Knowing and Growing – Who were we - Who are we - Who are we becoming - Part IV

On the handout there are five pages that are the main part of the handout and two pages that are a supplement having to do with the Sin Nature. We'll be lucky to get through the first one, but the one on the Sin Nature is there in case that's one you'd like to pursue and get a little more insight on.

We've been, after our three months of knowing the Lord as a theme, both individually and together, corporately as it's sometimes called, having nothing to do with corporations, but as a body we also get to know the Lord together. And then as we've stepped into sort of a new topic for six months, this one is saying who we were, who we are now, and who we are becoming.

That's essentially the picture. And so we're laying out some things that will help us in our studies in the months ahead to understand what's going on. So just to give a quick summary, we had earlier on, just a few weeks back, we showed in the diagram that's in the middle and on to the left, that there is the physical realm side of a person, and on the right side we showed the spiritual realm. We show that for a believer, the analogues to the five physical senses, including hearing, sight, and things like that, are in the spiritual realm. Those are turned on for the believer. We talked about the distinction between the soul and the spirit. just like the brain is a part of the body, the soul is a part of the spirit.

Then we moved on in another lesson to talk about the image and likeness of God. In a quick summary, both male and female are made in the image and likeness of God. With the fall of humankind, you have the image remaining but marred. It's not eliminated, it is marred or damaged, it's become less clear.

So then we have in the next diagram, in Adam and in Christ, and so the summary diagram there shows that the lower left In Adam, before faith in Christ, we are separated from Christ, joined to the sin nature, the principle of law, and the world. Then we say in Christ, that is after faith in Christ, we are on the other side of the cross, joined to Christ, separated from the sin nature, from the principle of law, and from the world.

And one of the distinctions we make, does that mean that the sin nature goes away? No. Does it mean that the law goes away? No. Or even the principle of law? No. Does it mean that the world goes away? No. And so it alters our relationship to those things. It does not make them disappear. Yes? If they went away, then we wouldn't be separated. Yes, and that's true.

And one of the things that I would say is a significant problem, much of Christendom struggles with not understanding what we're looking at right there. I didn't understand it for about 40 years. Yeah, in other words, even high-profile Christian leaders can lack understanding in several of these things. The sin nature for the believer, John MacArthur, for example, would be one who is a high-profile guy, lots of influence among Christians, written things, head of the seminary, all those things. I've never met him. I've actually met a couple of his professors. But nonetheless, he's one who doesn't understand this.

John Stott, who I think he's still alive, but John Stott, who is an Anglican author, wrote a commentary on Romans and a book on Christianity, I forget the exact title, but he is one who still believes in the Ten Commandments. Well, if you still believe in the Ten Commandments, you don't understand the being dead to the principle of law. So you'll have some guys that are high profile and well regarded in general, but still not understand one or more of these things.

Okay, so what we see here today will be looking at what God's Word says about who we were as unbelievers, who we are as believers, and who we are becoming. So this is the fourth one on that theme. So our examination of what scripture says of these things will bring us to some intriguing understandings of the unbelievers and the believer's spiritual anatomy. So briefly, we'll be looking at the unbeliever, with the terms the old man and the sin nature. For the believer, the new man and the new nature. And thirdly, a continuity of or continuing person. and we'll take a look at why we make those distinctions. So, topic page 2. So the unbeliever, the old man, the sin nature, and the believer, the new man, and the new nature.

Now, where is the in-Adam, in-Christ distinction made biblically? Where is the in-Adam and in-Christ distinction made biblically? Yeah, that's the divide, and matter of fact, that's what's in the diagram on the lower left there. 1 Corinthians 15, 20-22 actually has those terms, so we'll read it here, it's near the top of page 2.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep, For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." So here's in Adam and in Christ in the very same passage there. 1 Corinthians 15 is significantly a passage that presents lots of great things, but you would say the theme is the resurrection.

So what we have here is in Adam and in Christ, which we actually showed last time. So all human beings are conceived and born in Adam, that is they are positionally in Adam and identified with him, so that all believers have Adam as their spiritual head of the race of fallen mankind.

