“The New Creation” Day 13: The flesh mind must be put to death.

Last time, we pointed out: “Christians, who believe that they know their “limits” on carnal behavior, are fooling themselves, and making an occasion for the enemy of their soul, to control them. And—make no mistake—the enemy, given any foothold, will, if left unchecked, lead to destruction.”

Everything we need to become like Jesus has already been given us through the Holy Spirit. However, we obviously don’t access all of those things at one time. The process through which we become more and more like Jesus, by accessing more and more of all the Holy Spirit has for us, is called “sanctification.” We will further address sanctification next time. For now, the point we want to make is that, just as all of God‘s glory is in any of His glory, just so, all of carnality is in any carnality. That is to say, even though the foothold we may give the enemy is seen as being very small, maybe even insignificant, any entrance for him and the forces of darkness, gives all of the forces of darkness access to our inner life. This is why we must— rather than trying to “train” or limit our sinful instincts—kill the “old person of sin.” Now, we do not do the actual “killing,” or rendering as dead to us, the sin nature. Indeed, it is the life of Christ in us that will render us dead to the world and the world dead to us. As we have before discussed, the new life, the new creation, was only made possible through the work of Jesus Christ. Just so, the working out of our salvation must be directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our part is to choose to obey what God has said, and to obey the leading of His Holy Spirit. With that, we must resist inevitable temptation, through the power God has given us by way of Christ’s victory over sin. Consider Paul’s exhortation to the Christians in Rome:

“for if you are living according to the [impulses of the] flesh, you are going to die. But if [you are living] by the [power of the Holy] Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will [really] live forever.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭13‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Let’s revisit a scripture we considered on “Day 1” of “The New Creation”:

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Yes, through the power of the cross we are a new creation who can now be dead to sin. That is, we are no longer under its sway; sin is no longer our boss. But make no mistake, if we grow lax in our choices and flirt with sin, we are willingly giving sin a place to express itself. May it not be so.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2‬:‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Next time, we’ll look further into sanctification.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!