The Two Natures of the Believer

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If someone were to ask you as a Christian are you a sinner or are you a saint how would you respond okay saint and I heard both an emphatic saint okay
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I who said sinner I heard someone say sinner okay okay all right so here's the thing this morning we're going to be looking at a very important subject if you get this wrong
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I think it's going to lead to a lot of confusion in your Christian walk so the doctrine that we're going to be looking at this morning is the two natures of the believer the two natures of the believer so are you ready here's here's the answer a born -again believer in Christ is both simultaneously sinner and saint say it is our new identity in Christ I don't think it's helpful for us to just always be identifying ourselves as well
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I'm nothing but a sinner well you are that's true but if you believe in Christ you are also a saint now when
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I use the word Saint I'm using it in the sense that the New Testament uses the word right where a saint is synonymous with being what born -again right so if you are a true believer in Christ you are a
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Christian Saint believer saying it it's the same thing the way the culture uses the term
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Saint this is where we might not want to identify ourselves as a saint because what does the culture say you know who is a saint in the in the eyes of the culture or in the
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Roman Catholic Church a saint is somebody that's just high above everyone else they never do anything wrong right they're just impeccable well you know you might be reluctant saying that well
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I'm a saint as in I never do anything wrong so biblically all
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Christians are Saints Paul wrote to the church at Corinth you know he said those who are called to be
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Saints I understand that but the the Corinthians who had a lot of problems they were still referred to as as Saints so if you say because we're what are these two terms bring to mind if somebody says well
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I'm a sinner what are they saying right right so if somebody said
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I never sin the the Bible says well you're a liar and the truth is not in you so here's the thing we're both sinners and Saints at the same time so why are we still sinners we're still walking around in this sinful flesh the new you the spiritual man or the spiritual woman is righteous but your flesh isn't and you still retain the flesh so let's read from the church's statement of faith that says we believe that every saved person possesses two natures with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling
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Holy Spirit and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural and then it lists the mercies here so let's turn to Romans chapter 6 we'll start there but any initial comments okay there are sinners who are lost yes yes
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I agree with that Marcus someone who runs is a runner someone who likes is a hiker someone who bites is a biker someone who sins is a sinner hard to argue with that logic good yeah so what the
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Bible teaches on all of this I think is pretty clear but the confusion comes in either through false doctrine which is always the issue but also how these two terms are defined sinner okay in one sense as you have said in one sense everyone is a sinner but that term can also be used in a different context where sinner means someone who's lost so sinner in the
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Bible sometimes can refer to just a an unbeliever saint again the
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Bible makes it clear a saint is a Christian period but when people hear the word today they think of someone who never does anything wrong or someone that the
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Catholic Church or the Pope has canonized as a saint and then you pray to that person and grace comes through this this twisted system that the
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Bible doesn't teach anything about so the Greek word hagios it means what what is this what's the word saint mean in the
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Greek hagios holy one holy one not someone who's perfect or sinless okay the word holy does not mean sinless that's what people often think but that's not what the word holy means okay so Christians God has sanctified believers he has set us apart we are holy so to avoid the confusion we just need to define these terms properly yes
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Marcus well it's true
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Matthew was a saint and Mark was a saint and people today who are believers are saints we talk about st.
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Marcus right it's a legitimate use of the word but we don't usually talk that way so we we almost need to kind of take back the word from the culture take back the word from Rome and use it properly if we did that then if somebody said st.
