Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the transformative journey from being in Adam to being in Christ, highlighting the significance of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in this transition. He explains that through regeneration, believers are taken out of the fallen nature of Adam, which is associated with sin and death, and are brought into the new life of Christ, characterized by righteousness and eternal life. The sermon calls for a reassessment of the place of God's Word in our lives, urging believers to cultivate a deeper hunger for Scripture to experience true transformation. Beach stresses that understanding this transition is foundational to the Christian faith and essential for living a victorious life in Christ.

Father, thank you so much for your presence. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who is so committed to the truth, so committed to glorifying the Son of God, so committed to making known to our hearts all that you have given your Son, the glory, the honor, the majesty, the place of preeminence, the place of honor. All heaven bows down and worships the Son. All angels cry out, you alone are worthy to receive glory, and honor, and power, and dominion, now and forever, world without end. And everybody bows down and falls down on their face and worships the Lord God and the Lamb. Oh God, thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who is so able and so capable of taking the things that pertain to Christ and making them known to our hearts, making them known to the depths of our being, and not only making them known, but also reproducing in us the moral beauty, the moral likeness and image of the blessed Son of God. And so today, Lord, we pray that you will take the Word of God and use it, Lord, to build into our lives a foundation upon which you can build the ultimate intention of your heart in life, which is to see in corporate manifestation the display, the manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ in our lives, His victory displacing all of the defeat, His glory displacing all of the shame, and His righteousness displacing all of the righteousness that would come from ourselves. Father, we pray, take the Word of God and plant it deeply in our hearts today for the glory of Christ. Amen and Amen. Amen. We're going to begin in Romans chapter 5, and I want to encourage you that if you are intending to take notes, that you get paper, you get a good sharp pencil, because we're going to be incorporating a lot of Scripture today as the Lord needs the Word of God in our life as a foundation if the Holy Spirit is going to be able to accomplish His full intention. We know this because after the ministries of the apostles in the New Testament church, they received the Holy Spirit, they received newness of life, but shortly thereafter, the Holy Spirit led Paul and all the apostles to write epistles, to write the Word of God, because God knew that not only did we need the Holy Spirit working in our life, but we needed the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit together with the Word of God work in order to produce the intention of God in our heart. So it is imperative, it is essential that we get the Word of God into our hearts. I want to encourage everyone to consider as a family, consider as an individual believer, to reassess the place that God's Word has in your life. To reassess it before the Lord. And to consider making a decision to come to the Lord and ask Him to create a deeper hunger and a deeper passion in your life for the Word of God and to create a place in your heart, a bigger place for the Word of God. Because you will find that as the Word of God gets into you and you are before the Lord in brokenness, you're before the Lord in humility, you're before the Lord with a teachable spirit, you're before the Lord with a desire to know Him. If the Word of God gets into your heart and gets into your mind, it will transform your life. You will find every single answer. Listen carefully, especially the young people. You will find every single answer to your heart's questions and longings as you search the Word of God. God's Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. God's Word is truth. God's Word is pure like gold with no dross. It is totally pure. God's Word cannot lie. God's Word is like a sword and it pierces down into the depths of our beings and exposes the very intentions, the very thoughts of our heart and mind with redemptive purposes in view. God exposes not to condemn us but to correct us that we might be transformed. And changed into the very image and likeness of Jesus Christ. So ask yourselves even now in the presence of God, what place does God's Word have in my mind, in my heart? What place am I giving God's Word in relation to my family? How would they assess you value God's Word if they watch you? Father, I pray before we begin that the Holy Spirit would bear witness to this, that the Holy Spirit would speak to every single person here and capacitate us to hear and to know the areas in our life that need to be readjusted so that the Word of God can have a bigger place. Decisions need to be made. Changes need to be made. Priorities need to be reassessed. The way time is spent, beloved, we get into habits, we get into creaturely