Whether we want to admit it or not, our present day Christianity has a real dilemma on its hands.
Jesus Himself told us that if we abided in Him, and His words abided in us, we would not fall. but rather receive those things we ask of Him in prayer. And how did Jesus teach us to pray? Are we not to say "...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"
Our word, which we say we believe, every jot and tittle. tells us that if we simply will hold up our shield of faith, believing we are new creatures in Christ, new wineskins, NOW light in the Lord, we will not fall when tempted. This is a promise from the mouth of God Himself. So if we are not experiencing it, the problem is on our end, not His.
John backs up the assertions of complete victory and in truth, and it really bothers some people, for they are convinced that all these promises of overcoming actually mean something else. Thus they are forced to believe that Jesus must have been "Madison Avenuing" Christianity, over promising and underdelivering on the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.
If we actually believe all this "nonsense" about being given power over the enemy in our lives, then we are responsible to walk that way, and that scares the heck out of us and gives us nowhere to hide when we do slip.
Yet, If we are truly noble, like the Bereans were, and search the scriptures whether these things be so, we must conclude they indeed are and it is our take on them that is twisted, not the scriptues themselves.
It is then that the power of God can make itself known because our only hope is to fall down on our faces and tell our God that He is not a man, that he should lie. If He has promised us victory, then by gosh, we want it and will not rest until we find the secret to how to walk in it.
Far better to do this rather than to justify our unbelief by saying "We are only human", thinking this this will excuse us of any need for full obedience, and then looking down our noses on the man in the temple who is truly crushed over His contiunued sin, crying out for a new heart, yerning for full deliverance..
Listen, dear friends, who keeps who from falling? Jesus promised to keep us, amen? So, if we are not finding that to be true in our lives, do we hide behind our "truth" that it is still impossible, keeping our eyes on us, or do we get our eyes off us and onto Him and what He has accomplished and what He has clearly promised.
Of course, in our fleshly efforts, we all know we cannot walk perfect before Him, for part of us is in direct rebellion to our God and this traitor sells us out, justifying our continued sin, when in fact, this is the real purpose of why Christ came to earth. He came to not just forgive, He came to "set the captives free".
And what freedom is He taking about?
"He that commits sin is a Servant to sin, and the servant abides not in the house always."
John 8
So, here we sit, confounded at the word. My take on it is it is always better to err on the side of believing too much rather than too little. Thank you dear brother, for your post, May eyes be opened to the truths of the new wineskins. IIf it is true, as Paul told us, that nothing profits but a new creature, then it behooves all of us to fall on our faces to first, admit that we do NOT possess it and secondly, how we actually can walk in it.
Blessings,
Gideon
and, as John says, when we confess our sins will be forgiven.
