TWO RULERS: SATAN AND THE OLD SIN
NATURE
Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be
sure you have named your sins privately to God the Father.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)
You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with the Holy Spirit and ready
to learn Truth from the Word of God.
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth."
(John 4:24)
Paul illustrates a principle that applies equally to all ages: Spiritual death rules
in every generation of human history.
Nevertheless, [Spiritual] death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those
who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type
(A representation) of Him [Christ] who was to come. [Christ’s First Advent]
(Rom 5:14)
Actually we are born under two rulers who came to power when Adam
sinned. Satan is the “god of this world,” ruling through a policy of moral and
immoral degeneracy, this is “Satan’s thinking, of evil,” (2Co 11:13-15;
(1Ti 4:1-3; (2Ti 3:5) the old sin nature is the sovereign of human life, ruling
through Spiritual death and carnality. (Isa 29:13; Mark 10:18; Rom 10:2-3)
Under both of these tyrannies we live, “moral and immoral degeneracy” and
this is the order of the day. (Normal everyday human life) It is the policy of
Satan; it is the function of the sin nature!
Illustration
We have already been introduced to Satan. (In the book Satan and
Demonism) Since his powerful, multifaceted strategy has been detailed
elsewhere, we need draw only a thumbnail sketch of his plan. His arrogant
ambition is to become, by his own efforts and great intellect, like the most
high God. (Isa 14:12-14) He promotes the improvement of his kingdom; the
whole world. He seeks to displace God and to create a counterfeit “one
world order named in the Bible; Babylon,” this will happen before Christ
returns at the Second Advent! (Isa 47:7-15; Rev 18:4-24) We are not
surprised to discover in the Bible that a revolutionist such as Satan, whose
world policy is both moral and immoral, (Evil) talks out of both sides of his
mouth. Satan is a brilliant chameleon, an ingenious counterfeiter, able to pre
sent himself as all things to all men. On one hand, he favors sweetness and
light and prosperity for all — a chicken in every pot. Personally, he is the
most beautiful creature ever created; he is eloquent, smart, entertaining,
personable, persuasive — just the kind of company you would enjoy. His
attacks often come in the guise of this calm, engaging, drawing-room type of
attractiveness. (Neh 6:2) He knows that life depends on how people think,
and he sponsors “good” anti-God thought.
“You felt secure in your wickedness and said, ‘No one sees me,’ Your
wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; For you have said in
your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’ (Isa 47:10)
For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike
perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their
houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have
called their lands after their own names. (Psa 49:10-11)
For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend
after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself– And though men
praise you when you do well for yourself– He shall go to the generation of his
father’s; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without
Understanding, (Truth) Is like the beasts that perish! (Psa 49:17-20)
“And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have
no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear
down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and
my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for
many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”
(Luk 12:17-19)
Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of
sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we may die.” (Isa 22:13)
Perhaps never before have you understood this point; God is interested in
what we think. (Rom 2:15-16) But many categories of sin, (Mental, verbal
and overt) only set back Satan’s Utopian objectives. The system which Satan
has constructed includes all the good which he can incorporate into it and be
consistent with the thing he aims to accomplish. A serious question arises
whether the presence of gross degeneracy in the world is due to Satan’s
intention to have it so, or whether it indicates Satan’s inability to execute all
he has designed. The probability is great that Satan’s ambition has led him to
undertake more than any creature could ever administer.
(Job 2:1-10; Zec 3:1-7; Rev 3:9-10) Man is truly a free agent; human volition,
(Free will) and the old sin nature can prove to be just as unruly to Satan!
(Dan 2:41)
But Satan does not appear always as an angel of light. The dark side of his
strategy calls for terror, violence, confusion. (Neh 4:11) If he cannot control
mankind by one tactic, he always has another. (Acts 16:16-17) No depravity
or treachery is beneath him. (Jdg 16:15; Jdg 16:21) The rules of the angelic
conflict call for each man to exercise his self-determination on the earth until
God removes him! (2Ti 2:4) But Satan never plays by the rules unless doing
so happens to further his own ends. He is the original murderer, determined
to destroy man’s volition if unable to control it. (John 8:44) Periodically God
judges the accumulated results of all his varied activities.
(Gen 6:1-7; Gen 15:16; Lev 26:14-30) Satan’s antithetical methods of
operation are employed not only by his human world leaders,
(Luk 6:26; Rom 16:18; (2Pe 2:1-3; Jud 1:16) but also by his vast, highly
organized, well led army of angelic subordinates, known as demons.
