Romans 7:19
Could it be true that the natural man is literally hell-bent on self-destruction? Yes.
Right from the moment our forebears Adam and Eve lost their authority to the crafty serpent- the devil- in the garden of Eden men have continued on a spiraling journey to self destruction.
Man is fully aware of many of his sins terrible effects yet he glamorizes it and seeks its self-destructive power with all his might. In fact the Bible refers to this self destructive behavior as the mystery of iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7) and this mystery find expression in the heart of unregenerate men.
Talking about the battle within man, some have said that before the first gun shot is fired on a battlefield it would have long been fired in the heart of reprobate men inspired by all sorts of evil from within like greed, envy, hatred, anger, selfishness and lusts to mention a few. ( Matthew 15:19).
Evidently, man cannot save himself without Jesus. To save man from this destructive self determination as vested by the enemy the devil Jesus died to save us from all that seems to be against us.
As long as man continue to refuse the saving grace of Jesus and continue to choose his own ways over the God way he will continue to be held spell-bound by the satanic inspired delusion resident in his heart.
The devil knows about the preciousness of the soul of man and it’s eternal dimension and therefore would continue to entice men through worldly delusions to their own peril. This knowledge by the great enemy and the lack of the knowledge of his own soul by man has continued to place man in the spot of self destruction.
To this effect Jesus was very clear In John 10:10, saying “The thief comes only to take the sheep and to put them to death: he comes for their destruction: I have come so that they may have life and have it in greater measure”.
John 3:16 ( amplified) then offers an invitation to man from his self destruction saying: “ “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.
The invitation away from self delusion of the devil was never more clearly stated in Mark 8:36: “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul?”
However, self delusion is when we lack the knowledge or refuse to believe that we cannot secure satisfaction from this passing world but when we continue to live in this world like it contains everything we would ever need to make us happy.
Self delusion is when men live in this world like the the things of this world are more precious than his immortal soul’s potential to live for eternity in paradise with God. (Matthew 4:8–10).
How do we escape self- destruction? We must admit that we cannot save ourselves and come to Jesus without conditions, confessing him as the only one who can save us from ourselves.
The invitation and acceptance of Jesus must start from the heart where the battle within rages and God’s power alone can help man to dislodge the throne of iniquity that is set in his heart.
Romans 10:10 ( amplified) says: “ with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses resulting in his salvation”. It is as simple as this.
Most importantly we must press forward and receive the empowering baptism of the Holy Spirit which has the power to keep transforming us into Christ-likeness and to keep us safe from the self delusion that the devil has already injected into the world.
Of the Holy Spirit’s in-dwelling in a believer and of His power within the believer, the Bible says “you are of God and you belong to Him and have [already] overcome them [the agents of the antichrist]; because He who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world [of sinful mankind]”. 1 John 4:4.
Reading
Romans 7: 18-25
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