THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN CHRIST

                               by J W LUMAN

We are dealing with the truth of the reality of being in Christ. I trust that 
the Lord will begin to open the eyes of our understanding. It is only by the 
Holy Spirit that our eyes can be opened. We can hear about this, and most of 
us have heard, and we've taken this business of being "in Christ" and 
attributed it to John Calvin and we call it "Calvinism". But it is not 
Calvinism - it is THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN CHRIST. And if we make a doctrine out 
of something, generally we take out all the truth or at least the life out of 
it. We make a tradition out of it and then we begin to divide the Church with 
it and we make a harmful weapon out of it at that point. But let us see it as 
a truth that may be revealed by the Holy Spirit - because there is a place 
prepared of the Father for you and I. And that place is IN CHRIST JESUS! And 
we were put there when we were born again. We are to live there, to walk 
there, to sit there, to stand there, to move there and to have our being 
there. We are to live as out from there. And the only way that we can know the 
reality of that place is by having the eyes of our understanding enlightened 
by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 

And as we begin to see the truth as it is in Christ, and begin to grasp hold 
with our spirit the reality of being in Christ, many of the problems that the 
Church faces of divisions and strife and envy and personalities just simply 
begin to fall by the wayside. Because you shall know the truth, and THE TRUTH 
SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.

Now, in the beginning, God saw all things in Christ. And not only that, He 
chose you and I in Christ Jesus - that's where He chose us in the beginning. 
Man started out on what we understand was "the way" but somehow along the way, 
man fell from the way. And the fall was real. It's not a figment of somebody's 
imagination - it's real. Man stands in need of redemption. Man stands in need 
of salvation. Man is lost and on his way to hell without salvation. This is 
the result of the fall. What happened is man fell - God did not fall. God's 
plan was not scratched. God didn't throw his hands up and say 'I made a 
colossal mistake, I'm never going to get everything in Christ, I'm never going 
to have a people in my image, I'm never going to have a household of sons. Woe 
is me!' That is not what God has said. God didn't fall. His plan didn't fall; 
what He saw from the beginning, what HE chose - that He chose us in Christ 
Jesus. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end declared Himself 
from the beginning as He is in the end. And in the beginning He saw every son 
that He's ever going to have complete in Christ Jesus! That's where He saw us, 
and that's where He wants us. And that's where He has put us. And it is that 
knowledge that He seeks to fill us with. 

He hasn't changed a bit. His plan has not changed. He didn't fall. Man fell 
from the way. But, THE WAY REMAINS THE SAME. It has not changed a bit. The end 
is the same as it always was. The plan of God is safe today. Man fell, and 
when man fell he fell in a deep abyss, a deep hole as it were. And God came to 
the rescue of man through the work and the wisdom and the power of the cross. 
But the shame of it is, most believers today do not know the wisdom and the 
work and the power of the cross. This is the whole problem today. And it is 
the same problem as it was in the Church when Paul wrote these letters - the 
Church has not grasped the truth as it is in Christ, the Church has not 
grasped the wisdom and the power and the working of the cross, the Church does 
not actually know what happened at the cross. Man fell, but he did not just 
become a sinner, he did not just fall to do bad things. When we think of sin 
we think of sinning. But sin is more than sinning, doing things. Sin has to do 
with falling from the way, not just doing bad things. This is important 
because when the cross was established, man was reconciled. The Bible says, " 
... being reconciled by his blood, being reconciled by his death, we shall be 
saved by His life." THE CROSS WROUGHT A TOTAL AND COMPLETE RECONCILIATION.

I'm telling you that more happened at the cross than just having some sins 
forgiven. But we preach the cross only in partial truth. We preach that at the 
cross this man is in sin. But we don't know what sin is. Sin is one who has 
fallen from the way. He hasn't just done some bad things, he is a fallen, 
degenerate creature, a degenerated old man with no hope, no good in him at 
all! This is not about any of his goodness. He is absolutely fallen from the 
way of God, a degenerate old man, old creation on your way to hell - it 
doesn't matter how good you are. When Adam fell, the whole creation fell with 
him. The fact that you can muster up some good works doesn't mean a thing. The 
fact that you are kind to little children, pay your taxes and don't cheat on 
your wife doesn't mean a thing. But people get that idea from most preachers 
because most preachers preach that salvation is 'not doing' or 'doing'. Most 
preachers preach that all we get saved from is a bunch of sins; that salvation 
is just straightening up your life, living better. So the sinner says, 'well, 
I'm just as good as they are.' And he compares sins with sins and works with 
works. That's not the power of the cross - that's not all that happened to 
you.

God didn't save us and leave us down here. We fell down in a hole, away from 
the way, lost, undone, ungodly, unregenerate, no hope, without God! If we 
don't understand that we're never going to understand the power of the cross. 
Be as good as you want to be, you're still in a hole! You have fallen from the 
way. The cross bridges the gap! The power of the cross brings complete 
reconciliation. Reconciliation means "joined back unto". It means "made one 
with". That's more than our concept of forgiveness of sins. That may be 
involved, but reconciliation is more than just forgiveness, it is being 
brought back unto a place, being brought back unto a Person, being joined unto 
a Person. Not just forgiven and left down in a hole, but being brought back up 
out of a hole and joined unto a person. We're being reconciled back to where 
God chose us in the beginning! RECONCILED ALL THE WAY BACK IN CHRIST JESUS!

