Christian Foundations (10): Victory over Sin (1)

Living by faith starts by (1) submitting our heart to Christ as our Lord and trusting in Him as our Source, and then (2) building our lives upon Him as our Foundation by HEARING and DOING His WORDS (1Cor 3:11, Matt 7:24-25, Col 2:6-7). There are 3 Dimensions to the problem of SIN: *(1) IMPUTED SIN. Through our union to Adam, we were in a legal state of guilt in Adam. *(2) IMPARTED SIN – we inherited a SIN-NATURE in our flesh from Adam through physical birth. When Adam sinned his spirit died (cut off from God’s life) and a sin-nature came into his flesh (bringing his body under the power of death), and he became a slave of the sin-nature (SIN). SIN acts on man’s soul to cause him to live independently from God (the independent soul-life). SIN was transmitted by physical birth from Adam to every human being through their father, with the exception of Jesus, who had no sin-nature (2Cor 5:21). So, we all have SIN in our flesh (1John 1:8). The inherited sin-nature made us all sinners by nature. We were all conceived in sin (Ps 51:5), born slaves of sin (John 8:34), under the power of sin (Rom 3:9). commit SINS. *(3) Our PERSONAL SINS, which we commit when we yield to SIN. (1) On the Cross, Jesus has set us free from the PENALTY of sin. (2) Now by His Spirit within us He is setting us free from the POWER of sin. (3) At the future Resurrection, He will set us free from even the PRESENCE of sin. (1) Christ dealt with our state of sin (our imputed sin from Adam) by becoming the 2nd Adam, offering Himself as our Representative Head, instead of the first Adam. He lived a perfectly righteous life, and on the Cross He accomplished a Great Exchange, by offering up His perfect righteousness to God on our behalf, and taking all our sin. So when we receive Christ as our Lord, we are taken out of Adam and put (baptised) into Christ. Then this exchange is immediately accomplished in us, so all our sin is remitted, and we are given His perfect righteousness (imputed to us as a free-gift), putting us in right relationship with God. As IN ADAM we were all in a state of sin, before we committed any sin, even so IN CHRIST we were put into a state of perfect righteousness before God, even before we committed any righteous act. On this basis, we are declared righteous (justified) and fully accepted by God in Christ. On this legal basis, we can now receive life from God through faith (Romans 5:1,2,17-19). Now we are under grace (Romans 6:14,15), and qualify to receive God’s abundant grace. (2) However, believers still have a sin-nature in their flesh, as the new birth only changed our spirit; so as long as we live in our flesh, we still have SIN to deal with (1John 1:8). But Jesus came to set us free from SIN (John 8:34-36). He did 2 things to make it possible for us to live in victory over sin: *(1) He provided a NEW BIRTH for our SPIRIT, and put His Holy Spirit within our spirit. Our spirit was made alive with Christ, and raised with Christ far above all sin and evil powers (Ephesians 2:5-6). Our spirit consists of His resurrection life, which has already overcome sin and is perfect in Christ. Also, the Holy Spirit indwells our spirit, so He has set our spirit, the core of our being, completely free from sin (2Cor 3:17). God has restored our spirit as His base of operation in us, and as we live by His grace thru faith and walk in the Spirit we will not sin, for the power of the Spirit is greater than the power of sin in the flesh (Gal 5:16). Thus, He gave us His imparted righteousness in our spirit, by which we can live in victory over the imparted sin in our flesh, by the power of His Spirit. The more we let the Spirit fill our soul, the more our soul is freed from the power of sin-nature, by His Presence within us (2Cor 3:17). Romans 8 describes how to walk in victory over SIN in the flesh. It starts by establishing that through His imputed righteousness, we are in a legal state of righteousness before God, and so have full access to His Spirit of grace to walk in victory over sin. This is the foundational truth for victory (v1,2). *(2) The 2nd thing Christ did for us is that on the Cross, is He JUDGED SIN in the flesh, so that it no longer has any right to rule over you, so now you can choose to submit to Christ and His righteousness and grace flowing from the Spirit, rather than to your old slave-master of SIN in your flesh (v3-4).