An Abiding Relationship with God

Transcript

GR 979
8/03/1997
An Abiding Relationship with God
Colossians 2:11,12
Gil Rugh

Paul's letter to the Colossians and the second chapter. You might get to that place in your Bible and then you're going to need to leave a marker there as we'll be looking at some other passages before we move in to this section. We live in a day when relationships are the focus of much of our attention. Everything is relationships, relationships. And that's fine and good but we need to understand that there is a basic relationship that supersedes all others. And as Christians as those who have come to know the living God through faith in Jesus Christ. We need to understand that it's God's intention that we enjoy a relationship with Him that is more intimate and full and satisfying and complete than anything that can be experienced in any other way with any other person. Part of the problem the Colossian church is having as it faces the opportunity to be led astray, if I can put it that way, false teachers who would like to take them captive away from Christ is a failure to keep before them the fullness and completeness of what God has done for them in Christ. And that centers in the intimacy of relationship with God.

Leave a marker in Colossians and come back to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John and the fourteenth chapter. It's interesting to me as I study the Scripture to realize that God is very clear that He has provided a depth and closeness of relationship for His children after the resurrection of Christ that far supersedes that which existed before the crucifixion of Christ. Now I want you to be clear in what I'm saying. I'm not saying that we are more saved than Old Testament saints were. Old Testament saints, Abraham, David, Isaiah and so on, were just as fully and completely saved by God's grace as we are today. They had just as fully been given the righteousness of God as credit to their account as we have. We know that because Romans chapter 4 Abraham is the example of being declared righteous by a holy God. And it's an example for us who live in the church today. But having said that, we have to understand that in the salvation that we share with Old Testament saints there is a dimension and a depth of relationship with the living God that was not provided for them before the cross. I want to look at a number of passages of Scripture because it's important that this be clear in our minds and it is not clear for many believers today. And I'll make reference to that as we get in to some of these verses.

In John chapter 14 Jesus is at the last night before His crucifixion. These are the final instructions for His disciples before He will be betrayed, crucified, buried. And what He does to prepare them is to encourage them to appreciate that it will be much better for them that He leave them and the Holy Spirit come to take up ministry. But let's pick up in chapter 14 verse 10. Philip has asked or made the statement, "Show us the Father and that will be enough." If we can only see God the Father. Jesus says, "Philip, it's a foolish, nonsensical question." Verse 10, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. The words I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative but the Father abiding in me does His works." You note that. First part of verse 10. "I am in the Father. The Father is in Me." The Father abiding in me. These conceptsbeing in Me, abiding in Me, I am in the Father. Verse 11, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me." That mutuality of relationship that existed between the Father and the Son. And we often stress the uniqueness of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Heavenly Father, where Jesus Christ was not only man but God. And truly there is a uniqueness in that relationship. But we ought to understand that in the context where Jesus is talking in John chapter 14 He emphasizes the uniqueness of the relationship by carrying it to the point it not only characterizes my relationship with my Father but will characterize your relationship with my Father and me as well.

Look at verse 17. He talks about the coming of the Holy Spirit. And at the end of verse 17 he says, "He abides with you and He will be in you." So the Holy Spirit was present. The Holy Spirit has always been present. He was present in the Old Testament. He was present during the earthly ministry of Christ. But there is going to be an added new dimension to His ministry. He is with you but He will be in you.

Look at verse 23. Pick up verse 20 first. "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father . . . "…now note this. "And you in Me and I in you." This is a progression. First, I want you to understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Now I want you to understand that when I go to the Father I will send the Spirit. And the Spirit who has been with you will come in a new way to be in you. And in that day you will know that I am in my Father, you in me and I in you. Using the same language and terminology to speak now of the relationship that they would enter into with Christ and it goes beyond what they had experienced to this point. Even the most intimate of the disciples, Peter, James and John. I in you and you in Me.

Now look at verse 23. "Jesus answered and said to Him, 'If anyone loves Me he will keep My word and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make our abode with him." And this concept of abiding or living, dwelling, is all tied up I in you, you in Me. Now you'll note here. "My Father will love Him and we will come to Him." Now the Holy Spirit is with you. He will be in you. But not just the Holy Spirit, I in you and you in Me. And not only the Holy Spirit in you and Jesus Christ in you but the Father in you, indwelling in you.

