Identification Truths

How far did we get last time? I know it's been two weeks and your memories are short. We did not get through all of the questions and I'm trying to think, did we get through nine? Question nine, knowing can mean coming to know. Okay. Does that mean we went to ten? Yeah, because ten is a good question and it has to put you on the spot right away. You ready? Describe what your old man is. Assuming you think you have one. And trust me, you do. When you hear that term, my old man, what does it mean?

Adam and his sin nature. All that we were in Adam is our old man. all of his ambitions, all of his desires, all of his hopes, all of his judgments, everything. Even the thought process that goes through that natural mind of yours is known as the Adamic mind. This little thing that everybody is really familiar with called self-preservation, everybody has that, right? That comes from Adam.

I just had a thought when we were going through that, that everything that ties us to the earth is the old man. That's true. Because Adam is an earthly man. Did you see that? Last Sunday I talked about the two men, remember those of you who were here, that the one man is from the earth, earthy, and the last Adam is where? Where's he from? He's from heaven. The last Adam is from heaven. so his frame of reference. So, you wonder sometimes why it takes the Holy Spirit so long to get us familiar with what's of Adam. He's a pretty encompassing fella, since he's an entire man.

Now, does the old man being crucified mean that he is obliterated, eradicated, and gone forever? It's true. It's true. What do you think? We would say the answer is no. There is a school of theology that says yes. And even covenant theologians who recognize the identification truths, their viewpoint is that the old man has been eradicated.

Through Romans 6.6, our old man was crucified at crucifixion. Well, there's several problems with that, and we'll be bumping into this over the next few weeks.

If you understand a couple of things, one, what does death mean? It means separation, so it does not mean annihilation. So if your old man was crucified, or you were crucified, it means you got separated from it, positionally. It doesn't mean it went anywhere. And let's assume that the old man was eradicated, then how do you explain the source of sin in your life. Because sin has to have a source. You understand that?

In other words, when did you all become sinners? When Adam sinned, you became a sinner. So when you committed your first sin, you already were a sinner, right? Because you have to be a sinner to sin. There are only two beings that weren't sinners when they committed sin the first time. One was Lucifer and the other was Adam. Everybody else comes equipped to sin. I sinned when I took my first breath. You sinned long before that. Sin has to have a source. If my dog barks, he's got to be a dog in order to bark. How do you explain the source of sin?

Well, the one nature people would say, well, it's old memories, habits. You know, it's pretty tough to, you know, be crucified with Christ, the old man be eradicated, and then from a conditional standpoint, you know, not to be instinctively sinning. Well, the problem is that a habit isn't a source. You know what I'm saying? When you look at what Donna said, everything that ties us to this earth, even the physical body is part of that. So if it was eradicated, we might still have pain. That's exactly right. Here's the other big problem.

Remember when we started in Romans 6.1, I said the first ten verses of Romans 6 are what?

Positional or conditional? Remember? I know it's been two weeks or three. They're positional. What we're learning, the first ten verses of Romans 6, they're positional. That means there was a judicial execution or crucifixion of the flesh. It isn't conditional, it's positional. What you're going to find with most One Nature people is they don't... ascribed to position and condition. They think everything is condition. Do you see that? So, there's plenty of evidence in the study of, especially Paul's epistles, of this principle of position and condition. Right?

I mean, the fact that you were... the whole term, in Christ, has to be positional. It has to be what you are in your position. Now over time, your position is to be worked into your condition, and when you leave the planet, there is no separation. Now your condition and position are the same. Are you comfortable with that?

The other thing is that having this thing called the flesh, the flesh is the How do I say this? The flesh is the nature of the old man. If that flesh were eradicated, you wouldn't sin anymore. It would be impossible, because there wouldn't be a source. Do you see that? Here's another interesting thing.

Don and I were both believers when John was conceived. How come he didn't show up without a sin nature? If mine's gone and hers is gone, how come he showed up with one? Sure, that means I still have it and I still pass it on. So, you know, Donna was convinced for quite some time that John was born without one, but he proved her wrong.

