You are dead to sin and self

1 Peter 2:24 KJV

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Man has no solution for his predicament. He is helpless, hopeless and in most cases, recklessly so. He argues his own state, not knowing that his argument only confirms one thing – the \”inherentness\” and truth of the disease called sin. He may grow in intelligence, social status, and financial power, it is only to accentuate his sin condition, with a sophistication that easily buries a conscience desperately in need of redemption (Hebrews 9:14, 10:22).

The first sinner was not man. Lucifer was an anointed cherub, who thought he could change God\’s order (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-16), and by obliging himself, he became the first sinner and that sin disqualified him from his position in the immediate presence of God. 

Ezekiel 28:15 KJV (parentheses mine) Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity (evil, unrighteousness, perverseness) was found in thee.

How the sin nature came to be

When Adam and Eve agreed with Lucifer, who came as a serpent in Genesis 3:1-7, they, in essence, rejected God\’s order (His ways, His word and His worship), and received the nature of sin. The glory of God, which signified God\’s nature, lifted from them and they were now defenseless, to satanic schemes, having received satan\’s nature, which is the sin nature.

Since then, all who are born into this world, are born with the nature of sin, rather than the glory of God. The following scriptures confirm this:

Psalm 51:5 KJV

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Romans 5:12 KJV

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Genesis 5:3 KJV

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Whereas Adam (and Eve) was created in the image of God, representing the nature and glory of God (Genesis 5:1-2), his offspring was created \”…in his own likeness…\”, which is his own glory, which actually is the nature of sin that he received from satan. God calls all the goodliness (KJV) or loveliness (NKJV) of the flesh in Isaiah 40:6 as \”…grass…and…flower of the field\”. And in verses 7 and 8, He says the grass withers and the flower fades. 

This is the destiny of the glory of man. It withers and fades because it proceeds from satan, whose destiny is death – eternal separation from God.

This is what we have legally received from Adam, our first parents, which he received from satan. Now, let me make a statement you might have to read multiple times for you to grasp the meaning: in a sense it means sin was not directly your fault, it was Adam\’s, and in that same sense, your righteousness is not your fault (your credit or your achievement) but Christ\’s. 

The gospel is simply God giving every man a chance to make a choice to exit Adam\’s race, where sin is the lifestyle, regardless of the gravity, privacy or publicity of your sin, and enter into Christ\’s race, where righteousness is the lifestyle. The glory of God that Adam lost in Eden, is what we now begin to regain in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). In the same vein, not choosing Jesus Christ as the solution for you to be saved from sin, is an implicit choice of sin, of which, the justice of God will eventually vent itself (Romans 3:23, 6:23, 1:18).

Romans 8:1 KJV

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Leaving the Adamic race

When you make that choice to \”…confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.\” (Romans 10:10 KJV). You are instantly rescued and transported out of the Adamic race and placed into Christ. Before, you inherited the consequences of Adam\’s sin, simply because you were physically born into the world, now you (will) inherit the consequences of Jesus\’ righteousness because you are spiritually born (again) into the kingdom of God.

Romans 5:19 KJV

For as by one man\’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Newness of life is inevitable in Christ when you believe

Now, please read this carefully. The condemnation that sin brought was not because of your personal sins, it was because of the \’nature of sin\’ you received from Adam at birth. Therefore, all the works of sin you were used to, the way sin has personally manifested in your life, CANNOT crossover with you from the Adamic race into Christ\’s lineage. Never! This is the truth and until you believe it, you will keep mourning over reappearances of sin in your life, even after you have been saved from it. The problem here is not that you were not saved, the problem is unbelief; refusing to agree with God concerning your new status in Christ. 

Dealing with the old man

Then, you may ask, why do I keep getting tempted to do or act in the same old ways I used to, when I was not saved? Simple. Your entire old life, that sin nature you had when you were in Adam\’s race, is stored up as memory in your mind. The physiology (feeling) and psychology (thinking) it provokes in you is what makes you to erroneously believe that you are still a sinner. 

However, this is just memory, which only requires your choice to either remain a memory or to progress to activity. You have the choice. It is because of this that the Holy Spirit says \”… be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…\” (Romans 12:2). But before that, in keeping with the truth of been dead to sin and self, the Spirit says through Paul, to \”… present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.\” (Romans 12:1). This is your choice! Give yourself away to God so that what He has said (that you are dead to sin) can literally become your experience.

If you don\’t choose to give your \”bodies\” to God, that is every part of your being & personality, it means you will easily reenact your old ways, and it will make your life a contradiction. Heaven has declared you dead to sin, who are you not to agree? That is pride and unbelief. When you humble yourself and accept what God says, even if it doesn\’t make sense, you will realize that it is this understanding that Lucifer, the devil, hates and fears in you. 

Romans 6:6 KJV (emphasis mine)

\”Knowing this, that our OLD MAN is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.\” 

The devil doesn\’t want you to know this. But once you know that your old man, that collection of habits, attitudes, assumptions and behaviors you had before you met Christ, is crucified (dead) with him, you will meet every temptation to sin with the rebuke: \”I am no longer a sinner. I cannot sin.\”

That is because it totally destroys the basic assumptions the devil needed you to have, in order for you to agree with him to sin. He likes you to come up with all kinds of reasons why only some people can be holy, not you. When you hold on to this assumption, you will sin. If you just cast your mind back a little bit, you will see that most of the time you have sinned, after been saved, you were thinking like that. It is time to live according to the new life you were given at salvation. 

Please read this: