Hope of the Nations 130317

Romans 15:8-13, For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” 10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” 12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

In the passage just before this Paul says, "Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." "One another" represents the entire church of God, Jews and Gentiles altogether. We are able to do so because of the sacrifice of Christ. It is hard for us to recognize the suffering that Jesus went through on the cross. His sacrifice started long before that! Jesus, as part of the Godhead, existed eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Then, in the fullness of time, he came into the world as a human being. He left the glory of heaven for the gloom of earth. He left unlimited Godhood to become human and exist forever after as the MAN, Christ Jesus. He did this with a particular purpose in mind: to bring salvation to all those who would respond in faith among the Jews as well as the nations of the world.

In order to do this…

He became a servant of the Jews!

He came to his own people. Listen while I read, John 1:11, He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

The first "his own"refers to property ownership. Jesus, as creator of the universe, came to his own possessions. Not just the land of Israel but the entire world belonged to him. He had the right to claim his property and expel the human race from it! However, that wasn't the plan.

The second "his own" refers to people, not property. So it is correctly translated in the ESV. His own people, descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were not ready to receive him. In fact, they were looking for a Messiah but not one who came to serve and to save. They expected a Messiah who would lead them in victory over the Romans reestablishing David's earthly kingdom. However, that wasn't the plan!

From before the beginning of time God had a plan that involved all of the human race. God had the right, in the garden of Eden, to wipe out the human race before it began. As soon as Adam rebelled God had the right to end Adam's life, physical as well as spiritual. But he did not do that! Instead, in the fullness of time, he came to his own property knowing that his own people would reject him.

In line with that…

He limited his ministry. Listen to this story from Matthew 15:21-28, And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

This is a remarkable story! Picture the scene with me. Jesus and his disciples were walking along a road in the region of Tyre and Sidon. There obviously are many Jews there but the population must of been primarily Gentile, or Canaanite! As they were walking along a Canaanite woman came up to him, begging him to have mercy on her. Her daughter was oppressed by a demon. We're not told how this oppression was manifested in the daughter only that the woman described it as severe.

Jesus' answer seems rude in our culture. Instead of giving her help immediately he told her that he was only sent to the house of Israel and it would not be right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs! She was too concerned about her daughter to be offended. She immediately answered, in agreement with him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

Jesus was so impressed with her great faith that he healed her daughter immediately. It was not her right to receive healing but it was a gift of grace based on her great faith.

He came to his own people…

In order to confirm the promises. Listen to what Paul wrote to the, Galatians 3:16, Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

The promises were made to Abraham and his offspring. Offspring is singular and was not referring to many people, as in the Jewish nation. God's plan from the beginning was to bless those who trusted in Christ. God never intended that salvation be limited to one race of people or to one tribe on earth. Hebrews, Chapter 11, makes it very clear that faith is the basis of human relationship to God and always has been. This was a mystery that was not always understood until Jesus came into the world as the Messiah of the Jews and the Savior of the world. Paul was given insight into the mystery and spoke of it in his writings about 20 times. One of those references is…

Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

The mystery gives hope to the nations. It was not just that the Gentiles might be saved but also that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the same promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of Paul's greatest battles was to convince the church that the Gentiles were equal to the Jews. As we have seen, earlier in Romans, the descendents of Abraham are not recognized in flesh but in faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. This belief occurred long before there was a Jewish nation and before Abraham did anything that can be considered a rule or a law to follow.

Over the centuries the concept of God having a relationship with anyone outside the Jewish nation was lost. By the time Jesus was born man had limited (or tried to limit) relationship with God to those who followed the law of Moses. In other words in order to know God one had to be, or become, a Jew. So Jesus limited himself, by and large, to a ministry to the Jews so that God's faithfulness could be understood. If God kept his promises to the descendents of Abraham he would keep his promises also to those who come to him by faith.

He did that in order…

That the Gentiles (Nations) might glorify God! He was to be…

A light for the nations. Listen to the prophecy of Isaiah, found in, Isaiah 60:1-3, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

About 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah, the Prince of Prophets, heard the word of the Lord concerning the thick darkness that would cover the earth blinding the eyes of people to the truth of the good news of God's love. Isaiah heard God speak and preserved his words for us. More completely than any other prophet Isaiah understood that God would send salvation in the form of a man who would be the light of the world. He could see that that light would shine drawing people from all nations. John's gospel tells us that Jesus came into the world as the Word, and as Life. Then he said that The Life was the light of men. The light will shine in the darkness repeating the imagery of Isaiah.