You should have known better if you knew you. That's true. One sinner recognizes another one. So you could say that he that hath the Son has life and he that has not the Son of God has not life. So conversely you could say that he that has the old Adamic man has sin and he that has not the old Adamic man has not sin. Now, here's a subjective question.

Have you counted yourself so incorrigibly bad that as to have to be crucified? Yes, no. Yes, no? You see, what you find in spiritual growth is that God gives you this information and he tells you these things about being crucified with his son and that your old man was crucified and you know what? You don't believe them. And one of the reasons you don't believe them early on is because you've never viewed yourself as worthy of death.

Right? You've never looked at your flesh and said, like in Romans 7, Paul said, I conclude that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. He didn't say 60-40, 80-20, a couple of good things, you know, the rest needs to be done away with. I'm improving all the time. Nope.

And so, as the Spirit implements into your condition, in your life, the positional truths, well, guess what He's going to implement? He's going to teach you that your old man is incorrigibly bad and cannot be rescued. And you're going to someday, if you haven't already, look at God and say, you know what?

You did the right thing with me. You crucified me. Thank you. You're not improving me. You crucified my old man. And that I'm really thankful for. So I don't have to mess with him anymore. See that? But I'm convinced that for all believers, because I'm like you and you're like me, that when that's first as part of your understanding, you don't really buy it because you don't think you're that bad.

There's a lot of murmuring. No one would be ready to count himself so incorrigibly bad as to have to be crucified. But when the Spirit of God turns the light upon what we are from Adam, these will be blessed words of relief. Our old man was crucified. Don't get discouraged as the Spirit begins to work these truths into your life because he does it from an objective, realistic standpoint. The man who doesn't see the need for his crucifixion won't ever be free. But trust me, the Spirit will show you why crucifixion of your old man was necessary. And it's not to discourage you, it's actually to set you free.

So why wouldn't dying to yourself be appropriate in the light of this verse? And here's some verses that might confuse you. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 31, I die daily. Why is not... I'll repeat the question. Why wouldn't dying to yourself be appropriate in light of these verses?

Because it's positional, it already happened. It already happened. So when Paul says, I died daily, what does he mean? That's bringing your state into your standing, your condition into your position. You see that? Reckoning. Reckoning part. The experience.

Colossians 3.10, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

That's a conditional verse. This is what the Spirit is doing. He's implementing into your experience and your life what he's already done positionally. So it's not up to you to die to yourself. And I've heard that in a lot of places where I remember one time early on in my Christian life when I was just learning these truths. I was sitting in a church and a guy next to me and one of the assistant pastors came down the aisle and said, how are you doing today? And the guy says, I'm dying to myself. And I've heard that a lot. And I thought, gee, that sounds pretty cool. But I subsequently learned that you're not doing any of that. You couldn't die to yourself. Do you understand what I'm saying? Flesh can't crucify flesh.

It's the Spirit's job to implement the cross in your life. That's exactly right. So, we as believers, living conditionally is to live by faith and trust in the personal work of the Lord Jesus and the implementation of what you know by the Spirit of God. He does not need your help. to effectuate the cross in your life. Do you see that? You're to function by faith.

If you do, you're like the monks. With themselves and stuff to be better. And we're not monks, you know. We're widows. Well, and your dying daily is not an inward spiritual struggle with sin. Because that's what it really means. And I am struggling with sin and I'm trying the best I can to be separated from the power of sin in my life on a daily basis.

And if that's your viewpoint, what have you just put yourself under? Law. Sure. Sure you have. So, I've been crucified with Christ means that you've already been. And the implementation of that crucifixion is the work of the Spirit. Trust me, he knows how to do it. Boy, we get to move on. Any questions so far from two weeks ago? Notice what I'm doing.

