The Sin Nature And Confession Of Sin

 

1 John 1:9- But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

 

I bring good news:

 

No one owes God anything. Jesus Christ has paid our debt.

 

The Word of God tells us “All have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God,” yet “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not die but have everlasting life.”

 

We all sin in something we think, say, or do. However, on the cross, Jesus Christ was imputed the sins of all mankind. Every sin that could ever be committed was imputed to One who knew no sin, and in Him those sins were judged.

 

Now, sin is not the issue, volition is. For the unbeliever, the issue for their volition is “What think ye of Christ?” For the believer, the issue for their volition is “ Will you grow in grace, consistently studying the Word of God and applying the doctrine you learn to your life?”

 

Any one who comes to the cross and accepts the grace gift of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone has God’s righteousness imputed to them. Anyone who refuses that grace gift of salvation by their unbelief in Christ as Savior goes ultimately to the Lake of Fire, not because of sin, but because of their unbelief. The Bible says: “ He that believeth no, the wrath of God abideth on him already”.

 

The sin debt is paid.

 

Faith alone in Christ alone and positive volition lets the Holy Spirit begin to change the believer’s behavior to reflect the Christian way of life.

 

We examine the concept of true Christian change of the soul by reflecting on the topic: Doctrinal Sin Management:

 

First, let us understand the problem of personal sin:

 

The Problem of Personal Sin:

                                    Every sin committed throughout the course of human history—from the fall in Eden to the last sin of the Millennium—was judged in Christ on the cross by the justice of God. Throughout human history the soul of an individual is saved by the simple decision to believe in the Person and work of Christ on the cross.  This person’s presalvation sins are forgiven and he receives the imputation of eternal life. After salvation the believer will continue to commit sins but his fellowship is restored by the simple confession of these sins to God the Father Who in turn forgives these post-salvation sins.

 

                                    In every case, personal sin is the end result of volitional submission to a temptation.  The sinful nature is not the source of sin.  Sin is the personal choice of the individual to commit the sin by which he is tempted. There are two categories of sins committed by an individual: (1) those related to known sins, or sins of cognizance, and (2) those related to unknown sins, or sins of ignorance.

 

                                    New believers have a problem in identifying sins.  They may be aware of one they have facilitated and which has become obvious to themselves and possibly to others, but their understanding of what constitutes sin is limited. Knowledge of God’s categories of sin requires Bible study, but unfortunately a new believer has not had enough time to acquire this information. In the meantime because of his culture, background, or teachings he may consider many things to be sinful which are not and to consider other things to be righteous which are not. But what is a sin is what the Bible defines as sin, not what you have been told by others, read about in books, or decided about on your own based on whether you are legalistic or licentious. So for new believers there is a long laundry list of things they do not know are sins and another of things they think are sins but aren’t.  If he does not know what a sin is then he will not confess it and therefore he will not rebound until he commits a sin about which he is cognizant.

 

                                    Those ignorant of what sin is may live in status quo carnality for a good long while.  If they never get into serious Bible study they may learn of some sins in passing but will not come to know the problem-solving device that forgives them and puts them into status quo spirituality. Here then is the tragic result of a person believing in Christ but never giving Bible study a serious hearing: he brings into his Christian life an inventory of facilitated wheel-tracks of wickedness over which he has no doctrinal control. Further, he remains ignorant about his sinful lifestyle and thus has no motivation to enter into the biblically provided recovery procedure of confession alone to God alone. Consequently, if he ever does learn the procedure he is so far into reversionism it is extremely difficult for him to maintain the consistent filling of the Holy Spirit long enough to grow in grace.

 

                                    Thus the spiritual life of a new believer is a target-rich environment for the Dark Side to exploit.  He doesn’t have a broad knowledge of the various categories of sin and is therefore easily tempted by his sinful nature, other people, and by demon influence. Once he becomes aware he has committed a sin and rebounds he almost immediately gets back out of fellowship because he has such a long list of unknown sins. This is spiritual paralysis.  He is rarely in fellowship therefore his spiritual growth is extremely handicapped and he is vulnerable to every wind of doctrine while continuing to ignorantly submit to a host of sins. Consequently, one’s ability to bring his sinful nature under control requires him to understand what sin is and how to recover from it.

