The Sins of the Soul
The Sins of the Soul
We have just finished considering the cravings to sin that live in our flesh. They can be put to death, their life and fire extinguished by the Spirit of God, as we confess them and then, with the assistance of the Lord, refuse to yield to them. Then, in the day when eternal life is given to our body, they will be removed from us.
There will be no cravings of sin present in the flesh of the life-giving spirits. That is hard to realize, since we are so accustomed to the presence of sin in our body. But remember, God did not create man in the beginning with a sinful body. That began with the disobedience of Adam and Eve, who opened themselves to Satan by their disobedience.
Now we come to another source of sin, the sin that proceeds from our soul, from what we are in personality. We recognize unclean characteristics in people when we say an individual is proud, or is filled with sexual lust, or lies constantly, or steals, or is violent, or is egotistical.
It is not that they are egotistical or angry on an occasion, they always are egotistical; easily are given to murderous fits of rage.
These displays of temperament may not be due to spirits that dwell in their flesh. The believers themselves are the spirits, we might say.
I wonder sometimes if the demons present in the spiritual atmosphere of today are former people who, when they died, were condemned to return to earth with cravings that cannot be satisfied because they no longer are visible people. They must enter some living person and seek to fulfill their cravings in him or her.
If this is true it accounts for the increase today of sexual crimes. Perhaps people who have died with these cravings as part of their personality are being sent back to earth to test us.
Don't forget, many of God's future leaders are being formed today. They must show their determination to overcome every force that comes against them.
They must demonstrate clearly that they will not yield to any spirit that is not of Christ, if they are to govern the nations with Him.
They shall govern with the rod of iron righteousness that is created in them as they have resisted cravings during their sojourn on the earth.
I have said that the cravings in our flesh can be put to death by the Holy Spirit.
God often deals with the self-seeking of our personality by means of suffering. I have spoken about this in the above essay.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Corinthians 12:9,10)
The Apostle Paul endured numerous sufferings. He had the sentence of death in himself. God kept crucifying Paul and then raising him up. The life that raised Paul up also raised up those around him. In this manner Paul became a life-giving spirit.
It is for this reason that the Epistles of Paul have borne so much fruit.
As Paul approached death he said this:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (II Timothy 4:7,8)
Every one of Paul's temptations and afflictions that he overcame resulted in an improvement in his new body, reserved in Heaven for him. In the Day of Resurrection, when Paul's mortal frame is covered with his heavenly body, Paul will appears as a great pillar of righteousness and glory, shining as a star to eternity.
All that Paul had been as a faulty human being had been transformed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus. He joined the company of those who had been faithful to Christ as they were subjected to all sorts of temptations and suffering.
We see, then, that there are three sources of sin, that are dealt with in three different ways.
There is participation in the antichrist world-spirit. This is very strong in America because of the communication devices. It is our responsibility to turn away from them, taking part in them only as it become necessary to our daily life.
Then there are the cravings that are resident in our flesh. Where these have come from I do not know. We must follow the Spirit of God in identifying them, confessing them, and looking to the Lord Jesus to take the fire and life out of them so we can overcome them.
Finally there are the rebellions and behaviors that are not in the image of God that we have inherited or have not overcome when they sought for expression in us. All of these sinful attitudes and urges are transformed as we suffer the death of the cross, and then experience the resurrection life that follows.
Let each one of us remain faithful to the point of death. By so doing we shall be formed in the image of our elder Brother. At the same time, the accuser of the brothers shall be cast out of the heavens because of our willingness to obey Christ though it means death to our first personality.
Forgiveness Preached at the Beginning </p> At the beginning of the Gospel Era, as I have stated previously, the emphasis was on the fact that Christ has forgiven our sins. To the present hour, when we quote that the Lamb of God shall take away the sins of the world, we mean that He shall remove the guilt of our sin, leaving us blameless in the sight of our Father in Heaven.
Yet, we know somehow that there is no sin in Heaven. We suppose that by some means or other, sin will just magically disappear.
Several theories have been advanced. One theory is that when we die, sin is removed from all those who go to Heaven.
But sin began in Heaven with Satan and the rebellious angels. So passing into the spirit world will not of itself remove the self-will, lust, pride, and other aspects of our personality that are not of the image of God.
Another prominent theory is that when the Lord comes, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, He will remove all in our personality that is not in God's image. But that passage of First Corinthians, Fifteen is referring only to the giving of life to our body. Nothing is said in that chapter about our sinful personality being transformed in the twinkling of an eye.
A third theory that has some adherents is that "grace" will always hide our behavior from God's eyes, even in Heaven. God always will see Christ when He sees us. If that were true, Heaven would be like the earth is today, and we certainly do not want that!
So forgiveness was stressed at the beginning.
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28)
Can you believe that to the present hour, the prevailing belief is that Christ died on the cross to forgive the guilt of our sins, and that as long as we are in the present world we have to sin? I was taught this in Bible school. Such a defeated teaching, and totally contrary to the Scriptures!
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. (Romans 8:12)
Honestly now. Does the above passage state that as long as we are in the world we have to sin?
So we have bought the devil's lie, haven't we.
Next Part The Day of Redemption.