Do Christians Have Power Over Sin?

[Heartland]

I know several reborn christians that still have faith in Jesus and go to church but have fallen away a bit in their relationship to Him, not being as devoted as they were before, but not to the point of rejecting him in their lives.

While others, like myself, who believe to be reborn christians and have the Holy Spirit, struggled with old sin nature and passions and desires in our lives.

So.....you can see I am very disturbed by what I saw. I don't want to do anything what I've been doing anymore....even though I've struggled since the beginning to completely put some old passions and desires behind me. I truly don't want to do what I've been doing anymore....

So you can see....why I'm disturbed....

If you have saved yourself then yes, you should be greatly disturbed. However, if it was Jesus that saved you then gaze into the eyes of Love and explain to Him why you put so much value on your own actions. Explain to Him why you think His death is insufficient. Explain to Him why you think He is so inept that He somehow didn't know everything you would ever do before He mistakenly died in your place? Look into His eyes my friend and you are repented.

 

[LeadWorship]

Playing the devils advocate here:

So you are saying that my great gandpappy who was a missionary to Zimbabwe Africa for 54 years, and died at the hands of the Ugabe tribe for telling them about Jesus, wasn't 100% submitted to God?

No, only God knows that. It is possible to be sinless, by sacrificing 100% of your fleshly desires and doing God's perfect will. With God all things are possible.

Impossible for man, but if we are totally surrendered to God's Spirit then it is possible!

Exactly! Someone finally countered by "statement".

You have a misunderstanding of the word "struggle". To struggle means to fight violently against. How much blood have you lost struggling against sin? Let me guess...I bet not even a scratch, am I right?

Not this arguement again. Dude, give it up. Words have multiple meanings. Once you learn to accept that you'll be better for it.

 

[Heartland]

No, only God knows that. It is possible to be sinless, by sacrificing 100% of your fleshly desires and doing God's perfect will. With God all things are possible.



Exactly! Someone finally countered by "statement".



Not this arguement again. Dude, give it up. Words have multiple meanings. Once you learn to accept that you'll be better for it.

If God needed your "sacrifice", then why give His Son at all? The only covenant that satisfies is the covenant that God made with Himself. Nothing adds to that but ego, and that always falls away from God, not towards Him.

 

[LeadWorship]

If God needed your "sacrifice", then why give His Son at all? The only covenant that satisfies is the covenant that God made with Himself. Nothing adds to that but ego, and that always falls away from God, not towards Him.

C'mon. Let's keep splitting hairs, eh? Let me reword it for those who can't see past the surface:

No, only God knows that. It is possible to be sinless, by submitting 100% to God, and denying all of your fleshly desires, and doing God's perfect will. With God all things are possible.

Better now?

 

[Heartland]

C'mon. Let's keep splitting hairs, eh? Let me reword it for those who can't see past the surface:

No, only God knows that. It is possible to be sinless, by submitting 100% to God, and denying all of your fleshly desires, and doing God's perfect will. With God all things are possible.

Better now?

Not at all. Why? Because everything you said depends upon nothing but you. As long as you are in charge, as long as you are doing the deed, then it's OK if you are considered "sinless"? Get "you" out of the way, and then maybe we can talk....LOL

 

[holo]

You have a misunderstanding of the word "struggle". To struggle means to fight violently against. How much blood have you lost struggling against sin? Let me guess...I bet not even a scratch, am I right? What you need to do is first accept the idea that you have not really struggled yet to resist sinning. When you go at it with that kind of will and determination to " ...do not give into sins desires..." and "...do not let sin..." (Rom 6:12) then you will stop sinning.

As for your friends, if a person does not show a total one time commitment to serve God instead of sin then I would question their conversion according to Rom 6:13.

So don't be disturbed at what the Bible says.

Have you stopped sinning yet? Could you mention some sins you have conquered?

The thing is, Jesus didn't say "come to me and I will give you work," he said "come to me and I will give you rest."

The battle belongs to the Lord, not to us. Our victory is a gift. But when people are "struggling against sin" they are usually only beating themselves up. And when you're fighting against yourself, the only person who can lose is you. Victory over sin comes by trusting in Christ, not by self-discipline. Self-discipline, by the way, is a fruit of the spirit, not a result of your willpower.

The HARD thing is to STOP trying to make it on our own. If victory over sin wasn't a gift, we wouldn't need Christ in the first place.

