Debtors? No and Yes 120610

Romans 8:12-13, "So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

For much of man's history, debt, that could not be paid, could lead to imprisonment or even death! Paul is speaking to us from a world where that was true. Remember the story that Jesus told? It is found in Matthew, chapter 18. A man owed his master a vast amount of money. His master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children along with all that he had. He begged for forgiveness and was forgiven. That man went on to demand payment from a fellow servant and was unforgiving in his heart toward his fellow servant. The master then put him in prison until he could pay his debt! Well, in a way we owe a debt we cannot pay. Yet it was paid for us! Jesus came to set us free. So do we now owe a debt? No, at least not to the flesh, but we do owe a debt of obligation.

We are really big on being saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God. That's found in Ephesians 2:8-9. Yet we seem to forget that powerful statement in verse ten. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." I think it's wonderful that God prepared, before we were saved, work for us to do — a path for us to walk in. I know sometimes we feel like we're all on our own. We feel as though we have a job to do but were given no details and directions as to how to do it. That feeling is wrong — we have a lot of instruction and a lot of details that we need to follow. The instruction and the details are found in the Bible. We should be familiar with that book so that we can follow instructions. And yes we are debtors. We are debtors to grace and we are children of the King and as such we have lots of "family responsibilities". Instead, we seem to accept the ingrained responsibilities to the flesh that we are declared to be dead to.

Our debt is not to the flesh.

We are born of the flesh. Turn to, John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" Jesus, of course, was talking to Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews, a teacher of Israel. This is a man who knew the Scriptures. In a similar manner, Jesus confronted another group of religious leaders, and said to them, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me," (John 5:39) You see, you can know the Scriptures and even search the Scriptures and still miss the point. As long as we walk in the flesh we will fail again and again. Later, Jesus said, "… the flesh is no help at all." (John 6:63) It is possible to know a lot about Scripture and little about the God who is presented in that great book. We have a problem, and that problem is that we were born of the flesh and need to be born of the spirit. Even after we were born of the spirit we fall back into our old habits. Sometimes we refer to the "comfort zone" of a person. That is what we are very familiar with but it's not necessarily good. In fact, if our "comfort zone" is not controlled by the Lord Jesus Christ, guided by His Spirit, it's for sure that it's not right.

We spent our lives developing our flesh. Look at Philippians 3:4 and read through verse 9, "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,"

Saul had spent his life developing a biblically-based lifestyle in his own strength and ability. When most of us talk about our old ways we're talking about some pretty bad stuff! But not Saul of Tarsus! He could begin with his birth and show that he had met all the standards of his age and race. Then, on the road to Damascus, he met Jesus and that really messed up his worldview. You can read about it in Acts chapter 9. Saul of Tarsus died that day because he had been crucified with Christ. He was buried with Christ and raised up with him to walk a new life. At some point he realized how much it changed him and he even changed his name from Saul, the Pharisee and persecutor the church, to Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. In his religious world he had been the cream of the crop. At the same time he was the "chief of sinners". Let me explain that. In writing to Timothy Paul stated that he was the star sinner. He wasn't talking about his ongoing condition he was talking about his past record. Before he was born again he set a record that no one else had met. Like a star athlete in high school whose record is posted on the gym wall Paul could look back to the time when he had been the "star" among sinners. A Christian is declared repeatedly in the New Testament to be a saint. The Christian is not a sinner saved by grace, he or she is a saint who sins. If we'll keep our terminology right we can keep focused on our true identity.

Others of us had a much poorer version of the flesh reflected in Paul's words in Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Don't despair when you read that list and remember your past or your present thoughts and temptations. Paul is not talking about some kind of works salvation. "Those who do such things" represents a pattern of life that is consistent not temptations that are stumbled into. Remember the words of our text and I paraphrase, "We are not a debtor to the flesh". Remember also, "The law of the spirit of life has set us free, in Christ Jesus, from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2) We have spent a long time developing our flesh patterns. In fact…

Having spent our life developing our flesh it remains with us. Years after his salvation Paul still agonized over what he had been and how it still clung to his body. Read with me Romans 7:24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" This passage is often used to show how hopeless our life is but it shouldn't be used for that purpose of all. A quick scan of Romans 7 show us that the word "sin" often refers to an evil power that the Christian struggles against. There is real hope in the fact that we struggle against this evil force. Those who walk according to the flesh don't struggle against it they just try to make it socially acceptable. Also it's not that we have two natures as some would teach. When a person accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior they become a new creature and have a new nature. Literally, in the eyes of God, a Christian dies to their old life and begins a new one at salvation. However, at the same time the flesh patterns developed throughout their life, and often reinforced even in their Christian life, provides a place (probably in our brain) where this evil force can move in alongside and mess us up. The habits of the old life are left with us. We don't have to rehearse them just because they come into our mind. We don't have to live under obligation to the old way of living. Remember, we have been set free from the law of sin and death.

We are not under obligation to live according the flesh.

We do struggle against the power of sin. Turn with me to: Galatians 5:17, "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." The fact that you want to do the right thing proves that you have spiritual life given from God. One sure sign of Christian conversion is the change in the conscience. What before was simply a "personality trait" or, "that's just the way I am", changes to a sense of guilt and a sense of wrongdoing. But we struggle on, often using our old habits and walking in the flesh, even though we have been set free from it. We do improve in the world's eyes but as long as we are operating in our own flesh we cannot be pleasing to God. The spirit that's been placed in us has a jealous desire to shape us more completely into the image of Christ. That will happen but it will be slow as long as we continue to follow our old habits and ways.

