Victory Over Sin, Part 1

We’ve recently been studying Hamartiology (the doctrines of sin) in our GAP class with Dr. Bob (one of our SCORE missionaries). It’s a good place for us to be because it allows us to grapple with our humanity, but to be honest I’m looking forward to the end of this class so that we can move on to “happier” subjects. For example, in only a couple months I will be leading the students through two weeks of Soteriology (roughly 16 hours of class on the doctrines of salvation). Please pray for me as I prepare to teach that class.

Nevertheless, this class has been helpful to me. I’ve discovered that whenever we genuinely think about our sinfulness, we should arrive at only one conclusion: we are awful.

Of course, if we lend ourselves to such serious introspection of sin, we must also lend ourselves to an equally serious consideration of the divine grace which redeemed us from our unworthy state and transformed us not simply from bad guys to good guys, but from death to life and made us heirs of the Kingdom of God!

Unfortunately, it is very easy to dwell on our sinfulness. After all, our sinfulness has permeated all of society. In Genesis 3, we see the Fall of mankind and the corruption of all of creation. But to bring it closer to home, sin has permeated into every nook and cranny of who we are; it is part of our being.

Since sin is inescapable, the only solution is to turn to Christ. He too is present everywhere and He alone is more powerful and more beautiful and more exciting and more satisfying than sin.

I recently listened to a sermon online where the speaker expounded on I John 3:9, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” This means that our ability to not sin comes about at regeneration (being born of God). We don’t have to be identified or characterized by sin any longer.

This also means that we can’t afford the luxury of shifting our blame on to anyone else. We are often prone to blaming the church for our spiritual deficiencies. We pretend our shallowness is a result of the pastor’s shallow preaching.

Sometimes we even blame the Holy Spirit for our spiritual deficiency. We rationalize our sinfulness by realizing that we are just not full enough of the Holy Spirit. And being filled with the Spirit is important, but it’s not what makes us spiritual. According to I John 3:9 it is regeneration.

 

Regeneration leaves us without excuse. We sin not for lack of power, but simply because we desire to sin. Our desire for sin sometimes deliberately trumps our desire for God. This is often when we start to feel like spiritual losers, and guilt creeps in.

Robert Murray McCheyne recommends that, “For every one look at our sin, take ten looks on Christ.” Our regeneration comes about only by grace. And it is only by grace that we can overcome our penchant for sin and loosen the chokehold of guilt on our lives. To be able to see grace all you have to do is look to Christ. Take ten looks on Christ.

The following message was brought to you today by Connecting with the Carters. Please stay tuned for Victory Over Sin, Part 2.