The true Christian is being led by the Spirit of God to put to death the behaviors of his sinful nature.

God has given us abundant grace, under the new covenant, to live the life of victory over sin. We have the born-again experience, the Holy Spirit, the Epistles of the Apostles, the body and blood of Christ, the gifts and ministries of the Spirit, to help us overcome sin. Also we can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive help as we strive against sin.

To not be engaging in the warfare against the worldliness, bodily passions, and self-will of our personality is to be neglecting our salvation. The Apostle Paul beat his body and made it his slave. To not deny ourselves, not take up our cross, not follow Jesus, not remain patiently in the prisons in which we find ourselves, is to neglect our salvation. We shall not escape Divine punishment if we neglect our salvation.

To sow to the flesh is to reap corruption. To not put to death the deeds of our body is to slay our own resurrection unto life, in the Day of the Lord. There are very severe consequences, sometimes eternal consequences, when we as a Christian do not take up our cross each day, do not present our body a living sacrifice to God, do not follow the Holy Spirit in putting to death the sinful appetites and passions of our flesh.

It seems to me that as we confess our sins, renouncing them, denouncing them, we gain the upper hand over them. I think, based on experience, that in some instances there are evil spirits residing in our flesh that are removed as we judge them and then resist them. I myself have had a few dramatic deliverances, deliverances that I could feel take place. Usually, however, the deliverance comes, sooner or later, as I continue to walk in faith, doing what God has commanded. This has been my experience.

I would venture further that the second part of the Day of Atonement, that having to do with the living goat, has begun and will continue throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age that will follow the appearing of the Lord.

I think the Lord is ready to remove sin from His Church in preparation for His coming. When He comes, and we are resurrected and then caught up to meet Him in the air, we must be ready to appear with Him, helping to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.

It seems reasonable to me that the removal of sin from His Church, the redemption or salvation predicted for the last days, should take place prior to our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, prior to our receiving a glorified body. And I see no reason for the same removal not to be taking place among the saints in the spirit realm who are waiting to return with Jesus in the Day of the Lord. Do you see any scriptural reason why this should not be so?

To be continued.