# Getting on the Fast Track—Part 1

- Link: https://fontlife.com/getting-on-the-fast-trackpart-1/
- Published: 2011-07-07T08:00:00-04:00
- Author: Victor Font

Sin, our sin nature, our flesh will be with us until the day we die. We inherited
it from Adam when he sinned in the Garden of Eden and it has been passed down to
us today through our ancestral line. In fact, at certain times in our life, our 
sin nature becomes our very best friend. Doesn’t it? The only problem is, this is
not what God desires of us. In Galatians 5:16, the Apostle Paul writes, “_This_ 
I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

Walking in the Spirit is not an easy thing to do all the time. If you’ve ever read
through the Old Testament, it gives a historical account of how often the children
of Israel failed to follow God and chose instead to pursue their own lusts and desires.
Time and time again, the Israelites turned from following the Living God to worship
idols, sometimes of the most base and heinous sort. And all this despite the fact
that God performed some of the most remarkable miracles recorded in Scripture on
the Israelites’ behalf. It got so bad for the Israelites that God says in Ezekiel
39:21-23:

> And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment
> that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of 
> Israel shall know that I _am_ the LORD their God from that day and forward. And
> the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their 
> iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them,
> and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.

Can you really imagine what this verse is saying? God was so angry with the Israelites
for their sin that He turned His face from them and handed them over to their enemies
for destruction. These are God’s chosen people and the ones whom God had used to
bring us and preserve His Holy Word. Now if God can turn His face from His chosen
people because of their sin, what makes us think that He wouldn’t do the same to
us. Even Paul in 1 Timothy 1:19-20 turned his face from a pair of first century 
believers who had blasphemed God.

> Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith
> have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered
> unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

We don’t have a greater enemy than Satan. Yet, the world around us would have us
believe he doesn’t exist or is just a myth. It’s a big mistake to believe this. 
And it’s a bigger mistake for anyone who calls himself a Christian to get caught
up in presumptuous sins. Presumptuous sins are the sins that people actually plan
out. For example, someone with a weakness for alcohol, might wait until no one is
around to sneak a few drinks. Or someone with a penchant for pornography will wait
until their spouse and family are asleep to begin surfing the net for their latest
empty thrill.

Don’t be deceived, God will only be so patient with some people. He will not be 
mocked. He will turn His face from us if we abandon Him long enough. And in many
cases, it could result in the premature death of the believer. 1 Corinthians 11:
27–30 discusses the result of taking communion unworthily. In other words, with 
unconfessed or presumptuous sin in a person’s life.

> Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink _this_ cup of the Lord, unworthily,
> shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself,
> and so let him eat of _that_ bread, and drink of _that _cup. For he that eateth
> and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
> the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

The word “sleep” in verse 30 literally means dead. The answer to presumptuous sin
is walking in the Spirit. But as I said earlier, walking in the Spirit all the time
is not easy. In this series of Bible lessons, we’re going to take a look at three
behaviors that God expects of us as Christians that will help us to maintain our
walk in the Spirit.  In [Getting on the Fast Track—Part 2](https://fontlife.com/blog/getting-on-the-fast-trackpart-2/),
we’ll examine the strength of the threefold cord.