CHAPTER FIVE

With the truth of God's Word before us, and in our heart and in our mouth as the word of faith, we can say to the working of the devil, and to our old nature that seeks to re-assert it self in us, "Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea." If we do so, without doubting in our heart, we shall have what we say. Therefore, learn to TALK faith talk to your conflicts, and compel them to yield to God's Word. We can absolutely live free from the old things which are passed away, and we can have joy and peace in believing. Romans 15:13: "Now the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

Understand that whatever you yield yourself to can become your master, and it can lead to other things that you may not choose to be subject to. If you ponder on salacious things, then evil, lustful cravings will attempt to master you. Therefore, practice what Philippians 4:4,6 and 8 says: "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, Rejoice. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Note that the Apostle Paul was constrained to direct believers, saints, to think on certain things. By doing so he implied that they ought NOT to think on bad things. Such is the choices that we also must make in our commitment to Christ, as our Lord and Savior. Apostle Peter also enjoined soberness and vigilance, because our adversary the devil, goes about seeking whom he may devour. One of the ways that he attempts that is through our mind.

Don't yield your members to unrighteousness, and don't be weary in opposing the efforts of the old things that are passed away, when they try to return and enslave you. Do not doubt that what the Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says is true in your case, just because you get involved in a faith fight with 'old things that are passed away'.

The fact that you even concern yourself, as a believer, with resisting the devil, and denying yourself, and refusing the demands of the sins of the flesh, means that you have been delivered from them. That can be affirmed because before you came to Christ, you diligently gave yourself over to them, and sought every opportunity to indulge them. See Ephesians 2:1-3: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

Then notice also 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." What a dreadful list of sins! But notice that he states in verse 11: "...such WERE some of you, but ye are washed, sanctified, justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Glory to God! We may correctly conclude that in one way, it does not matter what we once WERE, what matters at the present, is that through faith in Jesus Christ and our new birth in Him, we are NOT what we once were in the past, praise the Lord!

That being the case, and the Scripture plainly says that it is, we should see that we have been delivered from our sins, and that any suggestion, temptation, prompting of emotions, lusts or passions are coming from OUTSIDE our new nature in Christ. None of those things were ever in Christ, and we have His nature in us, and His Spirit living in us. We ARE indeed new creatures in Christ. We need not be intimidated with what the 'Old Man (nature)' suggests! We can boldly say, in truth and as a fact: "I AM redeemed!" Psalms 107:2 bids us to say so.

It is a great comfort and assurance to know that the temptations that we deal with, are NOT really part of our new nature in Christ, no matter how they persistently war against our mind. Each time they present themselves, we are to deny them any place in our thoughts, refuse to submit to their enticements, and to disown any connection with them. The Lord Jesus Himself had to deal with temptations, just like we do, according to the Scripture in Hebrews 4:15: "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

We should take courage in the fact that it is not a sin to be tempted, else Jesus would have sinned, because He was tempted as we are; yet, the Scripture says, He was without sin. The action of temptation itself is not a sin: it is only the yielding to temptation that is the sin.

Again, we repeat, it is only when lust has been conceived that sin occurs. Therefore, to be enticed and tempted is not the sin. Conceiving and complying with the temptation, (as we may say in modern vernacular, when we 'go along' with the temptation) is when sin occurs. It is NOT A SIN TO BE TEMPTED! It is only a sin to consent to and carry out the temptation.

We must guard our heart diligently, because out of it are the issues of life. We must not let any thing tempt us to accept the impulse, lust or desire, whether in thought and/or in deed, to any sin. God has given us His whole armour, as noted in Ephesians 6:1-18, so that we can withstand the wiles of the devil, in the evil day. The 'evil day' is any time that we are striving in our mind and heart, against temptation, as well as other bad events that may occur.

Now consider what Paul wrote to the SAINTS at Ephesians 4:20-24: "But ye have not so earned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

Since the Scripture is plain that there no sin IN Christ, Paul was teaching the saints IN Christ how to defend themselves against the efforts of the old nature to re-assert itself in them. He said in verse 22: "That ye PUT OFF the old man..." Well, according to Paul in Colossians 3:3 and 9: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God..." Verse 9: "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye HAVE PUT OFF the old man with his deeds." (My emphasis).