So this is the fixed position of every unbeliever. Where is the only exit for the unbeliever? from that fixed position of being an Adam. Is there any way out? He has to die, and how does that happen? Does he try to? Yeah, in other words, it's by belief, right? By believing, and we'll even talk about what part of the unbeliever believes.

So the only exit, it's like there's one door out. See, by law with a room this size, you can't just have one door out. Even in a residence, like for example, a lot of our basements, we'll have a situation where if you don't go down the stairs, there's got to be one more way out, right? And that's typically through some kind of an exit window, and the little small guys don't qualify, right? Very few of us can fit through those. So they'll have an exit window that's there in an emergency.

For the unbelievers, there's only one exit, and that exit is belief, and it's provided for by God through Christ. And the appeal to that, the appeal to the will of the believers through the Holy Spirit. So we have then the next part there. This is the fixed position of each unbeliever. All those in Adam share his spiritual history and the consequences of that history and are identified with him. Next we have in Christ all those who were conceived and born in Adam, once having believed the gospel of salvation, are placed into Christ. They are from that time forward in Christ by God's doing.

1 Corinthians 1.30 says, by God's doing we are in Christ. So who did it? God did it. It's that simple. All those in Christ share his spiritual history and the consequences of that history and are identified with him.

So, to put these in-Adam and in-Christ terms in an arrangement that will help us gain clarity on these other terms, Old Man, Sin Nature, and New Man, New Nature, we'll present this graphic. So it's at the bottom of page 2. And we'll see on the left-hand side, in-Adam, and the statement we have is that the Old Man is all of who you were in-Adam. all of whom you were in Adam. And the old man has a sin nature. Now what's the difference between the man and the nature?

They are sometimes used interchangeably. But let's take a, I was talking with Nancy about this, you know, and so, you know, I said, well, why wouldn't you expect that Verne would go out and take a sledgehammer to the neighbor's car. Why wouldn't you expect that? You wake up one morning and Verne's taking a sledgehammer to the neighbor's car. Just smashed it all to pieces.

And one would say, well, Verne's capable of a lot of things, but that's not his nature. But does the nature describe everything about the person? That doesn't tell you my birthday, it doesn't tell you other things, when I got married, who I married to, anything else. There's a whole lot about the man, the total person, that is not explained by the nature.

So that's why scripture makes a distinction here, the old man, who you were, and that means all. And then the sin nature is the inclination to think and to act, that's it. So is the nature spiritual? Yes, the nature is spiritual and we'll talk in a minute why we've got the same nature for the believer over on the right hand side in Christ. Does that coincide with the conscience? I mean does your conscience change?

Yeah, let's think about this and this is going to be an important thing to look at. Here's the unbeliever. Does an unbeliever have a conscience? They do, right? Is it perfect? No. What's wrong with it? Their right and wrongs are different. Their right and wrongs may well be different.

What will often happen is you'll have lots and lots and lots of unbelievers that you would say they have a conscience. but it may very well be quite different from those of the believer. Could you say the conscience then is part of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

Yeah, in other words, if you look at it, what is the sin nature? Is the sin nature always bad? No. Otherwise you see unbelievers going around behaving a lot worse than they do all the time. So the sin nature is not always bad. Why? This tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a very important insight. Was it the tree of evil? It's the knowledge of, part one, and two, good and evil.

So where that comes to play, we won't get into it instantly, here's Romans 7. What does the sin nature do with thou shalt not covet? Well, and so here's the problem with the sin nature. The sin nature will on the one hand say, sign me up. Yeah, I can do that. And then the sin nature on the other hand goes and says, what? You're telling me not to do something? That's exactly what I'm going to do.

So the sin nature both signs up to be the cheerleader for good as well as rebellion. And it's capable of both. And so what happens among different people is you have a kind of a stylistic adjustment to sin, which sometimes is good, looks good anyway, and sometimes is really bad. And can go back and forth. Yeah, because there's a knowledge of good and evil. Yes. And so it is a mistake to simply paint it all black and all evil. That's a mistake. And people get real confused because the sin nature will sign up for the good stuff too. Yes.

