“OH NO! I BLEW IT AGAIN AND SINNED!”
I once had a person telling me that the Jews killed Christ and made Him die on that cross. The reality though, which many may not want to think about, is that it really was ME and YOU that made it so Jesus had to shed His blood in such a horrible manner to save us from our debt of sins against God; to save us from perishing. Such an enormous sacrifice in love for us has Christ bestowed upon us! The greatest act of love in all of human history and that is a fact! ‘Jesus paid it all. All to Him I Owe’, as the song goes. We know the depth of desperation we find ourselves in. We believe. We are grateful. We are thankful. Yet…YET!, we still blow it and sin after accepting Christ. It is a powerful force, our old Flesh nature. We have had it all our lives. And it is at war with our new position in Christ.
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41 KJV)
Ever feel like that as a believer? Even as a very devout believer? You know, when you fail and blow it with sin as a believer, and you wonder if you will ever overcome that wrongful anger? Outbursts of hatred? Harsh words spoken to your daughter or son or wife? Or thoughts of lust that seem to come outta no where? Or there is a pesky sin that keeps popping up in your life? You hate it but it happens anyway. You tell God how sorry yo are and you feel worthless? You fight but lose the battle at times? Sometimes? Many times? You wonder why you just cannot win sometimes with the battle against sins in your life?
What Does It Mean That We Are Positionally Saved?
Let’s be honest for a moment. Guess what all this means? It means we are human and although God made us a NEW CREATION in the Spirit from the very moment we believed on Christ for forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 1:13-14), we all still have Old Nature thoughts and processes in our mind, called The Flesh. It is like a disease and pestilence that we cannot eradicate in our own effort while we reside in our corrupt bodies.
To God, POSITIONALLY, we have become COMPLETELY NEW BEINGS that are called The Spirit. As believers in Christ, God made us into a NEW CREATION in the Spirit. This NEW US is not something we worked to achieve. The Spirit is the GIFT of Salvation from God and not of ourselves, nor our good works nor religious rituals (Ephesians 2:8-9). When we believe Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) and then accept this GIFT of God’s grace as truth by belief, we are TRANSFERRED from being what the Bible positionally calls ‘The Unrighteous/Wicked’ group of people into being positionally ‘The Righteous/Redeemed’ group of people.
It is 100% the work of God. It is not some scale of our performance that makes us more and more Holy as time passes. We are deemed 100% Holy to God from the very moment of our Salvation and belief on Christ alone for Salvation. This is very clear in Scripture. We read in Colossians 2,
“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And YE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made WITHOUT HANDS, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: BURIED WITH HIM in baptism, wherein also ye are RISEN WITH HIM through the faith of the OPERATION OF GOD, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, DEAD IN YOUR SINS and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together WITH HIM, having FORGIVEN YOU ALL TRESPASSES ; BLOTTING OUT the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and TOOK IT OUT OF THE WAY, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS;” (Colossians 2:9-14 KJV)
We ARE (present tense, right now!) COMPLETE IN HIM. But how can that be if we still have sins in our life? Yes, we struggle against sinning but we still sin. The struggle is REAL! And it is NOT EASY.
If I am complete IN CHRIST, why do I still have such bad thoughts?
Let me show you by an analogy. Grab a book. Any book at all. We will call this book, CHRIST. Now take a piece of wrinkled up, torn scratched paper. Make it look filthy. That piece of paper represents you and I, with a debt of sins. Now, open that book and place that piece of paper inside between any two pages of the book. NOW, SHUT THE BOOK! Wherever that book goes, you are going with it because you are IN IT as that piece of wrinkled and torn paper.
When a person accepts the GIFT of Salvation by belief on Christ, the Holy Spirit (God) indwells that person from the very moment of belief on Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14). At the very same time we become the very righteousness of God, IN CHRIST in the Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:21). And because of this we are MADE COMPLETE…IN HIM. So when Jesus was on the cross nailing the sins of the world to that tree, we were there having our sins paid for. When Jesus died and was buried, so did we die in the Spirit. And when Jesus rose again, we too rose again in NEWNESS OF LIFE in the Spirit.
