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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for September 14, 2009
“New Creations, Old Temptations”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Paul was born again.
If there was ever anyone who was born again, it was Paul.
If there was ever anyone walking in the Spirit and living in the Spirit and having the fruit of the Spirit, it was Paul.
Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…”
Then in Galatians 5:24 he wrote, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
So in Christ, Paul was a new creation; the old was gone! The old Paul was crucified and no longer lived. He had crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
That’s awesome! No more battles with sin. No more problems with temptation. That’s what we will all get when we become born again Christians, right?
But wait. In Romans 7 Paul wrote, “…what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” “What a wretched man I am!”
Wow, that doesn’t sound like the old was gone. It doesn’t sound like his sinful nature had been crucified with its passions and desires.
It sounds to me like the old sinful Paul was still alive and kicking in there somewhere.
Maybe you have experienced this, too. You came to Christ. You repented. You were forgiven. And you could really tell the difference. You were born again! The weight of sin had been lifted! You were a new person, a new creation in Christ!
But then you noticed a temptation or two. You noticed a sinful desire. You knew it was bad, but something was pulling you towards it anyway.
“But wait a minute! I’m a new creation in Christ! The old has gone, the new has come! I thought that old nature was crucified with Christ! Why do I still feel drawn to some sin, some evil? I thought I was done with all that.”
“Wait a minute. Maybe it’s because I’m not saved. Maybe I never was saved. I mean, I thought I was. I really thought God had changed my life. But maybe not, otherwise, why would I struggle with this temptation?”
Well do you think the Apostle Paul was saved? Of course he was. And yet he battled temptation.
The Apostle Peter called it a war. In First Peter 2:11 he wrote, “Beloved, I beg you…abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.” (NIV and NKJV)
Ephesians 2:3 calls it “the cravings of our sinful nature…its desires and thoughts.”
Different verses call it different things. It’s the sinful nature, the old self, the old man, the earthly nature, the flesh.
“But Doug, if I still have to battle the flesh, what good did it do to get saved?”
Read Romans 6. Before we were saved, we were slaves to sin. But now through Christ we have been set free from that slavery. Sin does not have to be our master. Sin’s chains were broken.
Plus, we now have the Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us.
So through Christ we have the tools to be victorious over sin. That’s the good it did.
But we still have that earthly, sinful nature, with its desires that war against our soul. In Romans 7 Paul went so far as to call it “sin living in me.”
So if there is this living thing within me, with its evil desires, what should I do about it?
Well Paul said to put it to death. Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death…whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”
How do you do that?
Well think of this illustration. Think of our sin nature like a pile of wood. Technically it could burn any minute, but it won’t without heat. For the wood to ignite, something has to come along and heat it up. But if you keep the heat away from the wood, it will never burn.
Our sin nature is like that. If we keep the heat away from it, it won’t burn.
Now here is a key to keeping the heat away. Romans 13:14 says, “…do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
Don’t even think about it.
A temptation pops up. Your sinful nature taps you on the shoulder and says, “I want that.”
Now the battle is in your mind. What you think about will win the battle. And Romans says don’t even think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
The King James says, “…make no provision for the flesh…”
Give the flesh no provision – no food, no water, no tools, no opportunities. Give it nothing to work with.
Galatians 6:8 warns us that if we sow to please our sinful nature, from that nature we will reap destruction.
So we don’t even think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Instead, like it says in Romans 8:5, we should set our mind on what the Spirit desires. Verse six talks about the “mind controlled by the Spirit.”
We are to set our mind on things above. (Colossians 3:2)
We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12:2)
We are to love the Lord with all of our mind. (Mark 12:30)
And we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. (Colossians 3:16)
So yes, we are saved, but we still have a sinful nature warring against our soul. To win the war, we must not even think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Instead, we think about what the Holy Spirit desires. We renew our mind. We fix it on the Lord and His Word.
This is living the Spirit-led life, the victorious life. It’s the life God set us free to live – a life more abundant.
We have the power to overcome any and all of those old temptations, for in Christ we really are new creations.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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