habits that if we are not before the Lord at all times in His presence, these creaturely habits can be like the tide of a river that just lead us right past the Lord's highest intention for our life. They can lead us right past them in such an unassuming way. This can happen among people who have been delivered from legalism especially. The Bible is totally opposed to legalism. Laws, rules, as the basis of our righteousness before God. And when people have been strong in legalism and they get free, there's such an emancipation to the soul, there's such a freedom, there's such a liberty. Hallelujah, I'm free in Christ. But the danger of being free from legalism is the other extreme, which is I now am not governed by any law. I can basically do as I feel in Christ. But if we assess our lives in the light of God's word, often times that results in a lifestyle that leads us away from really obeying the word of God. So we have to pray for God's grace to work in our lives, to keep teaching us and instructing us so that we come to the place where our lives are governed by Christ, by the Holy Spirit, and union with the word of God and our passions are in alignment with the truth of God's word. Romans chapter 5, we're going to begin. And in Romans chapter 5, we're going to discover the great, great transition from having been in Adam to now in Christ Jesus. The foundation of the Christian life, the foundation of the existence of the church, the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is rooted in the revelation that through the preaching of the gospel and through the power of being saved through the regeneration of the spirit, we have been translated out of Adam who, by the way, Adam is the jurisdiction or the territory of the kingdom of darkness. All the kingdom of darkness, all the principalities, all the powers, all the strategies, all the evil in this world today, all of the philosophies that are contrary to God, contrary to Christ, have their strength in Adam. Because in Adam, there is a corresponding nature that corresponds to the kingdom of darkness. And so there's something in Adam that corresponds to the diabolical evil and the diabolical plans that the enemy himself is seeking to propagate in the world. And so the fundamental truth that we have to see is that in regeneration, in the new birth, we are translated out of the kingdom of darkness. Not only the kingdom of darkness, but we are translated out of Adam and we are now in Christ. And the Bible says they're both men. The first man, the last man. It is very significant for us to understand that God has translated us out of one kind of humanity. It is a fallen humanity that is under the power of darkness. Under the power of the devil. Under the power of sin. And we're going to thoroughly see that this morning in scripture. And through faith and through the power of the regenerating spirit of God and through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are translated out of Adam into Christ, into a new man. The man Christ Jesus in whom there is a nature that corresponds exactly to his father in heaven. Jesus told the Pharisees that they had a nature in John, the book of John, that corresponded to their father. And when they questioned him and said, well, our father is Abraham, Jesus said, if your father was Abraham, you would do the same works as Abraham. And Abraham didn't hate me and didn't seek to kill me. Matter of fact, Abraham longed to see my day and did see it and rejoiced. So if you were of your father Abraham, you would be like him. He said, but you're of your father the devil and his works you do. And so Adam, the Bible says in Genesis that Adam was created in the image of God. Now that's uniquely what God said to Adam. Adam was created in the image of God. But after the fall, Adam was defiled and then the Bible says that Adam and Eve brought forth children after whose image? God's image? No. The Bible says that once Adam and Eve fell, were cast out of the garden and they began to bring forth, the Bible clearly says in Genesis that they began to bring forth children in the image and likeness of Adam. And so all people are in the image and likeness of Adam, which is a flawed, fallen image. But in Christ, we have a man. We have a man who is in the image and likeness of his father in heaven. And so this is the fundamental basis of what Christianity is. It has utterly nothing to do with religion, churchianity. It has nothing to do with that which man creates, that which man is running, that which man is doing in the sphere of religion. It has nothing to do with that. Christianity is all about the transition from one kind of man being incorporated into, and that is not a figure of speech, it is a reality. We are literally incorporated by supernatural rebirth. We are incorporated into an altogether different kind of humanity, and that is the humanity that Christ Jesus himself possesses as the glorified man in heaven, right now, set down at the right hand of God the Father. Hallelujah! That's the humanity that we have been incorporated into. And that humanity is the image and likeness of the invisible God. Romans chapter 5. This is the foundational framework. In Romans chapter 5, we're going to begin reading. Actually, you know what we're going to do? We're going to just read the whole