ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE LOCKED, OR CHAINED IN A STATE OF BEING FROM CONCEPTION, UNTIL THE KEY IS TURNED BY GOD AND SPIRITUAL DELIVERANCE TAKES PLACE MOVING ONE INTO SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH!
This state of being can be changed by God alone and an example of one who calls upon God and Christ Jesus having this take place, is found in Psalm 107:13, “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and HE saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke apart the bonds that held them” See: Ps. 68:6; Acts 12:7; Acts 16:26.
A miracle takes place and one becomes a Saint, a Saved person, and that is spoken of as a new creation, a new birth spiritually speaking. We have God’s Son Jesus and All of His goodness, righteousness, and holiness is transferred to us and we are now new people. We have a new nature, a new life, we exist in Christ having Life Eternal with Him. No longer in darkness, Satan’s bondage and kingdom, nor are we under God’s wrath and condemnation. Set free indeed!
Yet we still find sin existing. What does this then mean?
The innermost part of a human being has been made by God a new person, a new heart, a new nature, a new soul/spirit, and a new identity being IN Christ. But we must remember what God has taught to us in His word. Our bodies have not been changed. They will not be changed until one of these two things happen: the body dies physically and is returned to the dust and ashes of this earth or Christ Jesus comes and translates or resurrects these bodies making them like His human body without sin.
We are taught also, that there is a enemy still living in this body. It is called the Flesh (sarx in Greek) which means Sin (singular)! It is housed in the body and the scripture will use this term Flesh speaking of sin and its fruits etc.! This sin (flesh) has goals and cravings and these are a few things we can identify:
- The Flesh is a way to THINK!
- The Flesh is a way to WALK!
- The Flesh WORKS AGAINST the Spirit
- The Flesh encourages SELF-EFFORT
- The Flesh seeks IDENITY AND PURPOSE.
- We choose to put CONFIDENCE in the Flesh
We must also remember that the flesh is not the OLD SELF! It is something within us but NOT US! The choices we make can either go toward the flesh or toward the Spirit in any given moment. We must remember our new identity. If we choose to walk in in any given moment in the flesh that does not change our Identity for we are Christians and we are IN THE SPIRIT.
When we walk after the flesh, we are not being our true self. If we rely on intellect, strength, or physical appearance to gain purpose and fulfillment, we are walking after the flesh! This goes against our New Nature in Christ. And of course, you will be convicted and even disciplined by the Lord as the Holy Spirit does this work in our very innermost being! Our conscience, our mind and our spirit, realize the wrong and we Confess such and repent when we do that, knowing all along that our sin or sins are forgiven due to the One Time Sacrifice on the Cross as Jesus paid for our sin there and He is the sacrifice and was the sacrifice for all of them past, present and future. No more religious Acts and Rites to be done such as the heretical Mass or Last Rites! They are covered we just agree always with Christ and God about them if we fail and trip up from time to time. If we say we have no sin, then as John states in his 1st Epistle, we lie, and the truth is NOT in us! All Christians confess we are sinners still, but redeemed, forgiven, and made new creations in Christ Jesus. We DO NOT claim we are God, nor do we claim we have been absolutely perfected in our body and its faculties, for that part of us is still dead in its sin!
God has put in our very innermost being His Spirit causing us to want what HE wants and a Desire to be like Him and obey Him to gain fulfillment in this Life with Him and Sin does not satisfy us!
So unfortunately – the flesh isn’t on its own. It has a powerful ally whose agenda is to distract us from walking after the Spirit. Who is this ally? A power at work in us called SIN! Paul the Apostle speaks of this matter in Romans 7. Read the whole chapter and also Romans 8. Here we find Paul saying, that the blame was not to be him, but rather, any wrong doing came from a secondary source called sin that was in his body! SIN LIVED IN PAUL BUT WAS NOT PAUL! This is still with us today if we are truly Saved. Our bodies nor sin did not get saved, WE DID! It may feel like you but it is NOT you! You are saved by Grace through faith and are IN Christ Jesus and are sons and daughters of God and a new creation, perfect in Christ Jesus!
The point is there is a sin principle within the physical body. And this sin principle is aroused when we, whether saved or lost, try to live up to the law or any lawlike standard. Neither our bodies nor our connection to the physical changed at salvation. So, once we are saved, sin is STILL present in our bodies. As we are now dead, we can resist its prodding through the Spirit sin isn’t dead. It is very much alive; Sin is IN US, but it is NO US! The struggle is there!
An excellent example of all of this is Abraham our father of the faith humanly speaking. Yet, in this man dwelled sin. It fleshed it way out on many occasions and two notable ones are when he went against the promise of God regarding the coming Messiah through his seed. He (God) promised Sarah would have a child, but this man Abraham turned over his wife to a King who was going to make her his wife, and Abraham was so fearful and full of unbelief at the moment feeling he may lose his physical life, he did this terrible act. Yet, God threatened the life of King Abimelech with death and his people also, plus God closed the wombs of all the females in the Kings kingdom. So, you know the story, God gave back Sarah to her husband Abraham, and he was given many gifts and sent out on his way, but GOD used him and called him a prophet and he was to pray for the King to be restored also, removing the curse God placed upon him, which Abraham did. Also, notice God said not one word to Abraham about all he had done, but HE called him a Prophet, and He called upon Him to pray for the King, etc.! Showing Grace swallowed up sin, for this man was considered a saint and was saved by God’s grace through faith. His identity was always a man of faith and had eternal life in the messiah to come. GRACE is greater than everything because it is also composed and propagated by God through LOVE!
Thanks be unto God for His abundant grace, turning all things to the good for those who are the called and the ones who Love God!
GRACE WORXS 