Old Things... 2 Corinthians 5:17 by Leon O. Poole

CHAPTER TWO

With the foregoing facts noted in chapter one before us, we are now ready to deal with common difficulties that believers who are genuinely born again, and IN Christ deal with, as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have observed by experience and by counseling with believers during the years of service which the Lord has granted me, that believers often struggle with apparent contradictions to 2 Corinthians 5:17. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature. The old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."

Indeed, some have expressed to me, If they are passed away as that Scripture states, why do I have so much trouble with the 'old things'? Reader, have you ever wondered that? I also have struggled to live a true Christian life according to the Scripture.

We need to realize that truly, as born again believers in Christ Jesus, we ARE new creatures in Christ, and the old things are indeed passed away. The Lord Jesus truly has saved us from our sins, and He has taken away our sins, but He has not yet delivered us from the possibility of sins, or of the presence of sin in the world. Thus, James states that every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Sin, which is in the world around us, is an active agent that seeks to work in us by tempting us through our lusts.

It is important for us to realize that God has given us legitimate desire for things. That does NOT say that God has given us ungodly lusts, or sin to work in our members. Ungodly lusts, and sins came into the world through the transgression and fall of Adam when he ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:12.

God, in His love and kindness, gave unto mankind legitimate desires (appetites, and yearnings) when He created man in His Own Image, and after His Likeness. Again, that does NOT say that God gave man sinful lust or sin in any form or condition.

According to the Scripture, God created man to possess, and to have dominion over all the earth and over every creature upon it. It is legitimate, therefore, for man to desire to fulfill that Divine purpose. God also commanded the man to multiply and to replenish the earth. That is the basis for what we commonly recognize as the sex drive.

God further affirmed His purpose to Eve after she had eaten of the forbidden fruit. Notice Genesis 3:16: "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

Therefore, we are to understand that God gave sex appetite to both man and woman. What He gave was NOT sinful, and there is nothing sinful about the sex act between a married man and his wife, Hebrews 13:4. "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."

Therefore, desire for food is a normal, God given appetite, and it is the normal desire of every living creature that God created upon the earth. But when God created and gave them such appetites and desires, they were not subject to sin, UNTIL Adam ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. At that time, he fell into sin, and the whole creation fell into ruin with him.

Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden; literally paradise. There was no sin, no sinful lust, no greed, covetousness, no provocation or sinful agitation upon the earth. They did not have the passions of sin working in their mortal members. Their innocence was so complete that not even their naked bodies evoked any sense of shame, or untoward passions. We note a similarity to their attitude in very small children and babies, who have no conscience of shame or of embarrassment about their naked bodies. Such innocence doesn't last long!

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:7-9:"What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."

Verses 10-13: "And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Then skipping down to verse 17: "Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."

Verses 20-25: "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my MEMBERS, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my MEMBERS. O, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

In Romans chapter seven Paul goes into details about the struggles that those who try to be 'good' and pleasing to God by their own ability fall into. I am sure he is not addressing a struggling Christian believer in that passage. He does include himself, because he also struggled with the law before he came to Christ. But Romans 10:4 states: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth."

He had written in Romans 8:1-3 of what that release from the law means to those who believe on Jesus Christ; those who live after the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are IN Christ Jesus, who walk (conduct all their activities) not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life IN Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could NOT do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

(My emphasis).

That is the power and privilege of born again believers, who are IN Christ. Galatians 3:14 mentions the promise of the Spirit through faith, to those who believe on Jesus Christ. In our new relationship with Christ, He imparts to us the Spirit of regeneration, (literally the Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:9) thereby empowering us to live after the Spirit through faith.

No religion conceived by man or demon can match that provision! All their efforts are dead works, based upon what man supposedly can do for himself. It won't meet God's requirements for righteousness, because of the dominion of sin that works in the MEMBERS of unsaved people, according to Romans chapter 7, quoted above.

Per 2 Corinthians 5:17, some of the 'old things that are passed away' is that former dominion of sin, which worked in our MEMBERS through enslaved desire, lusts, appetites and passions. Notice what Jesus said in John 8:36: "If the Son therefore make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Therefore, there is no such thing as a born again believer retaining his old sinful nature when he is born again.

Never has there been a human baby that lived on the earth, being only halfway born! Neither is there any born again believer who is only partially born again! NO! We either ARE born again, and IN Christ, or we are yet in our sins. There is no half way condition between the two.

That brings us to our question again: since the 'old things' are passed away IN Christ, why do we have such struggles to live free from them in daily life? Again, we need to understand and believe what the Scripture says. The Lord Jesus stated in John 8:32: " If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in deed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Therefore, the answer to our perturbing question is to be found in the Truth, God's Word, per John 17:17. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

It has been my purpose to define the facts and conditions that all who come to the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior must know and deal with. There is much more for believers to learn than simply to say our prayers, to pay our tithes, to go to Church, and to witness for the Lord Jesus. We are to learn to live in victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.

We shall be compelled to learn the vital facts that enable us to succeed. Jesus is not going to do it all for us, though He will help us do it. We are His followers, His disciples, and as we follow Him daily, He will guide us into all Truth. He will show us how the things of the kingdom of God work, so that by faith we can overcome. Notice 1 John 5:4-5: "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that BELIEVETH that Jesus is the Son of God?"

As you have noticed in the above paragraphs, I have added emphasis to the words "IN Christ" and "MEMBERS". The emphasis on "IN Christ" is intended to note position, place and privilege. The emphasis on the word "MEMBERS" is to call attention to what follows, as we expound on the spiritual, moral, and mortal conflicts that we all have to deal with.

Consider 1 Peter 5:8-11 for instance. "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

Observe also Paul's admonition in Ephesians 6:10-13: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

Clearly, believers have a determined enemy that seeks to devour us, to entice us, to lead us back into captivity to the law of sin and death. He works to deceive us regarding the life that Jesus Christ has graciously provided for us. Take heart, dear fellow believer, you are not the only one that struggles with overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil. It was that way with believers of note in the New Testament. But faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

Because that is true, and also because that without faith it is impossible to please God, we must learn the place and function of Biblical faith. Not only how to get saved through believing on Jesus Christ, but also in overcoming the things that arise in life, as we follow our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to learn to look to Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith;...".

As we have previously noted, the Lord Jesus has delivered us from our sins, yet we live in a world in which sin is present and possible. Even so, by faith we can choose not to sin or to be overcome by its enticements. In that form we are free from the dominion of sin that unsaved people are enslaved by.

For instance, the Lord Jesus said that he that commits sin is the servant of sin. But Jesus has set believers free from our sins, and so, though we are beset with the presence and possibility of sin, we need not be victims of it. We will deal more fully with this fact later in this book. In order to grasp the benefits of Biblical faith, we will study, in brief, the subject of Biblical faith.

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Old Things... 2 Corinthians 5:17 by Leon O. Poole - Public Domain [Copy Freely]