Hello, everybody. It's M2S2L23 back with another video. In this video, I want to talk about the subject of sin. Sin in a Christian's life,
not in the life of somebody who's unsaved. So I'm not going to talk about
forgiveness of sins, but rather overcoming sin when you're already saved.
So we all know that sin is a problem. Sin is something which we ought to just not ignore, even though we're saved.
Although the deeds of the law do not determine our salvation, whether or not we
obey what the commandments of God say, our role and inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven, our testimony to other people who are unsaved, who were
looking to get saved, and also the chastisement of God all depends on whether or not we follow Him and obey His commandments.
The Bible says in 1st John 3-4,
Whosoever committh sin transgresseth also the law, for the sin is the transgression of the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.
So that's the definition of sin. Sin is transgression of the law. If you break God's commandments, you are sinning.
But we shouldn't break God's commands, because Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
However, it's a false doctrine to say that you're not a sinner,
even if you're saved. John said earlier in the same book in 1st John, in
chapter 1 verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
And we know that we're not saved by obeying the law of God, as it says in Romans 3-28.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
However, the Bible teaches clearly that just because we're saved by grace, just because we don't have to
follow the works of the law in order to be saved,
this is not just a license to sin. God still expects us to obey His word.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 5 verse 20 to 21 and also chapter 6 verse 1 to 15,
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,
that as sin hath rained unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid!
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Know ye not that so many of us that are baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
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.
For if we had been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection,
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is free from sin.
Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieeth no more,
death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth,
he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law,
but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
So in this passage Paul starts off by telling us that when sin abounds, grace abounds even more.
But this does not mean that we should just go off and disobey God because we think that we'll get away with it.
No, but rather it says God forbid in verse 15 of chapter 6 to the question of whether or not we should sin just because we're
not under the law.
So the phrase under the law does not mean that we don't need to follow God's law.
It's simply telling us that the law does not determine our spiritual status with God.
We are not saved by the law and we do not need to obey the rituals of animal sacrifices and the like to
prolong the covenant with God.
So what are we to do instead? Well as the Bible says later in Romans 6, our old man is crucified with him.
It says that the purpose of this is that henceforth we should not serve sin.
So a saved and baptized believer should not go off into sin because they're under grace.
Or we should be grateful to God and serve him instead.
But how is this possible? How can we do this exactly?
Does not the Bible teach that there is not a just man upon the earth who doeth good and senteth not?
Ecclesiastes 7 20 and also in first John 1 8 which I quoted earlier,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
The Bible also teaches that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Who can know it? In Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9.
However, when scripture prophesies the coming of the new covenant in the book of Jeremiah,
we see an important aspect about the new covenant. It says in Jeremiah
31 33, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my
people. And it says also in Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26 to 27, a new heart also will I give you, 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 and I'll put my spirit within you and
cause you to walk in my statues and you shall keep my judgments and do them.
So this coincides with the teaching of the New Testament that we receive the Spirit of God when we get saved.
The Spirit of God teaches and guides us so that we so that we know the law and so we have the
we have the ability to have power over sin.
Unlike the safe person we can actually
we actually have the ability to put to death the flesh and walk after the Spirit and walk after God and obey God's laws.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 7 verse 14 to 25,
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do
I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I.
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now
then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 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. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil that I
which I would not, that I do. Now if I would that I would not, it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law that when I would do good,
evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
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. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death,
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.
So Paul is admitting that he is carnal, meaning fleshly. What he means by this is he
explains clearly throughout the rest of the chapter that it is in the flesh which he commits sin.
See when we're born again, we're born of the spirit as Jesus taught in John chapter 3.
It's a spirit of God which is given to us. It's our heart which has changed.
It's not our body. God promised to put our law, to put his law in our inward parts. That's the mind.
It's not the body. It's not the flesh.
So as long as this corruptible sinful body is still here, we can still fall into the temptation of sin.
The inward parts, the inward born-again spirit, the inward man as it's called elsewhere in scripture, is what allows us to obey God
however.
As in verse 22 Paul says, I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
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.
So he's straight admitting that he still commits sin because of the presence of his flesh. However, with the mind
he serves the law of God. So there's a battle and it says, it says warring.
It says that the law in his members is warring against the law of his mind.
So there's a battle in us between the flesh and the spirit and the mind.
It's a war of the members, the law of sin, temptation, wickedness,
trying to subject us so that we serve sin.
