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The Nature Of Sin In The Flesh

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“Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.”
– Romans 7:13

Sin is a natural part of our life in the flesh – the same as hunger and exhaustion – inherited from our fall in Eden. There are no moral implications about sin in the flesh because it just is. Now that may cause a bit of a stir or give rise to objections, but what we would like to share is a better understanding of sin as it affects every one of us so that we can better realize who we are in Christ.  Many of us struggle in bondage to our guilt and never seem to fulfill our purposes in Christ.  Our heart too often gets defeated within us because we believe so strongly in our sinfulness and how terrible we are.

So again we say, there are no moral implications about sin in the flesh because it just is.  Where the moral implications come into play is in our responses and subsequent choices to the urges and demands it places on us.

“It is out of the heart that evil thoughts come, as well as murder, adultery, sexual immorality, stealing, false testimony, and slander.”
– Matthew 15:19

When Adam disbelieved and disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he from that moment was separated from God.  His thoughts were his alone without the influence of God within as one Spirit.  His thoughts were those of a flesh and blood human being.  If he hurt himself his response would be, “ow”.  If he became tired his response would be to nap.  If he was confronted and accused his response would be to lie.  We have that fallen nature, and before Christ came into our lives we responded in the same manner.  We would act contrary to God’s ways as easily as we would sneeze from dust.  Without God we lived in accordance to our flesh.

So why did God have a problem with sin if it was just what it was?  For the same reason that darkness cannot continue to exist when the light is turned on, our sinful nature could not exist in the presence of God.  We would cease to be, and He didn’t want us to not exist.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
– John 3:16

What we’re saying so far is that our sinful nature is not something we can take to ourselves, to enlarge it or reduce it.  It just is, and it is why we are separated from God and why we would have no hope without Him.  None of us is more sinful than another, and none of us is less sinful, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23.  Many of us berate ourselves and put ourselves down because we moan over our sinful nature like it was something we had a say in.  We don’t.  It is a condition, a terminal condition with no cure and we are destined for death and destruction because of it.

there are no moral implications about sin in the flesh because it just is

Kind of makes moaning about our sinfulness seem useless, don’t you think?  And it’s good that it does because as long as we waste time considering that we have a say in our sinful nature, we can never fully understand or realize the gift of grace from our Father and our Lord Jesus.  What we should realize instead is our need for rescue.  We need to be rescued from this body of sin because there are no other options that we can implement.  We need the grace and salvation of God.

“remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
– Ephesians 2:12-13

Once this is realized we can then better and more fully understand the love and mercy of our Father in Jesus Christ the Lord.  We are not just the recipients of forgiveness for all the contrary and wayward things we have done – we are the recipients of a life giving cure for our terminal disease of sinful flesh – in spite of all the contrary and wayward things we have done!  

“…whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” – Luke 7:47b.

Being forgiven all our acts of sin and wickedness has a quantity assigned to it.  We measure how bad we are by the things we’ve done, and the level of our love for our Lord demonstrates that, but being saved from our terminal, sinful nature covers everything!  There is now no limit to the love God can stir within our hearts through His Gift in Jesus!  God Himself is our cure by dwelling in us through His Spirit and Son, thinking His thoughts within our minds and inspiring His will within our hearts.  The sins we have committed in our ignorance before we knew Him are forgiven, and the sins we may have committed since we knew Him are forgiven, and the sins we may commit in the future are forgiven.  His Grace covers it all!  What love and gratitude and willingness that must stir up within the heart that sees this!  What an amazing God we serve Who chose to cure us of our fatal disease rather than let us die – even though we were so contrary to all He created and ungrateful for all He intended!

There is now no limit to the love God can stir within our hearts through His Gift in Jesus!

Now this may be mistaken as a license to sin doctrine but it certainly is not, so let’s look at where the moral implications do come to bear.  What is our responsibility in the nature of sin?  We are responsible in what we choose.

When our flesh demands we leer at a pretty woman or a handsome man, we are inclined to do so, except now we also know it is contrary to the will of our Father.  We can choose to not look with lust, or we can hate it if we do and wish we never did, or we can not look but struggle afterwards with recurring flesh-minded imaginations.  We want God’s way regardless of what our flesh tries to force upon us, but the flesh is still flesh and subject to the sinful nature.  Although it no longer has the power to kill us it still reacts and interacts in our flesh.  It still just is, and it will trip us up at times, but we choose God because He dwells in us and inspires us always to choose Him.  If we fail, we regret because our minds are for Him.  If we overcome we rejoice because our minds are for Him.  In every way it’s always Him.

IMPORTANT! The moral implications of sin come into play when we choose to follow the demands of the flesh, and continue in them, to practice them and make excuses for why they’re okay.  We have Christ dwelling in us so we have no excuse if we were to continue a life of practiced sin.  May it never happen to any of us!  If we turn from this wonderful, saving Grace and give preference to the demands of our flesh – if we do so willfully and without any remorse, we have rejected His Gift and have chosen death and separation instead.

“It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.”
– 2 Peter 2:21

Again, may it never happen to any of us!  And it will not because we have God the Father and Lord Jesus the Son dwelling inside us through their Spirit, ever reminding us of His will and ways.  And we have one another to encourage each other and exhort each other to keep our minds on Jesus.  We strive daily to keep our minds focused on our Lord and to hear His thoughts and respond to His inspirations.  And sin, though it may cause trouble at times, will not rule over us and it cannot kill us.

