Tenchi
Member
Sin of any and every kind invites us always to do two things:
1.) Deny who we are in Christ.
2.) Stand in God's place in our lives.
When a Christian sins, they are acting totally contrary to the "new creation" they have become in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Among other things, in Jesus, the born-again person has become:
- A joint-heir with Jesus (Romans 8:17)
- A redeemed, justified and sanctified child of God (1 Corinthians 1:30)
- Co-crucified with Christ and thereby freed from the power of Self and Sin. (Romans 6:1-11)
- Seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6)
- Indwelt by the Holy Spirit in whom they possess all they need to be "godly in Christ Jesus." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Philippians 2:13; Titus 3:5; 1 John 4:13; Ephesians 3:16, etc.)
How, then, is it that most Christians are daily mired in sinful living? Nothing of what God describes of them in His word seems to be evident in how they live every day. Well, this is so, at least in part, because they don't know who they are in Christ and so don't recognize that sin is inviting them to live in denial of their identity in him.
At bottom, though, the Great Battle of Christian living is always over who sits on the throne of one's heart: God or Self. Every sin we commit is an acceptance of the invitation to pursue our own will over God's. Sin is always an act of rebellion toward God, not just eating more than we should, or telling a necessary "white" lie, or an understandable moment of anger when we get cut-off in traffic, or being a bit touchy with our spouse, or whatever. It's all turning from God's will to our own and becoming our own "god." We don't, of course, tend to frame our sin in this way, but construct some justifying lie that we tell ourselves in order to feel better about pushing God off the throne of our hearts.
The apostle Paul understood that sin always extends to us these two basic invitations. And so, when he directly addressed the matter of sin, it was these two invitations that occupied his comments. There is nothing that hinders our walk with God, our full enjoyment of Him, more than sin. When we regard iniquity in our hearts, God will not hear us. (Psalm 66:18); our sins separates us from God so that He will not listen to us (Isaiah 59:2); God's face is against those who do evil (1 Peter 3:12). But, as Paul wrote, there is a "way of escape" from the bondage and destruction of sin and the damaging effect it has on our fellowship with God.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NASB)
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
In Romans 6, Paul carefully lays out the "way of escape" from the power of Sin, distilling down the believer's response to every sinful temptation to two steps:
Romans 6:11 (NASB)
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:12-13 (NASB)
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
1.) By faith, count on the fact that you are "dead to sin but alive unto God in Christ Jesus," in the face of sinful temptation stand unmoved upon this truth, declaring to yourself, and believing, that, as a result, "sin shall have no more mastery over you." (Romans 6:14) Sin has no power to compel the born-again person; the child of God always, in Christ, has the freedom to walk away from sinful temptation. What remains is for them to really trust that it is so. Only when they do, will they begin to experience the truth of their death to sin in their practical living.
2.) Present yourself a "living sacrifice unto God" (Romans 12:1) and the members of your body as an "instrument of righteousness to God." Only the believer who humbles him/herself before God is lifted up into the life of power, peace and joy in Christ Jesus. (James 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:6) There is simply no way to walk with God but as His inferior; He must be God; there is no other dynamic within which He will commune with us except as Shepherd to sheep, Master to servant, Vine to branches, Creator to creature. Until the born-again believer submits to God's will and way, all day, every day, they will remain under the power of the "old man" who is the ultimate source of all their sin. (Romans 6:6)
Who or what is the "old man"? He is who we are apart from God, ruled by our own will and way, a rebel toward God, bound under the power of the World, the Flesh and the devil. (Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3; Colossians 1:21, Romans 8:5-8, etc.) The "old man" is so incorrigibly selfish, so unable to submit to God, that God had to put him to death with Christ at Calvary. The "old man" can't be remediated, he can't be improved; he must be separated from the born-again person, held impotent on the cross of Christ, as Paul described in Romans 6, Galatians 3:1-3; Colossians 2:10-13; Galatians 5:24, etc.
So long as a believer seeks Self-improvement, neglecting to live by faith in their death to the "old man" and in daily, even moment-by-moment, submission to God, they will remain in a stumbling, unfruitful, and fleshly counterfeit of real, godly living. Rather than a progressively-sanctified life, a life more and more separated in practical, tangible ways from the World, the Flesh and the devil, such believers can only tread the cycle of sin-confession-try-sin-confession-try, never entering into the Promised Land they have in Jesus Christ. But the "way of escape" is always available to any believer who will, by faith and surrender to God, take it. And at the end of this way there is fullness of joy in deep, holy fellowship with God Almighty.
