THE TWO NATURES OF THE SAVED MAN
Romans 7:14-25
The reason that I chose this passage from ROMANS 7 for today’s sermon …
… is because you hear a lot of people say things like …
… “You can’t live like the DEVIL & still be saved!”
But the fact is … even though you shouldn’t!
… as a SAVED BELIEVER, I CAN “live like the DEVIL” …
& still be saved …
Because SALVATION isn’t dependent on a believer’s WORKS …
… but on GRACE through FAITH ALONE.
SALVATION isn’t earned by FOLLOWING THE LAW.
Even if I were to keep 9 of the 10 COMMANDMENTS, I’d still be doomed to Hell.
Even if I were to keep 99.999% PERCENT of the LAW and fail in even the smallest fraction …
… I would be damned to HELL.
Because God EXPECTS perfection, since He Himself is PERFECT!
Galatians 3:24-25 says:
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
The Bible teaches that once we enter into the NEW COVENANT of CHRIST’S SHED BLOOD …
… that we are NO LONGER under the LAW.
We are saved by Jesus, the WORD made flesh …
… making atonement for us ONCE and FOR ALL.
Hebrews 10:10 says: “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
It all comes down to BEING BORN AGAIN & receiving the BLOOD ATONEMENT …
… once you’ve been WASHED in the BLOOD of CHRIST, you are CLEANSED permanently ONCE FOR ALL.
& There’s nothing you can ever do to WASH OFF THE BLOOD or to become UNCLEANSED.
It’s a ONE-TIME OFFERING APPLIED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH at the moment of SALVATION.
SO A BELIEVER CAN live like the DEVIL …
… but he will be CHASTISED.
& that’s a PROMISE from the WORD OF GOD.
… but how a believer lives doesn’t determine his salvation in any way!
How you live only determines if you are merely just a SAVED BELIEVER …
… or if you are a DISCIPLE.
But WORKS-DAMNATIONISTS will say things like, “Well, everyone still sins sometimes, but you can’t have WILFULL SIN …
… or you can’t have BIG SINS ….
… or you can’t have HABITUAL SINS …
& truly be saved.
… as though there’s a difference between WILFULL & NON-WILFULL SIN.
SIN IS SIN …
… & God is displeased every time you give in to the UNREGENERATE FLESH.
WHEN KING DAVID committed ADULTERY & then MURDERED Bathsheba’s husband, URIAH …
…. by WILLFULLY placing him in the front-lines of BATTLE …
… & then WILLFULLY commanded that his fellow SOLDIERS draw back in the thick of battle …
… leaving URIAH alone to be killed by the sword in the midst of his enemies …
… that was willful & intentional on DAVID’S PART.
When Noah got drunk in GENESIS 9 & uncovered himself …
… Noah’s decision to get drunk was willfull.
He didn’t get drunk by accident.
When Aaron, Moses’ brother fashioned a GOLDEN CALF as Moses was receiving the LAW on MT. SINAI …
Aaron WILLFULLY committed IDOLATRY, by fashioning a GOLDEN CALF.
ALL SIN IS WILFULL SIN.
But It’s the WILL of the FLESH.
& so today, I’m covering the TWO NATURES of the SAVED BELIEVER ….
… the SAVED, BORN AGAIN SPIRIT vs. the UNREGENERATE, SINFUL FLESH.
& THE REASON I bring up PAUL up in ROMNS 7, is because in ROMANS 7:14 …
… PAUL calls himself CARNAL.
He says: “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
& he goes on to describe that the THINGS that he WANTS to do …
… he DOES NOT do …
… but he does instead the things that he doesn’t want to do.
In v. 15 he says: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”
So Paul’s saying THE THINGS THAT HE HATES to do …
… those are the things that he does.
& the things that HE INTENDS to do …
… he fails to do …
* PAUL was explaining the TWO NATURES that he himself struggled with …
& I know that if PAUL struggled with this …
… I’m gonna struggle with this …
If he’s CARNAL, sold under sin …
… then I’m undone!
THERE’S A PREACHER NAME PAUL WASHER …
… & this guy goes around telling Christians that they need to grow in their faith …
… & be more spiritual … & keep repenting of their sins …
… which is good advice …
… but then he adds … if they’re truly saved.
He says: “There is no such thing as a CARNAL CHRISTIAN”.
But Paul himself said in Romans 7:15: “… but I am carnal, sold under sin.
But that’s not good enough for PAUL WASHER!
Who’s it gonna be?
Paul the Apostle or Paul Washer? Who’s right?
Because they’re NOT in AGREEMENT in their theology!
& the reason I pick on PAUL WASHER …
… is because he is the embodiment today of CALVINISTIC LORDSHIP SALVATION …
… along with men like RAY COMFORT & JOHN MACARTHUR.