(Eph 6:10-12) Satan does not lead a mob. He understands authority; in fact,
he is a tyrant who wants to superimpose his authority over God’s.
Satan orders some of his demons operating on the earth to be eloquent and
magnetic in order to deceive people of culture and enlightenment. (Col 2:8)
Many smart Germans who were not impressed — who were even repelled
— by the emotionalism of Hitler’s National Socialist Party were nonetheless
drawn in by his demonic charisma. Other demon organizations are charged
with confusing and enslaving the simple, the emotional, and the ignorant.
(Acts 14:11-13) Such people are impressed by the weird, extra-natural
phenomena of telepathy, mind-reading, and disembodied spirits associated
with certain Hindu sects; by the voodoo victim’s ritual sacrifice of himself
without any symptoms of pain; by the Sudanese dervishes who with bullets in
their heads and hearts continued to charge the British formations; by the
human sacrifice of children in the phallic cult; by the ecstatic manipulation of
the vocal cords among the modern day holy rollers. Demons can unlawfully
isolate the dormant faculties of unbelievers, and believers in carnality, who
permit the mentality to lapse into disuse and who are therefore ruled by the
old sin nature. (John 8:37-38; John 8:44; Acts 19:26-28; (1Jn 3:10) We are
all born into Satan’s world system.
And you were (Spiritually) dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you
formerly walked according to the course (Thinking) of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit (Satan’s false spirit) that is now
working in the sons of disobedience. (Unbelievers and carnal believers)
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as the rest. (Eph 2:1-3)
In order to get out of it; as unbelievers we start by faith in Christ. (John 3:18)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
(Eph 2:8-9)
All believers in carnality are under demon influence, and or demon obsession
in which the demon controls the soul. We are born again, but still think
according to the false spirit and the old sin nature we were born with. In
order for us to change into the new self, God wants us to be, (Eph 4:24)
we must be transformed!
And do not be (A Command) conformed to this worlds, (Way of thinking;
moral and immoral degeneracy) but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect. (Rom 12:2)
Satan has ruled the world since the Fall of man, but he has never yet
succeeded in controlling his own domain. Whether through the drawing-room
type of demon activity or through the more startling types, Satan’s ultimate
objective is to conquer, to control. Believers are at a great advantage if they
understand the strategy and tactics of the enemy. (2Co 2:11) Unfortunately,
many Christians seem to gravitate to the strange, to the weird. Any mention
of the devil and demon activity risks bringing such impressionable people out
of their cracks and holes. It is not wise to delve into the realm of demonism;
Truth warns us not to get involved. (Lev 19:31; Lev 20:6; Deut 18:10-12)
We should be curious about Truth, not about demons.
The point here is that we are born enslaved to a system of satanic moral and
immoral degeneracy, more brilliant, complex, and powerful than we can
possibly resist in our own energy! Our one defense is the Spiritual life in
fellowship with God, (1Jn 1:9) and with the Mind of Christ, Truth resident in
our souls; this is God’s power, (1Co 2:12-16) we learn God’s system,
(John 4:23-24) and this is the solution! We submit to God’s will, Thoughts
and desires or to our own. (John 12:24-26)
The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath.
(Psa 94:11)
“For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And
have no Understanding. (Truth) They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good
they do not know.” (Jer 4:22)
Our confidence lies in knowing that Jesus Christ controls history. (Rev 1:5)
Satan does not control the kingdom he rules; he cannot produce perfect
environment; never will he be like God. Satan and his demons are doomed to
ultimate failure. The plan of God, executed by perfect Divine justice, will
inevitably prevail. The great demon conflict that has so ravaged human history
will be won by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Second Advent! (Rev 20:2-3) We
might as well get on the winning side! Either we adjust to the justice of God,
or the justice of God will adjust to us — by rolling right over us!
Not even the greatest intellect of the greatest creature, Satan, can compete
with the integrity of the Creator. If we try it, we haven’t a chance. While the
sin nature’s trend toward sin does not always fit in with the main thrust of
Satan’s scheme, its trends toward morality and immorality are readily
pressed into the devil’s service. While still in the Garden after the Fall, Adam’
s slavery to his newly acquired sin nature was first manifested, not in an act
of sin, but in a program of satanic morality — Operation Fig Leaves. The
nakedness that had been a wonderful part of Adam’s relationship with his
wife was suddenly denounced by Satan as being a social problem.