In those two verses, Paul affirms the case of born again believers who are new creatures in Christ. They are dead to sin, their life is hid with Christ IN God, and they have put off the old man, their former manner of living and nature. To such saints he wrote telling them to mortify, deaden, make of no effect, their MEMBERS which are upon the earth, i.e., their body parts, and their appetites and lusts, and desires, which are susceptible to temptation. To use modern vernacular, 'give your members a "shot" of the Word of God' to deaden them to temptation. In verse 8 he wrote them to also put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of their mouth, to refuse to lie to each other, and to PUT ON the new man, verse 10.

Summing the case, born again believers are IN Christ, and are dead to sin, and have put off the Old Man (their former nature and manner of living in their sins), and they have PUT ON the New Man; the Nature of Christ, and the manner of living according to God's Word. That is the common experience of Christian living.

If we understand that fact, it relieves much of our frustration and anxiety about the activity of temptations and lusts that seek to regain dominion over us. We ARE delivered from our sins and sinful nature, but we live in a world where sins and sinful nature abound. They always, and constantly, seek to enslave us again. But the Scripture bids us to resist the devil, to put off the Old Man (whenever he accosts us) and to put on the New Man, instead of yielding to temptation as we did formerly in our ignorance. And it means not relying only on one past event of having once resisted the devil, and of once having put off the Old Man, and of having once put on the New Man, but an ongoing activity of ALWAYS doing so whenever they approach us. In that way we shall live in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Praise the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:17 is TRUE, so don't permit yourself to be deceived as to think that you still have your old sins in you. Notice Hebrews 9:13-14: "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Notice that the Blood of Christ PURGES your conscience from dead works, i.e., your sins and your former manner of living in sin. Notice also how John wrote in 1 John 1:9: "But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." Tell me, since Jesus' Blood cleanses us from ALL sin, how much is left in us? NONE!

I know that 1 John 1:8 says that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. I also know that verse 7 says that if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, cleanses us from ALL sin! We WOULD be lying to say 'on our own' that we have no sin, but we are honest and true to say what God's Word says about us and to us! Please re-read Hebrews 9:14, quoted above.

What Paul wrote in Romans, Ephesians and Colossians about reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, and to put off the Old Man, and to put on the New Man, is light from God. If we walk in the light, the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin.

Can you see the liberty into which the Lord Jesus Christ has brought us? He loved us, and washed us from our sins in His Own Blood, according to Revelation 1:5. Colossians 1:14 states that in Whom (Jesus) we have redemption through His Blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

We are not considering in this study how to become saved; we are considering how to live victorious lives in Christ, after that we ARE born again, having become New Creatures In Christ. We are considering why and how the facts of 2 Corinthians 5:17 ARE true, despite the apparent contradictions that our experience with temptations and trials suggest. We ARE more than conquerors in Christ, but we have to constantly assert that fact by overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil.

We are to maintain, through faith, our position in Christ, as new born babes in Christ, as new creatures in Christ, as sons and daughters of God, as overcomers, as conquerors. We are redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ, by God's grace through faith. In our new birth, we were created by God IN Christ, and He did not create us new, while leaving some of the old sin in us. He did not leave us with a bad nature, along with a good nature. We are to recognize that we are delivered from our sins, but that the world, the flesh, and the devil seek to enslave us to our former sins again. We are to refuse that, and to put off The Old Man when he seeks to reassert his control over our life. Instead, we are to put on the new man by acting on God's Word.

The Scripture bids us to resist the devil, to put off the former manner of living, and to put on the new man. That should be a daily activity of Christian living. Such faithful living is akin to the Lord Jesus' statement that we are to DENY ourselves, and take up our cross daily and follow Him. Taking up our cross is one expression of putting off the old man and of putting on the new man. We do not get born again every day, but we are daily to affirm our new nature and life in Christ, by refusing the temptations and impulses and lusts of sins. Some days, it seems to be nearly a constant warfare in our mind. But we remain God's child UNLESS we yield ourselves to the old man and become enslaved by him again.

Apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:19-22: "... for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage." That is precisely what the Old Man attempts to do to born again believers, through seducing our God given appetites and desires and dispositions. They are the approaches through which the Old Man comes to take us captive. 2 Peter 2:20: "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled, and overcome, the latter end of them is worse than the first. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow to her wallowing in the mire."

We are to put OFF the Old Man when he approaches, surely knowing that he is NOT in Christ as we are! But we cannot be merely passive; we must actively put on the new man, by doing what God's Word says to do. Notice 1 John 2:29: "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him."

Thus, by searching and studying the Scriptures, we should see plainly that in Christ, we are delivered from our sins; we are washed from our sins; we are forgiven for our sins, and we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. Now look at 1 John 2:1-2: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

Since the Scripture teaches that God's Word is light, and that the entrance of His Word gives light, the Scriptures that we have quoted are light. Romans 13:12 bids us to: "...cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." We put on the armour of light by believing God's Word, and by doing it.

