John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father of it." JOHN 8:39-47
All of us were born in sin and were therefore "by nature" the children of the devil. That's the reason we sinned. Our sins don't corrupt our nature, but our corrupt nature makes us sin. That's why we must be "born again" and become new creatures (or a new creation) in Christ.
The scriptures teach that everyone was born with a sin nature or old man.
For the Christian, the old man is dead. We do not have a nature that is driving us to sin. If that it is the case, then why do we seem so bound to sin even after we experience the new birth? The reason is that our old man left behind what Romans 6:6 calls a body. Just as a person's spirit and soul leave behind a physical body at death, so our old man left behind habits and strongholds in our thoughts and emotions. The reason a Christian tends to sin is because of an unrenewed mind, not because of a sin nature.
Our old man ruled our thinking before we were born again. He taught us such things as selfishness, hatred, and fear and he placed within us the desire for sin. The old man is now gone, but these negative parts of his body remain. Until renewed, our minds continue to lead us on the course that our old man charted.
To experience the resurrection life of Jesus, we have to know that our old man is dead. Then, through the renewing of our minds, we destroy the body that the old man left behind. The end result is that we will not serve sin any longer.
Daily Smile:
This guy needs a job and decides to apply at the zoo. As it happened,
their star attraction, a gorilla, had passed away the night before and
they had carefully preserved his hide. They tell this guy that they'll
pay him well if he would dress up in the gorillas skin and pretend to be
the gorilla so people will keep coming to the zoo. Well, the guy has
his doubts, but Hey! He needs the money, so he puts on the skin and goes
out into the cage. The people all cheer to see him. He plays up to the
audience and they just eat it up. This isn't so bad, he thinks, and he
starts really putting on a show, jumping around, beating his chest and
roaring, swinging around. During one acrobatic attempt, though, he loses
his balance and crashes through some safety netting, landing square in
the middle of the lion cage! As he lies there stunned, the lion roars.
He's terrified and starts screaming, "Help, Help, Help!" The lion races over to him, places his paws on his chest and hisses, "Shut up or we'll BOTH lose our jobs!"
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