I'm moving through Romans 6, because these are the appropriate truths in the Word of God that have to do with, put it this way, unidentification with Adam and identification with Christ. So I want to make sure that we're tracking that way, that what we're really talking about is God's plan to unidentify me with Adam and re-identify me with Christ. That's what we're doing. And what you'll find through your life in the study of Paul's epistles that everything he writes from Romans 6-6 on is based on Romans 6-6 truth. Everything. Every solution to every problem in the Christian life is based squarely on the identification truth. The answer is always death to the old and life in the new. It's never improvement. Now it's tough to think that that's the way the Lord is working, but that is the way He does work. He works based on the scriptural truth.

So, from 6.6-10, the first question I ask is, is the following statement true? If I did not die with Christ on the cross, I cannot be living in Him, risen from the dead, but I'm still back in the old Adam in which I was born. True or false? True. Why? Because in order to be separated from Adam, you have to die in the cross with Jesus.

That's exactly right. Now, I'll read a quote from W.R. Newell. This is a terrific quote. He says, Perhaps no more difficult task, no task requiring such constant vigilant attention, is assigned by God to the believer. Here's the task. It is a stupendous thing, this matter of taking note of and keeping in mind what goes so completely against consciousness that our old man was crucified. These words are addressed to faith and to faith only.

Christ died once, once and for all, unto sin. He is not dying continually. I am told to reckon myself dead in that death of Christ. I am therefore not told to do my own dying to sin and self in the world, but on the contrary, to reckon by simple faith that in this death I died, period."

Isn't that interesting? Newell says that the most difficult task that God assigns to the believer is to, by faith, believe that he was crucified. I mean, I love these discussions we have about people that want to put their whole focus on their faith, that their faith makes things happen. So, I think for a non-believer to be presented with the doctrine or the gospel that Christ died and was buried and resurrected, and if you believe that, God will save you for all eternity.

You know, that's a pretty big pill to swallow, but not too tough, right? But then later on, when he begins to tell you, look, your old man was crucified, and he doesn't mean going to be, it's in the aorist tense, it's already done. Now think about that. It's 2,000 years since the cross. I've only been alive however many years I've been alive, and he's telling me that I died? Doesn't he realize I'm sitting here? You know? I'm thinking the same stuff I was thinking yesterday. But he says, he gives us this fact, and he says, look, you need to believe this fact. What do you think about that?

I think if you don't, you're in Romans 7. You may not even get that far. What you find, I think, as you go forward in the Word of God, is that the things God asks you to believe make no sense to your old Adamic mind. Because Adam would look at Romans 6.6 and say, it can't be true because I'm here. You understand? So you somehow muster up enough faith and say, okay, if you say so, that's good enough for me.

Well, let's talk about the persuasion of Romans 6.6. How many of you are absolutely persuaded, without any shadow of a doubt, that you're saved for all eternity? You're convinced, right? You can't convince me, but I'm sure about me. Do you think that God will convince you as sure about this fact as He has about the security of your salvation? Sure He will. What do you need to do? Just rest. You need to believe Him. no matter what it looks like, you need to believe them. So that's why it's really important, even though it goes against.

So in verse 6 of Romans 6, what does it mean that the body of sin might be destroyed? The key word here is the King James says destroyed. Romans 6.6 in your Bible, what word do they use for destroyed? The New King James Version says that sin might be done away with. I'm not sure I like that. It says destroyed in the footnotes as rendered inoperative. Yeah, see, that's right. That's the right way to go. The word is caturgeo. which means to be put out of business.

Now, again, this goes back to the issue we're talking about with the eradication of the old man. The purpose of this is not to eradicate the old man, it's to put him out of business, so that you no longer serve him. How many of you have read Watchman Nee's Normal Christian Life? Any of you? If you haven't, I recommend you get it and read it. He uses a great example of this.

He talks about a sea captain of a ship in which there was a mutiny, and that they replaced the captain with a new captain. But they took the old captain and they tied him up to the mast. And a storm came, and as the ship's bouncing around, the old captain is barking out orders. And the seamen, as they go by him, have a tendency to respond to him because they're so used to his voice. when in fact he's not in charge anymore.

Did you see that? The issue is that your old man is to be put out of business. Hal Malloy talks about it because he's an electrical engineer, right? He describes it as turning the switch and taking it offline, so that you wouldn't be responsive to it anymore. Now, if that's the case, it means that it's still going to try That old man is still going to try to get you to respond.

