Out of Adam and Into Christ - Part 2 — Phil Beach Jr.

Let's just look to the Lord now to try to bring this to a completion, the second part we began a few weeks ago. Sit on, Philip. Alright, let's bow our hearts in prayer. Father, we thank You and praise You, Lord, for the Holy Spirit.

We thank You, Lord, for His ministry, His ministry as the Spirit of truth. We pray today the Holy Spirit would be pleased to take the Word of truth, the Word of God, and quicken it and make it alive to our hearts, and that the Holy Spirit would take the Word of truth and reveal to us the beauty of Jesus Christ, the perfections of Jesus Christ, the honor and glory that belongs alone, exclusively to the head, Jesus Christ.

The Word of God Reveals Jesus Christ

I pray, Lord, that the Word of God would be more than just a doctrinal discourse this morning, though doctrine is very important and we place great value on proper biblical doctrine. Yet, Lord, we pray that the doctrine, the truth of Your Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit would be made alive so that it is translated from simply doctrine to a living revelation of the person of Jesus Christ in whom all true doctrine is fulfilled.

All doctrine points toward the Lord Jesus Christ. All true doctrine has its fulfillment in the Godhead Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we pray, Lord, that You would deeply help us to be rooted and grounded in sound doctrine, as we're going to learn today, but that it would be translated into enabling us to see Jesus in His glory and in His power and in His majesty.

We pray, Father, in Jesus' mighty name, in Adam and out of Christ. In our first lesson, we saw that we are, through the new birth, we are being translated, or we have been translated out of Adam and into Christ.

And in our first lesson, we discovered that in Adam we have been held captive in death, the law of sin and death. We saw that in the first Adam, that that which comes out of the first Adam, the fleshly life, does not profit.

We saw that in Adam, when we're under the power of Adam, when we're under the power and energy of the natural life, as far as trying to please God and do what is right in God's eyes, that we meet constant failure.

This is all just a quick review. This is all on the tape, part one. We see that in Adam, there's nothing but corruption, and that the mind that is governed by the natural life is at enmity to God and it cannot receive the things of God.

And that that which is born of flesh is flesh and unprofitable. And that we learned that all the works and all of the deeds that come out of the first Adam in relation to trying to please God end in spiritual death.

They end in death. And this is a very sobering and a very important revelation for us to see. We should pray, O God, O God, please, by your word and by your Holy Spirit, bring very strong dealings in my life.

Sin, Death, and the Works of Adam

Anytime, anytime, I am giving a place to that which is coming from the old life. Because the scripture says that in Romans 6 .21, that the end result of sin, the end result of that which is coming from Adam, that which we inherited naturally, that is not pleasing to God, the end result of that is death.

We know in Galatians 6, the scripture says that if we sow to the flesh, we shall reap corruption. And I'm asking the Holy Spirit to translate this from simply knowing this doctrinally, which is important to becoming aware of the realities of this in our daily life.

How often are we aware, listen now, how often are we aware, when we are falling prey to a haughty look, to an arrogant attitude, that's death. Or I should say that that's the works of Adam, the works of the old creation.

And those works result in death, they end in death. How could we be lovers of life, and followers of life, and seekers of life, while at the same time permitting death, or the works that lead to death.

Is it not a contradiction for us to claim, oh Lord, I'm looking for your coming. What is the coming of the Lord, but the consummation of life. The highest expression of life. In Him, God is light, and in Him is no darkness, no corruption, no decay.

In the last Adam, the glorified man in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, there is absolutely, positively no darkness at all, no moral darkness at all. There is nothing that is of decaying nature, or incorruptibility in the man, Christ Jesus.

And He is the lover of our heart. He is the one that has captured us, right? And He is the one that has saved us by His blood. And so therefore, as children of light, we are to be lovers of light, lovers of life, lovers of God's word, and lovers of that which pertains to Him.

That is, we should be, by the power of the Holy Spirit, aligning our lives on a daily basis with that which corresponds to what is in the man in glory, while at the same time, we are aligned against, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the word of God, with that which corresponds to the old creation.

