(All scripture
quoted from the NIV unless otherwise noted)
Romans 5:17-19
17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Here Paul compares the old man and nature (that which is in Adam, in the flesh) to the new man and nature (that which is in Jesus, in the Spirit).
The old brings death, sin, and condemnation.
The new brings life, righteousness, and justification.
What is a nature though? Nature as defined by (Dictionary)
9. the instincts or inherent tendencies directing conduct: a man of good nature.
10. character, kind, or sort: two books of the same nature.
11. characteristic disposition; temperament: a self-willed nature; an evil nature.
Instincts, disposition, temperament, etc.
A lion kills because that is it's nature, it MUST kill to survive. No one calls a lion a murderer because it takes life, we know that nature dictates that a lion must take life. That is it's nature.
A light shines because that is it's nature! Lights can not give off darkness. Even when they are broke, lights don't shine darkness. Lights by nature shine and illuminate things.
When we were in our old nature, we were sinners, naturally. It's what we did!
Romans 7:18
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Romans 7:25
in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Psalm 51:5 NLT
For I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Psalm 58:3
Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward.
Job 14:4
Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
Because of our NATURE from the moment we were born, that which we inherited from Adam, we were dead, we were enemies of God because of our NATURE. You didn't have to think about sin, to sin, you were in sin just by nature.
Likewise once a person is in Christ, they have a NEW NATURE! They are no longer dead, filthy, or sinners. God declares them righteous by the blood of His Son, Jesus!
Romans 7:24-25
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
John 3:3-7
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Ephesians 2:4-7
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Does the Holy Spirit give birth to imperfection?! If you preach that we as regenerated believers can fall from grace because of sin, then you do. That is the fact. We are given a new nature when we believe!
The new nature leads us to live in righteousness just as Jesus is righteous.
1 Corinthians 2:16
We have the mind of Christ
Colossians 1:27
Christ IN you, the hope of glory!
Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit GUARANTEEING our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
God put Himself in you when you believed! It was not a work of your flesh, it was not a reward for being righteous! (Ephesians 2:8-9) So how in the world can you work and perform anything to help God secure what He Himself has already done?! You can't! He secures those who by FAITH ALONE abide in Him. There is nothing that the flesh can do to help this!
John 6:63 NLT
The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing.
By the new nature that was birthed within you at the moment you believed, you resist sin. You died at that moment to your old nature! You were identified with Christ and His death so that you would be raised with Him to new life, the NEW NATURE!
Romans 6:3
all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death
Romans 6:6-7
we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Romans 6:14
sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:22
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Do not look at this message as me proclaiming, once in Christ a person can sin freely. God forbid I should say that lest I be found sharing a false gospel. I am proclaiming to all who read this that in the New Nature I am incompatible with sin, I am no longer subject to my flesh and it's desires. I am dead to it! Completely unresponsive to that which at one time made me an enemy to the Most High.
Should I give in to my old nature at any point and commit transgression, my new nature does not cease to exist. The old is not more powerful than the new!
1 John 4:4
GREATER is He that is IN YOU, than he that is in the world!
HALLELUJAH! MY GOD IS GREATER!
Praise the Lord you are New in Him! You must accept this and believe! Only believe! That is ALL Jesus wants from us! To believe that He is able to do all things through us!
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me.
1 John 3:23-24
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
John 6:28-29
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:47
Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
The one who BELIEVES (no other stipulation there) HAS eternal life!
John 5:24
"Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
Those who believe will NOT be judged but HAVE ALREADY (past tense, it's ALREADY happened) crossed from death to life!
Luke 7:36-38, 44-5036 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them... 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
This story I want to use as an example. This woman was a known sinner, who by the Lord's own admission had committed MANY sins. If anyone in this room deserved condemnation it was her. Yet what did Jesus tell her? Her FAITH had saved her and led to her sins being forgiven.
Now note this, and please do not miss this: She had a work here in which she could claim was something to boast of. In fact, the work was done for Jesus Himself. She wiped His feet with her very hair, poured EXPENSIVE perfume all over His head, and yet Jesus makes NO MENTION of these works having anything at all to do with her salvation. Instead her faith had saved her.
These works she had done for Jesus were a natural out flowing of the love she had for Jesus because she was forgiven and knew it. She believed Jesus when He said "Your sins are forgiven." Perhaps she had heard Him say it before, I don't know, but she was forgiven before she entered that room for Jesus said her works were just an expression of her heart before Him; a natural out flowing of the love she had for Jesus because she knew she was a sinner who had been forgiven of much.
No doctrine there, no well this is what she had to do, it was an honest expression that Jesus noticed and yet still said that her faith alone was what saved her.
Just believe! Only believe! You must believe! It's what you were born for!
All glory to Him who loves us and had freed us from our sins by shedding His blood for us! All glory, power, dominion and praise be to You Jesus forever and ever. Amen! HALLELUJAH!