You agree? And, you know, trust me, your old man knows Romans 6 probably better than you do. But his viewpoint is that he's going to try to prove Romans 6 wrong in your life. Do you see that? It's a long time because we've got to know what sin is. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of times we... We don't know that that man is earthly. We have to find that out. It's like Jonah in the belly's well.

So what does it mean, what's the body of sin mean here? The commentators have several viewpoints of this, two that are significant. What does the body of sin, because the verse says, knowing that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be put out of business, that we should no longer serve sin." So what's the body of sin? What do you think? But this word body, what does that have to do with it? Is it your physical body? Or is it what?

I can tell you stay up night pondering these questions. Newell says the body of sin refers to your body and that your body instinctively reacts to the sin nature and that the issue here is that your old man being crucified is that your body would not respond anymore to the impulses of the sin nature. Other people say that what the body of sin has to do with is the whole accumulation of sin itself. That the body of sin talks about all sin, and that that sin nature, like you're saying, Craig, would be put out of business. The whole thing would be non-functional.

The doors are closed. What do you think? Yeah, they do, don't they? Yeah, they really do. We refer to the body of Christ being all believers. The totality of sin might be put out of business. And I'm comfortable with that. I'm comfortable with either one, really. The bottom line issue is God has dealt with sin. S-I-N. He's dealt with the whole issue. He left nothing.

We used to call it in the Marine Corps, no Irish pennants. You know what an Irish pennant is? It's a little piece of thread that hangs off. If you went to an inspection, you had an Irish pennant, you got marked down for that. You know how you get rid of an Irish pennant? With a cigarette lighter, you burn them off. You used to burn off the unshaven part of your neck with a lighter and deodorant. It sends your neck Of course, you had a suntan from here down. Yeah, I know, they do weird things.

The thing to remember is that all the rights that sin had to you are gone. The man in Adam, sin has dominion over him, has a right over him and controls him. for we as believers to understand that all the rights of sin over you are gone is really critical. The only one who can implement the freedom of those rights, though, is the Spirit himself. He's the one who does it.

You know, what I've been going through with this is it's not so much, you know, a lot of times We have earthly possessions and gifts that we think that sure come from God, but when he takes them away, then what? He's drawing us to himself that it's not the gift, but the giver of the gift.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's where a lot of times I struggle Oh, sure. Because God is so gracious to us that even sometimes when you ask for something out of the flesh, He grants it. He does. No, He'll let you. Well, you think about it. In the Garden of Eden, Adam chose himself over God, and what did God give him? What he wanted. Didn't He?

A lot of times we will choose the sin nature over over the life of Christ, and He will give it to us. But the great thing is, is that He'll use it for our approval. We quote-unquote choose wrongly, you really don't, because He takes everything and uses it to approve you, even though you thought it was something you really had to have. Kind of like Job, everything had to be lost. Yeah.

Question 3, in verse 7, I'm going to talk about this verse in the Lord's Table today. What does being freed or justified from sin mean? Verse 7 says, For he who has died has been freed from sin. So who died? Did you die? Yeah. You got separated. Think about this.

If Christ was made sin for you, right? Then he died. What's his relationship to sin? Does he have one? So, if you're in him, and you died, what's your relationship to sin? Do you have one? You sure? Positionally. So the question for you is, what's your relationship to sin? What's your relationship to your sin nature?

What is it? Do you have one, number one, and two, if you do or don't, what is it? You're separated from it. So let's expand this conversation a little bit. Do you still have a sin nature? So if you still have it, then you must have some sort of a relationship with it. What is the relationship? Yeah, you're dead to it. So you can have it and be dead to it. In other words, it can be functioning, well, it can be present within you and you can still have no relationship with it. It has no more power.

