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Originally Posted by biblereader
A Christian who is struggling to keep the law is fighting with the old nature.
You don't have any struggles with temptations any more?
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Of course I do. Because I still struggle with the old nature. Jesus said take up the cross DAILY. But I never said temptations. I said struggling to keep the law.
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He needs to just die, and let the new nature do what it does NATURALLY - live unto God. Jesus Christ is the new nature, and he never sins, so why would he start sinning in you?
I agree, Jesus will never cause anyone to sin, but, the flesh is still here. We still feel pain, anxiety, hunger, sadness, anger,merriment, fatigue, fear, etc,
and with those normal bodily functions, our thoughts MIGHT, (and do, at least in my life) cause us to sin against God. OF course, God is the only One we sin against, anyways, but, are you saying a dispensationalist is so crucified to Christ, that he never sins?
It would be nice to never give in to temptation to sin, as Jesus says, He will always, always provide a way to bear the sin, and escape sinning. Is that what a dispensationalist life is?
I must not be understanding you completely. You can probably tell, too.
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You are not understanding me completely. Romans 6 tells us how to deal with sin in our lives. We are not to fight sin with carnal weapons, like the flesh, or even attempt to keep the law to subdue our flesh. We simply identify with our Saviour on the cross. Galatians 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ. Romans 8 goes on to tell us the consequences of living after the flesh, and the blessings of being in the spirit.
A Christian does not have to sin. Sinning in a Christians life is a failure to identify himself as DEAD to sin.
This has nothing to do with dispensationalism. It's the Bible way, but most reformed and arminians ignore it, because they run to verses like Jeremiah 33:31 and Ezekial 36:27 to support their claims that God enables the christian to keep the law, when there isn't a christian 100 chapters either side of those verses. A Christian does not need to keep the law. He doesn't need to try. He just needs to daily reckon himself dead to sin, and see that his life was bore away on the cross of calvary in Christ, and that his life is not his own anymore, but Christ's life (Col 3:4 - when Christ, who IS OUR LIFE...)
I have never said and will never say that a Christian can attain sinless perfection. But a Christian does not need to sin. But he will, because he is in the flesh, and there will be times when instead of relying on Christ, he will rely on self.
There are two books I recommend on this subject.
Watchman Nee's "Sit, Walk, Stand"
&
Miles J. Stanford's "The Green Letters"
The latter you can read here
http://withchrist.org/MJS/glchapters.htm