Look down in chapter 15. 15 verse 4. "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vines so neither can you unless you abide in Me." And here you get some of the picture. The branch and the vine are distinct. Even as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct as Persons yet there is a oneness in their mutual abiding in one another. So the branch is not the vine and the vine is not the branch. But the life flows from the branch to the vine and there is a oneness that connects them. So you abide in me.

Look at verse 5. "I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in Him he bears much fruit. Verse 6, "If anyone does not abide in Me he's thrown away as a branch and dries up." I want you to note "I abide in you and you abide in me" at the beginning of verse 4. "Abide in Me and I in you." There is a mutuality that characterizes this abiding.

Look down in chapter 17. Now Jesus begins to pray for His disciples. And He prays to the Father, the end of verse 11, "that they may be one, even as We are." That last statement of verse 11 of chapter 17. "That they may be one, even as We are." Now we take on a dimension and I don't want to make claim that I understand more than I understand. But I also don't want to ignore what is said here. Jesus is praying that His followers will experience the same kind of oneness that He experiences with the Father. And you listen to the verses as we move along, that oneness as believers is tied to the fact that they share a oneness with God.

Look at verse 21. He's praying, "That they may all be one; even as You Father are in Me," now note this, "and I in You, that they may also be in Us." The end of verse 22, "That they may be one, just as We are one. I in them, You in Me." You see, it's all bound up. I'm in them, you're in Me. We're in them. They're in us. That's the new intimacy of relationship that here before had not been experienced by the people of God.

Now we have to jump over to 1 John. You might want to leave a marker in John's Gospel. Over in 1 John toward the end of your New Testament. The apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John wrote some short letters just before the book of Revelation at the end of your New Testament. And in 1 John chapter 3 verse 24. First John 3:24, "And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him." His commandments does not refer to the Mosaic Law. He's not talking about the Ten Commandments. He's talking about the commandments of Christ. Some people . . . every time they see the word "commandments" in the Bible it's the Mosaic Law or the Ten Commandments. What's He's talking about is the commandments we have from Christ through the apostles. "The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him." You note the biding is mutual. "We know by this that he abides in us by the Spirit He has given us." The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all three persons of the Godhead, dwell in us as God's people today. Jesus said My Father and I will come and make our abode with Him. But the Holy Spirit is the Person of the Godhead who particularly manifests His presence and does the work of the Trinity in and through our lives. But all three members of the Triune God from the verses we have read abide in us.

Now I want to take a moment here and we are going to read some more verses in 1 John so don't leave there. The doctrine that I referred to that I think has confused Christians and opens the way for more confusion is the idea that some Christians abide in Christ and some don't. From what we have read you realize that abiding . . . the word means to live, to dwell. So you could use the word, if we were using this Greek word, where do you live, we would use this word. Where do you abide? We have it translated abide. He lives in us. He dwells in us. Now a doctrines been developed that some Christians don't abide. All Christians should abide but some don't. And you can be a Christian and not be abiding in Christ. The problem is that the abiding is mutual. Can you be a Christian without the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. Well, Romans chapter 8 says if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ He does not belong to Him. So it is fallacious to say that you can be a Christian and not abiding. You always abide in Christ, in God. He always abides in you. Is that not what Paul said when he talked about the ugliness of immortality in writing to the Christians. Shall I talk the members of Christ and make them one with a harlot, a whore. You know, God puts sin in a different light for us as God's people. It's even uglier than it is for the unbeliever. I can't tell God, "Wait outside the door, would You? What I'm going to do would not be pleasing to you." Do you realize I never stop abiding in Him? He never stops abiding in me. That makes sin very, very ugly and repulsive. You know, I think nobody saw me. Do I understand the living God was there in me? I was in Him. You say, I don't like to think of it that way. I don't either. That's why the solution of Scripture is don't sin. It is repulsive and ugly.

But remember also. That's getting to be a favorite word, isn't it? Remember, remember, remember. It's probably because I'm beginning to forget so much. Bad theology always catches up to you. In other words, we're not quite on track here theological but we don't have to worry about it. It's not so serious. Down the road it will get serious. The non-abiding doctrine has gotten more serious. In fact, it opens the way for the problems that Paul wants to deal with, with the Colossians. That's why he's going to spend so much time emphasizing the abiding relationship which is where we're working to.

