Why did Jesus say if any man follow after me let him deny himself and take up his cross? Why did Paul confess I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live? If the righteous be scarcely saved where will the sinner appear? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbids. Why? Because there is condemnation to those in Christ Jesus who walk after the flesh rather than the Spirit.
We have the Bible inspired by God for reproof, rebuke, building up of the saints and godly edifying, that the man of God be fully equipped and fit for warring a good warfare as a soldier of Jesus Christ, taught by the Holy Ghost to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live sober and holy in this perverse and adulterous generation, looking for the glorious appearing of the Great God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is coming very soon in this generation to execute vengeance upon the ungodly and their ungodly deeds by the spirit of burning and the spirit of judgement -
If any man be justified by faith in the blood that cleanses a man from all unrighteousness, that man has become a new creature - old things have passed away and all things have become new. How? By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the mind - casting down lustful imaginations and bringing every thought into obedience to Christ who saves us from the power of darkness and translates us into his kingdom of light wherein dwells righteousness.
And I do not frustrate the grace of God by building again those things that were destroyed. If I did, then I would make myself a transgressor and Christ is risen in vain and his sacrifice of none effect. But I thank God through Jesus Christ I am delivered from the body of this death, that I may walk in newness of life by the Holy Spirit dwelling in me that I might not sin against Christ or my body which a temple of the Holy Ghost.
E K K L E S I A - Apostolic 604
