By Steve Cornell
Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pastor of historic Moody Church, traces a common pattern of sin through five steps. “We’ve all experienced the pattern,” he wrote. ”Sinful habits begin innocently enough, but if we don’t master them, they will surely master us.”
1. Enjoy a forbidden pleasure
2. Feel guilty
3. Determine never to do it again
4. Take pride in brief moments of self-control
5. Then fail once more.
“Each time” wrote Lutzer, ”we repeat the pattern, the ruts are cut a bit deeper, the chain pulls tighter.”
A Roman Philosopher once cried out, “Oh that a hand would come down from heaven and deliver me from my besetting sin!” “His plea,” wrote Lutzer, “has been echoed throughout the centuries. We’ve all wished for the same miracle.”
“Can we really be delivered from the one-step-forward and two-backward routine? At times I’ve thought the answer to the question was No. Despite my sincere attempts at yielding myself to God. I retained certain weaknesses (sins is a more honest word) that I concluded I would simply have to live with. After all, no one is perfect! But I knew my private failure was no credit to Christ, who won the victory on the cross. Did He not promise that we could be free indeed? Through many failures and a few victories I’ve discovered that the most persistent sin can be dislodged. We can be free from sins, even the ones safely tucked away in the crevices of our souls.”
“Imagine a city that is constantly being attacked at a vulnerable point along one of its walls. The enemy habitually exploits the same weakness—with startling success. Don’t you think that the inhabitants would rebuild the defective fortification in preparation for the next assault? Yet countless Christians repeatedly succumb to the same temptations without a constructive program for strengthening their defenses. They have accepted failure as a way of life, reasoning, ‘That’s just the way I am.’”
“God has a different plan—for which He has given us a message of deliverance and hope. True, there are no easy miracles. Our success is neither instant nor automatic. Slick and easy solutions lead to false expectations which, in turn, spawn disappointment and unbelief. Applying biblical principles takes time and discipline. But steady progress is possible. Even long-established and sinful behavior patterns can be replaced by wholesome attitudes and actions” (Lutzer).
What was the cry of the Roman Philosopher? “Oh, that a hand would come down from heaven and deliver me from my besetting sin!” This is the cry of a man who reaches the point in his struggle against sin where he realizes that without intervention from heaven, he will forever be bound to besetting sin. Like so many others, he wanted freedom from the controlling power of sin and he knew he couldn’t gain it in his own strength.
The good news for those who feel bound by sin’s power is that more than a hand has come down from Heaven! God Himself came down from Heaven! The apostle John wrote, “the Word, (i. e. the Lord Jesus Christ) who was with God and who was God became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn. 1:1,14,29). When he came, his earthly father Joseph was told to give Him the name Jesus, “because He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21)
In His death for our sins, Jesus not only removed sin’s penalty, he also broke sin’s power (I Jn. 3:7-9; Rom. 6:1-14a). Those who are united with Christ can be free from the controlling power of sin. Through our union with Jesus at salvation, “sin shall not be our master” (Romans 6:14).
After Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended to the Father, he sent the Spirit (Jn. 7:37-39; 14:15-17; 16:5-15; Acts 1:4-9). Ever since the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, all who place faith in Jesus as Savior and confess Him as Lord (at that moment) receive the gift of the Spirit. Scripture teaches that, all believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 6:19-20; II Cor. 1:21-22; Gal. 3:2-5; Ja. 4:5). If you are a believer, God dwells in you by His Spirit!
And, the Spirit of God in us is the agent and power for enabling us to live a life that pleases God. Galatians 5:16 says, “so I say”, (better, “but” I say). This is a common formula, used by Paul, to alert his readers to an emphatic point. ”Here is my advice.” Or, “Here is the remedy for the situation described in v. 15.” (Phillips). To protect the community from destruction, each member must “live or walk by the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:16 is a command with a promise attached to it. The command: “live or walk by the Spirit” The promise: “you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (or flesh).”
The RSV translates this as two commands, the second being, “do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Yet, although there are similar commands (e.g. Rom. 6:12-13; 13:14; I Peter 2:11). Galatians 5:16 is a promise or word of assurance indicating the means for gaining victory over sin, “Paul was making a strong assertion that once the Galatians allowed the Spirit to guide them, then they would ‘never satisfy the flesh’”(Moffatt).
Galatians 5:17 expands on the conflict that confronts every believer. It is a conflict between two wills: My will and God’s will – “the ought to” and “the want to.” Of course, it’s great when they work in unity. When I will to do what God wills for me to do, when I want to do what I ought to do, life is so much better! Often we experience an ongoing conflict or tension between these two forces. Sometimes it becomes intense and unrelenting (Rom. 7:19, 21-25).
Where do we look for strength and power to overcome? “Walk by the Spirit…” (a present tense verb) “Keep on walking…” (Galatians 5:16). This is not something one must do from time to time. It’s a way of life! It is long obedience in the same direction. We cannot get to a place where we no longer experience the tension. There is no secret spiritual technique or second blessing that will put us above the battleground. “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:1). “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (I Corinthians 10:12). The moment you think you are invulnerable to the allurement of sinful desires—you are most vulnerable. If you think you have reached some higher plane of spirituality—above the conflict between flesh and spirit—you are truly self-deluded and in greater danger of sinning.
“No Christians” one wrote, ”are so spiritually strong or mature that they need not heed his warning, but neither are any so weak or vacillating that they cannot be free from the tyranny of the flesh through the power of the Spirit…In the battle between the forces of flesh and Spirit there is no stalemate, but the Spirit takes the lead, overwhelms, and thus defeats evil.”
There are four verbs used in Galatians 5 to describe the dynamic involvement of the Spirit in the life of the believer, (all of them roughly equivalent in meaning).
v.16 – “live/walk by the Spirit”
v.18 – “led by the Spirit”
v.25a – “live by the Spirit”
v.25b – “keep in step with the Spirit”
Add to these the call to bear the fruit of the Spirit and sow to the Spirit (Galatians 5,6). All of these fit under the command in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit.” They also send a strong reminder of how completely dependent we must be on the Spirit’s presence and power in our lives.
A man once came to a Pastor and explained about how impossible it was to live a Christian life. The Pastor agreed and the man was taken back! He expected to be rebuked and set straight. Instead, the Pastor congratulated him for learning the most important lesson for living a victorious Christian life. What is it? That you cannot do it in your own strength! You must live in total dependence on God.
But this is not the “let go and let God” approach. We are not passive recipients of God’s activity in our lives. We are active participants (Philippians 2:12-13). It requires a constant practice of humbling oneself before God and learning to lean on Him and look to Him (cf. Deut. 8:1-3- God will teach you this). It involves commitment to all the spiritual disciplines out of recognition of need and dependence on the Lord.
Steve Cornell
See also:
http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/8-dynamics-of-addiction-and-a-plan-for-change/
http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/category/holy-spirit/
Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com
