Freedom from Self
- Jody Tester
- Mar 5
- 6 min read
We often testify that we’ve been set free. But from what?
Hell, sin, the devil…?
God’s Big Plan
God’s plan for the inhabitants of this planet is to have a people like Himself. But His approach was not to MAKE something, but rather to give BIRTH to something; something entirely new
However, standing in the way of His plan was the sin nature we all inherited from Adam. This old nature had to be dealt with once and for all. Crucified! Destroyed
God has no other need or means to address the Adam sin nature but one offering at Calgary…the once and all sufficient sacrifice of His Son; a death that included all who believe in Him
Gal 2:20 (NLT) “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Watchman Nee spoke eloquently on this matter in The Normal Christian Life:
“As the last Adam, Jesus is the sum total of humanity; as the second Man He is the head of a new race. When therefore the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was crucified as the last Adam. All that was in the first Adam was gathered up and done away in Him. We were included there. As the last Adam He wiped out the old race; as the second Man he brought in a new race”.
“God wanted something entirely new for Himself. We can never bring any contribution from the old realm into that new thing. So He first did away with us by the cross of Christ, and then by resurrection provided a new life for us. God gathered up in the person of His Son all that was of first Adam and crucified him, so in Him all that was of Adam was done away.”
We were “in Christ”, included in that crucifixion. It might not feel like we were there, but we were. This is the crux of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, especially chapters 6-8.
And this is what we just read in Gal 2:20… my old nature was crucified with Christ!
Let’s therefore consider the full meaning and importance of 2 Cor 5:17…
2Co 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
NKJV: “all things have become new”.
The Passion Translation reads: “All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.”
The facts MUST outweigh our feelings. Consider the facts for true believers:
Fact: our own death and resurrection occurred in Christ’s death and resurrection.
Fact: our old nature, inherited from Adam, was killed off at the cross
Fact: by His resurrection, those who know Him were raised into new life, having His divine nature inside
We spend most of our time being thankful that God saved us from Hell. And that’s an amazing, essential outcome. But consider this vital truth: We were not only saved from Hell, we were also saved from ourselves: our old nature was killed off, and His divine nature planted in us when we were born again. We were set free as a new creation:
No longer shackled by sin and our old nature; No longer a slave to sin
Alive to God with His nature!
And…free to choose; to choose death or life (Moses to Israel, Deu 30:19)
Joh 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” (NKJV…”free indeed”)
Christ’s crucifixion of Adam’s old nature, is also the crucifixion of our inherited old – sinful nature from Adam…replaced by His divine nature. Who among us appropriates this exchange? Those who’ve been born again. (Joh 3:3-5)
Repeating: “We can never bring any contribution from the old realm into that new thing. So He first did away with “old” us by the cross of Christ, and then by resurrection provided a new life for us.” (Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life)
So what’s the problem? Why do we struggle at times against sin and temptation if our sin nature was done away with? Why do our thoughts and actions often resemble those of our old nature?
Is it because our old nature is still alive in us?
The scriptures above assure believers that the answer is “no”
If the sin and old nature question is completely settled, why the need for Romans 12:1-2
Rom 12:1-2 … present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…
Using a fitness example: imagine being terribly unhealthy, sick and out-of-shape due to a lifetime of gluttony and physical laziness. Even when we suddenly change our diet and exercise, the effects of bad eating linger and have to be worked off over time. The symptoms and effects on our body don’t immediately vanish. In similar fashion, our new life must be walked out; exercised to shed the old patterns of thinking and old behaviors…we might call this the residue of sin
Therefore, we must be renewed in our mind, emotions and behavior:
Learning to walk out this new nature as Christ is being formed in us (Gal 4:19)
Taking captive imaginations and impulses that oppose God’s kingdom life
Choosing Life over Death (Deut 30:19)
Paul’s letter to the church in Rome gave some practical advice on how to deal with the sin impulses left over from our old nature:
Even so consider (reckon) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:11-14)
Therefore, living freed from self requires a new attitude and set of behaviors:
Reckon, or consider, yourself dead to sin and alive to God
Realize deeply that your old sin nature died with Christ. Believe beyond all feelings to the contrary, that God put His own divine nature into you
Don’t obey your old impulses: when you’re tempted to sin, don’t do it
Its not about resistance, its about realizing dead folks are freed from the grip of sin, and therefore can by choice live in righteousness
Dying to self is not the same thing as crucifying your old nature again and again. Once done, forever done. Dying to self is recognizing the work of the cross and experiencing the life of Jesus each day; denying sin impulses (Eph 4:22-24)
Follow the admonition in Rom 12: be transformed by the renewing of your mind
Live by the Spirit and not by trying to follow the Law of Moses (a life of legalism founded in “thou shalt not…”)
“The strength of sin is the Law” (1 Cor 15:56)
Gal 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
In Summary…
Egypt symbolizes a life of oppression and bondage. One of God’s greatest frustrations with the Israelites was their frequent desire to return to Egypt…to bondage. We must flee from any impulse to return to the bondage of self; the bondage from which we were freed by the death of Adam’s sin nature in us.
2Pe 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Gal 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Gal 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Gal 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
We’ve been set free from our sin nature and slavery to sin by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; a death and resurrection that included us. Now we can choose to live in that liberty or pursue the impulses found in sin’s residue. The choice is ours.
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