Here’s a couple questions before we start.
As Christians, why do we still sin?
Do you believe that you have Christ’s nature in you or a sin nature or both?
The belief of having two natures is called dualism. Roughly translated as being of two minds about something. Christ is alive in you. Your old man is dead(Adam). This confusion comes out of not knowing that the war is over. Christ is victorious! Satan is defeated.
Luke 23
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
"There were three men crucified. The Man on the middle cross was the God-man, Jesus, God almighty in the flesh, and humankind's only Savior.
The thief on the right hand of the Savior was Adam in the flesh. He pleaded, "Remember me... re-member me-- put me back together!" Jesus restored him to the Kingdom, to paradise, to Eden by killing all that was "old" at the cross.
So the first thief was Adam. But who was the other thief? The devil.
The spirit who energized the thief on Jesus' left, was the same spirit who, in Christ's temptation, said, "If Thou be the Son of God turns these stones into bread, throw yourself from this tower… etc."
God the Father affirmed His Son from the heavens in Matthew.
Matthew 3
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
The first scheme of satan against Jesus was to get Him to question His Sonship.
The enemy only has the ability to lie to us.
1 Peter 5:8
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
I’ve heard it said that the lions who roam around roaring are the older lions. They roar because they have become toothless and it’s their only means of projecting strength. The devil only has one tooth… and that tooth is the lie.
His first lie is to have us question who we are, who we belong to. Once we pass the test of knowing who we are, his next lie is to have us question what God says.
Read Colosssians 2:13-15
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
God took away all power and authority the enemy has to condemn you and force you to live in sin. The devil lies to you so that you feel that God is not pleased with you and he tells you that you aren’t holy, even though God has made you holy and alive.
James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Why is it important that we not have two minds about this?
If there is a constant war within you, fought by two equal parties, it will always end in a stalemate. No victory can be had. If we are double-minded we will not receive anything from God, least of all victory over sin.
James 4:7-8
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Colossians 3:1-14
3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Vs. 5 - what "belongs" to the earthly nature? There would be no need to say "belongs to", if the earthly nature were alive. We must put to death everything that had anything to do with that nature. The earthly nature possessed things. What were those things?
Vs. 10 - knowledge(what we think) of our Creator.
Vs. 12 - chosen people. You are God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved. That’s what you are. That is your nature. Nothing can change that. That is your identity.
Vs. 15 - members of one body - single. You are a member of this body.
This is who we are…
We are a Spirit.
We possess a Soul(Mind, Will and Emotions)
We live in a Body.
The Spirit is who we are. It is the part of us that is joined to Christ Jesus. It is that part of you that is your nature.
Before you were saved, your nature was the flesh. And it was natural for you to do the deeds of the flesh. Before you were saved, you were incapable of not sinning. Not sinning for you was impossible.
When you became a Christian, Christ made you alive and joined your spirit with His. He immediately made you perfect and forgave your sin. All of your sin. He gave you His nature.
Since we are now joined with Christ’s nature… it is natural to do the things that God wants us to do. And since it is natural now to act like Christ, it is now possible to choose to not sin. This is something we couldn’t do before.
So why do we sin? We sin because our souls are lined up with our old nature. And what is our soul?
Soul = Mind, will, emotions
Mind - What we think
Will - What we desire
Emotions - What we feel
You soul is neither good or bad. It conforms to whatever you plug it into. So if in our minds, we still have the same mindsets, we need to use the Word to transform our minds and line us up with the mind of Christ which we now have as believers.
1 Cor. 2:16
But we have the mind of Christ.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We need to renew our minds... not our spirits.
Salvation is progressive.
Salvation in Greek is "Soteria" and the verb is "Sozo". It means deliverance.
2Cor. 1:10 - Past, present, and future tenses.
10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.
Our Salvation is progressive. Our Spirits have been saved. This is what happens when we ask Christ into our hearts… when we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior.
Our souls are being saved. We are renewing our minds daily. This is a life long process. As we take in the Word, our minds are being shaped by it and lining itself up with what is already true about it in the Spirit. We are tearing down mindsets that our old nature has left and replacing them with new mindsets of who we are in Christ. "Give us this day our daily bread…" It’s not only physical food but spiritual food. And that food is the Word of God.
Our bodies will be saved.
1 Corinthians 15: 42-44
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
Romans 8:1-16
8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
If you think that you have two, equally alive natures living within you, you will never have freedom. You are double-minded. If you are double-minded, you won’t receive anything from God.
But if you believe what God says about you is true. If you don’t believe the enemy and his lies. You will begin to operate out of the nature that Christ has put in you. How do you know what that nature is? God tells you about it in His Word. Your soul… what you think, what you desire, what you feel will line up with whatever you plug it into. You can plug it into the mindsets that your old nature has left or you can plug it into what Christ has already made you to be.
The war is over. Christ won. You have victory over sin and death. Don’t let the enemy lie to you and discredit who you are and whose you are. Once we are saved, our battle in this lifetime is not one of Spirit… it is one of the soul. The battle takes place between your ears. This is what we war against. If you are alive in Christ, your old nature has been put to death. Christ will not share you with your flesh. This is true freedom… that our new nature is in Christ and we are now able to choose not to sin. You are a son of God. You are a daughter of God. That is who you are. And you can choose to live like a child of God. Christ made that possible. Your old man is dead. Christ has made you alive.
*additional information was taken from Kelley Varner's Book "Freedom from 12 Deadly Sins"
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