Temptation ULTIMATE VICTORY NOW
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Rom. 8:37.
When we talk about the obedience of faith, we are not talking about an effortless life. We are talking about effort that comes naturally, instead of forced. We should be afraid of a religion that simply sits and waits and does nothing. There was a group of people known as Quietists who were legitimately charged with that. They expected God to do everything. But there is something that God cannot do for us. He cannot respond to Himself for us. We have to respond to Him ourselves. This is the way we cooperate with Him.
Some of us have had the idea that we will spend most of our lives struggling and fighting and gritting our teeth in an attempt to refrain from sin, and that somewhere down at the end of our Christian life, just before we die, we will find our efforts rewarded by no longer having sin appealing to us. But it is good news that this ultimate victory is available now.
When I was a teen-ager, I thought that probably by the time I reached my 20's, I would be experiencing this sort of victory. Late in my 20's, I decided that it must happen in my 30's. But toward the end of my 30's. I was still flunking the course. And I moved it ahead to my 40's. I wouldn't want to tell you where I've had to move it now! But does the experience of being a new creature in Christ have to wait? Do we have to wait until we are so old that we couldn't sin anymore if we wanted to, because we are too feeble? Do we believe in righteousness by senility?
I've had grandmothers and grandfathers tell me that they are still looking for allthings to become new. Age is not the determining factor. The thing that makes the difference between the old and the new is being in Christ. That is the big if--"If any man be in Christ."
At any time we are in Christ, in relationship with Him and in dependence upon His power, we will be new creatures. It is when we leave the dependent relationship with Jesus, and try to manage our own affairs, that we lose the battle with Satan and fall and fail. But to be in Christ is the privilege of each one today, so long as we depend upon Christ's power.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Rom. 8:37.
When we talk about the obedience of faith, we are not talking about an effortless life. We are talking about effort that comes naturally, instead of forced. We should be afraid of a religion that simply sits and waits and does nothing. There was a group of people known as Quietists who were legitimately charged with that. They expected God to do everything. But there is something that God cannot do for us. He cannot respond to Himself for us. We have to respond to Him ourselves. This is the way we cooperate with Him.
Some of us have had the idea that we will spend most of our lives struggling and fighting and gritting our teeth in an attempt to refrain from sin, and that somewhere down at the end of our Christian life, just before we die, we will find our efforts rewarded by no longer having sin appealing to us. But it is good news that this ultimate victory is available now.
When I was a teen-ager, I thought that probably by the time I reached my 20's, I would be experiencing this sort of victory. Late in my 20's, I decided that it must happen in my 30's. But toward the end of my 30's. I was still flunking the course. And I moved it ahead to my 40's. I wouldn't want to tell you where I've had to move it now! But does the experience of being a new creature in Christ have to wait? Do we have to wait until we are so old that we couldn't sin anymore if we wanted to, because we are too feeble? Do we believe in righteousness by senility?
I've had grandmothers and grandfathers tell me that they are still looking for allthings to become new. Age is not the determining factor. The thing that makes the difference between the old and the new is being in Christ. That is the big if--"If any man be in Christ."
At any time we are in Christ, in relationship with Him and in dependence upon His power, we will be new creatures. It is when we leave the dependent relationship with Jesus, and try to manage our own affairs, that we lose the battle with Satan and fall and fail. But to be in Christ is the privilege of each one today, so long as we depend upon Christ's power.
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