Anyone who knows the animosity in the air at the time of the Civil War, knows what it cost Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves. But his death was not in vain. The slaves were freed. But before Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, there was in fact another emancipation for them. There is a Hebrew word for this kind of emancipation. It is niftar. If Slave Master Simon Legree had found his slave in Uncle Tom's CASKET instead of Uncle Tom's CABIN, he would have found the slave freed. (This is a reference to an 1852 novel about a slave named Uncle Tom and a slaver owner named Simon Legree.) Again, if Slave Master Simon Legree had found his slave in Uncle Tom's CASKET instead of Uncle Tom's CABIN, he would have found the slave freed. Death had made the slave niftar (freed, dead). A dead slave is a former slave. He is free. It would have been futile for Simon Legree to go into the funeral parlor and order the slave back to the plantation. No bull whip, no threat, no death threat (Tom was ALREADY dead with his Liberator who had died FOR him, who had died to FREE him. No enticement, no allurement, no penalty, no...nothing, would have shackled the former slave back into his previous life.) We sometime use the expression, "I am dead to that sort of thing." Or we say, "As far as that sort of thing is concerned, I might as well be dead." If a person no longer loves us, we say that that person acts "dead toward us." Or if the dentist makes our jaw numb, we say we are dead TO the pain. Listen. Understand this. Since Uncle Tom had died TO slavery, how could he live IN slavery any longer (Ro 6:2)? Death had freed him. The freedman would never obey Slavemaster Simon Legree again and the Slave Master would never again reign over him (Ro 6:12).

When we come to trust in Moshiach, Hashem reckons us dead with Moshiach and freed from the bondage of our old sinful life. When a Sin slave is born again, he dies to his old slavery and comes alive in the Ruach Hakodesh and is set free. From Plantation A to Plantation Z, from Plantation Adultery to Plantation Xenophobia or Racial Prejudice…he never has to be shackled in that joyless denigration again. He is free. Whether he is Jewish or not, he is free. He whom the Moshiach sets free is free indeed. Old things, old appetites, have passed away. Sharks smell blood and lions crave meat from the kill. But lambs have been given an appetite for new green, green grass. If anyone is in Moshiach he is a new creature. The old has gone, the new has come! The old lion with his morbid cravings has passed away. Behold, a new lamb is born! Born of the Spirit, born from above! The old carnal obsession has gone. The new has come: A new mind, a lev chadash, a new spirit, a ruach chadasha, a bria chadasha, a new creation (these are Biblical expressions found in the Tanakh). The natural man with his lusts has passed away. Now there is a born again new creature! The mohel knife of regeneration has cut away the downward pull of the flesh. Along with our mikveh there is a bris (not made with hands)! The one thus begotten is no longer a child of the devil but is one of Moshiach's Bnei HaMilah (Pp 3:3) and has been set by a creating and begetting G-d into a new existence. The Father in His mercy begets us into a new existence, by the will of G-d. Just as one can't be born without a human father, so one cannot be born again without the Heavenly Father. Once one is born again and has entered into a new existence, the Ruach Hakodesh now has someone to speak to, someone now with spiritual eyes to see and someone also now with spiritual ears to hear: a new creature! And the new creature thus spoken to has Ruach Hakodesh power to resist the devil and turn away from any remnant of flesh uncircumcision uncleanness left this side of glorification! At one time, the natural man had no taste for the food that the spiritual man eats. Now, because of a new birth, the new spiritual man has food to eat that the old natural man could never have known about without regeneration. The old lion knows nothing about the green morsels of taste that the lamb grazes on. And what is born of the old lioness does not crave the lamb's delights. What is born of flesh is flesh. What is born of the old fallen humanity is fallen and has no taste for the Word of G-d. The Word of G-d is foolishness to the natural man. However, newborn lambs crave the pure milk of the Word of G-d. For what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Ruach Hakodesh is regenerated spirit. You must be born again. We are talking about a metamorphosis and a new creature with eyes to see and ears to hear and a craving to drink the pure milk of the inerrant Word of G-d.

So by faith we reckon ourselves dead to Slave Master Sin and alive to Slave Liberator Moshiach Ben Dovid. See Ro 6:7 He gives us a new freedom, a new identity, a new relationship. 2C 5:17 Whereas before, in our former condition, we were hopeless slaves of Slave Master Sin, now we are the servants of the Resurrected Moshiach, Moshiach Ben Dovid,raised up with him in the newness of life. Co 3:1-3. This is called regeneration. For the believer, a death, a discontinuity with the old age, has occurred, and this means old things have passed away. When you study Romans chapter six you learn about the subject of mortification of the "old adam in me," mortification of the flesh. (See on the mortification of the flesh Mt 5:29; Ro 6:6; Ro 13:14; Ga 5:16; Ga 5:24; Col 3:5; 1Pe 2:11; 1Pe 4:2 (compare 1Pe 4:2 and Mt 7:21 where we see there is no true regeneration salvation for the unrepentant libertine who claims to be a follower of Moshiach). There is a boim foon mesiros nefesh ("tree of self sacrifice" that is, to use a yiddish and hebrew expression, בוים פון מסירות נפש) that you must pick up and carry in order to mortify the old man and follow Moshiach as the new regenerated man or else you cannot be his talmid (Lk 14:27; Lk 9:23; Ga 6:14). Without regeneration you might attempt some religious mortification but it would never work. However, since you are regenerated, the new man CAN INDEED put to death the deeds of the flesh and live (Ro 8:13). You DO THIS VERY THING by the power of the Holy Spirit (Ro 8:13). When your mind is under attack you can pray IN the Holy Spirit. And you also turn to Romans chapter 6 and read about the regenerated believer's burial in a watery grave WITH Moshiach in terms of ZIKH GETOYLV'T IN DER MIKVEH and about a new creature being freed from Slave Master Sin's indentured service (6:22). You can read about how it is no longer the "old me" who lives, for a death has occurred and there is a discontinuity in terms of the old blind adamic humanity I once was part of. This means I still have a carnal nature because glorification hasn't happened yet, but as a new creature, I am aware that in my carnal nature there is no good thing (Ro 7:18), that in fact my carnal nature can become Satan's ally, so I hate what is evil and make no provision for it.
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