 

                        Spirituality and Carnality:

 

            Following salvation, the major responsibility of the believer is to maintain his spiritual life so that he may both learn and apply the Word of God under the ministries of the Holy Spirit. Failure to live up to this responsibility is caused by personal sin which cuts off fellowship with God, a privilege available to the believer and characterized by communication. Communication with God is accomplished by Him through the revelation of His Word and ours with Him through prayer and application of His principles to life and circumstances. Personal sin also cancels the filling of the Holy Spirit which is the divine power source for spiritual growth.  Without the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit the believer is left to his own devices and thus must resort to human viewpoint for problem-solving. From this we are able to deduce that there are two absolute statuses in the life of a believer: (1) spirituality and (2) carnality.

 

            A person cannot be spiritual unless he is saved, accomplished by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. At salvation all an individual’s presalvation sins are forgiven and he is baptized by the Holy Spirit into union with Christ thus creating a new spiritual species:

 

1 Corinthians 12:13 -  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17 -    If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature [kaine ktisis: a new creation, or spiritual species ]; the old things [archaios: the status quo of unbelief ] have passed away; behold, new things [kainos: divine power to execute imputed spiritual assets ] have come.

 

            Ktisis is the Koine Greek word for the Hebrew bara’: creatio ex nihilo: creation without reliance on preexisting materials, i.e., “to create from nothing.”  Thus the believer in Christ is a new spiritual species.

 

            The new believer enters into the Christian life in status quo spirituality in which environment he is privileged to grow in grace under the mentorship of the Holy Spirit. In this status of spirituality the believer has fellowship with each Member of the Trinity.  Fellowship with the Father is personal love for God, fellowship with the Holy Spirit is being filled by the Holy Spirit, and fellowship with the Lord is occupation with Christ. We are also informed by Scripture that believers have a second status that is defined as “carnal.”  Paul accuses the believers at Corinth of occupying this status in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2.

 

 

1 Corinthians 3:1 -      I, brethren [ identifies the objects as believers ], could not speak to you as to spiritual men [ they were not in fellowship with God, filled by the Holy Spirit, or in occupation with Christ ], but as to men of flesh [ dative of disadvantage of sarkinos: the sinful nature ], as to infants [nepios: infant, i.e., spiritual babies ] in Christ.

v. 2 -    I gave you milk to drink [gala humas epotisa: basic doctrines ], not solid food [ou broma: advanced theology ].

 

NOTE: In context, the verb “to give to drink” is the aorist active indicative of potizo and it has two direct objects: (1) milk and (2) solid food.  This is obviously a metaphor describing the inability of the carnal believer to metabolize advanced doctrines—solid food—so Paul has “fed” them on a liquid diet of basic doctrines—milk.

 

            As believers continue in spiritual growth they accumulate an ever-advancing inventory of doctrinal principles and concepts.  The more they know the easier it is to understand and evaluate new information. We have an idiom in English that describes this:

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., s.v.:

 

drink, 1c: to take in or receive avidly—usually used with in (drank in every word of the lecture).

 

            Because of a high inventory of divine viewpoint and resultant spiritual momentum, the advancing believer is able to “drink in” the teaching of Bible doctrine. However, a new believer or a recovering reversionist is unable to “drink in” advanced doctrine and must instead only be fed the “milk” of basic doctrines. Here then is the principle we extract from 1 Corinthians 3:2: a believer who spends most of his time in status quo carnality is able only to “drink in” the “milk” of basic doctrine but he is unable to “drink in” the “solid food” of advanced doctrine.

 

            This metaphor graphically illustrates the desperate condition in which the carnal believer operates.  Enmeshed in facilitated behavior patterns of carnality, his ability to log meaningful time under the filling of the Holy Spirit is limited thus making spiritual growth difficult and reversion recovery becomes a prolonged fractured process. But if we live by grace then two principles are evident: (1) If we grow by grace, and we do, then recovery from sin is by grace as well.  If rebound works for the advancing believer, and it does, then it also works for the reversionistic believer.

