Why do Christians Sin? (Pt 2 – External Temptations)
06.07.09
Why do Christians Sin? (Pt 2 – External Temptations)
(All Bible verses quoted are from the New King James Version)
This message is a follow-on to our previous message entitled: Why do Christians still Sin? (Pt1 – Unrenewed Mind)
Previously we established from scripture that born again Christians don’t have a sinful nature anymore. We also talked about 1 of the reasons why believers, even though they don’t have a sinful nature anymore, still sin, namely because of an unrenewed mind. This week we will talk about the second reason: External temptations.
Many people still have the idea that after Christians are born again, they still have a part of that old, evil, sinful nature inside them, and that they have to live everyday trying to kill that evil nature with it’s desires, fighting it tooth and nail, hoping to somehow eventually reach a place where they can feel they have behaved good enough to be able to approach God with confidence.
This misconception is often promted by verses such as: Rom 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires (NIV). Also James 1:14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed (NIV). The word “evil” does not appear in the original language in either of these verses, but was inserted by the translators, who were trying to interpret a concept (they were convinced that Christians still have a sinful nature), rather than allowing the reader to interpret the context themselves. A true born again believer is not evil anymore; we have a 100% holy & righteous spirit man living on the inside of us that wants to please God in everything it does. But we still stumble sometimes because of our unrenewed mind (soul), which was trained to think and operate the way it does by years of conditioning and suffering under the control of our old evil sinful nature. Thus the above 2 verses make more sense when we read it out of a literal translation (note the word “evil” has been omitted): Rom 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts (NKJV). Also James 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed (NKJV).
If Christians could flick a switch that would enable them to stop sinning immediately and walk in obedience 100% of the time, they would flick that switch in a heartbeat (thanks Ryan Rufus). The children of God WANT to please God & live holy, because our new spirit man has the desire to please God. But sometimes we do not walk after (put on / walk according to / are not led by) this spirit man, and we make mistakes. But we can be confident that when we sin, there is always an abundance of grace to cover that sin!! Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.
God knew our minds would not be renewed in a heartbeat and that we would always, until we go on to be with Him in heaven, struggle with some form of sin (either in our minds, thought patterns, attitudes), and therefore He took the “sin problem” out of the way completely at the cross by pouring out His FULL wrath on the Lamb. Jesus bore the FULL grunt of the punishment for our sins.
A second reason why Christians keep on doing things that the law calls “sin” (even though they don’t have a sinful nature anymore), is because of external temptations. Temptation appeals to our body and soul (mind), but not to our new born spirit man. The body will follow like a slave to whichever one of these two we yield control to. Gal 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (NKJV). This verse simply means that when our unrenewed mind lusts after some carnal thing and we yield our body to this thing, the body will be a slave to sin, and reap the earthly consequences of that sin. Yes, EARTHLY consequences, because all the eternal consequences (the punishment) were dealt with at the cross. But if we walk according to the desires of our new born inner spirit man, the body will be a slave to righteousness and reap the benefits (both temporal & eternal) for this.
Another great advantage of walking after the spirit includes having our mind (soul) transformed. The mind can be affected & influenced (trained) by the spirit to learn obedience, but the spirit can never be influenced by the mind because it has been made 100% righteous by God, and can never be corrupted – it’s a one way street only. Eph 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (NKJV). But the spirit can be suppressed if we choose to walk after the lusts of the unrenewed mind. It all comes down to a choice. But the choice is not really that hard if we consider the glorious riches we have in Him, seeing that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, feeling His loving presence on us and having wave upon wave of grace rush over us every day. Yay God!!!!!
Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe
www.NewCovenantGrace.com
