Obtaining Victory Over Sin - NetBibleStudy.com

Victory Over Sin 42sin is not something that God promises you, it is not an act you beg Him to do. Hesimply declares it as a fact --- already accomplished! Our failures and sins cannotchange what God has said. Just because we get talked into obeying our old landlorddoesn’t change the fact of new management. It does mean that we forgot we couldconfidently say “No” to his extortion schemes.Let’s say, for example, that we are a believer who lives with fear – perhaps it’s afear of people, of cancer, or, of loneliness. We need to recognize those fears as a billfrom our old landlord. Remember that we do not have to listen to him – much less dowhat he suggests. We must take the matter up with our new Manage. We are no longduty-bound to those former relationships.Second, we must admit the need for faith in our daily life. Our identificationwith Christ is not something that can be proved empirically, it’s not like being able tosee with our own eyes that the sun is shining. And even if it could be proven by ourexperience, many of us would be in trouble. An honest look at our lives hardlysupports the idea that we are dead to sin and alive to God. But once we understand,with the Holy Spirit’s help, that our ties with sin have already been broken, we begin tosee that God has not deceived us. When we shift our attention to the completed workof the Cross and insist on our privileges, our old self surrenders to God’s authority.Through faith and faith alone we personalize our victory.Our freedom from sin is never automatic. Every inch is contested. No one everfalls into maturity, even though we are already positionally complete in Christ. There isthe danger to tend to look for formulas for a new spiritual technique. But there is nosubstitute for waiting before God, reading His Word, and then obeying the truth Hehas revealed.The Christian life is a growing relationship. Applying the Cross to our life is notsomething we do once for all. Nor is it sufficient to do it every week or even once aday. It is a moment-by-moment, daily process. As we develop sensitivity to the HolySpirit’s work in our life, we will find that saying “No” to the flesh and “Yes” to Christwill become a way of life. -- Let’s turn our attention to “How to personalize Christ’svictory” in the next lesson.Getting Practical1. This would be a good time to take stock of your life again, asked, “Whatbehavior patterns or thoughts must be changed by God?”2. Read Romans, chapters 6 through 8, carefully underling each time Paul usesthe expression, “free from sin,” or its equivalent. Study what Paul gives as a basis for ourfreedom.3. Study the wide-ranging benefits of the Cross. It will help you develop a life ofhabitual praise to God. Begin the habit of thanking God for the victory Christaccomplished on our behalf as often as you think of it.4. Begin each day at the Cross. Take time to: