Trials and Suffering
Hal Molloy · Feb 8, 2004
Trials & Suffering (2004), No. 06
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826232583082

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

in our study in trials and sufferings were laying a foundation. The first foundation or the part of the first foundation that we laid was with respect to God's eternal purpose. And we looked at God's eternal purpose in trials and sufferings. And now the next part of that foundation, the main part of that foundation, is our identification with Christ. Without understanding your identification with Christ, my identification with Christ, when we come to trials, when we come to sufferings, the old man reacts, and reacts negatively to trials and sufferings. There's fear, there's anxiety, there's worry, there's disappointment, there's all of these things. And without understanding the identification truths, when we come to trials and sufferings, believe me, we would be wiped out spiritually.

So that's part of the foundation that we're trying to lay. So last week, we asked the question, what happened here at the cross? And what we went through last week was point number one, is the fact that Jesus Christ died and was buried for the sins of the world. we observed the prepositions, the preposition for, it's a preposition of substitution, he was our substitute, he was for our sins, and we noticed that sins was plural.

So he died and paid the penalty for the sins of the world. For every single person in the world, past sins, present sins, future sins, it's a done deal. The issue no longer between an unbeliever and God, the issue is no longer their sins, the issue is the person of Christ. Do they believe that Christ did this for them? That He died for them, He was buried and He rose again. A couple of points that we didn't get through last week.

With respect to man's condemnation, why is man going to be condemned to hell? Why is an unbeliever going to be condemned to hell? Is it because of his or her sins? Then why? Why is God going to send a person to hell? Not accepting Christ. Okay? And we saw last week that the Lord Jesus Christ says, I'm going to send you another comforter. And when he's going to come, and when he comes, he's going to what? He's going to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

Of sin, why? Pardon me? Because they do not believe in me. So there's one sin that's going to send a person to hell or eternal condemnation. So it's because of their unbelief. And I want you to think of it this way. a person, man, an unbeliever, is intrinsically tied, intrinsically welded to his or her sin nature.

We're going to look at Romans 8.3 in just a moment here.

But in Romans 8.3, it says that Christ came and He died, and when He died, He condemned the sin nature in the flesh. He condemned it. So the sin nature is condemned, and because the unbeliever is intrinsically tied to the sin nature, They are condemned. So that's the way mankind stands before God. They're condemned. They're condemned because of their sin nature, which they're intrinsically tied to.

Now, as believers, when you became a believer, you rejoiced in the fact that understanding that your sins were totally paid for, and that you had this acceptance by God, and you were thrilled. and overjoyed in terms of who you now were, that you were a child of God, that you had eternal life, and you were overjoyed in just the simple little facts that you learned when you became a believer. Then time goes on, and time went on, and you knew your sins were forgiven, and as you walked you discovered that you keep on sinning. I guess nobody was shaking their head. Maybe it was just me. But you found that you kept sinning. And then you said, gee, what's happening here? And then you said, I'm a Christian. And I need to act like one, right? So I need to curb these sins, right? And so then you try to curb these sins. And the more you try to curb the sins, what happens? You fail.

And the more you sin. And so then you redouble your efforts, and you're going to present You've got to present a good picture to those around you, because you just told the world that you're a believer. And you're in a fishbowl now, and they're observing you, right? And they can't see any sin in you, but there is sin.

So you try harder, and you redouble your efforts, and you fail. And then you step back and say, OK, I guess I have to try even harder. And then you start play acting. You start play acting as, from the outset, how wonderful a believer you are. But yet, there are all of these sins. And you become aware of them. So, what's the problem? Why the sins? I mean, the sins were dealt with, they were paid for, but why are there still more sins?

The old man can't live up to the law. Okay, the old man can't live up to the law. Okay, there's a source, right? There's a source, and it's a sinful nature. And so you can try to curb all of the sins, right? But you fail because as you try to prune We have a picture.

Roger did this in our study in Major Bible Themes. And so this is what it looks like. Here's the tree. And here's all of the fruit. And the fruit represents our sins. And you can be plucking all of the fruit from that tree, but yet it's going to keep producing fruit.

Why? Because of the root, right? The root is the source. So, unless you take care of the root, you're still going to have fruit. So, therein lies the problem. Now, the question is this. Did Christ, on the cross, do anything with respect to the root, to the source? The answer is most definitely yes. And what did he do? Well, he died unto sin. And as you take a look, and we'll get there in a minute, he died unto sin. Let's do this. Let's turn there right now. In Romans chapter 6, and verse 10. Romans 6, verse 10. It says, For in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he lives, he lives unto God.