verse, the whole chapter. I'm reading from the Moffat translation, so it's going to be a little bit different, but I chose this translation because I like the way it is reading the Greek language. I find it to be very instructive and very accurate. Verse 1. And we are justified by faith. Let us enjoy the peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For through him we have got access to this grace, where we have our standing and triumph in the hope of God's glory. Not only so, but we triumph even in our troubles, knowing that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, a hope which never disappoints us, since God's love floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us. For when we were still in weakness, Christ died in due time for the ungodly. For the ungodly. Why? A man will hardly die for the just, though one might bring oneself to die, if need be, for a good man. But God proves his love for us by this, that Christ died for us when we were still sinners. Much more than now that we are justified by his blood, shall we be saved by him from wrath. If we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son when we were enemies, much more now shall we be reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Not only so, but we triumph in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we now enjoy our reconciliation. Alright, now that was the introductory part. This is the part, this is it, verses 12 all the way down to verse number 21. This is neglected because it's difficult to understand in the King James Version. If you read it in the King James Version, you can't understand the logic. And often times people skip this. But this is one of the most important scriptures in the New Testament because it is the scriptural framework that defines this great transition, which is the basis of our salvation. So you make a note, read Romans 5, 12 through 21 in a different translation other than the King James Version. I recommend the Amplified or the New American Standard or even a more modern one as long as it's accurate. Because if you get the revelation of these next verses from 12 on to 21, your life will never be the same. It will never be the same. Alright? Verse 12, Thus then, sin came into the world by one man. Notice, underline all the times it mentions man. Adam, man. Christ, man. There's a reason why Paul is emphasizing the humanity of Jesus Christ. Because in this context, he is demonstrating that Christ Jesus came as the last Adam. Man. He came as the last Adam. The second man, the last Adam. In order for God to secure his purpose of rescuing us. God doesn't rescue us in Adam. He rescues us out of Adam. He doesn't rescue us in ourselves. He rescues us by delivering us out of ourselves. What a revelation. What an emancipation. What a victory. What a glory. This is the gospel. This is the gospel that Paul preached and Peter preached. This is the gospel that cost them their life. This is the gospel that cost them martyrdom. So radical. So then, sin came into the world by one man. And death came in by sin. And so death spread to all men inasmuch as all men sinned. Sin was indeed in the world before the law. But sin is never counted in the absence of law. Nevertheless, from Adam to Moses, death reigned over those whose sins were not like Adam's transgression. Adam prefigured him who was to come. But the gift is very different from the trespass. For while the rest of men died by the trespass of one man, the trespass of Adam, everyone in Adam died because of the one trespass of Adam. The grace of God and the free gift which comes by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflowed far more richly upon the rest of men. So, he's showing, he said that Adam was a prefigure of Christ. That is, Adam was a picture of what ultimately would happen when Christ, the man from heaven, came. One man sinned, many died. One man is righteous and obedient, and because of his righteousness and obedience, many are made righteous. That's what he's saying here. Verse 16. Nor is the free gift like the effect of the one man's sin. There's a difference in the effect. For while the sentence ensuing on a single sin resulted in doom, the sentence of a single sin resulted in the doom of the whole human race. But now watch this. The free gift ensuing on many trespasses ensues its acquittal. So, the one sin results in the condemnation of all, but the free gift that comes from Jesus Christ results in the acquittal of all the transgressions, all the sins, complete acquittal in Christ. For if the trespass of one man allowed death to reign through that one man, much more shall those who receive the overflowing grace and free gift of righteousness reign in life through one, through Jesus Christ. Well then, as one man's trespass issued doom for all, as one man's act of obedience issued an acquittal and life for all. Just as, see he keeps going over and over and over again. There is a reason why. This is not just redundance to get weary. This is redundance because there is a transition that has happened here in the book of Romans and Paul is taking the reader on a journey from out of Adam into Christ. And the consequences and results are nothing short of life changing. That's why he keeps showing the difference in different ways he's saying the same