Truth Encounter: Living Free Forever Series mail@truthencounter.com

Can Christ really make us a new person? When we take an honest look at ourselves, when we interact with our family and those closest to us, do they see evidence that Jesus Christ is making a difference? These messages will enable you to take a good inventory of your struggles with the sinful nature even as a “new creation in Jesus”, and then give you hope from the truth of God’s Word for a life full of the Fruit of the Spirit.

The legalist thinks you get right with God by obeying rules. At the other extreme the sensualist declares that there is no moral law and you can do whatever you desire. They simply declare that the dark side of human nature is not dark or evil. The Apostle Paul teaches us that this is another form of slavery—bondage to lust and it still produces death. Jesus Christ offers a third way—not religious rules, not moral license, but a totally new nature empowered by the Holy Spirit received by faith.

The Apostle Paul was very clear. The desires of our sin nature are evil and destructive. They must be resisted and through the power of the Holy Spirit overcome and replaced by new desires, but in our culture many believe a far different story. Dave W otesl shares in today’s lesson about the sins that can still exclude you from heaven.

Sexual sins and substance abuse are regularly exposed as deadly, but what about all the hostility in interpersonal relationships. A husband who curses his wife and degrades her in anger, a wife who brings up a laundry list of her husband’s sins in constant fight, and supposed brothers and sisters in Christ who vehemently shout at each other in a church congregational meeting –all this hatred and hostility is presented as the works of the sin nature.

Binge drinking at the beginning of a new college semester has become a major threat in American Universities. Drinking till the alcohol pours out your every pore has become a right of passage for eighteen- year-old freshmen. This was in in the first century, and the Apostle exposed it as destructive slavery to sin. He is still right, and only Christ's Spirit can fill us with joy.

“ I don’t love him any more!” “I don’t love her any more!” In our present culture this statement trumps all other arguments. Marriage promises can be nullified and new opportunities to seek love and joy can be “justly” sought with another person. What is love and what is joy? In Galatians 5:22 love and joy are placed at the top of his list of the fruit that Christ’s Spirit can generate in our lives.