Dealing with the old sin nature, addiction and the lust of the flesh

Dealing with the old sin nature, addiction and the lust of the flesh.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

I acknowledge my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide.
“I will confess my transgression to the Lord.” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

“Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God and you have not obeyed His voice,”

If we examine ourselves correctly, we should not be judged.

“So, Let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

“Put off the old man, that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man,”

“So, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be filled with the Spirit,”

“For if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is where Paul anticipates the doubts and arguments made by those who do not want to accept the truth or the challenge of Bible doctrine.

Paul understands perfectly the concept that the unbelieving Jews are now up in arms about and will be antagonistic to what he just taught from ROM 5:1-9:18.

Instead of accepting the truth and admitting their failure they just simply fell back on one or more of the three arrogant skills: self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption.

They don’t want to humble themselves and admit their own shortcomings and failures.

They don’t want to be called on the carpet or rebuked or reproved and so it’s much easier to just defend themselves and attack others.

They refuse to admit that all of us have some form of lusts or addictions manifested by human good or human weakness.

They are always questioning the plan of God and accusing others of not living the spiritual life while ignoring their own OSN manifested by their personal strengths and weaknesses and their tendency toward addictions.

All of us possess an old sin nature in the cell structure of our bodies. Therefore, all of us as humans have areas of strengths and weaknesses.

They inevitably destroy themselves through their area of weakness and their area of strength.

a. Power addiction is the worst of all, for almost all other addictions are related to this one, especially if you have any inferiority problems.

You can be the lowest man on the totem pole, rejected by all, and have a strong power addiction.

b. Addiction of approbation, which is a need or desire to be recognized and is merely one of the extensions of power addiction, and it is separate because some people do want approbation without power.

c. Stimulation addiction has many parts, in which we cater to the nerve centers and functions of our body in the name of pleasure.

(1) Sexual addiction, or lasciviousness.
(2)  Drunkenness.
(3) Drug addiction.
(4) Mental stimulation or intellectual arrogance.

d.  Killer addiction is the problem solving device of the weak. Inferior people trying to prove they are superior often resort to violence, torture, murder.

Once this addiction comes, it does not discriminate between family, friends, or enemies.

e. Anger addiction or cruelty.  Anger does not always but definitely can bring out a cruel streak.  Some people are genetically mean and naturally cruel.  Some people hide it well and some do not.

Some people cannot stand glitches, and when anyone opposes them, whether it is a loved one or an enemy or someone at work, cruelty addiction surfaces.

Some people by nature are kind; some people by nature are cruel.  It starts as a genetic factor.

However, both can also be developed, and can also be overcome by both believers and unbelievers.Variations in cruelty addiction depend upon cosmic living.

f. Money addiction is called by the Scripture the “root of all kinds of evil.” It expresses itself in all the categories of evil.

There is nothing wrong with having and acquiring money; that is not evil or sinful, as socialistic propaganda says.  Marxism says people have no right to wealth; it belongs to the state.

One index to the soul of every person can be read loud and clear by his attitude toward money.

One’s attitude toward money very clearly delineates one’s overall philosophy of life or one’s spiritual condition or lack of spiritual life.

1TI 6:6, But living the spiritual life keeps on being a great means of prosperity when accompanied by contentment or capacity for life.

1TI 6:7, For we have brought not even one thing into this world it is obvious that we cannot take anything out of it either.

1TI 6:8, Now having nourishing food and a change of clothes. with these we shall be content.

1TI 6:9 But those who desire to get rich fall into temptation and a trap also into many stupid and harmful desires or lusts which drown those individuals into ruin and destruction.

HEB 13:5, Let your life be free from the love for money, and be content [+H] with what you have.  For He has said, “I will never leave you nor will I ever forsake you.”

God’s been dealing with you about not compromising and about not getting addicted to the three arrogant skills: self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption, but serving Him with your whole heart, MAR 12:11-30.

2CH 30:9b, For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.

PSA 116:7, “Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”

ISA 44:22, “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

HOS 5:15, “I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

HOS 6:1, Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

HOS 12:6, Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually.

1. Reject what is being taught because of living in one of the three arrogant skills: self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption.

2. Like the Bereans
ACT 17:11, who received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, {to see} whether these things were so.