"For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." (Romans 7:18) WOW!!! What a tremendous thing to say! These words were spoken not by an unbeliever, but by a Christian, since ONLY A CHRISTIAN CAN DESIRE TO DO GOOD TO PLEASE GOD BECAUSE HE LOVES GOD (John 14:15, 1John 4:19) But these words were spoken not just by a Christian, but by an Apostle of OUR LORD, the great Apostle Paul, a very mature Believer, and one of the mightiest of saints. This tells us, regardless of how mature we are in the faith, we will always have a fight against our sinful flesh, a fight we may never escape, a fight ultimately for the glory of our LORD; Because our LORD loves holiness and He wants us to be Holy as He is (1Peter 1:16) Our brother Apostle Paul tells us here solemnly, that THERE IS NOTHING GOOD IN US, NOTHING GOOD DWELL IN US NOTHING GOOD DWELLS IN OUR SINFUL FLESH. Yes brethren, even though we are Saved, even though we are Christians, though we are children of GOD, we still struggle with sin; and in fact, we will struggle with sin to a far greater, meaningful extent than ever before after we are saved In an ultimate sense, ONLY TRUE CHRISTIANS STRUGGLE WITH SIN Why? Because unbelievers ultimately love sin and hate GOD, so they don't truly have any struggle with sin; unbelievers only hate sin because of its painful, suffering consequences, but they will gladly embrace sin as along as they may indulge in their evil pleasures Unbelievers love their sin and will do everything to continue in sin as long as they can temporally alleviate its painful consequences; what a wretchedness! True Christians on the other hand love GOD the FATHER and our LORD JESUS CHRIST (1Peter 1:8) And because Believers love the LORD so much, they love everything that GOD loves and they hate everything that GOD hates; True Christians ultimately hate sin not just because of its consequences, but because sin offends GOD, Who they love This explains why the commandments of GOD are not burdensome to a true believer, he yearns to obey the LORD because he loves the LORD (1John 5:3) Believers love holiness and righteousness, they love obedience because they yearn to please their LORD Whom they love; and so they hate sin, they hate evil, they hate anything related to sin Therefore, the Apostle Paul demonstrates in the passage above the great struggle against sin; THIS STRUGGLE AGAINST SIN IS INEVITABLY TRUE FOR EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN. My friend, unless you know something about the great internal struggle against sin as displayed in the holy writ above, you have reason to doubt that you truly are a Christian (Romans 7:14-25) A TRUE CHRISTIAN LOVES THE LORD AND THEREFORE EARNESTLY DESIRES TO DO GOOD, TO OBEY GOD BY PURSUING HOLINESS; BUT HE FINDS HIMSELF UNABLE TO CARRY OUT THAT DESIRE (Romans 7:18) The true believer desperately yearns to obey God but increasingly finds himself powerless against the sinful flesh; such reality is a call by the LORD to His children to Himself, that they may grow in their realization of their helplessness and their daily need for His grace Thats what the passage above tells us It teaches us that, we as Christians, THOUGH WE HAVE THE NEW NATURE IN US WHICH PROMPTS US TO LOVE OUR GOD AND DESIRE TO DO GOOD, (2Corinthians 5:17) HOWEVER, WE CANNOT DO GOOD ON OUR OWN WE CAN ONLY DO GOOD BY THE GRACE AND THE POWER OF OUR LORD THROUGH THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT; FOR IT IS OUR GOD BY HIS SPIRIT WHO CAUSES US BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE (Philippians 2:13) My friend, have you found this principle to be true in you? (Romans 7:21) Do you honestly concur with our brother Apostle Paul, that indeed, "what a wretched man I am" (Romans 7:24) Every true Christian must know something about the wretchedness of his own flesh, otherwise how could he truly see his daily need for Christ? how could he truly treasure our GOD, knowing that Christ alone is his Lord and Savior? Thus, what is the solution? Our LORD tells us through His Apostle Paul>>> "THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.." (Romans 7:25) Apostle Paul culminates this solemnly passage by crying out in thanksgiving to GOD our FATHER for His Son JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, Whom He gave us That is the solution; behold the Son of GOD, abide in Him and live. JESUS CHRIST IS OUR HOPE ALWAYS; HE IS OUR SAVIOR, OUR LORD, OUR SANCTIFIER WE ARE JUSTIFIED BY HIM, WE ARE SANCTIFIED BY HIM; WE WILL BE GLORIFIED BY HIM; AND WE GROW IN HOLINESS BY BEHOLDING THE GLORY OF THE FATHER THROUGH HIM (2Corinthians 3:18) Brethren, our solution for victory over the sinful flesh, triumph over sin and growth in holiness is TO ABIDE IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (John 15) Oh I pray this may be the growing yearning of our hearts! GOD BLESS
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Today's Verse
“Behold you are beautiful my love, behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves” Song of Solomon 1:15 ESV Quotations"A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear and your heart full of God's Spirit is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin." Archives
January 2023
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