Romans 5:17-19
17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Here Paul compares the old man and nature (that which is in Adam, in the flesh) to the new man and nature (that which is in Jesus, in the Spirit).
The old brings death, sin, and condemnation.
The new brings life, righteousness, and justification.
What is a nature though? Nature as defined by (Dictionary)
9. the instincts or inherent tendencies directing conduct: a man of good nature.
10. character, kind, or sort: two books of the same nature.
11. characteristic disposition; temperament: a self-willed nature; an evil nature.
Instincts, disposition, temperament, etc.
A lion kills because that is it's nature, it MUST kill to survive. No one calls a lion a murderer because it takes life, we know that nature dictates that a lion must take life. That is it's nature.
A light shines because that is it's nature! Lights can not give off darkness. Even when they are broke, lights don't shine darkness. Lights by nature shine and illuminate things.
When we were in our old nature, we were sinners, naturally. It's what we did!
Romans 7:18
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Romans 7:25
in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Psalm 51:5 NLT
For I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Psalm 58:3
Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward.
Job 14:4
Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
Because of our NATURE from the moment we were born, that which we inherited from Adam, we were dead, we were enemies of God because of our NATURE. You didn't have to think about sin, to sin, you were in sin just by nature.
Likewise once a person is in Christ, they have a NEW NATURE! They are no longer dead, filthy, or sinners. God declares them righteous by the blood of His Son, Jesus!
Romans 7:24-25
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
John 3:3-7
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Ephesians 2:4-7
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Does the Holy Spirit give birth to imperfection?! If you preach that we as regenerated believers can fall from grace because of sin, then you do. That is the fact. We are given a new nature when we believe!
The new nature leads us to live in righteousness just as Jesus is righteous.
1 Corinthians 2:16
We have the mind of Christ
Colossians 1:27
Christ IN you, the hope of glory!
Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit GUARANTEEING our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
God put Himself in you when you believed! It was not a work of your flesh, it was not a reward for being righteous! (Ephesians 2:8-9) So how in the world can you work and perform anything to help God secure what He Himself has already done?! You can't! He secures those who by FAITH ALONE abide in Him. There is nothing that the flesh can do to help this!
John 6:63 NLT
The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing.
By the new nature that was birthed within you at the moment you believed, you resist sin. You died at that moment to your old nature! You were identified with Christ and His death so that you would be raised with Him to new life, the NEW NATURE!
Romans 6:3
all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death
Romans 6:6-7
we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Romans 6:14
sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:22
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Do not look at this message as me proclaiming, once in Christ a person can sin freely. God forbid I should say that lest I be found sharing a false gospel. I am proclaiming to all who read this that in the New Nature I am incompatible with sin, I am no longer subject to my flesh and it's desires. I am dead to it! Completely unresponsive to that which at one time made me an enemy to the Most High.
Should I give in to my old nature at any point and commit transgression, my new nature does not cease to exist. The old is not more powerful than the new!
1 John 4:4
GREATER is He that is IN YOU, than he that is in the world!
HALLELUJAH! MY GOD IS GREATER!
Praise the Lord you are New in Him! You must accept this and believe! Only believe! That is ALL Jesus wants from us! To believe that He is able to do all things through us!
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me.
1 John 3:23-24
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
John 6:28-29
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:47
Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
The one who BELIEVES (no other stipulation there) HAS eternal life!
John 5:24
"Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
Those who believe will NOT be judged but HAVE ALREADY (past tense, it's ALREADY happened) crossed from death to life!
Luke 7:36-38, 44-5036 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them... 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
This story I want to use as an example. This woman was a known sinner, who by the Lord's own admission had committed MANY sins. If anyone in this room deserved condemnation it was her. Yet what did Jesus tell her? Her FAITH had saved her and led to her sins being forgiven.
Now note this, and please do not miss this: She had a work here in which she could claim was something to boast of. In fact, the work was done for Jesus Himself. She wiped His feet with her very hair, poured EXPENSIVE perfume all over His head, and yet Jesus makes NO MENTION of these works having anything at all to do with her salvation. Instead her faith had saved her.
These works she had done for Jesus were a natural out flowing of the love she had for Jesus because she was forgiven and knew it. She believed Jesus when He said "Your sins are forgiven." Perhaps she had heard Him say it before, I don't know, but she was forgiven before she entered that room for Jesus said her works were just an expression of her heart before Him; a natural out flowing of the love she had for Jesus because she knew she was a sinner who had been forgiven of much.
No doctrine there, no well this is what she had to do, it was an honest expression that Jesus noticed and yet still said that her faith alone was what saved her.
Just believe! Only believe! You must believe! It's what you were born for!
All glory to Him who loves us and had freed us from our sins by shedding His blood for us! All glory, power, dominion and praise be to You Jesus forever and ever. Amen! HALLELUJAH!
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