In Adam, I think, I think people have a tendency to compare their actions to other people's actions. I'm okay because I'm not as bad as that person. My conscience is okay because I can do this and it's not as bad as that person. So you point out an important aspect of the conscience. Our consciences can be adjusted by other people.

I mean, you can go into another culture and they will behave in such ways that we would just say, this is terrible, right? But that's the way they do it in another culture. And so the conscience is situationally impacted, the conscience is socially impacted.

But these are all things that the old, characteristic of the old man, and that nature, sin nature, that is a part of the old man. Yes? And on the other side, what, is it the spirit that makes the decision to believe the gospel? Yeah, and that's what, and we'll actually look at a specific part of the unbeliever that does the believing. This is key. Over on the right hand side we have in Christ the new man is all who you are. Notice the verb tenses. All who you are as a believer. Having a new nature. Here's the new man, new nature.

The sin nature notice is shown there but with a dashed line. The sin nature is a spiritual entity that is attached to this body. That's why we show it there with a dashed line. because it doesn't have any participation in Christ per se, but it is simply the believer who is in Christ, and the sin nature comes along as an attachment to this body. Hey, by the way, why doesn't God just take away the sin nature for the believer? Why doesn't God just say, okay, you're saved, sin nature gone.

That would be nice, okay? But what would God have to do in order to make that so? Isn't that putting a person back into innocence? Yeah, but then there would be the potential. Innocence doesn't guarantee anything, does it? So they could just step right back into another fall if that were possible. If you make everything good, then you aren't seeing good and evil any longer. That's true. Now let's think about this. So here's the sin nature, it's attached to this body. Why doesn't God just get rid of the sin nature and say, look, you're a Christian, you don't need that thing. Why doesn't he just get rid of the sin nature and have you go on without the sin nature? Wouldn't that be great? So why doesn't he do that?

Because that's part of our ministry. Free will. One is free will, but it's attached to the body. How do you get it unattached to the body? You kill the body. You have to kill every one of us, right? So what would happen is you'd have an evangelistic crusade and everybody at the crusade would go down and get saved and all that stuff and then they'd all disappear and die, right? Boom! There's a whole football field of people that just came to know the Lord and they're all dead, right?

So he'd have to kill us and so what happens, what does he do? He says, instead I'm going to separate you from, I'm going to make a deposed monarch of this sin nature, right? And you're going to continue on with it attached until you get a new body, which no longer has one. But this body, by character, can't go about without a sin nature attached to it. And Paul struggled with that too, didn't he, when he said, a wretched man that I am? Yes! He exactly did, yep. Okay, yes? Isn't he separating us from the authority? of the same nature? Yes, that's a good way to put it. And we use the term deposed monarch. It would be, we think of some evil monarchs in recent history. Idi Amin might be one picture that comes to mind. A wicked man.

He was deposed and lived out the rest of his life in Saudi Arabia. He had no right to claim any authority again, although he may have tried to. Right? So he's condemned the sin nature. It has no authority like it did before we were saved. Right, and so condemnation of the sin nature means it's terminal. He's still alive. The signature is still alive. Right. It's around but it's terminal. It is. It's still trying to make commands. You don't have to listen to it.

It's just like I said with Idi Amin. Idi Amin died in 2003. So he was a deposed monarch and then he died. We say he was a deposed monarch because he is now no longer around and hasn't been for more than a decade. Let's take a look at page 3. So the unbeliever is in Adam. So the unbeliever's positional person in Adam is called the old man.

In the King James, New King James version, and in the old self in the New American Standard, which by the way, I'm not real impressed with. The New American Standard is a pretty good translation in general. I would say that's not a real good choice, especially when it comes to the new self. That's almost a contradiction, right?

The best term consistent with our modern use of words is the old person. Harold Horner has used that in For our purposes we'll stick with the old man, and the old man is the positional person of all who the unbeliever is in Adam. All of who we were in Adam. So this includes Adam's fall on spiritual history, ownership by sin, lack of relationship to God, estrangement from and separation from God, being joined to the sin nature, the principle of all in the world, being subject to Satan, as well as broken relationships with people, impacting marriage, sexuality, and the family, as well as a radically corrupted view of oneself, God, and the world.