(Gen 3:11) The new ruler of the world insinuated that nakedness between
husband and wife was wrong, that clothing was “good,” that no one was
going to run around naked in his kingdom! Adam’s trend picked up the
innuendo right away, and he and the woman got busy making “loin coverings”
out of fig leaves. (Gen 3:7) Behind their social action, their “betterment” of
mankind, their work to make everyone equal, is the thinking of Satan! They
were vainly attempting to improve the devil’s world, and, once clothed, they
had more “moral thoughts.” “If we are right with each other, we must be right
with God.” If only we adjust to our fellow man and do well by one another,
certainly God will not condemn us.” This satanic lie still carries a deadly
venom. It has poisoned Christianity in our day and is on the verge of
destroying our nation.
It represents a thorough maladjustment to the justice of God. Man’s good
deeds cannot come close to earning the approbation of God;
(Psa 39:5; Isa 64:6) to assume that they do is to insult His infinitely perfect
character. (Rev 4:8) Even toward man, we are required by the laws of Divine
establishment to respect each other’s freedom, privacy, and property, but not
to remold society, to lift up the downtrodden, to make people equal, or to
enforce the ideas of a satanic socialist. The many applications and examples
of the “social gospel” being broadcast into the world today are merely
repeated evidence of our slavery under Satan’s evil system.
By following human moral degeneracy as national policy, both foreign and
domestic, the United States is setting herself up for overt slavery to another
form of evil, a more predatory form known as communism. And even
communism has a “good” goal — a “new vast world order” of universal
prosperity! This was the same goal in Nimrod’s Babel, as well as in Babylon,
Tyre, the United Nations, and Hitler’s Berlin, and in our modern day, a one
world system named Babylon; (Rev 17:18; Rev 18:10) it represents the best
that Satan and man can do apart from God, and the Bible gives many
descriptions of what this system has looked like in the past, (Eze 27:1-36)
and in the future. (Rev 18:11-24) And the judgment of the “city”
(Eze 27:33-36) and its ruler, (Eze 28:1-10) as well as the judgment of Satan.
(Eze 28:11-19) And what will happen to them in the future, the city,
(Rev 19:3) the ruler (Rev 17:12; Rev 17:16-18 ; Rev 19:20) and Satan.
(Rev 20:1-3; Rev 20:10) In this “one world order” there is a description of
what evil thinking is, and what the rulers and citizens will be thinking evil
about. This is just an example of what the Great City of the “one world order”
might look like.
Illustration
Do not love the world (A Command) nor the things in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is
not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and
also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1Jn 2:15-17)
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, (Or “the world
project”) and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)
Illustration
And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, [Babel] and a
tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a
name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
(Gen 11:4)
Illustration
The distinguishing mark in Tyre was a sail. (Eze 27:7) So it is with this
city, so if this is not the city, it looks just like it! And this is due to the grace,
and kindness of God to make Truth, and what is false so clear for us!
(John 7:17)
Illustration
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth,
and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
(Gen 6:5)
The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself,
“I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’
s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing,
as I have done. (Gen 8:21)
“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days
of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying,
they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in
the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they
were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot
went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed
them all. “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
(Luk 17:26-30)
These are human moral thoughts, and activities and this is man putting his
thoughts, will, and desires before God’s. Unbelievers are moral, nice, giving,
serve their country, take care of their family, Etc. But they are going to the
Lake of fire, for not believing in Jesus Christ the Lord. (John 3:18) This
passage is directed to believers. (Luk 17:32-33) Anything an unbeliever can
do is not the Christian way life! (Matt 22:32; Luk 14:16-35)
Even in Satan’s kingdom, (Prison) the volition of our souls is truly free to
make one choice over another, but we are not free from the influence of the
old sin nature resident in our bodies. (Isa 25:7; Isa 42:7; Matt 4:16;
Luk 1:77-79) This second slavery is much more intimate and hence much
more dangerous than even our slavery as citizens of Satan’s domain.
Although Satan is brilliant and powerful as the archenemy of both God and
man, he is still only a creature. He can be in only one place at a time, and he
does not have time to waste on us personally, his demons are used.
(Eph 6:12) In contrast, the old sin nature resides in every cell in your body,
including every cell in your brain. More often than not, therefore, you are your
own worst enemy.