Now notice it says that he died unto sin. And notice the preposition is unto. not for, that sin is singular and not plural. And there's a definite article in front of the word sin, that he died unto the sin, specifically talking about the sin nature. He died unto the sin nature. And you can say that he died in relation to the sin nature. So what did he do with respect to his death and to the sin nature? Well, he condemned it.

So look over now at chapter 8 and verse 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." What does that mean? When it says, in the likeness of sinful flesh. So was he just like any other man? Sinful flesh? Same physical body? Without sin. So it was the likeness but it wasn't the exact representation. So it was the likeness in that he was the same physical body, 100% humanity, but without, as when he said, without sin.

And it goes on to say, and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. And there's a definite article there. He condemned the sin in the flesh. He condemned the sin nature in the flesh. Go back to Romans chapter 6. So he died in relationship to the sin nature, and that he condemned it.

Now, look what else happened. In Romans 6, knowing that our old man, and when it talks about the old man, what do you think the old man is? Or who? Okay, us. All right. And what about us? Okay, the old man contains or possesses the sin nature. And maybe a way to say it is, the old man is all who we were in Adam. Okay, is maybe a good way of looking at the old man. So it says, knowing this, that the old man is crucified. Now when we say crucified, what do we mean by crucified? Putting our sin in check. Okay, putting our sin in check.

What happens when a person is crucified? Dies. Dies? On how does he die? On the cross. on the cross. Crucifixion is death on a cross. So it says that our old man, all who we were in Adam, is crucified. It's a done deal. It's put to death on the cross. Now, let me ask this question. Do you find that true experientially in your life? So if our old man is put to death on the cross, and what does death mean? Separation. And so we were separated. from the old man all who we were in Adam.

But yet, we sin. So, how do we resolve that? We still have the sin nature, but we're no longer a slave to the sin nature. Okay, we still have the sin nature. We're spirit filled. We become spirit filled, so therefore it's easier to Okay, we do have a new nature and we have the Spirit of God indwelling us. Okay, very good. Now, this is where we need to bring the term position into it. And this is our position.

And there's one other word that we have to remember, and that's the word judicial. This is a judicial death. OK. Now, what do we mean by judicial death? And think of a court of law where all of the evidence is here is a defendant. And here we are in God's court of law and all the evidence is presented and the evidence is that we are sinful and that we have a sin nature and the penalty is death. So the verdict is condemnation. So the old man is condemned.

But the next part of the judicial process is the sentencing, or is the execution of what was the sentence, right? So the execution hasn't occurred yet of the sentence. So... So he's been forgiven. He has paid. We have been forgiven, absolutely true, but we still sin because judicially, the old man is dead judicially, but as Harry said, he's still with us. because the execution hasn't been accomplished yet. Okay? So, think of it this way.

Timothy McVeigh, when he blew up that building down in Oklahoma, thank you, was sentenced here in Denver, went through the whole judicial process, all right? And they found him guilty. And the sentence was death. But the sentence wasn't carried out for some period of time. So he was in jail for I don't know how long, where you have all the lawyers come back with the, what's the word I'm thinking of? Appeals, thank you. Comes back with all the appeals and takes all his press.

But in the meantime, he could keep on killing people, right? I mean, he's in jail, but he could still keep on killing people if he wanted to, unless they put him into some solitary confinement, right? He still could kill people. So the same thing is true with the old man, that the old man, that the execution hasn't occurred yet.

And so the old man still abides within us. So the old man does what he does, because that's all he does, because that's all he knows, is to sin. So to remember that Christ died unto the sin nature, It's a judicial death, and it's not until we be taken home with the Lord, or the rapture, whichever occurs first, that we're really going to be separated from the sin nature. So, have we been separated from the sin nature?

The answer is yes. And so here's what's happened. Let me do it two ways. Let's just take an unbeliever. Here's the unbeliever. has the sin nature. And as we said before, it's intrinsic to him. He's intrinsically attached to that sin nature. The sin nature is condemned, and so therefore he's condemned.

Now, so we said, did Christ do anything about the Source? Sure did. He died unto that Source, in relationship to the Source. And what He's done is He's given us the Holy Spirit, who abides in us, and He's given us a new nature. We are a new creation in Christ. So we have his very nature. But the old nature, the sin nature, is still abiding with us. So we have two natures abiding within us.

So the death means separation. And notice that we have been separated from the sin nature. the sin nature no longer needs to constantly energize us. So if we're walking in the Spirit, in the very nature of Christ, then the sin nature is no longer energizing us. So it's judicially dead, but it still can function.