 

            It must be remembered that man is born into sin of two categories: (1) genetic sin that is programmed into the DNA of every cell, and (2) Adam’s sin imputed to the genetically formed sinful nature. In addition to these two, the sinful nature has a propensity to present temptation to the soul in several categories.  These temptations originate from four major characteristics of the sin nature:

 

1.An area of weakness called personal sin:

 

Hebrews 12:1 -           Since we also keep having such a great battalion of witnesses [ the faith-rest heroes of Hebrews 11 ] supporting us, having stripped for action every impediment [ laying aside all distractions to priority one of Bible study ] and the sins [ volitional consent to the temptations of the sinful nature’s area of strength ] which so easily ensnares, let us advance on the run [ momentum of the double-column advance ] with endurance [ to press on regardless of the circumstances ] in the conflict marked out for us [ our duties in the Invisible War ].

 

 

2.         An area of strength called human good which is the production of dead works—efforts at doing good outside the filling of the Holy Spirit and motivated by emotion—and executed under the energy of the flesh:

 

Isaiah 40:6b -  [NASB] All flesh [basar: mankind ] is grass [chasir: the fleeting nature of man ], and all its loveliness [cheseth: good works ] is like the flower [sis: the transitoriness of man and his weakness compared to divine power ] of the field.

v. 8 -                The grass withers [ men die ], the flower fades [ their human good is not permanent ], but the word of our God stands forever [ sovereign, immutable, & eternal ]. 

Isaiah 40:6b -  [Paraphrase]  The longevity of man is no more than that of grass and all his human good lasts no longer than the flower of the field.

v. 8 -                Men die, their human good fades away, but the word of God stands forever.

Isaiah 64:6 -    [NET]  We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight.  We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind. 

 

            One of the great satanic strategies in the Invisible War is involving believers in “doing good” with “good” being the execution of human-viewpoint schemes of improving a fallen world through energy of the flesh to the exclusion of biblical guidance. 

 

The great conflict between God and Satan is not only good versus evil, but good versus good.  Satanic doctrine is promoted through such agencies as the social gospel, socialism, world peace, internationalism, economic panaceas, doing good in the name of good, and other man-made plans which seek to improve human environment without providing man an eternal relationship with God.

 

Satan is trying to bring order out of chaos; he is trying to create a perfect environment.  Satan would like to establish a millennial reign, with himself as ruler.  To do this, Satan must get the world straightened out.  Consequently, a tremendous area of good deeds, social action, and many similar panaceas and solutions to man’s problems are Satanic in nature.

 

3.         A trend toward legalism is associated with self-righteous arrogance which eventually moves into moral degeneracy.  The Corinthians rejected the strong rebuke Paul gave them in his first epistle and in rebellion began to listen to the false teachings of the Judaizers.  Paul, an apostle, was the right pastor—or right man—for the Corinthian congregation—illustrative of the right woman.  The members’ committed spiritual adultery by listening to the teachings of the Judaizers, their “wrong man.”  Their negative volition and the false teachers’ heresy are addressed by Paul in:

 

2 Corinthians 11:4 -    If and it’s true that one comes [ a Judaizer ] and teaches another Jesus [ truly Man but not God, crucified but not risen; they use His reputation to teach legalism ] whom we have not preached, or if you receive another and different kind of disposition [ one of fear rather then grace ] which you have not received from us, or a different gospel which you did not previously accept, you endure his doctrines without question.

 

v. 13 -  For these [ Judaizers ] are false teachers, deceitful workers, masquerading themselves as apostles of Christ.

v. 14 -  No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

v. 15 -  Consequently, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their human good production.

 

4.         A trend toward lasciviousness, or antinomianism, is associated with immoral degeneracy.  This propensity is the problem Paul attacked in his first epistle to the Corinthians:

 

1 Corinthians 6:9 -      Do you not know that those who do not have the imputation of divine righteousness [adikos: “unrighteous” (NASB): lacking imputed righteousness (dikaios) therefore unbelievers ]   that occurs at salvation will not receive the inheritance of the eternal state and thus not possess an escrow account.  Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by others to the point of engaging in the behavior of the unbeliever reversionist!  The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals who are submissive sodomites, homosexuals who are assertive sodomites,

v. 10 -  thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the eternal state.

v. 11 -  Some of you believers once lived this way.  But you were washed [apolouō: forgiven of pre-salvation sins at salvation ], you were sanctified [hagiazō: baptized by the Holy Spirit into union with Christ and positional sanctification ], you are justified [dikaioō: imputed divine righteousness at salvation ] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.

