As believers, we are dead to sin and alive to GOD. Paul wrote by THE SPIRIT in Romans chapter 6:
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
We must quit digging up that old man and allowing his qualities to impact our walk. The old man’s nature is no longer a part of our life and was buried when we accepted Jesus Christ. Let us not resurrect the old man by constantly referring to our past along with its attitudes. Our old man was done away with as we were effectively nailed to the cross and united with Jesus Christ.
Consider the past of the disciples, especially Paul. They did not constantly dredge up their past after being filled with THE SPIRIT. They left the past behind and proceeded on to their high calling. We must do the same. Paul was an expert on the Old Testament Law yet he received the revelation of the Commandment of Love and walked according to it. When we walk by THE SPIRIT of Love, we no longer need to concern ourselves with focusing on the 613 commandments and statutes because we are fulfilling the Divine Intent of the Law. The old man did not comprehend true Love, and at best the old man would be legalistic.
If we couldn’t continue in sin, then Paul would not have urged us to depart from it. Our ego will try to keep us from walking according to THE SPIRIT and revert us back to the lifestyle of the old man. We must resist going back to the ways of the old man. Immature believers are susceptible to being manipulated by their ego as long as they remain in that state of immaturity. As we become mature, our old man becomes less of a problem, and we can move forward at a greater pace. The chains to the past are broken.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
We are responsible for presenting ourselves alive in Christ to FATHER. We must not let sin reign in our bodies and obey its lusts and FATHER has provided the means for us to overcome sin by applying HIS Word to the situation. If a sinful thought rises up, speak to it and tell it “That is not who I am” for sin has no dominion over you. Any thought, imagination, or dream contrary to the Word should be cast down the moment it raises its ugly head. We must take control of our thought life because we are no longer the old man subject to sin and death.