That sounds terrible. Any volunteers? The old man enjoys nothing of the believer's unfathomable riches in Christ and never will. What we had last week as a supplement is about three and a half pages of the believer's unfathomable riches in Christ. In Adam you don't get any of that. The old man's got nothing.

The sin nature is repeatedly referred to as the sin, the Greek text in Romans 5.12 on into chapter 8.

So the sin nature is a collection of attributes and characteristics of how the old man is inclined to think and behave. So the nature is the inclination to think and to act. That's not a whole person. but it's the inclination to think and to act. Everything else aside from that inclination to think and to act, all those other things fit in with what's the old man, but not the nature. So, the positional person, the unbeliever in Adam is called the old man, who is all of who he were in Adam. The old man has his sin nature, but the old man is more than just the sin, the old nature. So the flesh is the sin nature that acts through the physical human body. So now, so you have this diagram here and we've added one more thing to it from the prior page, continuity of person. Okay, so let's ask this question.

Ephesians 1.4 says He, the Father, chose us in Him, in Christ, when? Yesterday? Last year. What's that? Before the foundation of the world, which says before God said let there be light, He then chose us, before that. He chose us in Him, that we would be holy and blameless. So, what is that?

That is your essential identity. Does your essential identity change? It doesn't, but guess what? It's everything about that essential identity and around it and everything associated with it that's what changes here from the time you were an unbeliever into the time you're a believer and during the course of a believer.

So this continuity of person. Another thing is let's say that I have a scar on the inside of my left ankle as I did when I was four and a half years old and became a believer. after I believed at age four and a half that I still have a scar on the inside of my left ankle. Yes I did. I had a bunch of other funny things too. So my body was that. My shirt, caddy wampus, excuse me. Nancy keeps me from looking totally crazy.

Okay, so what we have here are, this continuity of person includes my body. So this is why when we say continuity of person, that Burns is not inventing something, the Apostle Paul in Acts, later on we're going to see it, he describes himself, like in chapters 22 for instance, he describes himself when he was an unbeliever and he says, I, I was.

So what's I was? Yeah, it's the past tense of I am and the reality is does that mean he still is the old man? Does that mean he still is the same guy in his basic identity? Yes, in his basic identity he still is, but it doesn't mean he drags an old man along. Yes?

So is the body synonymous with flesh, sarx? Okay, it is sometimes used that way. Here's where you get into something that's a little more complex. The word sarx or flesh is used in a number of different ways. Sometimes it's used just in terms of meat, just the meat. Sometimes it is used referring, like all flesh, will refer to all humanity. So the flesh is used in various ways.

The way it's used in, for example, Galatians 5. the works of the flesh, right? So that is the sin nature as it's operating through the body, is the flesh. So the term sin nature and flesh are not exactly identical, because the sin nature is the inclination of thinking to act. When that inclination gets engaged with the body, then you call that the flesh.

Yes? So in other words, when Satan was testing Job, Job's flesh was given over to Satan to test, except his life. Right, and when we say flesh, Job's flesh meaning Job's physical side. Remember that diagram on the first page there with brain and body? That means that side. It just means the physical side, right?

Okay, so what you have here, there's also other characteristics of personal, and other characteristics might include things like, now that I am a believer, what changes? Am I fixing up the old man? Am I fixing up the sin nature? Am I improving it? No. Am I improving my body? because of spiritual things. Not necessarily. It may take a lot of work to have the body somewhat improved, but it's really just slowing down the decay process, right? So, yes? Along that line, maybe I'm getting it, I don't know.

There's a person in the fellowship that was inviting their neighbor to come to Holly Hills, but their son is autistic. And they were worried about how we would react to that. And that got me to thinking about, that's a physical thing. Can the spirit still, if the spirit doesn't have autism, that person could still become a believer. And we maybe not know it, but the Spirit. And that's kind of what I'm... Yeah, and this is an important distinction.