But we build our little step ladders. We say we're saved from sin, now we'll 
get sanctified, now I'll get baptized in the Holy Ghost, now I'll get some 
gifts, then I'll get something else. We're just working our way up, and on 
every level we want to stop and make a campground - and there are whole 
denominations formed because that's all they think the power of the cross is. 
Folks, the power of the cross comes through every bit of that, brings you all 
the way back up and puts you right where God saw you from the beginning - IN 
CHRIST JESUS - whole and complete! " For in Him dwelleth the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him." And everything you want to name 
and make a rung on a ladder are all true and are all in Christ Jesus! They are 
not "on your way to getting there" - they are there! For He is made unto us 
wisdom, He is made unto us righteousness, He is made unto sanctification, He 
is made unto us total redemption. It is all right there in Him! And that's 
where you are - IN HIM!

You are not here trying to climb up out of the hole, thank God, by the power 
of the cross you were taken out of one place and put into the Son. And Jesus 
said, " I AM THE WAY." And the hole is filled up as though it never was. Yes 
sir, to those that come up by way of the cross, by way of the resurrection. 
For not only are we crucified with Him, but we are raised up together. And He 
is set down at the right hand of the Father, above all principality and power, 
above every name that is named, and if that's where He is, then that's where 
you are too! RAISED UP TOGETHER WITH HIM. This is GREAT SALVATION! You don't 
measure great salvation by the depth of the hole, and compare the greatness of 
salvation by the greatness of our sin. No - you don't have a greater salvation 
because of your greater sin. We all fell down in the bottom of the same pit. 
Salvation is not measured by the depth of the hole, it's measured by the 
fulness of Christ! And I'm in Him and He's in me, and that's the measure of 
your salvation. When I realized that I quit preaching sin as salvation and 
began to preach Christ as salvation!

We are raised up together with Him and made to sit together, right where God 
saw us from the very beginning. And to you and I who have been raised up, the 
bridge has been completed. What did Jesus say? "I AM THE WAY." He didn't say 
He'll show you a way. "I AM THE TRUTH. I AM THE LIFE. NO MAN CAN COME UNTO THE 
FATHER BUT BY ME." Jesus proceeded out from the Father. Oh, the love of God! 
He suffered the same fall we did, He turned loose of His equality with God. He 
laid it aside and He made Himself of no reputation. He took upon Himself the 
form of a servant. He was found in the likeness of man and He became obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross. But the grave could not hold Him. 
Because it was not His sin, it was my sin that He took. And He put both the 
sin and the sinner to a death on the cross. And now HE IS RAISED UP! Up from 
the grave He arose! He is seated now where God saw Him in the beginning, and 
all those that come by way of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus 
Christ are seated right there in Him! The bridge is made, the hole is closed 
up and to you and I that are in Jesus Christ, it is just as though the whole 
affair never did ever exist! Get it out of your mind, erase it out of your 
hearts. It is gone!

Ye are seated in Christ Jesus right where God saw you, right where God chose 
you from the very beginning. And now we are to walk out the fulness of that 
life that is in Christ, and we are to come to the realization - real 
understanding of our being in Christ Jesus! I'm not on my way there - I AM 
THERE! What I'm doing is walking out the fulness of it, walking out the height 
and depth of it, but I'm not down in the hole trying to get there. We must 
have the eyes of our understanding opened that we can see that we are in 
Christ and begin to live according to the truth of it. Throw your step ladder 
away! You have been raised up together. 

Look at this truth in Ephesians 2:1. I want us to understand the term 
"together" means as one. That's a Greek definition and it is glorious. Do you 
believe He was raised up from the dead? YOU ARE RAISED UP TOGETHER. Do you 
believe He sits at the right hand of the Father? YOU SIT TOGETHER. Your 
natural eye can not see this, we are in a realm that the natural eye can not 
see. We live in a realm that the natural hand can not feel, the natural ear 
can not hear. But when the eyes of our understanding are enlightened and we 
begin to see and walk and comprehend, we will begin to live on this earth as 
we are in heavenly places. We will walk out the truth, live out the truth, 
minister out the truth, and we will manifest the truth! That's what the 
manifestation of Christ in the sons of God is all about - simply manifesting 
the truth in the earth as it is in Christ Jesus. 

