemporary reenactment of what was accomplished for you when He was laid in the tomb. Your old-man/sinful-nature was laid in the tomb with Him. Jesus arose with a glorified body as the first begotten from the dead. You arose from your salvation experience and the subsequent waters of baptism with a singular, distinctively different, new nature (Rom 6:2-7). Basic New Testament faith dictates that Calvary facilitated the transaction of an exchange. Your old-self was exchanged for Christ within the hope of glory (Col 1:27, 2Co 5:21). You now possess a single new nature that has several descriptive names. It is called the new creation, the new-man and the inner-man of the heart (2Co 5:17, Eph 3:16). Apprehending the abundant life that Jesus promised is premised upon your faith that God created your spiritual new-man with the innate qualities of true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24).

Jesus, the Last Adam and the Second Man

Post Calvary, there have been two, uniquely different, human species inhabiting this planet. The two races are the sin-bound, self-centered, descendants of Adam and those of the new Emmanuel race, to which you belong, who have no obligations to sin. For those who put their faith in Christ, His execution ended their identification with the Adamic race. His resurrection from the dead introduced the Emmanuel race and the gift of faith births believers into it. The Greek word for nation in 1Peter 2:9 is ethnos and its principle definition is race. You are a sibling of Jesus and in the lineal descent of the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Heb 2:11, Gen 49:9-10). All believers belong to this new race that is qualitatively distinctive from the Adamic race (Joh 1:12, Rom 9:8, 1Pe 2:9, 1Co 15:45-49). Its primary distinction is that the concept known as self and its capacities of slavery to sin and pride-drives have been abolished. Your born-again experience instantaneously kicked self out and established Christ within (Rom 6:6).

You are a new creation and all things about you are of God (2Co 5:17-18). You have no obligations to your old-man/sinful-nature (Rom 6:7). It is dead, powerless and deactivated. For you, identification with Jesus is the end of the need to adhere to any set of laws as a means of righteousness. Obeying Old Testament based laws and your own religious rules and regulations are powerless to make you more acceptably pleasing to God than you are already. No one has ever achieved righteousness by adherence to religious regulations (Rom 3:20). Obedience to laws has always been an impotent device to achieve righteousness. Abraham pre-dated the Law and was declared righteous prior to circumcision and apart from the giving of the Law through Moses (Rom 4:9-12). Abraham is the father of faith and our example of what it means to be declared righteous solely through faith. Because of Jesus, you are now the righteousness of God in Christ (2Co 5:21). Whoever is joined to Him by faith is one spirit with Him (1Co 6:17). You and Christ are one (Heb 2:11). Through the Cross and the resurrection, you are now a member of the extended family of the God-head. All of the resources and blessings of the Kingdoms of heaven and earth are at your disposal (Rom 5:17, 8:32). All things are available to you and nothing is impossible for you. The revelation of these basics of redemption will empower you to understand how much God loves you. Faith works by love and it casts out all fears, including the fear of operating in the flesh rather than the spirit (Gal 5:6, 1Jo 4:18).

No Technicalities

God is not scowling from heaven hoping that He can catch you on a technicality wherein you fail to perform some hyper-religious gymnastic properly. It’s not His nature to look for a way to deny blessings. He invents ways to shower all of us with His blessings. Take these realities into consideration. God made a momentous decision prior to the creation of the world. He decided to extend the family/household of God (Eph 2:19). A portion of the mystery of salvation is that in doing so He knew that it would necessitate that He wound Himself. The wounding was that He would love and delight in the companionship of His children knowing full well that everyone has the ability to behave shamefully (Rom 5:8, 8:39-39).

God does all things according to the council of His own will (Eph 1:11). You were personally discussed by name in the divine council of the Godhead before time began (Eph 1:3-8). At some point in eternity past, you were assigned natural talents and a specific calling along with the spiritual gifts that it would require (2Ti 1:9). The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit designed you for this generation and wove you in your mother’s womb (Psa 139:13-16). Strategic events that were orchestrated by the power of the Holy Spirit drew your to faith in Jesus and the Fatherhood of God (Joh 14:6, 26, 15:26, Eph 2:18). The Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to you and graced you with the ability to repent and endowed you with gift of righteousness (Mat 16:16-17, Rom 5:17).