This was done…

In order for salvation to reach the nations. Again we turn to Isaiah 49:6, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

We can see clearly in this passage that God always intended his salvation to reach out to all people. To Israel he says that it is "too light a thing" to bring back the preserved of Israel. Instead, Israel is to be a light for the nations. Remember this is about 700 years before Christ's birth. God's intention is not just to save a people but to make salvation available to the ends of the earth.

When Jesus was about to leave his disciples for the last time physically he told them that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth. God's plan is always been that the gospel go out to all nations.

This was the same message…

Preached by John the baptizer. Listen while I read, Luke 3:2-6, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

When John was questioned about his role in God's plan he stated that he was not the Messiah he was simply the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. You may remember that after John was arrested he called his disciples to him and asked them to go to Jesus to ask if he was really the one they were waiting for. Jesus responded with, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them." Jesus came into the world to seek and to save that which is lost. Paul tells us that Christ became a servant to the Jews to prove God's truthfulness and faithfulness showing that the promises given to the fathers serve the purpose of bringing the Gentiles (Nations) to a place where they may glorify God and…

That we may be filled with joy and peace!

We have peace with rejoicing. Listen while I read from, Romans 5:1-2, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Paul does not say we should have peace with God he says that, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have obtained access by faith in this grace in which we stand. The God of all hope fills us with joy and peace. Since we have such a relationship with the God of all hope we are able to abound in hope…

By the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen to the next three verses Romans 5:3-5, More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us! As a result we are able to rejoice in our sufferings not just the good things in life. Along the way to a realized hope — suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character. And the hope that we realize from that process does not disappoint us instead it puts us in a position to choose cooperation with the spirit of God in our life. Once the Spirit moves in our hearts and lives we are brought to a place where we can respond to God…

By our choice. I want you to look at three passages of Scripture first: Galatians 5:22-24; But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

When a person is saved the Holy Spirit comes to live in them. The Holy Spirit produces his fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. For many of us it is a real struggle to get out of the Spirit's way and allow him to produce his strength in our lives. We need to choose to be filled with rejoicing and peace. The next best of Scripture is…

Colossians 3:14-15, And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Paul has just listed several qualities that we need to choose to have in our lives. But above all these are to put on love. Remember, faith, hope and love remain but the greatest of these is love. Love doesn't just happen we need to apply ourselves to "put love on". And then we must LET the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. Do you see, the Holy Spirit bearing his fruit of love in our life, with our cooperation, brings the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts. We must choose to cooperate if we're going to enjoy the work of the Spirit in our life.

The third passage of Scripture is, Philippians 4:4-7, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

If we will but choose to cooperate with God awesome changes will come into our lives. Rejoice always! The Lord is at hand! We have nothing to fear or be anxious about. We simply need to bring our needs before God in prayer and trust him to do what really needs to be done. Then, and only then, will the peace of God that is beyond human understanding guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The Lord Jesus came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. In order to do this, he became a servant to his own people — the Jewish nation. He knew when he came that his own people would reject him. But he came anyway because he had a greater purpose in mind. That great purpose was salvation for all those who would believe. While on earth, Jesus limited his ministry, with few notable exceptions, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He did that to prove that God is faithful to his promises. But his greater promise was that all people who would believe might be saved. Have you accepted him as Lord and Savior? Will you turn to him now?

All scripture quotes from:The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Thanks be to God!

Romans 7:13-25, "Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin."

Chapter seven of Romans is often considered to be the most depressing and defeating passage in the New Testament. It seems to many people to reflect the view of a spiritual schizophrenic. And our experience seems to support that idea. Nothing could be further from the truth. When a person is born again he/she becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Jesus hasn't just been added to the life of the believer. Jesus has become the life of the believer. We still have the old flesh patterns, or habits of the old life, but we have been born again to a new way of living. The problem is most of us have never understood that and we struggle on using the equipment of the old life: walking in the flesh rather than walking in the Spirit. Consequently, most believers read Romans chapter seven, verse fifteen, and say something like this, "Yeah, that's what my life's like. I just can't help myself." They do this without reading verse twenty-five and applying it to their lives.