… & here’s what I mean when I talk about LORDSHIP SALVATION …
… because you might say well yeah, Jesus is LORD …
… but that’s not what they’re talking about …
… what they teach is that you have to FOLLOW JESUS …
…. & be a DISCIPLE …
& do GOOD WORKS …
… & OBEY HIM …
& MAKING HIM YOUR LORD … as in YOU’RE GOING TO OBEY …
… in order to be saved.
But of course, they’re mixing up SALVATION which happens in a MOMENT …
vs. DISCIPLESHIP which takes a LIFETIME.
Here’s a direct QUOTE from PAUL WASHER:
… Let’s say that a person comes forward or a person is out there with us in a park somewhere and they say, “Yes, I believe, I believe he saved me today.” You should say, “Praise God!” But then, then, you should say, “Now listen to me very clearly. If you have indeed repented of your sins and believed, God has saved you;
[Let me ask you this before I read the rest of his quote:
how do you REPENT OF YOUR SINS & BELIEVE?
How do you TURN FROM ALL YOUR SINS & BELIEVE?
Or are they just asking you to TURN from the BIG SINS?
Does God see a difference between LITTLE SINS & BIG SINS when it comes to SALVATION?
Because they’ll focus on the BIG ONES …
… they say, you can’t COMMIT ADULTERY, you can’t COMMIT FORNICATION …
… you CAN’T COMMIT MURDER …
& really be saved …
… but well, if you lie once in awhile or give in to the flesh sometimes, then God’s grace covers it.
But that’s not consistent.
Either GOD’S GRACE covers ALL SIN or it covers NO SIN.
Revelation 22:15 says that “whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” [a single lie] will end up in the LAKE OF FIRE.
But the LORDSHIP SALVATIONISTS expect you to TURN from your sin.
& the CALVINIST will say that God’s Holy Spirit will empower you to turn from your sin …
… before you get saved & as you’re getting saved.
CALVINISTS are crazy — they even say that you’re born again BEFORE you BELIEVE …
… That God causes you to become REGENERATED & RECEIVE the HOLY GHOST …
… & THEN GOD will give you the ABILITY to BELIEVE.
They’ve got it BACKWARDS!
Ephesians 1:13: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
Because of the ERROR OF THE T in TULIP —
TOTAL DEPRAVITY …
… they don’t think you CAN believe until you’re BORN AGAIN.
PAUL WASHER CONTINUES:
… but the evidence that you have truly repented and believed unto salvation is that you will continue repenting and believing …
[WHAT HAPPENED to HEBREWS 10:10 – & Jesus’ ONCE AND FOR ALL SACRIFICE?
PAUL WASHER EXPECTS you to KEEP REPENTING …
… because he doesn’t believe that you are truly saved …
… unless you HAVE WORKS.
Which goes against EVERY VERSE about SALVATION in the BIBLE —
including Romans 11:6.
He continues: continue repenting and believing and God and His Christ will become dear to you, and you will begin to walk and to grow. Yes it will be a struggle and sometimes you will fail, but over the course of your life you will begin to grow in holiness, and holiness, you will grow in holiness without which no man will see the Lord.
So PAUL WASHER expects you to BECOME HOLY ….
… what he doesn’t understand is that you ARE Holy the minute you receive CHRIST as Savior.
What PAUL WASHER doesn’t understand is something called, “IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS”.
The moment we put our faith on Jesus Christ and trust Him to save us …
… we receive CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS instead of our own.
That’s IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Romans 4:3 says: “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Something else that PAUL WASHER doesn’t understand that PAUL the APOSTLE did …
… is the TWO NATURES of the SAVED BELIEVER: THE FLESH vs. THE SPIRIT.
So is there such a thing as a CARNAL CHRISTIAN?
We have some passages which sound like you can’t be a CARNAL CHRISTIAN & be saved.
1 John 3 is such an example.
On the surface, it sounds like John is saying that you have to overcome sin in this life order to be really saved.
1 John 3:6-9 says:
6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Remember two phrases from this passage & we’ll return to it:
HIS SEED REMAINETH IN HIM & BECAUSE HE IS BORN OF GOD.
But then you have the same apostle John say in 1 John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
So which is it?
First he says that if you’re BORN OF GOD, you CANNOT SIN.
Then he says, if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us.
So which is it?
The answer is BOTH.
There are no contradictions in the Word of God.
What JOHN THE APOSTLE & also PAUL when he said HE IS CARNAL …
… are explaining are the TWO NATURES: the SPIRIT which has been BORN AGAIN OF GOD …
… & The FLESH which has not been BORN AGAIN of GOD in its present state.
So we are dealing here with the TWO NATURES.
& This is an extremely important doctrine to UNDERSTAND.
Because understanding the TWO NATURES helps us understand GRACE.
Every SAVED, BORN AGAIN, REGENERATED CHRISTIAN has 2 NATURES:
THE SPIRIT & the FLESH.
