Scripture says our old man has already been crucified and we have already been given the mind of Christ...........but there is a battle ensuing between the old man and his carnal mind and the new man, Christ, and His mind and spirit within us, from the moment we first came to Christ.
Dear Lizbeth,
I want to make a point on the old man being crucified with Christ, but to fully understand my comments, I need to explain how Christ saves His Elect.
Here is the verse you mentioned:
Rom 6:6 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. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
When a believer is first called out from the world and given a measure of faith, it happens solely because Christ came to the person and gave them the
Early Rain of the Spirit. Without the Early Rain of the Spirit, a person has no ability to call Jesus "Lord" because of their "marred" (
Jer 18:4) created spiritual state.
Rom 3:10 As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
1Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But since the Early Rain of the Spirit is given in a small measure (
Deu 32:2, Job 37:6 & Joel 2:23), the new believer is left unconverted and spiritually blind. In this new spiritual state, a spiritual war will begin between the Holy Spirit and the believer's carnal nature. Before the war ends, Satan will come to the aid of the carnal nature and plant his seed of the spirit of anti-Christ within the believer (Parable of the Wheat and the Tares). With this added help, the believer's carnal nature will win the war and will be made "worse than the first" (
Mat 12:43-45). This is when the Abomination of Desolation occurs within a believer (God's temple) and when they become a "man of sin". The believer will remain in this worsened carnal condition until they physically die
or (if they are Elect) until Christ returns to them and pours out the Latter Rain of the Spirit.
With the Latter Rain of the Spirit, a fallen away Elect believer will be restored and born again. This is also when their spiritual blindness will be healed. Immediately afterward, the spiritual war within the believer will begin again, but this time, Christ will remove the spirit of anti-Christ and the believer's carnal nature (the Great Harlot) and cast them into the Lake of Fire for destruction. With this quick judgment, the believer is said to be converted. However, the believer is still spiritually immature and still has as a lot of the past thoughts, beliefs and habits that they need to "unlearn". Because of this, the Lord will begin chastising the newly converted believer to teach them His righteousness (
Isa 26:9). This is when the believer's "old man" is "crucified with Christ". After the old man dies, the believer will walk by faith and will no longer sin. The spiritual process of maturing a converted believer is a
slow process (like crucifixion is) and can take many years to complete. That is why John the Baptist (a type for the old man) said "he must increase and I must decrease" (
John 3:30).
What I briefly summarized above is how Christ saves one of His Elect in this age. It happens solely by the spiritual work of Christ within the person. For that reason, Paul says that no man has anything they can boast about concerning their salvation (
Eph 2:8-10). They have no works because all the works that were performed, were the works of Christ. This truth alone destroys any notion that mankind has a free will ability. Christ is the one who causes us to "will and do of His good pleasure" (
Phi 2:13) and why Paul says we are the Lord's "workmanship" (
Eph 2:10).
Since all new believers are spiritually blind after being called into the church, the church quickly became apostate after the deaths of the Apostles. For this reason, one of the signs of the times that will happen before Christ returns to an unconverted Elect believer is that they will "see" the Abomination of Desolation (
Mat 24:15-16). When they see this sign, they are told to flee to the mountains (same as being gathered to heaven) because judgment is about to fall on them. This judgment is also shown in Revelation chapter 19. One of the key points about this judgment is that it does not occur until AFTER the believer has been born again and gathered to heaven (spiritually speaking). Because they are now a child of God (who is not judged), they will reign with Christ over their own judgment. This is why the Elect will not experience the wrath of God during their time of judgment. However, this will not be true for most of mankind when Christ judges them in the Lake of Fire. For them, judgment falls prior to them being born again as a child of God. They will suffer wrath but in the end, they will still be saved "by fire":
1Cor 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward (the Elect). 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss (the lost in the final age): but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Salvation will be given to the balance of mankind in the final age because Christ will not omit
justice, mercy and faith when He judges them:
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
The penalty of sin is death but before the "lost" perish, Christ will have mercy upon them. His mercy comes to them in the form of the Early Rain of the Spirit which will give them faith. From this faith, the pathway for Christ to "come again" and give them the Latter Rain of the Spirit will be made
straight. With the Latter Rain, the person will be born again and gathered to heaven. The child of the devil (who they used to be) will remain in the Lake of Fire for destruction (this satisfies justice).
After the last person who has ever lived is saved, this scripture below will be testified to be true:
1Tim 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4 who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
If you have any specific questions, I can provide a lot of scriptural support for my statements because most of the teachings of Christ apply to the pathway to salvation which I explained above. Even the "end-time" prophecies and the book of Revelation teach this pathway. Those end-time prophecies are not teaching about world events that supposedly happen at the literal end of the age. The "end of the ages" is spiritual and will occur when an Elect believer is converted.
1Cor 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as types, and have been written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.
Joe
He did not wish all of the misery on this planet to His people. As a just Judge, and not a dictator, as you would have Him, He had to let this play out. He offers us hope, He forces nothing. 