Satan uses the habits of the past. Read with me Romans 7:9-11, "I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me." Paul's old flesh patterns were stirred up by the commandment not to covet, and the more he struggled the more he coveted. Sin deceived him by coming in alongside the commandment and showed him how hopeless it was to fight in his own strength against the power of sin. It killed him spiritually. In the sermon on the Mount Jesus talked about sin being in the mind before the action. To hate one's brother was the seed of murder. To look and lust is the seed of adultery. The more we struggle to overcome the evil the more in bondage we are. If you ever heard the stories of Uncle Remus, you will remember the story of the Tar Baby. Br'er Rabbit was always being chased by the Fox but never caught. One day Br'er Fox had a great idea. He would fashion a doll out of a lump of tar and he would dress it up like a little boy and put it by the road. When Br'er Rabbit approached, since he was very good mannered, he spoke to the tar baby but he got no response. He was offended by this lack of manners so he punched the tar baby and found himself stuck. The more he struggled the "stuckter" he got. Now, Br'er Fox had captured Br'er Rabbit! Immediately Br'er Rabbit begged not to be thrown into the briar patch. He told the Fox to do anything he wanted to do with him but not to throw him into the briar patch. Of course, that's exactly what the Fox did and Br'er Rabbit was able to run away. Well, fighting the flesh with the habits of the past is like fighting the tar baby. The more we struggle the more we are in bondage. We need to remember who we really are and what has really happened to us. Our true biblical identity is what we need to live up to. As we struggle with the flesh we need to remember that…

Christ has set us free. Turn with me to, Romans 7:25a, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" In Romans seven Paul clearly states again and again that his desires have been changed and he has to struggle against "Sin" that lived in his body! His desire was to do right, to do good. He said he delighted in the law of God in his inner being but the law of sin that lived in his body waged war against his choices. So that he asked the question, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And immediately answers it with, "thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" We cannot free ourselves. If we could then God is very unjust and we know that's not true. If man can save himself them Jesus' prayer in the garden would've been answered with by legions of angels who would have delivered him. You remember he prayed "Let this cup pass from me". But he went on to say that he only wanted the will of the Father. Only Jesus' death on the cross would satisfy the righteous anger of God at the sin of mankind. The debt had to be paid. Remember, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and wages of sin is death. But thanks be to God, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! So that, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." (Romans 10:9-10) and the result is that…

We are a debtor to grace. 

By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone is our only hope.

We need to put to death the old way. Turn with me to, Colossians 3:5-6, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming" This concept is taught many different ways in the New Testament. In Ephesians 4:22 Paul says we are to put off the old man. The ESV and many other modern translations uses "self" rather than "man". That is a poor translation. The "old man" is the Adamic nature we are all born with. We need to consciously put that off. To the Colossians Paul said we are to put off the "body of flesh" by the circumcision of Christ. And again, he told the Colossians, "seeing that you have put off the old man with its practices." We should apply ourselves to the process of putting aside the old. It is identified only with our old life before we met Christ. We may have set some real flesh records in the past but they are just garbage compared to knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection. Jesus used the term "born again" to identify the relationship we have with God. John wrote about it in his gospel at the very beginning…

We have a new identity set by birth. Turn with me to, John 1:12-13, "But 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." Born of God! What a wonderful phrase that is! We once were part of a family known for its rebellion against God. We were born into a family of sinners. Upon our confession of faith in him we are born again into a family of Saints. Saints that sin for sure but Saints nonetheless. We need to research our new identity by studying the word of God. We need to practice our new "family values". Many times in my childhood I remember hearing my mother or father say to me, "We don't do that (whatever it was I wanted to do) in this family." Or, "They may do that in your friend's family but we don't do it in ours." Being a Bray was a very serious business and how we acted was an important part of it. I thank God for that upbringing. But mostly I thank God that my parents came to know Christ and made sure that we kids were exposed to the gospel every week. One of our "family values" was seen on Sunday morning. We went to church and I never remember a time when I would've questioned that. If I had asked, "Are we going to church?" The answer probably would've been, "Is it Sunday?"

Since we have a new identity we need to live like who we are. Turn with me to, Ephesians 5:8-10, "at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord." You are not a sorry sinner just doing what comes naturally. It’s important that you understand this. What you believe about your identity is going to make a huge difference because you will “life out” whatever you believe is your true self, your true identity. We are the holy sons of God in Christ Jesus. We don't get holier, more accepted, more justified, or more forgiven. We are to simply experientially “life out” who and what we already are. We are a holy people. Now let's get on with living like who we are.

This passage, Romans 8:12 & 13, sets forth very clearly who we are and how we need to respond to the world around us. If you get nothing else out of this message, I hope you get the statement, clearly stated in the Bible, that we are not in debt to the flesh. When we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead we are: saved, born again, crucified with Christ, raised with Christ, seated with him in heaven, a Temple of the Holy Spirit, a new creature, a child of God… etc, etc.. In short, we now have a new identity but we still have all the old habits and memories and wrong thoughts and decisions ingrained in our lives. We do have a responsibility — a debt — to fulfill if we are to live the Christian life the way it was intended by God. We cannot earn our salvation but we can, should, must, live lives that honor our new identity. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do the works that he has prepared us to do. 

All Scripture quotes are 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.