It's actually one of the reasons why a few weeks ago that first diagram where you get the physical side and the spiritual side, this is important to look at because really if you look at it, everything on the physical side, there's a great many parts of medicine and various therapies. Physical therapy. Various therapies that deal with the physical side. And we'll have that including things that deal with the brain. And so there are all sorts of therapies that deal with that side of it.

So what do we do here at Holly Hills? We're dealing with the spiritual side. And the first issue is someone needs to be saved, but then the next issue is all the rest of what needs to go on with the believer on the spiritual side. So that person, I mean, even though they were here, we would know, well, they probably don't know what's going on. The Spirit knows what's going on. Yes, and the truth is, lots of things can happen to this physical side, even brain function, right? Lots of things can happen to this physical side, and the spiritual side is still intact.

So we can bring up, here's Doug and Frances Hallam. Frances goes through Alzheimer's. Does that change the fact that she's saved eternally? No, it doesn't do a thing. And that's why I told Doug, I said, look, on the physical side, she's having some disability here.

On the spiritual side, it's all there. And those kinds of things are important to realize, just to think through in a lot of different ways. We can go through different kinds of therapies. I had a radical change in cognitive function as a result of Lyme disease. That changed things spiritually. It didn't impact things spiritually. I didn't thank the Lord for it even before I got a diagnosis, because I knew that the Lord was going to use it in some way. Nancy, you had your hand up. Yeah. Corrie Ten Boom had a ministry with children with mental disabilities, learning disabilities, and severe. And she said because the Lord can still reach them. And we personally have known several autistic people who come to know the Lord. In fact, one of these young men wants to be an elder because he wants to tell people about Jesus.

Could that also be applied to the so-called age of accountability with infants? Yeah, and I think this, you know, we tend to have an age of accountability. I think it can be better called a condition of accountability. And it's one that the Lord has to judge. Certainly none of us is qualified for that. But, you know, here's my own instance.

I was four and a half, and I know that I was saved at four and a half. I needed to be saved, and I believed at that age. At that age, and maybe even a little bit older, there are others who aren't there. And who knows, it's possible someone could be even younger when they come to realize their spiritual need. So you have that, but you may have someone who, because of physical inability, may have a limited ability to understand spiritual things. The disability is on the physical side, but a difficulty just conceptually getting there. It may take longer, but the Lord is able to judge those things, isn't he? So it may not just be age of accountability, it may also be condition of accountability. And even that, it's the Lord is the one who judges and understands such things. We can only kind of guesstimate and approximate. Some people try to pin down an age of accountability, and I just But we're looking at the physical, we're not looking at the spiritual.

As a matter of fact, I mentioned John MacArthur earlier, he would have said that I wasn't a Christian. I know that I was. You know, so anyway. He's got some later age that he's pinned on, and so he would say that I was years away from becoming a Christian, a believer. He doesn't understand this, does he? No. So let's take a look at this. Let's ask this question.

Okay, a person who is in Adam, their old man is all of who they are at that stage. They have a sin nature, the inclination to think and to act. They have a history in Adam. What part of that person in Adam actually believes? Does their old man believe and then get saved? Does the old man get saved? No. No. How about their sin nature? Does that get saved? Does that believe? You've got a couple of issues there. One, would the sin nature in the old man ever believe? The inclination to think and to act? Not happening. So the old man and the sin nature are not capable of belief and the old man and the sin nature are not saved.

That's why it has to be a new creation. That's right. So what you have is the essential personal identity from before God said let there be light. You have that other characteristics of that person that are going to continue. It is what would have the Apostle Paul say, I was, I did, right? And so that is what is saved. The old man is not saved. Sin nature is not saved.

You have this essential identity and those basic things. That is the part of the person who is in Adam, who believes, and therefore takes the only exit out that God provides. Yes? I'll say that again. The essential identity is the only thing that is saved? What I'm saying is the continuity of person, including the essential identity. My essential identity, which God chose in him before the foundation of the world, I still have that essential identity before I believe. I continue to have that essential identity, plus other aspects that are not just simply part of the old man and the same nature. including this body, right?