But continue on in 1 John chapter 4. Look at verse 12, "No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another," note this, "God abides in us." So love is an evidence . . . the evidence given here that God abides in us. His character, what He is, is being demonstrated. Verse 13, "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us." You see, you may say I abide in God. Another time I may say God abides in me but you know both are true all the time. He just doesn't repeat it in it's fullness all the time. In verse 12 he just mentioned God abiding in us. In verse 13 he mentions that we abide in Him as well as Him abiding in us because they are mutual.

Verse 15, "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." Chapter 1 you had to confess your sin. Here in chapter 4 you have to confess Jesus Christ. For salvation you have to have a correct doctrine of sin, and belief about your sin, and a correct doctrine and belief about Jesus Christ. You have to acknowledge your sin; you have to acknowledge Christ. Essentials of salvation. And you abide in Him and He abides in You.

Verse 16, "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." So Christ being in us, us being in Christ, God abiding in us, us abiding in Godthey are mutual and inseparable doctrines. It's a serious theological issue. We've developed this idea well, God never stops abiding in us, but we stop abiding in Him. The Scripture does not allow for that kind of wrenching and separating of the relationship. And that opens the door to other kinds of difficulties.

He abides with you. He will be in you. There's a future promise that God gave in the Gospel. Now as John writes his first epistle it's a reality that they are experiencing. So this relationship of God abiding in us and us abiding in God. What all that entails I can't say everything, but it clearly implies an intimacy and a closeness and a fullness of relationship that could not be experienced prior to this. Even with Jesus present on earth . . . We say wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus walked the earth here and it was like it was with His disciples. It would not be as wonderful as it is for us today. Because Jesus told those disciples which included Peter, James and John, that inner circle who got to be with Him on those closest of times, it's better for you that I go away. John 16:7, "I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you [the Holy Spirit], but if I go I will send Him to you." Well, He is already with you, but I will send Him in a way that He has not been present in you before. So your experience of relationship and fellowship with God will be better, deeper, fuller than it even has been as I have walked this earth with you. You might think, well, explain that further. I can't but I know it's true. That's what He has said.

Now come to the book of Colossians. I have not forgotten. Colossians chapter 2. Paul is repeatedly stressing this relationship between Christ and the believer as the antidote to the error being promoted by false teachers. Paul has been stressing that all of God's purposes center in Christ and we are in Christ. Let me just review it with you starting in chapter 1. And you can just, if you haven't already done so, underline or circle these things in your Bible. I won't read the whole sentence for time. I believe there are 18 times coming up to where we are in our study that you find these kinds of expressions and I may have missed some as I went through.

Verse 2, "In Christ." "To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ." There's our expression"in Christ." It ties back to what Jesus said would happen, didn't He? After His death and resurrection and ascension He would send the Spirit. I in you. You in Me. He's writing to those who are in Christ, who've experienced the fulfillment of what Jesus promised.

Verse 4, "We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus." Not only placed in Him it's a faith that takes place in that realm and relationship.

Verse 14, "In whom we have redemption. That "in whom."

Verse 16, "For in Him all things were created."

Verse 17, "He's before all things and in Him all things hold together."

Verse 19, "It was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him."

Verse 20, "And through Him." And again in the middle of verse 20, "through Him." Reconciliation. God's work takes place what? Through Christ. It centers in Him.

Verse 28 the end of the verse, "We want to present every man complete in Christ." Complete in Christ.

Then we come to chapter 2 and things intensify. We've noted these in our previous study but verse 3, "In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." The end of verse 6, "Walk in Him." Verse 7, "Rooted being built up in Him." Now verse 9 to 15 have the most concentrated emphasis. "For in Him," verse 10. "And in Him," verse 11. "And in Him," verse 12. "Buried with Him." The middle of verse 12, "Raised up with Him." Toward the end of verse 13, "Made alive together with Him." The end of verse 15, "Triumphed over them through Him." That preposition translated "through" is the same one translated "in" in the previous references. Is that all the references? It's in Him, it's in Him, it's through Him, it's through Him, it's with Him. Now we are getting ready to deal with the specifics of the heresy that's confronting you. But the foundation for confronting it is knowing the sufficiency of Christ and the intimacy and fullness of what God has provided for us who are in Himeverything.