" And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which in 
time past ye walked..." Now Paul begins to describe not just the doing of bad 
things, but a whole world, a whole creation, a whole realization that you and 
I used to walk in and talk in and sleep in. It's a creation that you can see 
with your eyes, because that's what the fallen creation is - one you can know 
with your senses. Why did Eve eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil instead of the tree of life? Because she could see the tree of knowledge 
of good and evil. It appealed to her senses - it looked good. It didn't make 
any difference that God said don't do it - it appealed to her senses. This is 
the pitiful thing - we still find this condition in the Church today! It 
doesn't make any difference whether it's right or wrong - it just appeals to 
our senses. It looks good so there mustn't be anything wrong with it. We try 
to learn God through those same senses. We don't understand that there is a 
spiritual man within us who has another set of eyes and another set of ears, 
and a heart that is turned to the Lord!
And it is by those eyes that we look into the deep things of God. 
 
Those things that the Father hath prepared for them that love Him can not be 
seen, can not be heard, can not be discerned by the natural heart of man, but 
the Spirit hath revealed them, even the deep things of God. For the Spirit 
searcheth these things. The Spirit continually is searching out - can you 
imagine how immense this must be if the Spirit is still searching it out? 
Think about the immenseness of this place that God has prepared for us in 
Christ! And I'm telling you that you are not going there - you are there! God 
has put you there! And we'll be a manifestation of that in the earth and in 
the heavens. 

I'm not dealing with 'end-time' events here. There are many end-time events 
for the witness of this place to the world, but I've looked at all of the end-
time events that we argue about and they are not a witness for the Church 
anyway, but for a witness to the world. The believers ought to know they are 
already in Christ! The believers ought to be already caught up in heavenly 
places! All the rest of that business is just for a witness to the world any 
way. If you and I think we are going to sit around on our Sunday pew and wait 
for some end-time event to be in Christ, you and I are wrong. You were put 
there by the Resurrection! You are there now! And most of what is going to be 
in what we call 'end-time' events is going to actually take place through the 
manifestation of this place by the Church of the Living God. 

We sit around most all the time waiting for God to do what He's already done. 
And He sent the Holy Spirit to enlighten our eyes that we may begin to live 
according to it. But we try to take these glorious truths and we try to make 
them work in an old creation. They won't work in an old creation. They work in 
a New Creation - they are manifested in an old creation. You are not going to 
make the world better because God has already put you in a better place! He is 
not going to patch up an old garment. He has already taken you out of the old 
and put you in the new. And now the new will be manifested in the earth. And 
even the creation will be brought into this glorious liberty of the sons of 
God. There is this place in Christ Jesus. And you are there now, and the Holy 
Spirit seeks to bring us into the awareness of it. 

So Paul says there used to be a place. In time past it was an old creation, it 
was an old time. This time was measured like everything else in this old 
creation is measured - measured by man; measured by hours, minutes, seconds, 
measured by days - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. That's why the Church 
comes along here not knowing the whole work of salvation is not just 
forgiveness of sin, but delivering us out of this old time; that's why the 
Church still thinks all we need to do is just come on Sunday, and that's 
serving God - we give God a Sunday. See - time. We don't know that we're in 
the DAY. We're still trying to serve Him in days - Sunday belongs to the Lord. 
Saturday belongs to me. Monday through Friday belongs to the boss. People are 
still bound by the times of the old creation. This is why our religion won't 
work for us. We try to preach it in the old creation instead of preaching it 
where it is in the New Creation. We are trying to conform something down here 
that we no longer even live in. If we understand we live in Christ, then we 
will manifest that truth in the earth, rather than trying to conform the 
earth. The Bible says, "Be not conformed to the earth, but be transformed by 
the renewing of your mind." That's what I'm talking about - understanding you 
are in Christ Jesus. We are on the earth but WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS! We are 
not in the earth - we are on the earth IN CHRIST JESUS!

We have been placed into a new time that says NOW I am a son of God. Now. When 
is that? That's Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, that's 1 o'clock, 2 
o'clock, 5 o'clock, a.m., p.m. - that's whenever, when I'm in my kitchen, when 
I'm at my job, when I'm driving my car - that's NOW! NOW I AM A SON OF GOD! 
When am I supposed to be about my Father's business? Now, now, now! Because 
NOW I'm a son of God! Now I'm in Christ Jesus! When are we the Church? Now we 
are the Body of Christ! Let that truth liberate you, because you are never 
going to conform this time - you're going to have to be liberated from it. But 
we have people going around, holding seminars to teach you how to prioritize 
this time. They always put God on the top of their lists, but the problem is 
they always have a list. In Christ there is no list - there's just Christ! And 
the list is done away; there's not first, second, third - there's just Christ! 
In Him it is not priorities, it is just PREEMINENT. That HE may have the 
preeminence in all things. It's not prioritizing this time, it's understanding 
NOW - throw your list away - NOW HE IS PREEMINENT!

There is a law that states that - it is the law of the first born. Throughout 
the Bible God dealt with the principle of the first born. The first born in 
the sight of God and in the sight of that Jewish father, and in the sight of 
what the Lord set up, that's the only born. The first born gets it all. 
There's no priorities there. There is a preeminence there. The first born gets 
the name, gets the blessing, gets the inheritance, he gets the whole works. 
And nobody else gets anything unless he gives it to them. That's the law of 
the first born. Do we not understand that Christ is the first born from among 
the dead that in all things He might have the preeminence? He is the first 
born among many brethren that we might be conformed into His image - not the 
world, but into His image by the renewing of our minds. So that in Christ it 
is not first Christ then me, then this, then that - it is first - Christ, last 
- Christ, in between - Christ. It is just the first born! It's me in Him and 
Him in me. It is CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL. Preeminence time. And that's what it 
means to be raised up with Him. 

