When we were baptized into Jesus Christ we were baptized into His death. As we go down under the water we are taking our place on the cross.

Death and resurrection are the mainspring of the Christian salvation. God is not in the business of saving our adamic nature, of bringing us to Heaven as we are. Today the Gospel is preached as though God's intention is to bring people to Heaven to reside there forever, but there is nothing like this in the Scriptures.

The purpose of God under every covenant is to cause people to behave righteously, to be holy, and to obey God implicitly. No covenant has as its purpose to bring people to the spirit Paradise to live forever.

God produced righteous behavior under the Law of Moses by commanding people to obey various laws and ordinances.

God produces righteous behavior under grace by crucifying our natural man and creating Christ in us. The goal is the same, the method is different.

God has "totaled" our first personality, to use a current term. He is not saving anything of it. Every human being has at least some good in him or her. But God is saving none of it. All must be crucified with Christ. The first creation was finished on the cross of Calvary.

The fact that God is not saving us but crucifying us is difficult for modern Americans to handle. They want God to help them perpetuate their adamic nature. This He never will do.

Is the first personality beyond redemption? Absolutely! Our best traits will prove to be corruptible if placed under enough pressure or temptation.

The reason people resist the preaching of righteous, holy behavior is that they never have declared themselves dead with Christ.

Every farmer knows that before you pluck a chicken you must cut off the chicken's head. If you do not there will be a commotion in the barnyard.

This is true of Christians. If we try to pluck the feathers of sin off them before they reckon themselves dead to sin you will hear all kinds of angry clucking.

The program of salvation is one of death and resurrection. We have been crucified with Christ. Therefore we are to act like we have been crucified with Christ. Every day we are to go to the Throne of Grace to get help so we can keep an upper hand over our worldliness, lust, and self-will and keep these sinful traits on the cross.

The battle against our sinful first personality is called the good fight of faith. During the time we fight the good fight of faith Christ is being formed in us. You can see from this that things get easier as you go along. Through the Spirit we keep putting our sinful nature to death. The new man of the heart, that which has been born of the Spirit, loves righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God and he is growing ever stronger if we are diligent in putting to death the deeds of our body.

Sometimes God leads older saints through severe trials. If they pray and don't quit the product is a jewel in the hand of God.

The only limitation on what God can do in our life is our willingness to be pruned. Pruning is death to the old nature but it results in a multiplication of Christ in the believer.

If we love the Lord let us glory in the cross by which the world is crucified to us and we to the world. Then each day will bring a working out of that death and also an ever increasing Presence of Christ in us.

Let's not try to save our life but lose it in Christ so we may bring forth a rich harvest of Christ in our personality.