Obtaining Victory Over Sin - NetBibleStudy.com

Victory Over Sin 24ACCEPTING GOD’S GRACEGod’s grace is greater than our sin, whether the offense be big or small. A wellknownChristian, driving too fast in the rain, caused an accident in which hiscompanion was killed. Regret and wounds of guilt erupted in his heart. After receivinggood Christian counsel, he realize how wrong it would be to spend the rest of his life inthe prison of self-incrimination – and chose to forgive himself, realizing that God hadalready forgiven him. “That night,” he said, “I saw more clearly than ever before that thepurpose of the Cross is to repair the irreparable.”John Newton had godly parents but was orphaned at the age of six. A relativewho rejected the boy’s Christian heritage adopted him. At an early age, Newton becamean apprentice seaman. While enlisted in the Royal Navy, he deserted and went to Africafor one purpose – to sin to his fill.He became a servant to a wicked slave trader. Eventually, Newton escaped tothe coast. There he attracted a ship by building a fire. Because he was a skillednavigator, he was soon made a mate on the vessel that was making its way up the coastof Africa to England.On one occasion, he opened the casks of rum and distributed the liquor to thecrew so that all the members became drunk. As the ship made its way to Great Britain,it was blown off course. When the ship began to flounder, Newton was sent into thehold to man the pumps along with the slaves who were being transported. The truth hehad been taught as a child came home to him and he cried to God out of the hold of thatship. Later he wrote:“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch like me!I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind, but now I see!”If God is able to forget our past, why can’t we? Scripture declares that He throwsour sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19) and, as one preacher put it, “He then putsup a sign on the shore that read, `No fishing!’”There is no reason for us to be trapped in the murky paths of our past life if Godoffers us a new beginning. Christ said to the woman taken in adultery, “Go, and sin nomore.” Once our past is forgiven, we are free from its grip.Perhaps you are now be at a fork in the road. With your sins forgiven, you caneither return to the slippery slopes of failure – or – plant your feet on God’s soil, andstand firmly on His side of the boundary line!Getting Practical1. List the effect of David’s unconfessed sin that he attempted to hide mentionedin Psalm 32:3-5.