God's View:
Rom. 7:14
, 17-18
; 6:6
, 11
, 14
; 7:14
, 17-18
-"Sin" here is the power of
sin and the 'me'here is acknowledged as the 'self'. Our old self was crucified
with Christ. Man is not required to do anything. He only need consider this
an accomplished fact, that he reaps the effectiveness of the death of Jesus
in being wholly delivered from the 'power of sin'. However, the self remains
and we are to take up the cross for denying self, the mind, emotion and will
that still remains. To wholly conquer sin the believer needs but a moment
( Rom. 6:11
); to deny the self, he needs an entire lifetime. Only on the cross
did Jesus bear our sins; yet, throughout His life the Lord 'denied' Himself.
The same must be true of us.
Gal. 5:17-24 -Verse 17 stresses the self of the flesh while verse 24 stresses the sin of the flesh. Thus, the cross of Christ deals with sin and the Holy Spirit through the cross treats of self.
Lu. 9:23-24 ; Rom. 8:5-8 -Christ delivers the believer completely from the power of sin through the cross, that sin may not reign again. By the Holy Spirit Who dwells in the believer, Christ enables him to overcome self daily and obey Him perfectly. Liberation from sin is an accomplished fact; denial of self is to be a daily experience.
Acts 9:17-18 ; Rom. 7:15-24 ; 1 Cor. 3:1-3 ; Jm. 1:2-4 ; l Pet. 4:12-13 - We need to progress from mental knowledge of God's truth to its being revealed in our inner man by the Holy Spirit, the realization that all believers will be filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment of belief and baptism.
Biblical regeneration is a birth by which the innermost part of man's being, the deeply hidden spirit, is renewed and indwelt by the Spirit of God. It takes time for the power of this new life to reach the outside, from the center of our being to the circumference. New believers still walk in the realm of feeling and thought. It takes tests and trials to bring about and reveal, and identify the carnal aspects of man, and this to be refined by fire to bring him into the spiritual realm.
Change:
Rom. 6:7
; Gal. 5:17-24
-We become flesh by being born of it, only way
to get rid of it is for the flesh to die. The flesh is not to be conquered,
it is to die. The flesh, the root of the tree, must be put to death. In Christ,
the believer is delivered from the rule of the flesh. By the cross, he can
walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. Therefore,
do not look at your experiences, your sin patterns and sinful reactions which
continue, but the word says you"have been crucified with Christ". Do not
listen to or look at your experiences, but listen to what God says to you.
Act upon this truth and you shall see that the flesh is dead, indeed, in
time.
Gal. 2:20
; Rom. 6:6
-At the moment Christ was crucified, our flesh also was
crucified and it was the Lord Jesus Christ Who took us to the Cross at His
Crucifixion. Therefore, we are not to walk according to our experiences,
feelings and sight but according to faith in the word of God.
| Note: Rom. 8:4-9 ; Eph. 2:2 ; Phil. 2:12-13 : There are two selfs, the false self and the true self. The'false self' is that of the flesh and its bodily appetites, stimulated by externals and circumstances of life, the feelings thereof of which you are no longer to live by or permit to direct your life. . The' true self' is the regenerated human spirit now in union with the Holy Spirit and lives and exist by the word and will of God. You must choose to live by one or the other. By your choice, you determine who energizes your life:the Holy Spirit or the devil. |
Rom. 8:13 ; Gal. 5:16 ; Rom. 6:12-13 -When wicked lusts are aroused or any sins of the flesh are stimulated, it is the only by the power of the Holy Spirit Who will administer the death of the cross to whatever needs to die. In view of the fact that the believer's flesh was crucified with Christ on the cross, he does not need today to be crucified once again. Thus, by appropriating the cross the babe in Christ will be liberated from the power of the flesh and will be united with the Lord in resurrection life.
Rom. 7:15-24
; Rom. 8:23
; 1 Cor. 15:22-23
, 42-44
-No matter how much our inner
mind may serve God's law, one's flesh always serves sin's law. As long as
we live in the body, we must be alert daily lest the flesh break forth with
its wicked deeds. You cannot take life for granted. You are either walking
in the spirit or in the flesh, there is no gray area.