In verse twenty-five you can almost hear Paul shout, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”. In 1 Corinthians 15:57 he says almost the same thing, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the second passage he’s talking about victory over physical death. In the first, that is part of our text, he’s talking about victory over spiritual death and destruction in the life of the believer. There are several truths that need to be incorporated into our lives.

The first thing we see is that believers are new creatures in Christ!

2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." The problem we usually have is that we do not think of ourselves as a new creation. Folks, we are new creatures in Christ! We don't think of ourselves that way because we've been trained to "feel" a certain way about ourselves. All of our old habits, flesh patterns, ingrained over all the years of our lives are still with us. And they're deeply ingrained. Why are our flesh patterns so deeply ingrained?

We were born "dead on arrival". Ephesians 2:1, tells us, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins,". You see, we were born dead in trespasses and sins! All of us were born sons and daughters of Adam and Eve and as such we inherited a dead-to-God spirit from our father Adam. Romans chapter five clearly points this out. Our nature was in opposition to God. We began immediately upon entry into Earth's atmosphere to try to meet our basic needs in our own strength because we had no other. As time went by we developed patterns of behavior designed to meet our needs apart from God. These are not evil needs. They are basic needs to all human beings and the greatest need is love. God designed us to need love because he is love. That's his very nature and we were born physically with that need in our life so that we would desire him. But indwelling sin tried to keep us from our goal of meeting our need for love in God. But for every believer God had a plan to end their dead-to-God existence and give them a new life in Christ.

We are born again — made alive! Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, who came to Jesus one night hungry for what Jesus had been teaching. In John 3:3 Jesus told him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Earlier in his gospel John had written, "to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12,13) Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "even when we were dead in our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—" Ephesians 2:5. You see, we didn't need better habits, or a nicer personality, or any other kind of improvement on our old life. We needed our old life to be put to death so we could be born of God not of the flesh or the will of man.

However, the flesh is still present. When a person is born again he or she is a baby in Christ. The Holy Spirit has come to live in you but you are not fully equipped for the new life. When you're born of the flesh you were equally unequipped. Most of us had all the right parts but we didn't know what to do with them. We had a "thinker", or mind, we had a "chooser", or will, and we had a "feeler", or emotions. Our thinker had to be taught. Our chooser had to be trained. But our feeler had no problem expressing itself. As a matter of survival we cried a lot! When we were hungry we cried. When we were wet or dirty we cried. When we were lonely we cried. When we were hurt, physically or emotionally, we cried. Thank God for mothers!

Having spent all of our lives up until salvation "walking in the flesh", rather than in the spirit, we continue with our old habits. I know, the Holy Spirit has come to live in the new believer. However, our "chooser", our "thinker", and our "feeler" had not yet been fixed. The way we used live in the flesh still seems to be the way to go but somehow it doesn't feel right. In fact, when we follow the flesh we can say with Paul, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death." We struggle with how to live the Christian life. With Paul, we want to do right but find that we are not doing right. With training, we can get the outside looking pretty good but we know on the inside we are just not hacking it. It's as though we have a split personality. What could be the problem?

The problem is Sin dwells in us.

You see Adam sold us to Sin. Genesis 2:16-17, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Our father Adam didn't just want to be like God, or to be a friend of God, or even a child of God, Adam wanted to be God and rule his own little kingdom himself. Eve was deceived by Satan, Adam volunteered! From that time forward, the human race was sold under sin and in bondage to the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself. The moment he sinned, by rebelling against God, his spirit, that had been attached to God, became attached to Satan. Then, as Don Francisco put it in his song, "all their unborn children die as both of them bow down to Satan's hand."

The power of Sin indwells us. Romans 7:20-23, "Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." Let me hasten to say to you that we do not have two warring natures. Remember, when a person comes to Christ, he or she becomes a new creature. That person's soul becomes a sealed unit attached to God and filled with the Holy Spirit. There is no room for the sin-spirit in your spirit or soul. However, Satan's tool remains in the members of our body. That tool is called, "Sin", or, "the law of sin". In last week's message we saw that Sin seized the opportunity of twisting the law, "You shall not covet." And produced all kinds of lust. Paul said that Sin, through that commandment, deceived him and killed him spiritually. The law that is holy, righteous, and good was used to stimulate sins in the life of Paul by the power of Sin that dwelt in his members.

