Temptation LIVING WITHOUT SINNING
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev. 3:21.
Can anyone live without sinning? Yes. Jesus did. Can we? No. Romans 8:7 says the sinful mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned. Until we realize our desperate condition, there is no chance for our presuming to handle the question of living without sinning. We aresinners, and we're going to remain sinners until our nature is changed.
So we come to a strange enigma. Psalm 1:6 says that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Well, we are called righteous because of Jesus. But is that all that's involved? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Jesus was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If that's true, then whatever can be accomplished in our lives in living without sinning is going to be accomplished through connection with Jesus, never independent of Him. So when we ask whether or not anyone can live without sinning, the answer is Yes. One did. His name was Jesus. We can't, apart from Him. There's no way. But we can and must, in connection with Him.
You don't have to read very far into the book of Revelation to find the "he that overcometh" phrases. Overcoming is one of the last things we glimpse as we study the Bible. It is one of the last realities concerning those people who live before Jesus comes.
When Jesus said to the woman that was dragged to Him, "Go, and sin no more," when He said to the man who was healed, "Sin no more," was this idle talk? Couldthey obey His command? Was it possible through His power? Of course!
Let's not get bogged down in trying to figure out who's done it, either. It's none of our business who's don’t it. Trying to decide truth on the basis of who has done it is very dangerous business. Jesus is our example, and it is to Him that we are to look. If we abide in Him as He did in His Father, we will be overcomers, in the same way that He was. It is only in looking to Him, not in looking to others around us, or in looking to our own lives and trying to measure ourselves, that we find victory.
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev. 3:21.
Can anyone live without sinning? Yes. Jesus did. Can we? No. Romans 8:7 says the sinful mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned. Until we realize our desperate condition, there is no chance for our presuming to handle the question of living without sinning. We aresinners, and we're going to remain sinners until our nature is changed.
So we come to a strange enigma. Psalm 1:6 says that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Well, we are called righteous because of Jesus. But is that all that's involved? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Jesus was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If that's true, then whatever can be accomplished in our lives in living without sinning is going to be accomplished through connection with Jesus, never independent of Him. So when we ask whether or not anyone can live without sinning, the answer is Yes. One did. His name was Jesus. We can't, apart from Him. There's no way. But we can and must, in connection with Him.
You don't have to read very far into the book of Revelation to find the "he that overcometh" phrases. Overcoming is one of the last things we glimpse as we study the Bible. It is one of the last realities concerning those people who live before Jesus comes.
When Jesus said to the woman that was dragged to Him, "Go, and sin no more," when He said to the man who was healed, "Sin no more," was this idle talk? Couldthey obey His command? Was it possible through His power? Of course!
Let's not get bogged down in trying to figure out who's done it, either. It's none of our business who's don’t it. Trying to decide truth on the basis of who has done it is very dangerous business. Jesus is our example, and it is to Him that we are to look. If we abide in Him as He did in His Father, we will be overcomers, in the same way that He was. It is only in looking to Him, not in looking to others around us, or in looking to our own lives and trying to measure ourselves, that we find victory.
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