Fellowship of The Cross Church
The Christian and... "SIN"
The power of the sin nature is broken when one is saved by God's grace through faith in the precious Blood of Christ on the CROSS.
However... every Christian inevitably goes through a "Romans chpt. 7" experience as he tries through the "flesh" (his own abilities, effort, regimens, etc.) to please God (which God cannot accept). He demands that our faith be exclusively in the finished Work of His Son on the CROSS: His Blood Sacrifice, not in our performance of do's and don'ts and methods and regimens! So He allows us to fail, to... sin, so that we will RETURN to what got us saved in the beginning: faith in Christ and the Cross; However, this takes us hearing the correct Word being preached, and our FREE WILL plus HUMILITY (for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble). It is proud and arrogant for any Christian or a minister to declare that he does not sin and that he has impeccable moral character, simply because he does not commit the "big 5" sins of sexual immorality, drinking, smoking, drugs, and gambling.... for there are far MORE sins which are just as repulsive in the sight of God! There are sins of passion, but also sins of.... PRIDE, which are not only DAMNABLE, but also BLINDING. Such a mind-set leads to SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, which filled the religious leaders of Jesus's day, and led them to a jealousy and hatred which sent Him to be crucified!
A Christian must indeed hate and abhor sinning, and must, according to the scriptures, CONFESS AND REPENT of any sins he commits; But he cannot break any sin habits through a "greater will-power" or by simply believing his ability to "just say no" is automatic because he is now saved. The "sin nature" is stimulated to revive whenever the Christian resorts to "law". This term "law" not only refers to us trying to keep the ten commandments, but also refers to PRAYING more, READING THE BIBLE more, FASTING more, DOING MORE IN THE CHURCH.... It could be a hundred different things; But the common denominator is that the focus/a faith is upon "Me and what I need to do", rather than a focus/ a faith upon "CHRIST and what He has ALREADY DONE... on the CROSS"! We are "overcomers" not by us trying to be overcomers through the things we DO or AVOID; We are ALREADY overcomers through FAITH in what Christ has ALREADY DONE in His FINISHED WORK on the Cross! Halellujah!!!! THIS is the only way sin habits in a Christian's life can be broken; NOT by performing "punishments" meted out by religious church officials. We have all heard about the many scandals that have occurred in the lives of evangelists, pastors, and church leaders in general. To just say... "they just WANTED to do it", or "they were never Christians to BEGIN with.".... is greatly erroneus in most cases. Although some of these men truly were scoundrels, many others of them honestly wanted to please God, and were HEART-BROKEN over their failures! And the same applies to many Christians in general; They are living lives of defeat and struggle trying to lead a life that pleases God, but cannot because they do not know ...HOW! Many of these people end up saying..."What's the USE?", and end up quitting altogether, thinking "THIS IS... TOO HARD! ALL MY FORMER FRIENDS ARE HAVING A BLAST SINNING, AND HERE I AM LEADING A MISERABLE DEFEATED UNHAPPY LIFE!"
There is HOPE for the sincere, humble Christian who truly wants to please God, but who finds himself bound by a habit of (the) sin (nature). It is in placing his complete trust in the only One Who DID please God.... COMPLETELY: Jesus Christ, and in His Blood Sacrifice on the Cross. If the Christian then finds himself falling into sin again, he confesses that sin... again, and places his faith NOT in his "trying harder"; But in what got him saved at the beginning: faith in JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. Over time, that sin habit will be completely and totally.... GONE! Halellujah!! If certain "Christians" and ministers point a bony finger at him, they have FOUR BONY FINGERS POINTING RIGHT BACK AT... THEM! (The last time I checked, only GOD was on the Trinity!). Any one who trusts in his OWN righteousness is NOT pleasing to God, for He sees that as "filthy rags"; The only "Righteousness" He recognizes is that of His SON, which is freely imputed to us by His GRACE though our faith in HIS BLOOD SACRIFICE, not OUR WORKS.
However... every Christian inevitably goes through a "Romans chpt. 7" experience as he tries through the "flesh" (his own abilities, effort, regimens, etc.) to please God (which God cannot accept). He demands that our faith be exclusively in the finished Work of His Son on the CROSS: His Blood Sacrifice, not in our performance of do's and don'ts and methods and regimens! So He allows us to fail, to... sin, so that we will RETURN to what got us saved in the beginning: faith in Christ and the Cross; However, this takes us hearing the correct Word being preached, and our FREE WILL plus HUMILITY (for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble). It is proud and arrogant for any Christian or a minister to declare that he does not sin and that he has impeccable moral character, simply because he does not commit the "big 5" sins of sexual immorality, drinking, smoking, drugs, and gambling.... for there are far MORE sins which are just as repulsive in the sight of God! There are sins of passion, but also sins of.... PRIDE, which are not only DAMNABLE, but also BLINDING. Such a mind-set leads to SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, which filled the religious leaders of Jesus's day, and led them to a jealousy and hatred which sent Him to be crucified!
A Christian must indeed hate and abhor sinning, and must, according to the scriptures, CONFESS AND REPENT of any sins he commits; But he cannot break any sin habits through a "greater will-power" or by simply believing his ability to "just say no" is automatic because he is now saved. The "sin nature" is stimulated to revive whenever the Christian resorts to "law". This term "law" not only refers to us trying to keep the ten commandments, but also refers to PRAYING more, READING THE BIBLE more, FASTING more, DOING MORE IN THE CHURCH.... It could be a hundred different things; But the common denominator is that the focus/a faith is upon "Me and what I need to do", rather than a focus/ a faith upon "CHRIST and what He has ALREADY DONE... on the CROSS"! We are "overcomers" not by us trying to be overcomers through the things we DO or AVOID; We are ALREADY overcomers through FAITH in what Christ has ALREADY DONE in His FINISHED WORK on the Cross! Halellujah!!!! THIS is the only way sin habits in a Christian's life can be broken; NOT by performing "punishments" meted out by religious church officials. We have all heard about the many scandals that have occurred in the lives of evangelists, pastors, and church leaders in general. To just say... "they just WANTED to do it", or "they were never Christians to BEGIN with.".... is greatly erroneus in most cases. Although some of these men truly were scoundrels, many others of them honestly wanted to please God, and were HEART-BROKEN over their failures! And the same applies to many Christians in general; They are living lives of defeat and struggle trying to lead a life that pleases God, but cannot because they do not know ...HOW! Many of these people end up saying..."What's the USE?", and end up quitting altogether, thinking "THIS IS... TOO HARD! ALL MY FORMER FRIENDS ARE HAVING A BLAST SINNING, AND HERE I AM LEADING A MISERABLE DEFEATED UNHAPPY LIFE!"
There is HOPE for the sincere, humble Christian who truly wants to please God, but who finds himself bound by a habit of (the) sin (nature). It is in placing his complete trust in the only One Who DID please God.... COMPLETELY: Jesus Christ, and in His Blood Sacrifice on the Cross. If the Christian then finds himself falling into sin again, he confesses that sin... again, and places his faith NOT in his "trying harder"; But in what got him saved at the beginning: faith in JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. Over time, that sin habit will be completely and totally.... GONE! Halellujah!! If certain "Christians" and ministers point a bony finger at him, they have FOUR BONY FINGERS POINTING RIGHT BACK AT... THEM! (The last time I checked, only GOD was on the Trinity!). Any one who trusts in his OWN righteousness is NOT pleasing to God, for He sees that as "filthy rags"; The only "Righteousness" He recognizes is that of His SON, which is freely imputed to us by His GRACE though our faith in HIS BLOOD SACRIFICE, not OUR WORKS.
