Wednesday, March 21, 2018

What To Do When You Come Face To Face With Sin



I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20

{CHAMBERS} “The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. […] My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.  “…and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh— the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God….” […] It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits— a faith that comes only from the Son of God.

{ELGIN} It’s easy for Christians to accept that Jesus overcame sin and death through the cross and His resurrection.  We are about to celebrate that truth in a couple of weeks.  We know that in Christ we have overcome eternal death and have eternal life.  (1 John 5:12) “He that has the Son has [eternal] life, and he that does not have the Son does not have [eternal] life” But sin? Now that is another question altogether isn’t it?  While we have overcome the power, the dominion of sin in our lives .. and its ultimate consequence … we continue to struggle with sin.  On Sunday mornings we may pose for other Christians and give the appearance of having all together spiritually, but every one of us struggles with the flesh and our old nature.  The temptation to sin continues to rise up in our lives.  (1 Corinthians 10:13) “There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to everyone, but, God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond that which you are able to bear and will, with the temptation, make a way to escape.”  Wow!  No matter how I may be tempted there is always a way to escape … to resist.  The question is … “Will I take it or will I submit to the temptation?”  (Psalm 119:11) “Hide the word in my heart” so I won’t sin against God. (Joshua 1:8) “Meditate on the Word … and the you will be successful”  There is a spiritual dynamic that is available to every Christian .. the combination of the Spirit in us and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God … If you neglect the Word of God it is like doing battle unarmed … guess who is going to lose?  Think about it!

No comments: