Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– G.V. Wigram
A New Creation
The Apostle Paul writes that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2nd Cor 5:17), and a new creation will have new desires and new passions to obey and serve God. The problem was we needed a heart transplant, but God knew this and He said through Ezekiel the Prophet, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezk 36:26). Even though this was written to the House of Israel (including Judah or the Jews), the principle is the same for the person who’s been born again. They’ve been given a new heart because they’re a new creation in Christ.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not only our Advocate and Comforter, but he is our Helper in overcoming sin. God both works in us and through us by His Spirit to help us overcome sin and avoid areas of temptation. We have the power of God’s Spirit to help us live a holier life; not a perfect one, but striving for perfection every day, even though we still all fall far short (Rom 3:23). We will never be sinless this side of the kingdom (John 1:8, 10), but that doesn’t mean we don’t strive for it.
He Overcame Death
The Apostle John asks a great question that we all need to know the answer to; “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1st John 5:5), and so “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him” (1st John 5:1). We can’t overcome in our own power, but we have access to God’s power by His Spirit to say “no” to sin.
Conclusion
We know that sin doesn’t win in the end because we can never sin so great that the blood of the Lamb will not take it away. This doesn’t mean we can sin just as much as we want to, because if you sin as much as you want to, you might want to get your “want to” fixed, and examine yourself to see if you’re really in the faith (2nd Cor 13:5). That’s a question you want to settle this side of the kingdom or before the day of your death (Heb 9:27).