So that being the case, anyone who wants to come along and say, "Well, it's wonderful you've trusted Christ, but we have something better, something more, something else," I just shut the door. Why? I'm in Him. He is in me. That is everything. The provision is full and the intimacy. You know, I have to say even as I've studied this again, I say, Gil, you have so much more to learn, so much more to grow in that the eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, dwells in you and you in Him. I don't think I've scratched the surface of the intimacy and closeness of the relationship that I have with Him, that I can enjoy with Him. How tragic. We have people who profess to have this relationship with the living God running around as though their life was empty because they don't have the right relationship with people. Praise God He uses people, but do you realize when you have Him, you have everything you need. If everyone abandons you, you will have enough in Him. He will be enough for you. What a wonderful relationship. If I'm having struggles and problems, that's where I need to start, Lord, I need to talk about our relationship. Lord, I don't think that I've been appreciating as I must the intimacy that I am privileged to have with you, the closeness I have with You, Your presence not only with me but in Me, part of Me. Oh the richness we have.

How tragic the testimony of the church that we're running here and there as though something's missing. I fear that maybe what is missing is the reality of a genuine salvation and even where we have the salvation, the fear that we have lost an appreciation of who He is and what He has provided.

Chapter 2 verse 8 to 10 we have talked about the warning to beware of the deception of men in verse 8 and to be aware of the sufficiency of Christ in verse 9 and 10. Now that sufficiency of Christ really is the theme in the development down through verse 15. But he's focused on in particularly in verse 9 and 10 the sufficiency we have in Him and in Person verse 9. He's the fullness of God. If He is all the fullness of deity in bodily form and you are in Him and He is in you, what else can you need. He is sufficient in His Person. He is sufficient in His provision we saw. In Him you have been made complete. Same word "full." All the fullness of deity and in Him you have been made full. What else is there? The sufficiency of His position as head over all rule and authority.

Now this One in whom is all sufficiency is the One with whom we have been identified. And we want to talk about our identification with Christ. We are just going to focus on two verses. We are going to look at two areas of identification with Christ or two figures, if you will, which stress our identification with Christ. One figure will be circumcision. One figure will be baptism. They show that we are identified with Christ the One who is sufficient. So don't be taken captive, verse 8, by these false teachers who would imply they have something else for you. And as we'll see down in verse 23 these will be things that have the appearance of wisdom but they are of no help when it comes to dealing with the flesh.

Verse 11, "And in Him." So we're picking up. We broke into the sentence, stopping at our last study. "And in Him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Now in that study we talked about the fact that the Colossian heresy was not some kind of gnosticism but basically it's the same heresy that Paul confronted in other places like at the church of Galatia. The Galatian heresy as we know it was a Judaizing heresy. Those who wanted to mix the principles of Judaism, both some of the Law, some of the teaching they had developed out of the Law with the message of Jesus Christ, the Savior, Messiah, as though that provided something fuller and more effective than just the message of Christ alone. Circumcision was one of the key blocks taught by these Judaizing heretics. The book of Galatians deals with it in detail. In fact, in Galatians chapter 5 Paul said if you've been circumcised you've been cut off from Christ. Now what he's talking about there is not just physical circumcision because a lot of people did circumcision. It was a broad practice. But for the Jew it was not just a practice done for health reasons or for general practice. It had special religious significance. And those who want to make circumcision a necessary part of salvation or sanctification are cut off from Christ. They have no relationship with Him.

Circumcision. What he draws attention to here is that believers have experienced a circumcision but it's not a physical circumcision in the physical body. It is a spiritual circumcision within the heart. So verse 11 says, "In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands." So we're not talking about physical circumcision. We are talking about a spiritual circumcision of the heart. In the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Physical circumcision had been instituted by God as the sign of the covenant relationship He established with Abraham and His descendants.

Come back to the book of Genesis. I want to look at some Old Testament passages with you. And we'll just note this one that is the foundation for the circumcision of Jews which is our concern, where circumcision has special, spiritual significance in identifying the Jews as being a people in a covenant relationship with God.

In Genesis chapter 17 God reiterates provisions of the Abrahamic covenant that He had first set forth in Genesis chapter 12. Now in Genesis chapter 17 verse 10, "This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised." This was a covenant not only with Abraham but with his descendants. And so it is a sign that takes place on the genitive organ that passes on the seed, if you will, the subsequent generation. This is not only for Abraham. It's for his seed. And it is an identifying mark that God has a special covenantal relationship with this family. A family that will grow in size to be like the sand of the sea but it is one family, one nation, all descended from one set of parents and Abraham is the father.

