Freedom from acts of sin - Christ does it all

I'd been doing my best to resolve the mosquito issues we'd been experiencing at my home (especially in our living room) for the past few months. This breed of mosquitoes seemed to laugh off Mortein when I used it on them. I'd "Baygon" the whole place and see their dead bodies on the floor afterwards but our relief was always shortlived; they'd be humming all over the place again within hours! But today, I remembered Integrated Science or was it Home Economics😊: mosquitoes need stagnant water to breed! I rushed outside: close to our living room windows were two buckets, both of them half-filled with rain/tap water, and with all sorts floating thereon. Mosquitoes everywhere! 

The point being no matter how often I Baygon-ed the house, our respite from mosquitoes would always be temporary; unless their breeding places got destroyed. Plus insecticides have their own discomforts and side-effects and the mosquitoes would eventually become resistant to them too. How does this relate to us in Christ today? Romans 5:19 says-

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

From the above verse, we see that acts of sin are not what make people sinners. People are made sinners by Adam's sin. Everyone is born with this sin/old nature. Acts of sin are simply products of having the old nature that is inherited from Adam. The mosquitoes that bothered me represent acts of sin as well as sickness, lack, stress and everything that came to be as a result of Adam's fall. The stagnant water in the buckets represents man having the old nature inherited from Adam. This root is what causes the mosquitoes (acts of sin, sickness, lack, etc) to proliferate. We see this in Romans 7:5-

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

Unfortunately in the church today, the focus is on preaching the killing of mosquitoes (acts of sin) by law-keeping as the path to attaining righteousness, when what is needful is ridding the flock of the old nature that was inherited from Adam. Christ died to rid us of this old sin nature. In Him, we are a new creation. God put our sin on Him so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, as it is written in 2 Cor. 5:21-

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

When you receive the abundance of grace and believe that you are saved and made righteous by the obedience of Christ (Romans 5:19) and not your own obedience or your self-discipline and law-keeping prowess, you no longer have the old nature. You are dead to the law. Old things have passed away. No more curse. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. And this is the result according to Romans 7:4-

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

Instead of stagnant water in vessels that can only produce acts of sin and such that lead to death, in Christ, we have rivers of living water that give life! Just as the sin nature produces acts of sin, as a new creation with Christ as your righteousness, we bear fruit to righteousness, yet not us but Christ in us.

In essence, no matter how many canisters of insecticide one expends in a bid to kill the mosquitoes (trying hard by one's power to be sin-free,) without getting rid of the stagnant water (rejecting the old nature that was inherited from Adam and receiving our Lord Jesus' blood-bought righteousness which is given as a gift to all who believe Him,) he can never be free from mosquitoes (sin.) He has the old (sinner) nature. Sin will multiply and the end is death.

This is why many in the church today are trapped in an endless cycle of attending deliverance and curse-breaking sessions all in a bid to be free from one bondage or the other that Christ died to free us from. Like my Baygon and mosquitoes experience, any results will be short-lived. The old nature is still intact so no matter how much such do to be free from their "mosquitoes" of acts of sin, sickness, lack, depression, etc, more will come.

The old nature rejects the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have and strives to attain righteousness/godliness (be like God) by human effort, just like Eve did. But Romans 3:20 says :"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Also, Galatians 5:4 says "4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Grace is undeserved, unmerited favour. If one iota of our strength is in it, it is no longer Grace (Romans 11:6,) and only by grace through faith are we saved, so we have nothing to boast of in ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9,) not our own fasts, self-discipline, giving, morality, evangelism, dedication or right-living prowess. Wonderful as these things are, they cannot save anybody. Doing them in order to gain God's favour and acceptance is rejecting the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have; it is akin to killing mosquitoes inside your house but ignoring their breeding ground. Only in the Beloved are we accepted. Ephesians 1:6.

With the Lord as our righteousness, the old nature is no more; "all these things shall be added unto you." We get to be transformed to the image of His glory, from glory to glory, through no effort of ours. We get to live in triumph over sin, stress, sickness and every ill. We get to love proclaiming Jesus.

Romans 5:17 says: "For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

Only with Christ as our righteousness do we live in triumph over sin. And mosquitoes too😊

Sinners are made righteous by "one Man's obedience": Christ's; when they believe that God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21. Here, we are a new creation in Christ. When you realise that your right-standing with God and His blessings upon you have got nothing to do with what you did or did not do but have ALL to do with what Christ has done, the old (sinner) nature is no more. The stagnant water is gone. There might still be some mosquitoes (acts of sin, sickness, etc) inside your house after this but they will all die off and there will be none to replace them!

In place of the root of sin that produces acts of sin, we have Christ's righteousness so we bear fruit to righteousness. We get to produce "a harvest of good deeds for God." No more mosquitoes but every blessing of God in Christ! This is the Good News.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.