thing. Verse 19, just as one man's disobedience made all the rest sinners, so one man's obedience will make all the rest righteous. Law slipped in to aggravate the trespass and sin increased, but grace surpassed it far so that while sin had reigned the reign of death, grace might also reign with a righteousness that ends in life eternal through Christ Jesus our Lord. And so with these scriptures as we meditate on these scriptures, we are discovering that there is a complete transition as I mentioned earlier through redemption and through those who partake of the free gift of God in the man Christ Jesus out of Adam into Christ. Out of one manhood under the power of the kingdom of darkness whose nature is like the devil into an entirely new manhood, humanity the Holy Spirit comes to the believer in the new birth and in the Holy Spirit is inherent the full measure of that humanity that is in Jesus Christ the moral righteousness of that humanity, the moral image of God in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's job is to reproduce now in the new creation man which is the church the image and likeness of the man in heaven in our lives. So we've experienced a great transition from one humanity and image that we got from Adam into an entirely different new humanity that we got from the man Christ Jesus to bear his moral image and likeness. Now, let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and this is another foundational scripture 1 Corinthians chapter 15 beginning in verse number 45 1 Corinthians 15 verse 45 and so it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul so in Adam we are made a living soul the last Adam was made a life giving spirit how be it that which that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual. For the first man that's Adam is of the earth and is earthly or pertains to earth pertains to that which is natural the second man there you go, the second man is the Lord from heaven and as is the earthly such are they also that are earthly and as is the heavenly so also are they that are heavenly now why is Paul here talking again about two different types of men? See it's not hard for us to recognize what we are in our humanity is it? So many times people say well this is just the way I am in my humanity. The problem is we are so conscious of what we are in our humanity that we inherited from our mom and dad that often times we are oblivious and really ignorant of the new humanity that we inherited in Christ Jesus and because of this ignorance we seemingly feel trapped but notice what Paul says I want to read it in another version here 1 Corinthians chapter 15 beginning in verse number 46 45 46 the first Adam the first man Adam became a living being and the last Adam a life giving spirit but the natural not the spiritual comes first and only then the spiritual listen man the first is from the earth material man see when the scripture speaks of man it's talking about mankind it's talking about not only singular ok and that refers to man but it's talking corporate meaning man as when God looks down from heaven he sees two men he sees the first Adam and the last Adam so all he sees is two types of humanities in the world two types of humanities the first Adam is one man head and body every all the children of Adam are in his image and likeness and then the last Adam and the last Adam is Christ Jesus and those children who are spiritually belonging to him are bearing his image and his likeness and so remember when the scripture speaks of a man it's singular and corporate the man Christ Jesus it's speaking of the head Christ Jesus himself the head Jesus that same Jesus that was raised from the dead it is now the right hand of the throne of God but it's also referring to the body those in Christ who are incorporated into that man and through the Holy Spirit and regeneration are bone of his bone flesh of his flesh when he looks the head at his body he sees himself he sees his life just like when Adam looked at his children he said I see my image and likeness when Christ looks at us through the new birth and through the Holy Spirit he sees something in us that came exclusively from him from him verse 7 47 man the first is from the earth material man the second is from heaven man the second is from heaven as man the material is so are the material as man the heavenly is so are the heavenly thus as we have born the likeness of material or natural man so we are to bear that is not verse 49 is not simply to mean a future bearing but it is a present idea as we have born the image of the earth so we are to be bearing right now the image of or the likeness of the heavenly man how we need God to emancipate us from that which is not true from that which is not according to God's word and how we need to meditate on the truth of God's word so that the Holy Spirit will take these foundational truths and give us a vision of the man in glory the man in glory everything that pertains to our salvation has to do with the man in glory everything Christianity doesn't exist if you separate it from the person of Jesus Christ and turn it into a system of religion it doesn't exist God did not come to establish a system of religion he came to install a new man in heaven in whom God says he is fully satisfied he is fully pleased upon whom God has