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Today’s study is called “Victim of A Reckoning.”
This is a rather dramatic-sounding name, but there is a reason for that, as I will explain. It is also a subject that I had intended to present for some time, and one that Satan has wished to prevent, but it was not until this week that the Spirit gave me clarity about how to approach it properly. It is interesting timing as well because Sister G. is not with us this week; she is away, attending an urgent family matter, but she was the one who initially suggested the theme of today’s study during a conversation a while ago.
We had been discussion a transcript of some former Sabbath study, and she was talking about her difficulty in finding the proper way to talk about the concept of the “self” in Spanish. Just as in English, the word is used several different ways. Even the Bible uses the term in a number of contexts, some very positive, and some very negative. It can even sound contradictory, such as in this well-known passage from Paul: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)
What we have in this verse is a struggle to represent a spiritual concept in human terms. Paul’s “self” is obviously alive there. He has memory, thought, and the ability to write. He perceives himself as an individual, separate from all others, yet this very “self” is not his, but Christ’s. It is Christ that motivates, and it is Christ’s will that is expressed in the words and actions. Paul is not sleeping or unconscious; he is an active participant in his own life, but there is a blending of the will, such that the life-long nature of Paul up to the point of conversion is no longer the master, but a servant of the divine. Because the carnal nature of Paul is no longer present, he identifies it as being crucified, receiving the wages of its sin, which is death.
In fact, he says in this verse, from which the name of the study arises, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto Yahweh through Yahshua the Messiah, our Lord.” (Rom 6:11)
This is not a metaphor. At least, it is not simply a metaphor. I know that it is often read metaphorically, because again, we are used to thinking and reasoning in human terms, but a metaphor is a symbolic representation of something that is not actually true. If I say, “His anger was a thunderstorm,” anyone hearing me will know that I am describing characteristics of someone’s anger in accessible terms, but his anger is not actually a thunderstorm. When we speak spiritually, however, we are not speaking just symbolically… we are speaking of things that are actually true, in a literal sense, but beyond our flesh’s ability to perceive. We are speaking of something that Yahweh does to us, and for us, not just something that exists in our minds.
Paul says, in another verse, “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. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” (Col 3:2-4)
The death of which Paul speaks here is not symbolic of something else. It is not just a way of thinking that exists only in our minds, as the truth of a metaphor would. It does not mean that our carnal selves are in a state similar to death, because it does not do much, if anything. It does not mean that we act like the flesh is dead but in reality is still there, waiting for the chance to act alive once again.
This is what is said of conversion, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away [i.e., dead]; behold, all things are become new.” (2Cor 5:17) Do we have the power to do that? No, if the death of self was merely a metaphor, the self would not “actually” be dead, and so we would have to pretend, or try very hard, to act according to the Law at all times. The verse does not say we kill the old things, or that we make all things new. This is the work of our Father upon the willing, and it is an utterly real and literally true work. This is above us, beyond us, and greater than anything we could ever do for ourselves. What the Scriptures teach is Sabbath. It teaches rest, and this rest cannot be experienced where there is constant striving to obey, all the while fearing the consequences of disobedience.
We must learn that speaking spiritually is more real than speaking symbolically. The things of earth are symbols of spiritual things; that much is true, but what they represent are the reality, the eternal reality, of what Yahweh does, and makes. If you do not fully grasp this, that is okay. Believe that Yahweh grasps it, and has made your old self dead – truly dead. Trust that He has done it perfectly, and you will find that you have been transformed. Old things are passed away: the struggle to be “good enough” for God, the fear of failure, the lack of confidence, the confusion about His will for your life. These are the old things… but when self is dead, truly and spiritually dead, not just symbolically dead by your ability to suppress it, then all things become new.
Paul says, “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead.” What is a “reckoning?” It is two things. It is a judgment, and it is a way of thinking. Both are applicable to conversion.
When someone is vowing revenge, he may say, “There will be a reckoning.” There will be a judgment, a time to answer for your actions. This is an assessment of one’s wrongs in order to deliver a sentence. In the judgment of the living, in which we now find ourselves, we are standing in Yahweh’s reckoning. That is good. Yahweh’s reckoning is perfect, and always for our blessing.
More generally, a reckoning is how we think of a matter. We may “reckon” with a problem in order to find a solution, but you can see that the two ideas are related. As we reckon with something, as we think it through, we are judging the best way to deal with it. We arrive at a conclusion, a judgment, and then we carry it out in order to overcome.
