I'll rephrase.
Is there any sin in particular over which you have no power? That you cannot stop yourself from committing?
Much love!
Obedience of you all...
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I'll rephrase.
Is there any sin in particular over which you have no power? That you cannot stop yourself from committing?
Much love!
CoreIssue
Well-Known Member
The formula is simple. You repent and if God accepts it as genuine, you are saved and sanctified to God.
There is no quota system. Once born again doing good works is a natural desire.
CoreIssue
Well-Known Member
That varies for every individual.
Paul talks about every day is spirit wants to the right but his flesh causes him to do wrong.
So you have to examine yourself for your biggest struggles are, just as I and others have to.
For myself . . . I've stolen things, I've lied, I've coveted, I could go on. Let's take stealing. I've stole.
But now, as a born again Christian, a new creature, do I have to steal? Or can I refuse to steal?
What advantage do I have over the person I was before I came to Christ?
I realize that it may be that this is one of my more serious temptations, and may be an overwhelming desire of my flesh. But does that mean I have to give in to it? Or can I refuse? (Arbitrary example given for tameness)
Much love!
Mark
And this being the case, are there any good works that God wants you to do that you cannot do?
Much love!
mark
CoreIssue
Well-Known Member
Never lied or thought a sinful thought? Never doubted God ever spoke unjustly to someone?
Of course you have. We all have.
CoreIssue
Well-Known Member
God never puts us in a place that we cannot handle. Which brings up another problem for humans, in that we fail to handle many things.
I've already said I've lied, stolen, I've been a drunk, I've . . .
Yes. I freely admit that.
Let's take drinking. I was drunk for about 10 years, earlier in my life. At the time it seemed unbreakable. Even though it seemed to have such power against me, does that mean I have to get drunk? I don't believe that I do.
I don't see that the perceived power of a temptation has any bearing on whether or not we have to commit that sin.
In fact, God promises that every temptation has its "way out". I like the Greek understanding there, it's like a landing place, a safe shore to escape the sea. The wording is that each temptation has some desired outcome built into it.
I think that outcome is, perhaps among other things, the increase of self-control as we deny that sin. Maybe a greater understanding of how this world is. Or how our flesh is. Greater understanding of God. Greater love for others. Being holy. These are what I think God wants.
I don't think that what God wants is for us to yield to the temptation to sin, and commit that sin.
So if I'm tempted to get drunk, is it because God wants me to commit sin in drunkenness? Of course it isn't.
If it is so that I don't get drunk in the face of the temptation to get drunk, then this is what God wants.
And if it is God Who sanctifies me, then God gives me the power to not get drunk, even if I'm tempted to.
Will He ever fail me?
Much love!
Mark
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CoreIssue
Well-Known Member
Sorry I misunderstood.
If you're born again you will make it. You will learn and grow.
Every time I think I have nothing else To learn I learned something else.
God strengthens our spirits But we are still stuck with her flesh. So it is a constant struggle that will not end until death and resurrection.
So don't get down because were all in the same boat. But God is with us the whole way. He will never fail you.
Just remember he doesn't his way for his reasons.
Hi CoreIssue,
To me, this is a core issue!
I fully believe that God will never fail me, and never leave me. I base my life on those facts. And because I believe those to be true, I also believe it is possible to live a life without God failing me.If God sanctifies me, and He does,
and He is always with me, and He is,
and He will never fail me, and He won't,
then can it not be that He can always sanctify me?
Much love!
Mark
Can we be sanctified to the point that we are no longer violating any of the commandments and/or virtues that are exemplified in the word of the Lord?
I look at sanctification as a "now" thing, although as I increase in self-control, those now moments string together longer.
We don't look behind us. We look ahead, upward, to Jesus. Our sins our gone, and our memory of them is of the past.
If we are sinning now the simple answer is to stop, and it immediately becomes past.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus . . . and let His freedom and love and joy and peace enfold you. Sins of the past won't matter. Sins of the future . . . well, the moment is that I'm living in Jesus, and He's living in me, and in this is no sin.
Much love!
Mark
What if it s God's aim to make us fit for the kingdom of heaven in our spirits (in this life) so that when we receive our glorified bodes, there will be no spiritual sin that would corrupt that work?
2 Corinthians 5:17-18
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
Is that so?
Much love!
Mark
I believe our resurrection is defined by Paul, the corruptible must put on incorruption. When that time comes we become impeccable. In the meantime, we still have the opportunity to sin, though we need not. We are free from sin.
I believe there is a reason for the expression, "the deceiptful lusts of the flesh". Our flesh lies to us. You have to do this! You want to! You can't stop me! You've never been able to stop me! All the lies the flesh tells us. But just that, lies.
Much love!
mark
I believe there is a reason for the expression, "the deceiptful lusts of the flesh". Our flesh lies to us. You have to do this! You want to! You can't stop me! You've never been able to stop me! All the lies the flesh tells us. But just that, lies.
Much love!
mark
I believe that Romans 8:23, with Galatians 4:5-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and Hebrews 9:13-14, Romans 6:6, Colossians 2:11, 1 John 1:7, Ephesians 5:30-32 w/ 1 John 3:5, and perhaps a few other passages, speak of the fact that we can be redeemed in our bodies in this life; and that we do not have to wait for the return of the Lord to be purified spirit and soul and body. Also 1 John 3:3.