It reminds me of this idea of "re-dedication" that many preachers are talking about. I've never once seen it work. Either people will come back to "re-dedicate" themselves or "take a stand for Christ" week after week, or they'll give up and leave it all. A few of them fool themselves into thinking they have actually defeated themselves, but in reality they have only replaced for example porn with pride, and then go on telling others to do like they just did - replacing the power of Christ with their own power.

 

[holo]

I feel like a wretched person.....

It's ironic. I consider myself to be reborn and have the Holy Spirit, but have given in to my old sin nature ever since I became aware that it wasn't good....

Yes, do you see a connection there?

Ever since you sa that it wasn't good, you've been giving in to it. A perfect example of how the commandment is the power of sin. You see something forbidden, and BAM! sin comes and takes advantage of that commandment and uses it to trap you.

That's why you need to get out of this "sin consciousness" and over into "Christ consciousness." Instead of looking at sin and the world and yourself, look at Jesus. Simply behold Him. Pay no mind to yourself or any fault you may find there, because He IS perfection, and the more you look on HIS perfection, the more perfect you will become, too.

Do like Peter who walked on the water. Surely Peter knew that every natural law, and even his own experience, undoubtedly would have him sink. Come on, we all know that a man simply can not walk on water. You can say whatever you like - a man is a man and water is water, and that's just the way it IS. Isn't it?

No. Because even though it is a fact that a man can not walk on water, there was a Greater Truth there - Christ.

Jesus Christ IS the truth.

And that's the truth Peter saw, and that's the truth that made all the other facts, even physical laws, seem like poor jokes.

You're not a wretched person, John. Not at all. If you see yourself as one, it's because you're looking somewhere else than Jesus. The TRUTH is that you are in Christ, and the TRUTH is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. If there is no condemnation for you, why do you keep condemning yourself?

You are FREE. Instead of trying to become free, you just need to realise that you are already free, and that includes the freedom to act as the free person that you are. You don't have to worry about your righteousness, because Jesus IS your righteousness.

 

[holo]

If you are feeling accused, know that the accuser is no other than the devil.

And if the accuser is the devil, know that he is a LIAR. Satan has never told the truth about anyone.

Christ, on the other hand, is your lawyer. He will defend you, not because you're good, but because that's His "job." It's an assignment He Himself has chosen to take. It has nothing to do with what you do or even who you are, it's all about who HE is.

Christ is your lawyer, your redemtion, your righteousness, your hope, your sanctification, He is Life, He is Truth, He is the way.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Did you ever have problems with the kind of things I told you over PM before you got married?

No, because I had the idea that sort of thing would take away my drive and aggressiveness to find my dream girl. Instead, I hit the free weights and pumped iron every chance I could for years with all that energy. I had a thin frame with 16" arms when I met her at age 20.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Not this arguement again. Dude, give it up. Words have multiple meanings. Once you learn to accept that you'll be better for it.

I remember you! You're they guy who defines struggle as cry with tears about it. Tell me what authority defines struggle as being a cry baby because you sinned?

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Not at all. Why? Because everything you said depends upon nothing but you. As long as you are in charge, as long as you are doing the deed, then it's OK if you are considered "sinless"? Get "you" out of the way, and then maybe we can talk....LOL

The Bible tells us to stop sinning in the imperative tense. That means it is up to the individual to do something to stop sinning.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Have you stopped sinning yet? Could you mention some sins you have conquered?

The thing is, Jesus didn't say "come to me and I will give you work," he said "come to me and I will give you rest."

The battle belongs to the Lord, not to us. Our victory is a gift. But when people are "struggling against sin" they are usually only beating themselves up. And when you're fighting against yourself, the only person who can lose is you. Victory over sin comes by trusting in Christ, not by self-discipline. Self-discipline, by the way, is a fruit of the spirit, not a result of your willpower.

The HARD thing is to STOP trying to make it on our own. If victory over sin wasn't a gift, we wouldn't need Christ in the first place.

It reminds me of this idea of "re-dedication" that many preachers are talking about. I've never once seen it work. Either people will come back to "re-dedicate" themselves or "take a stand for Christ" week after week, or they'll give up and leave it all. A few of them fool themselves into thinking they have actually defeated themselves, but in reality they have only replaced for example porn with pride, and then go on telling others to do like they just did - replacing the power of Christ with their own power.