When you run into pressure or difficulty in life, it is not the devil after you;
he does not need to intervene when you do such a nice job all by yourself.
Remember that your brain is not the same as your soul. While the soul is
immaterial, the brain is part of your body, and as such, it is corrupted by the
old sin nature. In other words, the sin nature resides in the brain but not in the
soul. The brain, however, influences the soul. Indeed, under Spiritual death,
and carnality the brain rules the soul; since the old sin nature has its
headquarters in the physical body and controls the brain as part of the body
of corruption. The brain is the mechanical expression of the soul’s
consciousness. Note that I said mechanical; there is no consciousness in the
brain as a physical organ. Self-consciousness is a facet of the soul. The self-
consciousness of the soul acts as the go-between; it is where, the immaterial
links up to the material. But having resided in every neuron since the moment
of physical birth, the sin nature uses all the brain’s mechanical functions to
control the soul. In particular, the old sin nature programs the brain for human
reality; thus, the brain naturally prints moral and immoral tendencies into the
soul. (Matt 16:22-23)
Garbage in, garbage out. The mentality operates on human reality; the
volition makes decisions, the emotion is stimulated by the old sin nature. In
contrast to the “newness of life” commanded of every believer, (Rom 6:4) the
“oldness” of life is the computer program of moral and immoral “human
reality” which enslaves us to the old sin nature. Satan’s plan also has a part in
this programming. From birth, we live in the devil’s world, and his ruling policy
inevitably works its way into the computer. In spite of Christ’s work in freeing
us from the power of the old sin nature, many believers continue to operate
on the old program. They are full of human morality as they serve their sin
natures and sincerely advocate the various programs for making Satan’s
kingdom “a better place to live.” They talk about equality, brotherhood, health
and prosperity, education, removing poverty, abortion, world peace and using
the Bible as a “moral system,” (2Ti 3:5) without the filling of the Spirit.
(Rom 8:4) Although determined to “do great things for God,” they fall right
into line behind Satan, the greatest genius and deceiver of the whole world.
(Rev 12:9) The motto of this “new world system” of unbelievers, believers,
moral, immoral, religious, and non-religious is: Treat others as you would
have them treat you! WITHOUT THE SPIRITUAL LIFE!
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in Spirit and Truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His
worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit
and Truth.” (John 4:23-24)
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the Words that I
have spoken to you are spirit and are life. (John 6:63)
Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not
subject itself to the law of God, (Spirit and Truth) for it is not even able to do
so, and those who are in the flesh (Carnality) cannot please God. (Rom 8:7-8)
As the only solution to this tyrannical dilemma, we are Commanded to
reprogram the computer.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, (The sin nature) but alive
to God in Christ Jesus. (The Spiritual life) Therefore do not let sin reign in
your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, And do not go on presenting the
members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; (Staying out
of the Spiritual life) but present yourselves to God as those alive from the
dead, (Alive from Spiritual death and or carnality) and your members as
instruments of righteousness to God. (Rom 6:11-13)
Placing the members of your physical body under orders to God includes
reprogramming your brain. At the new birth, the power of your old sin nature
was positionally broken through the imputation of God’s righteousness and
eternal life. (Eph 2:6) Add to this the simultaneous baptism of the Holy Spirit,
and for the first time your soul is in a position to break free from the influence
of the corrupted physical computer.
By the intake of Bible Truth, new information is fed into your Spiritual life, so
that it is programmed in accordance with the plan of God for your life. Only
Truth in the soul can fulfill experientially, (Rom 6:17-18) what was
accomplished positionally at the moment of salvation. Through perception of
Truth, we can be free from both rulers, under which we were born!
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in
My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the Truth,
and the Truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32)
Truth makes all the difference! Works will not reprogram the old sin nature.
Witnessing, quoting verses, memorizing scripture, prayer, giving to the church
— in carnality, will not do the job. They are legitimate; indeed they are
Commanded — under the filling of the Spirit (Eph 5:18) with the proper
motivation, at the right time. But they do not change the old sin nature.
(Rom 7:18) There is only one way to change; to build a NEW NATURE;
(2Pe 1:4) so that IT becomes a weapon of righteousness to God, and that is
by feeding our human spirit something greater and smarter than Satan’s, and
the sin nature’s thinking! We must consistently feed it the Thinking of Christ, in
the Filling of the Spirit — The Living Word! (John 3:34)
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