Chapter 4 – FREE! To Marry Another

Introduction

There is a war which rages within me and which causes far more trouble than any conflict I face without. My number one problem is not the devil and his demons, but myself. My own sinful nature is my greatest enemy.

As we have seen in our earlier chapters, we have both internal and external – inside and outside – enemies. Our outside enemies are the devil and his demons.

We have studied the principles by which these foes can be overcome. The purpose of this chapter is to deal with our inside enemies.

For years I blamed everything on the devil and his demons. Then I found out that most of my spiritual battles were with myself. I didn’t have to look far to find my greatest foe.

I found that I face him in the mirror every morning.

I discovered that I am not the only one who faces this problem. It is true of every Christian everywhere.

Now a problem this great and so widespread needs a strong solution. God has that answer. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and has provided a remedy for us in Christ Jesus. Accepting this remedy provides us sure and certain victory.

A. OUR TWO NATURES

There is a mental disorder which is called “schizophrenia.” The term means  a dual-mind. It refers to a mental  problem in which a person may display symptoms of a “dual-personality.”

They will think and act like two different people. At one time they may speak and respond  in a normal way, but at another time their behavior will be just the opposite.

There is a kind of “spiritual schizophrenia” for the Christian. We suffer from what sometimes seems to be a dual-personality within.

At one time we display in our lives the lovely qualities of Christ’s life. We are joyful, peaceful, kind and gracious.

At other times, to our dismay, we may be sharp-spoken, short-tempered and hard to live with. We don’t want to be this way, but we are.

Even though we try to be sweet, nice and wonderful, we end up being sour, mean and miserable. We know it – and others know it. It seems we are being pulled in two different directions at once. We feel as if there is a great war being waged within, and we are often on the losing side.

“what is going on?” we may ask ourselves. “Do I have a dual-personality?” The answer is simple: “Yes, you do!”

When you received Christ into your life, you received a new nature – His nature.

The Holy Spirit came into your life as the Spirit of Christ. He took up His home in your heart. The Bible refers to this new nature as the “new man.”

Your old nature apart from Christ is called the “old man.”

Sometimes our old nature is called the flesh, the carnal man (carnal-flesh), the old Adamic nature or simply the self. It is the same nature that the first man Adam had, after he sinned and was separated from the Tree of Life (see Genesis 3).

All of the above terms refer to an immature and non-spiritual way of life. If we fail to live our life in the power and motivation available to us from God’s Holy Spirit (Romans 5 through 8), we will express “Adamic Nature” life in the terms explained below.

We can chart these terms in a simple way as follows:

1. The Conflict

Now the old man (our flesh) and the new man (the Spirit) are opposite in nature. They live in the same house, but have very different desires. The old man is very self-centered. These two natures conflict and are at war with one another. This is the cause of our problem.

God foresaw the conflict which would arise within our lives after accepting His Son as our Lord and Savior. He has, therefore, a powerful remedy for our problem. His answerer centers in the life and death of His Son. It involves a truth which, when understood and acted upon, will give us victory over our enemy within.

2. The Victory

The Apostle Paul seeks to explain the basis for living in victory. He compares it to the relationship of marriage.

Here is the idea in his own words:

“Brothers, all of you understand the law of Moses. So surely you know the law rules over a person only when he is alive. For example, a woman must stay married to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, then she is free from the law of marriage.

“But if she marries another man when her husband is still alive, the law says she is guilty of adultery. But if her husband dies, then the woman is free from the bonds of marriage. If she marries another man after her husband dies, she is not guilty of adultery. In the same way, my brothers, your old selves [husband] died as it were with Christ on the cross, so you are no longer ruled by the law.

“Now you can be married to another, which is Christ who was raised from the dead. In him you have new life and can bring forth fruit for God” (Rom 7:1-4 smf)

a. Our First Husband. In Paul’s example above, the unredeemed (unsaved) person is like a wife married to a cruel husband.

This cruel husband is the laws given to Moses – which condemn. If you broke Moses’ law (under Old Testament rules) you could be stoned – put to death. The law condemned us for sin, but gave us no power to live a holy life.

When the law said “…thou shalt not covet,” the apostle Paul said this law made him want to covet more .The commandment did not deliver him from coveting, but made him super-covetous.

Have you ever seen a sign which says, “WET PAINT – DO NOT TOUCH!” What do most people do who see such a sign? You are right. they reach out and touch it, to see if it is wet paint. The commandment, “thou shalt not touch,” produces the opposite behavior from what it commands.

That is the way our old nature is. It always wants to do what we  are commanded not to do. The law only enforces and amplifies this tendency.

Hence our marriage to the law (commandments), which amplified our sinful nature, must be dealt with if we are to be victorious Christians. Otherwise, we will be violating God’s commandments (which as Christians we do not want to do).

b. Our New Husband. Paul explains (in the verses above) the way the wife can be free from the marriage to (law of) this husband. She is free if the husband dies. Only then is the wife free from the marriage.

Our first husband, then, is a picture (type or metaphor) of our “old man” or sinful nature, which is stirred up and motivated to sin by the law (the commandments of God through Moses). How are we to get free from this husband (the law and its motivation of our old man)?

Paul explains the answer in Romans 7. Our “old man” (husband) was crucified with Christ. Our old man was nailed to the cross with Christ, and died with Him. Hence we are free from this husband (our old sinful nature and the law) to be married to Another (Christ).

1. Crucified With Christ. I want to tell you a story to help you better understand how we were crucified with Christ. A friend of mine was asking Jesus (in prayer) to show him how he was crucified with Christ. In answer to his prayer, the Lord gave him a vision.In the vision, my friend saw Jesus dying on the cross. then the vision changed, and it was as if the body of Jesus on the cross became transparent or clear like glass. Inside Jesus, my friend saw himself. Jesus spoke to him and said, “You were inside Me when I was crucified, so you were crucified with Me. ” then my friend understood. Yes! I was crucified with Christ.
2. Free To Marry Christ. Thus, my old sinful nature and its tendency to want to disobey god’s law died on the cross.
   Because my “old man” (husband) is dead, this leaves me free to be married to Christ – to come under His authority and control.
   In that relationship, Christ will give me the power of the Holy Spirit, so I not only WANT TO obey God’s laws but I WILL obey them. The Holy Spirit will give me the power to OBEY.

We who have believed on Jesus are no longer wedded to our “old man” or Adamic nature (the nature we received from our sinful forefather Adam), but to Christ Jesus.

He has become our new Husband, and we are His bride. We now share in His life and nature. He is our Master; no longer are we under the control of our “old man.”