So that old creation has to do with a time, but it's a time that has passed. 
We might justifiably say what the angels said to those who came in the early 
hours of the day seeking Him, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" Why are 
you trying to make one day holy over another, when there is only one day that 
is holy, and ye are children of that day? Therefore, walk in the light of that 
day - and that day is the LORD! That's what the scriptures teach us. We get 
holy and give God an hour out of our day, and we feel like we're doing God a 
favor. It is not me giving Him an hour out of this day - He took me out of 
this day and put me where HE IS PREEMINENT. He took me out of that day and put 
me in a day where continually I am to be filled with the understanding and the 
awareness that I am in Christ Jesus now! Praying always without ceasing. But 
if we still have a view of the old time, you say I can't do that, and indeed 
you can't. But BY THE REALIZATION OF HIM you will. Once you are liberated into 
the NOW of this day, you rule over all time then. Let the Lord bring us into 
this glorious liberty in HIM! AMEN.

So, we are coming to realize that there is an old place, an old man, an old 
world, an old realm, an old creation. It is called Adam; it is called the 
world, the realm of the enemy, the earth where we are no longer found. We were 
once there, we were once just like it. We were not only in darkness, the Bible 
says you were darkness. This is the place wherein you walked and talked, 
wherein the course of your conversation flowed. But because of the intervening 
power of God, because of the love of God, because of the power and wisdom of 
God, we were taken out from that place. We are seeing that salvation is not 
just having our sins forgiven and left in Adam, but that salvation is being 
delivered out from the power of darkness. And it's not only being delivered 
out from the power of darkness, but salvation is being placed, or translated 
as a believer into the kingdom of His dear Son. This is the reality of being 
in Christ - the believer's new position in Christ. We have been taken out of 
the old and put into the new. As we were once Adam, now we are one with the 
Lord Jesus Christ. As we were once darkness, now are ye light in the Lord. As 
we were once of the old, now we are of the new. Wherein we once set in the 
old, now we are raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places 
in Christ Jesus!

This new place is certainly just as real as the old place, and in fact it is 
more real. But here's the problem - we can see the old place with our eye, we 
can hear it with our ear, we can understand it with our natural heart. The new 
place must be revealed to us. "For eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, it 
hath not entered into the mind of man the things that God hath prepared for 
them that love Him." But the Spirit comes and reveals these things unto us, 
even the deep things of God. The Spirit comes and leads us into the height and 
depth and the length and the width of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we may be 
filled with all the fulness of God; that we may grow up into Him in all 
things, who is the head, even Jesus Christ; that we may sit and walk and stand 
in Christ Jesus; that we may begin to know with a knowledge given of God that 
in Christ we live and move and have our being; that we are no longer of the 
old, we are of the new, and the difference, the dividing factor is the cross! 
This is the truth that the Holy Spirit would have us to understand relating to 
our relationship with Christ. 

We must look at this from the power of the cross, from the viewpoint of the 
Father, through the reality of baptism, and through the understanding of the 
resurrection. And we must come to see that when we were born again, when we 
were baptized into Christ, we were taken from the old and we were put in the 
new. The way and the means by which that took place was the cross. I am no 
longer in the old because at the cross I am dead and Christ is my life! The 
world is still here, the earth is still here, the devil is still here - but 
I'm not still here! I AM IN CHRIST JESUS! And that's why Paul said, " While we 
look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen, for the 
things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are 
eternal." This is the walk of faith. 

I have three questions that I want to relay to you that Paul asked the Church, 
and these questions are based on this reality. In Romans 6:2 we find our first 
question. Let's begin at verse 1. "What shall we say then?" WE - this is not a 
me situation, this is a we situation. I am not the Body - we're the Body. In 
the old creation it's me and mine, but in the New Creation it is HIM AND HIS! 
In the old it is my life, but in the new it is HIS LIFE. In the new it is we - 
we are raised us, we are made to sit together, we are one in Him. "What shall 
we say?" We who are in Christ, we who say we're His Body, we who say we are 
raised up. " What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin..." Now we must 
understand that the word "sin" here is not to be translated as sins or 
sinning. It is to be understood in the original context here that the term 
"sin" relates to the Adamic world, the Adamic nature, the Adamic creation. " 
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" He is asking the Church a 
question. Shall we continue to say that our life is in the old, shall we 
continue to live in the old and just ask God for grace? Shall we continue to 
sin that grace may abound? Is that what it is all about? Because it just came 
out of Romans 5 where it said "where sin did abound grace did much more 
abound." What does that mean to us - to you and I who are in Christ? 

