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There is no question we have a sin problem in our modern day Christianity. Some have said that it is impossible to stop and to not be so "sin-conscious". Other on the other end of the spectrum have said that we simply love sin more of than we love our God, and that if we did, we would simply stop.
Both sides are wrong. The word is clear. To those who say "Don't sweat it. Even if we sin, it is no biggie. We have grace!, God says differently. We are commanded to be holy, to offer ourselves up as living sacrifices. We are commanded to mortify the deeds of the flesh, to purify ourselves, to overcome our self and sin loving nature. Make no mistake, willful sin still has great danger for all who give into its allure.
Yet is the answer that we simply do not want victory over sin bad enough, that we love our sin more than our God? If that was true, then would not Paul have been lying in Romans 7? He said "The things I do not want to do I end up doing. The things I want to do, I do not do."
Did Paul genuinely long to stop sinning? You bet he did. Yet he still remained a captive for a time, until His deliverer came and revealed to him the truth, and that truth does what truth does. It sets free. Guys, Romans 8 is our birthright, but we must pass through Romans 7. But therein lies the problem. We are camping in the wilderness, trying to make it feel like home. How few believe that real overcoming is even.possible. It is time we cross Jordan and take what God has prepared for us, a life of joy-filled overcoming. Our promised land awaits.
We as the modern church are far too often found living out our Christianity in Romans 7, knowing nothing of the joy of Romans 8. Multitudes have given up hope of ever escaping the grip of self, and that we will be sinners till the day we die. Hope in real deliverance is waning, yet God said this:
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is the health of my daughter healed only slightly, saying 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace?
God has never willed that we get saved from the penalty of our sins and yet remain captive to our sinful desires. We are told that we have also been delivered from the POWER of darkness, have we not, but who has believed His report? Praise God, all that is about to change.
What we have up till now failed to understand is that even if we are born again, if we remain in our old nature by our unbelief and do not hold up our shield of faith that we are no longer old natured men and that we owe that nature nothing, we will still find great conflict. We will act like old natured beings, blind to the promises God has given us.
There are multitudes that truly do love the Lord, and yet find themselves in that terrible Romans 7 dilemma. Many have fought long and hard against their sins, only to find they are not free indeed at all, but still captives to sins that they both love AND hate. They long to be freed from sin and their self ruled nature, but do not know the way, and the church by and large offers no answers, for the blind are leading the blind and our ministers are overcome by the world and self rule just as much as the laymen. And God weeps.
But what is the answer? Shall we tell people is that they just do not want it badly enough, for if they did, if they loved Jesus more, they would surely simply turn their back on their besetting sins and walk away from them forever? It sounds logical, but it's premise is they we can stop if we want to badly enough. Paul couldn't and neither can we. The way out of Romans 7 is not found in self effort but in looking away from ourselves, with all hope in us ever defeating sin laid on the alter, and crying out for our deliverer to come et us free.
What we find today is that most Christians simply do not know how to be freed. We are told that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but that is the only avenue we know to try, and multitudes have simply quit trying. We fail to understand that our victory is not found in our staunch determination not to sin. It is found in our putting on our new nature,cane finally coming into agreement with out God.
Following that path of trying to wrestle the flesh into submission is one I have been very familiar with for most of my life, and yet to add guilt of not wanting to stop sinning badly enough on top of the self condemnation that all true believers feel when they disobey the Lord will not lead men to freedom, but rather to despair. And it was in that feeling of utter wretchedness, that total despair, that God met me almost ten years ago and showed me the path to an overcoming life. Please understand, what God did for me was not because I was special, but because I finally gave up on ever succeeding in doing it myself and looked to Him to "do it for me", just as He promised in Ezekiel 36. He will do it for any who long to please Himand yet fully realize they cannot, no matter how hard they try.
You see, there is a way to freedom, but it has nothing to do with our determination, or our resolve. These simply lead us to a feeling of wretchedness that Paul himself shared in Romans 7. But Paul cried out in that despair and hatred of the sin that had him.