That's what salvation is. That's what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the commands of God are multiple in the word of God that supports this stand of the believer. And so, what we learned last week, that in Adam, in Adam, and the nature that corresponds to Adam, the kingdom of darkness has a stronghold, has a place, has a foothold.

And that we learned that what is true in Adam as a single individual, Romans chapter 5, is true in corporate humanity outside of Christ. And so, we also learned that God created Adam in His image and likeness, but Adam, after he fell, brought forth children after his image and likeness.

And so, the corporate expression of humanity is a picture of what Adam became after he sinned. Fallen humanity. A humanity that cannot please God. A humanity that is corrupted. A humanity that is altogether different than what God is like.

Though we retain certain features and constitutional qualities that make us distinct from the animal kingdom, brothers and sisters, I think the animal kingdom behaves better than we do. How ironic. We retain certain constitutional realities that make us separate from the animal kingdom, i .e., we have a conscience, we have the capacity to love, we have the capacity to reason and think, which places us on a level above the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom that reflects a bit of the image of God, but certainly not the moral image of God.

The moral image of God was lost. Though man has the capability of good and evil, all the good that man can gather up and muster in himself falls short of the glory of God. All our righteousness is a filthy rag.

Everything that Adam can gather up, all the good that Adam can gather up, cannot measure to the righteousness of God. And God demands that a righteousness equal to his own is the kind of righteousness that we must have as human beings.

We cannot have a flawed righteousness because God is perfect and God is holy and God is without darkness and we can't have a goodness that is marred. It's just really a goodness that is marred is just the nice side of evil.

It's just evil. I believe that human love is the good side of hatred because human love is the beautiful side of hatred. Human love turns to hatred when it is crossed, when it is challenged, when it is attacked, when it doesn't get what it wants.

Have you found that to be true in your experience? That your human love fizzles pretty quick when it's not getting what it wants? What it's basically doing is showing its true colors. It's a hybrid. It's a perversion.

God rejects it. That's why God says through Isaiah, he says, All of our righteousness, that is all that we can muster up from Adam, apart from Christ, unregenerate, apart from Christ, that which is inherently true in our own human nature, gather it all up, present it to God, and God says it's filthy rags to me.

It's filthy. It's unclean. It's unacceptable. And so not only is it unacceptable to God, but it is also an unacceptable life to live in the presence of our brothers and sisters and in the presence of our family.

We have to see by revelation of the Holy Spirit the totality of what God has said about the natural life in Adam and how it has been entirely 100 set aside at Calvary. And this is where we must pray for revelation, the spirit of wisdom and the revelation and the knowledge of him so that we not only affirm these things doctrinally, but the Lord takes his spotlight and starts shining it in every area of our life so that as we read this morning we can see where are we still expressing and contributing that life in our families.

Masquerading as what? The life of Christ. Every area of our life has been given the sentence of death so that through agreeing with the sentence of death in Adam all died and in Christ we all died when he died because he brought all that Adam is into death so that in Christ, in his resurrection, we live.

That is the basis of our life is out of his resurrection life, not out of our natural life. This is a process, it takes time, but we have to see it because if we don't see it then we're not going to stand together with God for what is clean and stand together with the Holy Spirit against what is unclean.

We're not going to do it. We're going to embrace what God has rejected and we're even going to find ourselves possibly in a position where we're rejecting what God has accepted like Cain did when he saw his brother's deeds.

He got angry at him and his heart moved. So we saw in Adam that we can judge after the flesh, we can make plans after the flesh, we can boast in the flesh, we can make a good appearance in the flesh, and we can know one another after the flesh.

And finally we learned that we are to make no provision for the flesh, we're not to use our freedom in Christ as an occasion for the flesh, we're to place no confidence in the flesh, and we're to hate the garments spotted with flesh.

And like I said, all of this is in our first lesson that is available. But now we want to look at the realities that are true in Christ. As we first learned about what God has said about the first man in Adam, now we want to look and see what God has said about Jesus Christ.

