‎Jim Vining‎ to Understanding the Times SS Class

1 hr · 

Romans 6:19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. (NLT)

Those living in the United States have only historic accounts of the bondage individuals faced in the early years of our nation - a slave was commanded to give up his will to his master. A slave had but one responsibility – absolute unconditional submission. Very few will admit to being a slave of choice to impurity and lawlessness – without any social or moral conscience; but most non-believers do not see their human nature as a weakness. When we are separated from God our human nature submits itself to our sin-nature – it is an unconscious slave to the spiritual lawlessness demanded by our sin-nature. The problem is; unless the connection is broken through humble repentance and acceptance of Christ’s cleansing blood it will only lead us deeper into sin. Forgiveness will remove our guilt and cleanse our conscience but we must willfully choose to transform our thinking and redirect our behavior. We must become a slave to righteous living – this requires fellowship with other believers, meditative study of God’s Word and prayer. We must have a slave mentality toward God, His Word and the Holy Spirit. Holiness is not an anointing – it is a passionate desire to separate ourselves from everything that contradicts what Jesus Christ has called us to. We are forgiven by faith – we pursue righteousness by choice – we become holy through obedience. 

Read through the Bible in one year – April 23/ Luke 17:20-37; 2 Samuel 16-18