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Mike or st. Dennis or st. Marcus then no one would bat an eye but if you say that today like wait what what's going on all right look at Romans chapter 6 we'll start reading in verse 13 and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God okay so alive from the dead that's a reference to what a believer has been made alive okay you're born again what part of you has your flesh been born again right it's a reference to your spirit
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Ephesians 2 1 says and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins so that's a reference to the spirit your spirit was dead towards God dead towards the things of God so if you've been born again your spirit has been regenerated made alive but you still have the same old flesh there's one thing before we read more there's one thing in this statement it's speaking against the false doctrine what's the false doctrine all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural so this is the idea of sinless perfection that a
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Christian can reach a state of sinless perfection well here's the thing we will reach a state of sinless perfection when we die and go to be with the
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Lord but that will never happen in this life last time we looked at the subject of eternal life yet at the same time we recognize that everyone dies right
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Christians have eternal life but then every Christian dies well how do you reckon how do you reconcile that well what dies the flesh dies the spirit lives on and goes to be with the
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Lord all who have died their spirit is with Christ absent from the body present with the
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Lord it's it's the flesh that needs to needs to die and it's the flesh that's the problem the reason why believers still sin is because of the flesh not the spirit so it's that part of us our spirit that's the new creation in Christ our flesh is the same old flesh but we have been given new desires so now the
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Christian walk a large part of it is to work towards or make a decision and it's it is through the grace of God to bring our body in into conformity with the will of God so do you remember on the night when
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Jesus was betrayed he told his disciples to stay awake and to pray because he knew he knew temptation was going to come and they all failed they all failed the test they all ran and hid what did what did
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Jesus say watch and pray this is Matthew 26 41 watch and pray lest you enter into temptation and what did they do they all fell asleep right
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Peter wanted to obey I believe in their spirit they wanted to obey but what did
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Jesus say the spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak so I believe this is a group that wants to serve
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God and obey God and you want to do that you want to live that righteous life but you know you recognize that the flesh is weak and that's why you never will get to that that state of sinless perfection and if you think that you should or that it's possible or why why haven't
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I reached perfection yet that has a very negative effect because if you if you buy into that or think that you are living that perfect life you're clearly deceived then you just have to redefine sin that well it's just a mistake it's not not actually a sin yes we wouldn't be commanded to be holy we're commanded to be holy holy right and we wouldn't he wouldn't command us to do something that wasn't possible for well the and that's the logic right are there any commands in Scripture that are given that are impossible what okay all right
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Matthew six right yeah yeah and if you understand perfect as in never do anything wrong and that would be possible right right so this is a this has been a debate historically in Christianity but let's now turn to Romans chapter 8
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Romans chapter 8 so what are we talking about the two natures of the believer again we believe that every saved person possesses two natures the old man and the new man sinner and Saint spirit and flesh it's not a matter of I think to your point it's not a matter of well the flesh is just too powerful and you know
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I can never overcome temptation and I'm never gonna be able to overcome this in so that's that's totally wrong you can overcome temptation you can overcome there are certain things you can stop doing but again that's different from being sinless that's something totally totally different so that this can never be used as an excuse right well
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I'm just as I'm just a sinner anyways or I just have this flesh so I can't help it well actually through the grace of God through the
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Spirit of God you can help it certainly to a degree people continue to sin because of the flesh that's that's true but a lot of times people continue to sin because they want to that that's something else
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Marcus at the point of victory air and temptation we have you know first Corinthians 1013 that says there have no temptation taken you except such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able but will with the temptation also meet a way to escape
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Amen Amen right shall we continue to sin that the grace of God may abound certainly not
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God forbid look at Romans 8 verses 12 and 13 Paul writes therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the
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Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live so it's obviously possible to live according to the
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Spirit the Lord tells us that this is what we are to do and he will supply what is necessary to make this possible put to death the deeds of the body put to death the deeds of the body all right let's turn to Galatians chapter 5 because this is where Paul makes this reference to crucifying the flesh so as believers we still have the flesh but we are to put to death the deeds of the body we are to crucify the flesh now you know that that's not literal there
