Sometimes young Christians, before they have gone very far on the road heavenward, are disappointed at finding that the old evil desires and feelings which they had before conversion are only too ready to assert themselves, and they are in danger of being discouraged by this discovery. The first glow of joy on finding peace and forgiveness, and, it may be, the first freshness of the knowledge of the love of Christ have somewhat faded away, and this leaves room all the more for the working of the old nature. What is to be done? How has God dealt with this old Adam nature? Does He remove or improve it at conversion? These are questions which it is very important for us to be clear about.
The answer of Scripture is plain and unmistakable: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” It never can be anything else. Again, “The mind of the flesh is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” This old nature, “the flesh,” remains in the believer unchanged and unchangeable. If this be so, how is he to get deliverance from the power and dominion of sin, his former master?
Turn to Romans 6, where this subject is taken up. The point before us in that chapter is not sins, the acts – but sin, the evil nature which produced them; also the way in which we get deliverance from bondage to sin. The question raised is, “Shall we continue in sin?” etc., and the answer given is, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” We are “dead,” note the word; it does not here say “we ought to be,” but “we are” dead. This is an immense fact to lay hold of – we are dead to sin. Let us, then, start by simply accepting what God says, in faith – we are “dead to sin.” And then further, “He that is dead is justified from sin”; he has done with it altogether in God’s reckoning, and in the reckoning of faith. Again, “Our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin (i.e., sin looked at as a whole, or in its totality) might be destroyed (annulled), that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
In the cross of Christ not only were our sins atoned for, but our old evil nature was judged and put out of God’s sight forever. What an immense deliverance from servitude to sin this is! We start, then, with the fact that we are dead, that our old man has been crucified with Christ; and then comes in the practical part of the teaching, “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,” “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body,” “Yield yourselves unto God,” etc. Having got deliverance through having died with Christ, we are to reckon ourselves dead and not to serve our old master any longer; and, as those alive from the dead, we are to yield ourselves to God; whose service is, not bondage, but joyous liberty.
But sometimes Christians try to curb the flesh by placing themselves under the law. Those who do so are sure to prove the truth of the words that the law “gendereth to bondage.” We desire to draw the attention of all such to the word, “Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead” (Rom. 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4)). It is not that the law is dead: no, it remains in all its force; but we have died out from under it, as we read elsewhere – “I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God” (Gal. 2:1919For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. (Galatians 2:19)). Law has no power over one who has died – this is a simple fact known in everyday life. But so far from this leaving any liberty to “do as we like,” as people say, the deliverance we get is in order that we may “live unto God.”
But it is not by good resolutions and efforts to get rid of self and our evil nature that these things can be overcome. We have a most beautiful and instructive lesson as to the true spring and power of deliverance in what the apostle Paul says of himself in Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20), and the principle is the same for all Christians: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” The old “I” is gone, as before God, in the cross of Christ, and the new “I” lives and moves. This new “I” is identified with Christ, who “liveth in me.” Then the new life is lived, not by law, but by faith – the faith of the Son of God. Christ’s was a life of perfect faith and perfect dependence all the way through. But this new life in the believer needs an object; that object is “the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” What an object! Could anything appeal more touchingly to the Christian’s heart? In divine and perfect love, He gave – what? His life, His blood? Yes, truly, but even more, He gave Himself. “All that He was,” says Paul, “He gave for me.’
Let none, therefore, be discouraged; for even if we find the workings of that old nature which remains unchanged to the end, we have the plain teaching of Scripture as to deliverance. We are dead, crucified with Christ, and we are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin and alive to God. Then the Christian has a new and holy life and nature, which has new desires, new interests, and a new object; and he has received the Holy Spirit whose blessed office it ever is to instruct, to guide, to give power for our walk and service from day to day.