God knows the end from the beginning (Isa 46:10). You have never shocked or scandalized Him. If today were the day of your new birth, the Lord and His angels would rejoice over you with enthusiasm that would eclipse that which they demonstrated when you were initially adopted from the orphanage of sin (Luk 15:10). You are His workmanship, His masterpiece, and you were foreordained for good works (Eph 2:10). The Lord does all things well and He is committed to perfect everything pertinent for your graduations from glory to glory (Phi 1:6, 2Co 3:18). God is not foolish. All of His planning, the sacrifice of His Son and the ages He anticipated your salvation would have been senseless if was His intention to call technical fouls on you because you fail to comply with silly, man-made religious laws. In addition, you were created in His image. He does not have two natures and neither do you. He would not risk the contamination of His family and Kingdom by purposely birthing two-natured schizophrenics.

Reorientation to the Cross

The Christians of the church in ancient Corinth had similar problems to those of many present-day believers. They abused the grace of God by using it as a license to engage in all types of moral and ethical improprieties (Gal 5:13, Rom 6:1). They were carnally minded, alcoholism/substance abuse abounded, and the most scurrilous forms of sexual misconduct were rampant among them. Paul’s solution was to reorient them to what was accomplished for them on the Cross and through the resurrection of Christ (1Co 2:2 and 1Co 15). The preaching of the Cross is also the cure for the sin issues of contemporary believers.

Bewitched

Like many present-day Christians the Church at Galatia approached the issue of sin from another perspective. Using grace as a license to sin was not their path. They frustrated grace by going back under the Law (Gal 2:21). They were bewitched into concocting a brew of Old Covenant Laws as a potion against temptations. Paul was shocked by their presumption that after being liberated by the Spirit that they could come into perfection through the Law. Their actions did not cure their ills it intensified them. They came under a curse (Gal 3:1-13). Any adherent to the Law who fails to keep one of the Law’s precepts is just as guilty as he would be if he broke all of them (Jam 2:10).

Bad Trade

Just as it was with the Galatians, it is counterproductive for anyone to exchange the living New Covenant for the obsolete Old Covenant. The book of Hebrews describes the New Covenant as better than the Old Covenant in that it is established upon better promises (Heb 8:6-10, 12-13). The Greek word new means totally different and superior. The word better means far better. The superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant is demonstrated in the following contrasts between the two.