Every Blessing and Provision Is in Christ

Everything that God does is in Christ and thus Christ-centered. Everything that He does is in Christ. God's entire plan, redeeming plan for the whole universe is in Christ. Colossians 1 .20 God's love is in Christ.

Romans 8 .39 God's love is in Christ. Romans 8 .39 God's grace is in Christ. 2 Timothy 2 .1 Salvation is in Christ. 2 Timothy 2 .10 All the saints, all Christians are in Christ. Philippians 1 .1 The significance and importance of Christ can never be minimized.

The significance and importance of our union with Christ can never be minimized. It is the core, the center, the basis, the substance of our salvation, Christ. Our full attention, our heart's affections, and the thoughts of our mind must be continuously being renewed as to remain focused on Christ Himself.

Everything involved in God's salvation plan, everything involved in God's salvation plan in our lives personally and corporately and for eternity, individually, corporately, and for eternity flows out of and is the result of Christ Himself.

For example, every spiritual blessing, every spiritual blessing is from Christ. Ephesians 1 .3 Every spiritual blessing. This simply means that there is nothing, and that is an all-inclusive statement, there is nothing that pertains to blessing from God to humanity unless it is in and from Christ.

1 .3 Salvation flows from Christ. 2 Timothy 2 .10 We are complete in Christ. Colossians 2 .10 Everything we need is in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 .30 Our union with Christ was something that God saw in eternity past.

Our unity in Christ was something God saw from eternity past. Ephesians 1 .4 The Father chose us to be holy and blameless in Christ. Eternity past. What a calling. What a calling. Ephesians 1 .5 The Father predestined us to the adoption in Christ.

Christ as the Second Adam and Federal Head

That's Ephesians 1 .5 So, as we learned in the first section of our lesson, Adam was our representative in the Garden of Eden, or he was our federal head. Adam was our head. He was the federal head of the human race.

And so Adam represented all of humanity. And unfortunately, when Adam fell, that fall affected all of humanity. When Adam sinned, we sinned in Adam. The effects of Adam's sin affected all of us. But now Christ was sent as the second Adam, or the last Adam, to represent all of God's two-fold thing.

It represented two-fold thing. It represented God completing and setting aside all that happened in the first Adam. Setting aside his federal headship. Setting aside the sin. Setting aside the death.

Setting aside everything. And secondly, it represented God installing a brand new federal head. A brand new federal head. The man, Christ Jesus. He is now the new head of a new humanity. Christ, just as Adam's disobedience caused many to be sinners, it was Christ's obedience that caused many to be righteous.

So whatever Christ did as our representative, God counted it as something we did too. We died with Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 .14. We died with him. Because in representation, he represented us. We were raised with Christ.

Ephesians 2 .6. Because in representation, when Christ was raised from the dead, we were raised with him. And number three, we were seated in heaven with Christ. Ephesians 2 .6. This is why it is so important, dear ones, that we see Jesus and keep our eyes fixed upon him, the man in glory.

God credits Christ's righteousness to us and our sins to him. He credits Christ's righteousness to us and our sins to Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 .21. He who knew no sin, right, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Romans 3 .24. Our redemption is in Christ. Oh, 2 Corinthians 5 .21. He who knew no sin became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And because of this, because of Christ as our representative, our redemption is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3 .24. Forgiveness of sins is in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1 .7. Our righteousness is in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1 .30. In Christ, all condemnation is removed. Romans 8 .1. In Christ, all condemnation is removed.

There can be no condemnation in Christ because in Christ, God has perfect righteousness. And with perfect righteousness, there's no condemnation. Now, what we just learned was the judicial or legal standing that we have before God in Christ.

Positional Standing and Experiential Sanctification

Now, shortly, we're going to look at the distinction between our positional legal standing and then the experiential working out of that in our practical lives. But before we do that, I want to read a number of other scriptures that the Bible mentions regarding being in Christ.

Just like we learned in the first section that the Bible talks about how we should view the flesh, we should not make any provision for it, we should not be confident in it, we should not glory in it, and et cetera, et cetera.