It's only through the delight of the inward man after the law of God that we can obey him. But what does this mean? Well,
thankfully Paul doesn't stop here in Romans chapter 7. He continues to talk about it throughout the
the next couple chapters. We see an explanation in much further detail in the following chapter, which says in Romans chapter 8 verse 1 to 28.
So this is a lot to just bear with me right here.
It says,
There is therefore now no condemnation of them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit. 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. For to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God,
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
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. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ in the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh, for if you live after the flesh ye shall die.
But if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, he shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For you have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we also
that we may also be glorified together.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they but ourselves also which have the first
roots of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body.
For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart knoweth
what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for God to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.
I know that this passage is long, but all of it is really important to the message of this video.
We see that the promise that the Spirit of God lives inside of us if we are Christ.
And as he says, the law of the Spirit of life of Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. So God saved us from our sins,
not only in the fact that the shed blood of Jesus Christ atones for our sins so that we can receive forgiveness,
but also in the fact that the new covenant with Jesus and the provision of the Holy Spirit
allows us, enables us, to walk in the Spirit and follow the law of God.
It says, for to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God.
Neither indeed can be. So the solution to sin is to mind the things of the Spirit, as it says in verse 5,
that being after the flesh means that we mind the things of the flesh, but being after the Spirit
we mind the things of the Spirit. Having a fleshly or carnal mind only leads us unto death, only leads us to destruction.
We cannot please God unless we walk in the Spirit. And in verse 15 or 13
it says, for if you live after the flesh ye shall die,
but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live. Now this is not talking about hell,
this is not talking about spiritual death.
We know that's, we know this because this is being addressed to Christians, to people who are already saved. In fact in the previous verse,
verse 12, Paul said, Paul addresses them as brethren and says that we are debtors to not walk of the flesh.
And the fact that Paul is telling them this shows that it's not just automatic. It's not something which just happens when you're saved.
Rather, we need to learn how to control ourselves. We are indebted to do it, but we don't automatically do it.
We just should do it. We need to be able to overcome sin. Those who don't will face judgment from God
not the final judgment of hell, but judgment on this earth, chastisement,
God punishing you and trying to get your attention. The scripture says in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1-8,
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a client of witness,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be wearied and faint in her minds.
Ye have not yet resisted
unto blood, shoving against sin, 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, for whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If he endured chastening, God dealeth with you
God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? And if ye be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons?
In fact, God makes it clear that somebody who isn't chastised, in this last verse here, verse 8,
he makes it clear that somebody who isn't
punished, who isn't chastised, who isn't disciplined by God is a bastard and not a son, meaning that they're not saved.
This means that if you sin and you're saved,
expect God to get your attention by doing something in your life, which will help you to realize your mistake.
And of course, so that our lives aren't ruined, and so that we fulfill God's will, we need to fight against sin.
This is possible, possible since we have the Spirit of God living inside us, as
Romans 8 says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
There are several passages which clarify this more.
Now just bear with me because there's a lot of passages, and pretty much every passage in this video is quite long,
but just pay attention and keep in mind the the passages and scriptures which have already been read.
Another important passage on this is Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 to 25, which says,
This I say then,
walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
And if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders,
drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do
think, do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there is no law, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
So the solution to the problem of sin is to walk in the Spirit. Now that should be pretty obvious after all, because it's the
Spirit of God which enables us to obey God's commandments.
If we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. That's a surety.
He says, we shall not. He doesn't say you might not. If you are in the Spirit, you will not fall into sin.
As it says in verse 17, this war against the, between the Spirit and flesh, the same war which is described in
Romans 7, means that you cannot do the things that you would. So without the Spirit, it's impossible to obey God.
So of course the first step to overcoming sin is to get saved. If you don't have the Spirit,
then you're not going to be able to do it. If you're unsaved, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior,
you cannot fight against sin. You will continue throughout your life to fall back into the temptations,
and you won't have any help, any spirit to help you resist against that.
And where in Romans 8 it says that they that are in the flesh cannot please God in verse 8.
Now in the book of James it says in chapter 4 verse 2 to 8,
You lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain.
You fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not.
You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts.
The adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God.
Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Do you think that the scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy, but he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace into the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
And James addresses this to Christians in chapter 3 verse 1.
He says, my brethren, and he also says that in chapter 2 verse 1, chapter 2 verse 14, and chapter 1 verse 2.
This is addressed to James brothers and sisters in Christ, people who are already saved.
And again, he's commanding the Christians on how to put off their sin.
It says that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us.