We are what we eat, right? We're a bunch of cattle around here. Well, you are what you eat spiritually, too. And if you eat this kind of food, then you begin to grow. You okay? You need some more Dr. Peppner. That's no way to die to self, trust me. So, what we need to do as growing believers, vis-à-vis these truths, is look at what Christ's relationship is to sin, to the world, to Adam, and whatever his relationship is, that's what ours is. But it does not mean that the sin nature has gone away somewhere. The sin nature is still there.

Now, in Galatians 5, there's a very interesting verse. It says, the Spirit, capital S, lusts against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit. And the word lust there means, has strong desires. So the Spirit has strong desires against the flesh. but the flesh has strong desires against the Spirit. They are contrary one to another." Now listen to this last part. "...so that you are not able to do that which you would." Now think about this. You read that verse, and what do you think?

Where are you in the battle? Are you the Spirit? Are you the flesh? Most people say, Yeah, I am. No, you're not. Not according to Romans 6, you aren't. Your flesh and the Holy Spirit are engaged in this strong desire struggle for what purpose? Why is there such a struggle there? So that one or the other can express themselves through you.

Do you see that? So the Spirit works from the finished work of the cross to put the flesh out of business. so that he can manifest the life of Christ through you. The flesh at the same time is engaged in this conflict with the Spirit of God so that he can express sin through you. Do you see that? And so the struggle is, for a growing believer, in terms of whether these facts are true or not, we immediately go to experience.

Well, if I'm dead, how come I'm still sinning? Do you see that? If my old man has been crucified, how come he still can express himself through me? Do you see that? He must be stronger than the spirit, because boy, I'm not walking in the spirit very much. I really identify with, I'm not able to do that which I would. Boy, do I identify with that.

The good thing is that the Spirit of God works from finished and accomplished facts. He's not attempting to crucify the old man. He's implementing the facts of the Word of God that says that the old man has already been crucified. So in Corinthians, Paul can say, death works in us, so there might be life in you. The Holy Spirit is always, from a conditional standpoint, applying the death of the cross to that old man, so that conditionally he'll be put out of business, just like he already is, positionally.

Yeah, actually, going back to the other word, the word free, which is the kaiou, to render, to show regard as just or innocent, but the interesting one is that it's perfect, passive, and indicative. Isn't that interesting? The perfect was complete with continuing, but then it's passive.

How much are we? The freedom is being worked upon us. Right. We're the receiver of the action. Yeah, and the indicative is reality. The passive part was, it's not us. What you're saying is the spirit working through us. It's a passive act. And that's a very important point because if you Like Vern said a year or so ago, when you study a portion of scripture, you need to find out who owns the verbs. Do you understand what I mean by that? In other words, are they active, middle, or passive? What you're going to find in Romans chapter 6, from verse 1 to verse 10, all of the verbs are passive.

All of them are. There is no, until you get to 11. There's no active verbs, they're all passive. All of this has been done to you. You've been the receiver of all of this activity. Isn't that cool? Yeah, it goes on from now on, based on a completed fact. Isn't that cool?

You can stop doing your spiritual push-ups anytime. So your relationship to sin has been broken, right? Now do you really buy that? That your relationship to this sin nature, to this guy that's dogging you all the time, your relationship has been broken.

You remember when we were studying a few verses ago, don't you know that when you were baptized, you were baptized into Christ's death? And that you were buried with him in baptism and we talked about why Paul would use the word burial there. Why does he use it? Remember what we said about that? What does burial mean? Burial is the last separating act of a human being. Right? When somebody dies, their body is around forever long, but then you go to the cemetery and you put them in the ground.

That's the end of it. Right? So what's your relationship to sin? That's the end of it. Positional truth. It's Galatians 5, is it 17? Somewhere in there. Is that it? Now, in verse 7, Does being justified from sin mean sinless perfection in the believer? Do you understand what I mean by that? Conditionally?

Well, let's talk about that now. Think about the term sinless perfection. What does that mean? it would mean that you were still in Adam and that in Adam you got perfected and you didn't sin anymore. Now, most of Christian thought is based on that premise. You're a saved sinner. Is the term saved sinner a realistic term for you and me? Is there such a thing as a saved sinner? It makes no sense. Based on the identification truths, from an objective standpoint, there's no such thing as a safe sinner. You okay with that? Because when you were identified with Christ's death, burial and resurrection, what are you now? You're a new creation in Christ. That's a good time for this question. As a new creation in Christ, can you sin?

