We’ve been building a structure, and it’s based around what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We’ve talked about the fact that a Christian walks by faith, trusting in God and following God’s leading even when it seems odd or strange.
We’ve talked about how a follower of Jesus seeks and experiences healing from past hurts and sins that once troubled us.
We talked about how God has redeemed us, made us new, and given us a new identity in Him. And we work from that place of safety in Him.
Now we bring those concepts of faith, healing and redemption together with a fourth concept called holiness.
We’ve learned to walk by faith, we’ve learned to find healing and we’ve learned our identity in redemption, now, we need to discover how to live our live in response to these truths.
How does this work exactly? We’ve received Jesus Christ as our savior. His blood has atoned for our sins. Our sins went to Jesus on the cross, they are deleted. Christ’s righteousness has been placed upon us as our robe to wear.
What’s next?
Well, we find ourselves in this situation that is constantly discussed in the New Testament. We are redeemed which means our sins are ransomed and removed. We are also clothed in Christ, which means we wear Christ’s righteousness as our own.
We also have been given the Holy Spirit who lives within us and directs our choices. But at the same time, we still have the sinful nature.
What is the sinful nature? The sinful nature is what we were born with. It’s the reason we struggle with making bad choices. It’s an inheritance of the line of Adam and Eve, which we’re all part of. It’s part of the curse and punishment for the sin of Adam and Eve.
One might assume, well when I become a Christian the sinful nature must be removed right? Wrong.
Our sins are forgiven. We are changed and made new. We are born again. However, we still have the sinful nature. Which means we continue to have a tendency to want to sin.
So, we made the choice at some point in our lives to give our lives to Jesus Christ. The sinful nature remaining in us, along with the Holy Spirit, you could say is a test.
The test is, after you’ve been saved, will you continue to say "yes" tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.
Or will you begin to say "no" to God, and "yes" to sin? The choice remains with you, into the future. Of course there will be consequences to the choices we make.
Will you be controlled by your sinful nature? Or by the Holy Spirit within you?
That is holiness, when we say yes to God and no to sin. Here is the definition for holiness. From the 1828 Dictionary: HO'LINESS, noun [from holy.] “The state of being holy; purity or integrity of moral character; freedom from sin; sanctity.”
This issue is discussed in detail in Romans chapter 8. Let’s take a look at verse 9. Paul has just been writing about the sinful nature. And what it does. Next he says...
It says this: “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)”
If you have the Holy Spirit, you belong to God, if you don’t then you don’t belong to Him at all. And the goal is, that the Holy Spirit would control our lives.
Next it says in verses 10-11, “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead two thousand years ago lives inside of you, today.
So one might also think, well, once we’re a Christian, we should never die then, because God made us new. Also not true, we will still physically die, again because of the curse of death placed over the line of Eve. However, we get a picture of our future with Jesus.
Jesus was crucified and died on the cross, but three days later Jesus rose again from the dead. The same thing happens for the Christian. When we die, we can expect we will also rise from the dead after death, and find eternal life beyond the grave.
Because the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead literally lives inside you…
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.”
We have no reason to say that we are caught in sin, because we don’t have to. That’s what it says. We are under no obligation to agree with the sinful nature when it wants to do something bad. Instead, the Spirit makes us free.
Verses 13-14 go deeper into what this means… “For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
Remember this passage is speaking to Christians, brothers and sisters it says. And it says if you, Christian, live in accordance with the dictates of the sinful nature within you, you will die.
We still have a choice right now, am I going to obey the Spirit or the flesh? And if we make a practice of obeying the flesh, we begin moving away from God and toward sin. We begin to fall away from God.
But it says, if through the power of the Spirit. Through God. Through God’s Spirit, not in yourself. But through the power of the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the sinful nature, you will live.
So what do we need? We need power. We can’t put to death the misdeeds of the flesh by our own strength. Flesh can’t overcome flesh. But, the Spirit of God within us is mighty and powerful. We need power. Power from God. Through the Spirit, we can find victory over the flesh.
That’s a process I’ve seen so many Christians slowly walk through, at least the real ones. They are a new believer. They have received Jesus as savior. But they’ve got all these sins in their lives, lust, pride, theft, drinking, manipulation, gossip, slander, unforgiveness, hatred.
And I’ll watch God take them from one sin to the next, and they repent of it, they turn away from it, and they begin living a new way. Stronghold to stronghold they march surrounding the walls and besieging the strongholds and one by one the fortresses of sin fall tumbling down and come to nothing.
And one by one, they are gone. The theft is gone, they practice integrity. Then the gossip is gone, they stop talking about others behind their backs. The unforgiveness is gone, they forgive their enemies. The hatred turns to love. And what you’re seeing in that Christian’s life is Romans 8:13 in action, they are, through the Spirit, putting to death the misdeeds of the sinful nature.