Shall we continue in sin? And I know that when I say "sin" immediately you 
think of adultery, murder, rape, fornication - those are the works of sin. But 
Paul here is talking about a realm, he is talking about an Adamic nature that 
is associated with our flesh, with our self life, with what we see and hear, 
touch and taste, with the world. The term "sin" here is referring to a whole 
realm - not just sins. And Paul is talking to the Church here, not a bunch of 
sinners. Paul is not inferring that they are out committing sins or that they 
are out sinning. But he is saying, "What shall we say here?" Because he is 
introducing them to a glorious truth here. Shall we just continue in sin so 
that grace may abound - is that all there is to this? He asks a question. "God 
forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" Here's the 
question - how shall we that are dead continue to live? How shall we that are 
dead to this old place continue to live there? Now this is based upon our 
understanding of how we got out of the old place. God has not done away with 
the world, the devil, the earth - those things were not crucified. The world 
still remains, sin still abounds, the enemy is on every hand, the earth is 
still there. What is missing in reality, in truth? You and I are missing! The 
scriptures say we are dead here. " Know ye not that you are dead, and your 
life is hidden with Christ in God?"

Now Paul is asking the Church a question. How can you continue to live here 
when in fact you are dead here? If you are dead here to the old, how then do 
you continue to try to find your life in the old? If you are dead, why are you 
still motivated by the things that are in the old? If you are dead, why are 
you still motivated by what you see, hear, taste, touch and smell? If you are 
dead here, why are you still motivated by the circumstances that are here, by 
the things that are here, by the greed, the lust of the things, by the want of 
the things? Why? You see, he is not just talking about some little sins, he is 
talking about the ongoing nature of sin, the ongoing nature of the flesh. He 
is trying to tell the believers - here you are dead, and if you are dead here, 
why is it you continue to live as though you are not dead here, and just pray 
that God will give you grace? How can you continue to live when you are dead? 
That's the question. How shall we that are dead to this place - not dead in 
sins, anymore, not dead in trespasses and sins - now dead to them, dead to 
this place. And if you are dead, how is it that you are still motivated by 
these things. He just cuts right down to the bone. And I know many of us don't 
like the way he does it, but that's what he does anyway.

It's like taking a man out of Communist Russia who has been raised there all 
of his life, and I can't tell you the horrors of that. He has seen his family 
slaughtered, he has seen his wife ravaged, his children put in prison camps, 
he continually is under oppression. And all of a sudden, somebody comes and 
takes him out of there, puts him on a plane and sets him down in the middle of 
Kansas on a dairy farm. And there he is - he is completely gone out from 
Russia, but you know he wakes up at night still sweating. Every time there's a 
knock on the door his heart jumps. Every time he sees a policeman downtown, he 
breaks out in a cold sweat and turns and goes the other way. The phone rings 
and he won't answer it, He's paranoid. He's out from Russia, but the effect of 
it is still in him. Someone finally comes and sits his down and says, 'Look 
here, man, you are no longer in Russia. You don't have to be afraid. You're 
not there any more - you are gone from there.' Russia is still real, it still 
exists, other people are there, but you are not there any more. This is only a 
poor type, a poor example, but it's something like that when the Holy Spirit 
comes to you and begins to enlighten the eyes of your understanding. And says, 
'Listen, you are out from there. You don't have to look at the trials and 
situations and be motivated by them. You don't have to let the devil chase you 
every day, because you are out from there.'

Now nobody put you on a plane and took you out from there. God put you by His 
Son on a cross and crucified you! And as far as that place is concerned, 
you're dead! You say what keeps those people from coming and getting that guy 
who was taken out of Russia? Why don't they try to come and get him? Because 
they devise a situation where it looked like this man died. They even went so 
far as to devise a funeral for him, and bury the casket in the ground. They 
went so far that a death certificate was issued. As far as Russia is concerned 
- that man is dead. But that man has to get Russia out of his heart! Paul said 
if I glory, I'll glory in the cross, whereby the world is crucified unto me 
and I am crucified unto the world. Thank God, in this place you are dead! Why 
do you seek the living among the dead? Why do you still act as though you have 
a life here? You are dead! Jesus came and He actually took you and I - he did 
not just take our sins - He took us - He became the last Adam. He became you 
and I and He brought it to the cross and killed it, He crucified it, and I am 
no longer here! And you are no longer here either!

And the question Paul asks is, if you are not here, why do you continue to 
live like you are there? And then he gives the answer. Verse 3. " Know ye 
not..." You see there is a truth. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall 
make you free. KNOW YE. I've never gone through and numbered the "know" and 
"knowing" but I'm telling you it's not an academic understanding that this 
brother is talking about, but a divine revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. " 
Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into 
his death?" You say, I thought I was baptized into His life? No - you were 
baptized into His death - you were raised up in His life! You were baptized 
into His death, you were made to drink of His living Spirit! Your first 
relationship with Christ is at the cross. Your first relationship in baptism 
is not life - it is death. The one that used to be here is dead. The place is 
still here, but I'm not here any more. As to this world - I'm dead! "Know ye 
not..." You say, 'I know it brother, I need to die.' No - get a hold of this 
thing. You need to 'KNOW YE NOT'. You need to know what happened when you were 
born again. You don't need to die, you need to know you are dead!

