Freedom From Sin’s Power - Part IV of VIII

The Horror of Fallen Mankind

So we see that a nature only comes from the life of a father, following on to his entire lineage. We should note that the nature of a specie is directly related to the kind of life of the specie was born of. The dog life, by nature, barks, similarly, cats meow, and birds may actually overcome the law of gravity – its all according to the life and nature of that life.

Paul tells us what kind of spiritually seeded nature all unregenerate mankind now possesses, apart from the Lord, in these verses.

Ephes. 2:1-3 And you hath he quickened (made alive) , who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation (manner of living) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Man is born into the world possessing “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (v2),” making them “the children of wrath (v3).” John calls it “the spirit of error” vs. “the spirit of truth (1Jn 4:6).

The Sin spirit that works in the children of disobedience works from its residence, our human flesh body, but it has reached into man’s soul and poisoned it also, making it the mind of the flesh. This is so much so that even man’s soul has become what the Bible calls “flesh”, having the mind and also the desires that are of the flesh. Ephes. 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Having an Appearance of Good

Man’s situation is awful, hopeless and helpless, apart from God’s intervention. Man does not have the power to alter himself, except for moments for appearance sake. You might say man can do some random acts of good, but there certainly is nothing righteous in fallen man. Romans 3:10 …There is none righteous, no, not one: So, those acts of good are not genuine goodness as of the righteousness of God. The fallen nature of man bears the imprints of Sin himself – pride, darkness and deceit – but the core of man’s fallen nature is pride. This is as it was of his fallen, first father, Satan who also said, “I will be like the most high God (Isa 14:14)”. Man will attempt to “do” what it takes to appear good for the sake of his pride. Hypocrisy is an outcome that arises as result of his fallen Sin nature of pride. Man will clothe his darkness to deceive many, just as Sin, his father, has done, appearing as an “angel of light 2Cor 11:4”.

By the fall, “Sin” now had usurped man and came to dwell within the man that God had made (created) for His dwelling – as His living temple (1Cor 6:19). Yet, Sin missed the mark, dwelling in man’s flesh, not in man’s human spirit. Paul tells us Sin indwells man’s physical body of flesh. Paul says sin dwells within the flesh, the body members of mankind. Romans 7:18 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. Romans 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

But Now

Ephes. 2:12-13 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

We may have lived in the horror that is Sin. We may have been strangers from God without hope in the world, but now we are made nigh by the blood of Christ who reconciled us to God.

Ephes. 2:5-6 Even when we were dead in sins, (God) hath quickened (zao, made alive) us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ⁶ And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

But now also, we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Seated means a work is finished. It is a position of rest after work.

God’s redemptive work has finished, and our work has finished also – because now it is God as Father who works in us, and making all the happenings of our life to be for the good – for our eternal good that is.

Philip. 1:6 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:

Philip. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Have you noted in Eph 5:8 that we “are (already) light in the Lord”. Scripture says we are light; it’s just that our walk has not caught up to the truth – the facts.

Ephes. 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

This is why we need to press on to see who it is that we really are “in Christ”.

Galatians 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.