When we “reckon” ourselves dead, we are passing judgment on ourselves. We are agreeing with Yahweh’s judgment of our old, sinful selves. We are saying that our old, carnal person is worthy of death, and we send it ahead to judgment, to die the eternal death so that it will never trouble the world of the living again. This is what the Scriptures say, “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.” (1Tim 5:24)
That is an excellent verse for explaining the Investigative Judgment, and reveals the reality of Paul’s statement. Remember Bro. Luke’s recent studies. In the language of the Old Testament, there is no word for “sin offering.” There is only the word “sin.” When the animal is sacrificed on behalf of the sinner, it is the sin itself that is destroyed, consumed in the fire. The sin burns away with the creature on which it is laid, and this is the same procedure being described here. When we confess a sin, when we send a sin ahead to judgment, we are not sending an object, like a bubble, or an idea, like a thought. We are sending the flesh, the carnal man, the now-discovered remnant of the old man, in a spiritual sacrifice.
This is why Yahweh cannot save unrepentant sinners. When He finally cleanses the universe of sin, He cannot remove it from the sinner and destroy it in isolation while preserving the life of the creature. The time of grace, during which sin could be transferred to a Sacrifice, has passed, and the only vehicle for the sin, through which it can be destroyed, is the sinner himself.
This literal death, though spiritual, is what happens to our old man. There is no escape for the sinner. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezek 18:4, 20) And the Gospel, the blessing, is that there is no need to escape it. For the born-again, Yahweh separates out the sin, and restores the soul to purity. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) The self that is the sinner dies, but the self that is the saint lives, and lives forever. But we then come back to the question of what the “self” is, that it both dies, crucified with Christ, and lives, resurrected with Christ.
What is the “self?” It is the image you have, the mental reality of who you are, as given to you by the Father, but potentially corrupted by the world. This is what the Scriptures teach us, and actually quite clearly… or at least, as clearly as it can be expressed in human language.
We read the following verses: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jer 1:5)
“Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. ‘Eat and drink,’ saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” (Pro 23:6, 7)
“And when Yahshua departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, ‘Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.’ And when He was come into the house, the blind men came to Him, and Yahshua saith unto them, ‘Believe ye that I am able to do this?’ They said unto him, ‘Yea, Lord.’ Then touched He their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’” (Mat 9:27-29)
These three passages are all about the “self.” In Jeremiah, we see that it is something created by Yahweh, because we can be “known” before we are even able to make decisions about who we are. It is certainly possible to be self-deceived, to think of ourselves as something we are not… but we know our selves, our true selves, when we know who Yahweh has created us and called us to be. The Old Man is the result of the sin nature corrupting that original image, and that is the “self” that dies when one is born again.
We read in Proverbs that we have a choice about who we become. Each individual is created in the image of Yahweh, and each individual inherits the corrupt nature of Adam. Both are true, and so according to how we see ourselves, that becomes our reality. How we see ourselves determines our character, and also, as we read in the passage from Mark, determines the ability of the Savior to heal us. Those who see themselves as merely sinners become and remain sinners. Those who see themselves as sinners in need of a Savior will find Him, and then He transforms them into something else… so that their understanding of themselves changes. They are a new “self” in Christ.
As you think in your heart, so are you. According to your faith, so shall it be unto you. This is not the same as the world’s “power of positive thinking,” but it can be a close counterfeit. The difference is that faith has the power to create eternal changes, and this is because it is Yah that makes it so... By human will alone, and with sufficient motivation, a lot of temporary and earthly changes can be accomplished, but only by Yah can we do the supernatural things of the Spirit, including actually overcoming sin.
Early in my CSDA experience, I was struggling with some intense temptations… I do not even remember what they were about, but I remember the distress of mind and heart, longing to be in harmony with the divine will. In that time of trouble, I followed what is still the best advice for any child of Yahweh… I went to the brethren for help. I called Pastor on the phone, and we spoke. This was twenty years ago, so I don’t remember what exactly we spoke about. I don’t remember how I described my struggle, but I remember what he said to me at the end, advice that has been with me to this day.
He said, “You need to see yourself, not merely as someone separate from his sins, his actions, but as someone who cannot and does not sin. You need to see yourself as a person who does not commit sin.”
This was like a missing piece of a puzzle falling into place. The Gospel was suddenly a complete thing, and powerful to save. I was focusing on the behavior, and my own ability to resist. I thought, “I will resist with God’s help.” Those are true words, but my perception of them was wrong. It is Yahweh that overcomes in me, because I am one whom He has made as a vessel, as a container, of His perfect victory.
