Should a Genuine Christian Have Difficulty Overcoming
Should a Genuine Christian
It seems that somewhere along the way we were taught, or just figured, that now that we are Christians with the Holy Spirit living within us, falling into sin shouldn't happen or should now be more difficult to have occur. I'm not talking about the daily sins we commit, like getting angry in traffic, or a fleeting thought of selfishness (well, maybe not fleeting). I'm talking about patterns of sin habits that may be shades of the old life we thought was somehow now magically gone. "...a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). That's what I thought as old patterns would creep back up. They became fertile soil for the "Accuser" to make me doubt my being a genuine Christian. Or, maybe they are new sin habits that develop because we stray for awhile from the truth and then can't seem to shake them.
Read the excerpts below and see if it sparks something. They are from a sermon by Pastor James A. Hufstettler on Psalm 119:176. It helped me to gain a better understanding of what being a "genuine Christian" in respect to sin really means. If you are one who shares such a struggle, my prayer is that it may help you as well. After viewing the excerpts, click on the apple below to be taken to the full text, which is at another website. The sermon notes are long, but can you afford to go without what our Father wants you to understand?
The longer I labor in Christ's vineyard, the more I am convinced that even the most well instructed among us have much to learn experientially concerning human nature. We have much to learn about how really sinful true believers can be ... so that true believers will realize that their own personal heinous depravity is not unique to them ... so that they will not allow themselves under Satanic assault to feel disenfranchised spiritually or disowned by God ...
... no matter how long we have been Christians, no matter how much we know, no matter how firm our resolutions to follow God with all of our heart no matter how strong our determination, no matter how diligent we are with reading, praying, memorizing and meditating--and we ought to be that way if we are going to imitate the psalmist--we cannot keep ourselves from sin for even a moment.
... you want to be this spiritual "somebody" that can go maybe even for a day or for a week on your own. And you don't like the idea of staying on your face everyday pleading for mercy. It is humbling. You think you ought to be beyond that by now. So when you stumble Satan stings your conscience with this accusation, "Godly men don't do what you just did. And you cave in to the accusation because you have this wrong concept of what godly men are.
Are you a realist? Does your Christianity have blood and guts to it? Is there a willingness every day to remember again that you are helpless, needy, sinful, broken, a wandering sheep, and yet at the same time have a holy confidence to believe that if you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness? Do you have the spiritual guts that it takes to face all your failure, and all your sin, and all your transgressions? We can say with David that these sins sometimes go over us like waves. We feel inundated by our sins. It takes great grace to face them all--the great mountain of them--and yet believe that God's grace forgives and cleanses us from them all. It takes great grace to determine that we are not going to allow the mountains of our sin to beat us back from holy resolves.