When a PERSON puts their FAITH on Jesus Christ & trusts Him alone for their salvation …
several things happen:
You are BORN AGAIN.
Titus 3:5 says: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”
The Bible calls being BORN AGAIN, being REGENERATED.
But here’s what the CALVINISTS & the LORDSHIP SALVIONISTS & the WORKS-DAMNATIONISTS don’t seem to understand.
It’s our SPIRIT that is REGENERATED, not our flesh.
In John 3:3-6, Jesus said to a Pharisee named Nicodemus:
3 … Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Jesus is talking about SPIRITUAL REBIRTH, not PHYSICAL REBIRTH.
THIS FLESH hasn’t been REGENERATED.
This FLESH is capable of lying, cheating, stealing, lust, murder, envy, & much more.
The FLESH is the NATURAL MAN.
Genesis 6:5 says of those in NOAH’S DAY: “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Do you think our UNREGENERATE MAN is any different?
Jeremiah 9:17 says of the UNREGENERATE HEART: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
But when we put our faith & trust in Jesus Christ, God promises to give us a NEW HEART:
Ezekiel 36:26 says: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
Notice that God says he will give us a NEW HEART & a NEW SPIRIT.
He doesn’t say He’ll give us NEW FLESH when we trust in Jesus.
That comes later!
Ezekiel 36 is talking about the NEW MAN that we become once we are BORN AGAIN …
& so we have THE OLD MAN vs. the NEW MAN …
… the BORN AGAIN MAN vs. the DEAD MAN.
… the REGENERATE SPIRIT vs. the UNREGENERATE FLESH.
2 Corinthians 5:17 is the NT parallel to Ezekiel 36: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
But it is our SPIRIT that is BORN AGAIN, not our FLESH.
& that comprises the TWO NATURES of the SAVED MAN.
When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, our SPIRIT is BORN AGAIN …
… our spirit is RENEWED & REGENERATED by the HOLY GHOST …
& Our SPIRIT becomes PERFECT, HOLY, & WITHOUT BLEMISH.
We receive CHRIST’S IMPUTED RIGHTOUENESS & our SPIRIT is BORN AGAIN by the WORD OF GOD.
1 Peter 2:3 says: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
James 1:18 also says: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
Our SPIRIT is BORN AGAIN of INCORRUPTIBLE SEED (by GOD’S WORD) —
that SEED, being the WORD OF GOD begotten in the Person of Jesus Christ Himself —
& so our SPIRIT is PERFECT RIGHT NOW!
We don’t have to wait to get to heaven & be resurrected for our SPIRIT to be PERFECTED.
Our SPIRIT is PERFECT right now.
It can only be PERFECT, because it was BORN AGAIN by GOD HIMSELF —
We are made a NEW CREATURE & a NEW CREATION …
… just as GOD made ADAM perfect in the beginning.
Knowing this, helps us EXPLAIN 1 John 3:9 which I read earlier: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
What is the SEED that remaineth in Him? The SEED is JESUS, the incorruptible SEED …
… that’s why we can’t sin, being BORN OF GOD.
So you can observe my SPIRIT today & know that my SPIRIT is already perfect.
I have a NEW HEART & am a NEW CREATION.
Our PERFECT, BORN-AGAIN SPIRIT no longer wants to sin …
… no longer DESIRES TO SIN …
… in fact, our SPIRIT no longer CAN SIN …
But our BODY / OUR FLESH …
… STILL HAS THE SIN NATURE in it.
THE SAME SIN that entered into the WORLD through Adam in Genesis 3 …
… abides today in our flesh.
& so while our SPIRIT has been BORN AGAIN & been perfected …
… our FLESH has NOT BEEN BORN AGAIN …
Our FLESH is still wicked …
OUR FLESH still desires SIN …
… OUR FLESH still sins EVERY DAY …
& we have these two NATURES abiding in us combatting one another daily.
That’s why Paul says in Romans 7:
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: [that’s the saved, regenerate man]
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members [that’s his unregenerate flesh].
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
It’s the BODY that’s WRETCHED.
& the ONLY WAY that our FLESH is going to STOP SINNING & stop being WRETCHED …
… IS FOR US TO DIE!
Our BODY has to DIE & be RESURRECTED INCORRUPTIBLE.
Only then will our BODIES also be BORN AGAIN, without the SIN NATURE dwelling in us.
And then we’ll be PERFECT, both body, mind, and soul.
Romans 6:6 says: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:”
We’ll be raised with a perfect, glorified body, just like Jesus …
but until then, every SAVED, BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN has the TWO NATURES dwelling with him.
& these TWO NATURES are at ENMITY with ONE ANOTHER …
Paul says they are literally “warring” in Romans 7:23.
… & so we are LITERALLY @ WAR within our selves.