You need to take the context and read that Jesus' rest is also a burden. You have to read the whole Bible holo and if you do it tells us in many places we have to resist sinning: Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)
Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Yes, do you see a connection there?

Ever since you sa that it wasn't good, you've been giving in to it. A perfect example of how the commandment is the power of sin. You see something forbidden, and BAM! sin comes and takes advantage of that commandment and uses it to trap you.

That's why you need to get out of this "sin consciousness" and over into "Christ consciousness." Instead of looking at sin and the world and yourself, look at Jesus. Simply behold Him. Pay no mind to yourself or any fault you may find there, because He IS perfection, and the more you look on HIS perfection, the more perfect you will become, too.

Do like Peter who walked on the water. Surely Peter knew that every natural law, and even his own experience, undoubtedly would have him sink. Come on, we all know that a man simply can not walk on water. You can say whatever you like - a man is a man and water is water, and that's just the way it IS. Isn't it?

No. Because even though it is a fact that a man can not walk on water, there was a Greater Truth there - Christ.

Jesus Christ IS the truth.

And that's the truth Peter saw, and that's the truth that made all the other facts, even physical laws, seem like poor jokes.

You're not a wretched person, John. Not at all. If you see yourself as one, it's because you're looking somewhere else than Jesus. The TRUTH is that you are in Christ, and the TRUTH is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. If there is no condemnation for you, why do you keep condemning yourself?

You are FREE. Instead of trying to become free, you just need to realise that you are already free, and that includes the freedom to act as the free person that you are. You don't have to worry about your righteousness, because Jesus IS your righteousness.

You are preaching Christian Science. The Bible nowhere tells us to deny the existence of anything let a lone sinning. I have already shown in Romans that we are to not let sin have it's way by not letting it use our bodies. Nowhere does the Bible tell us to only think about Jesus and deny the reality of problems.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

If you are feeling accused, know that the accuser is no other than the devil.

And if the accuser is the devil, know that he is a LIAR. Satan has never told the truth about anyone.

Christ, on the other hand, is your lawyer. He will defend you, not because you're good, but because that's His "job." It's an assignment He Himself has chosen to take. It has nothing to do with what you do or even who you are, it's all about who HE is.

Christ is your lawyer, your redemtion, your righteousness, your hope, your sanctification, He is Life, He is Truth, He is the way.

Feelings of guilt for doing wrong things come from the Holy Spirit and the persons conscience, not the devil. IMO you are telling people how to shipwreck their faith 1 Tim. 1:19 (NLT)
Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.

 

[Heartland]

If you are feeling accused, know that the accuser is no other than the devil.

And if the accuser is the devil, know that he is a LIAR. Satan has never told the truth about anyone.

Christ, on the other hand, is your lawyer. He will defend you, not because you're good, but because that's His "job." It's an assignment He Himself has chosen to take. It has nothing to do with what you do or even who you are, it's all about who HE is.

Christ is your lawyer, your redemtion, your righteousness, your hope, your sanctification, He is Life, He is Truth, He is the way.

Good post.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Good post.

If that is a good post then tell me where does the Bible say we will "feel" the devil accuse us?

 

[holo]

The Bible tells us to stop sinning in the imperative tense. That means it is up to the individual to do something to stop sinning.

Yes, and what we DO is to repent; to turn FROM ourselves TO Christ. FROM our ability TO HIS ability.

 

[Heartland]

If that is a good post then tell me where does the Bible say we will "feel" the devil accuse us?

Surely you can come up with a better attack than that!...LOL

 

[holo]

You need to take the context and read that Jesus' rest is also a burden. You have to read the whole Bible holo and if you do it tells us in many places we have to resist sinning: Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)
Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."

I guess it's telling that you choose to accentuate the "burden" part instead of the "light" part.

It's not much of a burden, really. It's certainly much lighter than the yoke of trying to force ourselves to change, as you seem to be suggesting. The burden HE gives us is LIGHT. The burden christianity gives us, is so heavy that only hypocrites believe they actually bear it...

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Yes, and what we DO is to repent; to turn FROM ourselves TO Christ. FROM our ability TO HIS ability.

That is not what it says. It says DO NOT LET...DO NOT GIVE IN TO... Romans 6:12-13 (NLT)
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. [13] Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.