 

 

            The word lascivious describes the immoral degeneracy that is common to the unbeliever and often adopted by believers whose trend is toward immoral degeneracy. The King James Version uses the word “lasciviousness” to translate the Greek aselgeia in Mark 7:22, 2 Corinthians 12:21, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 4:19, 1 Peter 4:3, and Jude 4.  The NASB uses the word “sensuality” in all but the Jude passage where the word “licentiousness” is chosen.

 

            English dictionaries define “lascivious” as a person who is characterized by lust; lewd; lecherous.  The word’s origin is the Latin lascivus, “wanton.” A person who is wanton is immoral, unchaste, lewd, or licentious.

 

            The Greek aselgeia is used nine times in the New Testament and usually placed among several sinful activities that define the behavior of the unbeliever or the believer in reversionism:

 

1.         In Mark 7:22, the Lord describes sins that find their origin in the soul due to volitional consent to temptations of the body’s lust patterns among which is lasciviousness (aselgeia: “sensuality” in the NASB).

2.         In Romans 13:13 Paul mentions several sins including lasciviousness (sensuality) that the believer is to avoid in the light of the fact he is baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ and  thus should reject the lusts of the flesh.

3.         In 2 Corinthians 12:21 Paul is concerned that the believers at Corinth have ignored his prohibitions against certain sins and have not changed their minds about the lustful behaviors they indulge, namely the idolatrous exercises practiced at the heathen temples, among which is lasciviousness (sensuality).

4.         In Galatians 5:19 Paul lists lasciviousness (sensuality) among his examples of the “deeds of the flesh.”

5.         In Ephesians 4:19 Paul admonishes the believers at Ephesus not to walk as do the unbelievers who, with calloused souls, have, among other things, “given themselves over to sensuality” (lasciviousness).

 

There is a gross misunderstanding about the Christian way of life: “Being a Christian means not sinning.”

 

1 John 1:9- But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

 

John 10:28-29- I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand.

 

2 Tim 2:13- If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since he cannot deny himself.

 

Do you know why you sin?  It is because you have an old sin nature.  You got it from Adam. All humans have an old sin nature.  When you were born, you were born physically alive.  You were given a body and you were given a soul. When you made a decision to believe in Jesus Christ, you still had your body, you still had your soul, but then you received a human spirit.  This is what we call being a trichotomous person (body, soul and spirit).  You have a human spirit, and in that human spirit God the Holy Spirit has come and indwelt you.  God the Father, God the Son, all Members of the Trinity indwell every believer of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This sets up a tremendous battle because as a Christian, you have God the Holy Spirit residing in you, versus that old sin nature still residing in you.  This is a battle that every Christian goes through.  It took me years before I found the answer. As a new Christian, I didn't know what to do.  I did not realize that there was a problem solving device with regard to my sin nature. I did not even understand that I had a sin nature.

      Romans 8:8 says, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."

      Romans 13:14 commands, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof."

      Romans 6:12 tells us, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it and the lusts thereof."

The Bible talks about the flesh, the flesh, the flesh.

Galatians 5:17 says, "The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other that you cannot do the things that you should."

Galatians 5:16 tells us, "This I say then, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."

Then we have the mandate from God in Ephesians 5:18 that every Christian should understand:  "Be filled with the Spirit, do not be drunk with wine."  In other words, if you want to be excessive about something, get excessive about the Holy Spirit in your life.

This sets up a critical question for the believer: "How do I control my old sin nature and keep the Holy Spirit in control of my life?"

The answer is the use of two of God's problem solving devices. Before I give them to you, I want you to understand that as a Christian you still have an old sin nature that hasn't been taken away.  You will lose it when you die, go to heaven, and get a resurrection body without a sin nature.  You must not be ignorant of this or Satan will use it to discourage you and make you feel guilty.  Satan will say to you, "You are a sinner, you are a slob, you are no good.  See what you did?  If you were a Christian, you wouldn't do that, so why don't you just stop this Christian routine."  This type of thinking is ridiculous because all Christians sin.  So how can you control this desire to sin?  How can you control this sin nature when it tempts you to sin?  You must learn Psalm 32:5 and 1 John 1:9.