Sometimes it's hard. Does anybody find that to be true? And here's the wonderful part. The wonderful part is this. As we come to know Him, as we come to know Christ, the more we come to know Christ, the more we come to know what this guy is all about, what the sin nature is all about. Because I can tell you this.

When you first become a believer, you have no clue as to the sinfulness of that sin nature. No clue. But as you start and as you come to know Christ and more about Him and who He is, the more you come to know what that sin nature is all about, and you discover things that you never even thought were sinful, that you start discovering are sinful.

Bob? Well, you know, the process in 6.11, I can see we're going there. We're going there. We are going to 6.11, hopefully today. Okay. I was just going to say, I don't know how many times I've called upon this verse, but I stopped kind of halfway through it. In other words... Wrecking yourself dead, and you stopped there. But it's an intellectual process. I mean, the word says I'm dead on this end. Well, who's this guy dancing in here, remember?

To quote Heisler. But, you know, the thing is, if this is truly an act of faith, then the second becomes equally as true. And so the second part of verse 11, reckon yourselves indeed dead unto sin, to the sin nature, but alive unto God. So Bob's talking about the second part. Okay. I mean just mentally reckoning on the fact that you're dead unto sin doesn't make it. It just doesn't make it. Because the intellect doesn't accomplish this task.

That's why I like how faith is the driver of that guy. Yeah, and we're going to get into the details of this later in terms of how does this switch back and forth. And as Roger points out, it's faith. It's faith. You have faith in the desires of that sin nature, or you have faith into the very nature of Christ.

Does everybody here know that that is an electrical switch? Oh, yeah, that's a good point. This is a switch and it goes back and forth. And you know what I like to do? I'm not going to mess up my drawing. But if you can consider attaching a spring to this lever here. Attaching a spring and tie it over to here. You see what I'm saying? You tie a spring over to here.

This is the nature. trying to pull us back over there. And that's exactly right, as Bruce says. You cannot be connected. You're either here or you're here. I mean, the light switch is either on or it's off, and there's no in-between. Okay, very good. Okay, where were we? We're in 6-6, okay?

That the old man, knowing that our old man is crucified with him. Now, you see that little word, that? It's a purpose clause. And so, God has crucified the old man, put to death the old man. We've been separated. We've been separated from the old man and its nature for a purpose. And this little word, that, is a little clause in the Greek hēnā, plus the subjunctive, which is a purpose clause. It tells us what the purpose is. So, what is the purpose in the next verse? Excuse me, in the next few words. What's the purpose?

That we should no longer be a slave to sin. That we should not serve sin. And the word served there, as Bruce says, is to be a slave. Is to be a slave to the sin nature. Go back up for a minute, because we'd be crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. Here's another purpose. That the body of sin might be destroyed. Question.

What's the body of sin? I think it can be interpreted one of two ways. That when you think of a body of water, right, you're talking about the totality of the water, the totality of the body of water. Or, body could mean the body which houses the sin nature.

Mankind. Well, specifically, I think it's talking about the physical body, the physical body of the sin nature, the physical body that houses the sin nature. And obviously, mankind, we're all in the same boat. So, I'm coming to the conclusion, in terms of, I've wrestled with this verse for all these years, in terms of, you know, which one does it mean?

Is it talking about the totality of the body of sin, or is it talking about the body, which houses this sin nature, and I'm leaning towards the body that that houses the sin nature for several reasons. Because when you get down to verse 12, it says, Let not the sin, there's a definite article, therefore reign in your mortal body. So it ties the sin nature to the body. And also, I won't go there, but over in Romans 7, it distinguishes the sin nature and attaches the sin nature to the body.

So did you ever wonder what happens to the sin nature when the Lord either comes at the rapture or when we die? What happens to your sin nature? It gets buried with us. Okay, because I think it's attached to the body, and so therefore it does, it gets buried.

Question now in verse 12, what's the relationship to the obedience, you should obey it in the lusts thereof? If obedience is exercised, then it's accomplished, whereas if obedience is not exercised, it is not. Okay, and I think what it's saying there is the word obedience is a word which is, in the Greek, it's hupa okuo. Hupo means under. Okuo means to listen. So it means to listen under. that you don't need to listen under the sin nature, that you don't need to obey it by listening under to it with all of its desires. You don't need to listen to all of its desires. And the desires of the sin nature are many. I think in Jeremiah chapter 9, it talks about the three greatest desires of the sin nature.

And all through the New Testament, it talks about the same three desires. It talks about power, riches, and wisdom. Those are the three greatest desires of us in nature. And personally, I think that God gave us those three desires. He put those three desires in our heart. Power, riches, and wisdom. Now, it all depends upon how those three desires are filled. Are they filled out from the sin nature?

