“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. ” Romans 8:1-2.

When our faith is placed on what we have done for our sanctification, we are not free from the law of sin and death.  Faith that is placed in our self efforts, self will, schemes of man, rituals and/or ceremonies allows the law of sin and death to blind the Believer of their error.  It is a spiritual law.  The Holy Spirit is not commissioned to free someone from sin and death when their faith is not on the finished work of Jesus for their deliverance.

There are many who truly love the Lord and have been taught many different ways to have victory.  Even the most scriptural doctrines profit us nothing when our faith is placed on US doing those doctrines.  We believe in Jesus’ finished work for Salvation but we turn to schemes of man and self efforts for sanctification.  Suddenly, our free gift is no longer free but we feel we earn it by merit.  We begin to believe if we merit enough, God will give the increase and our sanctification becomes more about our works than Jesus’ work.

Before we are born again by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are led by the flesh.  The flesh has been rebuking the devil for a long time.  As soon as the season of “fun” is over and we start saying no to the sin we once enjoyed, we are utilizing our self efforts and self will to fight sin.  Sin is not stagnant, it will eventually overcome both the Believer and unbeliever if our faith is not properly placed on Jesus.   We, as an unbeliever OR a Believer, cannot overcome our sin nature.  If this was so, Jesus would not have had to go to the Cross to defeat sin.  Sadly, it seems as though many accept Jesus as their Saviour, in which He absolutely is, but few accept Him as their Lord.

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” Once we are born again, we are baptized into His death and alive unto God.  Before our Salvation, we were dead unto God.  We could not worship God because satan was our god…whether we like it or not.  The Holy Spirit is a Gentelman and will not overtake our will unless He is invited into our heart and still we must yield our will to Him.  satan on the other hand, will overtake our self will and has the ability to do so – again, otherwise there would have been no reason for Jesus to go to the Cross to give us dominion over sin.

“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 6:13.  Once we are baptized into Jesus’ death upon Salvation, we are now dead to our sin nature.  We were all born with a sin nature because of Adam’s fall, no matter how “good” we think we are.  If we are not baptized into the death of Jesus at Calvary’s Cross, we are not dead to our sin nature.  Our sin nature is not dead but we are dead to it and we are now ALIVE unto God.  We are now able to seek God and resist the devil.  We don’t go around fighting satan ourselves.  We have been doing that all of our lives.  We now rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ and He handles our fight.  Jesus Christ is our rest, HE is our Sabbath.

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12.  Our fight is the fight of faith.  Faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified for our Salvation AND our sanctification – our victory in this life to have a good profession before many witnesses.  Please understand, if you think victory is a pocket full of $100 bills, you are seeking filthy lucre and not Jesus.  The Lord Jesus Christ can give you peace in your circumstances and guide you out of them…we just have to LOOK to Him and not method’s of man.

With our faith as a Child of God placed on Jesus finished work on Calvary’s Cross for our sanctification as well as our Salvation, the Holy Spirit sets us free, He gives us dominion and liberty from the spirit of sin and death.  If the sin nature is still on the throne of a Believer’s heart, it is because the Holy Spirit is not authorized to set the captive free whose faith is not in Jesus but in their self efforts.  They are blinded by the spirit of sin and death.  Will God still bless them?  He blessed the Israelites in the wilderness in hopes they would see His mercy and grace.  God led them out of Egypt to teach them to believe in Him but many never did and perished.  He showed some the promise land and they slandered it to their brethren.  “And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,” Numbers 14:36.

We can’t measure one’s spiritual maturity by the amount of time they have served the Lord, nor can we measure it by their circumstances.  However, we can see in whom their faith lies for sanctification.  Many believe the Cross of Jesus is Christianity 101 and have “moved on”.  I had a friend tell me once there is more to Christianity than the Cross of Christ.  These are those who are constantly trying to grow in the Lord by their works and are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.  They truly love the Lord but don’t understand how to live for the Lord.

“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:17-18.

If your faith is in anything other than the Cross of Christ, you are perishing.  The Holy Spirit is not on the throne in your heart but your sin nature remains the monarch.  Even though you love the Lord, it is entirely possible for your faith to be in your own self efforts for victory and this is spiritual adultery.  We are warned of this over and over in the Word of God and it is entirely possible that you have been blinded.  Pray and ask God.  Repent of your spiritual adultery.  God chastises those He loves.  Once our eyes are opened to our faithlessness and His mercy and grace, we are humbled and grateful for His chastisement…at least I was.  To God be all the glory!  – Donna Clark Warren.