This body which now was, which was previously head of where? To the grave with no hope, right? In my body, I still have the same body, but now this body, even that has a different future, right? Yes? So, this may be a rabbit trail that you don't choose to go on, but we will be resurrected with glorified bodies. Yes. What about the unregenerate? Do they just keep this body? No, they are given a body of sorts, but remember this body that gets resurrected, whose body does that appear to be or come to be like? We get bodies like who? like Christ. Do they get bodies like Christ?

No. So they get a resurrection of sorts. It's not a good one. Right? Yes. Now, John McArthur does say that the unregenerate will get bodies suited for hell so they can endure all the fire and everything. That's correct. Right, that's correct, and he's correct on that. By the way, I mentioned a couple of things with John MacArthur, he teaches a lot of stuff that's good, so that shouldn't be, you know, it's the baby with the bathwater issue.

But the point being that this continuity of person, what is not the old man, what is not the sin nature, what at the core is my essential identity, continues on from the time I'm a believer on into an unbeliever on into the time I'm a believer and that part is what believes and what part is saves and that's what allows the Apostle Paul to say I was and I did.

So the essential identity is basically the continuity of person is the same thing. The essential identity or the personal identity is a part of this continuity of person. Because the continuity of the person at this point in time includes our physical body. Right, because the continuity of the person at this point in time includes the physical body, and while I take the same physical body, and I mentioned the scar on the inside of the left ankle, that's still there, in ways I've heard some people jokingly put it, if a person's a bad cook and then becomes a believer, he's probably still a bad cook. So, and that's me. So, anyway, when it comes to that, I'm severely crippled and disabled.

Yes? It seems to me the important thing is, when, before you're regenerated, you are, your spirit is asleep or acts dead, and then it's alive. It's the same spirit, but totally different in function. And why is it alive? Alive because we've been joined to Christ. Yes, exactly that. That's right. So it's alive because we've been joined to Christ. It's not just generically made alive.

If you look at that diagram we have on the first page, here's the spiritual side of the unbeliever, and ultimately, what's the ultimate definition of death? Death is separation, and so that spiritual side is separated from God. And so death is separation. So you're right. So that spiritual side of the unbeliever is dead to God. So all it has is the sin nature to look at. To guide. And the sin nature seeks to carry out life apart from God.

Right? Yes. So could we say that our Holy Spirit is resurrected? Can we say that our whole spirit is resurrected? Yes, and our resurrection as church age believers takes place because we are identified with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. So what you have here is the continuity of person then explains what part of a person believes, it explains what part gets saved, sin nature doesn't get saved, old man doesn't get saved. It explains then not only that, but the next part we're going to be getting into for the next months ahead.

And if I am growing, is that spiritual change, if I'm growing? That's spiritual change, isn't it? What's changing? This continuing person or continuity of person is what changes. I don't think growing is increased awareness. That is certainly a part of it, increased awareness. Realization of what all this is. Yeah, realization. That's a good way to look at it. Spiritual growth, an aspect of spiritual growth is realization. It is one of the reasons why we study it for months on end, right? It is awareness, understanding, Those are all things that are a part of spiritual growth.

One of the problems with the Hebrews, that the author of Hebrews addresses, is that they're kind of going backwards, right? And so instead of having increasing understanding, they're having a decrease or a decline in understanding, right? In a recognition, to use a word that Carol brought up, a decline in recognition, a decline or decrease in that recognition and understanding.

Yes? Could you say that the in-Adam and the in-Christ, could you also say under-Adam and under-Christ because of the authority and the figure and the head of the... I think you would say that in terms of authority. That's a separate thing from being in, however. So it's parallel, it's parallel, it's not the exact same thing. It's an aspect of. Right, because in is positional, and being under is because of the position.

And as a matter of fact, let's put it this way. We're going to see an example this morning, and kind of one of the questions is going to be, here's Ananias and Sapphira. Question, were they believers or unbelievers? I think they were believers. We'll address that question.

