1. Why do you do the things you don’t want to do? SIN. SIN is not what you do, it is who you are "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but SIN DWELLETH IN ME” [Romans 7:20] NATURE OF SIN was foisted on man when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, lost the LIKENESS of His GLORY and we became slaves to SIN, “… for of whom a man is OVERCOME, of the same is he brought in BONDAGE” [2 Peter 2:19] SIN is the character of Satan and we are SINNERS from the womb, “For ALL HAVE SINNED, and come short of the GLORY of God” [Romans 3:23] Through SIN, we are joined in judgment with Satan, to be separated from God by DEATH, “For the WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH; but the GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord” [Romans 6:23] We were all SLAVES to SIN, under sentence of DEATH and without HOPE, until God became like us in Jesus Christ, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of FLESH and BLOOD, HE also HIMSELF took part of the same; that through DEATH he might destroy him that had the POWER OF DEATH, that is, the DEATH; And deliver them who through FEAR OF DEATH were all their lifetime SUBJECT TO DEATH” [Hebrews 2:14-15]
2. LUST is the personification of SIN, working in the FLESH both to DESIRE and WALK contrary to God’s WILL, “For the FLESH LUSTETH AGAINST the SPIRIT, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are CONTRARY the one to the other: so that YE CANNOT DO The THINGS YE WOULD” [Galatians 5:17] FLESH is the term for MIND corrupted by SIN subjugating our natural SENSES to rebellion against God, “For when we were in the FLESH, the MOTIONS OF SIN, which were by the LAW, did work in our MEMBERS to bring forth fruit unto DEATH” [Romans 7:5] Brethren, we were BORN in the FLESH, as were people under the LAW, unfit to do any GOOD or draw near to God by recourse to PIETY “… and ALL OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS ARE AS FILTHY RAGS; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” [Isaiah 64:6] Oftentimes, a THIEF desires to do away with “STEALING” and the ADULTERER away with INFIDELITY, but powerless to do so; held in BONDAGE as captives of a “STRONG MAN”, “But when a STRONGER than he shall come upon him, and OVERCOME HIM, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils” [Luke 11:22] The “STRONGER”, indeed the STRONGEST, is the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, the YOKE of SIN was broken and our MINDS renewed in the LIBERTY of the SON of God, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY” [2 Corinthians 3:17]
3. For those in Christ, the LEGAL authority of SIN is BROKEN, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” [2 Corinthians 5:17] We are BORN AGAIN, free to make choices after the WILL of God but saddled with a BODY accustomed to LUST. Our daily struggles with TEMPTATION are proof of LUST lurking deep withing us, and “… every man is TEMPTED, when he is drawn away of HIS OWN LUST, and ENTICED. Then when LUST hath conceived, it bringeth forth SIN: and SIN, when it is finished, bringeth forth DEATH” [James 1:14-15] Yes, we are BORN of the SPIRIT and have the assurance of ETERNAL LIFE, but our natural SENSES and BODY remain the same, which is the “OLD MAN”. Listen closely, as long as we are in this world, we must CONTEND and be VIGILANT not to give in to the OLD MAN, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the OLD MAN, which is corrupt according to the DECEITFUL LUSTS” [Ephesians 4:22] Putting off the OLD MAN is the GOOD FIGHT of FAITH; our FAITH TRIED from WITHIN by everything WITHOUT, “That the TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be TRIED WITH FIRE, might be found unto PRAISE and HONOUR and GLORY at the APPEARING of Jesus Christ [1 Peter 1:7] Beloved, seeing we are yet in this BODY, let us FIGHT the GOOD FIGHT of FAITH and “… let him that THINKETH HE STANDETH TAKE HEED LEST HE FALL” [1 Corinthians 10:12]
4. Those who are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ have in the same BODY the TREASURE of ETERNAL LIFE and LUST jousting for supremacy “But we have this TREASURE in EARTHEN VESSELS, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are TROUBLED ON EVERY SIDE, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair” [2 Corinthians 4:7-8] As EARTHEN VESSELS are made stronger by FIRE, let us likewise submit the FLESH to be CRUCIFIED in the furnace of afflictions, that our FAITH be not dissolved by LUST, “And they that are Christ's have CRUCIFIED the FLESH with the AFFECTIONS and LUSTS. If we live in the Spirit, let us also WALK IN THE SPIRIT” [Galatians 5:24-25] It is required of us to DIE to this BODY and be free of the NATURE OF SIN, if we must inherit the glorious and immortal BODY that awaits us at the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us, as many as have this HOPE, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, “And BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD: but be ye TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, WILL of God” [Romans 12:2] Accept Jesus Christ and have the power of SIN broken in your life, amen
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