The Path: Carnal Sin

 

“For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” –Romans 7:14

The Bible is like a map, it shows us a clear path to heaven. It tells us the path we must follow as travelers to eternity. What we experience in life will be different for each of us, but the path to heaven remains the same. Jesus said: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”  Instead of wandering through life, a slave to sin; go to the Word of God. Find out where you stand before God, and where you are on the path. Then follow God’s guidebook, his map, all the way to heaven.

Every person that is born into this world is born with sin within them. If a tree branch is bent, it will grow in the direction it was thus shaped. In the same way, mankind is bent to sin. Like a newborn baby desires milk, sinful desires are part of being a human being.  It is in our nature at birth. We are born with the desire to do wicked things. To serve our own lust and passions. It can be hard to see in little babies, but it does not take long until they grow up and begin to lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want.  This natural desire the Bible calls carnal. It exists within a person, and it identifies with the works of the devil. Like a seed, sown in the ground that yields fruit after a time.  This carnal sin within your heart if left alone will grow up into many sins.  It will grow into hatefulness, greed, pride, and many other wicked things.  While the fruits of this seed of carnal sin within may not always be seen, you can be sure that the seed will produce all these unholy things and much more.  War, murder, slavery; atrocities that cause this world to be almost unbearable.  It all flows from this awful carnal sin.  It can destroy your life, the lives of those around you, and it will destroy your soul.  This is the lost condition that every man is born into.  If the world completely understood what this monster known as carnal sin was capable of, there would never again be another church empty.  Yet, Satan has “blinded the minds of them that believe not.”  What a blow it would be to Satan’s kingdom if everyone could come to see and understand what carnal sin is and what it causes.  This is the beginning of each person’s path.  The initial step on the trail of life.  We find ourselves separated from God.  Lost, and in need of a Savior.  How did we get in this condition, why are we lost?  We find the answer in the book of Genesis.  Adam, the first man, was placed in the Garden of Eden to live in perfect fellowship with God.  Satan entered in and deceived the woman, who deceived the man, and the first man Adam disobeyed God.  He was then cast out of this perfect relationship with God.  They were not only cast out in body, but in spirit as well.  While the body lived on, the holiness, righteousness, and perfect fellowship with God died within.  They were separated from the God.  Like when you are in the same room with someone and cannot speak the same language.  The fellowship only goes so far.  Where righteousness once existed within them, now only sin is there.

This is why we need Jesus.  He is our redemption.  He is our resurrection.  He brings us out of carnal sin, and back into righteousness.  Through Jesus we can be in fellowship with God again.