You don't need to be saved if you're already saved, you need to understand 
what happened when you were saved. You don't need to get in Christ, you need 
to come to the understanding you are in Christ! And not only that you are in 
Christ, the first thing Paul is telling you is you are not here. You're not 
here because you are dead! Know ye not? That's the first question. He doesn't 
say 'Don't you know you are in Christ?' His first question is - don't you know 
you are dead? Don't you know that you have no life here? But see, we seem to 
think that somehow or other, God sent life down out of heaven and life is in 
the old. We don't seem to understand that when we were born again, God took us 
from the old and put us in Christ. We're trying to make an old better, and in 
fact, the old died! And we have been made part of the new. We've got to see 
this.
So his first question to the Church does not relate to our being in Christ, it 
relates to not being here. Don't you know you are dead?

Don't you know that when you where baptized into Jesus Christ ye were baptized 
into His death? Look at verse 6. "Knowing this, that our old man is (not ought 
to be, not should be - is) crucified with Him that the body of sin (the 
headship of sin, the nature, power and structure of sin) might be destroyed, 
that henceforth we should not serve sin." And again, we're not just talking 
about sinning. We're talking about being in bondage to a whole realm here. You 
can say "I do not serve sin." Well now, you can tell me "I am not a sinner" 
and I'll say Amen, because you're in Christ. "I do not go out and willfully 
commit sins" and I'll say Amen, because you're in Christ. But when you say "I 
don't serve sin" that means that you understand that you are dead here - that 
the old man is dead, and you are walking in an understanding that your life is 
Christ. And that you are not motivated by anything of the world, or anything 
that is in the world; not motivated by anything of the senses. I'm talking 
about motivated now, which means 'moved to action'. You are not motivated that 
way, but rather you are motivated only by the Spirit of God as He reveals 
Christ in you. Now, is that the situation? Because I'm telling you it's not 
with most believers. 

They are here in Christ, but they are still motivated by the sights and sounds 
of the old world, they are still motivated by the fears of the old world, by 
the problems of the old world and even by the gain of the old world. They make 
excuses every day why they can not be faithful. Their excuses are not angels 
or heavenly places as a hindrance. All of our excuses are of the old world - 
the weather or something else. I'm not telling you anything that Paul wasn't 
talking to the Church at Rome about. And please understand that he's talking 
to the Church - not a bunch of sinners. And he's saying if you are dead here, 
why are you still motivated here? So he says don't you understand that when we 
were baptized into Christ we were baptized into His death? Then he says, 
"Knowing this, the old man is dead." Why? So that this body of sin - the old 
man, the old creation might be destroyed to the point that we do not serve it 
in our eyes, ears or senses; it does not determine our service; it is not a 
motivating factor in us. 

If it is, Paul goes on and says, you can't serve two masters. You can't serve 
this Adamic nature and this Christ nature. You can not in your heart live in 
two different places. In your heart you can't live in the old and say, "Oh, 
how I love Jesus." In your heart you can not live in the old and say, "Father, 
give me the deep things of God." You have to come to a point where the cross - 
the wisdom, the power of the cross says - YOU ARE DEAD, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE. 
You are not here as the old, you are gone. Now there's a new life you must 
learn! You are not here, you are out from the old."Knowing this, that the old 
man is dead!"

And verse 9, " Knowing that Christ..." You see first we understand the thing 
from a point of a new birth. "Know ye not that when you were born again, when 
you were baptized, you were baptized into his death?" Secondly then we know it 
from a standpoint of an individual reality - the old man is crucified. I am 
dead. I'm not trying to put this on a brother or a sister - I am dead. And 
then it relates to who HE IS. "Knowing that Christ ..." Knowing first that the 
old man... now knowing that Christ. I tell you, when we get the old man buried 
we can begin to learn the new man. You see you can not teach an old man a new 
thing. You can not make an old man into a new man. But when you get the old 
man 'X-ed" out, when you understand I do not have a life of my own, I am dead, 
then you can begin to understand HIM WHO IS YOUR LIFE. Now, knowing that 
Christ... If I'm dead, then where is my life? Where is my hope?

" Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no 
more dominion over him." This realm has no more dominion over this believer 
who understands that Christ is his life! Now if his understanding is just that 
he's saved from sins then the world can have dominion over him, it's going to 
trip him up one way or the other. It's going to bring him into a captivity. 
But if he understands that Christ is my life, Christ is being raised up from 
the dead... Look at this scripture. It is knowing something about the death of 
Christ. "... being raised from the dead, he dieth no more. Death hath no more 
dominion over him. For in that he died, he died once unto sin. But in that he 
liveth, he liveth unto God." This realm has no power over Jesus. Why? Because 
He died to it! How did Jesus overcome this? He put it to death! How did He 
overcome the world and sin? He went to the cross and He put it to a death - He 
died! And when He died, I died. But He dies no more. He died once and for all, 
and because He died once and for all, He is dead unto sin. Look at the words - 
not dead in sin, dead unto sin, dead unto the world, dead unto the earth, dead 
unto the realm of the devil. Because of that the realm of the dead has no 
power over Him, because in that He died, He died once, but in that He liveth, 
He liveth unto God. 