Verse 11, "You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; it shall be the sign of the covenant between you and Me." That's the beginning of circumcision for Israel. It was a physical sign in the physical body of the relationship God had with Abraham. But Abraham was already saved. This was not the beginning of Abraham's salvation. You remember in the New Testament the book of Romans makes this argument very clear.

If you turn back a couple of pages, Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. God gives promises to Abraham and Abraham's response, verse 6 of Genesis 15, "Then he believed in the LORD; and He [the Lord] reckoned it to him as righteousness." That clear declaration of Abraham's salvation. He is righteous in the sight of God. Now Romans chapter 4 says this proves that circumcision is not necessary for salvation. Because God declared Abraham righteous but Abraham was not circumcised. In fact, the events of chapter 17 take place years after Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. The argument of Romans chapter 4 is circumcision can't be necessary for salvation because God declared Abraham righteous years before He commanded Abraham to be circumcised. But what happened with circumcision? Let me read you Romans chapter 4 verse 11. You don't need to turn there. "And he [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised." So Abraham's obedience in being circumcised was just a testimony that he was a righteous man who obeyed God, did what God told him. So physical circumcision becomes the sign that the nation Israel the descendants of Abraham are in a covenantal relationship with God. But God always intended that this physical circumcision be backed by a spiritual relationship called the circumcision of the heart.

Look over in Deuteronomy chapter 10. The context for God is reminding them of His calling them. He speaks in verse 16, "Circumcise then your heart and stiffen no more." Here you see circumcise your heart, stop your rebellion, stop your resistance against the will of God. Circumcise your heart.

Look over in Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 6. God promises there will come a time when he will do the work on their heart because they will turn to Him. "Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants." What does this mean? "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, in order that you may live." The circumcision of the heart is a picture of spiritual salvation. Now the tragedy that occurred in Israel with the passing of time, and not all that much time, they began to identify the physical circumcision of the physical body with salvation. And physical circumcision meant salvation. So the Jews came to believe that it was not possible for a circumcised Jew to go to hell. They identified the physical as though that were the reality. The physical only had significance when it was based upon a spiritual reality of the circumcision of the heart.

We won't turn there for time. But Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 4, Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 26, God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah and it's condemning them. Why? They are of uncircumcised heart. Ezekiel the prophet in chapter 44 verse 7, verse 9, speaks about uncircumcised hearts. So the tragedy that always goes . . . There's always a drift to identifying the physical as though that were the reality. For the Jews, circumcision. Oh yes, that marks you off as saved. Well, if you had a circumcised heart, then it was a sign.

Turn over to Romans chapter 2. And Christians today misuse this verse all the time. Verse 28. Paul's dealing with a false believe among the Jews that we've just referred to. "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly. Neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter. The letter refers to the Mosaic Law because it was inscribed in letters on stone. "And his praise is not from men but God." Now some people say, "See, God's plan is not for a physical nation Israel, but we're spiritual Jews today." Wrong! What he is saying here is being a physical descendant of Abraham and having experienced physical circumcision in and of itself does not place you in covenant relationship with God. But being a physical descendant of Abraham who has placed his faith in God and experienced the circumcision of God on his heart and thus manifesting that circumcision in the flesh is a sign. These are the Jews who are truly Jews. If you don't have a circumcision of heart, you are not going to experience the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and his descendants.

Now some people somewhere along the line they go bonkers in their hermeneutics, their interpreting the Scripture, and say well, this means God's done with Israel and Gentiles are now spiritual Jews. Well . . . We don't have time but go back and start reading at the beginning of chapter 2 and read down in to chapter 3 and see if you get any idea that Paul is saying that being a Jew that there is no such thing anymore because Gentiles are the real Jews. No. It's what we were reading in the Old Testament . . . for Israel in the Old Testament. If they weren't circumcised of heart, they weren't in the line to receive the promises given to Abraham. You need a circumcised heart. That's foundational.

What we want to pick up for our study here is the circumcision which is the heart by the Spirit. And that goes on not only among Jews but among Gentiles who believe in Him. That's spiritual salvation.