fulfilled all the promises that God had in his heart from eternity for man they were forfeited by the first Adam who sinned Adam never did partake of the tree of life he was driven out he couldn't partake he fell into a state of depravity but God says I'm still going to find a man in whom I can fulfill all my promises and he found that man in his son and now that manhood that corporate humanity which includes all those that are in Christ upon them God has now focused all of his attention all of his promises and all of his intentions to conform them into the image of the first born the Lord Jesus Christ and to fulfill all his purposes in and through them. Now what we want to do now is we want to demonstrate from scriptures the difference between Adam and Christ and what the Bible says about the two. First of all, the Bible says in Genesis chapter 2 you don't have to turn to it but I suggest you write these down. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 it talks about Adam was created and made a living soul and the New Testament scriptures for that is 1 Corinthians 15.45 Genesis 2.17 God says if you eat of the knowledge of the good and evil you'll what? You'll die. You'll die. 1 Corinthians 15.22 says what? 1 Corinthians verse 21 For since death came by man by man also resurrection from the dead. As all die in Adam so shall all be made alive in Christ Jesus. So that was 1 Corinthians 15.21 and 22 Brothers and sisters this is we've got to lay a doctrinal foundation for all truth but it has got to be translated from doctrine to reality and that's where the Holy Spirit through life and life situations will do it. But we've got to have this doctrinal foundation in our mind. So we see that God says in Adam because of sin all died. Romans chapter 8 verse 2 In Adam Romans 8.2 There is the law of sin and death working in Adam. So in your notes and in your study begin to make a list. In Adam there is sin. In Adam there is death. In Adam there is the law of sin and death. Romans 8 verse 2 For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from what? The law of sin and death. We have been emancipated from the law of sin and death but we're not going to go into what's in Christ yet. We're dealing with Adam now. Alright? John 6.63 6.63 John 6.63 Now when Adam sinned the Bible says he became flesh. Okay? So when the scripture refers to flesh in the New Testament it's referring to that which we inherited from our natural parents that is an enmity to God. Not that which we inherited from our natural parents that is part of our human constitution. Like we inherited a spirit. We inherited a mind. That is not intrinsically evil. But it is the flesh that is rejected of God. It is the flesh that is the law of sin and death that's working in our members. That has been set aside by God. That flesh in John 6 verse 63 the Bible says the flesh profits nothing. The flesh profits nothing. That which we inherited from Adam that has been condemned by God profits nothing. John Romans chapter 7 verse 14 through 20 Romans 7 14 through 20 The I or when we are under the control or we are in Adam or under the control of the sin in Adam the Bible says in Romans 7 14 through 20 there is nothing but failure and defeat. Nothing but failure and defeat. Romans chapter 7 verses 14 through 20 The failure and this is identified as the failure of I in Adam. The failure. The utter failure. Ephesians 4 22 Ephesians 4 22 is the corruption that is in Adam. Ephesians 4 22 that you put off concerning the former way of life. Like the old man. What is the old man? It's this. It's the manhood. The old man. The manhood that we inherited in Adam that is corrupt. Whatever's in us that we got from our parents that's corrupt. We put it off in Christ. But it's corrupt. As long as we know what the Bible says. What we're doing is we're laying a foundation. What does the Bible say about this humanity that we inherited from Adam that was corrupted at the fall? It says it's corrupt. Ephesians chapter 4 22 Now we also in Romans 8 6 we inherited a mind that's after the flesh. Romans 8 Romans 8 6 For to be fleshly minded is death. So there is a mind after the flesh. That is if the mind is set on fulfilling and following the desires of flesh that the mind is set on aligning itself with the corruption that we inherited from Adam. The Bible clearly says that that mind is death. That mind will lead to death. Not to life or to please God. Romans 7 18 No good thing dwells in our flesh. Romans 7 18 No good thing. That is there is an inability in the flesh to produce a righteousness that is acceptable to God. There is no good thing in our flesh. No matter how hard we try in Adam we fail. We fail. Galatians 6 8 The Bible says that if we are in the flesh or in Adam and our life is filled with the works of the flesh or the works of the first Adam, we shall reap destruction or corruption. That's Galatians 6 8 Galatians 6 8 In Adam we reap corruption. Romans 6 21 Romans 6 21 The result the end result of living in Adam is death. It's death. The end result is death. Oh how we need emancipation. How we need victory. And now let's look at some more of what the Bible says about this Adam. It is so imperative that we learn this because then the Holy Spirit has something to work with in order to move our hearts more and more in a