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The Aftermath of Salvation
The Aftermath of Salvation ↴
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The Aftermath of Salvation
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A New Voice to Answer To
Freedom From the Flesh Through the Power of the Holy Spirit
I once had a friend who always seemed to follow and answer to another friend. It was almost as if he couldn’t say no to this person. The problem was that this friend was constantly getting him into trouble. I would try to warn him and tell him, “You don’t have to do what he says. You can say no.” But no matter what I said, he always seemed to follow him. He didn’t have the strength—or maybe he didn’t believe he had the freedom—to say no.
Separated From the Source of Life
When Adam and Eve rejected God, God told them that they would die. But what died?
Their spiritual relationship with God.
They didn’t physically die that day. Instead, something happened internally. They became spiritually separated from the One who gave them life, and they were left to live according to their own desires.
God had warned Adam that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would result in death (Genesis 2:16-17).
It’s like a branch that has been disconnected from a vine. For a while, the branch may still look alive. It may even have some green leaves. But it has been separated from the source that gives it life. Eventually, it will wither and die.
Jesus used a similar picture when He taught that a branch must remain in the vine in order to bear fruit (John 15:4-6).
Before salvation, we were much like my friend. We were imprisoned to something that the Bible calls the flesh. We answered to it. We followed its desires. We allowed it to lead us, even when we knew it was taking us somewhere we shouldn’t go. And sometimes, just like my friend, we found ourselves in trouble because we couldn’t—or wouldn’t—say no.
A New Power Within Us
But then salvation comes.
The moment we are saved, the Spirit comes to dwell within us. Does that mean the flesh disappears? Sadly, no. We still have to contend with it.
But something has changed.
The flesh no longer has the authority it once had over us. Before Christ, we were slaves to sin, with no spiritual power to overcome it. But through salvation, God gives us His Holy Spirit. Now we have Someone within us who gives us the strength to say no.
Paul teaches that our old self was crucified with Christ so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, and that sin should no longer reign in our mortal bodies (Romans 6:6-14).
The flesh is like that friend who was never really a friend. It promises one thing but leads us somewhere else. It tells us what we want to hear. It pulls us toward things that may bring temporary pleasure but ultimately lead to trouble.
But now, through the Holy Spirit, we don't have to answer to the flesh anymore.
We can say no.
We can choose a different voice.
We can choose to follow the Spirit instead.
Salvation doesn't mean the flesh is gone. It means the flesh is no longer our master.
That friend who once controlled us has lost his authority. We are no longer powerless to say no. Through the Holy Spirit, God has given us the strength to walk away and choose a different way.
Crucified With Christ
This is what Paul was talking about when he wrote:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
When Jesus died on the cross for us, He defeated the power of sin and death. He broke the enemy's claim over those who belong to Him. And when we come to salvation, our old life—the life that was ruled by the flesh—is crucified with Christ.
Through Christ's death and resurrection, the power of sin and death was defeated, and those who belong to Christ are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:6-7; Colossians 2:13-15).
But does that mean the flesh will never try to lead us again?
Unfortunately, no.
We still have a choice.
The flesh has lost its authority, but we can choose to give it that authority back. We can feed it, listen to it, and follow it—or we can choose to walk by the Spirit.
What Are You Feeding?
Think about it like this: if we continually feed the flesh while neglecting our spiritual lives, the flesh becomes stronger in our lives. Its voice becomes louder, and its desires become harder to resist. But when we feed our spiritual lives, we become stronger in the Lord. We become better equipped to recognize the voice of the flesh and say, “No. You are not my master anymore.”
The amount of spiritual nourishment we receive will affect the strength we have to fight the desires of the flesh.
This is why Scripture takes the battle with the flesh so seriously. We don't crucify the flesh once and then never have to deal with it again. We must continually put to death the desires of the flesh and choose to walk by the Spirit.
It is a daily surrender.
Paul tells us to “put to death” the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13) and to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). Walking by the Spirit means that we are continually choosing to follow God's leading rather than the desires of our flesh.
How Do We Feed the Spirit?
And how do we feed the Spirit?
We don't just hear the Word—we become doers of it (James 1:22).
Every day, we have a choice: Which voice will I follow?
The flesh will still speak. It will still try to lead us. But it is no longer our master.
Christ is.
And through the power of the Holy Spirit, we now have the strength to say no to the flesh and yes to God.
Who Are You Listening To?
But here is the question we have to be honest with ourselves about:
Who are we listening to?
Because sometimes we say we are free, but we keep answering the same old voice.
We know what God is asking us to do, but we keep choosing what the flesh wants. We know what His Word says, but we make excuses. We pray for God to change us, while continuing to feed the very thing we are asking Him to remove.
The flesh isn't dead because we stopped listening to it. It is dead because Christ defeated its authority. But every day we have a choice about whether we will give it a voice in our lives.
So maybe the question isn't, “Why am I struggling so much with my flesh?”
Maybe the question is, “What am I feeding?”
What voice are you giving the most attention to?
What are you putting into your mind?
What are you watching?
What are you allowing into your heart?
What are you excusing?
What are you continually going back to, even though God has already told you to walk away?
Because whatever we feed will grow (Galatians 6:7-8).
We can't feed the flesh all week and expect the Spirit to be strong on Sunday.
We can't ignore God's Word and then wonder why we don't recognize His voice.
We can't continually say yes to the flesh and expect to walk confidently in the Spirit.
We Don't Have to Be Slaves Anymore
The good news is that we don't have to be slaves anymore.
That friend who used to control us doesn't get to make our decisions anymore.
So when the flesh says, “Come with me,” we can say, “No.”
When it says, “You need this,” we can say, “No, I don't.”
When it says, “Just this one time,” we can say, “No. I've been here before.”
And when the Spirit says, “Follow Me,” we can say, “Yes.”
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” (Romans 8:14).
Because being a Christian isn't just about being saved from something.
It is learning, day by day, to stop answering to the voice that Christ has already defeated—and to start listening to the One who gave us new life.