Come over . . . You can leave something in Romans. We will be coming back here. But come over to Colossians. Colossians 2:11, "In Him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands." What is he talking about? "In the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Now pick up that last expression, "by the circumcision of Christ." When we read in Romans chapter 2 verse 29 it was a circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. So just when we started. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit dwell in us but it's the Holy Spirit who manifests the presence of God by His work in our lives. So Christ circumcises us but He does it through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So the circumcision by Christ is the removal of the body of the flesh, but we are not talking about removal of part of the physical body. Cause it's a circumcision done without hands done by Christ or done by the Holy Spirit. It's the removal of the body of the flesh. The reference to the body of the flesh is a reference to the flesh as the old man, the old person, what I am apart from the redemptive work of Christ.

Turn over to Galatians chapter 5. A few books in front of Colossians. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Galatians chapter 5, verse 19, and he's talking about the flesh and the spirit and they are in war against one another. Verse 17, "The flesh sets its desire against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh." Verse 19, "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife," and so on. These things come out of the flesh, out of my fallen, unredeemed person, out of my heart.

Turn over to Mark chapter 7. We are getting to go to a lot of passages today. Mark chapter 7. Now track what we're saying here because when I come to wrap this up, I want to draw attention to an error that is promoted by some wellknown Bible teachers. This is our day to point out the error.

Mark chapter 7 verse 20. Jesus was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, murders, deeds and covetousness," and so on. "All of these," verse 23, "proceed from within and defile the man." Out of the heart proceed these things. Galatians 5:19 says it's the deeds of the flesh. It's the flesh that does these things. The flesh referring to the unregenerate heart. So we commit an act of immorality but the source of that was out of my fallen being, out of my unredeemed heart and mind, what is called the old man in Scripture.

Turn over to Romans 6. Romans 6. Romans chapter 6 says, "Knowing this that our old self." That word translated "self" is literally the Greek word for "man." "That our old self [our old man] was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with. That we should no longer be slaves to sin." The old man was done away with so that sin would no longer dominate us. Chapter 5 of Romans says the old man is what we are in Adam apart from the redemption of Christ. The old man, the flesh, our sin nature is all talking about the same thingthe source of sin in our lives. There's only one source. It's the old man. It's the flesh. It's us as unredeemed beings.

When he says in the removal of the body of the flesh, he's talking about the circumcision of the heart that removes sin as the dominating, controlling influence in our life. Saying the same thing as Romans 6:6 says where it says the old man was crucified so that our body of sin might be done away with. Same idea. A different picture. You kill the old man to break his power and authority. You circumcised the old man so that he is removed in controlling and dominating your life.

Come back to Colossians chapter 3. We want to move into the next figure here in a moment and then we'll tie them together. Colossians chapter 3 verse 9, "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self [the old man] with its practices." So the same kind of picture. There you put it off like clothes or you removed it like the circumcision of the foreskin. Or you crucified it, nailed it to the cross. All picturing the fact that what that his powerful is broken as we'll see in a moment.

Now come back to Colossians chapter 2. So the first figure used in showing we are identified with the allsufficient Christ is we have experienced circumcision by Him, not a circumcision with hands but a circumcision of the heart. That's talking about our salvation, our regeneration. He uses a second figure. That of baptism in verse 12 of Colossians 2. "And having been buried with him in baptism in which you were raised up with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead." Recently we did some studies on baptism. I wanted a background for what we face now. Some people as soon as they read the word "baptism" in the Bible . . . Christian baptism. That settles it. Well, we've seen there are different kinds of baptism in the Scripture. There's baptism by fire. There's baptism with the Holy Spirit. There's baptism with water. And there's different kinds of water baptism. Cause in Acts chapter 19 those who had been baptized in water by John, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, are re-baptized by Paul in the name of Christ in water. So we have to give careful consideration. We see the word "baptism." We say, I wonder are we talking about water baptism. If it's water baptism, I wonder whether it's water baptism like John's, water baptism like Christ experienced, water baptism like Christians experience, water baptism like Jews experienced or maybe it's Holy Spirit baptism. And clearly in the context here we are talking about Holy Spirit baptism. Paul is not saying we replace one physical action, physical circumcision, with another physical action, water baptism. He's talking about spiritual realities here.