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I think there is a place is it South America that every Easter or every
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Good Friday people voluntarily offer themselves to be crucified that's not what
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Paul was talking about I think they they take the nails out and let them off the cross after a little while but that is not what we're talking about crucifying the flesh talking you know in a metaphorical sense right what is what is
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Paul saying what is the Bible saying crucify the flesh means what put to death the deeds don't commit suicide that's not that's not what he's saying obviously in Luke chapter 9 verse 23
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Jesus said if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me so part of this is self -denial that's not really a popular topic you know the these sermons that are inspirational and motivational rarely would you ever hear one that talks about denying self self -denial yes
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Marcus amen thank you so part of following Jesus is being willing to suffer for his namesake denying self there's a lot of things that we want to do our flesh wants to do it but we know that that's not what we should do and it's going to be detrimental to the spirit so putting
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God first putting others first this is the work of the spirit we are to die to self
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Galatians chapter 5 you're in Galatians 5 let's look at verse 16 through 25
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Paul says I say then walk in the spirit that you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are what these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish so the unregenerate man the the unbeliever only has one nature that's why you can just say they're a sinner because that's it they're not a saying they're just they have that one one nature but a believer has how many natures right we have two natures the spirit and the flesh and because of this there is a battle going on within us some sometimes you are you feel like you're losing the battle other times you're having victory and we want the victory but there is a battle
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I think if somebody were to say well I don't think so I don't recognize any battle
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I don't recognize any struggle that's that's a bad sign if you don't recognize this struggle there's a pretty good chance that you have never been born again because that new nature will face the conflict with the flesh look at verse 18
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Paul says but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law so here's the thing when we are led by the spirit we do the right thing because we want to not because there's a commandment and we might get in trouble if we don't don't follow it the spirit changes our heart and we do the right thing because we want to do the right thing we do the right thing and serve
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God obey God because we want to serve and obey God fear is a motivating factor
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I think fear to some extent might help in the process of leading someone because you nobody wants to go to a place of eternal punishment but fear shouldn't be an ongoing thing in the
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Christian life except for a healthy reverential fear of God but we we obey
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God because we want to not because we have to but there's something about the law because what is
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Paul say if you are led by the spirit you're not under law there's something about the law that causes sin to it's not the law it's us but there's something about the law that kind of causes sin to to rise up within us prove it okay if somebody tells you not to do something there's something about it you kind of want to do it now
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I mean that's not always true that's not true with a lot of things just an illustration we had
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Christmas several weeks ago let's say there's a family and there's presents under the tree and mom and dad tell a little child okay you know for Christmas Eve some people open one present on Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve you can open any present you want just not that one well guess what that kid is gonna want to open that present and forget the rest of them
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I want that one but isn't that true if there's a law if there's a command don't do something that makes some people want to do it somebody gave the illustration if you're walking down the road and there's a house has a greenhouse out back and there's another house same thing has a greenhouse but one of them has a sign in the yard do not throw rocks at the greenhouse that makes it more likely that someone will do it right all right let's continue verse 20 verse 19 now the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery fornication uncleanness lewdness idolatry sorcery hatred contentions jealousies outbursts of wrath selfish ambitions dissensions heresies envy murders drunkenness revelries and the like of which
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I tell you beforehand just as I also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God that is a very heavy statement isn't it notice it doesn't say if you've ever done one of these things in the past you'll never inherit the kingdom of God says those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God so what is being said it's not that if you are guilty of one of those things at some point you're not going to heaven no
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I think what Paul is saying is this is a list of of things that characterize the life of the of the heathen of the unbeliever so this is a list that will characterize and maybe not every single thing but in other words these are things unbelievers do this is what the flesh produces and these are all common common sins are they not so I would look at this as more of a general statement of what the flesh produces back in verse 16