“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.” (Romans 6:4 KJV)
This is a change of POSITION from being unrighteous to being righteous. This righteousness is not of ourselves, nor something we achieve. It is only by faith in Christ’s complete atonement for our sins on that cross. If we had our sins forgiven by Christ on the cross (which we did) and we then DIED and were RAISED UP as a new being called The Spirit (which we did), our sins are no longer in the way between us and God! Even sins we commit after Salvation.
It is a positional relation.
When you were positionally in the group called The Unrighteous, could doing good deeds erase your bad deeds? Could you make yourself righteous through doing good to erase your bad deeds? NO! It only takes one sin to disqualify a person from Heaven. Well, the same is now true; as a believer, your bad deeds cannot make you positionally a member of The Unrighteous group of people neither! Why? Because you are positionally IN CHRIST.
Your sin debt has been fully paid by Christ. How much was paid? Did Jesus give a FULL payment for our sins or a partial payment? It is one or the other folks! The Bible tells us this,
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he REMOVED our transgressions from us.” (Pslam 103:12 KJV)
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can NEVER take away sins: But this man, after he had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOR EVER, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by ONE OFFERING he HATH PERFECTED FOR EVER them that are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:10-14 KJV)
The writer of Hebrews continues to say,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities WILL I REMEMBER NO MORE. Now where remission of these is, there is NO MORE OFFERING for sin.” (Hebrews 10: 16-18 KJV)
This is why Jesus on the cross, just after He paid for the sins of the whole world, cried out, “IT IS FINISHED”. It was DONE. The SINS of the world were COMPLETELY PAID IN FULL. In fact, if you look at the Greek in which the New Testament was written, the phrase translated to English Bibles as ‘IT IS FINISHED’ is an accounting term literally meaning ‘DEBT, PAID IN FULL’! Jesus did not make a partial payment for our sins. It was a full and complete payment.
Your sins will never disqualify you once you are saved. They were all paid for by Christ on the cross. That is not to say there are no consequence for sinning; there are serious consequences. Yes, we should turn from our sins. But loss of your new position IN CHRIST as being eternally saved is NOT a consequence. Salvation is ETERNAL (John 3: 14-18, Ephesians 1:13-14).
If I Am A New Creation In Christ, Why Can’t I Seem To Stop Sinning?
This is where many Christians struggle. Actually, ALL Christians (whether they admit it or not). We have become a NEW CREATION in the Spirit. Yet we still struggle with this SIN ISSUE. We understand that all our sins are paid in full by Christ. We understand that we are right now deemed by God to be COMPLETE IN CHRIST, positionally. Apostle Paul knew this struggle as well! Did you know that Paul called himself the CHIEF of sinners? And he did not say that in his past, when he was persecuting Christians that he was the chief of sinners. He used the word in the present tense and so that means after his conversion.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I AM CHIEF.” (1 Timothy 1:15 KJV)
We find the answer to the question of ‘why we still sin?’ provided by Apostle Paul in Romans 7. The Apostle Paul is who God chose to give the Gospel Of Grace to the gentiles (us today) and he also taught the doctrine of the Two Natures At War In The Mind Of A Believer in Romans 7 where we read,
“14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. >> 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 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.” (Romans 7: 14-20 KJV, ‘>>’ added for emphasis)
Reading Verse 17 and then again in verse 20 is the truth that so many Christians have not grasped. Paul is saying very clearly that inside of us is the Adam, our OLD NATURE THOUGHTS in our mind before our moment of Salvation which Paul calls The Flesh. Our old nature ways always wants to sin. Whatever feels right was right with no thought given to sin against God. The Flesh is like a disease since our physical birth.
And then there is the New Created Spirit we received at our conversion and belief in the Gospel Of Grace that our Apostle Paul taught. The Spirit is now the real us and has become our very nature; though we may not act perfectly living in The Flesh. The problem is The Newly Created Spirit is residing in The Body still and will until our bodily resurrection. Our minds have not yet been completely renewed to match up with our new reality of being the very righteousness of God, IN CHRIST, and so our thinking is not perfect yet.