• The Old was imperfect, powerless to save, and was ended by Christ (Heb 8:7, 10:4, Rom 10:4). — The New is perfect in its power to save because Christ initiated it (Jam 1:25, Heb 7:25, 8:6, 10:9).
• The Old was given to one race (Deu 4:7-8). One’s activities could be restricted and his sense of self-worth demeaned by regulations in regard to gender, genealogy, and physical impairments (Deu 23:1-3, Lev 12:2-5; 21:17-24; 27:1-7) — The New is extended to whosoever will come (Joh 3:15-16; 6:37). Every benefit is available to all regardless of their sex, genealogy, or physical characteristics (Gal 3:28; Heb 4:15-16).
• The Old was a yoke of bondage that constantly exposed everyone to reminders of their sins (Gal 5:1; 3:19; Heb 10:3). — The New is a royal law of liberty and love (Jam 1:25; 2:8). It covers a multitude of sins and enables everyone to forget their sins and to enjoy a childlike sense of blamelessness from guilt (5:19-20 Rom 4:7-8, Heb 8:12, Eph 1:4).
• The Old anointed only a few as kings and priests with the power to work signs and wonders (Exo 30:30-33; Heb 7:11) — The New anoints all as kings and priests and empowers every believer with supernatural gifts (1Jo 2:27; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6; 1Co 12:7-11).
• The Old demanded continuous animal sacrifices (Heb 9:12-13). The process of forgiveness was unpleasant and could take hours. First, sinners were required to kill and butcher their animals of sacrifice. Then the priests burnt the sacrifices and sprinkled the blood around the altar. Afterward, the cleansed sinner was required to dispose of the skin and entrails of his sacrifice. In addition, those who sinned were subjected to the embarrassment of having the fact that they had sinned exposed to others. They had to take time off from their vocations and could be seen by all as they led their sacrifices through their villages to the priests who officiated at the altar (Heb 10:3-4, Lev 1:1-9, 4:11-12). — The New provided instantaneous forgiveness. When Jesus offered Himself, His blood became the single sacrifice that is sufficient to eternally remit the sins of all that call upon Him (Heb 10:12-14). Repentant sinners have the option of confessing their sins to others or to keep them confidential through private confession to God (1Jo 1:9, Jam 5:16).
• The Old could only be perfectly adhered to by those living in ancient Israel. It obligated them to a complex system of ordinances about what they could eat, specific Sabbaths that they were obligated to observe and yearly pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem for all males over the age of twelve (Lev 11, Exo 23).The New can be perfectly complied with no matter where a person resides. It only demands faith in Jesus. Believers are free to follow their own preferences in regard to how, when and where they will worship. They have no obligations to set aside specific days as holy and they can eat whatever they please as long as they receive it with thanksgiving (Joh 4:23-24, Col 2:16, 1Ti 4:3-4, Rom 14:5).
• The Old caused people to have a sense of the impending wrath of God (Rom 4:15). This made them fearful of His voice (Exo 20:18-19). — The New saves people from the fear of God’s wrath (Rom 5:9). It instills the hope of glory that enables people to joyfully anticipate God’s voice (Col 1:27, Joh 10:14).
• The Old had a year of Jubilee only once every 50th year. During that year everyone could experience the restoration of whatever they had lost in the preceding years (Lev 25). — The New abolished the need for a year of Jubilee. Through faith in Christ any day can be a Jubilee day of restoration (2Co 6:2).
• The Old gave only Moses an impartation of God’s glory and it eventually faded away (2Co 3:11-13). The Newimparts ever-increasing measures of God’s glory upon each Christian (2Co 3:18).
• The Old quarantined women during and after their menstrual cycles and post the birth of a child. Anyone who had communicable diseases was quarantined until they could demonstrate wholeness (Lev 12:2-6, Num 5:2-4). — The New puts no such restrictions on women and can provide divine healing for any type of disease (1Pe 2:24).

Contemporary Christians should not imitate the foolishness of the Galatians by becoming ensnared to the Law of Moses or any system of man-made regulations as a means of righteousness (Gal 3:1, Rom 10:4). If the Law that God gave to Israel through the administration of angels proved to be a yoke of bondage, any man-made system will prove even more impotent in providing freedom (Gal 3:19; 5:1).

Problem Passages

Unquestionably, there are isolated verses that can be used to contradict the things that I am attempting to establish. These verses are found in the Epistles. They make references to such things as putting off the old nature and putting on the new-man, crucifying and mortifying the flesh, and so forth. With but few exceptions, the verses are speaking of something that has been done in the past as opposed to something that still needs to be done. These reminders were necessary because it is not unusual for trials of life to dislodge Christians from the confidence of who and what they are (Heb 10:32-36). Whatever the case, these passages do not outweigh the overwhelming evidence, in both the Old and New Testaments, that each believer solely possess a new nature. In the Book of Ezekiel it promises that the redeemed will receive one new heart/spirit. It does not say that they will receive an additional heart/spirit (Eze 11:19, 18:31, 36:26). In addition, it is pertinent to consider that God is the Just and Righteous Judge. The penalty for continually committing the works of the flesh is the loss of one’s inheritance in the Kingdom of God. It would be unjust for God to judge believers for committing act that were unavoidable out-workings of integral parts of their natures (Gen 18:25, Gal 5:19-21).

