I Corinthians 10:13,
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Knowing this, why would a Christian not take the way of escape? Some may say, “I have never seen the way of escape when I am tempted to sin.” If this is true, you have not been abiding in Jesus, for the way of escape is found in Him. He is always interceding for us, and ready to come to our aid when we are tempted. We need only abide in Him, and He will keep us free from the slavery to sin. That is why He appeared, to take away sins, 1 John 3:5.
Many like to make much about past, present and future sins being forgiven, but that is not correct; for just as believing in Jesus produces faith, and faith produces works, so it is that belief and faith produce walking by the Spirit, and the Spirit leads us in the works that God has prepared beforehand for us to accomplish.
God deals with each of us in the state we are in. He knows the thoughts and intentions of each heart, so to plead the blood and keep sinning is not going to fool Him. He knows if we are after His heart or not. He knows if we are hot, or cold, or lukewarm. Please note that if we are even lukewarm, we may soon find ourselves vomited out of the kingdom, Revelation 4:16. It is imperative that we submit to the Lord’s discipline, and learn from it.
Each member comes into the church as an infant child, and is trained up in the way he, or she, should go. This training involves quite a bit of suffering to overcome temptation, through which we learn to deny ourselves and obey the Lord. But as it is with all children, learning obedience is sometimes a tedious process. The Lord is well aware of this, and He has provided for it.
If during the process we should happen to give in to temptation and sin, we have an Advocate with the Father who was tempted in all things as we are, and His understanding is beyond comprehension. If we are faithful to confess our sin, He will most assuredly forgive us, after which He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Father will continue to discipline us, and we will continue on the course to learn obedience.
1 John 2:1,
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
The goal is to grow to a mature Christian, and as earthly fathers work to discipline their children, so also our heavenly Father works to discipline us, that we might grow up and share His holiness.
Hebrews 12:4-11,
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it,afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
From verse 4 we can see that we are to strive against sin. For He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, Colossians 1:13. If we have really been transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of the beloved Son of God, should we still walk as if we’re still in the domain of darkness? Absolutely not! We are to strive against sin! And we are to learn obedience through that striving, that we may be partakers of God’s divine nature and of His holiness.
To say Christians will always sin is to say we will never grow up, we will never learn obedience, and we will never attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ, Ephesians 4:13. It also implies that Jesus is an imperfect Savior, because you are saying He doesn’t take away sins, which is why He came to earth; You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin, 1 John 3:5.
Every time we are tempted to commit a sin, we must submit to the Lord, and resist the devil. The word is true, the devil will flee from us. To resist temptation like this, and win, is a huge blow to the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. They are literally in opposition to one another. So, each time we overcome the sin of the flesh, we are laying aside the old and putting on the new, that is, Jesus Christ, the hope of glory.
Hebrews 5:9 says, And having been made perfect, He [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. And what does He say about those who do NOT obey Him? “I will declare to them, I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS,” Matthew 7:23.
May we all grow together learning obedience, that we might partake of our heavenly Father’s holiness, and behave as those chosen by God.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
jondavidbanks.com 