May I humbly ask? How is it with us? Do we see ourselves as wretched men, longing for deliverance, or have we somehow accepted that Romans 7 is our home, so why not make the best of it? How many there are who have given up the fight, and reluctantly accepted that victory over sin must mean that we still sin, but that we are just forgiven, no matter what. Satan has ripped the word "overcomer" from our theology, from our hearts and minds, because no one has shared with us the way out of our captivity, and it is because of this that the world looks upon us as hypocrites, not as those having the answer they need. We may be light, but how few among us are walking in the light as He is in the light? And can we truly blame them? But praise God, change is coming and our awakening will mean the awakening of millions in the world who are hungry for a Christianity that WORKS.
So what is the way to overcome sin? Is real palpable victory even possible? How do we win the fight against the sins that so easily beset us? Listen! Victory is not only possible, but praise God, it is assured for even the weakest and most sin bound among us. And what is this way?
"And this is the victory that overcome the the world, even our faith."
We all, all of us who love the Lord in sincerity, want to do good, and long to be kind and loving and patient, to exercise self control, and we have all striven to be more like Christ in both our thoughts and our actions, amen? And we have all failed. And why is this? After all, we believe in the power of the blood of our Lord, But we have been up til now blinded to the one major thing God asks of us. He does not ask us to try harder, to be more on fire, to be nicer, or to love Him deeper. What does He ask of us then? He asks us to BELIEVE His promises. He asks us to couple our faith in the blood of Jesus with what it actually accomplished IN US when we were born again. He asks that we couple the blood of the lamb with OUR testimony.... who we believe we are now in Him.
And who are we now? Romans 6 tells us two things we MUST know if we are to escape Romans 7 and become overcomers living in Romans 8. We must know that we are new creatures, not simply forgiven but still fleshly old ones. We.... the old sin-controlled US.. died when Christ died. We died with Him. And just as importantly, we must know deep in our hearts that when Jesus rose in glory on the third day that we rose with him as new natured beings. We are not the same as we were. We have been born again.....like for real. Wow.
So, may I ask you, dear reader. Do we believe that to be true, not in generalities, not in our theology, but inside us... right now.... today? When we are told that sin no longer has power over us, do we rejoice or do we rather shake our heads saying it is the impossible? When Satan comes tempting, do we hold up our shields of faith, fully confident that none of satan's arrow will find their mark? Do we resist our enemy steadfast in the faith that we are now new natured children of God with a Heavenly Father who has promised to keep us from falling? Or do we fall back into our fleshly efforts to not sin in our own strength?
We so easily forget that loving God more, being more kind and patient, not sinning, exercising full self control.... these are NOT our work. They are God's promised work in us, but they are not automatic. His promises to us work as we trust Him to bring these about in our lives. It is always, always, always 'according to our faith be it unto us'. They are fruits of the Spirit abiding in us, and He dwells in us by faith!
We are about to see the church awakened to who we are in Him, really, who we have always been since the day we were born again. Here is truth we can take to the bank.
It is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us.
How amazingly wonderful. Yet because we have not truly believed that, personalized that, made it OUR testimony, even good earnest Christisn children have found sins they despise still clinging to them, ruling over them. We have been like Lazurus coming out from the tomb, resurrected, but still wrapped in the grave clothes of our unbelief. But praise God, a new day is dawning, dear brothers and sisters, and we will soon witness the church awakened, lighting their lamps by the words of their faith filled testimony that they ARE new natured believers, and walking in the light because they believe in that they ARE light! It is coming and it is coming soon. Amazing changes are in our future. Mind blowingly amazing!
For those worn down by the struggle against sin and self, who long to rise up with wings as eagles and become overcomers of the world, the flesh and the devil, take heart. Our God is about to rescue us simply by opening our eyes to what He has already done and how deep and powerful grace really is.
We are new. Right now, today, we ARE new creatures. But God has ordained that it is always "according to our faith be it unto us". We have wallowed long enough in our unbelief. We have limited God by our doubting His ability to free us from the grip of the world, the flesh and the devil. Our time to fly, to have our feet planted firmly on the highway OF holiness, to fully believe our God, is now here. Ready to flex your wings and soar? Our rejoicing is soon to begin.
