I’m assuming here we all know how securing a home mortgage works. You want to purchase a home and need to borrow money from a lending institution. An amount is settled on and then there are ‘terms’ laid out on how this loan will be repaid. The bank establishes these terms to which you may or may not agree upon. But if you want the loan, you agree and sign on the dotted line. 

 Let’s say the amount being borrowed to pay for the home is X-amount. For years, traditional loans were spread out over 30 years at a fixed interest rate and you knew on day one how much that monthly payment would be. More and more people nowadays opt to cut that payback time in half securing perhaps a 15 year note which can save a lot of money in interest if you are able to swing that. 

 Imagine now, if you will, you are sitting across the desk from your loan officer who has told you that your monthly payment will be say $1750 to be paid out over 20 years. You look up at them and blink...scratch your head and tell them...”No...not sure I want to go that route. Here’s what I am willing to do...I will pay you $140 a month and let’s spread that out over the next 60+ years. That would be easier on me and if I don’t live that long, the kids can finish paying it off.” 

 (eye roll) 

 Where am I going with this one today, you ask? As I have stated before, analogies can be flawed but they still serve a purpose. So here I go.... 

 We’ve been examining in scripture this idea of overcoming sin, and the flesh nature, and walking just like Jesus walked. Putting to death this ‘old man’ is NOT an option. Many have believed the line that they can still ‘accept Jesus’ as their savior and all is good eternally for them. But if they want to live an ‘abundant life’ as if it was some option, then they might work on being really spiritual and obedient to Jesus...actually making Him ‘Lord’ of their lives. They freely admit they are and continue to be...’sinners saved by grace’, as well as a ‘saint who sins’, quickly reminding all as to justify ongoing sin that they are “Not perfect, just forgiven.” 

 Sounds so sweet and convenient, does it not? 

 Many others...have seemingly taken this walk and His word more seriously but continue a life of struggling with this old man because instead of ‘putting him to death’ (as we are instructed and led to do Rom. 8:13) they have attempted to just ‘dial him down, put him on a leash, or in a cage when around other believers’. 

 And how’s that worked out for you? 

 Now don’t be discouraged...there is a remedy! I realize many want to cite Paul’s struggles he mentions in Romans 7 to justify their own shortcomings, but they fail to read on where Paul explains clearly how he overcame those struggles. So the focus of my posting today is to address a question (that I will admit does not have a clear cut answer) and that is “How long does it take to put this old man to death?” And before you are tempted to yell at your screen declaring that will NEVER happen on this side of heaven, please look up Gal. 5:24 along with Rom. 6:2,4,6 and give those some thought. 

 I am personally reluctant to drawing lines in the sand when it comes to ‘timelines’. We tend to want to do that a lot. The minute we try to put God on Our timetable, we are reminded quickly that we are the clay and He is the potter. 

 But.... 

 My concerns...my experiences, and my observations are this: We by nature are quite adverse to having to deal with this sinful flesh nature in such drastic fashion and we will squirm, negotiate, and make excuses to find ‘another path’ to complying. We are kind of like that person who tells the loan officer that the terms for the home loan seem a bit unrealistic so they offer up their terms they would prefer to pay. (man-made doctrines) In other words, we tell God that concerning dealing with this sinful flesh, we’d like the super long extended plan for our convenience. Hence, the ‘other path’ that Jesus described in Matt. 7 that ‘Many” would take on that wide road that leads to destruction. He tells us that it is a narrow and difficult path leading to a narrow door where true life is found and not many travel this path. (13-14) 

 I’ve referenced here repeatedly that there is much to glean from the OT story of God leading His people in to the Promised Land where He chose to establish and bless them. But there was this matter of ‘clearing the land’ of the Canaanite nations that God described as being wicked and ungodly and...much stronger than the Israelites. So if they stood any chance to living in peace and at rest (Deut 12:10), obeying God was an absolute necessity. Paul also reminds us that all that these people of old went through was for OUR example and admonition. (1 Cor. 10:1-11) 