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”
– Isaiah 26:3

Settle it in the truth that you are cured from your very nature of sinfulness – all of it – and there is no more counting and measuring the extent of it.  We are all forgiven – and we are all forgiven much!  Let us begin to love much to the glory of Jesus.

we have God the Father and Lord Jesus the Son dwelling inside us through their Spirit, ever reminding us of His will and ways.  And we have one another to encourage us and exhort us to keep our minds on Jesus.

A Greater Weight Of Glory

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“All this is for your sake; and as God’s grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving. For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:15-18

The difficulties we may suffer serve a purpose in the Lord.  They are often the consequences of grace increasing its reach to the lost, for which the adversary is strongly and at times violently opposed.  And they serve to increase the development of Jesus in us.

Now you might think that suffering is a bad thing that needs to be removed immediately.  We agree.  Suffering was never a creation of God our Father; it was a consequence of a fallen world and a tool of darkness.  Christ came to destroy the works of the enemy.  However, as God carries out His divine will it sometimes requires that we endure suffering.

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
– 1 Peter 5:8-10

When suffering presents itself we know it is the work of the devil trying to break people down in body, mind and soul.  We know that he is on this attack against every believer across the world.  And we know it is only temporary because God restores each of us in His time.  Suffering is never without a purpose.

When you find yourself in difficult times, even agonizing circumstances, and it seems to go on without end be certain it is not God causing you that grief.  He’s not mad at you!  You are His child and He loves you and treasures you.  Certainly in His great power He could step in and end your grief immediately – so why doesn’t He?  Because while you are suffering your circumstances are aiding another or others in the receiving of God’s grace.  He hasn’t abandoned you.  He’s asking you to hang on!  This suffering won’t last!  You are working with Him in the salvation of other souls.

and as God’s grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving. For this reason we never become discouraged

And you yourself are receiving a greater weight of glory as the suffering serves to produce Christ in you even more than He was.  You become even more like our Saviour!  Trust our Father.  He knows the greater and the greatest good – for you and for every one of us.

Suffering is never without a purpose.

Does this mean we can reach a point where suffering ceases?  No.  Not in this life.  The devil is enraged.  Think of any experience you’ve had with an enraged person.  They’re almost insane in their fury, without stable logic and unable to be reasoned with.  He is violently attacking anyone and everyone.  However, for believers we do reach a point in our maturity when we see him for who he is, and we learn to resist him in the faith.  We know who we are in the Father and we grow in peace and certainty in our minds and souls.  We reach a point where the devil has no more influence on our thoughts, and no power over our persons.  

In each life he will often turn to deceiving others to be instruments of his attacks.  We do not resist them, but instead turn the other cheek.  In doing that the tools of the devil are rendered useless because they’re not being put to use.  The people themselves are not the enemy – just deceived by the enemy.  It is a war while we are still here in this life, and we are here because others are being saved through God’s preparations and actions involving each of us.

“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you will become children of your Father in heaven, because he makes his sun rise on both evil and good people, and he lets rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
– Matthew 5:44-45

Do you see how valuable you are when you are seemingly defeated?  Do you see how powerful you are at your lowest?

“Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
– 2 Corinthians 12:10

We encourage you to read and re-read this post – and settle your hearts and minds in the truth.  Suffering exists, and happens.  We try to avoid it with wisdom, and we try to end it when that is in our power, but we never blame God for it.  Instead we rejoice (or at least a little smile) that our Father is at work when we suffer.  We are partners with Jesus in saving souls, we are becoming even more like Him, and we are not abandoned – ever!

“…And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age.”
– Matthew 28:20b

There Is Now No Condemnation

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“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
– Romans 8:1

Forgiving others can be difficult at times, but it’s something every Christian seeks to do.  We are told by our Lord to forgive, and it is important for that reason, so we make deliberate efforts not to harbour ill will against those who cause us injury or grief.  But despite the struggle to fulfill this command we often fail to forgive a person crucial to our walk of faith.

We often fail to forgive ourselves.

“I wish I had never…!”  “If only I could change that!”  “How can you possibly forgive me?!”  Sound familiar?  We have a tendency as fleshly, worldly thinking persons to glorify our failures as greater than those of others.  We exaggerate them to the point that we are continually groaning and chastising ourselves for our failure – always punishing ourselves and condemning ourselves.  If left unchallenged we can judge ourselves as always a failure, and therefore giving us the excuse we need to fail again and again.  Also sound familiar?

Here is what Jesus specifically asked God the Father about you and me:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
– John 17:20-21

Did the Father say no?  Of course not.  So we are one with Jesus, and that means…

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
– Galatians 3:26

You are a son, or daughter, of God!  How?  Through faith – you’ve settled the issue in the truth.  You have decided your value is determined by God, not you, and you practice that daily.  But maybe you don’t feel like you’re His – that’s okay.  We all experience those feelings, but all those feelings are is an indicator that you have experienced a lie.  You’ve reacted to the suggestion that you are a failure and do not belong to Christ.  Say thank you to the feeling for letting you know, tell the lie to begone, and practice the truth that you are a child of God – always!

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
– Matthew 28:20

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
– Romans 8:38-39

How do you practice the truth?  Refuse to act like a failure.  Instead act like someone who is accepted and loved by God because that was His unswerving choice.  He knows you inside and out, including your shortcomings and failings, and He still does not change His choice.  Instead He deliberately continues to work in you – without blaming or condemnation.  Act loved – because you are.