This is where all these sinful thoughts come from to tempt us to sin. Sometimes we can reject the temptation but sometimes it simply gets the best of us. The thing is that there are teachers and pulpits telling believers that if we sin after Salvation, we can lose our position IN CHRIST. That is simply not found in the Bible. For a teacher to give verses seeming to state this as fact, they are ignoring proper Bible context; not to mention ignoring so many other Scriptures stating the very opposite! This is why it is so important to study the Word of God. Do not rely only only pastors, or pulpits or TV evangelists. Do not rely on what my articles and e-books teach either! “Let the Word of God be true and everyone else a liar.” Simply meaning, go and prove if what a person is teaching about the Gospel is actually true, using proper context, to be sure of your faith. To be sure of God’s promises for you which are vastly rich and meaningful in our lives!
As believers, we are positionally COMPLETE IN CHRIST and FULLY REDEEMED, RIGHT NOW. Yet our mind still has all this stinking thinking and wrong beliefs hanging around in our mind and that is where the Devil attacks. That is where the devil tempts. He uses externals to excite sinful thoughts and thoughts, not kept in check, can become beliefs.
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:…” (Proverbs 23:7 KJV)
Paul tells us to Renew Our Mind By The Word of God because it is no longer The Flesh that is our nature as believers. We are now actually the New Created Spirit. That is our identity now, in Christ. And that when we fail and sin, and believe me we ALL DO! (1 John 1:10), it is not the REAL US that does it. Instead, as believers, it is this disease we have called the The Flesh. It is this disease we have called sin (our older nature before our belief on Christ).
The Newly Created Spirit we received and have become, is PERFECT (1 John 3:9) and without sin. It is of the seed of the Spirit Of God and is perfectly Holy (which simply means ‘set apart’). This is why the Apostle Paul tells us that our present body, with this Flesh Sin bent, will never inherit the Kingdom of God.
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” (1 Corinthians 15:50 KJV)
It is also the reason why we need a bodily resurrection in our future as Apostle Paul continues,
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” ( 1 Corinthians 15: 51-57 KJV)
Heaven is a perfect place and there is no sin there. No one can enter Heaven with a sin nature and sin debt against God. The problem is we cannot stop sinning perfectly while living in this Flesh. That is why we need Christ! Paul admonishes that regarding the doctrine of the Two Natures At War In The Mind Of A Believer in the last verse of Romans 7:
“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.” (Romans 7:24-25 KJV)
Christ paid for all of our lifetime of sins on the cross 100%. Even the future sins we may commit were PAID IN FULL by Christ on that cross because all of our sins were future to the cross right? Jesus paid for ALL THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD (1 John 2:2). He did not give us a partial payment on our sin debt. Jesus cried out on the cross, IT IS FINISHED! Salvation is eternal and the word eternal means, well, ETERNAL and FOREVER!
We do not keep our Salvation intact by our own efforts! It is Christ alone that keeps us saved. Jesus tells us this very clearly:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” (John 10:27-20 KJV)
In God’s sovereignty, He foreknew everything you and I would do in our life and the sins we would commit and yet He still decided to give every person the opportunity to accept Salvation as a FREE GIFT without self righteous works or deeds required. God still came in the flesh and died on that cross for us so that we would be forgiven and saved eternally. What a great gift (Ephesians 2:8-9)! And whosoever believes on Christ alone in faith, He gives them eternal life and keeps them saved forever.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6 KJV)
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” (Psalms 37:23-28 KJV)
The Grace Of God Is Not A License To Sin
There are still consequences for sinning in this life after the moment of our Salvation (steal/jail) and loss of rewards at the judgement seat of Christ for believers after the Rapture. The Loss of Salvation is not a consequence though. We as believers have the Holy Spirit within to guide us into all truth. We should be reading the Word Of God to renew our minds (John 17).
We should be striving to walk in the Spirit and not by the lusts of The Flesh (The old Sin Nature we were before our moment of Salvation).
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16 KJV)
What we need to realize is that right believing and right thinking (that lines up with the Word of God) leads us to right living in a more effortless manner. So we need to RENEW OUR MIND by the Word of God. It is the only truth there is!
Focus on that. Shake! Shake off the ‘old man’…The Flesh, because as a believer in Christ for Salvation you are now a NEW CREATION called The Spirit and it is HOLY, REDEEMED and the very righteousness of God, in Christ! Put on your NW MAn clothes to match who God made you in the Spirit; Holy, Set Apart, Redeemed, the righteousness of God, in Christ and right now present tense risen with Christ in the Heavenlies. Realize who you are by FAITH in God’s Word. Believe that inside.
Walk in the Spirit because that is who we truly are as believers.
