For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; — Titus 2:11, 12

Many in the church world believe that you will never live a holy and godly life until you die and go to heaven.  But here the Word declares you can live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.  God through grace has given you all you need to live like He lives.  He has crucified your old ungodly man, buried him, and raised you up a new person.  This new man is after God, created in righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24).  This new man has been given the divine nature of Almighty God, with the ability to partake of that nature (2 Peter 1:4).  Now in order to live a godly life, you must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts-–not deny that they exist, because they do, but deny their right to be part of you and your life.  Insecurity, anger, offense, unforgiveness, weakness, unworthiness, sin, sickness, and depression will all come at you, trying to get you to claim to be these things.  Deny them access into your thought-life, keep them out of your meditations and speech, put up your shield of faith, and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (Eph. 6:16)!  You have a choice:  to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts by faith or to receive them and claim them because of your feelings.  Grace has provided a life of victory and power, but it must, like salvation, be received through faith.  You can live godly, soberly, and righteously in this present world!  This salvation has appeared to all men, including you.

And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. — Mark 10:46-50

Blind Bartimaeus spent his life sitting by the roadside, blind and begging.  He had fallen into a repetitious lifestyle with no hope and no change.  One day he heard that the Word was passing by, Jesus of Nazareth.  Immediately hope arose in his heart that a change could be in order.  He cried out, hungry for a response from the Word, or a change out of his blind, poor lifestyle.  People told him, “Shut up!  You’ll never change!  Be quiet!  You are blind forever!”  But there was something about hearing that the Word was passing by, that the Word was near.  Many people get saved and then fall into a rut their whole life, putting up with faults and failings because they have not heard the Word that change is available, deliverance is near.  Many sit under a preacher who is constantly putting on the old man in their mind-set:  you are a sinner, unholy, unrighteous, blind, just do your best and when you die everything will be better.  But better arrived the day you said “yes” to Jesus.  That day in Israel the identity of being blind Bartimaeus started to come off, and begging became a thing of the past.  Notice that before blind Bartimaeus received his new life, his new identity, to be no longer blind but a seeing Bartimaeus, he had to cast away his old garment, the symbol of his old condition!  You, too, by hearing the Word, can deny and cast away all your old ungodly garments.  You are not a recovering alcoholic, a reformed drug addict, an angry man, a loser, a sinner who always fails God.  Cast away that garment, arise and come to the Word!  Your faith will change you and make you whole (verse 52).

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. — Romans 6:6a

Jesus went to the cross to die for you; at the same time He died, your old man was crucified.  The sinner and failure you became through Adam’s sin in the Garden had to be put to death, so you could be recreated in the image of Christ.  God created man in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:26), and His plan for man has never changed.  Through an act of faith, not only did Jesus die on the cross but He also took every old man and crucified them all with Him.  When He died, you died; when He was buried, the old man was buried; when He rose, you rose, and when He was seated in heavenly places, the new you was seated with Him, in Him.  Notice the key to living and walking in the revelation:  know that your old man is crucified with him-–not he will be crucified, not he was crucified, but that he is!  You must have a present-tense knowledge of the old you as dead and the new you as alive!  Your old man was not washed up, cleaned up, or cleansed from sin-–no! he was put to death once and for all.  You must meditate on this fact–-see your old man on the cross, see him dead, see him buried forever.  He was not washed in baptism, he was drowned in baptism.  You no longer have to yield to sin; you are free from it (Romans 6:3)!  You can now live with Christ (Romans 6:8).

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Be not deceived:  neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you:  but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. — 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

You may have been a sinner, you may have been an alcoholic, you may have been a drug addict, you may have been in sexual sin or a thief, but such were some of you.  You are no longer the old person.  The crucifixion killed what you were.  You are not a saved alcoholic; the alcoholic died!  You are not a recovering drug addict; the drug addict is dead!  You are no longer an angry man, an insecure man, a depressed man–-you were, but now you are a new man, washed!  Sanctified!  Justified!  Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!  You do not have to fight and struggle with old sin habits.  You do not have to try to overcome your faults.  They are no longer your faults-–they were the old man’s faults, the old man’s sin habits-–and he is crucified.  Whatever you claim to be, you will have to fight against.  If you claim to be angry, you will have to fight anger.  If you claim to be a sinner, you will have to fight to overcome sin.  There is nothing you can do to overcome sin, but you can believe that He already overcame sin for you.  I am not a sinner but a righteous person by the Blood.  No longer dirty and filthy, but washed and made whole.  Do not think on what you were, but meditate on who you are and the old man will stay crucified.