A Trek Through Romans

This article is resplendent with references from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. It serves as the backdrop for many of the components that establish the power of the Cross and the nature of the new creation. This section features an Outline of Chapters 6-8 of the Book of Romans. It is crafted in a manner that focuses primarily on the passages that relate to issues about the finality of the death of the old-man/body of sin, freedom from the Law and other new creation realities. In some instances I also cite verses from other books of the Bible that support the teachings of Romans. Overall the Apostle Paul was building a case against complying with religious laws as a means of righteousness. Some of the things that he stated in a few verses, if taken out of the context of the other verses, have led many to espouse the opposite of what Paul actually preached. This is especially true of some of the things stated in Chapter 7.

Outline for Chapters 6-8 of the Book of Romans

• Chapter 6
  • Part One Chapter 6:1-11 – God’s sole solution for the old-man is execution.
• Beyond forgiveness for past sins, we need a remedy for the dead rebel that can be aroused to life by the Law. (Rom 7:5, 3:21–26). This entity that is foreign to the new creation is called by numerous names in the Bible. These vary from translation to translation: the old-man; the old self; the body; the body of sin; the flesh; the body of death; and the body of the flesh (Rom 6:6, 7:5, 18, 25, 8:10, Col 2:11)
• 6:1-6 – Paul anticipates that the premise that when sin abounds grace intensifies in abundance to provoke a mocking response from some people. “So in order to receive more grace, we need to go on sinning?” In contemporary terms Paul’s response was, “Perish the thought”.
  • Such a thought is unthinkable. Jesus’ execution was the execution of all who would put their faith in Him. When He was brutalized and died, the sinful-nature/self of every believer was in Him being brutalized and it died. In Him, the lifeless old-man/self, the slave of sin, was taken down from the Cross. It has been deactivated. For Christians baptism in water is a contemporary reenactment of what was accomplished for us when Jesus was laid in the tomb. The old-man was laid in the tomb with Him. Jesus arose with a glorified body as the first begotten from the dead. Believers arise from their salvation experiences and the subsequent waters of baptism with the distinctively new righteous nature of Christ.
  • We are saved by grace (Eph 2:5,8). Grace gives us the ability to repent of our sins and to become new creations in Christ (Rom 10:9). The moment that we confess Jesus as Lord the miracle of the new creation takes place (2Co 5:17). Simultaneously the old-man/self dies. While we are in the waters of baptism God performs a circumcision on us cutting away the old body of sin that was already dead (Col 2:11-12).
  • The righteous nature/spirit of Christ within believers is not the slave of sin or sin prone. Each saved person is one in spirit with Jesus. He does not have a sinful-nature and neither do we (1Co 6:17). Anyone who does not have the righteous Spirit of Christ dwelling in them is not yet redeemed (Rom 8:9-10).
• 6:6-7 - The old-man was an incorrigible rebel, but in Jesus he was executed on the cross. The death of the body of sin represents the last claim of the Law upon anyone. Once its claim has been settled, we are justified/acquitted. In Christ there is no such thing as double jeopardy, no one can be punished twice for the same offenses. The Law has no more against us (Gal 2:19–20).
• 6:8–11 – Jesus participates with us in our ongoing posture of death to sin and in the immortal lives that we now live for God.
• Part Two Chapter 6:12-23 – Applying God’s solution for the old-man to our lives.
• 6:12–14 - No longer present your members to sin, but present yourselves and your members to God for righteousness. You are no longer under Law (and thus under sin’s control), but under grace. These are two mutually exclusive alternatives.