Blessings,
Gideon
Both sides are wrong. The word is clear. To those who say "Don't sweat it. Even if we sin, it is no biggie. We have grace!, God says differently. We are commanded to be holy, to offer ourselves up as living sacrifices. We are commanded to mortify the deeds of the flesh, to purify ourselves, to overcome our self and sin loving nature. Make no mistake, willful sin still has great danger for all who give into its allure.
Yet is the answer that we simply do not want victory over sin bad enough, that we love our sin more than our God? If that was true, then would not Paul have been lying in Romans 7? He said "The things I do not want to do I end up doing. The things I want to do, I do not do."
Did Paul genuinely long to stop sinning? You bet he did. Yet he still remained a captive for a time, until His deliverer came and revealed to him the truth, and that truth does what truth does. It sets free. Guys, Romans 8 is our birthright, but we must pass through Romans 7. But therein lies the problem. We are camping in the wilderness, trying to make it feel like home. How few believe that real overcoming is even.possible. It is time we cross Jordan and take what God has prepared for us, a life of joy-filled overcoming. Our promised land awaits.
We as the modern church are far too often found living out our Christianity in Romans 7, knowing nothing of the joy of Romans 8. Multitudes have given up hope of ever escaping the grip of self, and that we will be sinners till the day we die. Hope in real deliverance is waning, yet God said this:
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is the health of my daughter healed only slightly, saying 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace?
God has never willed that we get saved from the penalty of our sins and yet remain captive to our sinful desires. We are told that we have also been delivered from the POWER of darkness, have we not, but who has believed His report? Praise God, all that is about to change.
What we have up till now failed to understand is that even if we are born again, if we remain in our old nature by our unbelief and do not hold up our shield of faith that we are no longer old natured men and that we owe that nature nothing, we will still find great conflict. We will act like old natured beings, blind to the promises God has given us.
There are multitudes that truly do love the Lord, and yet find themselves in that terrible Romans 7 dilemma. Many have fought long and hard against their sins, only to find they are not free indeed at all, but still captives to sins that they both love AND hate. They long to be freed from sin and their self ruled nature, but do not know the way, and the church by and large offers no answers, for the blind are leading the blind and our ministers are overcome by the world and self rule just as much as the laymen. And God weeps.
But what is the answer? Shall we tell people is that they just do not want it badly enough, for if they did, if they loved Jesus more, they would surely simply turn their back on their besetting sins and walk away from them forever? It sounds logical, but it's premise is they we can stop if we want to badly enough. Paul couldn't and neither can we. The way out of Romans 7 is not found in self effort but in looking away from ourselves, with all hope in us ever defeating sin laid on the alter, and crying out for our deliverer to come et us free.
What we find today is that most Christians simply do not know how to be freed. We are told that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but that is the only avenue we know to try, and multitudes have simply quit trying. We fail to understand that our victory is not found in our staunch determination not to sin. It is found in our putting on our new nature,cane finally coming into agreement with out God.
Following that path of trying to wrestle the flesh into submission is one I have been very familiar with for most of my life, and yet to add guilt of not wanting to stop sinning badly enough on top of the self condemnation that all true believers feel when they disobey the Lord will not lead men to freedom, but rather to despair. And it was in that feeling of utter wretchedness, that total despair, that God met me almost ten years ago and showed me the path to an overcoming life. Please understand, what God did for me was not because I was special, but because I finally gave up on ever succeeding in doing it myself and looked to Him to "do it for me", just as He promised in Ezekiel 36. He will do it for any who long to please Himand yet fully realize they cannot, no matter how hard they try.
You see, there is a way to freedom, but it has nothing to do with our determination, or our resolve. These simply lead us to a feeling of wretchedness that Paul himself shared in Romans 7. But Paul cried out in that despair and hatred of the sin that had him.