But here they are influenced by Satan to lie to the Holy Spirit. By the way, one verse is lie to the Holy Spirit and the next verse is lie to God. So that tells you who the Holy Spirit is, right? So, to lie to the Holy Spirit, to lie to God, and Satan has influenced them to that degree. Wow, I mean, it's amazing for what I think the evidence means towards they were believers and that says, wow, as believers we can get pretty retrogressive. And they were. That can happen today, too. Yes. Yes, it can happen today.

And the thing that happened, what you see there, which was examined in different places, but it's a sin under death. where God says, OK, you need to get out of there. The impact and influence, God says, you're done. And it doesn't mean he doesn't love them. It doesn't mean he doesn't care about them. And the big picture of things, you need to come home now. Because look where they go.

Yeah, I mean, they go on to be with the Lord, so that's not bad, but yeah, it wouldn't be what we would like to see, right? I don't think the unbeliever can say that he's under Adam, because that doesn't say. He's not learning from Adam right now. Okay, let's say the unbeliever, right?

Yeah. You would say more under Satan? Yeah. Okay, more under Satan? Satan versus under Christ? I think that would be good. The other is in Adam. Whereas we are under Christ, we are in Christ. Right, but under Satan would be an appropriate terminology. And that would be Ephesians 2 verses 1-3. Right? Let's say that. As Adam was. Yes, yes. So anyway, so one of the things we have here, bottom of page 4.

Here are some of the things that remain the same through the radical spiritual change, going from being an unbeliever to being a believer. So the human body and all that goes with it and identifies that body continues from the time you're an unbeliever to the time you're a believer. Now, the human body of a believer now has a new future, however. a distinctly different future. Next, personal identity and earthly relationships, even though there are new spiritual relationships.

So, I was born into this world as an unbeliever. You know, like Christian parents, I was born into this world as an unbeliever. When I became a believer, that night in the hallway, in Sunnyvale, California, so here I am and I become a believer, do I still have the same mom and dad? I still have the same mom and dad, same grandparents, same brothers, same sister, right?

So all those relationships stayed the same. I've got the same aunts and uncles. So all those earthly relationships were there. And I could define others as well. There's a neighbor kid. Tommy Skidenza and all that. So anyway, we've got all these, those earthly relationships continue on, right? We have personal characteristics, including likes and dislikes.

You know, this person is really skilled at that and he's no good at this other thing. So then you've got earthly skills and knowledge. A person who's a 39 year old accountant is probably going to continue to be a 39 year old accountant the moment after he believes. Then we've got in the spiritual aspects of this continuing person who is taken out of Adam and placed into Christ, it's the spiritual aspects of this continuing person that God will change over the course of earthly time. And that's what we're going to be looking at in the months ahead.

One, conform to the image of Christ. Romans 8, 28 and 29. That is what gets conformed to the image of Christ. So one of the important things, and we'll talk about this, We were made in whose image? God's image. Are we made into the image of God again? We're made into the image of Christ. So we're not just going back. God isn't just clicking the undo button. So we're conformed to the image of Christ.

Notice that transformed is in the same direction, if you will, Transformed in the image of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3.18, we'll be looking at. Growing and maturing spiritually. And we're growing into whom? Christ.

Specifically Him. So notice that as we look at these things, it's very Christ-directed, not just clicking the undo button and putting us back in the garden and making this happen again. So, it's directional. God says, OK, I'm going to deal with all these issues that happened when Adam fell, but I'm not going to deal with it by just clicking undo. Sanctified, set apart, and made holy.

Hebrews 10.14. So, we'll be looking at each of those in more detail, taking about a month with each one of those. So, finally, these changes are making the continuing person that came from before we believed, more and more into the personal position of the new man. The new man is not what is growing, per se. The new man and the new nature is not what is growing. It is this continuing person.

We are growing into what God has already done. So here, that's why we went last week, we had this appendix or supplement, we said here's all the things, the unfathomable riches that we have in Christ. All those unfathomable riches are true of us from the day we believe, from the moment we believe, those are true of us. We spend the rest of our lives catching up to what He already did when we believed. So it's a catch-up process. Yes? I can clearly see that I'm not going to catch up before I die. I won't catch up until I'm in heaven. No, and that's a very good observation.

