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| Putting Sin to Rest |
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Part 2 In light of all that Jesus has done for the believer, it is amazing to me to see most Christians don’t live lives of victory over sin. It is reminiscent of what Peter said in his second epistle chapter 1 vs 9; “For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” It is my hope and prayer in writing this, that you might find Jesus to be faithful to His promises, and that you might live the life of abundance He promises to you.
In the last article, How do I Stop Sinning, we saw that when Jesus died on the cross, we, who are Christians, died with Him. That His death was imputed to us and our old man, that is our flesh, was crucified with Him. We saw how we are instructed by Paul in Romans 6:11 that we are to reckon the old man to be dead to sin and alive to God. Paul is emphatic in his words to the Romans giving them, and giving us, what should be the obvious conclusion to the matter; Romans 6:12 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” However, it would seem, even after understanding that I have died with Him, I still have difficulty not allowing sin to reign in my body. It is like a bad horror movie (none of which I recommend by the way) such as, Night of the Living Dead. I see my old man to be dead, so I tried to put it to rest only to find out that it comes out of the grave. Or worse, like Pet Cemetery, I burry it only to find out it comes back more evil than before. What we need to learn is how to bury our old nature, in such a way that it’s power over us is put to rest for good, but how? It helps us to understand that this is a universal problem that we all must face when we are born again. In Romans chapter 7 Paul describes his difficulty with burying his fleshly nature. He says, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” Romans 7:15. You can sense the frustration, and for those of us who are Christians, we know the frustration of wanting to be free from sin. We often start out trying to put to rest our sinfulness, and finding no victory over it. We try 5 step plans, we make resolutions, we make promises, and take vows to live perfectly from here on out, only to agree with Paul, those things I want to do, I can’t, and those things I hate, I practice. It is at this point that many give up the Christian walk and decide that it is just too hard. However, we don’t find that attitude in Paul, in fact he shows us his struggle with sin, but then he gives us a solution, not how do I deliver myself, but rather, who can deliver me. Notice, Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” It is not a method or a plan that can deliver us, only a person, only Jesus Christ. In the believer’s life, the first thing we must realize is that we are not able to stop sinning. In fact, when it comes to sin, we are completely helpless against overcoming it ourselves, but Jesus Christ has given the victory over sin to all who put their trust in Him for salvation. Hebrews 12 veses 1 and 2 say, “ Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” The writer of Hebrews tells us to lay aside the sin, notice, that so easily ensnares us. How? By looking unto Jesus, who is not only the author, but also the finisher of our faith. It turns out that the best shovel to bury the flesh, is a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just to go to Church, or to make the claim that you are a Christian, but to look unto Jesus as the one who will develop and complete our faith. The only one who can deliver us from the power of these besetting sins. But, you may ask, how do I look unto Jesus? How do I have that type of relationship with Him? That is what we will explore. Most Christians today believe that Jesus died to pay for their sins, and that He rose from the dead to give them eternal life, but they don't see how to have victory in this present life. They don’t see Jesus as someone who is close to them, but rather someone who is probably mad at them for being less than perfect, and that is why they feel distant. The truth is that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we who believe have been reconciled to God, not by our own works, but by what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us. See Titus 3:5. God desires to look past your faults and accept you as His son or daughter, so that He might change you by the power of His Holy Spirit. This is something He knows you cannot do on your own, something that only can be accomplished as we spend time with Him, and learn to put our trust in Him. I have found it to be true in my own life, the more I get to know Jesus, the more I desire to please Him. The more time I spend with Him, the more I am willing to trust Him to take care of my problems, and the more I am willing to allow Him to work through my life. That is what an increase in faith is, in practical terms, trusting God; not only for His promises, but also for His provisions and power. It is no different in our natural relationships. If I have a close friend or relative, I might trust them to watch my children, drive my car, and stay at my house. If I just met someone yesterday, I tend to be guarded; it is unlikely that I would trust them with things that are important to me. As I get to know them, that might change, or I might be even more guarded depending on how trustworthy I find them to be. Whether we like it or not, we are the same way when it comes to God. If we don’t trust Him we tend to try to handle things on our own, to not allow Him to be involved in our lives, with disastrous results, I might add. But as we surrender to Him, spend time getting to know Him and being changed by His power. We find that those old tendencies of sin fade away into the background. To the point, that it seems strange to us that they ever seemed to have such a powerful hold upon us. Through this process, we are changed more and more into His image and our heart begins to reflect His heart. I see so many people struggling over sin, trying to overcome it on their own, thinking they need to conquer it in order to please God. It is like my 2 year old son trying to dress himself. He struggles and tugs and fights until he is frustrated and angry, but he has not developed to the point where he can do it on his own yet. Oftentimes he doesn’t want me to help him either, but once he surrenders, I am able to help him. Only then is he is free from his struggle, and can let me do what is impossible for him. So too, fighting against sin, we often strive to put on our own righteousness, looking at our sin, trying to overcome it. He watches with a broken heart, longing to help, urging us to look unto Him. When we do, then immediately He comes and clothes us in His righteousness and showers us with His forgiveness, and helps us in our struggle. Though there is no shortcut to developing a relationship, there are things that make it easier. He left you His Word, the Bible. Read it prayerfully, starting with the New Testament asking Him for help to understand, and to obey what you read. Next, fellowship with other believers: To develop a relationship with God, He desires us to be a part of a local body of believers. Proverbs 18:1 says, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.” Find a fellowship where the Word of God is taught and practiced, a place where the people love one another. 