I've got a yes, I've got a no. Let's have a vote. How many think you can? How many think you can't? How many are too chicken to raise their hand? Answer no, you can't. Because if the identification principles hold true all the way through, then if you said yes, you would mean that Christ could sin. See that? Can he sin? No. So what happens when you sin? You listen to that old guy. That old guy, and then you give him license to express himself through you, right? And so what happens?

Now let's see, when the old Adamic nature takes over, it's 15 minutes before you actually commit a sin. How about 15 seconds? Do you realize that the only thing that the Adamic nature does is sin? 24-7. There's never a time that the Adamic nature is not sinning. You know why? Because what's the definition of sin? Falling short of the mark. What's the mark? The mark is the life of Christ, because he can never achieve that mark. Whenever you're in the flesh, you sin 24-7. Now you may think, well I really didn't sin until I punched Joe in the nose, but the minute you entertain the thought of punching Joe in the nose, you're sinning because you're operating out of Adam. Do you see that? Sometimes it has to do with infirmity too. What do you mean?

I got a ticket the other day. Is that a sin? Speeding was a sin. The ticket wasn't. I was heading home from work and I put my signal on and got in the other lane. Here I almost run the cop in the ditch. I didn't see him. I thought his lights weren't on probably. You didn't hit him, did you? No. No, he said I run him in the ditch. Yeah. You know, but I never seen him.

Is that an infirmity or what? Yeah, well I'm glad he didn't give me a reckless stride. I'm glad Sid kind of fell in that story. He'll pull out your Bible and say, let's go to Romans 6 this year. And I thought to myself, what is the Lord trying to show me? And it's how subtle the old man is with the law.

Sure. It's nothing but law-orientated. And you justified your behavior by saying you didn't see him. Yeah. And self does that. Self justifies its behavior. But it's where you are. Yeah. And what's cool about the way the Spirit does things is He allows stuff like that to happen to bring home the point. Because the traffic violation that you were ticketed for in and of itself is not sinful.

Right? But the reaction to an unjustifiable ticket might be. And God would use that to show you the subtlety of the old man. And how we're going to respond. Yeah. I got my rights. How many rights does the old man have? Self-preservation, see that? How many rights does the old man have? Zero. He has no rights over you at all. But his job is to try to convince you that he does.

So what, should I just have waited and had a bench warrant? No, no. How do you deal with the circumstances? And that's a good point. a circumstance where something happens and maybe it's like this where all of a sudden the circumstances are there and you're in it and justifiably the policeman says, you ran me off the road. And you think, no I didn't. I didn't even see you.

But objectively you probably did cause him to swerve. So what do you do? And then as he's writing the ticket you're thinking, this is unjust. How can he do this to me? And then you recognize that that thought process came from where? The old man. The old man. Now what? Oh, I've sinned. Haven't I? Haven't I begun to function out of that? I was thankful I didn't get a reckless drive. You just get a lawyer and let him stand before you. That's too expensive. It's interesting.

Once that sin process begins in you, now what? And the point I'm after is that one might look at that and think, Now I'm stuck. What I'm after here is look at the work of the Spirit in your life in everyday normal circumstances. Once you've allowed Adam to express himself through you, what does the Spirit do immediately?

He convicts you of it. For what purpose? To make you feel really bad? To restore you to your life in Christ. So there's never a time that you find yourself in a circumstance that the Spirit, oh geez, I'm on vacation this week. He's there all the time. And He'll teach you about your old man and reckoning and your life in Christ through every circumstance. And you know how you know that?

Romans 8.28, God works all things for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.

All things. Including getting a ticket. Two points. Right in the check. Initially, you understand what that all things means. There has to be a working of the spirit as well. You have to get more than one ticket. It's going to be something good for the old man. That's right. Something that's going to benefit us here. Yeah.

