Instead you loved anything and everything that promoted you above God. And that is the very essence of what sin is—the elevation of us above God. It is to prefer our ways to God’s ways. So, naturally, you loved sin.

But the Bible says that everyone who is truly a Christian has experienced a radical change, and now loves what he once hated and hates what he once loved. The Christian loves God and everything about Him he or she can learn. They love His ways, which are the ways of holiness.

This love of holiness is characterized by no longer walking or living the way we used to. Again the Apostle Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, emphasis mine). To “walk according to the flesh” is to live according to the natural impulses and appetites of the mind and body. The Christian does not continually live that way anymore. Rather he lives according to the godly impulses of the Holy Spirit who indwells him.

This is the promise of the New Covenant, upon which our salvation is based. God has made a covenant between Himself, and Christ Jesus, and all who will believe upon Jesus. One of the promises of this New Covenant is found in Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”