capacity to see the heavenliness of Christ. God wants us to see the verdict that he has placed on this Adam and the Adam life that we inherited that is altogether unfit in the kingdom of God. In John 8 15 and 16 it is possible to judge after the flesh. John 8 15 and 16 there is judging after the flesh and that judgment is not righteous judgment. It is inaccurate and it will always deceive us. And so God's mission is to deliver us from judging after the flesh that we might judge righteously. Secondly these are actions that we can be engaging in while yet being under the power and control of that which corresponds to the first Adam. First one is judging after the flesh. Secondly, 2 Corinthians 1 17 making plans after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 1 17 Paul here is referring to the his life and he is asking the Corinthians do I make plans after the flesh and the answer of course was no my plans are not after the flesh. But it is possible to make plans after the flesh and those plans will ultimately burn. They will burn up because they are not acceptable to God. Remember we have been translated out of and into Christ. Our plans we study the life of Paul and you can see a man that plans after the spirit. A man that governs after the spirit. What a drastic difference you see when you study the life of Paul versus the life of a man who is yet still entrenched in the first Adam. What a difference. Number 3 Number 3 We can boast in the flesh. Galatians 6 14 1 Corinthians 1 29 Boasting in the flesh. Bragging in the flesh. Being proud of what we are in the flesh. That's 1 Corinthians 1 29 and Galatians 6 14 Next I want to just, like I said I want to just lay this foundation I know I am going a bit rapid but I want to get these scriptures out. We will have the tape available. Next, the Bible says in Galatians 6 12 and 13 Galatians 6 12 and 13 We can make a good appearance in the flesh. Make a good appearance in the flesh. These are all the subtle works of the flesh that need to be exposed by the work of God in our life as we are in His light and in His presence and we need to be emancipated from being controlled by these so that we can be fully baptized into the man in glory and it's His movements that are working in and through our life. And then there is 2 Corinthians 5 16 knowing after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 5 16 Knowing after the flesh. A fleshly fellowship. A fleshly knowing of one another after the flesh. Now, we're going to close this section of the study by looking at four commands that God gives regarding the flesh to the believer. In light of all of this truth that we have just seen in the Word of God, in light of it, in light of the actions we can judge after the flesh, we can make plans after the flesh, we can boast in the flesh, we make a good appearance in the flesh, we can seek to know people after the flesh, as well as the foundation that we laid before that, all of the truth in Adam, the law of sin and death, the flesh profits nothing, the failure of the eye, the corruption, the mind of the flesh, the corruption we reap, seeing that all of it ends in death, in light of all that, what does God say? Well, there's no guessing. We don't have to guess. It's not a matter of what you think or I think. Here's what God's Word says. Number one. Romans 13, 14. Now, I'm going to get this big Bible and turn it and read because I like the version here. This is the Young's literal translation. Romans 13, 14. Now, I'll tell you brothers and sisters, listen carefully. If we're filled with the Holy Spirit and we're seeing Jesus, it's a life that is fulfilling the Scriptures. See, God empowers us to obey His Word. It's not trying to obey out of our strength, but as we are incorporated into Christ and filled with Christ and we see Christ, brothers and sisters, we're going to be actively engaging in following these Scriptures. What did John say? If you love me, keep my commandments. See, so being incorporated into Christ and filled with the Spirit, yes, we're free from legalism in that it is no longer us trying to please God by obeying Him and hoping that we can merit His favor. That's all dead in Christ. But now in Christ our hearts are filled with love and passion and desire and God is writing His law in our hearts and we are desiring to do His will and whatever God's Word says, we go to Christ and in Christ we find the power and strength to obey it. Because it's the law of life in Christ Jesus that fulfills the requirements of the law. Romans 13, 14 the first commandment about the flesh. We are to make no provision for the flesh. Romans what was that? 13, 14. Begin in verse 11. And this knowing the time that for us the hour already is to be aroused out of sleep. Oh, I love this. It's time to be aroused out of sleep. I don't want to start preaching. I want to continue to teach, but it's difficult. The hour, it's time to arouse ourselves out of sleep. Brothers and sisters, sleep sleep, spiritual sleep is what characterizes Laodicea. And God says Laodicea makes him sick. So sick that he's about to vomit out Laodicea. God says it's time to arouse ourselves. And this isn't talking about working up emotions and getting all emotional. It has nothing to do with emotion. Arousing ourselves out of sleep is awaking to our union with