You do not want to slip into that position!
You do not want to slip into that position!
I believe I have explained as well as I can how to deal with the various lusts and temptations that the Spirit points out you. Such are the sins of the flesh.
Now let's turn to the sins of personality.
Some of the sinful aspects of our personality are inherited. Others took hold of us as we continually yielded to the sinful spirits dwelling in our flesh.
The sins of personality are those characteristics that distinguish us as an individual. They may be sullenness, or a romantic spirit, or always seeking to be preeminent, to take the place of the current leadership.
When we think of Absalom, we see a man consumed with the desire to replace King David. Absalom might have had any number of cravings dwelling in his flesh, but Absalom was characterized by an unclean ambition.
It took a while before the compulsion to replace David finally brought Absalom to the place of actually warring against David.
That is the way the sins of personality operate. They may begin as a small desire in our personality. God may warn us about them. But we ignore the warning and permit the desire to grow. It seems delicious every time we think about it.
It reminds us of the baby alligators people bring back as souvenirs from Florida. Baby alligators grow until you have to keep them in the bathtub. Pretty soon you cannot enter your bathroom or swimming pool.
So it is with the sins of personality.
When you discover that you are selfish, or cowardly, or double-minded, or excessively ambitious, you must ask God vigorously and diligently to make you a better person.
God then will begin the process.
As in the case of the Apostle Paul, who apparently was a headstrong personality, God had to keep bringing him down to death. Paul exclaimed that he was under the "sentence of death" that he should not trust in himself but in God who raises the dead.
You can read about Paul's afflictions in the Book of Second Corinthians.
Paul discovered that God's strength came forth in Paul's weakness.
But there is more to it than this.
If God's hand is on us, we will die daily. There will be some occurrence that brings us down to weakness and helplessness; to confusion and the edge of despair.
This is the ordinary life of the truly dedicated Christian.
But each day the resurrection Life of Jesus raises us. When it does, a part of our soul, the adamic person, dies. In its place is the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus. This is how we become a life-giving spirit , in that other people share in the life that raises us. (II Corinthians 4:12)
Line upon line. Line upon line. Precept upon precept. Precept upon precept. The heavenly Sculptor chisels away a portion of the old man. When He does, the body and blood of the Lord Jesus fill that gap. The new creation thus comes into being. It will be unveiled at the revealing of the sons of God.
This is the new covenant. It is the writing of the eternal moral law of God in our mind and heart. We no longer are body, soul, and spirit. We are a new creation. We are becoming a life-giving spirit, in an incorruptible body pervaded by the Spirit of God.
The nations of the earth include multitudes of people who are not brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed. They are decent people. But they do not have the Life of Christ in them. Thus they are restricted to being intelligent animals.
But they are more important and desirable as an inheritance than any mansion, no matter how ornate. They are the inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ and His co-heirs.
But how will these darlings ever receive the eternal life of God?
The answer is reading these words—you!
You are to set aside your own life and look to Jesus every moment of every day, even when occupied with other necessary matters, until you can say with Paul: "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I am living. But it is Christ who is living in me."
When that is true of you, you will be a life-giving Spirit. Not just a living spirit, but a life-giving Spirit.
To whom will you give the Life of Christ? To His inheritance, and yours!
God so loved the world. He will put that love in you.
When He does, you will see that the current hope of Heaven and mansions is little more than a desire for Disneyland in the sky.
It is the nations of people, and the farthest reaches of the earth, that are the heart's desire of the man and woman of God.
Do not quit. I know the way is rugged. But the reward is God and people, and there is no other reward that compares with them.
Christ does not want you or me to sin against God. He has the power to keep us from sinning.
One of Satan's supreme lies is that we have to sin against God.
How do we get delivered from participation in the world spirit? We must set a time aside for waiting on God, for listening to the Lord Jesus. We must ask continually to be delivered from influences of the world. Movies, the Internet, and other electronic communication devices, must be rigorously controlled so they do not pervade our thinking.
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." And, "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (II Corinthians 6:16-18)
How do we get delivered from the sins of the flesh? Follow the Holy Spirit carefully. He will point out the spirits that are dwelling in your flesh. Then with the assistance of the Spirit, denounce these spiritual influences, one at a time when they are revealed to you, and ask the help of the Lord Jesus Christ in turning away from these influences for eternity. You will be able to overcome these temptations in the future if you do what I have just said.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 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. (Romans 8:12,13)
How do we get delivered from the sins of our personality, mainly self-will. God will help with this deliverance if we pray. He will send many crucifixions upon us until, like the Apostle Paul we will be certain that the sentence of death has been passed upon us.
This "dark night of the soul" may last for several years. We must abide faithfully in our "prison" until the Lord releases us. We always are to pray for release; but we never are to take matters in our own hands and free ourselves from our onerous circumstances until we hear from Christ. It is in the denial of our most fervent desires that the chains of self-will are demolished.
You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, Lord, every day; I spread out my hands to you. (Psalms 88:8,9)
The satanic lie that while we are in the world we have to sin, that "no one is perfect," and so forth, seems to be believed by Christian people of all persuasions.
Let me be among the first to herald what always has been true. "It is not only possible but absolutely necessary for us to cease sinning."
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (I John 3:6)
Is the verse above found in the inerrant Word of God?
Was it written by the same man who also wrote, "God so loved the world He gave His only Son?"
Should we believe the one statement but not the other?
Is it to be discarded because our tradition is against it?
We had better get busy, don't you think?
We are not speaking about sinless perfection, or instant sanctification, or positive thinking, or any other useless fantasy. We are referring to gaining victory over every sin by the wisdom and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us realize first that Adam and Eve were not created with a sinful personality or sinful body. So there actually were two human beings who at one time lived on the earth who were without sin, until Satan appeared.
By definition, redemption would mean that we are restored to this sin-free state. Anything less than this would be an incomplete redemption; and I do not believe the Lord Jesus gave His Life to accomplish an incomplete redemption. Do you?
Let us realize also that our sinful disposition is not composed of an infinite number of sins.
Our sins, finite in number, can be overcome through the Lord Jesus Christ, one at a time. This includes our worldliness, the sinful spirits living in our flesh, and the sinful personality we inherited or acquired.
The Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than each and every one of these sinful urges and practices.
Now, tell me this is not so.
If the Lord Jesus Christ has more power than all of these urges combined, and it is His demand that we cease practicing them, and He is willing to help us lay them aside, than what is our problem?
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. (Romans 8:12)
We have a choice now, don't we? Either we will believe and obey God and press forward to become a life-giving spirit; or else we will shrink back and continue in bondage to Satan.
Remember, this game is a "winner-take-all." The rewards to the victorious saints are marvelous beyond all marvels—to sit with Christ on the highest throne of the universe. The rewards to the fearful and disobedient are to reap corruption and to be sent to the outer darkness.
He who has shall be given more.
He who has not, even that which he has shall be taken from him.
I have made my decision.
What will your decision be?
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45)