In Psalm 32:5 David wrote: "I acknowledge my transgressions to the Lord and my sin I will not hide, I will confess my sin unto the Lord and He will forgive the iniquity of my sin."  There are two points in this verse for you to see.

1. Do not ever try to hide from God the fact that you sin. That is what Adam tried to do in the Garden, and it didn't work.  In Genesis 3:9. God said, "Adam, where are you?"  God knew where Adam was.  Adam said, "In the bushes, God."  He did not want God to know what he had done.  And many of you who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, when you make a bad decision and when you commit a sin in your life, you naturally feel bad about it.  It is natural to feel ashamed and guilty, but the worst thing to do is to try to hide it. You can hide it from your pastor.  You can hide it from your friends.  But you can't hide it from God.

2. Admit what you have done to God and be honest about it.  That is the first problem-solving device.  In John 13, Jesus taught Peter a marvelous lesson.  He said, Peter, I know you are going to sin.  I know that you are going to deny Me three times.  I'm going to teach you a marvelous lesson that in spite of your sin, I love you and I will forgive you.  Go to your Bible and read John 13:36−38 and John 18:15-27, and you will see that Peter did deny the Lord.

Like Peter, we have a tendency to shock ourselves. We sometimes do what we think we are not capable of doing.  You cannot hide your sin from God.  You must be willing to admit your weaknesses and confess what you did.

1 John 1: 9 says, "If we acknowledge our sins (or if we confess our sin) He is faithful and righteous with the result that He forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness." Every Christian has to do this every day.  You will probably know it before you do it, because all sin begins with a thought and that thought leads to an attitude and that attitude leads to an action.

You will know it is a sin in your thinking process because it is there that your volition will make a decision.  Do I want to do it? "Yes."  Do I not want to do it?  "No."  Once you decide yes, you want to do it, then you form an attitude about it.  Your attitude is good, fun, go for it, and when you go for it, you create the sin.

When you confess your sin, God is not shocked.  He knew in eternity past what you would do.  God knew what your old sin nature was and God made provisions so that you don't have to let your old sin nature control your life.

Therefore, He says, if you will admit it and not try to hide it, He is faithful and just to forgive the iniquity of the sin. 

The point I am trying to make to you is critical that you understand.  When you are in fellowship with God you are controlled by the Holy Spirit, and when you are not in fellowship with God you are controlled by your flesh or your old sin nature.   At any point in time in a Christian's life, he is either in or out of fellowship with God through the filling of the Holy Spirit. As you read this, you are either out of fellowship and controlled by your old sin nature, or you are in fellowship, controlled by the Holy Spirit. You don't have any middle ground.  You are either in fellowship or you are out of fellowship.

If you are out of fellowship, the reason is because of one of the three types of sin under which all sin is categorized.

1. Mental attitude sins are sins you commit with your mind (envy, worry, jealousy, bitterness, etc.);
2. sins of the tongue are sins you commit with your mouth (lying, gossiping, criticizing, maligning, back-biting, etc.); and
3. overt sins are sins that you do outwardly (fornication, stealing, murder, etc.).

 

 

A believer is not only saved, but is, in fact, an adopted member of the Royal Family of God. No matter how often we as Christians fail, we can never lose our salvation. We will always be sons of God and members of God’s Royal Family.

 

We can never lose our salvation.

Did you ever get an F on a report card? I got a few of them. I was always shocked to see them. I felt even worse when my parents found out about them! But when we as Christians fail God, when we get an F for our spiritual life because we have unconfessed sin in our lives (we have not utilized the grace provisions of 1 John 1:9), we are still saved! We are always members of His family! No matter how often or how badly we fail, we have a secure position with God in Christ. Once we are saved, we are always saved. God says,

I give to them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand (John 10:28).

Just as our physical father will always be our physical father even if we are adopted at birth and never see him, just so our spiritual Father will always be our Father from the moment of salvation through eternity regardless of what we do—even if we deny ever having been saved! Our salvation depends on our perfect Savior, Jesus Christ, not on us.