And it's one of the reasons why when we study Romans 8, 28, and 29, you're predestined to be conformed. We talk about the process, we'll talk, each of those things we just talked about, we'll talk about those for a month. But, in the end, while those processes continue while we're here on this planet Earth, when I walk through heaven's gates, is Jesus going to say, well, you know, you really weren't done.

You've got to go back. Is that how it happens? It's condition. Our condition never gets there. So here's the thing. Our condition is moment by moment. Our condition is moment by moment. The process is an accumulation of moments. never gets done, but it also is assuring, and that is that in the end we will be predestined to be conformed to his image. And what that tells me is while certainly God has a process in mind for me, and I certainly am better off to understand that, and everybody else is better off if I understand it too, by the way, but also I take In the end, I, Vern, can't blow this.

Can I blow it now, in time? Yes, I could. And I could blow it even badly. But, in the end, I can't blow it. So this is comforting, right? This is comforting. Yes. That's because in the end, it's not you that's in charge of blowing it. That's right. It depends on God only, and not us. Let's ask this question, does God allow us to blow it? Yes. Does God want us to blow it? No. So the thing is, this blowing it, as we call it, is something that He allows, it's not something that He causes.

But let's ask this, does He make good use of it? He can discipline someone with the attempt in that, or the intent in that, better choice of words, the intent in that, to restore a person to fellowship and back to a path of being conformed and transformed and all those things. Or he may be just like Ananias and Sapphira, you know, in the big picture of things, you're coming home. Are Ananias and Sapphira going to be conformed to the image of Christ? Yeah!

These guys did terrible, awful things so bad that Peter says, you're done! You're out of here! And they go home, they walk through heaven's gates and they're completely conformed to the image of Christ. And what happens to everything they ever did? Wood, hay and stubble, gold, silver and precious stones. Same for all of us. And as we jokingly say, some of us will get to heaven's gates naked and smoking.

Yes? Can you help me understand one thing here? Okay, man was created in the image of God. This is the essence of man. Yes. Okay, but we are becoming in the image of Christ, but yet Christ and God are of the same nature and kind and image and likeness. Let's look at this and see and start. We may not get through it but let's at least start to answer your question.

Okay so here is Adam created in the image of God and is there any defect in that creation? No. The only thing is there is a door to exit a perfect created in the image of God and that's innocence but that's not the same as righteousness. So here is Adam created in the image of God, and now we are being conformed to the image of Christ.

What's the difference between God, as in Genesis 1, and Christ, toward whom we're being conformed and transformed? What's the difference? First of all, were all three persons of the Trinity ever a man? No, only which one? Christ. So that's one thing that is a unique thing, when you talk about how are we being, we're not being conformed to the image of Adam again, so we're being conformed to the image of Christ, and the reason that that makes sense, God doesn't just click undo, is Christ was a man, that's how it had to happen. And instead of being like Adam, who was innocent but capable of sinning, you have Christ, who is not just innocent, but fundamentally and eternally righteous. He's the beginning of a new creation. Yes, He's the beginning of a new creation. So, what's happened is, He's the beginning of a new creation. I've been identified with Him in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seeding.

And so here on this planet, sitting right here in these pews and standing in front of you, what do we have? The new creation. Right here. Right here. We have the new creation right here. That's pretty astounding. That's pretty amazing stuff. Okay, so as we go through here, top of page 5, and we just about ran out of time here.

So these changes are making the continuing person more and more into the positional person of the new man. More and more. That's process. So what you have is position doesn't change. Condition, which is moment by moment. Process is the accumulation of those moments. So that's what we're looking at here in this elective, is that accumulation of moments.

What does that look like? And that's what we're looking at for months to come here. Okay? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what we have to look forward to. What a wonderful thing. We can learn about what you're doing in our lives and the purpose that you have for the various things that go on. Even those things that are certainly uncomfortable and maybe even painful. But to know that you have a purpose in it, as a matter of fact, you have an eternal purpose in it. So we have things here that happen in time for which you have a purpose, and that makes them all different. Thank you for that. Thank you for the insights that we're going to gain in growing in the weeks and months to come. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.