We are in Part 7 of our study on this amazing verse of Gal 2:19-20. We saw that we have been crucified with Christ. It is done.

As believers, we are one with the Spirit of the Lord in the spiritual realm (1 Cor 6:17) and as a result, we do not want to sin. We all want to stop sinning, but often find us sinning more. The law did not help a lot in stopping sin, because fear was the motivator. This is the key reason why it is important to understand that we are not under the law and the devil has no jurisdiction over us. If you haven’t gone through the earlier parts of this series, I highly recommend going through it first.

1. Part 1: We died through the Law.
2. Part 2: We died TO the Law.
3. Part 3: We were Crucified with Christ.
4. Part 4: Do Christians need to die daily?
5. Part 5: Believers do not have a sinful nature.
6. Part 6: Believers cannot open a door to the Devil.

Our Nature Changed

When we realize that we are dead to sin, the important thing that we need to do is to understand that is that we are alive to God.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:8-11)

We live with Him, and we are alive to God. That means our nature changed. We have a God nature, a divine nature. Look at Gal 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Most people look at this list, and strive to have them. But the truth is that it says it is a fruit of the Spirit. Firstly, how many times have you seen a tree struggling to bear fruit. A fruit is a natural occurrence in the life of the tree. Similarly, these are your fruits. These are the list of products that are being generated by your spiritual factory. You are full of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Secondly, these are the fruits of the Spirit. It doesn’t matter if it is the Spirit (Spirit of God) or spirit (as in your spirit), because in any case we are one (1 Cor 6:17). Hence, if you are a believer, you have these fruits in you.

We hate sin

When we read Gal 5:19-21, we see:

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

It says works doesn’t it? it is work for believers to sin, but fruit for believers to do good. You hate sin at your very core, and you enjoy the fruits of the Spirit within you.

Surprise, surprise! Didn’t expect that? That’s because it is not what is being taught. We are taught that we are wretched sinners even after being born again, and that sin is attractive. The truth is that sin is not attractive to a believer, and you need to work for it in order to do it.

Why do we feel like sinning then?

Why do we feel like sinning then? Is it because we are unsaved? No! Emphatic no. It is because of the old-mindsets, called the flesh¹. Every believer was an unbeliever at some point in his life. Every sin we had committed before we were born again was because of the “reward” of pleasure that was associated with it. And because of that reward, that became a habit deeply embedded into us. That is why it is called “lusts of the flesh (the old mindset)”, or the deepest desires of the old-mindset.

Our minds have a way of chasing these pleasure rewards², and keeps doing so. It remembers it, and tries to control our body to attain it. When we are born again, it’s not like our mind went to the recycling bin, but rather we have the same mind unless we renew it. Hence, we THINK we still like what we used to like, but the reality is that we do not like it anymore.

My experience

I remember that I used to like certain comic book a lot, and it was my favourite. I simply loved it as a child, but we couldn’t always buy a lot of those. But recently I got access to lots of it, and I took one book and decided to read it and I couldn’t remember why I liked it. I wasn’t bad. It was meh. But after a few days, I was back into “I love that book”, I should get it, and so on.

But still, no matter how hard I tried, I was repeating the same cycle.

The cycle repeated. I didn’t renew my mind to the TRUTH that I dont like that book anymore. However, all those years of loving that book, the old mindset dominated. That’s what happens with sin too. You may think that you are falling into sin, because you love that sin. But it is a reality that you don’t. You do it, because of your old mindset that thinks you like it. That old mindset is flesh.

How to Stop sinning then?

First, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. Do not let it have its way, because the old mindset can drag you into things that you really didn’t want, and make you regret later.

Secondly, acknowledge that you hate that sin. it’s not some mantra, it is the truth. We need to verbalize saying “ I hate that <enter sin>”. Why are you doing this? This is part of mind renewal. Even while you are sinning, say that you hate it, and remember who you are.

Thirdly, Remember the things that are in your nature, which is love, joy, peace … the whole list in Galatians 5. That is who you are. You will soon notice that your emotions will line up, and you will not like sinning anymore. 

Footnotes

1. The flesh is not the body of sin, and it can get very confusing because we often think of flesh as you know, our physical body. But it is a mindset. ↩︎
2. Our mind wasn’t saved. Our spirit was renewed, and our body of sin was crucified, but our mind still remains the sane until we renew it. ↩︎