WARN BOTH THE CONVERT AND THE UNCONVERTED

In my opinion, every soul-winner, whether a Pastor, an Evangelist, an Elder, a Deacon, or one of us "common folk," should warn new believers of the struggle that lies ahead for those who accept by faith, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Failure to do so, sets the new believer up for the crushing blow that accompanies each act of sin!  Many give up all together, and some even commit suicide, because they expected to live holy lives.  Here is the Apostle Paul's humble sharing of his struggle, found in Romans 7:15-25, first in the King James Version, and then in the New Living Translation, lest the KJV be unclear:

15] For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  [16] If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  [17] Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  [18] 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.  [19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  [20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  [21] I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  [22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  [23] 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.  [24] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  [25] 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.

 

¹⁵ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.  ¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.  ²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  ²² I love God’s law with all my heart.  ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

 

Notice that Paul was describing his struggle in the present tense:

 AFTER he was born again!