07/17/2021
Is there a particular sin or temptation that you struggle with, and that sometimes makes you feel helpless? Do you feel weak in its presence, and each time you think that you have finally conquered it, it rises up to knock you down again? Well, as Christians we are not meant to ride a rollercoaster of sin, forgiveness, grace, and then sin again. No, In Christ we have received His complete dominance over all sin, if we will only claim it by faith. As Christians we know that sin is always waiting in the wings, but if we focus on Christ and the abundant grace He provides us, then our peripheral vision will narrow with each passing day until at last we will be free of temptation, and see our sin no more.
“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:17 ESV
We gain so much encouragement from knowing that Jesus has conquered the world, and given us victory over the tribulation we face there. This reassurance that our suffering will be relieved gives us hope when we are in pain that our torment will end…
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””
John 16:33 ESV
Well, just like Jesus has conquered the physical world, He has also defeated sin which isn’t so much a physical malady, but a mental and spiritual one that merely manifests itself physically. Our sin doesn’t begin with an action, but as a sliver of temptation within our hearts and minds… then grows and erupts into the physical world like a boil that rises up, aches, causes us pain, and ruptures to spew forth its foul puss. Boils don’t begin on the surface of someone’s skin, but inside them. Sin too begins within us. Listen as Jesus expounds upon this…
“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.””
Mark 7:21-23 ESV
Yet in Jesus we have received total victory over sin… not just its symptoms and manifestations, but the deeply engrained core of it that begins in our hearts and minds. We often pray that we will not commit a sin, or will be forgiven the action of a sin we have already committed, but the real prayer should be for help at the moment of sin’s conception; at the instant of our very first inkling of temptation. We should pray that that the heart of sin be removed from us before it can reach maturity. When a particular sin erupts time and time again we haven’t accepted the promise as it was offered; Jesus defeats sin entirely, and not it’s manifestation alone, and in so doing He took our sin into His body. He defeated the very heart of our sin… not just it’s outward signs.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
1 Peter 2:24 ESV
Are we ready for the surgery that Jesus desires to perform on us? Are we ready for Him to remove, once and for all, the root of sin from within us? Or, are we reluctant to face the scalpel, and desire only the topical ointment that we keep spreading on ourselves to treat the symptoms of sin?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus to not only treat the outward manifestations of our sin, but to heal us entirely by removing the deep seated root of it. Thank you Holy Father for our total transformation in Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who desires us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. You are merciful Lord, and cleanse not only our body, but all of these as well, so that we can be righteous in all ways, and love you perfectly. Your grace abounds Father and protects us against all temptation and evil. We are indeed weak, and need you, Jesus, and your Holy Spirit, every moment of every day to stave of the tiny seeds of temptation that fall upon us, and seek to take root in us. Help us Father by washing us in the blood of Jesus so that we can stand before you righteous, and free of sin; not just in remission, but entirely without sin.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV
“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
James 1:14-18 ESV
Rich Forbes