In the Bible, we see that in the New Testament, the revelation of Christ, we see that God has made provision and that our lives should be embracing Christ and everything we do should be springing out of our union in Christ.

Everything we need for living, our salvation is in Christ. Alright? Everything. Everything we need for living comes out from Christ. Okay? Sanctification is Christ Himself. 1 Corinthians 1 .30. So when we need sanctification, when we need to be holy, when we need to become more like Jesus, we find it in Christ Himself.

He is our sanctification. Truth is in Jesus. Ephesians 4 .21. All the truth is in Jesus Christ. All the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. All treasure of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2 .3. And then 1 Corinthians 1 .30.

Christ is our wisdom. In Christ there is all the encouragement, comfort of love, and fellowship of the Spirit that we need. Philippians 2 .1. In Christ there is all the encouragement, the consolation of love, and the fellowship of the Spirit that we need.

Philippians 2 .1. You see, as we delve into this, we see the finality and centrality of the person and work of Jesus Christ is everything. Is everything. Faith and love are in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1 .14.

Everything that we do should spring out of our union in Christ. We should be praying more and more, Oh God, everything I do should be springing out of being empowered by Christ and through Christ. If we study the life of Paul, we learn a number of very important truths about our life in Christ.

Paul said, I can't remember, I didn't write this scripture down, but Paul said in Corinthians, I'll find it here, it has to do with, you have many teachers, but you only have one Father in Christ. Found in, very important that we see this, Corinthians chapter 4, Paul says in verse 15, he says, though you have 10 ,000 instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers, for in Christ I have begotten you through the gospel.

For this cause, verse 17, I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of all my ways which are in Christ Jesus. Now you think about that statement.

Paul was sending Timothy to these Corinthians because Timothy was going to remind them of all of Paul's ways that are in Christ Jesus. And so here is an incredible revelation that Paul is giving us, and it has to do with the fact that Paul was so transformed and continuing to be transformed, that not only did he understand these judicial and positional realities about his union with Christ, but he amazingly was able to say that in his practical living, all his ways were in Christ Jesus.

And so consequently, Paul says he speaks the truth in Christ, Romans 9, 1, he speaks in Christ. His hopes and plans are in Christ, Philippians 2 .19, he rejoices in the Lord, in Christ, Philippians 4 .10, and he commands and beseeches and warns believers in Christ, 1 Corinthians, or 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 and 2.

And then Paul says he can do all things through Christ, Philippians 4 .13. And so here are other things that we are commanded to do in Christ. Just like we mentioned just a few minutes ago, in Adam we're commanded to resist, we're commanded to stay away, we're commanded to not give a place to those works of the flesh, but in Christ we're commanded to move and act in Christ.

And in many ways we're commanded to do this. Because in Christ, we are commanded to labor for His kingdom, 1 Corinthians 15 .58. Children are to obey their parents, and wives submit to their husbands, and husbands lay their lives down for their family, Ephesians 6 .1.

That's to be done in Christ. Children obey, wives submit, and husbands lay their lives down. We're to be strong in the Lord, Ephesians 6 .10. We're to rejoice in the Lord, Philippians 3 .10. We are to all agree in the Lord, Philippians 4 .2.

We're to stand firm, Philippians 4 .1. All of this is possible in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to live godly lives in Christ, 2 Timothy 3 .12. Good behavior, maintain good behavior, 1 Peter 3 .16.

Work hard in the Lord, Romans 16 .12. Work hard, 16 .12. We are to have confidence in the Lord, Philippians 1 .14. Our approval is in the Lord and comes from the Lord. Approval in the Lord and from the Lord, Romans 16 .10.

Growing From Positional Truth Into Daily Experience

So as you can see, beloved, this is not exhaustive in any shape or form. There are so many more scriptures, but this is just to get our appetites wet so that we can, in our personal study, make it a point to get these scriptures in our hearts and in our minds and meditate upon them.