At that point I learned, not to focus on the behavior, but on who I was, as the person who does the will of Yahweh. This is where the choice lies. It is not whether or not to put down that particular cigarette, or take that particular drink. It is not whether or not to lust after this particular woman, or to accept that specific bribe. No… if those are temptations that are in genuine danger of overcoming someone, then the problem lies deeper. As long as the person believes there is a practical possibility he can be overcome by sin, Christ is not yet formed within. He may be calling, leading, guiding, but is not yet abiding in the heart.
For those who will overcome every deception of the enemy, and withstand the time of trouble, Christ is fully formed within.
Paul says this, speaking of the self, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ Yahshua is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Cor 13:5)
Three times in that one verse the word “selves” appears. It is a message – pay attention to the words of the apostle. Note what he says, and what he does not say. Paul says to examine yourselves if you be in the faith, if your belief and understanding is right. He does not say to examine your actions to see if you are obedient to the Law. The Law is an outward revelation, the result of our faith… but the true reckoning, the true examination, is in the mind, in the thoughts. We process our thoughts and decide that we are dead, that we allow Yahweh to destroy our old man, our sinner, and preserve our saint. The self is crucified; a victim, as it were, of our reckoning.
We read this, again, of the self: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom 12:1, 2)
This is the paradox again. The self is crucified, buried and eternally dead. Nevertheless, the self that is the saint is alive with Christ forever more. A living sacrifice… that is the point of balance. Dead, but alive, sacrificed, but quickened by the divine life within us.
The part that is alive is “flesh” only in the good sense of the word. Like the word “self,” the Scriptures use “flesh” a few different ways as well. It is often negative in the New Testament, but we do have verses like this one: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Ezek 36:26)
Here the flesh, when contrasted with stone, represents the living principle: warm, flexible, responsive. But where we are controlled, that is with the mind, the spirit, and the forehead where the name of Yahweh and the mind of Christ reside. This balance allows us to understand verses such as this one that we sometimes discuss among ourselves, “But I say unto you that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Mat 5:39)
The flesh is responsive. When we are hit, we feel it in our flesh. We react to it because we are alive. However, what we do in response is not according to that fleshly impulse. Not acting according to the flesh can be literally turning the other cheek, or it can be holding up a mirror to the striker in order to awaken conscience. When struck, Yahshua asked, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18:23) There has been some question about whether, and to what extent, we are to take actual abuse for the sake of Christ. This is sometimes necessary. We do not rebel against persecution, but we protest it, and that is different. That protest may take different forms in different circumstances; a refusal to comply, or a statement of disagreement, but the principle that is always true is that we are walking in the Spirit, and not retaliating with carnal passion.
Because of Christ formed within, we live entirely and uniquely in the spirit, despite having the emotions, sensations, and physical needs of being a material creature. This is just as Christ will always be a material Being, different from the Father, who is entirely Spirit. Remember The Parable of the Ant… after His incarnation, He is the same Yahshua as always, but His overall “self” is different, forever changed, because He is in the flesh. His experience is both spirit and flesh. We have His experience, and because of that experience, we also have His victory.
This is where accusations of pride come in from those who do not know the Father and Son. They accuse, saying, “Only a carnal self would claim to be one with the divine, to completely overcome sin, or to be the righteousness of God. These are matters purely of the spirit, and cannot be claimed by sinful flesh.”
This would be true if the claims were false, of if these were things we were claiming to accomplish of ourselves. Remember this passage: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’
“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:10-14)
Everyone would agree that the Pharisee’s claim of being holy was false. He was not holy. He had not been made holy; therefore, he was deceived by his pride. But what about the publican that the Scripture says was “justified?” If he were to deny this, and claim to still be as he was before his prayer, wouldn’t that be just as much a betrayal of the truth as the Pharisee’s prideful boasting? Those who claim to be Christ’s, and yet continue to insist that they are sinners with a fallen nature reject His gift while claiming to receive it. They are thinking metaphorically, symbolically, that they are “redeemed,” but still commit sin. But if they were to accept this spiritually, even though they could not see it, it would be real, and it would change their actual lives. It is not a healthy thing for a brain to do, to try to convince itself of two opposite thoughts at the same time. One cannot be a born-again believer and yet commit known sins. To try to hold both these views in sincerity is the way of insanity, and the only escape is in delusion, despair or fanaticism.
By Yah’s grace, His servants have always claimed the very thing that CSDAs claim today, and in the same context, and with the same zeal. We speak of complete conformity to His will, that is, the living-sacrifice-mindset of being entirely “dead to self,” sacrificed to Yahweh, and yet still breathing, active, and capable of doing His will.