May I humbly ask? How is it with us? Do we see ourselves as wretched men, longing for deliverance, or have we somehow accepted that Romans 7 is our home, so why not make the best of it? How many there are who have given up the fight, and reluctantly accepted that victory over sin must mean that we still sin, but that we are just forgiven, no matter what. Satan has ripped the word "overcomer" from our theology, from our hearts and minds, because no one has shared with us the way out of our captivity, and it is because of this that the world looks upon us as hypocrites, not as those having the answer they need. We may be light, but how few among us are walking in the light as He is in the light? And can we truly blame them? But praise God, change is coming and our awakening will mean the awakening of millions in the world who are hungry for a Christianity that WORKS.
So what is the way to overcome sin? Is real palpable victory even possible? How do we win the fight against the sins that so easily beset us? Listen! Victory is not only possible, but praise God, it is assured for even the weakest and most sin bound among us. And what is this way?
"And this is the victory that overcome the the world, even our faith."
We all, all of us who love the Lord in sincerity, want to do good, and long to be kind and loving and patient, to exercise self control, and we have all striven to be more like Christ in both our thoughts and our actions, amen? And we have all failed. And why is this? After all, we believe in the power of the blood of our Lord, But we have been up til now blinded to the one major thing God asks of us. He does not ask us to try harder, to be more on fire, to be nicer, or to love Him deeper. What does He ask of us then? He asks us to BELIEVE His promises. He asks us to couple our faith in the blood of Jesus with what it actually accomplished IN US when we were born again. He asks that we couple the blood of the lamb with OUR testimony.... who we believe we are now in Him.
And who are we now? Romans 6 tells us two things we MUST know if we are to escape Romans 7 and become overcomers living in Romans 8. We must know that we are new creatures, not simply forgiven but still fleshly old ones. We.... the old sin-controlled US.. died when Christ died. We died with Him. And just as importantly, we must know deep in our hearts that when Jesus rose in glory on the third day that we rose with him as new natured beings. We are not the same as we were. We have been born again.....like for real. Wow.
So, may I ask you, dear reader. Do we believe that to be true, not in generalities, not in our theology, but inside us... right now.... today? When we are told that sin no longer has power over us, do we rejoice or do we rather shake our heads saying it is the impossible? When Satan comes tempting, do we hold up our shields of faith, fully confident that none of satan's arrow will find their mark? Do we resist our enemy steadfast in the faith that we are now new natured children of God with a Heavenly Father who has promised to keep us from falling? Or do we fall back into our fleshly efforts to not sin in our own strength?
We so easily forget that loving God more, being more kind and patient, not sinning, exercising full self control.... these are NOT our work. They are God's promised work in us, but they are not automatic. His promises to us work as we trust Him to bring these about in our lives. It is always, always, always 'according to our faith be it unto us'. They are fruits of the Spirit abiding in us, and He dwells in us by faith!
We are about to see the church awakened to who we are in Him, really, who we have always been since the day we were born again. Here is truth we can take to the bank.
It is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us.
How amazingly wonderful. Yet because we have not truly believed that, personalized that, made it OUR testimony, even good earnest Christisn children have found sins they despise still clinging to them, ruling over them. We have been like Lazurus coming out from the tomb, resurrected, but still wrapped in the grave clothes of our unbelief. But praise God, a new day is dawning, dear brothers and sisters, and we will soon witness the church awakened, lighting their lamps by the words of their faith filled testimony that they ARE new natured believers, and walking in the light because they believe in that they ARE light! It is coming and it is coming soon. Amazing changes are in our future. Mind blowingly amazing!
For those worn down by the struggle against sin and self, who long to rise up with wings as eagles and become overcomers of the world, the flesh and the devil, take heart. Our God is about to rescue us simply by opening our eyes to what He has already done and how deep and powerful grace really is.
We are new. Right now, today, we ARE new creatures. But God has ordained that it is always "according to our faith be it unto us". We have wallowed long enough in our unbelief. We have limited God by our doubting His ability to free us from the grip of the world, the flesh and the devil. Our time to fly, to have our feet planted firmly on the highway OF holiness, to fully believe our God, is now here. Ready to flex your wings and soar? Our rejoicing is soon to begin.
Blessings,
Gideon
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