They are life transforming and life changing. Our position in Christ and our experience in Christ are two different things, but they all are derived from the same reality. Our position and our experience.

Our position in Christ is a spiritual reality that God sees. It's a spiritual fact before God. It is a spiritual fact before God that God sees. That's the positional and judicial standing before God that we have in Christ.

Apart from our experience, apart from what happens in our practical life if we're real Christians. However, these facts about our judicial and positional standing before God in Christ are not always true in our practical experience.

They're not always true in our daily experience. Hence, why God is always exhorting us to be diligent, to have a seeking heart and a living faith. A diligent heart, a seeking heart, and a living faith.

So that we are submitting on a daily basis to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Word of God, so that in ever increasing measure our experience and our actions are lining up with our position before God in Christ.

The power to live practically in Christ is rooted in the power of our position in Christ judicially. We can overcome sin on a daily basis because positionally in Christ it is finished. And this requires revelation of the Holy Spirit.

And that's why Paul prayed in Ephesians that the eyes of our heart would be opened, that we would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation to be able to know and understand these things. And so, therefore, when the Bible speaks about the victorious Christian life or the overcomers, it is a call to be diligent.

The victorious Christian, the overcoming Christian is the Christian who accepts the call to be diligent so that what is true in our position is transferred and becomes true in our experience. A victorious Christian, an overcoming Christian is not simply one who lives in faith of what is true positionally, but one who in daily life, submitting to God, submitting to the Word of God, coming to the Lord Jesus for that living faith so that what is true in Christ, positionally, is ever, ever growing and ever, ever increasingly becoming true in experience.

Every true Christian is in Christ. But a Christian in Christ is not going to go to a bar and get drunk. You see the position versus the experience. We're all in Christ, but we're not going to, in Christ, be arrogant and snippy to our mates and to our children.

Why is there a breakdown? Why is there a breakdown between what is true in Christ, positionally, and what is true in our actions? This is why God says to the Christian who is in Christ that we must pray for a seeking heart, a living faith, and for the power of the Holy Spirit.

A seeking heart, a living faith, and the power of the Holy Spirit through coming to the Lord Jesus on a daily basis so that in our practical experience we are demonstrating more and more what is true in the positional standing before God in Christ.

The Humanity of Christ and Transformation Into His Image

And if you want to know what is true in Christ, you say, well, what is actually true in Christ? Well, you can find all the Scriptures. We just read them. But all you have to do is see what is in Jesus Christ Himself.

What is true in Christ Himself as the federal head, the representative of a new race, is God's ultimate intention for what will be true in His body, the church, accepting His deity. When we look at the man Jesus Christ, we see God-man, we see a God-man.

What is true in Christ that pertains to His deity and those attributes that belong to His deity will never be true in His body. We never partake of the deity of Christ. We are not gods. We never become gods.

It is not God's intention to make us gods. We are redeemed humans possessed by the new humanity that is found in the person of Jesus Christ through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. And that regenerating power of the Holy Spirit is reproducing in us as we submit and seek and depend on the Holy Spirit and have faith in the finished work of Christ, it is reproducing in us the attributes and qualities of the glorified human nature of Jesus Christ.

And all of the moral excellence that Jesus Christ as a man in glory possesses now, that is what God intends to reproduce in our lives as Christians. It has nothing to do with us trying to be good and trying to be holy.

It's seeing Him and being transformed into His image. Life transforming, isn't it? So, consequently, we see the difference between the positional standing in Christ and the facts that God sees regarding our positional and judicial standing in Christ and then the outworking of those truths into our practical experience is the process of being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. It is a process of transformation. Now, we're going to bring this to a close very shortly, but before we do, I want to just give you a number of scriptures that demonstrate the difference between our position and then the process that is continuing of being transformed into the image of Christ.

Crucifixion of the Old Life and Practical Sanctification

First of all, Romans 6, 6. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Christ. Romans 6, 6. That is a fact. That is a position. When Christ was crucified, representative man, we were crucified. That's a fact.