 In the OT, there was a physical land to be possessed and claimed while removing the evil from the land. Today, that ‘land’ is our hearts that God wants control of (1 Cor 3:9) but just like that land possessed by the Canaanites, our hearts are defiled and filled with all kinds of evil. (Mark 7:20-23). All these things need to ‘come off’ or be ‘put to death’ and that is exactly what the Spirit of God leads us to do. (Rom 8:13; Col. 3:5; Rom 6:2-8; Gal. 5:24) 

 So just ‘how long’ should this take? Again...no clear cut answer here...but...I’m guessing God’s timetable and terms were a bit different than what we like to suggest to Him. Let’s visit Exodus and Deut. to see if we can get some insight. God told them He was sending His Angel to lead them. (Ex. 23:20-30 would be good to read) Regarding clearing the land of these peoples, he clearly states “I will Not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous for you.” (29). Oh...and if you have that open, look at the promise He makes in vs. 25-26 and then remind yourself that we have even a ‘better covenant with better promises today’ (Heb 8:6) 

 I think you would do well also to read Deut. 7 today...yes, the whole chapter and see where God repeats the same promises and counsel to them...making note of vs. 15 and 23. 

 One thing is made clear...regardless of unclear timelines...God said they were going to ‘clear the land entirely’...’utterly destroying all’ (7:1-5). And to allow any of them to remain would be to their own peril as they would lead their children astray as well as be ‘irritants in their eyes and thorns in their side’ (Num 33:55) 

 So where is the NT application here? God sees our hearts and they need to be purified. A nice religious word to describe this is ‘sanctification’. It is what being ‘holy’ is all about...being ‘set apart’ or ‘made pure. Some verses to look at would be: 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Tim 1:5; Heb. 13:14; Matt. 5:8. 

 This is what the Spirit of God leads us to do...to ‘clear the land’ (our hearts) and to bear fruit for God. (John 15:1-8). The true children of God are the ones who follow Him. (Rom 8:14). If you are not bearing fruit, you are not following Him. And regarding timelines and fruit...you might want to look at Luke 13:6-9. It’s about a man who planted a fig tree and came seeking fruit. He said ‘I’ve been looking for fruit now for three years and have found none. Cut it down!’ Just a note of interest there. 

 Oh...another thing. Our friend in Matt. 7:21-23 who was told “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of the Father in heaven’ will enter in. We are also told in 1 John 2:17 that “he who does the will of God abides forever”. 

 Have you ever just stopped and asked yourself: “Just what is the ‘will’ of God?” I mean, that might be a good question to ask, yes? If Jesus tells us the only ones going to heaven are the ones who ‘do the will of God’, I think that is a very important question to ask. (Read that again) 

 I wonder if we might find any insight in 1 Thess. 4:3 where Paul writes: “For THIS is the will of God, your sanctification.” So God wants us to be ‘sanctified’ or ‘made pure/holy’? As in having a pure heart that prior to our repenting and turning to Him, was defiled and wicked and evil? 

 Do you think it is possible that maybe we have been lulled to sleep or into a false sense of security where we just went into ‘auto pilot’ and thought we could just be religious with a form of godliness and coast in to heaven? Or maybe Jesus came to ‘lead us’ which would suggest we need to ‘follow’? So maybe ‘abiding in Him’ is not just some option for ‘super believers’? What say you? (Heb. 5:9) 

 So back to this ‘sin thing’ and can we truly overcome and walk as Jesus walked? (1 John 2:6). Yes, I am aware of what we read in 1 John 1:8-10 – “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” There is a difference between saying you ‘have no sin’ as opposed to saying one ‘does not sin’. And of course “we have all sinned and fallen short”...that is not even debatable. 

 I realize some might suggest or even accuse me that my lessons here are trying to ‘put people back under the law’. Here’s a news flash for you: IF you are not abiding in, and following Jesus, You are ALREADY UNDER...the law...a law, I might remind you that brings wrath, condemnation, a curse, and death. (Gal. 5:16-18) But IF...you are following the leading of God’s Spirit, Jesus is meeting all the righteous requirements of the law (Rom. 8:4) IN YOU where love IS the fulfillment of the law. And you can’t do that with your old nature. Impossible. I hate to leave you hanging. Come visit tomorrow.