The 'old man', Adam, can never be converted into "the 'new man', which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" [Eph. 4:24]. The old man, Adam, as he is irremediably corrupt and deceitful [Eph. 4:22], must be nailed to the cross. You cannot do it though. Conceivably someone could nail their feet, and one hand, to a cross, but what then? No way to complete the job. No, both the 'creation of the new man' [2Cor. 5:17], and 'crucifixion of the old man' [Gal. 2:20], are wholly the work of the Spirit of God:
On these thoughts, a few excerpts from a sermon preached at the North Street Chapel, Stamford, on August 19, 1860, by J. C. Philpot, another whose biblical teaching continues to stand the test of time:
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Crucifixion with Christ
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" Galatians 2:20
Every believer carries in his bosom two distinct natures; as born of Adam, one nature which the Scripture calls the "old man;" and another which, as being born of God [John 1:13], the Scripture terms the "new man". The first is the natural "I," and the second is the spiritual "I;" and it is in the struggle between these two principles, the old man and the new, the fleshly "I" and the spiritual "I," that so much of the conflict in a Christian's bosom consists.
This inward crucifixion of the worldly spirit, of the natural "I," kills the believer to the world [Rom. 6:6-7]. Do you not find this in your own experience? The world without would little attract, influence, or ensnare your mind, unless you had the world within alive to it. As long then as the worldly spirit lives in you unsubdued, unmortified, uncrucified, your religion is but skin deep. A thin coat of profession may film the surface of the heart, hiding the inside from view; but the whole spirit of ungodliness is alive beneath, and as much in union with the world as the magnet with the pole, or the drunkard with his cups. But, on the contrary, if the world within be crucified by the power of Christ's cross, the world without will have little charm. And this will be in exact proportion to the life and strength of your faith and the reality of your crucifixion.
The world is ever the same; one huge mass of sin and ungodliness. That cannot be changed; that can never die. It must be you who are changed; it must be you who die to it...
On these thoughts, a few excerpts from a sermon preached at the North Street Chapel, Stamford, on August 19, 1860, by J. C. Philpot, another whose biblical teaching continues to stand the test of time:
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Crucifixion with Christ
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" Galatians 2:20
Every believer carries in his bosom two distinct natures; as born of Adam, one nature which the Scripture calls the "old man;" and another which, as being born of God [John 1:13], the Scripture terms the "new man". The first is the natural "I," and the second is the spiritual "I;" and it is in the struggle between these two principles, the old man and the new, the fleshly "I" and the spiritual "I," that so much of the conflict in a Christian's bosom consists.
This inward crucifixion of the worldly spirit, of the natural "I," kills the believer to the world [Rom. 6:6-7]. Do you not find this in your own experience? The world without would little attract, influence, or ensnare your mind, unless you had the world within alive to it. As long then as the worldly spirit lives in you unsubdued, unmortified, uncrucified, your religion is but skin deep. A thin coat of profession may film the surface of the heart, hiding the inside from view; but the whole spirit of ungodliness is alive beneath, and as much in union with the world as the magnet with the pole, or the drunkard with his cups. But, on the contrary, if the world within be crucified by the power of Christ's cross, the world without will have little charm. And this will be in exact proportion to the life and strength of your faith and the reality of your crucifixion.
The world is ever the same; one huge mass of sin and ungodliness. That cannot be changed; that can never die. It must be you who are changed; it must be you who die to it...