And the very next verse says, " Likewise reckon ye also yourselves..." 
Likewise means 'in the same manner, by the same method, to the same degree.' 
Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, unto this world, unto 
this earth, unto this realm. Likewise - what do you mean 'likewise'? As with 
Christ, so with you - when He died, you died. And as He is alive unto God, so 
are you! But alive unto God through Christ Jesus! Believer friend, in that He 
lives, He lives in you! In that you live, you live in Him! He has delivered 
you from the old by death. He established you in the new through His very own 
life. 

Now the second question is found in Colossians 2, verse 20. "Wherefore if ye 
be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in 
the world are you subject to ordinances, ( Touch not; taste not; handle not; 
which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines 
of men. These things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and 
humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honor of the satisfying of 
the flesh. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, 
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things 
above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with 
Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye 
also appear with Him in glory." He says you are dead to the world with Christ, 
why do you yet act as though you are living in the world? Why do you still 
have to be told what to do and what not to do, what to eat and what not to 
eat, what to see and what not to see, where to go and where not to go, as 
though you still live in the world and still have a life of your own? And 
brother, we spend 75% of our time telling Christians what they are not 
supposed to do. Why do we have to do that? Because they still think they live 
in the world! So you've got to say, "All right, then you can't do this and you 
can't do that." You have to tell them that because they still think that's 
where they live. 

And so Paul says, if ye be dead with Christ from these very base things of the 
world, why is it that you still have to have this kind of gospel preached to 
you? If you don't live there, why do you have to be preached to as though you 
lived there? Why do we have to instruct you in these things, all of which 
perish with the using? They are not even important any more to those of us who 
are in Christ. By why is this so? Why do we have to reason with you about 
these things? Why do we have to be concerned? If you don't live here, then why 
is your heart here, why are your hopes and your plans here? If you don't live 
here, why do you spend 95% of your time praying concerning this place, rather 
then seeking ye first the Kingdom of God and knowing that whatsoever things 
you need shall be added to you? But you do not make those things the object of 
your affection, rather you seek first the Kingdom of God and His 
righteousness. He says if you understand so much - you tell me that you're 
dead with Christ, that you know so much, why are you still living as though 
you are in the world? 

But here's the answer. He says you do not understand that if ye be risen with 
Christ, then seek the things that are above, set your affections here, for 
here you are dead and here your life is hidden. It is hidden - you can't even 
find it. The Holy Spirit has to reveal your life to you. You see, until the 
Holy Spirit reveals Christ in you, you and I are not even capable of knowing 
our true life - we think it's in the old. The Holy Spirit wants to teach us 
that it's not there - it is in the New Creation - in Christ. Your life is 
hidden with Christ in God. And therefore when Christ who is your life appears 
(and that word 'appear' is not talking about when just the rapture takes 
place, it is not talking about a second coming only, it is talking about an 
appearing. He is challenging the Colossians right now where they live - right 
now.) When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with 
Him in glory. That means that when HE IS REVEALED IN YOU, then you will appear 
right there, you will understand that you will appear with Him also in His 
glory. You will understand that you have no life but Christ!

Yes, I know about the great appearing. I know about the culmination, but I'm 
talking about the reality of the Spirit and here is where it takes place. Paul 
understands that. He says you are dead now and now you are in Christ. Now you 
are dead and now your life is hidden with Christ in God. "And when He shall 
appear..." And the word 'shall' there is not in the future tense, it is in the 
emphatic tense. He's saying that He surely will appear to you, and when He 
does appear to you, then you shall understand that you are in Him, when your 
life appears, you will see your life! When He appears, you will see Him who is 
your life! You will see Him who is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, 
sanctification and redemption. He says this same thing in 1 Corinthians 1:30, 
" For of God are ye in Christ, who is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, 
sanctification and redemption." Folks, when the Holy Spirit reveals Christ in 
you, He is revealing your life, your wisdom, your sanctification, your 
redemption. Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When He who 
is your life appears, then you shall understand that you are in Him! And that 
you are one with Him. 

The last question is in 1 Corinthians 1:10. There are many other questions 
Paul has asked the Church, but we are dealing with these three. " Now I 
beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all 
speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you;..." Now, who is he 
talking to? Those who are in Christ! Paul always speaks to the Church as he 
understands the Church to be - in Christ. He never speaks to the Church as it 
appears in the flesh, because as it appears in the flesh, it's a hopeless 
looking mess. So he speaks to the Church as it is in Christ, with the 
intention that the Church will begin to see itself as it is in Christ, and 
begin to live as the truth is in Christ, and be a manifestation of that truth 
in the earth. So he says, "... that there be no divisions among you; but that 
ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." 
And that simply means that you be perfectly joined together in the same truth, 
in the same faith, in the same knowledge - that you all have the same mind, 
which is the mind of Christ, that you all have the same judgment. 