Too many Christians blaspheme God by thinking that they can cause the loss of their salvation. We did nothing to earn salvation, and we can do nothing to lose it. Salvation is a grace gift from God. God does not take back His gifts!

For by grace are you saved through faith . . . It is the free gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

I have had people tell me, “If you ask the Lord to save you, He will save you. So if you ask Him to leave you, He will leave you. All you have to do is ask Him, and He will leave you.”

Well, my friends, that is wrong! Totally, completely, 100% wrong! The Lord says in Hebrews 13:5b,

I will never leave you or forsake you.

But, you say, what if I have stopped believing? Or what if I doubt that I was ever saved? Or what if I have done something so terrible that I do not think I can still be saved? Our salvation depends on God, not on us, and God says that He “will never leave you nor forsake you.” Never means never! We cannot do anything to lose our salvation.

God’s faithfulness is so complete that even if we deny that He exists, even if we deny that we are saved, even if we (Christians) become faithless, yet God remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself. (II Timothy 2:13)

For God the Father to deny us—members of His Royal Family, He would have to deny Christ. He cannot do it! He will not do it! The minute God places us in His Royal Family through faith in Jesus Christ, our position is secure and eternal based on His faithfulness.

 

 

The doctrine of eternal security allows relief in the hearer and causes the preachers to get mad. Guilt is manipulation: imagine the power a preacher can hold over his flock if they can get them to believe that the preacher can decide who is saved and who is not by way of assessing a believer’s behavior!

 

Eph. 5:8- for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light

 

1 Cor. 3:1-3-3:1 So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 3:2 I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready, 3:3 for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people?

 

1 John 1:9- But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

 

After salvation, the Word of God commands believer’s to consistently study the Word and apply doctrine to their lives, growing in grace in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A believer must learn and apply doctrine, and that includes the doctrine of confession, which, after salvation, is one of the most important doctrines given to believers.

 

The doctrine of confession, found in 1 John 1:9, is not a license to sin. A believer who commits post-salvation sins and never rebounds enters into reversionism and is a candidate for divine discipline, up to and including dying the sin unto death.

 

In our arrogance, we believe we are doing something for God when we say, “because I am saved, I will sin no more.” You can’t change yourself and have it be “of God”.

 

Rom. 7:15-20- For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate. 7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. 7:17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. 7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

 

The Greek word for flesh is the word “sarx”. This word is used to describe the imputed sin nature that is in every cell that makes up every believer who has ever lived after the fall of Adam.

 

In your sin infused human nature, you are born in sin. You can’t live the Christian way of life in the energy of the flesh.

 

Paul said, “sin dwells in me.” God looks at what you are thinking. The character and content of your soul are his concerns, not your outward appearance.

 

“Lust of the flesh” is not necessarily sex lust; it can also be lust for power, money, ect. Lust of the flesh is the stepping-stone into the pond of evil.

 

Unbelief= body + soul---dead

Belief+ body+ soul+ Holy Spirit----Spiritually alive.

 

Paul wrote in autobiographical terms in Rom. 7.

Phil. 3:6-In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.

 

Understanding yourself by the Law= possibly blameless. Why would such a person need to be saved?

Understanding yourself after salvation= you can see who you really are: a sinner.

 

Rom. 7:14-For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.

 

There is a new law.

 

There is a difference between carnal and spiritual. One must ask themselves: who is controlling you- your sin nature or the Holy Spirit?

 

The Law: Codex 1; The Decalogue

                    Codex 2: The Ordinances

                    Codex 3: Judgments (the political functions of Israel)

 

The Law wasn’t given to the church, it was given to Israel.

 

Believer is not to proceed according to the Law, but to proceed according to the Holy Spirit.

 

Rom. 8:2-For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

 

You can’t manage your sin: the Holy Spirit can through positive volition of the believer towards learning and application of doctrine.

 

Positional truth and experiential truth.

 

Let the Holy Spirit control your life.

 

Gal. 3:13-Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)

 

You cannot keep the Law.

 

Rom. 8:4- so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 

You can choose to live according to fleshly energy (I can change), or you can choose to live according to the Spirit ( the Holy Spirit can change me).

 

 

 

Reversionism and no confession is living in the flesh and eventually experiencing fragmentation into legalism or lawlessness powered by arrogance.