• 6:15–22 – Paul anticipates another objection: “If we are not under Law, we are free to commit sinful act when it suits us.” His response is again, “Perish the thought”. He then tells them that there are two options. He is confident that they will choose the latter.
  • Yield to sin and risk becoming the slave of sin
  • Continue yielding to God as a slave of righteousness
• 6:23 – The choices are reiterated in another way. A close examination of verses 17-18 and 22 make it clear that those whom he was addressing had made the right choice in the past when they were first saved.
  • The wage of death which we have earned
  • The free gift which we cannot earn
• Chapter 7:1-25 – The snares of the Law
• This chapter is problematic for many. When misinterpreted it can incite the belief that Christians are indwelt by the fallen nature as well as the nature of Christ. Tragically, many have acquiesced to the concept that continual losing battles with sin are inevitable. However, Paul was not saying that he continually had a losing battle with sin. He was speaking of problems that he temporarily encountered during a period when he returned under the Law post his conversion. Verse 9 holds the key. He said, “I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived…”. Prior to his conversion, he was a practicing Jew. While in that state he was never living “apart” from the Law. Sin could not have been “revived” within him, as his sinful-nature had not yet been dealt the deathblow through salvation. The only period in which he was alive apart from the Law was after his conversion. Then when he again gave heed to the commandments, sin, which had been dead, was “revived”. His zombie was aroused.
• 7:1–4 - Analogy for Jews who have been under the Law. It demonstrates that death is the only way out from under the Law. A married woman is released by her husband’s death to remarry without being an adulteress. Likewise believers are released by the death of the old-man to be married to the resurrected Messiah and to produce good fruit (Gal 5:19–23).
• 7:5 – When married to the Law, it continually incited sinful passions. The inevitable fruit was death.
• 7:6-13 - (See point A) of this section. The Law is holy, spiritual, and good. It is like a map that shows us where we are in regard to sin. There are ”cities of sin”. If we rely upon guidance through the map of the Law, rather than the Spirit, it will lead us into the sinful cities. The problem is a weakness in man rather than a weakness in the Law. We are not designed to motor through life using maps. We are designed with a GPS system. Our spirits are to get directions from the Holy Spirit.
• 7:14 – The phrase “sold under sin” does not mean, “sold to be the slave of sin”. Or, “sold into bondage to sin”. In Paul’s time when a slave was put up for auction, his owner had his personal insignia denoting his ownership extended over the slave. Paul was saying, “I was sold under the “banner of sin”because sin owned me. The question is, “When he was sold, who bought him?” It was not Mr. Sin, because he was the seller of the slave whom he already owned. At conversion, Paul and all believers were purchased from sin by the precious blood of Jesus to become the love-slaves of God (ICo 6:19-20).
• 7:15-25 – Paul, like many believers, is in a quandary. He doesn’t understand what is happening to him, until he recognizes that it’s the Law that has aroused the deactivated sin within his flesh. He then understands that there is a spiritual law at work. If one goes under the Law it awakens previously dead sins that have to be continually dealt with. He cries out in frustration for a path of deliverance. It is the spirit-filled life. It deactivates the flesh and cancels the law of sin and death in one’s members (Rom 8:2).
• 7:24 – In ancient times the Romans would often chain a corpse to the body of a prisoner who was sentenced to death. The rotting flesh of the corpse would corrupt the healthy flesh of the prisoner. In this verse Paul was addressing those who were familiar with the practice. His reference to it demonstrates that his venture back under the Law put him in the need of deliverance from something external. It was a foreign entity that was not an innate component of his nature. It’s the zombie.