When we are born again our old habits, or flesh, continue to live in our body. As Bill Gillham tells us in his book, Lifetime Guarantee, "These are the memory traces, the habit patterns, the software in your computer. If you are deceived into focusing on these thoughts, your brain will run the same program repeatedly." The flesh is left with us, by God, so long as we are on this Earth with a good purpose in mind. Remember, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) When those old memory traces, or habit patterns kick in it doesn't "feel" like it's working together for good! Well, rain on your feelings! Remember, your "feeler" is pretty well stuck in your old way of living. The flesh will always be with us but thanks be to God it doesn't have to rule over us. We have to live in the realm of our "chooser" and our "thinker" and let them retrain our "feeler". We have a promise in Scripture that sin will have no dominion over us since we are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14) When your "feeler" tells you that you'll never be set free, tell it to get off the bus and go on without it. Which can you trust most, the word of God or the way you feel? I hope you don't have to spend too much time thinking about that.

If Paul had ended this passage with verse twenty-three we would be left thinking that there is no hope of our never being delivered. But we can join him in saying: "But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:25

We have weapons of power. Paul told the Corinthians about those weapons of power in his second letter. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ," In this passage Paul uses the word "flesh" three times (ESV). The first time refers to the human body but the second two times referred to those flesh patterns, or habits, built into our lives over the years. The war we are fighting will never be won in our strength or by our training. Even if our flesh is good it is never to be used in our warfare. The apostle Paul had the best flesh possible. He wrote to the Philippians these words, "I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—" Philippians 3:4-9 Paul had excellent human credentials. He was above reproach by human standards. When he met Christ his value system was turned upside down. Now, whatever gain he had he counted as loss for the sake of Christ. He counted everything loss for the sake of knowing Christ. His own righteousness just wouldn't cut it. Remember he had said in our text, "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh." Verse 18. Note that he did not say, "nothing good dwells in me", without adding, "that is, in my flesh". One thing for sure, something "GOOD" did dwell in him. That something good is the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit! We have the mind of Christ. But we also have habits of the past — flesh patterns programmed by Satan.

There are, at least, three sources of thoughts. 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us that we have the mind of Christ. Our mind generates thoughts that are holy and good. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer and puts holy and good thoughts in our mind. The power of Sin, Satan's tool, also suggests thoughts to us. Now he doesn't do this in a strange scary voice or smelling of sulfur. When the enemy presents thoughts to our mind he uses our voice. Your mind receives thoughts from the Power of Sin and thinks those thoughts are your own! He doesn't say, "You should do thus and so." He says, using your own voice and your own words," I should do thus and so." Our job is to take every thought captive to obey Christ. When we are presented with a thought from the enemy we must learn to recognize the source. Sinful thoughts do not come from us. Be have been born again and have a new mind, a new thought pattern, a new way of living, because we have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. John, writing to his beloved children in the Spirit, tells us, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." (1 John 3:6) Notice he doesn't say, "No one born of God sins." But he does say, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning." You see in the beginning of the book, John says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8) John includes himself when he says "we" rather than "you". He was the last living apostle when he wrote these words. He was very close to Jesus and was included in the three who were usually with Jesus at very special times. He was there on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was there when Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead. Still when John spoke of the possibility of sin and life of a believer he said if we say we have sin we deceive ourselves. So in chapter 3 he could not have been talking about sinless perfection but instead he speaks of sin habits and flesh patterns that we must take captive to obey Christ. It's not easy. In fact, especially in the beginning, it's hard. Anytime you have a thought to which you can not add, "In Jesus' name." it didn't come from your mind and it didn't come from the Holy Spirit. It came from the evil one and needs to be taken captive to Christ and rejected by you immediately. Never act on a thought that doesn't honor God.

If you have been with me very long you know that I believe the greatest promise in Scripture, apart from the promise of salvation, is that Sin will not win. Romans 6:14 tells us "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

We need to be aware that we are not spiritual Siamese twins. God does not come into a person's life and attach his Holy Spirit to Satan's sin-spirit in us and then leave us to fight a battle all of our life. That certainly is not what Jesus promised when he, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10 God would not set us up for failure by leaving the Adamic nature intact in our life and attach His Spirit to it. Jesus laid down a spiritual principal when he said, "no city or house divided against itself will stand." Matthew 12:25b Since we become a new creature in Christ Jesus and we have spiritual weapons that are powerful to the pulling down of strongholds we must choose to walk by the Spirit not by the Flesh.

All Scriptures are from: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001,. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.