Derek Prince - The Only Way Out of Our Fallen Nature
This is an excerpt from: Complete Salvation And How To Receive It - Part 2
Let's look, first of all, at this glorious two titles that were given to Him in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Now these are often misquoted by Christians. It's important to get them right. In verse 45 Paul says: So it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. And then in verse 47: the first man was of the earth made of dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
Now, the two titles there are 'the last Adam' and then 'the second man.' I've often heard people call Jesus the second Adam. That's not what He's called. He's called the last Adam. And then He's called the second man. On the cross He died as the last Adam. Not last in time but last in the sense that the total evil inheritance of the entire Adamic race came upon Him and was exhausted by Him when He died. And when He was buried, it was put away. And then when He rose the third day, He rose as the second man, a new kind of man. A kind of race that had never existed before, the God/man race, the Emmanuel race. He was the head of the body, the first born from the dead, and through the new birth we are identified with Him in His resurrection and all that follows.
In 1 Peter 1:3, the apostle Peter says: 1 Peter 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So, through the resurrection of Jesus, when we identify ourselves with Him we are begotten again, we are born into the new race, the God/man race. It says that the Lord will do a new thing in the earth. This new thing is a new race, a race in which the nature of God and man are perfectly united forever and ever.
Now let's look at some aspects of the identification. Jesus died as the last Adam. Paul amplifies this in Romans 6:6 and verse 11. This is the middle of one of Paul's long sentences. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him [Jesus], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Now that's a very important statement. And Paul says 'knowing this.' I have to comment that I think many Christians don't really know it. This is a historical fact. When Jesus died on the cross our old man, our rebellious fallen Adamic nature was crucified in Him. You see, the old man is incorrigible. God doesn't try to improve him, He doesn't sent him to church or teach him Scripture. He's got only one solution. The solution is execution, that's right. Let's say that together. 'The solution is execution.'
The message of mercy is the execution took place more than 19 centuries ago when Jesus died on the cross, my old man, your old man, our old man was crucified in Him. And then Paul goes on in verse 11 with reference to this: Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, What God did on the cross is a finished historical fact. It's true whether we know it, or whether we believe it. But when we know it and believe it, it works in us. So we have to say just as Jesus was executed on the cross, so I believe my old, fallen, rebellious, corrupt nature was executed and put to death. That's the way out. Death is the only way out of the old fallen Adamic nature. But we take the way through the death of Jesus on the cross. And Paul says 'reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin.' This has become very vivid to me.
What does it mean to be dead to sin? I always give this little imaginary incident about this very bad man. I mean, by the standards of religious people he was terrible. He drank whiskey, he swore, he cursed his wife and children, he watched all sorts of bad programs on television; he was a bad man. But his wife and children were believers. They used to sneak out on Sunday evenings to the local gospel service. He would always curse them as they left.
So one night they sneaked out, and there he was in his armchair with a cigar in his mouth, glass of whiskey on the table, watching something he oughtn't have been watching on television. They had a glorious night at the gospel service. They got sort of high in the Spirit, and they came back and they were still singing choruses. They walked into the room and suddenly realized, they stopped dead and waited for the curse to come. No curse came.
Then they looked. The cigar was in the ashtray, the smoke was curling up but he wasn't smoking. The whiskey glass was there but he wasn't drinking. There was no motion. Do you know what had happened? He'd died, he had a heart attack and died. Do you know what he was? He was dead to sin, see? Sin had no more attraction for him. Sin had no more power over him. Sin produced no more reaction from him. He was dead to sin. Paul says reckon yourselves likewise to be dead to sin. Sin has no more power over you, sin has no more attraction for you, sin produces no more reaction from you. That's through identification, you understand?
We realize that when Jesus died on the cross, this old corrupt, sinful nature died in Him. See, I meet people who travel around the world to get away from their problems. But the real problem goes with them because it's the old man. You can't escape from him by travelling. There's only one escape, it's by death, the death of Jesus on our behalf.