• Chapter 8:1-39 – The life of no condemnation, the spirit-filled life
• 8:1 - For those who are in Christ there is no condemnation period, end of sentence. The original sentence ended with the words “Christ Jesus”. The remainder of the sentence, “who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit”, was inserted by the translators of the KJV and some older versions of the Bible.
• 8:2-4 - Release from law of sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ is made possible, because while Jesus suffered on the cross God was judging and abolishing the power of sin with finality. (Heb 9:26). There are definitive results for the law of sin and death working in our members being replaced by the law of the Spirit of life.
• Believers can fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law (Rev 19:8). This law was summed up by Jesus: Love for God and neighbor (Mat 22:35–40, Gal 5:14, 1Ti 1:5–7, Mic 6:8).
• This love is supernatural and is initiated by the new birth (1Pe 1:22–23). It is completed by the outpourings of the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5).
• It acknowledges all of the commands of Jesus and the New Testament (Joh 14:21). Its motive for obedience is love not fear (Joh 14:15, 23, Rom 8:15).
• It is progressive in its outworking (Phi 1:9–11). Even when we fall short, our faith is still reckoned to us as righteousness just as it was with Abraham (Rom 4:22–24).
• It is perfected through continually obeying God’s Word (1Jo 2:5). The more mature the perfection, the greater the potential to be delivered from fear (1Jo 4:17–18).
• 8:5–8 - If the dead body of flesh is revived, it act in total opposition to the Spirit within (Gal 5:17). Therein the outward actions are initiated by the flesh/carnal mind. For this reason momentary outbursts of sin indicate the need of repentance and the renewing of our minds (Eph 2:3, Col 1:21, Isa 55:7, Rom 12:2, Eph 4:22–24).
• 8:9–11 - Transition from flesh to spirit: when we receive the Lord and yield to the Holy Spirit, the old fleshly life dies (Rom 6:2). It is the Holy Spirit who supplies divine life to the spirit and body, as He did for Jesus (Rom 1:4; 1Pe 3:18).
• 8:12–17 - Personal application: The authenticity of sonship is punctuated by following the Spirit in putting to death the works of the flesh (Gal 5:24, Col 3:5).
• 8:18–25 - In the sufferings that we experience the Holy Spirit enables us to empathize with the whole creation in longing for final redemption of our bodies and of creation (Psa 96:11–13, 98:7–9, Eph 1:13–14, Phi 3:10–12).
• Man’s fall brought futility upon world of nature (Gen 3:17–18). Man’s completed redemption will bring about the redemption of all living things through a rebirth (Mat 19:28, 24:8, Luk 21:28).
• Hope is an essential element of salvation. (1Co 13:13, Col 1:27, Heb 11:1).
• 8:26–27 - The Holy Spirit gives us supernatural help in prayer. The only prayers that are guaranteed to be acceptable and effective are those given by the Spirit.
• 8:28–30 – Seven stages in God’s program from eternity to eternity. The first three occurred in eternity past. The final four occur in time and continue throughout eternity.
• He foreknew (Rom 8:29, 1Pe 1:2)
• He chose (Eph 1:4, 1Pe 1:2)
• He predestined (Rom 8:29–30, Eph 1:5, 11, 2:10)
• He called (Rom 8:28, 30, 11:29, 2Th 2:14)
• He saved (2Ti 1:9. Tit 3:5)
• He justified (Rom 3:24, 5:1, 8:30, 1Co 6:11)
• He glorified (Rom 8:30. 1Co 2:7, Eph 2:4–6, Heb 2:10)
• 8:31–34 - Acronym of Grace that demonstrates that you plus God are the majority in any situation. It is a continuation of the fact that there is “No condemnation in Christ”. God accepts no accusations against us and upholds no condemnations of us
• God’s
• Riches
• At
• Christ’s
• Expense
• 8:35–39 - The Climax: We are inseparably and eternally united in spirit with the Lord (1Co 6:17). We can expect to come through every trial and tribulation with more than we had before (Joh 16:33, Act 14:22, Rev 22:13).

