When we become born again our old spirit is replaced by the Holy Spirit. Our new Spirit which belongs to God wars continually against our flesh, but in this war, the Holy Spirit has the upper hand. There is no reason our flesh should win out over the Spirit of God Who lives in us. The Holy Spirit reigns over the flesh and yet we still have a choice.
The choice is to obey the Holy Spirit or to obey the flesh.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 “…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation."
Those who are disobedient to God who are born again will not be winked at or ignored, they will be disciplined.
Hebrews 12:5-7 “…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"
Galatians 5:16-18 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Why are we no longer under the Law? It is not that we are free to sin, it's that we now have the Law-Giver living inside of us. We do not “follow” the Law, the Law is a part of who we are in Christ.
Romans 7:18 “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”
Romans 7:23 “But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.”
Romans 8:5 “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 7:7-13 “7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Far from it! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.
9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin came to life, and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it, killed me.
12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? Far from it! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by bringing about my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”
There are those who say since we are saved by grace sin is no longer judged as sin. This is not only sin to say such a thing but it is blasphemy against the work of the Holy Spirit in every believer. No born again believer can be comfortable and even defend sin.
Those who think they have never sinned badly enough to be on their way to hell are in fact rejecting the work of Christ and are on their way to hell.
Ephesians 2:1-9
“2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
No one who is born again has an excuse to sin nor do we have a desire to defend sin. As the world grows darker and the apostasy in the church grows more prominent we are watching many “Christians” claiming the sin is alright and that God winks at it. This could not be farther from the truth.
Those who are born again hate sin, speak against it, and cannot rest until they confess to be cleansed. We have many pretenders in the churches today who are more concerned about appearing “nice” to others around them that they are willing to ignore Christ, ignore His Word and destroy the faith of others through their disobedience.
Romans 6:11-13 “…11 So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. 13 Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.”
Those who fight to defend their sin are likely not born again. I am confident that the Holy Spirit will never leave an authentically born-again believer comfortable in their sin. We have many pretenders in the church who claim they are under the blood therefore sin does not matter. This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
May those who have the Holy Spirit living in them obey even more as the time is approaching when Christ will take out His Bride. And, may those who are pretenders become convicted of their sinfulness and become born again.
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