I am a Spirit…

Question:

Someone asked me, “So what has kept you from lust?”

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Please read these articles before you continue on with my answer:

Purity

How to Overcome Sin

Clearing up Misunderstandings about Sin Nature

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Answer:

Part of it is just having a very high value for your wife, just valuing the fact that you want to have her become the standard of beauty in your life and solid core values on purity (refer to the article above).

Aside from that, I personally believe that Rom 6:11 is one of the biggest keys to overcoming sin/temptation. I know we know it in our heads, but the verse says to “reckon it so”.

It really hit me a few months ago, because I was still doing the up and down thing, falling and picking myself back up. During that time, I spoke in multiple places about “you’re a saint, not a sinner”, and over and over I would remind people, “if you get this, this is what will get you free from sin.”

It eventually hit me, my message was not consistent with my life. Yes, the principle had already gotten me a lot more freedom, but I wasn’t fully walking in the results that I was preaching. So I took some time (less than 10 minutes), I meditated on the fact that I was dead. Dead dead dead. Dead people don’t sin. I am dead to that. Fully dead. I don’t respond to that. It’s dead. All dead. Dead dead dead. I imagined the next time I was going to be tempted. Oh pretty girl– wait, I’m dead. pretty gi— nope. I’m dead! Dead dead dead. This felt so good last time, do it again! Nope. I’m dead. But it felt good!! Nope. That part of me is dead. Dead! Dead! FREEDOM!

That was pretty much it. Since then, I’m walking in even more freedom. I still encounter the past thoughts, same temptations, but I’m just fully convinced I’m dead, so I don’t do it. I still have that thing in me that says, “OOOH I WANT IT!!” But i still pull back and just remember, “Oh yea, that’s dead.” That desire’s gone. It was cut off. It died.

That’s all the devil does, bring up your past,  your past desires and tries to get you to think that you’re still struggling  and wrestling against it. And if he gets you to believe it’s still “sin in you” that sins, then you are pulled into a battle against yourself in which every case, you lose. BUT the moment you understand, you are already dead, the devil’s illusion of reality falls apart. You must just reckon it so. Dead people don’t sin.

But so long as my mind is not renewed to that, I will not prove the will of God (Rom 12:1-2). 1 John 3:6,9 says “Whoever abides in Him does not sin” and “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him”. That will experientially impossible if you THINK that you are still alive to sin. If you believe the lie that “sin is still desirable” then you will not walk the reality of freedom from sin.

That’s why Gal 5:24 says, “And those who are Christ’s HAVE crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” How can the “lusts of the flesh” struggle against the “lusts of the spirit” when the flesh has been crucified?

It truly. is. dead. You must become fully convinced of that reality, and when you do, you will never feel helplessly drawn to sin, because you’ve come to understand, you’re dead to sin, and alive in Christ.

You don’t respond to sin and its desires, you respond to God and His desires.

The only reason why you sin is because you have believed the lie that you’re not actually dead to sin.

The only time I’ve ever fallen into sin is because I forgot that I was dead to it, so for a moment I would entertain the thought to sin. How hard is it to do something you weren’t born to do? You were first born in sin, but then you were re-born into righteousness (John 3:6, Rom 5:19-20, 2 Cor 5:21). As long you think you are a sinner prone to sin, that will be what you do naturally because sinners, sin. Righteous people, walk righteous.

Sinners don’t try to sin, they do it naturally. But they have to try to be righteous.

Righteous people don’t try to be righteous, they do it naturally. But they have to try to sin.

To say that this is different from what we are typically taught in church is an understatement. Church teaches, “don’t sin don’t sin don’t sin” and what it actually does is produce sin-consciousness (exactly what Christ came to set us free from, read Hebrews 10). You become so aware of sin and it’s grip on you and it becomes and effort to try to resist it.

The gospel is freedom and deadness to sin. “Not sinning” should be a natural byproduct of realizing, “Oh I’m already dead to that” and, “oh it’s no longer my nature to do that”.  The gospel gets you aware of the Christ-righteousness in you, it’s grip on you, and sin is something easily resisted.

That’s why 1 Cor 15:34 shouts, “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin”, rather than “awake to your depravity and try to be holy.” Righteousness-consciousness, rather than sin-consciousness.

Glory and freedom.

Related Posts:

• Purity
• “Saints not Sinners”
• Clearing up Misunderstandings