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| Real Hope For Beating Sin! |
| Thursday, August 06, 2009 |
In my 20-year ministry as a pastor I have met more defeated Christians than I wish I ever had to see. They know what pardon is; they know what it is to come to the Fountain; they know that they can come to Jesus in times of difficulty; and they know that they can return to Him with all their guilt and get forgiven; but if you were to describe the pattern of their lives in regard to sin and their desire to live righteously, they would tell you that for the most part they've been on the losing side. They can identify quite well with God's warning to Cain: "sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7) They're very familiar with the desire of sin, but not so familiar with the ability to master it.
The Apostle Paul talks about this battle in Romans 7: "I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:14-19) This is the testimony of the defeated Christian! "Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?"
You see, Paul recognizes that your struggle with sin has to do with your flesh -- your body. "So it is no longer I who do it, but sin which dwells in me....I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind (which delights in God's Law - vs. 22), making me a captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members." (Romans 7:23) So then his question is, how can I get free from this losing battle? Who can deliver me from this body of death?
The answer is found in the little phrase "IN CHRIST", but first let me introduce you to verse 25: "So then, I MYSELF serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." This is the mistake that many of us make: I MYSELF love God's Law inwardly, and I MYSELF try to live for Christ out of that love. It's a losing battle.
Jesus said: "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15). We must be IN CHRIST if we're ever going to win this battle. So what do I mean by that?
Let me illustrate: SIN makes us like a lead pipe in water -- it's constantly dragging us down. But when we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour we have a new desire in our hearts to love and follow Him. So we want to get that lead pipe up above the water. But the mistake we make is tying an I MYSELF cork to the lead pipe, so that I MYSELF not only wants to please the Lord, but I MYSELF tries to make this lead pipe float. The result is that I bob around -- sometimes up, sometimes down, depending on the currents and depth of the water that my life is in.
This is where SO MANY CHRISTIANS are living today! Their desire is heavenward; their will is on the right side, but they lack the adequate power to overcome; sin is ultimately stronger than the strength of thier will. And so they encounter failure, fruitless struggle, painful effort, continuous conflict and defeat.
Is that where you are today? Let me give you hope with God's simple solution: IN CHRIST. We must be IN CHRIST, not only positionally, but also practically in our day to day battles.
Let's suppose for a minute that you take your lead pipe and knock the cork off; then stick it squarely into the middle of a life-belt and throw it back into the water. What will happen? It will float! It will not sink, come hell or highwater. Why? Because there is a superior law at work. The buoyancy of the belt is STRONGER than the law of gravity which the lead pipe is subject to.
This is our only way to win! We have to let go of the I MYSELF strategy, and place ourselves squarely, every day, IN CHRIST for the waves ahead. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2) So long as we abide in the life-belt of Jesus Christ, we will not sink. But take that lead pipe out of the life-belt, and it will quickly find the garbage at the bottom once again.
James said it best in his epistle: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Resist the devil....." (James 4:7) Flee from his demonic laws and sink yourself into the safety of Christ's "law of the Spirit of Life". Make a habit of putting yourself IN CHRIST every day, just like you do when you get out of bed in the morning and put yourself in a set of clothes to cover the shame of your nakedness.
IN CHRIST there is victory, but we must place ourselves IN HIM every day. We must clothe ourselves with Jesus each and every day, for only the law of the Spirit of life is greater than the law of sin and death! I MYSELF is a losing battle.
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posted by Alan @ 10:27 AM   |
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Name: Alan
Home: Canada
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