When Temptation Comes Knocking Start Rocking

Every Christian experiences episodes wherein temptations come knocking at the door of his life. You might want to do something like I do when it happens to me. When temptation comes knocking, I start rocking. I envision the sensation of temptation as a special delivery package that must be signed for. I call them fleshly deliveries. A satanic mailman is attempting to get my old carnal zombie to wake-up for it, sign for it and accept it. Some times he is attempting to deliver something from Delilah Lustola to Old-man Croft. At other times it may be a package from Greta Gluttony, Sick Sally or Fritz Fear. Whatever the case, I do not allow myself to be scandalized by an occasion of being tempted about anything. In fact, I take the matter lightly and begin to sing a song to the tune of Elvis Presley’s rock song, Return to Sender. I sing it to the satanic messenger who is trying to get me to accept the fleshly delivery. The song goes like this: Return to sender, address unknown. No such person lives in this home. I’m the property of Jesus and bought by His blood. Ever since I became a new creation my old-man left the hood. I’m sanctified by the name Jesus and I’m not the same. Go back where you came from I’m not yours to blame

It is my experience that child-like faith wearies Satan. When we simply trust the leadership of the Holy Spirit, it reinforces the death of the works of the flesh. A single victory in one area tires Satan from attempting to attack us in a multiplicity of other areas (Rom 8:12-14).

Big Question

If all the things that you have stated in this article are true, does it mean that I can live a sinless life? Yes it does! I don’t know of anyone other than Jesus who has succeeded. But, I do know that you have the equipping to live as He lived. The Apostle John said that he was writing his first epistle so that his constituents would sin not (IJo 2:1, 1Co 15:34). He was wasting energy and ink if that was a fruitless hope.

The Word says that we are not to make any provisions for the flesh. It my conviction that the major way in which most Christians make provisions for the flesh, and therefore sin, is by embracing the erroneous doctrines that I have attempted to expose in this article. Attitude means everything. If you insist on believing that you possess a fallen nature and that complying with some silly set of religious rules is helpful, I assure you that you will sin. I can also offer you a much brighter assurance. If you embrace the reality that you are a new creation, that all things in regard to your nature are of God and trust in the preserving power of the Spirit of Grace, you have the opportunity not to have another sinful day (2Ti 4:18, Jud 1:24-25). Why not take up the opportunity? The Lord’s mercies are new every morning.

A Word of Caution

I believe that anyone who has made the decision to flow under grace rather than works needs to be careful about the type of sermons to which they expose themselves. While it is legitimate for Christians to be addressed about the known and specific sins of a congregant or group, there are certain types of messages that are not healthy. Condemning messages that are framed primarily from the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets ought to be avoided. There should be a difference in the type of sermons intended to make the unconverted aware of their sins and those intended for the routine edification of believers. Most Christians who regularly attend services are not in the same condition as the Jews of the Old Covenant who were backslidden, idolatrous rebels. The things that were universally applicable to the ancient Jews and unconverted people of our time cannot be applied in the same sense to all believers. Unless a Christian is backslidden he does not need to seek God with all of his heart to find Him, because he is the habitation of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. His righteousness is not as filthy rags, as he is the righteousness of God in Christ. Because of the Spirit of God within him he can produce the fruits of the Spirit and the good works to which he was called. And his heart is not desperately wicked, as he has the Spirit of Christ. It cannot be claimed that he does not understand the things of God and that he has no familiarity with God’s ways. Every Christian has an anointing within that teaches him all things and he has the mind of Christ. By the Spirit every believer has the capability to know the things that have been freely given to him by God. If you are in a service where it becomes evident that a blanket of condemnation is about to be spewed forth, quietly excuse yourself. Trust me, they will let you back in next Sunday.

Conclusion

I have taken great care to present that which the Bible clearly teaches about the wonderful truths that have been blurred. My goal has been to awaken you to the reality that you are the righteousness of God in Christ. This will cause your spiritual journey to become uncomplicated and blissfully joyful. All through the writing of this piece I have sensed something priceless, the pleasure of God. It is my prayer that it has opened your heart to the revelation that God also finds great pleasure in you. There are no further neo-spiritual hoops that you need to jump through. The performance orientated, three-ring circus of religiosity is closed. At this very moment you are His delight and the blameless child of His love.

I encourage you to further your explorations into the power of the Cross by checking out two websites. I have benefited greatly through these ministries. The Banovs have championed the truths that I have presented more consistently and eloquently than any ministry I know.

Derek Prince Ministries

www.dpmusa.org

Georgian & Winnie Banov

http://www.riverlution.net/