At the end of part one, I said this: “The old man, and the new man that you and I are, or for most are to be, the old man and the new are at war (the Bible calls this enmity, acts of hostility), and as the old native American saying goes about the bad dog and the good dog fighting, “The one you feed the most is the one that will win in the end.”
Listen :
There are many wonderful benefits, advantages and blessings as a result of the old man dying.” I urged you “to think about what you had heard in that discussion as it relates to your life of either victory over sin or the guilt and shame before God of your sin as you feel helpless to triumph against it.”
Let’s begin today at this very point—enmity, the internal war that seems to be unwinnable in the minds and hearts of most believers. What is going on here(?)—James and Paul give us the mind of God’s Spirit on the matter:
Once we are genuinely born-again the things of our eternity changed, but for nearly all—our former behaviors and lifestyle continued-on in the driver’s seat of our lives.
If since you became a Christian you have continued to have a sin problem, you probably know this yourself: You know that many have tried to stop sinning and been successful in some things yet other things continue to “dog” us that we just can’t get the victory over. That’s due to the old-man-sin-nature still having significant influence (even control) over you, which can be rectified, if you will be stone-cold-serious about your relationship with God.
Late in our last meeting I mentioned a nighttime dream and later a daytime experience that I had that helped me begin to recognize the dastardly power of the old man sin nature that was busy within me each day and what the solution was. . .[Listen to the audio for the dream and experience.]
𝕋he Old Man must die ...
even though it doesn’t die all in one fell-swoop.
For most, it’s not unlike getting free of a very powerful addiction (a bondage), which requires a firm commitment, a stubborn resolve, and staying faithful to the help available and step-away process of getting off alcohol, or the step-down effort to get off the drugs.
The process of putting to death the old man is this: Recognize the sin, repent of it and renounce it, ask for the cross and mean it, then deny the temptation to sin, and follow Jesus closely through the Christian disciplines of reading the Word and prayer-time daily, be baptized in the Holy Ghost and stay filled, and if more help is needed, refer to James 5 and do what the Word says.
I could go on tutoring you in this very critical aspect of being redeemed during this life but I must press on. If you are serious about getting free of any powerful sin problems you have and need to apply for the help of † James 5, I am available and have access to another mature believer for such help.
Addictions to a sin issue these days are very powerful and can often be under the influence of an evil spirit(s): Lying, unclean sexual passions, pornography, anger or rage, violence, hours of idolatrous gaming, laziness toward God, et cetera.
We will now move-on to the advantages, benefits and blessings of when the old man dies—when the sin nature loses its strength and eventually becomes at least comatose, if not dead and decaying, left on the cross.
In my experience and opinion, a single word that sums-up that happening’s greatest blessing of the old man’s death—is the word “Freedom”!
The necessary parts for the death of the old man, the sinful nature, which is the carnal and fleshly that Paul addresses in many ways as being a problem that must be addressed for the committed follower of Jesus, are these:
Recognize sin as sin, repent of it and have the “want to” to stop it, in sincerity go to the Lord asking for His grace and help, ask for the cross to do its work on that heinous part of you that sins (to crucify it means you expose it to death), when it comes up again as a temptation, “deny it” its fulfillment, and choose to follow Jesus in death to that habit that is sin.
If you fail (and you might), do not lose hope but keep at it until sin by the old man loses strength over you.
Now just like it is for someone fleeing from an oppressed country ruled by tyrants and thieves and escaping across the border seeking asylum in a good land, so is getting free of the old man sin nature. From where there was neither freedom nor future, whether talking about geopolitically or spiritually, a good land has both.
The nature of sin is one of hard bondage and no future in the kingdom of God and His Christ and must be escaped-from in order to have both freedom and a glorious future. That glorious future we look forward to and live in hope of—BUT the freedoms that come with our escaping from the tyranny of the old man we can have in the here-and-now. What freedoms?
𝕋hese 14 Points that I conclude with are not hypothetical or theoretical but real & drawn from my personal experience.
1. Your faith in God and in His power and His Word is no longer smothered by doubt or disbelief but grows a little more resolute with each encounter with Him.
2. As the old man dies so does the dogging guilt and relentless shame of the great sins of your past. Any demons that accused you are muzzled.
3. Love for God and for others begins to spring forth like an artesian well.
4. Spiritual deafness and blindness are healed since the old man is not there blocking your spiritual hearing and the light of the Word that gives sight. Your hearing the inner voice of God’s Spirit will sharpen as to His guidance, promptings, or needed warnings.
5. Double-mindedness gives way to focused devotion to God and His ways.
6. Spiritual gifts are bestowed and free to flow without shyness or timidity, fear of fumbling or failure, and with the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit.
7. Because sinful pride dissipates as the sin nature dies, so does the occasion to be embarrassed when something [non-sinful] happens that used to shame you.
8. Personal repentance should sin happen and forgiveness when offenses come become automatic—no delays, no holding on to or keeping records of wrongs. Reconciliation is desired and boldness to right old wrongs makes a way.
9. You will be content with what you have and not be driven to have more.
10. Others matter and with your participation many can also be saved.
11. Justifiable and righteous anger stops short of sinning.
12. The business of the kingdom of God and His righteousness becomes first in your life and prayerfully for the lives of those around you, and even those you do not know.
13. You will become a generous giver of your time, resources, and money. You will be more interested in serving your loved ones and others more than yourself. You will regularly praise and thank the Lord for what He provides you and for what He has allowed you to keep.
14. Genuine holiness blossoms—and that pleases God, and His pleasure over you is a very good thing!
Except for our Savior, all the descendants of Adam inherited the sinful nature but God through Jesus made the way for us to get free of all those evil ways and that bad stuff—however, we must participate with the power of the cross for it to be effective against the old sinful man.
Welcome to the newest on-line news service in the Porterville area. Our goal is to report the right news at the right time. In doing this, we believe that the community will get a greater sence of being connected.
The Right News @ The Right Time
Our second goal is to report above and beyond the main stream media.
Politically Inform and Educate
Our third goal is to politically inform and educate the public at large.
A Conservative Publication
The Porterville Post is a conservative publication and news service and when the Post makes a mistake in our reporting, we'll address it "Right Here" and if needed, with an appology. Please feel free to contact us with your comments or suggestions.
Writers | Columnists | Reporters
The Post, in the next few years, we'll be looking for new writers, columnists and reporters. We understand the need for new writers to have the chance of starting a new career and we'd like to offer a free internship at the Post.
