Re: How You See Yourself Will Make You Live Either Like a King or a Slave
A: The simple answer is, "15 Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living [of experiencing God's life of heaven on earth]. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living [and the succeeding joy of heaven on earth]." (Rom 6:15-18, NLT). Actually we are now slaves of righteousness, the only sin a born again person can battle is one that comes out of the sin nature and takes captive of them unwillingly (Rom 7:17). A true born again person will not willingly sin but that doesn't mean that he will never sin, this is the basic test that confirms that someone is born-again and that His seed of the Spirit and the Word lives in him (1 John 3:6, 9).
The difference between normal sin and the one due to sinful nature is all in the motive behind the sin. God sees the heart, so when you sin out of compulsion that comes from the spirit realm like Peter sinned after being already warned by Jesus that he is going to sin, it is indeed a sin out of our sin nature. Apostle Peter indeed did not want to do that, as we see him say to Jesus that he is ready to die with him. Yet because his flesh was weak and that he depended on it, he finally did the same sin as the Lord told him exactly (Matt 26:33, 75). This is the same type of sin Paul spoke about in his life, "18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. " (Rom 7:18-19). God himself is able to differentiate and see the sinning believer apart from their sin nature and sins that come out of it (Rom 7:17). In other words, God is able to see the sinning believer who fights against the sin and also hates it, and say toward him, 'See the work of sin nature in my son who has been redeemed by me (1 Peter 1:18-19; Rev 5:9). I will now help him through my Son.' (Rom 7:25).
On the other hand when a believer sins voluntarily this is what the Bible says, "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace." (Heb 10:29). In other words, all the sins that we do voluntarily are the ones that we will love to do it and will not be readily willing to confess to the Lord in order to restore the fellowship that has got broken. These sins will cause the chastisement of the Lord to come upon us in order to turn us again to the right way (Heb 12:7, 10) and if we continue to resist God's chastisement still, we will ultimately lose God's eternal reward that is stored for us and will also lose the abundant life that we could have enjoyed on earth (Rev 3:11; 2 Cor 5:9-11; 1 John 5:16-18).
A unrepentant heart and lack of confession to God produces the condemnation of the enemy to come and taunt the believer for all their sins even though they are saved (Heb 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 1 Peter 4:17-18; 1 Cor 11:31-32; Matt 18:34-35; 6:9, 14-15). The reason God judges and chastises us His people on earth is because we might not be judged and condemned with the world in our after life (1 Cor 5:5). I hope you got the point Brother. Blessings.....