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Lastly develop a life of prayer, Paul said, “Pray without ceasing” 1Thesolonians 5:17. The idea is that as I go throughout the day, I bring each thing to Him, trusting Him to guide me, and speak to me. It is also helpful to find a quiet place to pray when I feel overwhelmed with the pressures of life. He does not want us to do these things out of religious practice, but rather to develop and maintain a relationship with Him. George Muller said, “If you live by faith, it is impossible to live in sin.” The idea Mr. Muller was trying to communicate was that if we are completely looking to Jesus, we are not distracted by sinful things or attitudes. George Muller not only believed this, he lived it. And so can you, by God’s grace through Jesus Christ. 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
All bible references are taken from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible unless otherwise noted. |
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| Thank you Jesus for speaking through Mike. |
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Deb |
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October 19, 2007 at 12:10pm |
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You wrote...I have found it to be true in my own life, the more I get to know Jesus, the more I desire to please Him. The more time I spend with Him, the more I am willing to trust Him to take care of my problems, and the more I am willing to allow Him to work through my life. I have found this to be true in my life as well. And we have to work at it sometimes, because worldly things can come between us and life can get to hectic. We have to make it a priority to spend time with Jesus.
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R |
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October 21, 2007 at 4:59am |
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Hey Pray4emmett,
I was going to send you this comment in private, but see only signed on friends can do that. - With all due respect, we differ a little bit. And here are a few things: Do we confuse flesh? Was there a sinful nature = flesh, and is there this body of flesh?
Can we think about it in this way, that there were actually two parts flesh and one part according to the word (verse 6), was supernaturally crucified with Christ? This being true... then only one flesh remains, and that is this body, which in and of itself, cannot carry out anything sinful... without receiving commands to do so. Example: a person in a coma or shows no brain activity, how can that person continue to sin? Answer: They don't. - Therefore, it becomes a matter of the mind and what we place it on.
Do we sit our mind on His facts, or on our experience and all the voices around us? Do we believe God when He says we can reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to Him... or do we listen to the other voices that say we will sin again? I think you are saying the opposite to what God says, concerning this. If we would reckon on the truth and do a brain wash on ourselves, God would show us how true this verse really is. Romans 6:11... is all the truth and answer we need for this experience to happen. P.S. Chapter 7 is all about the law. The i-chapter, not the depend on God chapter. Oh yes we have all experienced doing it, but it is not the place we stay or dwell on. The answer is 6:11. |
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| R, I had somewhat of a hard time following all that you were trying to say, and I wasn’t completely clear what exactly I said that you didn’t agree with. However, I will try to answer your concerns, maybe I can help you to understand what I meant or if it is a matter of semantics.
You wrote,
“I was going to send you this comment in private, but see only signed on friends can do that. - With all due respect, we differ a little bit. And here are a few things: Do we confuse flesh? Was there a sinful nature = flesh, and is there this body of flesh?” It is obvious that our physical body was not crucified with Jesus Christ, but when I speak of the flesh, or old nature that was crucified, I am speaking of the controlling aspect of the flesh in regards to our mind, or soul as the bible calls it.
Can we think about it in this way, that there were actually two parts flesh and one part according to the word (verse 6), was supernaturally crucified with Christ? I don’t know that you can separate the two of them so cleanly, it is the flesh we carry around that use to dominate our lives, a body that has drives that once were motivated by a nature that was completely sinful. That controlling aspect of it has been nailed to the Cross. Now because I use to serve it, I have the tendency to continue to try and serve it, although instead of pleasure and thrill, I feel conviction and shame. The point is not that I won’t want to sin anymore, the point is that I can’t find the same pleasure in sin… Paul’s point is that we should account or reconcile our flesh to be dead unto sin, because Jesus took away it’s power. Paul said to the Galatians, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." Gal 2:20 & 21 He also told the Colossians to set their minds on things above not on things of the earth for we died and our life is hid with Christ in God. Col 3:2 & 3. It is clear that Paul acknowledges that he still lives in the flesh but recognizes, by faith that it no longer has the power to rule him, so instead of worrying what the body needs or wants, I can set my mind or soul upon Christ or heaven. To realize that my life in hidden with Christ in God and I do not have to seek for my life here. This being true... then only one flesh remains, and that is this body, which in and of itself, cannot carry out anything sinful... without receiving commands to do so. Example: a person in a coma or shows no brain activity, how can that person continue to sin? Answer: They don't. - Therefore, it becomes a matter of the mind and what we place it on.
