Since the work of Christ on the cross, we are cleansed from the penalty of sin through His blood and saved from the power of sin through His death. Thus Paul makes the statement that “sin shall not have dominion over you” (Rom. 6:14). However, even as believers, sin can and does have dominion over us, if we allow the old sinful self to act. David could pray, “Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me” (Psa. 19:13). To the degree that we allow the sinful self to act, we will be in bondage to it. When we are young (and this applies to both believers and unbelievers), we can keep the sinful nature in check, at least to some degree, by human energy. A man with a violent temper may avoid losing control of himself, while another with immoral tendencies may curb that urge, at least to a large extent, as long as his natural faculties are strong. However, this is not a solution to the problem, for a particularly severe set of adverse circumstances may cause him to lose control. More important, as he gets older and his natural abilities are weakened, he will lose that control. He will find that the sins which he could hold in check in his younger years now have dominion over him. How many times have we seen seniors in a home for the aged, with weakened natural faculties and with difficult personalities and sinful behavior, which cause grief to all with whom they come into contact! On the other hand, what a joy to find those who, having walked with the Lord during their lives, can accept gracefully the limitations imposed by old age!
Examples
We see examples of this in Scripture. It is evident that Isaac had an unjudged weakness for “savory meat, such as I love” (Gen. 27:4), and this led him to love Esau more than Jacob. As an old man, this inclination led him to attempt to give Esau the larger blessing, flying directly in the face of what God has prophesied. Likewise, it is recorded of Eli that he was “an old man, and heavy” (1 Sam. 4:18), and we may gather from this that while he certainly reproved his sons for their behavior, yet he evidently enjoyed eating what they exacted from the people in a wrong way. In a different display of the flesh, it is recorded, “When Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (1 Kings 11:4), because of his desire, not only for many wives, but also for women from other nations; both were in direct contravention of the law. In a more positive sense, what a joy it is to read the words of Paul as an older man. He had walked with the Lord all his life, and at the end he could say, “I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7 JND).
Unsparing Judgment of Self
So we see that human energy may keep the flesh in check, at least outwardly, while the human energy remains strong. However, God has given us an answer to the problem — an answer that does not merely curb or control those natural desires, but rather deals with the root. I would suggest that the answer is twofold.
First of all, God recognizes that human energy can never ultimately be effective in controlling the old sinful self. The man in Romans 7 tries this and finds to his sorrow that sin is too strong for him. Even in the full vigor of youth, man cannot keep sin under control; he finds that “what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I” (Rom. 7:15). As we get older, we will find that the failure is more blatant and becomes more obvious, not only to ourselves, but to others too. God has seen the end of the first man at the cross. Now, in the death of Christ, we can be made free from sin, and instead of being in bondage to sin, we may become the servants of God. However, this can come about only by an unsparing judging of the flesh in God’s presence and a full confession of the sin before God. As another has said, “We all want to become more like Christ, but often we like ourselves too much to become another man.” We do not realize the truth of what Paul says, “I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). If we realized the full ruin of the first man, we would gladly give it up and accept deliverance through Christ.
The Filled Heart
Second, God has given us that which is far better than all the things that “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” go after. Those things, whether the things themselves or the exercise of the sinful self towards them, are all temporary. God has given us an object in His Son that will fill our hearts, and when the heart is filled with Christ, there is no room for the display of the flesh. In enjoying Him, we will be kept from the display of our besetting sins, for His love transcends them all. In “beholding ... the glory of the Lord,” we will be “changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).
It is a solemn warning to those who are younger, as we realize that the appetites, habits and character traits that are allowed and fostered when we are young will go with us throughout our lives and influence us strongly in old age, should the Lord leave us here. The sins that we do not judge in our younger years will have dominion over us when we get old, and at that time the current of our ways will be so fixed in our minds that it will be very hard, if not impossible, to change. However, in saying this, we do not limit the grace of God, for surely there is always room for repentance and restoration, even after a lifetime of allowing something that God wants us to judge in His presence. How good to walk with the Lord and be found like Moses, in a spiritual sense, of whom it could be said, at the age of 120, that “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (Deut. 34:7).
W. J. Prost