But now, the realization of that spiritual fact on a daily basis, Romans 8, 13. If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. So you see the fact, we were crucified with Christ and then the daily appropriation of that through the power of the Holy Spirit putting to death the deeds of the body.

Saying no. Titus, chapter 2. The grace of God has appeared to all men teaching us to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts. Number 2. Colossians 3, 3 and 4. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you will appear with Him in glory. That's a fact. We died in Christ. When Christ died, we died. We died.

That's a spiritual reality that God sees. But now the outworking of that, Colossians chapter 3, verse 5. Therefore put to death. Ah, wait a minute. We died. But now we're putting to death. What's that mean?

That's the delicate balance between positional realities in Christ and the outworking of them into practical sanctification. And practical sanctification is simply the inworking of who Christ is in His nature in and through our mortal body.

And that occurs as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God by saying yes to God and no to the devil, the world, and the flesh. So where's that? That's Colossians chapter 3. Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth.

Evil passion and all those sins. Number three. Those who are Christ have crucified the flesh. That's past tense. An action taking place at one point in time. Erotist tense. That took place in Galatians 5 .23.

Those who Christ have crucified the flesh. That took place at Calvary. Now in Romans chapter 8, what does it say? Verse 13, Romans 8 .13. For if you live after the flesh you will die, but if you through the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body you shall live.

So positionally they have been crucified, but on a daily basis we say now. Colossians 2 .11. And in him you were circumcised. Galatians chapter 5 .16. But I say walk by the Spirit and do not carry out the desires of the flesh.

Lastly, all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. Again, that's the past tense. An action taking place at one point in time. That's Galatians 3 .27. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.

But the outworking of that, Romans 13 .14. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. And so, beloved, we can see by these scriptures this is not exhaustive, but it is a foundation and that's what we're after.

Meditating on Scripture and Living the Word

A foundation. As we meditate on these scriptures which are the Word of God, God's Spirit will give us light and empower us to see Jesus more and more and more. And I want to suggest as I close that you make it your life's goal to meditate on the Word of God, meditate on these scriptures, look at them, ask the Lord to make them real to you because it is the fundamental foundation, it is the framework of this foundation that enables us to understand the significance of Christ, His finished work, His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, and who He is in glory, and the significance of what God has made us in Christ.

It's all there in the Word of God. You don't need to look anywhere else. It's in the Word of God. And so let it be our meditation day and night. Let it be the things that we talk to, that we talk about with one another.

Let it be the things we pray. Remember last Sunday we talked about praying the Word? What a perfect thing to pray. Go through these scriptures and pray the Word. Read these scriptures to one another. Read them to your kids.

It doesn't matter if they don't understand. They won't understand. But when they're 25 years old, they'll start saying, that's what those scriptures meant. That's what Dad was talking about. That's what Mom was talking about.

It'll be in their hearts. Hide the Word in your heart that you might not sin against God. Okay, beloved, so let's bow our hearts in a word of prayer. And remember we do have Part 1 and Part 2 now on tape.

Out of Adam into Christ. And we also have last Sunday on tape too. Where we shared about praying the Word, disciplining by the Word, and letting the Word become a living reality in our practical life.

All of this is on tape that Norman provides on his site. So if anyone is interested, just talk to Norman or Joe and they can give you the address and you can listen to these tapes. Okay? Father, we thank You for Your Word.

Prayer for Christ to Be Revealed in Believers

We thank You that Jesus Christ is our life. He's our health. He's our healing. He's the source of our forgiveness. In Him is life and immortality. In whom there is no darkness or death, decay or corruption.

What is true in the man Christ Jesus is Your plan to make true in our lives as the body of Christ now and to be brought to completion at the coming of Jesus Christ at the sound of the last trumpet. Take Your Word today, Lord, and by the Holy Spirit in much weakness, Lord, it was presented.

Make it real. For the glory of Your Son, for the praise of His Kingdom, and the honor of His Father, we pray. In Jesus' mighty name, Amen and Amen. Anyone can feel free to pray or share if you have anything or wait for dinner.