He talks about that judgment in 2 Corinthians 5:14 - that if one died for all, 
then all are dead. The mind of Christ is the mind that he is talking about. 
Look at this. " For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them 
who are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this 
I say, that every one of you saith, I am..." Beloved, there's the problem. He 
just got through telling us - don't you know you are not? Don't you know you 
are crucified? Don't you know it's not I but Christ who liveth? Now he says 
here's the problem. It's been reported to me that there are contentions among 
you because every one of you say this. I want to tell you that I've heard over 
and over that we ought to be like the early Church, that restoration is going 
back to what the Church used to be. Beloved, the early Church was a bunch of 
babies, filled with jealousies, heresies, fornications, adulteries, 
immaturities. My word, haven't we read the books of Corinthians, Ephesians, 
Colossians, Galatians - they left the faith altogether! What do you mean 
'going back to the early Church'? No sir - we are going on unto full stature! 
I have no desire to be like the early Church. I want to grow up to the full 
stature of the Lord Jesus Christ! We're not going back, we're going on to full 
stature!

Somebody says, well, they had miracles every day. Do you realize they all 
lived in one city, and now the Church is all over the world, and there are 
hundreds of thousands of miracles being worked in the lives of believers in 
Africa, India, China right now that we don't know about, that would make 
Jerusalem look like a baby kindergarten nursery? We need to get a hold of 
what's going on in Christ, and quit looking at the flesh and begin to see the 
truth as it is in Christ! It's not 'going-back' time, it's 'going-on' time! 
Growing up in Him time. Even Paul 2,000 years ago preached the Church as it is 
in Jesus Christ!

"...saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas..." And here's the 
question -"Is Christ divided?" You are divided, but is Christ divided? My 
question is not are you divided, my question to you is, is Christ divided? And 
my answer is going to be based upon this truth, this premise, that although 
you are divided, Christ is not divided. And the reason you are divided is 
because you still have the 'I AM' in the way. When the "I am" is changed to 
the "HE IS", you won't be divided either! You say that's too simple. It's not 
simple at all, but it is singular, it is indeed profound. It indeed must be 
revealed by the Spirit, but it is singular - there is no other answer, than 
the answer of seeing we have no life but Christ! We are nobody's body but His 
Body! It is not the "I am", it is the "HE IS". It is the "I am" in 
relationship to the cross - I am not of Cephus, I am not of Paul, I am not of 
this one or that one. What I am is - I am crucified! Nevertheless I live, yet 
not I, Christ liveth in me, and I live in Him! This is the answer.

The question is - is Christ divided? And the answer is to understand - look at 
chapter 3 verse 3. " For ye are yet carnal; for where there is among you 
envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? For 
while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not 
carnal?" Do you not yet live as men - m-e-n. There is no such thing as new 
men. The Bible teaches a NEW MAN. We are not a bunch of new men, we are a New 
Man! Having no life of our own, but that life which is Christ, being nobody's 
body but His Body, One New Man - so making peace with God. There's the answer. 
The problem is not with Paul or Peter or Christ - the problem is with you and 
I. We have no life but Him. We need to understand this. 

Paul said three things about himself in Romans 7 and in Galatians 2. In Romans 
7 he said 'I am carnal', which means I need to know Christ, my mind needs to 
be renewed. Secondly he said 'I am wretched', I deserve to die, there is no 
good thing in my flesh. I need the cross. Thirdly he said, 'I am crucified. 
Christ liveth in me.' The body is not me, the Body is we, and we are not many 
- WE ARE ONE! It is not me - the Body is we, but the we is not many. Romans 
12:5 says, " We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one 
of another." The Body is not me, it's we, and we are not as men, we are ONE 
NEW MAN! And we are that when each of us know that it is not I, it is Christ!

So he asked us these questions - How can ye that are dead, continue to live? 
If ye be risen with Christ, why do you still live as though you are in the 
world? Is Christ divided? Let you and I get into the scripture and get before 
God and make bare our hearts and let Him reveal the answer to every one of 
these questions to us, and you'll find that the answer is just this - I HAVE 
NO LIFE BUT CHRIST! I AM IN HIM AND HE IS IN ME. AND THE BODY IS THEREFORE NOT 
A ME, BUT A WE, AND WE ARE NOT MANY MEN, BUT ONE NEW MAN. AND IT IS CHRIST ALL 
AND IN ALL!




Father, I thank you for your grace, for your mercy and for your Word. Will you 
multiply your Word in this place, will you reveal your Son in those that 
desire to see Him more than they desire to see themselves, or even another day 
dawn in the natural. Will you reveal your Son in them. Will you bring us 
together in the knowledge of the Lord that we may be as One in Him. Will you 
just increase your seed in us! I ask you to do it in the blessed name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen!