Of course we struggle with the temptation to sin, “But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 9:57). “Now thanks be unto God, which ALWAYS causes us to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14). Notice, it doesn’t say “sometimes causes us to triumph,” or “most of the time causes us to triumph.” The Word declares God ALWAYS CAUSES US TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST! Satan lies to millions of believers saying this is not possible! Therefore when the temptation to sin presents itself to many believers then, click, just like that they give in to that temptation, thinking, “Well, I am only human. No one can resist temptation on every occasion. Besides it is all covered by the blood anyway.” HERESY. RANK HERESY! “There has no temptation taken you (not a one, not a single one), but such as is common to man (we have all been there confronted with a similar temptation), but God is faithful, who will not suffer (or allow) you to be tempted above that (which) ye are able (to bear), but will with the temptation (at that exact same moment in time) also make a way to escape (a God made way, hence a perfect escape route) that you may be able to bear it (without ever sinning – NOT EVEN ONCE!)” (I Corinthians 10:13).
Believe God’s Word, not Satan’s clever lies! A believer will remain a slave of sin every day of their life if they listen to Satan and the clever arguments of men. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin!” (See Romans 6:11-13). Paul wrote those words just before writing the words contained in Romans 7 wherein he places himself in the position of the defeated Roman believers and points them the way to continual victory through total submission to Jesus Christ. Although Paul uses the personal pronoun “I” thirty-three times in Romans 7, he is NOT speaking of his own experience. In Romans 6:19 he says he speaks after the manner of defeated men due to the weakness of THEIR flesh, because they have made the spiritually fatal choice to yield to temptation! If sin is reigning in the life of a believer it is because that believer is letting it do so. Stop yielding! JUST SAY “NO!” It continually amazes me that someone can read the many victory statements Paul pens in Romans 6 and 8 and yet fail to see that he cannot possibly be speaking of his own spiritual condition in Romans 7, especially if they consider the clear statement Paul makes in Romans 6:19!
Paul mimics the words of our Lord when, in writing the Corinthian believers, he plainly tells them to “SIN NOT!” (See I Corinthians 15:34). He urges them to wake up and consider what righteousness truly is – the absence of sin in one’s life. Jesus Christ did not mince words, or demand the impossible, when he commanded those He forgave to “Go, AND SIN NO MORE!” (See John 5:14 and John 8:11). Jesus warned that those who continued to sin become the slaves of sin! (John 8:34). He further warned that those who continued to sin could not remain in the household of God forever. (See John 8:35). They would be among us for time – not eternity.
It is that same apostle John who later wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” (See I John 1:8). He is not contradicting himself or his Lord in saying that as he is making reference to the then prevalent teaching and beliefs of the gnostic psuedo-Christians who taught that God did not see a believer’s sins any longer – that they were all “under the blood” once someone became a Christian. John says these heretics were deceived in that belief. God most certainly does see the sin of a believer who so strays, commanding such to confess and forsake such sin. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned (adopting the gnostic view that God does not take note of a believer’s sin), we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (I John 1:9-10).
If brethren can be in error concerning this most critical doctrine, it must be considered that they can be in error regarding other critical doctrines as well.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley