Submit to God – Page 2

Every human being since Adam and Eve has been brought forth in iniquity, and conceived in sin, Psalm 51:5. Paul speaks of this in Romans 7:17, So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. And also in verse 20, But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

People can have good hearts and do good deeds, but sin still dwells in them. It will rule in them until and unless they are born anew into the kingdom of God and become a part of the body of the risen Christ.

Once they become a part of the body of Christ, they find their body of sin was crucified with Jesus. He did bear their sins. They are then in a new life, the life of the Spirit, who sets them free from the law of sin and of death.

There is no longer any condemnation for them because they walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. The flesh is tainted with sin and the Spirit is holy. The Bible says they are no longer sinners but are now saints. Just as Paul said in Romans 6:1-14,

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, \

6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;

7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts,

13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

When we’re born again we must humble ourselves to the Father so that He can teach us right from wrong. He does this by disciplining us.

Hebrews 12:9-11,

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,

13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

Dear friends, there are two creations, the first creation is of flesh and blood, or the natural, and the second creation is of the Spirit, the body of the risen Christ, or the spiritual. We can walk by either one, the flesh or the Spirit. We can walk by the sin that dwells in us or by the Spirit who lifts us above that sin and teaches us obedience to our heavenly Father so that we might share His holiness.

The choice is made individually by each of us, and sometimes without us even knowing we have made the decision. I have chosen to submit to the chastening of God the Father, that I may share His holiness — what do you choose?

Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant

Tag: Submit to God

Sinners and Saints