BUT KNOWING that we have TWO NATURES, one sinless & one sinful …
… does not mean that we just give in to our lesser nature …
… & allow sin to reign in our lives.
Paul says in Romans 6:1-4:
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
While we still have THE OLD MAN or the SINFUL NATURE working in us …
… every commandment & admonish in the Bible is that we need to strive daily …
… to place the FLESH in subjection to the SPIRIT.
Romans 8:5-9 says:
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
[We need to make a conscious, daily effort to be SPIRITUALLY MINDED.
How do we do this?
Through PRAYER …
… through the READING OF THE WORD.
If aren’t spending dedicated time in prayer & the study of God’s Word …
…. it’s a losing battle …
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
So if you don’t have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, you’re not saved.
Romans 8:15-16 says:
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
We are ADOPTED as children into the FAMILY OF GOD.
Your child can sin against you ….
… & you’ll chastise him …
… but he’ll never stop being your chid.
ONCE ADOPTED ALWAYS ADOPTED.
ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED.
ONCE REGENERATED ALWAYS REGENERATED.
ONCE CLEANSED ALWAYS CLEANSED.
Colossians 3:1-10:
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
[It’s only @ the RESURRECTION, that our BODIES will be re-united with our spirit …
… both to remain forever in glory w/ Christ.]
That’s the only time that YOU & I will ever be PERFECT.
Paul continues in v. 5:
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth [MORTIFY means to KILL. To count as Dead.
This is speaking METAPHORICALLY NOW …
… don’t go & physically destroy your body parts …
… people have been know to that!
But we are to SUBJECT the BODY to the SPIRIT to the point that the BODY IS MORTIFIED.
Paul continues:
… fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
[Paul wouldn’t have to tell you to do this …
… if it was something that automatically happened, like the Calvinists believe.
The Calvinists believes that there is a SYNERGISTIC relationship between the FLESH & The HOLY SPIRIT …
… by which we have NO CHOICE if we are saved, but to MORTIFY the BODY & the SIN NATURE.
THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION of Calvinistic theology …
… or of LORDSHIP SALVATION …
… or of SINLESS PERFECTION ….
… is that your FLESH WILL BECOME PERFECTED in this life.
But that’s impossible, your flesh can only be subdued, & that imperfectly.
THOSE who don’t understand the TWO NATURES …
… are trying to PERFECT THE FLESH – they’re trying to perfect what’s dead.
Galatians 5:13-18:
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
[Paul wouldn’t be telling us to SERVE ANOTHER, if it was AUTOMATIC].
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
[Exactly what Paul described in Romans 7].
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Ephesians 2:1-6:
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
[All this is in the PRESENT TENSE.
We are ALREADY seated together in heavenly places IN Christ Jesus.
Don’t ask me how that’s possible.
But the Bible says that I am RIGHT NOW seated in heavenly places in Christ …
… because MY SPIRIT is ALREADY BORN AGAIN & ALREADY POSSESS ETERNAL LIFE …
John 5:24 says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life …”
We HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE right now …
… we are already seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Paul admonishes again HOW we are to live as REGENERATED BORN AGAIN CHRSITIANS, Romans 13:13-14:
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
So we are instructed to BATTLE & to FIGHT against our SIN NATURE …
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
Paul, here, was speaking of HEAVENLY REWARDS, if you back up & read the CONTEXT.
He says that we need to KEEP UNDER OUR BODY and BRING IT INTO SUBJECTION.
That sounds like something we have to WORK @ –
We have to ENSLAVE our BODY to our SPIRIT …
& keep it in subjection.
This is what the CHRISTIAN SHOULD DO, not MUST DO to be saved.
In this way, THE TWO NATURES EXPLAIN GRACE …
SINLESS PERFECTIONISTS are trying to CONVERT the FLESH instead of KILLING IT by the Spirit.
They’re trying to SAVE THE FLESH, instead of MORTIFYING IT …
Romans 12:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
& so what happens if we don’t heed God’s Word and we allow the FLESH to reign supreme over the SPIRIT?
GOD PROMISES to CHASTISE US.
THE TWO NATURES isn’t a FREE PASS to SIN.
Hebrews 12:4-10:
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
[Being chastised by God is PROOF that you are saved.
The Bible says that if you are not being CHASTISED …
… it’s because you are a BASTARD …
… BASTARD literally means an ILLEGITIMATE CHILD.
You sometimes hear people say that GOD is the FATHER of ALL PEOPLE.
But that’s not true.
GOD is the CREATOR OF ALL …
… but He’s only the FATHER of those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
So ask yourself when you find yourself in the middle of STRIFE …
… or SIN or whatever it is that’s causing you to satisfy the LUST OF THE FLESH …
… are you WALKING after the SPIRIT or are you LIVING IN THE FLESH?
We need to be MINDFUL of our TWO NATURES …