Thus, in many places the Scripture bids us to continue to put off the Old Man when he accosts us, and to put on the New Man instead. It tells us to put on Christ by acting in accord with the Gospel of Christ. It tells us to put on the whole armor of God so that we can withstand the wiles of the devil. We are to conduct ourselves honestly and not to make provision for the flesh (another synonym for the Old Man) to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Therefore, it IS honest for us to affirm the fact of our being a new creature IN Christ. As such we are to put off every manner of living in our former sins, along with the nature that was enslaved to them, i.e., the Old Man. It IS honest to affirm what God's Word says ABOUT us, and TO us.

According to what the Scripture teaches about faith, and the facts of our 'New Creature status' in Christ, Mark 11:23 can effectively be applied to our conflicts with the world, the flesh and the devil. What we say with our mouth, believing in our heart, becomes a powerful means of overcoming and living in victory in Christ. It is effective against the devil's efforts against us, and against the impulses that the Old Man suggests to us. It is part of the fight of faith that we are to constantly carry on. 1 Timothy 6:12: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 condenses the whole process into a concise statement: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds: casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;... ".

We are in a warfare which confronts us in imaginations, and thoughts, and from strongholds. We can easily consider it as being a warfare in our mind. We can cast down strongholds by saying with our mouth, and believing in our heart that what we say shall come to pass. When we say "NO!" to temptation, we effectively defeat the temptation, and we remain free from contamination.

Imaginations appear sometimes in the form of thinking there is some incompleteness in our salvation because we have so much trouble with the Old Man. Cast such imaginations down. 2 Corinthians 5:17 IS true! Those old things ARE passed away, and we affirm and enforce that they are by SAYING so, Mark 11:23. Cast down 'high things' that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. The truth is that God knows if you are a New Creature in Christ. Don't let

apparent contradictions exalt themselves against what God knows about you, or what you know about Him! Cast them down, they are NOT true! Say to them, on the basis of Mark 11:23: "I cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." Say to temptations: "I reckon myself dead to sin, I put OFF the Old Man, and I put ON the New Man."

Insist on the fact of 2 Corinthians 5:17: "I AM a new creature in Christ, old things ARE passed away, behold that all things ARE become new." Say, on the basis of Mark 11:23: "I resist you devil, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and I plead the Blood of Jesus over my mind."

As you develop your faith in such ways, you will find yourself becoming bolder, and able more effectively to rule over things that used to trouble you. Jesus has set you free, now LIVE in that liberty!

We have studied some forms of Philippians 2:12-15: "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world."

Apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:2: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." We ARE what God says we are. We are to demonstrate such, as lights in the world; while we work out our salvation, which we have received as a gift by God's grace through faith.

Nothing in this discussion is intended to take the place of fervent, continued prayer. Nothing that we can do, can take the place of the infusion of God's grace that we can obtain through prayer. Notice Hebrews 4:16: "Let us therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." We always need God's grace to help us, when we are beset with temptation, and we can get it through believing prayer. Also, the old things do not cease to accost us just because we don't want to think like they suggest. They must always be overcome by faith.

The purpose of this discussion is intended to encourage you in your conflicts. I have personally experienced what I have written about, and know that this method of dealing with temptation does work very well. Just don't become discouraged because you must repeat the combat. Living by faith means just that. We believe that what we say with our mouth makes what we say a reality in our experience. That is so because God's Word (Mark 11:23) plainly states: "For verily, I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith." . Therefore, we can surely defeat every temptation if we deal with it exactly as Mark 11:23 says.

Believe God's Word, and begin to say in faith to the Old things That Are Passed Away, "Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea. I reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin (unclean, wicked thoughts, feelings, passions, lusts, anger, wrath etc., what ever you are dealing with at the moment) but alive unto God through Jesus Christ. I refuse to BE tempted or defiled with that (whatever the temptation is) and I put ON Christ." Then go on your way, assured of total victory in it. God will 'back' your confession! He won't take sides with your temptation and condemn you just because something was suggested to your mind. Be at peace, my fellow believer, through believing and practicing what God has bidden us to do. Read Romans 15:13.

We must never become complacent in our warfare, and we must not neglect to feed our faith on God's Word. The Lord Jesus promised that the overcomer shall inherit all things, and shall be granted to eat of the Tree of Life, and of the hidden manna. Amen.

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