Christ and being empowered to obey the word of God. It's as simple as that. Let me tell you, being a Christian, a devoted Christian, can be at many times a very uneventful life. Uneventful meaning of, it can be very boring to your flesh, to your natural life. It's not always a hip and a hop and a shout. It's doing what you know God says you need to do, in spite of your feelings. Arouse out of sleep and now nearer our salvation than when we did believe. The night did advance and the day came nigh. Let us lay aside, therefore, the works of darkness. That's what it means to arouse ourselves out of sleep. Lay aside all the works of darkness. Don't let darkness have anything to do in your life. No darkness at all. Nothing. No darkness. Being a Christian, we don't decide. We don't say, well, I'm going to let this, but I'm not going to. No. No darkness. Lay aside all darkness. Therefore, the works of the darkness. And let us put on the armor of light, as in the day. Let us walk becomingly. Not in reveling and drunkenness. Not in chambering and lasciviousness. Not in strife. Listen. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the flesh, take no forethought for the desires as to how to fulfill them. First commandment. Don't take forethought how to fulfill the desires of your flesh. Now notice what the Bible doesn't say. That the desires of the flesh are eradicated when you become a Christian. Doesn't say that. Doesn't say that. So don't be alarmed if you wake up one day, or you're walking around, and all of a sudden you discover that in you there's these raging desires that you know are not right. Don't think something's wrong. No. But be careful how you respond to them. Be careful what you do with them, because the Bible says if you're full of the Holy Ghost, you'll make no provision. You'll take no forethought, and you won't think of a way to fulfill those desires. What do you do with them? What do you do with them? You place them where God places them. Crucified with Christ. Buried with Christ. And set aside in Christ. Number two. Galatians 5.13 The second thing God says about the flesh is we are not to use our freedom in Christ as an opportunity to follow the flesh. Galatians 5.13 For you to freedom you were called, brethren, only not the freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love serve one another. So don't allow your freedom in Christ. Galatians 5.13 To seduce you into believing that freedom equals license. We are not called in Christ so that we have a license now to follow our fleshly desires. Because we're not under law, we're under grace. No. Now that we're in Christ we are to be filled with love, filled with his spirit, and that freedom is supposed to emancipate us from the slavery of sin and selfishness so that in love we can lay our life down for one another. Number three. The Bible says in Philippians 3.3 We are to place no confidence in the flesh. Place no confidence in the flesh. Philippians 3.3 And lastly in Jude 1.23 We are to hate the garments spotted with flesh. Now in context what that is talking about and this is very very important for Christians to understand. It's talking about helping people. And often times Christians start out with a sincere desire. Oh I want to help this dear brother but he's struggling with sin. But in doing so the dear brother who wants to help is suddenly finding himself tempted with the very sin that he's trying to help his brother with. And that's why the Bible says we must hate the garments spotted with flesh. In all of our endeavor to help people, in all of our endeavor to show the kindness of God and the love of God amidst people that are struggling, you better always pray that God gives you the capacity to love the person but clearly detest and despise every bit of sin that you might see is there in their life. Because if you don't hate the garments spotted with flesh, you'll be seduced by them. You'll be seduced. Now I want to say that this is not inclusive, meaning I did not go through all the scriptures, but this is foundational. Now, what time is it? About 115, 120? Alright, obviously I can't go on because I don't want to weary you, but this is only half. The other half now is a glorious litany of scriptures that demonstrate the truth about being in Christ. But we'll have to wait until next time we gather for that. Joe's shaking his head no. Well, we're going to have it on tape. The problem is if I begin it, it's as long or possibly a little longer. So we're looking at another hour and I don't want to weary everyone. This is in China and I know that everyone's not accustomed to it, but trust me, in China we would go 2 hours, take a 10 minute break, 2 hours, then maybe an hour to an hour and a half dinner. This is after lunch. Of course in breakfast it's 2 hours break, 2 hours lunch, and then 2 hours break, another maybe hour dinner, and then even at some places after dinner they wanted another hour. It's exhausting. So, we're not going to go into the scriptures that pertain to being in Christ, but I want to challenge everyone to get alone this week and read through these scriptures and then next time we get together we'll delve into the other side of the promises of God in Christ, and once this gets into our heart, and once this gets into our mind, it'll truly, truly be revolutionary.