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Paul says walk in the spirit well if you're walking in the spirit your life isn't gonna look like that so it's about an ongoing pattern of your lifestyle can a believer fall into some of these things of course and the scripture says that God disciplines his children can a believer remain in such a lifestyle and do it without consequence or remorse absolutely not there will be consequences and there will be remorse this doing these things practicing these things will make a believer miserable
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God will punish them and obviously a believer will
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I believe will repent and it may it may take a while this is part of backsliding people go off course but the idea that you could continue to do this and things go fine and you're fine with it that's not possible
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Marcus I prefer the word chastened to punish God punished his own son so right yeah it's more like it's more like training it's thy rod and my staff oh that rod is uncomfortable you're going the wrong way you should get whacked right it's it's correction it's it's discipline that's corrective not just punitive good thank you for pointing that out the lot the life of a believer is not to be characterized by that by that list the life of the believers should be characterized by what list the fruit of the
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Spirit look at verse 22 but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long -suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self -control against such there is no law and those who are
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Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit when biblical authors write things they do it for a reason
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I think it's like if a pastor or preacher preaches on something today certain things he's probably preaching on that subject because he's noticed say these things are a problem so if Paul's bringing this up that tells you something that this is what he's what he's seeing so the works of the flesh are common sins back then they're common today have things really changed when you look at the works of the flesh it's the same works of the flesh today but the new man the new woman in Christ desires to live a life characterized by the fruit of the
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Spirit so when we are instructed by the Word of God a believer recognizes what sin is we are to repent and think differently we are to turn away from it when we sin we confess we make that right now let's turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ walk in the spirit which implies moving forward right you're walking it's continuous keep moving forward in the
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Christian walk keep learning keep keep growing it's ongoing and as it came up a couple weeks ago you know there is to be that life change when a person is an unbelievable somebody gets saved when they're very young maybe they never really got into the works of the flesh but if you're an adult convert you you understand this this radical difference between the way you were and the way you are the way you used to think and the way you think now look at Ephesians 4 22 through 24
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Paul talks about that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness a few phrases stand out to me former conduct there's one phrase former conduct the old man which grows corrupt that tells you something that he's still there right the old the old you is still is still around he's still there now you're supposed to be putting putting him to death right self that deny that self and put on the the new man the old man is not to be the one living your life the old man needs to be the one dying we need to reckon the old man dead he needs to be crucified daily so just the way
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Paul talks about this you think of when you get dressed in the morning you wake up and you put on clothing put on new clean hopefully you put on new clean clothing every day right you have to look at Christ that way today you wake up I'm going to live for Christ today it's an ongoing decision today
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I'm going to obey God today I'm going to put on the
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Lord Jesus Christ it has to be a conscious decision every single day now maybe it becomes like just automatic but it's still a decision if you're not thinking that way then then the old man starts taking over and he's the one controlling things put off the pajamas put on the clean clothes the new clothes put off the old man and put on the
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Lord Jesus Christ I mean that's something you understand this morning this is what I need to do tomorrow morning you need to make a conscious decision and effort to do that okay here's the problem the devil can find an ally in the old man the devil has an ally in the sinful flesh
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I think one of the ways we can be hindered in the Christian walk is discouragement right and Satan accuses us and maybe accuses us of our past he wants us constantly discouraged and if that's the way we live he's gonna have victory so Psalm 119 verse 11 do you have that one memorized right and that yeah but that that statement your word
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I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you say well how do
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I overcome the temptation let's just say hypothetically a person has a bad habit of smoking cigarettes okay let's say somebody has this bad habit and they say you know
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I just can't quit I recognize it's bad for me my body is the temple of the
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Holy Spirit I realize as a believer this really has no place in my life and I I really want to quit my state in my spirit
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I want to quit I just can't that's the wrong no that that's that's not true it's not your mind is sure right but it's not that you can't it's just that you haven't yet so if an unbeliever can quit without the help from God a believer can quit with God's help part of that is hiding the word of God in your heart and let me point out some obvious things when a believer is walking in the spirit you're praying you're reading your
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Bible you're faithful and going to church you experience that Christian fellowship when you do sin you confess that quickly to God that's when you are in a condition where you're spiritually strong as opposed to the other when you're neglecting those things then you're weak and you're not going to have victory so we need to we need to put on the
