Just Say No To Drugs – Part 5

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For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds [Titus 2:11-14].

The Holy Spirit teaches us how to live day-by-day in this world. This entails a negative and a positive aspect. The negative aspect is that we must deny the old man, the sin nature which continues to exist inside the born again person. The sin nature will not be eradicated until our glorification. This occurs at the Rapture of the Church when Jesus comes for us again. Paul made note of that event in Titus 2:13.

The Holy Spirit teaches us what sin is, and empowers us to refuse the sin nature when it entices us to sin. By the power of the Holy Spirit inside us, we can just say “No” to the sin nature, you see.

Then there is the positive aspect. We are also empowered to just say “Yes” to the new nature inside us, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do this as well.

This isn’t to be taken lightly, dear friends. Before a person is born again, he is ruled by the sin nature. He cannot live a righteous life and serve God. He is a slave to sin. Paul teaches about this in Romans 6.

Once a person is born again, he is no longer to obey the sin nature as its slave. The Lord delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and brought them into the Promised Land to live a righteous life for Him. So too does the Lord Jesus save us from sin and impart to us a new life, the indwelling Holy Spirit. This frees us from sin so that we are enabled to live a righteous life for Him.

But we are also able to listen to the crooning of the sin nature, as its alluring song inveigles us onto the rocks of Island of the Sirens. If the sin nature is eradicated when we are born again, why did Paul tell Titus that the Christians have to just say “No” to sin and just say “Yes” to righteous living? Without a sin nature we wouldn’t be seduced into sinning.

But we are daily susceptible to the temptations of our old life, and some new temptations too! We have to choose to say “No” to them and say “Yes” to the Holy Spirit day-by-day, moment-by-moment, grace upon grace.

The sin nature still has its claws in us, dear friends, even after we are born again. The difference now is that the Holy Spirit indwells us and empowers us to resist the sin nature and choose to live His new life instead.

Food for thought, deep thought, very deep thought! Let’s chew the cud on it a while, as we sit at the feet of Jesus.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86