Saturday, May 16, 2020

A Fact of Life...the Sin Nature

. . . made perfect . . . Hebrews 12:23 Remember that there are two kinds of perfection the Christian needs—first, the perfection of justification in the person of Jesus, and second, the perfection of sanctification worked out in believers by the Holy Spirit. At present, even in the heart of the born again, corruption remains—experience teaches this very quickly. Lusts and evil imaginations are still within us. But I rejoice to know that the day is coming when God will finish the work He began, and He will present my soul not only perfect in Christ, but perfect through the Spirit, “without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish” (Ephesians 5:27 NLT). Can it be true that this poor, sinful heart of mine will become holy, even as God is holy? My spirit often cries, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (Romans 7:24 NLT)—can it be that I will get rid of sin and death, have no evil things to trouble my ears, no unholy thoughts to disturb my peace? Oh, happy hour—may it come quickly! When I “cross the Jordan” of death, the work of my sanctification will be finished—but not until that moment should I ever claim perfection in myself. Then my spirit will have its last baptism in the Holy Spirit’s fire. I long to die, to receive that final purification that will usher me into heaven. No angel will be more pure, for I will be able to say in a double sense, “I am clean”—clean through Jesus’s blood and through the Spirit’s work. Oh, how we should praise the power of the Holy Spirit in making us fit to stand before our Father in heaven! But we can’t let the hope of later perfection make us content with imperfection now. If it does, our hope cannot be genuine, for a good hope is a purifying thing, even now. The work of grace must be ongoing in us now or it cannot be perfected then. Let us pray to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), that we may increasingly bring forth the fruit of righteousness. - C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening 

I have often languished over really wanting to just rest with My Savior.  That is to strongly desire to be separated from my sin nature and be with Jesus.  

It's a part of me, it's a part of you.  Sin came by way of Adam and Eve centuries ago and the curse of it, as stated would be by the Lord Jesus, hasn't ended yet. Sin and death were defeated at the cross but there are still many who haven't been saved yet.  

The struggle of sin is a daily challenge. 
It's ever present in our minds and lives. 

Sin isn't overt. It doesn't jump out of the shadows and holler "Here I am! Ready or not, here I come!".

Sin is subtle. It is the most professional of hunters.  It knows every trick, every trap that makes us vulnerable. 

It knows how to trick us with such intricate webs that we often are in too deep before we know what happened. 

Thanks be to Jesus, as Paul wrote in Romans, that it was He who freed us from the bondage of it.  We have a finite amount of time to be found living with it, but for those in Christ, after we leave this world, it does not and cannot come with us. 

Sin is a struggle when it's so softly oppressive.  It's often relentless.  It knows us better than we know ourselves. 

Why do many still reject Jesus for Salvation?  Because their sin nature blinds them to the truth.  They believe the lies they have heard from it.  

Satan often gets blamed for the things we do. Many times he didn't have to be involved.  We got carried away with our own sin nature and gave birth to sin...again. 

It's why it's so hard to beat at times, but realize my dear reader, we aren't defenseless.  

It was once said in military circles "know your enemy". Secondly, use what Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, has provided!

We live in a hyper sensationalized world. 
There's no just watching the news.  They believe it's their job to tell you what to say and what to think.  Guess what, that's exactly Satan's battle plan. 

Scripture tells us to focus on things above, not on the things of the world. 
Scripture tells us to put on the whole armor of God. 
Scripture tells us what to fill our minds with. 
Scripture tells us how to conduct ourselves. 
Scripture is the real owners manual for the human being. 

Pray without ceasing. 
Fill our time with songs, hymns and Spiritual songs. 
Bear one another's burdens. 
Pray for our leaders. 
Do everything without grumbling. 

If you are indeed saved, we know what we need to do. We know from where our help comes from, it comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth. 

The struggles are very real, but so is the cure. 

Satan as well as our sin nature would love nothing more than for our minds to be side tracked with useless thoughts and actions.  

They disguise their plans in the name of rights and freedoms.  In the name of anything it takes to get believers to to not do even one thing that the Bible instructs us to.  Even one thing to sin is a victory to sin.

Our victory is in Jesus.  The judgment is in our favor.  Sin was defeated at the cross. 

Soon Jesus is coming.  Many believers need to heed the letters to the Churches in the book of Revelation.  Return to your first love, Jesus Christ.  Many of the early Church had no rights...other than the right to be persecuted or killed.  Yet they clung to the promises of God. 

Your struggles this day are very real in this world, and I don't mean this virus.  It's a battle that the Bible says is in the Spiritual realm.  You can't fight a fight if you are not ready for it.  Prayer empowers.  Time with Jesus empowers.  Keeping our minds where they need to be empowers. Not giving the sin nature or Satan the opportunity empowers. 



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