I will agree with you that it is a battle of the mind, but I don’t think all body activity is driven by the mind. When my body is hungry, the entire system sends signals to the stomach and the stomach sends signals to the brain, then I (that is my soul or mind) decides what I want to do about it. Sin can be the same thing, maybe I remember how pleasurable it use to be to look at women in lust, chemicals are released within my body to produce a strong desire, craving sinful things or attitudes that are ungodly. I then have to decide whether or not I will partake in this activity. I decide in my mind if I want to meet my body’s demands. If I am brain dead, my body may well still send signals to my mind but being unable to carry them out they fall on deaf ears (metaphorically speaking). We must not forget that the brain is part of the body. Now that I am born again I also have been quickened in the spirit, something that was dead, but is now alive because Jesus gave me a new birth. My spirit yearns for God and tells my mind to seek God, I then have a choice obey my spirit that is communing with God’s Spirit. Or serve my flesh. I might be hungry and my blood sugar levels are low and I want to kill someone. I then am rude, and irritable because I am being driven by my body appetites, I yell at my wife, kick the dog, and swear at my son (all justified in my mind, because it is a chemical imbalance in my insulin levels.) But if I am walking in the Spirit, although all of the same body demands are there, I set my mind on Jesus who helps me to deny my flesh, change my mind, and be kind to my wife, walk around the dog and bless my son, all the time waiting patiently (a fruit of the Spirit) while I get food in my belly. Do we sit our mind on His facts, or on our experience and all the voices around us? Do we believe God when He says we can reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to Him... or do we listen to the other voices that say we will sin again? I agree with you that our experiences have nothing to do with fact. However, when our experience in the things God tells us prove out just as He said they would, then our experiences are valid, in fact they are a testimony to the faithfulness and truth of God’s word. I think you would be helped to read part 1 of this teaching. In that article I talked about Romans 6:11. Here I did not address the mechanics of it because I had already in the previous article. I think you are saying the opposite to what God says, concerning this. If we would reckon on the truth and do a brain wash on ourselves, God would show us how true this verse really is. Romans 6:11... is all the truth and answer we need for this experience to happen. If that were the case I don’t think Paul would have started verse 12 with “therefore” Paul using the rest of the chapter to tell us how we should respond to what he has said in chapter 6 so far, which subsequently was built upon the points he made in Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. It is a shame sometimes for this very reason that they put in verse numbers because it causes some to be caught on one verse rather than the context. P.S. Chapter 7 is all about the law. The i-chapter, not the depend on God chapter. Oh yes we have all experienced doing it, but it is not the place we stay or dwell on. The answer is 6:11. This is an interesting statement you make. I however, don’t think Paul separated it with the rest of the book. In chapters 1-3 he condemns all men in every walk of life. In chapters 3& 4 he shows us how we can only be justified by faith and not the works of the law. in 5 & 6 he shows how all are sinners who were born in Adam, and how Jesus has given us a new birth and conquered the old man. In chapter 7 he get practical and shows what it is like trying to live according to the law of the flesh, and the struggle between the old and new nature. Finally in chapter 8 he gives us the answer to living a life of victory and walking in the Spirit, that answer is Jesus, a person we must go to. I think we need everything Paul wrote in these chapters in order to completely understand it and allow Jesus to do the work in us. Jesus said “without me you can do nothing.” John 15:5b. I will conclude that we must look unto Him, the author and finisher of our faith. As I said earlier, I had some difficulty understanding what you were trying to tell me in some places. So I interoperated it all based upon your statement that I was saying the opposite of what God says on this subject. Again it may have just been semantics, and if so I apologize and encourage you to reply. I spent the time on this because I feel it is so important that all of God’s children understand this. It is the difference between victory over sin and a very frustrating Christian life. Blessings, Pastor Mike |
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R |
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November 14, 2007 at 7:07pm |
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Hey Mike,
Sorry that my comment was harsh. It was just the way I took it... or read into it that day. If you've ever read Watchman Nee's, "The Normal Christian Life," this follows what I have shared, though harshly, I admit.
Also, I want to boast that Rom.6:11 works, and it has been the only thing effective that has worked against sin. Here is to depending on God to back up and empower His word, when He tells us to reckon ourselves dead to sin. It works. R... |
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R, Thanks for your comments. I doubt that you will find anything in my blog that disagree's with Watchman Nee and his book Normal Christian life. I have read this book as well as many others on this subject. You will find in Part 1 of this thread I delt with the death of the Christian's old man Romans 6. In this blog I gave some insights into helping us practically allow Christ to bury our old man, rather than struggle with the thought that I still am controlled by it.... as Paul talks about in Romans 7. My next blog will be the third and final part of the thread. It will deal with the subject of walking a life of victory and faith. Walking in the Spirit or abiding in Christ, obtaining promises and so on. Romans 8. If you haven't read part 1 yet you should go back and read it, I think it will help you to see where I am coming from, and see the emphasis on Romans 6:11 that you were looking for here. Blessings, Mike |
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