“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. “
~Romans 7:14-20~
For generations, many have quoted the above portion of scripture to justify a life of carnality and compromise with sin.
Every time I’ve seen someone quote this verse, they omit the most important part…the Apostle Paul’s conclusion!
Here it is:
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me… from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The sinful nature is no longer present in the life of the Blood bought believer! The religious spirit has propagated a doctrine of defeat and powerlessness against sin by magnifying Romans 7:14-20…even though the overwhelming message of the entire Bible is one of complete and utter victory over sin and death. We must never forget that the enemy himself is a master swordsman, meaning he is both adept at, and comfortable with, the use of scripture against the people of God.
How did the devil attack Jesus Himself, when our Lord was in the the wilderness of preparation immediately prior to beginning His ministry?
With scripture!
The following are just the verses that come to mind…there are thousands of verses throughout the Word of God which clearly show us we are to live in glorious victory over ALL the power of the enemy, sin and death!!
“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
~Romans 6:6~
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
~Galatians 2:20~
“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting awayof your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was notyet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”
~Colossians 2:8-15~
God has delivered us from the body of death which was bound by sin! The only power left to the enemy is the ability to lie, sneak and cheat! Don’t be deceived into giving away the smashing victory Jesus won for us on the Cross!!
We will struggle with sin to the extent that we sow into the flesh. If one avails himself of God’s true grace and presses into the consecrated life of the lovesick worshiper of Jesus…sin ceases to be even a blip on the screen.
I speak as one who struggled with sin for 18 of the nineteen years since I first encountered Jesus. Earlier this year, Feb 15th to be precise, I had a life changing encounter with God, which confirmed everything I’ve always wanted to believe about the Gospel. The established religious structure, which the Spirit of God is even now uprooting with increasing urgency, constantly discouraged me from my pursuit of the impossible, otherwise known in Heaven’s courts, as…
*The Abundant Life of the Blood Bought Children of the King!*
I tried to live as my peers, leaders, and all but a rare few were living, and the result was deep bondage. The dead religious paradigm of “constantly struggling with sin since we are still in these bodies”, is now giving birth to a false prayer and worship movement empowered by the spirit of lawlessness. Those who reject the love of the truth because they prefer a gospel which makes allowance for unrighteousness, will fall under a strong delusion. -2 Thess 2-
The Lord gave me a clear choice on that day in Feb; choose Him and everything that entails or continue in ever increasing madness. My sanity had begun to fray. Slowly but surely, I was losing a grip on reality and finding it more and more difficult to maintain soundness of mind. He granted me the gift of a violent and irreversible repentance the very instant I said yes. First my heart said yes to Him, then came the earth shattering repentance from which I gratefully say, “I will never recover.”
All traces of instability in my mind were instantly healed the moment I repented of leaning on my own strength and human reasoning.
The dusty relics of “trying to get rid of sin” and “living a good, selfcontrolled life”, were incinerated before the fire of His love and replaced with a cold hatred of sin, empty traditions in Jesus’ Name, and the religious spirit in any manifestation.
He ignited a fire for Him unlike anything I’ve ever known. Not like the mostly emotional and immature sincerity of the early years I knew in Him, but a steady nuclear blast of fiery love for Jesus and His righteous ways, which eclipses all other lovers.
I utterly reject any theology which reduces the finished work of the Cross to less than what God Himselfcalls it. The scriptures clearly show that as Blood bought believers, we are no longer bound to the old nature. One may, however, choose to continue in sin from his new nature…the Christ nature…which rebellion is called “trampling the Blood underfoot.” For these things the wrath of God is coming upon the planet. He has lovingly made all provision for complete intimacy with Him and yet many are still content to keep Him at arm’s length.
Those who passionately pursue Him…find Him.
A person will have just as much of God as they want.
The demon called Religion, empowers those who live for themselves in the name of the Lord and rely on the politically correct methodologies of human reasoning, to continue in a sort of simulated faith…absent of power, absent of spiritual authority, and rife with unbelief. This fraudulent faith is referenced by the apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy, when he says many will come in the last days,”having a form of godliness but denying the power therof.”
The power to what?
The Power to change! The Power to be made utterly new! The Power to love! The Power to be made completely, radically sound, in body, mind and spirit! The Power to obey the Word without flinching…the Power to be gloriously, wonderfully…Free…from every entanglement of this quickly fading world.
Those whose hearts are anchored in Heaven, not just in words, but as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit, are even now being entrusted with a realm of glory and authority the planet has not yet seen.
Those who will believe God is Who He says He is, and has done what He says He has done; that we may live as He commands us to live- those children of the One True Living God, will find that their struggle is no longer with sin, but with the effective expression of His mighty power which works in them to the glory of His Name! We seek out impossibility, running towards the battle with fierce shouts of joy, eager to overturn every injustice and enforce the dominion of King Jesus!
Hallelujah! He makes ALL things new!
“Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present you unblemished, blameless and faultless, before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation with unspeakable,ecstatic delight-
To the one only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, splendor, majesty, might and dominion, and power and authority, before all time and now and forever, unto all the ages of eternity. Amen!”
~Jude 24&25~ (amp)
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