So again, what is the self? It is whatever someone sincerely believes that he or she is. The true self is given to us by the Father. The carnal self is the reflexive perception of a sin-deceived soul. One who believes he is in the flesh, despite his claims of conversion, is in the flesh still, because according to his true thoughts, so he is. One who, with sincerity and trust, reckons himself dead, is dead indeed. This is not merely theory. This is not merely symbol. It is spirit and it is life, and it transforms the very real life into one of very real righteousness… righteousness by faith.
It is unfortunate that most cannot believe that they may be dead in Christ without losing anything valuable. The carnal man clings to his carnal life, because he does not trust that something better will be given to him in exchange for his slavery to base impulses. All that he knows is the comfort of self-gratification, of obtaining short-term goals, of overcoming the immediate challenge before him through any means necessary. This is “living” to the carnal self. The works of the flesh are rooted in these thoughts, but they are illusions created by the senses that focus on this world below. The only remedy is faith, trust in Yahshua, so that He heals us and lifts us out of the illusion. The Spirit wins over the flesh, and because we believe this, and perceive ourselves as walking in the Spirit. As our faith, so it is.
We do not make ourselves this way. The difference between faith and positive thinking, between faith and presumption, as I have said, is that the transformation here is the creative doing of Yahweh. It works, not because there is an inner glory, or a hidden god, in us. It works because we have a personal, loving Father who is eager to give us those good things for which the spirit truly longs.
And what are those good things? Let us end with this, a brief look at the things for which the spirit eagerly awaits, and that are given when the carnal self is dead, and the spiritual self lives with Christ.
“Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Yahshua the Messiah, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen” (2Cor 13:11-14)
These are the greetings we share. These are the blessings we have been given: perfection of character, love, peace, the holy kiss, unity with the brethren.
Those who do not have a love for these things, they ought to eagerly and earnestly ask the Father for the desire. They should not eat, or sleep, until they have received the blessing of a spirit that will be content with nothing less than these things. In Yahshua there is a covenant of love, where peace and joy dwell. There is a covenant of brethren, and a perfect unity of spirit.
But now, remember the sermon by A.T. Jones about Creation vs. Evolution. If, in hearing the Gospel, one discovers that he has misunderstood, and been false to his commitment, they should not try to force it to be so, or worse, to pretend. Jones said that some who heard his words might begin to realize that they were treating salvation like some scientific theory, and didn’t really believe in the creative power of the Word. The remedy, as he described it, was not to run from the realization. Instead it is to admit, confess, repent, and ask for true thoughts, holy thoughts, to replace the false ones. Become the thing Yahweh calls you.
There is no condemnation in Christ, but in order to be “in Christ,” there is only one doorway… the grave. “The wages of sin is death.” “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” We have not escaped these true words, these just reckonings, simply because we have become Christians. The soul that sins will die, must die, and we let the old soul, the old man, die, so that we rest in Christ, and are therefore free from condemnation.
Let everyone called by the Father and Son choose to be dead to self, to be dead to the desires and distractions that keep them from focusing on the Word, and the teachings of its messengers. Let all who hear the Gospel decide to be filled with joy for those things that they previously hated, or to which they were formerly indifferent. Let them make the decision, trust in Yah, and wait confidently for the miracle.
Offer up your “self” as that living sacrifice, and Yahweh will teach you those things you need to know concerning what we are discussing today. Let yourself, even this moment, be subject to His good and perfect work. Deny the fleshly self, claim victory, and find life everlasting.
David.
An Enduring Witness
“Jesus, the author of our salvation, the finisher of our faith, will, by his precious grace, strengthen the moral powers, and the sinner may reckon himself ‘to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ.’ Simple faith, with the love of Christ in the soul, unites the believer to God. While toiling in battle as a faithful soldier of Christ, he has the sympathy of the whole loyal universe. The ministering angels are round about him to aid in the conflict, so that he may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper,’ ‘the Lord is my strength and my shield:’ I shall not be overcome. ‘By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.’” [Special Testimony for Our Ministers, 6.1]
“All who would present themselves ‘a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God’ (Romans 12:1), must receive the saving salt, the righteousness of our Saviour. Then they become ‘the salt of the earth,’ restraining evil among men, as salt preserves from corruption. Matthew 5:13. But if the salt has lost its savor; if there is only a profession of godliness, without the love of Christ, there is no power for good. The life can exert no saving influence upon the world.” [The Desire of Ages, p. 439]