Psalm 16:8-11 (NASB)
8 I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely.
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
1.) Deny who we are in Christ.
2.) Stand in God's place in our lives.
When a Christian sins, they are acting totally contrary to the "new creation" they have become in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Among other things, in Jesus, the born-again person has become:
- A joint-heir with Jesus (Romans 8:17)
- A redeemed, justified and sanctified child of God (1 Corinthians 1:30)
- Co-crucified with Christ and thereby freed from the power of Self and Sin. (Romans 6:1-11)
- Seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6)
- Indwelt by the Holy Spirit in whom they possess all they need to be "godly in Christ Jesus." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Philippians 2:13; Titus 3:5; 1 John 4:13; Ephesians 3:16, etc.)
How, then, is it that most Christians are daily mired in sinful living? Nothing of what God describes of them in His word seems to be evident in how they live every day. Well, this is so, at least in part, because they don't know who they are in Christ and so don't recognize that sin is inviting them to live in denial of their identity in him.
At bottom, though, the Great Battle of Christian living is always over who sits on the throne of one's heart: God or Self. Every sin we commit is an acceptance of the invitation to pursue our own will over God's. Sin is always an act of rebellion toward God, not just eating more than we should, or telling a necessary "white" lie, or an understandable moment of anger when we get cut-off in traffic, or being a bit touchy with our spouse, or whatever. It's all turning from God's will to our own and becoming our own "god." We don't, of course, tend to frame our sin in this way, but construct some justifying lie that we tell ourselves in order to feel better about pushing God off the throne of our hearts.
The apostle Paul understood that sin always extends to us these two basic invitations. And so, when he directly addressed the matter of sin, it was these two invitations that occupied his comments. There is nothing that hinders our walk with God, our full enjoyment of Him, more than sin. When we regard iniquity in our hearts, God will not hear us. (Psalm 66:18); our sins separates us from God so that He will not listen to us (Isaiah 59:2); God's face is against those who do evil (1 Peter 3:12). But, as Paul wrote, there is a "way of escape" from the bondage and destruction of sin and the damaging effect it has on our fellowship with God.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NASB)
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
In Romans 6, Paul carefully lays out the "way of escape" from the power of Sin, distilling down the believer's response to every sinful temptation to two steps:
Romans 6:11 (NASB)
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:12-13 (NASB)
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
1.) By faith, count on the fact that you are "dead to sin but alive unto God in Christ Jesus," in the face of sinful temptation stand unmoved upon this truth, declaring to yourself, and believing, that, as a result, "sin shall have no more mastery over you." (Romans 6:14) Sin has no power to compel the born-again person; the child of God always, in Christ, has the freedom to walk away from sinful temptation. What remains is for them to really trust that it is so. Only when they do, will they begin to experience the truth of their death to sin in their practical living.
2.) Present yourself a "living sacrifice unto God" (Romans 12:1) and the members of your body as an "instrument of righteousness to God." Only the believer who humbles him/herself before God is lifted up into the life of power, peace and joy in Christ Jesus. (James 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:6) There is simply no way to walk with God but as His inferior; He must be God; there is no other dynamic within which He will commune with us except as Shepherd to sheep, Master to servant, Vine to branches, Creator to creature. Until the born-again believer submits to God's will and way, all day, every day, they will remain under the power of the "old man" who is the ultimate source of all their sin. (Romans 6:6)
Who or what is the "old man"? He is who we are apart from God, ruled by our own will and way, a rebel toward God, bound under the power of the World, the Flesh and the devil. (Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3; Colossians 1:21, Romans 8:5-8, etc.) The "old man" is so incorrigibly selfish, so unable to submit to God, that God had to put him to death with Christ at Calvary. The "old man" can't be remediated, he can't be improved; he must be separated from the born-again person, held impotent on the cross of Christ, as Paul described in Romans 6, Galatians 3:1-3; Colossians 2:10-13; Galatians 5:24, etc.
So long as a believer seeks Self-improvement, neglecting to live by faith in their death to the "old man" and in daily, even moment-by-moment, submission to God, they will remain in a stumbling, unfruitful, and fleshly counterfeit of real, godly living. Rather than a progressively-sanctified life, a life more and more separated in practical, tangible ways from the World, the Flesh and the devil, such believers can only tread the cycle of sin-confession-try-sin-confession-try, never entering into the Promised Land they have in Jesus Christ. But the "way of escape" is always available to any believer who will, by faith and surrender to God, take it. And at the end of this way there is fullness of joy in deep, holy fellowship with God Almighty.
Psalm 16:8-11 (NASB)
8 I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely.
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.