By: John Mitchell
I remember the final scene in a movie that I saw years ago. Two men were in a house, and they were arguing with each other. One man shoots the other man. The man who was shot staggers to the side. Knocking over a lamp, he says, “Why did you shoot me?” Then he staggers the other direction, knocking over a T V, he says, “I’m not guilty, I didn’t do it!” Then he staggers another direction, knocking a big vase off of a table. As it breaks into pieces on the floor, he says, “You shot the wrong man, Fred did it. He then falls on the couch and says, “You’ll pay for this. When Fred finds out that you killed me, he will shoot you.” Then he tries to get off the couch, to walk toward the other man, but he falls on the coffee table, and he says, “You didn’t believe me, so you are going to die, when Fred shoots you.” Now the audience is thinking, “When is this guy finally going to die, so this movie can end?” If we are guilty of committing the same sin over and over, we are like that dying man in the movie, who seemed like he was never going to die. We fall down in a sin, and we stand up in forgiveness. Then, we commit the same sin, again, and again we ask for forgiveness, again and again. What is missing, is that we have not changed our ways. We are not walking in repentance of that sin. We need to make a firm decision to not give in to that temptation anymore. We can imagine that God is looking at us, and thinking, “When is he ever going to finally die to that sin?” When we are baptized for the remission of our sins, our old sinful man is buried in the waters of baptism, and we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; and behold, all things have become new.” Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us what we should do; “you PUT OFF, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you PUT ON the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” We have to do our part, to keep that old sinful man buried in the waters of baptism. We have to be spiritually minded so that we can, PUT OFF the sinful conduct of that old man, who we used to be, by saying NO to temptation. When we are tempted to sin, we have to say, NO !!! I don’t do that anymore, and walk away from that temptation. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in it’s lusts.” (Romans 6:12). To be able to kill the old sinful man, and live for God, we have to change our old carnal mind, to a new spiritual mind. When we renew our mind, through daily reading and studying the Scriptures, then we can have a spiritual mind, and then we can kill that old man of sin, and then repeating that same sin over and over can finally end. “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God wants us to be “equipped for every good work”, because we were created to do good works. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). This is as simple as it gets. God wants us to not sin. Satan wants us to sin. We obey and submit to God, by not sinning. We obey and submit to Satan, by sinning. When we submit to God, we are making God the Lord of our life. When we submit to Satan, we are making Satan the lord of our life. When we give in to the temptations of Satan, by sinning, we are letting Satan be the authority over our life. Satan wants us to follow him, so that he can lead us to hell. When we sin, we are following Satan’s plan for our destruction. When we follow and obey the way that God’s Scriptures tell us to live our life, we are submitting to God’s authority over us, and we are following God’s plan of salvation for us. “walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Don’t just keep on saying that you need to stop committing a sin, that you keep giving in to. Die to that sin!!! Kill that old sinful man of your past, and live for God. Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). And Jesus also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). When will this fight against Satan, and against his temptations, and deceptions end? It will end when we have faithfully obeyed God, and faithfully followed His plan of salvation for us, to the end of our life here on this earth. “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1b). In Matthew 10:22, and in Matthew 24:13, Jesus said, “…he who endures to the end shall be saved.” In Revelation 2:10b Jesus said, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” If we don’t endure to the end, our worship will have been in vain. “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, IF you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2)
“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)
“And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23)
“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)