The TWO dealings by God --

FAITH THROUGH HIS DEATH!

I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. John 8:24

The first dealing by God forgives and absolves the man who believes on Christ of all their sins, thereby keeping that man from having to pay for the penalty of his sins. This "Dealing" was done 2,000 years ago for everyone when Christ laid down His life and was crucified for our sins. However, it only applies and is only effective to them who believe upon Christ alone (apart from any and all self-effort on their part) to save them. It is finished!

To pay the penalty for our sins is precisely why He sent Jesus into this world! This is God's way of "Saving us (who believe) FROM our sins"! The moment one "Believes" they are (Positionally Speaking - from God's standpoint) crucified with Christ.

(This is what is known as, "Justification by Faith" = saved FROM our sins, through the kind of faith that is made to look back at Him and realize that He died once for all, for "ME" personally!!! Thus saving me from what I have done!)

This "Good News" is what already happened in the PAST - and we appropriate it today through our backward glance of the crucified Christ on the cross 2,000 years ago as full payment for our sins!

LOVE THROUGH HIS LIFE!

Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:31-32

The second dealing is what frees us from being slaves to our sin nature by separating us to God, separating all who now love Christ crucified for their sins and risen for their righteousness and love receiving the Truth. It is the reception of His Spirit that frees us from being the sin slaves that we were in Adam, to the liberation and freedom that we now have in Christ.

This second dealing is our being saved/delivered from our sin-nature by being "Saved/Sanctified TO God"! Saved TO God, through that same Faith, only made far greater through the new birth in bringing forth much "Love" to and from God through the Holy Spirit.

Thus this same Christ I first saw (through a vision of the Spirit) and believed upon; the same One who died for my sins, I am now made to see the absolute proof that this same "Jesus" who died for me is indeed none other than the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This "Same Jesus" I first saw and recognized as having to go to the cross for ME (to forgive me my sins), is now risen and alive in me and has MADE ME FREE, delivering me from them as well, delivering me from the kingdom of darkness and all that it entails, and into the kingdom of light and truth!

This is what happens in the PRESENT when we "Cooperate" with God - Yes, "Cooperate" or "Agree to serve and obey Him" - through receiving a direct vision and witness (i.e. "revelation") of the risen Christ, through our being born again by the Holy Spirit!

HOPE THROUGH HIS SECOND COMING!

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Matthew 25:21

There is also a THIRD Dealing yet to be done by God! It should be understood by all that this third dealing is yet FUTURE, and happens the moment Christ returns in flaming fire!

This dealing is one where we who believe and follow receive new and glorified bodies (fashioned after His own resurrected body) in the resurrection and the rapture, to all who believe on and follow Him. In their new and glorious bodies they will live forever and be forever with Christ!

(But that is for another time and teaching.)

Once again....

There are TWO dealings done by God...

Dealing #ONE deals with a mans sins - with what he does. This first dealing comes by way of Christ's death on The Cross to them who hear and believe Him.

Dealing #TWO by God deals with a mans sin nature - dealing with who the man is. This second dealing comes by way of Christ's Resurrection and His sending forth the Holy Spirit to them who come and receive Him.
(In other words: The Word/Gospel that they first heard and believed upon, they have come to accept it fully and came and received WHO it was that originally spoke to them.)

"For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." 1 Corinthians 4:20

"For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance...." 1 Thessalonians 1:5

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8

Man is "sinful" by nature, that is precisely why he commits "sins"! That's what he DOES: "sins"! Even the best that the "old" man (i.e. self, me, myself, I, my sin or Adamic nature) can do is to commit "sins". Why? Because ever since the fall of Adam we have all been separated from God since before our birth - we have all been born with a sinful/rebellious nature against God! We have all died spiritually and fallen away the moment our father Adam disobeyed God. And apart from Christ there is NOTHING we can do about it! Because (as the Scriptures say)... "In me (that is, in my flesh) lives no good thing." Romans 7:18

The first step back to God is to have our sins forgiven! There is no "Method" one can use to do this. God knows hearts, and He knows who is serious and who is not! It is a CALL by the Holy Spirit who woos one to Christ where that person is then made able to clearly see the love of God in Christ as He went to the cross and laid down His life for "ME"! If it isn't Personal it isn't of God!

Paul says it like this.... Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells 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? Romans 7:17-24. Romans 7:17-18

And after all that Paul then goes on to say.... 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. Romans 7:25

Without his receiving Christ Paul knows he's a goner! So, in order for any of us to serve God we must become "born again" a new creature with a new heart and mind.
Until we have become born again we are all creatures of "flesh" only! Sin dwells in the flesh, that makes us sinners through and through, sinners who cannot keep ourselves from sinning, no matter how hard "WE" try! However, "WE" are totally incapable of saving ourselves!

Again hear what the Spirit through Paul says in Galatians 2:20... "Not I, but Christ...". It is precisely because Christ is made alive to Paul and lives in him that he is able to serve and to please God at all.

