Do you know why you sin? It is because you have an old sin nature. You got it from Adam.
All humans have an old sin nature. When you were born, you were born physically alive. You were given a body and you were given a soul. When you made a decision to believe in Jesus Christ, you still had your body, you still had your soul, but then you received a human spirit. This is what we call being a trichotomous person (body, soul and spirit).
You have a human spirit, and in that human spirit God the Holy Spirit has come and indwelt you. God the Father, God the Son, all Members of the Trinity indwell every believer of the Lord Jesus Christ. This sets up a tremendous battle because as a Christian, you have God the Holy Spirit residing in you, versus that old sin nature still residing in you. This is a battle that every Christian goes through.
As a new Christian, I didn’t know what to do. I did not realize that there was a problem solving device with regard to my sin nature. I did not even understand that I had a sin nature.
Romans 8:8 says, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 13:14 commands, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
Romans 6:12 tells us, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it and the lusts thereof.”
The Bible talks about the flesh, the flesh, the flesh.
Galatians 5:17 says, “The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other that you cannot do the things that you should.”
Galatians 5:16 tells us, “This I say then, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”
Then we have the mandate from God in Ephesians 5:18 that every Christian should understand: “Be filled with the Spirit, do not be drunk with wine.” In other words, if you want to be excessive about something, get excessive about the Holy Spirit in your life.
This sets up a critical question for the believer: “How do I control my old sin nature and keep the Holy Spirit in control of my life?”
The answer is the use of two of God’s problem solving devices. Before I give them to you, I want you to understand that as a Christian you still have an old sin nature that hasn’t been taken away. You will lose it when you die, go to heaven, and get a resurrection body without a sin nature. You must not be ignorant of this or Satan will use it to discourage you and make you feel guilty.
Satan will say to you, “You are a sinner, you are a slob, you are no good. See what you did? If you were a Christian, you wouldn’t do that, so why don’t you just stop this Christian routine.” This type of thinking is ridiculous because all Christians sin. So how can you control this desire to sin? How can you control this sin nature when it tempts you to sin? You must learn Psalm 32:5 and 1 John 1:9.
