These are simply a few examples to illustrate how sin and self differ from one another. If we go on further in the spiritual journey, we will know that in many things sin has no way to gain a footing, yet the self somehow can be manifest. Actually, self can almost mix itself with the most sacred work and the most spiritual life.
Since the believer has long been under the bondage of sin, once he is delivered from the power of sin, he considers this to be the highest walk of life, not knowing that once he has been freed from sin, he still has to overcome self daily throughout his entire lifetime.
The greatest danger after a believer experiences being freed from sin is that he would now consider that all the dangerous elements within him are gone. He does not know that although the old man has died to "sin" and the body of "sin" has been paralyzed, "sin" has not died. Now "sin" is a deposed monarch who will exhaust all his energy, seizing all the opportunities to regain his throne. That is to say that the believer can continue having the experience of being delivered from "sin;" however, this does not mean that he is perfect, because he has yet to continually deal with the self.
It is a great pity that some believers in the Lord who pursue "holiness"—deliverance from sin—consider themselves to be holy when they have attained it. They do not know that deliverance from sin is only the first step of the victorious walk of life. Deliverance from sin is only the initial victory that God has given us in order that we may have more victories continually thereafter. Overcoming sin is a door, and once we take a step, we are in. Overcoming self is a pathway for us to walk on throughout our lifetime. After we have overcome sin, God calls us to daily overcome our self, which is often the self that is the best, most zealous, and most desirous of serving God.
If a believer knows only what it is to be delivered from sin but not what it is to "deny the self," to "lose the soul-life," then the danger is that at this time he will use the strength of the self, that is, the soul-life, to accomplish all of God's will in him, to do God's work, and to live out God in his daily living. He does not know that apart from sin there are two powers now within him: the power of the spirit and the power of the soul. The power of the spirit is the power of God which he received at his regeneration. The power of the soul is the power of self which he received naturally at his birth. This is the natural power he possesses without regeneration.
Whether or not a believer is able to go on to become a spiritual man depends on how he deals with these two kinds of power within him. If he rejects the power of the soul and depends solely on the power of the spirit, he will succeed in becoming a spiritual man. If he uses the power of the soul, or the power of the spirit concurrently with the power of the soul, he will become a soulish man—a fleshly man.
God's goal is that we reject everything that belongs to ourselves—all we are, all we have, and all we can do—and live entirely by Him, daily taking in the life which is in Christ through the Holy Spirit. If the believer does not apprehend this or is not willing to obey God in this way, henceforth his living will be serving God merely by the soul-life and the power of the self. He is not a spiritual person; rather, he is a soulish person.