But the power of sin is another matter altogether. When we speak of the power of sin as it relates to the child of God we are talking about the way in which the flesh, that is the body of a saved man is affected by its own desires and lusts. The body is not yet redeemed. That will take place at the resurrection and this will be discussed in greater detail later in our study when we arrive at verse 23.

But here as we consider verses 5-13, I merely point out that the child of God is not yet complete. Now the inner man, the new man, the redeemed man, the spirit-slash-soul is without question redeemed. But the body that the new man lives in is far from redemption. Every saved person is living in a body that is contrary to the new life that they were given by Christ.

The body still enjoys sin, and if he chooses he may dishonor Christ and honor the flesh by living in such a way as to give to the flesh whatever the flesh desires. If the flesh for example wants drugs, he may give it drugs. If the flesh wants drink, he may give it drink. If the flesh wants illicit sex, then he can choose to give it illicit sex. The point must be made however that a redeemed man has a choice, just as an unsaved man may choose Christ or reject Him. A saved man must choose to yield either to the flesh or the spirit. This choice is one that has to be made daily. Very likely many times a day.

A right choice today will not suffice for the decisions that must be made tomorrow. "I die daily", said Paul. And Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me". I will not take time in this study to elaborate upon the many Biblical examples of how a saved person can choose to disobey God and honor the desires of the body. But suffice to say that there are many including Noah, Abraham, David, Moses, and on and on I could go in the Old Testament.

And now I can hear someone saying, but preacher don't you know that in the New Testament we have been given the Spirit. And this is true. And it is the New Testament that teaches that it is possible for a saved man to grieve the Holy Spirit by whom we are sealed (Eph 4:30). We grieve him by sinning, by disobeying, by quenching, by not listening, by doing things that no saved man should do. No one who knows anything about the New Testament can deny that there are many examples of this very thing preserved for us in holy writ.

And so as I said we have a choice, we are not helpless to sin, we are free as we learned in verse two but we are not free to do everything we want to do. We have a Lord, we are to do as He wants. Lying is wrong for a lost man, and lying is wrong for a saved man.

Now a moment ago I mentioned the drink, the drugs, and the illicit sex. These are the three that are most often thought of as sins of the flesh and the reason is I suppose because these three, especially in our day have been hammered on from the pulpit by men who have closed their eyes to other sins that are just as much a sin of the flesh.

Or as Paul puts it in Galatians 5, "works of the flesh". In that passage there is a long list of these "works" of the flesh and the list is by no means complete. It might surprise some folks to discover just what is on that list. Yes adultery and fornication, drunkenness is there too, but so is idolatry. Now idolatry may not mean much to you, but let's consider 1 Samuel 15:23, "for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry". The Bible says that stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, that is a similar kind of sin.

Let's look at Colossians 3:5, "mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry". Now wait a minute, you mean when I covet the New Testament says that I am committing idolatry. Yes! Strife is on the list. Do you fuss with your neighbor? Your boss? Your wife? Your husband? The verse didn't say what kind of strife it just said strife. Envy is on the list. Have you ever envied someone because of what they had, what they did, what kind of car they drive, or who they married.

And though not on the list what could be a better example of a fleshly sin than gluttony. You know when you look at it like that in light of what the Bible says it's going to be a lot more difficult to place yourself in your own mind into the upper echelons of Christianity. To make yourself some how better than those who are guilty of yielding to some temptation that you just happen not to have yielded to, except maybe in your heart and that is a subject that all self-respecting Pharisees want to avoid. I pray that any Pharisee who reads this will stop reading this instant and by faith turn to Christ.

The truth is we all struggle in some way or another and none of these fleshly works are acceptable behavior for any child of God. There are no perfect men, not as long as they live in an imperfect body. So what are we to do? Are we to use the fact that we live in a unredeemed body as an excuse to sin? In the words of Paul, "God forbid" (Rom 6:1-2).

Now for those of us who believe the doctrine of eternal security, verse 6 raises an all important question. Is it possible for a saved man to so live his life after the flesh that God releases him from the covenant of salvation, so that he then becomes lost again? The answer to the hypothetical is no.

Verse 5 through verse 13 refer to the on-going conflict between the old and new man, the flesh and the spirit. To illustrate verse 5, I want you to briefly survey your own life. How much time is given to the flesh, to keep it clean, to keep it warm, to keep it fed, to keep it comfortable, to exercise it, to keep it in health, to keep it entertained? Now all of these things may not be necessarily evil but here I am just trying to make a point.

All right, how much money is spent on these things each week? Don't take a long time, just run it through your mind quickly. Now multiply that by 52 weeks. So how much money did you give to God last year? Get the point? Listen closely, read carefully, I am not asserting that the Bible teaches that we are to neglect the body. He knows our physical needs, but as Christians we are to have our priorities right (Matt 6:33). And we certainly are not to seek to please the flesh while ignoring the things of God. I don't want to make you to feel conviction, that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The truth is most Christians today and the same could be said of any other day, spend a good deal of their time and money attending to the things of the flesh.

From these verses I want to draw a number of conclusions:

The disobedient believer will be made sorry with Godly sorrow that the Bible says leadeth to repentance. I don't want to confuse you, I do not want to mislead you, I do not want you to take the teaching and use it as an excuse or an occasion to sin. Personally I doubt the salvation of anyone who is anxious to sin, who enjoys sin, who loves sin, who is glad to sin, who sins without remorse, it is just not scriptural. "Our Father chastens every disobedient son" (Heb 12:3-11).