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Lord Jesus Christ remain spiritually strong that's when we have the victories well what do people do though well
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I'm just too busy to pray right I'm too just too busy to read the
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Bible now they're not too busy to surf you know the internet for an hour they're not too busy to waste an hour on Facebook but but I am too busy to pray though this is all very common right this is pretty you know that you're not too busy so it's just a matter of putting in that effort making those and now
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I'm stepping on toes I totally realized that right now and then after a while it kind of becomes commonplace and you wake up on Sunday morning well
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I don't feel like it and it just needs to be those spiritual disciplines need to be there is my point all right another verse 1st
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Peter chapter 1 go ahead and turn there but all
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I'm saying is when you recognize things starting to slip that's when you need to do something about it because the longer you let it go the more difficult it's going to be 1st
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Peter 1 starting in verse 14 1st Peter 1 14 through 16 he says as obedient children not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance but as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I am holy now let's look at one last verse 1st
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John chapter 3 and this is again the topic the two natures of the believer and we want to address this last statement in our church constitution statement of faith where we do not believe in what is called sinless perfection if you want to believe that personally that this is possible go for it but I do not believe that's what the scripture teaches so actually don't go for it okay this teaching has been known as full sanctification sinless perfectionism full sanctification our statement of faith says all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural there are people who say that Christians can and should reach a state where they no longer sin and when
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Jesus comes again and takes us to be with him or he comes to resurrect the bodies of the of the
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Saints in time then then that will happen you will be perfect once you're with the
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Lord but it's not going to happen in this life you say does anyone really believe that how many of you have met someone who believes that sinless perfection okay you have anyone else all right so it's very uncommon you know in your day -to -day life and people that you know personally it is very uncommon maybe locally but it's out there and historically this has been somewhat common within certain groups
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I would argue that a form of this is found in Roman Catholicism with their view of Mary and their version of the
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Saints if you understand purgatory and the treasury of merit and their teaching that in order to get to heaven you actually have to be in and of yourself perfect and without sin so I would argue that there's a form of this within Catholicism but then also within Protestant churches this has been common in Methodist churches
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I mean not today you know not the Methodist churches you're gonna find in New England today but historically this was common in Wesleyan churches
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Methodist churches this is common for those who hold more of an
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Arminian theology we don't have time to get into all of that but that's it would be on that side of things where the
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Calvinist side hey you know you're a sinner and that's kind of the divide one of the divides
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I told you to turn to 1st John 3 we'll read that in one moment
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I just want to give a modern example I like to try to do this give a modern example of someone today maybe who is teaching this
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I won't mention the name I'm gonna try to give her the benefit of the doubt but one modern prosperity preacher she's probably the most famous female preacher in the
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United States she once said I am NOT a sinner if I still were then
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Jesus died in vain well okay she said
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I didn't stop sinning until I got it through my thick head that I wasn't a sinner anymore people often want to give the benefit of the doubt as well
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I just I don't think that's what she means I think she meant this well but again historically people have believed this she does come from that line of theology where it might fit and the way that she thinks but just that statement think about think about what she said
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I didn't stop sinning until I realized I wasn't a sinner anymore well she's admitting that that she continued to sin well then you are a sinner if you're continuing to sin then you are a sinner so it doesn't even really make sense but your new identity yeah it's a saint and it does help because if you just identify yourself as a sinner well
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I'm just a sin okay that may not be helpful and that might be part of the problem that you're not really putting on that new identity in Christ as a saint you are a saint if you're saved you are a saint so I would just say this get it through your thick head that you are a saint yeah all right let's look at first john 3 5 through 9 and you know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him there is no sin whoever abides in him does not sin whoever sins has neither seen him nor knows him little children let no one deceive you he who practices righteousness is righteous just as he that is christ is righteous he who sins is what of the devil okay so where do people get this idea of sinless perfection well there's the command to be holy be perfect and then john seems to be saying if you still sin you're of the devil right he makes a plain statement here doesn't he whoever abides in christ does not sin so all