As those things are dealt with, those past sins, they go from being dominant in the life of the person, to being dormant. They are broken and defeated. They are gone. But I’ve also seen them come back, if the believer isn’t careful.
Sometimes as Christians we get too confident and say, "Oh that drinking is gone!" It's not a danger anymore. And then we go hang out at the bar. And pretty soon we’re drunk again, and saying, what went wrong? You’ve repented of it, great, it’s defeated, but keep your guard up, so it doesn’t come back.
All who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. That’s what it says. Do you really believe that you can be practically led by God’s Holy Spirit each day? It’s true, you can be.
For me it happens very naturally, as long as I’m praying in the morning, doing my devotions, reading the word, and thinking about God and His will throughout the day, I’m nudged by God during the day, and he helps me do His will.
What is His will? It’s little things. It’s praying for someone who comes to mind. It’s stopping to minister to someone who is having a hard day. It’s seeing an old friend and going and talking to them at the store. It’s calling up a family member and praying with them. It’s buying a Bible for your neighbor whose in the hospital and bringing it to them. It’s little things that are actually big things.
Similarly, it’s rejecting temptations when they pop up. When you see that beautiful woman jogging, you look a different direction. You see that handsome guy at work, you decide to not even look that way. It’s refusing to gossip about someone you’re mad at. It’s saying no to the drama in the break room. It’s not cheating on your taxes. Simple things that are big things.
Now, you may be thinking, "Oh my, I have to put to death the misdeeds of the sinful nature. If I don’t I’m in trouble. If I live in sin, I’m in danger!" You're tempted to feel fearful and concerned.
I think it’s good to be concerned, to care enough to take action, to want to be free from sins in your life. But, at the same time, we aren’t to be fearful slaves. We are God’s children.
Romans 8:15 says, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
We are not fearful slaves terrified of God. We do have a healthy fear of the Lord, don’t get me wrong. I do tremble at my heavenly Father’s might and power, but no, instead, we are adopted as God’s children. So we call God “Heavenly Father.”
Don’t be afraid. God is helping you every step of the way to be free from sins, to live holy. He desires your holiness. Through the Spirit he helps us to live it. And we do not tremble as slaves, instead, we stand with dignity as children.
Verse 16, “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” We can know in our hearts that we belong to God, because the Holy Spirit inside us, will join with our spirit, and confirm you are a child of God!
And lastly, verse 17-18 “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”
This is just astonishing what is said here. You are His heirs. Do you understand what this is saying? God is your Father, you are his daughter, his son, which means you will inherit his kingdom. What that means exactly, we don’t know, it’s huge, bigger than we could imagine!
So is it worth it, to put to death the flesh? Yes it is. We will inherit God’s kingdom. Together with Christ, we are heirs of God’s glory.
But, if we share His glory, we must also share in Christ’s sufferings. I know you all understand what that means, as Christians we do suffer. And it’s tough, it’s really tough at times. But it’s worth it. Because what we suffer now, is nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed later. In the next life, you’ll know, and say, wow, it really was so worth it. That suffering was nothing compared to this!
The goal then is that one day our lives would end and we could say, I’ve finished my race, the Holy Spirit really did lead me, the sinful nature was defeated, kept in check, and we can say, victory! The glory of God is my inheritance. Hallelujah!
In conclusion, maybe you’re wondering, why does it matter? Sure, I steal a bit here and there, no big deal. Yeah I fudge the numbers on my taxes, no big deal. Yeah, I look at the woman, yeah I cat around with the guys, why does sin matter so much?
Because there is no sin in the next life. In heaven there is no sin. There’s no place for sin there. So this life is our time to learn to walk free from sin. And we have the Holy Spirit within us, so we have the power we need through the Spirit to be free from sin. We won’t do it perfectly. But we can be free from sin. We will always make mistakes. But when we make mistakes we repent quickly, as soon as it happens, we turn to God and request forgiveness afresh. Despite that, we can learn to not sin, and live holy as God is holy. Jesus Christ has made the way, and given us the Spirit, and the word says we have no obligation to the flesh. It doesn’t control us, the Spirit does. So yes, we can be free.
Review of Main Points
1. Our battle is against the Sinful nature within us
2. The Holy Spirit lives within us & should guide us
3. We have no obligation to obey the sinful nature
4. The Spirit gives us the power to put to death the misdeeds of the flesh
5. The Spirit leads us in a process of victories over the sinful nature (holiness)
6. This doesn’t make us fearful slaves, instead we stand as children of God
7. If we practice holiness in the Spirit, we will inherit God’s kingdom (through sufferings)