Then you're going to fill those desires of power, riches, and wisdom out from the world. You're going to be seeking power in your job, in your home, or wherever. And riches, you're going to be searching after financial wealth, and no matter how much money you make, that's not enough, and you're going to want more. And you're going to be seeking wisdom, and it's the world's wisdom.

But all those three desires are fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Riches, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, He has given us all the riches in Christ. Power, we have access to His power. All the power that we'll ever need, we have a source that has that power. So the power, He's omnipotent, so we have access to all His power. Whatever power He needs, He can supply. Riches? Excuse me. Wisdom? Thank you. Wisdom? We have His wisdom. Where is His wisdom?

When God comes at the world, He comes at the world with the cross, right? And he says that the preaching of the cross, or the message of the cross, is to them who are perishing, what? Foolishness. But unto us, it is the power of God. And as you go down into context, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, it talks about that the cross is the wisdom of God. And everything associated with the cross is the wisdom of God.

So those three greatest desires can be fulfilled in Christ. And I think God has put into man those three desires. Now, back to Romans 6.6. It says that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed. Okay.

What's the first thing you think of when you see that word destroyed? Annihilated? Pardon me? Mistranslation. Mistranslation. Yeah, when you think of destruction, you think of when I used to go over to the junkyard that my neighbor operated. I spent several hours with him and he showed me how he's got these big machines and he takes a whole car, picks it up, puts it in the crusher. And it's annihilated. I mean, it comes out like this. But you think of annihilation. You think that it's totally gone.

However, the word there, ket or ge'o, simply means to take offline or to put out of business. And some of your translations, do you have rendered inoperative? That the old man might be rendered inoperative? What are some of your translations for the word destroyed?

Pardon me? Done away with? Okay. Done away with. Okay. Okay. So even when you read the words, done away with, you think, it's gone forever. Now, in Christianity today, there are many believers that believe that the old man was annihilated. He was done away with. We no longer have the old man. That belief is they believe in one nature, that we still have one nature. Now the question is this.

As Bob said, well who's doing the dancing in our life? Where are the sins coming from in our life? If we only have one nature, and that's the new nature, then where are the sins coming from? Well, those people who believe that we only have one nature will say, well those are just habits, or Satan made me do it, or they are just residual sins that are just kind of left over, and they're just residual sins. Well, it's a temptation. Okay, and yes, and so where do the temptations come from? Are they just left over? It's our nature. And that's the point. And that is the point that sins have to have a source. They cannot be just residuals left over.

You know what that's like? That's like saying that if I go home today and I turn off the main breaker to my house, No electricity now into my house. And I go into my house and I'm going to say, well the residual electricity that's in the wiring is going to light up my house. So I go to turn on my light switch, right? Because I'm counting on those residuals to light the lights. But guess what? The lights aren't going to light. Because there are no residuals that can light.

And the same thing is true with us. Sins have to have a source. There must be a source. And as Bruce said, as he goes on to say, that we no longer need to be a slave to sin. This, the sin nature, no longer needs to be the driver or the energizer in our life. No longer. We've been cut free. It's been taken offline. There isn't the direct line that there was when we were an unbeliever. We were hardwired, I'd like to say, we were just hardwired to the sin nature, and we couldn't do anything else but fulfill the desires of the sin nature.

And those desires are not necessarily, from a human viewpoint, bad. From a human viewpoint, some of these desires may be good. Some of these desires may be trying to love others, trying to do good. So these desires may be good from a human viewpoint, but from God's viewpoint, What does he say?

There are none that doeth good, no, not one. Right? So whatever desires they are, no matter how good they appear to man, they're still unrighteous, because he's unrighteous. OK. Wait a minute. Nothing is ever good enough, so why are we here? Okay, let me go back. With respect to an unbeliever, you're right. Nothing is ever good enough. There is nothing out from the unbeliever that God can be satisfied with. Doesn't that take away the argument that, well, he must be in heaven because he was a good guy?

And it says that the books are opened, and there's the book of life, and there's the book of works. and man who rejects Christ, who says, the cross is foolishness. As far as I'm concerned, it's dumb that God would put his son on the cross to die for my sins. I'm going to please God, and I'm going to think of a way to please God, and I'm going to structure my life that that I'm going to please God, that I will be accepted by Him. So man has all these desires, and one of his desires is to please God. To please God out from the sin nature, which is unrighteous. There's nothing out from the sin nature that can please God. What's the only thing that pleases God?

In Hebrews 11.6, for without faith, it is impossible to please God. So, without faith in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no way that man can please God.