 

Legalism: those who crucified Christ were legalists. They took pride in their “sinlessness”. They were arrogant, judgmental. Their self-righteousness turns people off from the Christian way of life by promoting the human viewpoint that Christians can’t have any fun.

 

We are not to critique other people: we are to study and apply the Word of God to our own lives.

 

The sin nature has and area of strength (human good and dead works), and an area of weakness (source of all sin by way of temptation). The sin nature’s area of strength tends toward legalism and self-righteousness to the point of moral degeneracy. Example, followers of Islam: Those people are self-righteous moral degenerates. They cannot see who they really are because they view themselves in the mirror of arrogance.

 

On the other hand, those who are lost in their area of weakness are involved in various forms of licentiousness, and a drunk knows they are a drunk and a prostitute knows they are a prostitute.

 

1 Cor. 15:44-it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

 

 

The individual spiritual war:

Heb. 5:11-14-5:11 On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing. 5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food. 5:13 For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

 

 

Oracle= “Logion” in the Greek, a word for divine communication.

 

1 Pet. 4:11-Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words(logion). Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Gal- 5:17- For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

 

You are a product of your decisions. You must ask yourself: who are you going to be led by?

 

How do I handle my failures?

 

1.     Count yourself dead to sin:

Rom. 6:11-12- So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires,

 

You still have a sin nature but you do not have to be controlled by it. Flesh is devious. You think you are controlling the lusts of your flesh but, in arrogance, your flesh is controlling you.

 

2.     Key is confession. Humility is needed to confess sins as per 1 John 1:9. Enforced humility is described in Heb. 12 and Prov. 15:10. God’s discipline enforces humility and takes care of arrogance.

 

Rom. 12:2- Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

 

3.     Choose who you are going to serve.

Eph. 5:8-- for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light

 

Phil. 2:6-11-2:6 who though he existed in the form of God

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave,

by looking like other men,

and by sharing in human nature.

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

—even death on a cross!

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

 

 

4.     Remember that Christ freed us from the sin nature.

Col. 2:11-In him you also were circumcised—not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ.

Phil 3:2-3-3:2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials

What is done in the spirit is divine good. What is done in the flesh is human good and evil.

 

5.     Walk in the Spirit.

Gal. 5:16-But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

Confess when you sin. When you sin, get back in.

 

John 13: 13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. 13:2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. 13:3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 13:4 he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. 13:5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself.

13:6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

13:7 Jesus replied, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.” 13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 13:10 Jesus replied, “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.

 

 

Bath= salvation

Feet washed = confession and cleansing of post salvation sins.

 

6.     The old things have lost their power over you.

2 Cor. 5:17- So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come!

Gal. 5:1- For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

Do not get entangles in the Law, you have been freed from it.

Verse 10- God deals with those who misrepresent God’s plan.

 

7.     Do not let Satan manipulate you through guilt: Confess your known sins and move on!

Phil. 3:13

God is not getting you for something you did years ago.

Failure causes guilt and success causes arrogance.

 

Confess the sin and move on with no guilt in the Spirit with no arrogance.

 

Phil. 3:14- Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead.

 

 

Put on the Battle Dress of Doctrine and prepare to move to the front lines of the Invisible war!

 

Eph. 6:10-17- 6:10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 6:11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. 6:13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 6:15 by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, 6:16 and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

Eph. 4:21-24- if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus. 4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, 4:23 to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.

Corrupted – Greek word “phtheioro=defiled

In ancient Israel, the temple was defiled when anything was damaged or if a guardian of the temple neglected their duties.

 

1 Cor. 3:16-17- Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 3:17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.

 

 

Eph. 4:22-24- 4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, 4:23 to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.

 

You cannot clean up the sin nature. You cannot live the Christian way of life by cleaning up the sin nature. The sin nature will not obey God, never has, never will. You can only choose between being led by the Spirit or by the Old sin nature. If you choose to be led by the Spirit, it will be the Spirit that changes you and brings you in line with doctrine.

 

Learn a new way of thinking! Metabolize the Word of God consistently and grow in Grace. Your thinking will change from being occupied with human viewpoint to being occupied with divine viewpoint and your priorities will begin to reflect that change.

 

Ask: what is there in my life that will make a difference in eternity?