The battle between sin and righteousness for the soul of us
Christians takes place in our thought life – all the time
What is sin?
All unrighteousness is sin; 1 Jo 5:17
All disobedience to God is sin; Rom 6:16
Breaking any of God’s laws is sin; 1 Jo 3:4
Knowing what is good to do and not doing it; is sin, Jam 4:17
Anything not done in faith, without a conviction of God’ approval, is sin; Rom 14:23
In summary – sin is everything or anything I do that is not in the expressed will of God.
Righteousness is the absence of sin; we stay in sin until God makes us righteous:
Rom 6:20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. NIV
Rom 6:18 Having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
2 Cor 5:21 For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God (when we live) in Him.
God’s clear statement of the way we Christians get enticed into sin:
Jam 1:13-14 ...God tempts no one to evil. But each one (Christian) is tempted
when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed NKJV - Temptation is the pull of man's own evil thoughts and wishes TLB.
15 Then, when desire has conceived (we decide we are going to act on the thought), it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown (and now we willfully do act on the thought), brings forth death (spiritual, to God).
When we give in to a lust, a desire, any thought from our human nature, that is not the will of God, and choose to act on it, we die spiritually, that is we die to God. Now we must be re-lifed or re-vived by God through confession and re-forgiveness, or the re-cleansing of a living word entering our hearts – otherwise we stay dead to God forever.
Jesus’ clear statement of how He stayed righteous - and His related instruction to us:
John 5:30 (Jesus) I am able to do nothing from Myself, but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders. As I hear, I judge, I decide as I am told to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek or consult My own will but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me. AMP
Likewise, every choice we make, if we’ve sought and then done God’s will, is righteous;
John 7:24 Do not judge by appearance but judge with righteous judgment. How?
By not doing our own will, ever, but by hearing and then doing God’s will.
John 10:27 (Jesus) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Prov 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him (involve Him, consult Him), And He shall direct your paths (then do it – and so stay righteous).
Prov 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life and...there is no death (to God).
Ps 140:13 Surely the righteous shall...dwell in Your presence.
God in Heaven is the God of righteousness; Satan is the god of sin and unrighteousness:
Jer 23:6 He (God) will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1 Cor 1:30 ...Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto...righteousness... KJV
1 Jo 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (what works? Sin; Does it matter?)
1 Cor 6:9 Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Isa 3:10 Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them...
Sin resides in our bodies, if we obey them we die to God, if we obey the Spirit we live:
Rom 8:6 Now the mind of the flesh, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit, is death (to God), death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter... AMP
Rom 8:10 But if Christ lives in you (you have believed His words), then although
AMP your natural body is dead (to Him) by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit
is alive (to Him) because of the righteousness that He imparts to you.
We are born again, Christ, God’s word dwells in us, but our bodies have not yet been made the instruments of His righteousness, for we have not yet received the Holy Spirit.
Rom 8:11 But if the (Holy) Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, (as you acknowledge Him and obey Him in all your ways) He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (both now - and at the resurrection).
Our bodies have now become occupied by, and are the temple of, the Holy Spirit. Now
we can lay physical hands of the sick (only as He leads us) and they will recover. Now
we can lay physical hands on those converted to Christ (only as He leads us) so that
they too might receive and be baptized with the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Mark 16:17-18 ...In My name...they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
Acts 8:18 ...Through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given;
All this hinges on our staying full of the Holy Sprit. By whom we stay dead to the sin
inducing nature of our bodies and able to keep them as living sacrifices to God and
available as instruments of His righteousness.
Rom 6:13 ...Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and the members of your body as instruments of God’s righteousness. NASU
Rom 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. NIV
The battle between sin and righteousness for our eternal soul - is in our thought life:
Rom 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh (obeying its desires or thoughts) you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body (always extinguishing its thoughts), you will live (now and for eternity).
As Christians, our will or soul, we, will stay righteous and therefore alive to God, if we:
• By the Holy Spirit we keep putting to death the deeds of the body that are not in accordance with God’s will that He reveals to us, as we always acknowledge Him.
• We extinguish or take captive every thought that is not in keeping with God’s will, before that thought or desire can conceive sin, as in when we decide to act on it.
• We continue to obey the leading of God’s Spirit, and the instructions of His word, moment by moment, so that we, just like Jesus, stay righteous in God. To do this:
• We acknowledge and involve God and seek His will, in all of our ways.
• We quench every thought that enters our thought lives from Satan, with the shield of abiding trust in the will, word, way and Spirit of our redeeming God.
• We believe that we participated in Christ’s death to sinful flesh, and that by this being united with His crucifixion, we take up our cross and so are freed from sin.
2 Cor 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (What weapons? God’s word and God’s Spirit, living and active within our spirits – now by these we can do this:)
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. ESV
Eph 6:16 Above all taking...faith (trusting God’s word and Spirit) with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one (his thoughts).
Rom 6:6-7 Knowing this, that our old man (body) was crucified with Him, that the (our) body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died (with Him) has been freed from sin.
Rom 6:18 And having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness, of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action (in other words – living as the sons and daughters of God). AMP