The book commands us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. But again, the question is how do we do that?
How do we walk in the spirit as it says in Galatians 5?
Well, the scripture tells us very clear that we need to submit to God,
and that we are debtors not to live after the flesh. On verse 2 to 4 in
James chapter 4, it says that we should not be friends of the world.
We're making ourselves enemies of God by obeying the world, by listening to what the world has to say.
So we humble ourselves and do what Romans 8 says in verse 5, to set our minds on the things of the Spirit.
This is further demonstrated in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 to 32 says,
And taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man,
which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
Neither give place to the devil, let him that stole steal
no more, but rather let him labor working with the hands of things which is good,
that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace into the hearers, and
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So Ephesians also
admonishes us to walk in the spirit, to be renewed in the spirit of the mind, and to put on the new man something which
will allow us to no longer commit the sins which once took over our lives, such as lying, wrath, theft, blasphemy, et cetera.
Now here is a scripture which which wraps it all up and gives the answer to the question in Colossians chapter 3 verse 1 to 17.
It says,
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,
then shall you also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth,
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
in the which ye also walked some time when you lived in them.
But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man
which is renewed in knowledge about the image of him that created him.
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another,
if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts of the Lord. And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
In this passage, it's shown exactly how we are to walk in the Spirit in more detail.
It's the same thing as what
Romans chapter 8 says, that if we are after the Spirit, we mind the things of the Spirit, and that to be
spiritually minded is life and peace in verse 6.
We know that if we are saved, we have the Spirit of God living inside us,
but once we receive the gift of God's Spirit, we need to acknowledge its presence. As Colossians chapter 3 says,
set your affection on things above. In other words, focus on your reward in heaven.
Don't constantly think about the things of this world.
Don't worry about worldly matters. Fill yourself with hope, and focus on loving and praising God.
Later in the chapter, beginning in verse 13, Paul tells the believers in Colossae to put on bowels of mercy, kindness,
humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering, etc. We should forgive one another. We should be charitable. We should be thankful.
We should let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom. In other words, read the Bible, meditate on, think about what,
think about the words of God.
Learn what the words of Christ say. Study what the Scripture says.
Teach and admonish each other using psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and do whatever you do in the name of the Lord Jesus.
This is how we put on the new man,
and this is how you walk in the Spirit. As Romans chapter 12 verse 21 says,
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
So the Scripture outlines exactly how to put off sin and to walk in the Spirit. If we do these things, if we do these
good things, if we set our minds and our hearts on the Spirit instead of concerning ourselves with the flesh, we will not
let the, we will let the Spirit take control of our lives and naturally not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
The Spirit is there. All we have to do is to strive to do the good. The Scripture says back in Romans 8,
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
We also need to understand that this is a daily walk with Christ. It's not something which is automatically, automatically happens when you're saved.
It's not something which just, you're just automatically transforming. You just never sin once you're saved. Again,
that's false. If it were, it wouldn't make any sense for Paul to say, I am carnal, sold under sin.
We're all carnal. We all are after the flesh.
We still have the flesh here because we're not born again in the flesh, and we will continue to fall into temptation.
We will continue to have these fleshly
temptations and the lust of the flesh until the day we die.
We all have the ability to fall under sin,
but the difference between a saved person and an unsaved person is that a believer has the chance to resist it,
to resist sin by the power of the Holy Ghost.
This is something that we need to struggle for daily as it says in Luke chapter 9 verse 23,
Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. And then it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 31,
I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily.
So Paul says that he dies daily. In other words, he mortifies the flesh.
He, he puts it to death daily. By walking the Spirit, the Spirit takes over the body, and we're no longer subject to sin.
As Romans 6 says, we are dead to sin.
So a lazy Christian who never goes to church, who never sings to God, who never reads their Bible, is
going to walk after the flesh and not after the Spirit. They're going to do these sins.
The solution to sin is to walk in the Spirit by
not ignoring the presence of the Spirit of God, but acknowledging it. Set your mind on the things above. Pray to God and ask for
his help. Read the Bible and meditate on his law. Worship the Lord and sing of his greatness
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Have hope for the reward in heaven. Love God and love heaven.
Whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord.
So if you do these things, if you walk in the Spirit this way, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. In other
words, you won't come under the power of sin.
This is something we should be striving to do every single day.
It's the only answer to getting sin out of our life and doing what God wants us to do by pleasing God. So
that's the end of this video. I hope that makes sense. So thank you everybody for watching and goodbye.