And what you find, I think, in spiritual growth, you may be in a position where you struggle for a while with a lot of defeat, but then you arrive at a point in your life where there is no defeat. You win every time. With 2 Corinthians 12, where he takes pleasure in distresses and infirmities, because in his weakness, Christ is revealed. Is manifested, yeah, that's right.

So you can... Go ahead. I was just going to say, so do you just work within the system, And you're still within the system if you pay the fine, or if you fight it. Either way, you're participating in the system. Yeah, because you're here in the system. You're in the world, but not of it. That's Romans 13, in relation to government. Sure, you're subject to the laws and the rules, and you have to realize that God put that cop where he was. Right, for sure. Let's say that you didn't run this guy off the road, but he gave you a ticket just because he was having a bad day. Or he didn't get his quota. Yeah, or whatever. You're unjustly accused, right?

And you know you're right. So what do you do? Can you avail yourself as a believer of the system? Absolutely you can. Or even if you don't know you're right. Yeah, I mean, it's there for a reason. Here's the thing, even if you're unjustly accused and you hire an attorney to defend you, you find yourself before the judge and you lose. Wait a minute, God was gone this week? No, this is part of... Because of your options. That judge has to live with it. Sure, and you may find, I'll tell you a great story and then we're going to close.

When I was a young believer, I worked in a mission down on Larimer Street for a couple of years, and there was a young guy down there named Alfonso Alvarado, who God busted. He was a heroin addict, and he came to the Lord, and God took heroin off of him like that. Well, we found out later that he had a case against him as a habitual criminal for receiving stolen property, because he'd go steal stuff and sell it So he walks into the cop's sting to sell whatever he stole. They got him on camera, and this is his fourth go at a felony conviction. Well, trust me, if you go before a judge in Colorado with your fourth felony conviction, you're gone away for the rest of your life as a habitual criminal, right?

So we all go to the trial, and he's telling his two Jewish attorneys, the Lord's going to protect me. I'm not going to jail. And they're looking at him like, Okay. So they put on their defense. It took the jury about six seconds to convict him. He still told his lawyers, this guy's been a believer for four months. I'm not going to jail.

So a month later we have the sentencing hearing and bring in the witnesses, yeah, Alfonso's life has changed and I and these other guys all wrote letters to the judge and the judge was Judge Flanagan and if you've ever been around, He was a small black man known as the hanging judge. He was nasty. But you know what? Judge Flanagan was a believer. And was all said and done, he said, Alfonso, you got anything to say? And Alfonso stood up and he said, you know, I'm guilty, there's no question.

And he said, if you send me to jail, that's okay too, because I know the Lord's going to take care of me. And he sat down. And the judge said, the first thing out of the judge's mouth was, The court is aware of the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's what he said. And when it was all said and done, he sentenced him to life in prison and commuted the sentence.

Alfonso walks out of the place. Six months later, I'm on jury duty and I go to Flanagan's court and I want to see him. And I say I'm here because I was one of those guys that wrote a letter about Alfonso Nieto. And so he called me in and you know what he said to me? He said, I was up all night long trying to decide what to do with Alfonso. And you guys had written letters and I knew you weren't crusaders.

I knew that this guy's life was changed. He said, everybody in my court, the clerk and everybody, are believers. And before court date that day, we all came in my office and we prayed for 15 minutes. He said, I didn't know until the time of judgment what I was going to do. And the Lord led me to let him walk out.

Isn't that something? So, when you go before a judge, you begin to discover that behind that bench is the Holy Spirit, doing His thing. And Alfonso, to this day, should be a lifer. He's not. Where's he at now? He lives in the projects. He's still a believer, still walks with the Lord, as best I know.

And his wife came to the Lord after that. How about his two Jewish attorneys? Well, they were amazed. I mean, when the judge let him go, those two guys, they looked at each other. And Alfonso, a cocky young Christian, looks at him and says, see, I told you so. Did he become the leader? No, I don't think so. Anyway, we've got to close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your word and for your placing us in your dear son, who is our very life. We pray in his precious name. Amen.