MYSTERY OF SIN (PART 3)
How Did God Remedy This Great Defect Of Sin In Man
One major reason why Christ had to come in the likeness of sinful flesh was for sin. He dealt with sin by condemning it in the flesh (Romans 8:3). This means that the activities and power of sin was limited to the flesh alone, breaking off the power to call the attention of the mind to follow the dictates of bodily lusts. Jesus Christ did this by introducing a new law called the law of the Spirit of life. This law antagonises the law of lust. The power of lust in the body was broken by this law thereby rendering sin inoperative and with no tools to work it.
Sin as we have learnt intensifies the desires in man’s body making it sinful, but the Spirit of life intensifies the desires in man’s spirit for the things of God making it righteous.
‘For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want.’ Gal 5:17 (HCSB)
What Then Is The Responsibility Of Man Towards Sin?
The first responsibility of man is to KNOW what God has already done for us in making us victorious over sin.
Romans 6:6 says:
‘Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him (Christ) that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin.’
Many a times we only see the ‘substitutionary’ work of Christ on the cross in that we say ‘he died for us’ but we fail to see the ‘inclusive’ work of Christ in that we say ‘we died with him.’ Let us know and understand that the scripture said ‘...ye are dead...’ (Colossians 3:3). For when Christ died on the cross, I died unto sin.
Our second responsibility is to BELIEVE what God has accomplished through Christ Jesus. Even though we find it difficult to accept this truth in that we are alive and fall a times, God simply asks us to acknowledge this truth. ‘Likewise RECKON ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.’ Believe in what God has already done, account yourselves dead, He alone will work out the experience in you even as you fulfil the third responsibility.
The third responsibility of man is to willing present and yields his members (body) unto God to be used as instrument of righteousness (Romans 6:13; 12:1). To be able to fulfil this, we will need to resist temptations. This means refusal to follow those former old desires. In actual experience, our body is alive and sin is still present. There will still be enticement by sin through lust to draw our mind and body into committing sin (James 1:13-15). Speaking out the scripture such as 1 John3:9 and many such verses when tempted by our lusts is a powerful way to resist such temptations. This is we ought to do on a daily basis because the temptations through lusts are continually present with us.
Dear brethren, the word of God is the truth, even though many of such truth look distant from what we are experiencing. What is obtainable around us cannot deny the veracity of God’s word. We are called to believe these truths, acknowledge them and pray that God will bring to pass in our actual experience that which he said. If we do these, we will see ourselves living effortlessly but victoriously over sin and the truth of we being born of God and cannot sin will be true here on earth to us.
Comments
Post a Comment