So, yes, you're right. There is, no matter how an unbeliever tries, he can never please God. Right? Unbeliever, yes. Yeah, we're talking about unbeliever. Right, so now if I have faith, and I do something great, I should think it would be given to God, if I do it in Christ. Absolutely. So the only thing that's pleasing to God is His Son. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. So anything that we do through Christ, He is well pleased. Everything that we do through Christ, He is well pleased.

And it's acceptable. Norm? Now, you just mentioned you're not going to be hard-wired, you know, with your old nature. That would mean that following the way of acceptance of Christ, you would have been hard-wired on the other side if you were of a single nature. Yes. And therefore, you would not commit any more sins. Exactly right. And therefore, we know that that doesn't happen.

So, just by logic, you have to accept Yes, but those who would argue against you, Norm is saying that if we just had one nature, then we would be hardwired over here to the new nature, to Christ's nature, right? And this nature ceased to exist, it's annihilated, it's no longer in existence. But there's sins in people's life, in believers' life, who believe that they only have the one nature. But their argument, they would come back to you and say, Oh, Norm, you just don't understand.

Those are just residual sins. And those are a little bit of electricity. Yeah, that, you know, and it's left over. Yeah. So, okay. I just kind of like to look at it as like a focus. I mean, when you do something, is it for your own glory or is it for the Lord? So it's like, which side are you going to go on? Okay, okay. And Autumn is saying, and here's the point. The point is our walk. Are we walking by faith?

As it says in Colossians 2.6, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. You received him by how? By faith. So you walk in him by faith.

So if our walk is by faith in Him and we're focused, we're occupied with Him, and that's what Autumn is saying, then we never have to be concerned about the sin nature. We don't have to be concerned about it. Let's make sure what we do there, don't focus on that, don't focus on fixing that. Exactly right, exactly right.

And so we focus on Him. And as we focus on Him, we behold Him. And as we behold Him, we are being changed, right, from glory to glory. We're coming to be more like Him. And that's what the world sees. And that's what the people in your sphere of influence see. Now, we're going to close here.

Jump down to verse 11. Here are all the facts that he's presenting to us with respect to the old man being crucified with him. And by the way, you can translate that co-crucified, because there's a little preposition in front of the word crucified, which means we were co-crucified with him. But jump down to 11, it says, likewise reckon, and this is what Bob was talking about, likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, unto the sin that is the sin nature, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now, here's my question. The truth has been presented that you've been separated, cut loose, from the old nature. And you don't have to abide there anymore. You don't have to be a slave to the sin nature anymore. In fact, as you go on into Romans chapter 6, it says that we are a slave to righteousness. We're a slave to Christ. We're doers to Christ.

Now let's say you sin. Bingo! There goes the switch. We're over here. Because the desires of the flesh look more appealing than the desires from Christ. And that's what happens in our life. we really don't know Him and His desires, that these desires look much better than His, because we really don't know His desires. So, bang, we're over here. Now, in verse 11, as Bob was pointing out, he says he has no problem with the intellectual thing with the first part.

Reckon yourselves indeed dead unto sin, but alive unto God. The word reckon, what gets in my mind, means to put down as true, put it down as true, that you're indeed dead, you've been separated from this guy, and alive unto God. Now my question is this. Where do we reckon from? Do we reckon from here or do we reckon from here?

Essentially the only way we can reckon is by being in Christ. That's why we can. We certainly can't do it. Okay, and that's correct. The point is this, that if we're abiding in the sin nature, it's too late to say, I reckon myself, this guy can't reckon. put it down as true, that he's been cut out of the picture. So what happens is this, is that as we abide in him, that here comes the desires, right? Here comes the desires from the old man.

And someone says something about you that isn't true. And you want to make sure and you want to correct them that they're wrong about you and that you're right, right? Or whatever it is. Or here comes a trial. Here comes a suffering. And the first thing you say, Oh, what am I going to do now? And you start worrying. Here comes the temptation to worry, to have anxiety, to do whatever. And those desires are out from here.

Now, the reckoning, the reckoning is from here. Put it down. It's true that you've been cut loose, separated from the source. that you need not to worry, not to have anxiety, not to be right. Put it down as true that you're dead, that you've been separated here, but you're alive unto God. We've got to close.

Father, we are again just thankful for Your love for us, for the truth that You have given us in Your Word, and we thank You, Father, that it is inspired by You. We thank You, Father, for the truth that we just looked at with respect to our identification with Christ and His work on the cross for us, and how thankful we are, Lord, that You have separated us from the nature of Adam, and that we no longer need to be a slave to that, but we can be a slave to righteousness, and knowing, Father, that as we are, that we are apostles of Christ, and that those in our sphere of influence can and will see the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.