You are right, Woman4Christ, YOU can't stop doing any of these things. That was the single hardest thing for me to understand after I got saved--it took me years. I used to wonder, "If I am saved, if I am cleansed by Christ's blood, why do I still do these things?" I even doubted my salvation on many occations.
But the answer, believe it or not, is in the Bible. Consider this passage, "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." ~Romans 7:14-25
Now consider: this passage was penned by the Apostle Paul. Paul was a SAVED man at the time he is writing this. And yet, Paul had the same problem you and I do; namely, he still lusted after the same sinful things. So what's the answer? Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT." Great. So what in the world does that mean? Let's look at a few more Scriptures before getting into an explanation. In Galatians 2:20, Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 5:15-17 says, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Are you starting to see the picture?
You see, in every situation, we have a choice. Now, we still have an old, physical nature, that desires the same, physical pleasures that it always has, and we can choose to satisfy those desires. On the other hand, once we are saved, we have a new nature: a spiritual nature, guided by the Holy Spirit living inside of us. In every choice that we make, we are feeding one of these natures, thereby making it stronger. By choosing to do the things that satisfy our fleshly lusts, we make the flesh stronger, or rather, it is more and more likely that we will continue to sin. However, Ephesians 5:26-27 says "...even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water BY THE WORD." Compare this with Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND." You see, as we pour God's word into our minds, we are feeding that new, spiritual nature. The more you read God's word, cycling that through your thoughts continuously, that book begins to change you. Consider: when are you most likely to sin? Is it when you are focusing on the things of the Lord, or on things in this world? Things in this world, naturally. That is why, when praying for us, Jesus himself prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17). We cannot sanctify ourselves, even being saved. All we can do is go to the source, the word of God, and drink, and let Christ do the cleansing work for us: just as he did in the eternal sense, once for all (Hebrews 10:10), so also he alone can do in the temporal sense as daily we submit our will to his (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).