And he'll go on in the subsequent verses as we'll see to show that we have been spiritually associated with Christ in His crucifixion. Although I wasn't literally, physically crucified. He was but I've experienced a spiritual identification. So this whole section is about spiritual identification. So we read we've been buried with Him in baptism. Well 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body." The Body of Christ. Not water baptism, Spirit baptism placed you in to the Body of Christ. And so we were buried with Him in baptism. You were raised up with Him also through faith in the working of God. This happens as a result of your believing what God has done in Christ. God provided Christ to be the Savior by His death, burial and resurrection. I believe what God was doing in Christ was providing salvation for me, a sinful being. When I believe that I am identified spiritually by the Holy Spirit of God with Christ in His death in His burial and His resurrection.

Come back to Romans chapter 6. And if you weren't here for our study on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you might want to get the tape on that for a fully consideration of this truth in the New Testament. Romans chapter 6. Questioncan Christians go on in sin because the grace of God is sufficient to forgive us all our sins? Such a thought is repulsive. Why? Verse 3, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" Now by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, into Christ. So I know it's the baptism of the Spirit that is at issue here. Now water baptism is to be a physical testimony that I have experienced Spirit baptism. We've done the same thing with water baptism that the Jews did with circumcision. Many people now identify physical water baptism as salvation or an essential element of salvation. What it is, is a meaningless ritual. Unless Spirit baptism through faith in Christ has occurred. And what happens there "we have been buried," verse 4, "with Him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father so we too might walk in newness of life." If we unite in the likeness of His death, we will be in the likeness of His resurrection. All this discussion is a person a Christian if they're not living a godly life. No. There's been no one who's been crucified and buried with Christ who was not raised with Christ to newness of life. So if there's no newness of life, there has been no salvation. Certainly we'll be in the likeness of His resurrection. You think God said, "Alright, I'm going to crucify you with Christ and I'm going to bury you with Christ. Now if you ever decide you want to follow Him, tell Me and I'll raise you up." What kind of theology is that? Everybody who died with Christ was buried with Christ was raised with Christ to newness of life period. That's what he said in Colossians.

"Knowing this," verse 6. You see we're back to where we were. "Our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with." So you see the body of sin might be done away with. The body of our flesh might be done away with. So same picturespiritual circumcision of the heart, my salvation. Spirit baptism, my salvation. Spiritual circumcision the flesh is removed. Spirit baptismI am free from the power of the old man. Same picture. Same account.

My salvation with two figures. Now let me say something here because some wellknown Bible teachers advocate a view that I think is in serious error and as I mentioned earlier, bad theology always catches up to you. That's why Paul spend so much time laying the foundation of good theology in dealing with error. This teaching that the old man was crucified with Christ does not mean that the old man ceases to exist. Some popular writers, and I'll leave it with just one, Martin Lloyd Jones, advocates that the old man was crucified therefore he no longer exists. And you'll hear them say or write that you are not a schizophrenic person. You're not an old man or a new man. You're just a new man. The old man was crucified. That means he doesn't exist anymore. He's dead. He's gone. He's over. Or the analogy of spiritual circumcision. The flesh was circumcised. It's taken off. It's removed.

The problem is then they have to decide where does sin come from because Christians do sin. They say, well, it's the leftovers that are in the physical flesh. You know, we become conditioned to certain things. But I was reading one this past week. But it's not the flesh just as the physical because they get dangerously close to saying the physical body is sinful. But we already read Mark chapter 7 verses 20 to 23. Jesus said that sin doesn't come from the physical. It comes out of what? The heart, the inner person. So when it says the old man was crucified, it doesn't mean he ceases to exit. It means his power was broken. You are in Romans 6 maybe still. Look at verse 6, "Our old man was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with." That word there . . . compound word translated "done away with" is the Greek word "katargetto." It means to render powerless or inoperative.

Keep your finger there and come over to Hebrews chapter 2. Now I realize this is review for you but it's important we see it in connection with Colossians. Review for some of you. Colossians chapter 2 verse 14. And we'll talk more about this when we get to verse 15 in Colossians chapter 2 in our next study. Hebrews 2:14, "Since the children share in flesh and blood He Himself likewise partook of the same. “Now note this. "That through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the Devil." Christ's death on the cross rendered powerless the Devil. You ought to underline "rendered powerless" and then make a note to go to Romans chapter 6 verse 6 because that is the same word "katargetto" translated "might be done away with" in Romans 6:6. Well, obviously the Devil hasn't ceased to exist. He goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Peter tells us. But the death of Christ has broken his power. He can no longer dominate my life now that I belong to God. And we'll see this in a future study and we won't turn there but Jesus before His crucifixion said, "Now is the Prince of this world judged." He'd be dealt with. His power is broken, but he's not gone. Well, the power of the old man is broken. It's not gone. The domination of the flesh in my life has been broken but it does not cease to exist. There's a real problem that I have yet to find any of the men who hold the view that I'm saying is wrong.