Once each of us are made to see how Christ was made to die for ME personally, in MY place, for MY sins, then "LOVE" begins to well up in our hearts for Him, until all we can do or say is: "Thank You, Thank You", over and over again, with tears and deep appreciation!

This glorious, God-given "Vision and Recognition of Him" is what causes us to have the faith needed to believe on Him thus receive the saving Grace of God. It is this vision of Him (this backwards glance of Him on the cross for ME) and this recognition of Him (He is indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God), where ones sins are forgiven

Now that we see our need for Christ in order to be forgiven of our sins, that leaves one other need, and that is to come and receive the NEW nature He is offering, one after God's own heart, to All who Love Him.

Jesus puts it like this: "...Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
...Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again. John 3:3,5,6,7

Ever since the fall of Adam, all men are born with a sinful, fallen nature of flesh, which is the SOURCE for all his sin. He is "Flesh"! It's not only what he's made of but also it's who he is.

In order to free man from his sin nature Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to His Father in order to send us the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of Truth), who causes us to be "Born Again", by and of God and be a witness of the true Christ, both risen as our righteousness and crucified for our sins!

"... "IF" you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed;
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31-32
again...
"... "IF" a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23

It all hangs on that... "IF" word! It's your choice! Jesus plainly says that, IF a man loves me, he will keep My word, continue in My word, follow Me. Jesus is saying that what was once grievious to us is now desireable - namely, doing the will of God. This kind of LOVE does not come through our own doing or mustering up! It only comes through having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit!

It is written...
We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10

In God's first dealing with man, we see how God first deals with his sins, not with the sinner. A man commits "sins", therefore this is what he DOES. A man is "flesh", therefore this is who he is!
Sometime after his sins have been forgiven him the man will be shown (through the eyes of God) the rebellious and depraved condition he (i.e. his Old Man) is in. Through this vision or glimpse he will understand WHY he (i.e. "it") needs to be crucified with Christ. He cannot live a godly life until he receives his new man.

God did not forgive me of my sins in order to start me all over as a first-Adam person again!!! He had me crucified and buried with Christ; because what was there was defiled and depraved beyond repair. He did so in order that I may be born again and receive power from on high to be His witness and live in Him who is the last-Adam.

The cross of Christ has proven forever that God finds nothing of value in man nor of this world worth saving... otherwise we wouldn't need Christ at all, and we'd save ourselves! But we need His Grace and Mercy to escape His wrath!

Again... There are and must be "TWO" dealings done to us by God: One already done by God for the forgiveness of my SINS, but only appropriated by anyone who believes. The other (making me a new creature In Christ) done by God with my consent in order to to slay ME, MYSELF, and I, the old man, with Christ!

In God's first dealing with my sins we see that "I" (who I am), the sinful one, was not forgiven--instead "my sins" (what I did) were forgiven.
In God's second dealing with sin He deals with "ME", the sinner himself: "I am crucified with Christ"; therefore "I"; Positionally Speaking, died to myself, died to my old man, died to the power that my sin nature held over me, dying with Him and in Him.

POSITIONALLY SPEAKING, "me", "myself", and "I", "the old man", "the sinner himself", "the old Adamic nature", "this person born after the flesh who I always was", has been soundly dealt the death blow by God through my being crucified and buried with Christ.

Although "I" am still here, still in my flesh, "I" no longer operate in and of the flesh as I once did, but I now operate through a renewed mind and heart operating through faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me! (As Paul would say)

The "I" that I had always been - that creature, has been put to death; Positionally Speaking, in Christ, and buried forever. I am become a new "spiritual" creature in Christ, knowing God and eager to be His true witness. This "change", this "miracle of the new birth", happens the moment one becomes "born again", born of above, born of God!

Whereas before when I was flesh, I did everything according to my sin-nature (i.e. "flesh"), but now I live by faith in the Son of God and not by sight! Whereas before my position was one based on my flesh through "sight" (i.e. Genesis 3:5-6 as when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and their 'eyes' were opened). Now my "seeing" is based upon another type of "sight" altogether: one that sees clearly and has its base upon Christ called "faith"!

In that death with Christ the OLD me, myself and I no longer was. I don't have to try and make it so, I only have to "Reckon it so". The Lord Jesus' death for me redeemed me from having to pay the penalty for my sins! It was my death with Him that freed me from the power of following the condemned Adamic life and its reign. Afterwards, I received a most Glorious vision of the risen Christ (the same Christ that I had seen before as the man whom God sent to go to the cross for ME) as being none other than "the Lord God, the Almighty"!

In His resurrection and life I am set FREE [positionally speaking] from having to obey the sinful lusts of my old Adamic nature through a new birth in Christ. The flesh is still there - the lusts are still there - but they're dead and buried... and so long as I reckon my old self dead, I choose to walk in the power of the new man after the Spirit!

Not only has my OLD MAN been put to death with Christ, but all of my sins as well, along with my old sinful habits and thoughts of sin. Even the old thoughts I had of God have all been put to death as well, for such is the power of revelation in receiving the true knowledge of the Son of God.

Once the person has his sins forgiven and has become born again, he will hear his Lord say to him...

"Go, and sin no more!"