The Spirit brings us through a multitude of experiences. We have to put to death the sin in our nature through the Spirit. We have to reckon ourselves alive in God through Christ and seated with Him at the right hand of God. We have to get the Lord's help in overcoming every adversary.

We will be tested as to our love of the world, our love of pleasure, and our self-love and self-will. We must pass every test. When we stumble we are to get up and fight on. We must be totally obedient to the revealed will of God, both in the Scriptures and also to His will revealed to us personally.

We must keep the goal before us and never cast away our confidence that what God has begun in our life He will finish to perfection.

This is what it means to live by faith. Living by faith means interacting continually with God through Christ rather than trusting our own wisdom and strength to enable us to live each day.

The Program of Transition From Moses to Christ

The first man, Adam, was born of our parents. It is he that the Law of Moses watches very carefully. Adam will never be admitted to the Kingdom of God no matter what he does. It is the new creation, Christ formed in us, that is the new covenant; that is the Kingdom of God; that is salvation.

The first man has been assigned to the cross with Christ. This is where he belongs.

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24)

The new creation has no need of the Law of Moses. The new man cannot sin, having been born of God.

The question is, how does one get from the old man to the new man?

The answer is, by the Spirit of God.

Let us see how the program of transition operates:

The believer grasps the goal, which is change into the moral image of Christ (finally change into the bodily image provided the moral change is successful), and untroubled rest in the Father through Christ.

The believer recognizes his adamic nature is unable to attain either of these goals.

The believer makes a clear, unqualified decision to put to death his old nature by obeying the commandments of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit enables him to do this.

The believer makes a clear, unqualified decision to live henceforth in the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus, as the Spirit of God enables.

The old, adamic nature is rendered powerless and Christ is formed in the personality.

The believer grasps the goal, which is change into the moral image of Christ (finally change into the bodily image provided the moral change is successful), and untroubled rest in the Father through Christ.

The two-dimensional goal must be kept firmly in mind. Today the goal is viewed as eternal residence in Paradise in a mansion. This is not a scriptural goal. Because the wrong goal is being presented, the whole plan of redemption has become unscriptural and confused. The blood of Jesus is understood to be a ticket to Heaven instead of an atonement that enables Adam to approach the Mercy Seat so he may obtain the Divine grace necessary for his change into the new creation.

To be continued.