God's Method and Man's Method for Dealing with the Old Man

BLJ: Don't believe and follow man's methods for dealing with the old man. God's plan is to eradicate carnality. He wants to kill it and take it far away from you. God's way is best!

GOD'S METHOD AND MAN'S METHOD OF DEALING WITH THE OLD MAN

God is infinite, man is very finite. God is all wise, man is ignorant. God has all power, man has but limited power. Success comes to the one who follows the plan of God. Failure always comes to those who follow man's plan, when it comes to the salvation of the soul.

Through the marvelous Atonement of Jesus, our God has made full provision for the old man problem. "Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." -- Heb. 18:12. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it . . . That he might present it to himself a glorious church . . . . that it should be holy and without blemish." -- Eph. 5:25-27. "Entire sanctification is that second definite work of grace whereby the heart of a justified person is cleansed from the original or Adamic nature, and is filled with the Holy Spirit." There is a positive and a negative side to entire sanctification. Negatively, it is the death of the old man, the destruction of inbred sin. Positively, it is receiving the more abundant life, the perfecting of the heart in love, the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

The old man problem must be settled, and must be settled in God's way. Forgiveness does not settle this problem. Forgiveness is a perfect work. When God forgives, He forgives completely. Every sin is forgiven. He casts our sins behind His back. He separates them from us as far as the east is from the west. He blots them all out, and remembers them against us no more. Yes, praise the Lord! forgiveness is a complete work. The forgiven heart can sing,

"My God is reconciled;
His pardoning voice I hear:
He owns me for His child;
I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh, And, 'Father, Abba, Father,' cry."
Pardon is, therefore, a perfect work. But some things cannot be forgiven. Sins as acts can be forgiven, but sin as a state can riot be forgiven.

"The sinner is like the drowning leper. The leper needs a double work: (1) To be rescued from a watery grave; (2) To be cured of his disease. When a life preserver will cure the leprosy, it will be time to discard the double disease, the double conditions, and the 'Double Cure.'" "The sinner is like the diseased criminal about to be hung for his crime -- he needs the 'Double Cure' of pardon and healing. When a governor's reprieve will cure consumption, or the doctor's prescription secure a pardon, it will be time to overlook this double work of grace."

The old man cannot be forgiven; he does not need forgiveness. He is enmity against God. He cannot be forgiven; God has made no provision for his forgiveness. The Atonement is not for the old man; that is, not to secure pardon for him. It is for his destruction. Let us picture in our minds a pond near a village. This pond is breeding mosquitoes, and they are causing an epidemic of fever. Can a doctor forgive that pond? No, it does not need forgiveness. It needs to be destroyed. The mosquitoes will not then breed, and the epidemic of fever will be stayed. No! God's plan calls for destruction without mercy of the old man. He squirms and twists when it comes to his death. But we must carry out the plan of God to have success. 

God's plan is to eradicate inbred sin from the heart of the believer. The word "eradicate" means to pull out by the roots. The old man is so thoroughly pulled out that not even a root is left. That may be why it hurts so to die out. After receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which purifies the heart, which eradicates the old man, one can say: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." And he can say with Paul: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Let us all rejoice over the plan of God. Redeemed saints, the hosts of Heaven, sin-sick hearts ought to raise a mighty shout of joy over the plan of God for the eradication of the old man.

After our study of God's method of dealing with the old man, how disappointing are man's methods. One plan of man is that after death the soul must go to purgatory and be purified by the fires thereof. This is contrary to the Word of God which teaches a present deliverance through the Atonement. Another teaching of man is that the soul is both regenerated and sanctified wholly at one and the same time. In the last few chapters, this has been proved false to both the Bible and experience. A third way that man deals with the old man is the imputation theory. According to this, God simply throws a robe of righteousness around us and counts us clean for Christ's sake. This leaves the heart full of sin, leaves the old man alive in the heart. It simply covers the corruption of the heart with a pure robe. This is disgusting in the highest degree to any who love the holiness of God. A fourth way of man's dealing with the old man is the growth theory. According to this, the believer is to grow into purity. A child of God does grow in grace, but not into grace. No boy living in Ohio, regardless of good health and nourishing food, can ever grow across the Ohio River into Kentucky. A believer can no more grow the old man out than a field of corn can grow the weeds out. But let God eradicate the old man. Then the believer will grow all the faster. A fifth theory is that the soul is sanctified by death. There is no moral change made in the article of death. Death is an enemy. Could death sanctify us it would be our best friend. No! not the death of the body, but only the death of Christ can destroy the old man. We see, therefore, that only God's plan -- the eradication of the old man -- WORKS. ALL the rest fail.