Galatians chapter 5 again. They say, well, sin is present in the flesh. And Lloyd-Jones comes awfully close to wanting to make the flesh the physical body all the time. If I understand him correctly. And after I read those who were following him on this and I have become no more convinced that they are any closer to being right.

Galatians 5:24, "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh." So it does help you to say well, the old man doesn't exist. Sin remains in the flesh. Well, the flesh was crucified. And you have a real problem if you're talking about the physical flesh. And while you're here we might as well make the problem airtight. Down in verse 14 of chapter 6 of Galatians. "May it never be that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world." Has the world ceased to exist? No. We need to be careful we don't draw out an analogy or a figure beyond what the Scripture does. What does it mean that the world was crucified? It's power over me has been broken. The flesh's power over me has been broken. The Devil's power over me has been broken. The power of the old man over me has been broken. But none of these will be annihilated and totally removed until I get my glorified body. So I am to live as one set free but with the . . . reality of the matter . . . There's a real problem. Those who say the old man is gone and the real source of sin in me was the old man. You know what they've done. They've created another source of sin which will take another sacrifice to deal with it. That didn't help anything. If the only way for the source of sin to be dealt with is it must be nailed to the cross and they nailed the old man to the cross but I've got another source of sin that's bubbling forth the same kind of things potentially. I mean can a Christian lie? Yes. Can a Christian commit immorality? Yes. I have a real problem if I've created another source in my life because now I need another Savior to nail that one to the cross. Note that we're all nailed to the cross. The power was broken.

So the two figures in Colossianscircumcision and baptism. Two spiritual realities that show that we have been identified intimately and completely with this allsufficient Savior. So now I am in Him and He is in me. Keep in mind all this is preparing the way then you ought to have the door shut tight on anyone who would say there is something else or something more. How could circumcision add anything to what you have in Christ? How could baptism add anything to what you have in Christ? How could . . . ? Fill in the blank. I have it all. But if we're honest, God's people, we need this truth so rooted in our mind it's the first thing that we think of. Because what? What we call the down times come, the hard times come. Life seems to get turned upside down. And all of sudden I don't think I have enough. I go through a time and I say, Lord, there's got to be something else. There's got to be something more. I have it all in Him. Sometimes I just need to stop. You know, turn off the phone. Not talk to anybody else just close myself up with my Lord, His Word, prayer. It will clear my head, so to speak. Remind myself. Talk to my Lord and say, Lord, you're all I need. You're everything. I want to praise you for your sufficiency. I'm overwhelmed Lord, but I'm not overwhelmed because I am in You and You're in me. I feel sometimes alone and empty, Lord, but I'm not. You're in me and I'm in you. It's enough. The benefit I get from the input of others in my life comes from the appreciation that He and He alone is everything and all I need and all I ever will need. I need not fear. I'll never be alone. He will never leave me nor forsake me.

You need to experience the spiritual circumcision of the heart. You need to experience the spiritual baptism of identification with Christ. How does it happen? You believe what God has done in Christ. In Christ He has provided His Son as a Savior to pay the penalty for your sin by dying on the cross, then being buried, then being raised victorious over sin, over the Devil, over the world. You must come to believe in Him. Experience the spiritual reality of oneness with the living God. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for the wonder of what we have studied together. Lord, truth that goes beyond what we can contain with our finite minds. We appreciate the song such truth is too wonderful for us. We are not able to contain it with these finite minds. But Lord, we lay hold of it, knowing it's true, believing it, desiring to experience even more fully the wonder of what has been provided for us in Christ. Lord we want to grow in the depths of intimacy in our walk and relationship with you, the appreciation that we have all in Christ. May that be the testimony of our life. Lord, I pray for those who are here who do not know this wonderful Savior, who have not experienced the transformation of circumcision of heart, of spiritual baptism and identification with Christ in death, burial and resurrection to new life. Oh, God, you've been gracious to bring them to hear Your truth today. We pray that in Your grace they will turn from their sin and believe what you have done in this wonderful Savior. We give You all the praise for who You and what You've done. In Christ in whose name we pray, amen.