Are Christians Really Nuts?

Bible Study

ARE CHRISTIANS REALLY NUTS?

What is going on?    I didn’t have this kind of trouble before I trusted Christ as my Saviour

Part of me is going this direction and the other part of me is going in that direction.

Both parts of me have different goals and objectives

You are not alone

Romans 7:15-25  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 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. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 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. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Galatians 5:16-17  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

The believer has 2 natures

Old man or old nature  is a rebel    hopelessly bad      It is at enmity with God

This nature is received from Adam by birth.

Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Romans 5:19  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

God’s estimation of the Old nature is anything but good.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Man has a hard time accepting God’s view of man

Man sees himself as basically good

He sees that mankind can be moral, polite, cultured, fair, kind, well mannered, and even religious

But God sees mankind differently

Romans 3:10-18  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Ephesians 2:2-3  Wherein 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: 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.

The New Nature     The New Man is wholly good, at peace with God, seeks to please him,      It is controlled by the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

2 Peter 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The Position of the Old Nature Dead

Romans 6:6-8  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Gal. 2:20    I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live

The Position of the New Nature Alive

Ephesians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

John 17:20-21  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me……….John 17:23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The Dilemma         The Paradox

the flesh is dead, yet it talks to me      Hungry thirsty cold    Hot   satisfy itself

It is bent toward sin

And because I am a saved man in Christ     The Spirit in me speaks to me live right

go to church    Read bible     Pray     Please God    Worship him

The answer without being overly simplistic   found in 3 words (in) (after) (yield)

Rom 8

Romans 8:6-11  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.   8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.   10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.   11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

The Position of a lost man is in the Flesh

The Position of a saved man is in the Spirit

The Practice of a saved man can be walking after the flesh or after the Spirit

Romans 8:12-13  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.   13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Go back to Rom 8:1

Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

So if they walk after the Spirit there is no condemnation             Implying there is condemnation if the Christian walks after the flesh

Nowhere in this context does it indicate that this condemnation is eternal

the context is about the 2 natures of a Christian man      Not salvation

Rom 6 It is a matter of Choice

Romans 6:11-13  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Romans 6:19  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Romans 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Remember you are in Spiritual warfare      Be careful who you feed.

Dogs

Col 3:10-17

Don’t be discouraged and quit because we all fall into sin      But if you feed the Spirit more than the flesh you will have victory and sin less.

Fight on