4. The sinful nature is seeking to dominate the whole of the Christian life. Remember the battle of sin in victory over it is a matter of the honor of Christ. The Christian life is a battle and a struggle. We already possess the unified imputed merit of our Lord and Defender Jesus Christ as the grounds for how we are right with God. That is, we are justified through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no other way to be justified than by His perfect, clean and sinless divine righteousness. We struggle to serve our holy and awesome King and Redeemer because of sin in our lives. If someone sins, we have an Advocate with our Heavenly Father who is Jesus Christ the Righteous! We ought to battle for sin in the most extreme sense to put it to death in a practical sense; however, we are to live as if that is already so! Sin has been already put to death in a legal sense for the Christian life. God has provided us with a defense of divine holiness! We ought to be holy people because our Heavenly Father is holy. In fact, the angelic chorus sings "holy, holy, holy." We ought to remember that we should imitate God by being holy. I suggest to you that none of us should have an idolatrous spirit and seek to rise above God. There is one God revealed in three distinct persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is no god besides the Three in One and One in Three. There are battle we must win that take place everyday of our lives. Do we show ultimate allegiance to God's holiness and divine character in the small details of our Christian life? I suggest to you that everyone falls short. I myself feel surely convicted over the small details of the Christian life. I hope you also feel convicted to repent and believe the glad tidings of the Christ who saves to the uttermost! Do we serve material things over the service of God and holy things? Do you see yourself repenting of past sin, present sin and future sin? Are you persistent in the things of God and reading the divine Word? Do you cheer more for your football team than the victory of Christ in the local church? Do you give more attention to the things of this world than the attention of the written Scriptures? Do you spend more time reading a novel than praying the Valley of Vision? Do you accept what newspapers say automatically but not the promises of the Word of God? Do you speak to your friends without forgetting what to say but in prayer you fail to mention things to pray for? Do you gossip rather than explain the gospel to a lost friend? Do you lack time to attend a prayer meeting but not seeing a movie? Do you witness to the lost if he was a total stranger? Are you concerned about what others think about you rather than what God thinks about you? Are you believing the promises of Christ but refuse to serve in the local church? These are things to think about.
5. We ought to understand that in our flesh nothing good dwells. That is, there is nothing spiritually there to be something good that avails the redemptive power of God. You must understand that God does not delight in us because there is nothing good in us. We do not do the things that are good but we choose to do the things that are sinful. Do you seek to do what is right? Do you consent to the sinful nature or the flesh so easily without a spiritual fight? You must take up the Word of God! You must fight the good fight! This is the time to stand up for Jesus Christ! Stand! Stand and fight! Do not give in to the flesh! There is only danger there! We have a Savior that keeps His own! We have a Redeemer and Defender that provides us with restraining and redemptive grace through the presence of His elect angels to prevent the power of darkness, sin and Satan from availing! Stand up for Jesus this day! Stand and be counted! To weaken the power of the flesh during temptation I suggest to you that you read the written Word. It takes the power out of the temptation of the flesh! Read and study the Word so you are a workman not ashamed. Have you crucified the flesh? It is our responsibility to crucify the flesh in progressive sanctification. Put that sin to death my friends! Put it to death! We are in a spiritual battle. We face this battle this side of heaven. Sin is ugly. If we studied the private lives of people we would sin the outward manifestation of the ugliness of sin, but what of the spiritual heart of a Christian? Does not a Christian repent and turn from his sin? Surely he does if he is a Christian! Turn away from your sin and focus in faith on the Cross of Jesus! The battle is bloody, the battle is relentless and the battle is painful. The flesh wants you to think you can earn your spiritual salvation. It wants you to think you can in someway merit heaven. The Holy Spirit says in His written Word that the ONLY WAY to heaven is THROUGH our Savior Jesus Christ. We must fight the spiritual dragon within our souls. But Jesus comes and sets us free! The gospel is the power of God unto spiritual redemption and there is nothing more powerful than the gospel. We must trust Jesus and "follow Him." Do you trust and follow Jesus? You have fallen into sin but His love will not fail you. The very Cross of Jesus Christ is powerful: it forgives and cleanses and provides us with grace. The Cross is a place of virtue, merit, righteousness, peace, godliness, uprightness and holiness. We have new life in Christ where the spiritual dragon of the soul cannot harm us because we are divinely secure, preserved and kept by His mighty hand. We must understand that our Lord Jesus has defeated the flesh through the work of the Cross. He overcame its rule over us. He weakened its power over us. He killed its root over us. We will not bear fruit of eternal death because Jesus has put sin to death by the death of the Cross. The Cross provides us with the promise of eternal and divine and cosmic victory! It is God's holy will that His people bear much fruit. We must take warfare seriously and gab the flesh by the throat! It still has that lurking evil to harm us in life and take away blessings, but we must be rooted in God's holy Word.
This blog web site is for the in-depth, sound and basic exegetical study of the Bible in Reformed apologetics; that is, I shall expound upon the inerrant and infallible Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. There shall be biblical studies in world religions and non-Christian cults. I also quote and research reformed writers and I am happy to study from them. May the Lord bless everyone who reads this blog with spiritual riches in Christ which is His imputed merit by faith alone.