Paul to the Romans mentions 'the obedience of faith' and 'obedience to the faith' at the beginning and the end of the Epistle.
Hello @farouk,
Yes, in Romans 1:5 and 16:26, 'obedience to the faith' and 'the obedience of faith' - means 'faith-obedience'.
Praise God!
In Christ Jesus
Chris
Jhn 8:1, Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
Jhn 8:2, And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Jhn 8:3, And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Jhn 8:4, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Jhn 8:5, Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
Jhn 8:6, This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Jhn 8:7, So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Jhn 8:8, And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Jhn 8:9, And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
I find that the older I become, the more I realize that I am a sinner before the Lord.
There was a progression in Paul's life concerning his attitude over how successful he was at overcoming sin from his own perspective:
1Co 4:4, For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
to:
1Co 15:9, For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
to:
Eph 3:8, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
to:
1Ti 1:15, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Now Paul also taught that sanctification was a process in which the believer becomes more like Christ over a period of time.
But the holier Paul got, and as time progressed, the more of a sinner he considered himself to be. He kept becoming less in his own sight the longer he was a believer in Christ.
I find that this is an interesting paradox in the Christian life.
It should be clear that we are not redeemed by living perfect lives:
Rom 3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24, Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Gal 3:22, But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 6:13, For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
1Jo 3:4, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
(If those who were sticklers for the law couldn't keep it and were sinners; how much more shall we, who know that we are not under the law and who are not seeking to obey the law, fail to keep it perfectly?
Of course, a case can be made that a person who is not trying to keep the law will be more apt to fulfill it. It is written,
Gal 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
and,
Rom 9:30, What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
Rom 9:31, But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.)
I have a tendency to go back and forth on this issue as I each time say to myself that I am going to pick myself up by my bootstraps and do better this time. But there are certain things in my flesh that are besetting in my life; and I find that even when I seek to lay hold of God's strength, I fail.
Does this mean I should give up; and no longer seek to live a holy life? No; but in recognizing that I am a sinner before the Lord I have begun to find a freedom of knowing that the pressure is off and that I am not condemned even though my performance isn't perfect as concerning the way that I live as a believer.
I find that the Holy Spirit reveals even more to me how much of a sinner I am: the closer to Him I get, the more He reveals to me the nature of who I am in the flesh. And as others say of me, "he is becoming more Christ-like" I find that in my personal view of myself I am thinking of myself as more and more of a sinner.
I begin to double down and try to live more holy at certain times in my life; but I am not certain that this is the solution. Realizing that I am a sinner saved by grace is the most freeing thing for me as I am no longer in bondage to the law, but out of gratitude to Christ for His forgiveness, I seek to obey the Holy Spirit in my life and find that I am not under condemnation because His blood was shed for me.
Jhn 8:2, And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Jhn 8:3, And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Jhn 8:4, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Jhn 8:5, Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
Jhn 8:6, This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Jhn 8:7, So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Jhn 8:8, And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Jhn 8:9, And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
I find that the older I become, the more I realize that I am a sinner before the Lord.
There was a progression in Paul's life concerning his attitude over how successful he was at overcoming sin from his own perspective:
1Co 4:4, For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
to:
1Co 15:9, For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
to:
Eph 3:8, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
to:
1Ti 1:15, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Now Paul also taught that sanctification was a process in which the believer becomes more like Christ over a period of time.
But the holier Paul got, and as time progressed, the more of a sinner he considered himself to be. He kept becoming less in his own sight the longer he was a believer in Christ.
I find that this is an interesting paradox in the Christian life.
It should be clear that we are not redeemed by living perfect lives:
Rom 3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24, Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Gal 3:22, But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 6:13, For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
1Jo 3:4, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
(If those who were sticklers for the law couldn't keep it and were sinners; how much more shall we, who know that we are not under the law and who are not seeking to obey the law, fail to keep it perfectly?
Of course, a case can be made that a person who is not trying to keep the law will be more apt to fulfill it. It is written,
Gal 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
and,
Rom 9:30, What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
Rom 9:31, But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.)
I have a tendency to go back and forth on this issue as I each time say to myself that I am going to pick myself up by my bootstraps and do better this time. But there are certain things in my flesh that are besetting in my life; and I find that even when I seek to lay hold of God's strength, I fail.
Does this mean I should give up; and no longer seek to live a holy life? No; but in recognizing that I am a sinner before the Lord I have begun to find a freedom of knowing that the pressure is off and that I am not condemned even though my performance isn't perfect as concerning the way that I live as a believer.
I find that the Holy Spirit reveals even more to me how much of a sinner I am: the closer to Him I get, the more He reveals to me the nature of who I am in the flesh. And as others say of me, "he is becoming more Christ-like" I find that in my personal view of myself I am thinking of myself as more and more of a sinner.
I begin to double down and try to live more holy at certain times in my life; but I am not certain that this is the solution. Realizing that I am a sinner saved by grace is the most freeing thing for me as I am no longer in bondage to the law, but out of gratitude to Christ for His forgiveness, I seek to obey the Holy Spirit in my life and find that I am not under condemnation because His blood was shed for me.
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