Question: How can a born again believer get control over his old sinful adamic nature?
Answer: By following the Master’s instruction and example.
In Matthew 3:13-15 we read in the NLT “Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.”
But John did not want to baptize him. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you”, he said, “so why are you coming to me?”
But Jesus said, “It must be done, because we must do everything that is right.”
So John baptized him.
In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus tells his disciples after his resurrection: “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Now let us turn to 2 Corinthians 5:14-20.
“Whatever we do, it is because Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves.
Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them.
Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though He were merely a human being. How different I think about him now!!
What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons.
They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!!
All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to Himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message He has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors and God is using us to speak to you.
Verse 17: “What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, because the old life is gone. A new life has begun!!!”
To confirm and to re-enforce this truth, the Lord has instituted the rule, that new believers should be baptized. Matt. 28:19
This is to give a tangible, outward expression to that which is happening on the inside. To express this change, the person goes down and is buried under the water, just like Jesus went into the grave and then he comes up out of the watery grave, just like Jesus arose from the grave.
It is a picture of the death of the old man, and of the resurrection of the new man – a new creation!!!
Romans 6:1-7
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become One with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by Baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious Power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.
We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.”
This same principle the apostle explains in Colossians 2:11-14. NLT
11 When you came to Christ, you were circumcised, but not by a physical procedure. It was a spiritual procedure – the cutting away of your sinful nature.
12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Jesus from the dead.
13 You were (spiritually) dead because of your sins and your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all your sins
14 He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross.
The Jewish New Testament translates it this way:
11 Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body
In this circumcision done by Christ, you were buried along with him by being immersed.
20 You have died with Christ and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world.
3:1-3 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven…”Let heaven fill your thoughts”
According to the preceding verses it seems to me that it is very important that a new believer be baptized by immersion as soon as possible. This was also done in the book of Acts on all occasions. This way a new believer will be able to start a new life of victory over his sinful adamic nature.
This overcoming life is only possible after God has supernaturally stripped away the controlling power of the old sinful nature in the burial of the old life.
Now the controlling power in the believer’s new life becomes the life of the Lord Jesus in his heart. The Lord Jesus has come to live in his heart by the Holy Spirit.
His life has now a new beginning under new management.
This is the secret of the transformation from the old to the new creation.
This is written in Colossians 1:27 “For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.
Also in Galatians 2:20 “I myself (the old self) no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body of faith (trusting and obeying) in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
In Romans 8:9-14 Paul writes: “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.
And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.
10 Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive, because you have been made right with God.
11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
And just as He raised Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.
12 So dear Christian friends you have NO OBLIGATION WHATSOEVER to do that your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God
——
The Master has provided for the transition of the control over your life from the old sinful nature to the control of the Holy Spirit.
Are we willing to follow our Lord’s instructions and do we believe in His supernatural Power???
(Handwritten Notes) Expect and ask also for the Baptism with the Holy Spirit at the time of the water baptism. Read Acts 19:1-6
Continue to part 2 of the Importance of Believer’s Baptism By Immersion
[…] I was younger, I never really thought about believer’s baptism being a special gift. In fact the thought of being baptized in front of a group of people scared […]