Obtaining Victory Over Sin - NetBibleStudy.com

Victory Over Sin 70sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt notdespise” (Psalm 51:17).Submission to God always involves humility; it is an acknowledgment that weare neither qualified nor able to do what we ought to do.When we fight against the demands of God, trying to weasel out of whateverdoesn’t suit us, our will is pitted against God in a desperate struggle for survival.But when we say, “Yes” to God, we discover the ability to do His will. Strengthis dependent upon surrender!Our “will” will be energized by the Holy Spirit when we stop resisting andchose to say, “No” to our stubborn habit.We Can Lessen the ConflictDoes temptation ever lose its power? Not completely. Even when we aremotivated by a desire to please God, we experience conflict, because God oftenrequires obedience that runs counter to human motivations.Christ Himself expressed this conflict. Jesus said, “For I have come down fromheaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). He voluntarilyset aside any personal ambitions and submitted Himself to His Father’s will.The conflict between our immediate interests and God’s long-range goals willnot just go away. But there is an answer. For when we begin to commit our self to God,the Holy Spirit begins to resolve these conflicts. He pulls the fragments of our lifetogether. He shows us His truth as a standard for making choices. He teaches us asingle-mindedness that we never knew before. He shows us the rewards of living inHis love and justice. And after a while, we begin to realize that in many instances, whatGod requires of us is really what we want to do.This helps us understand Christ’s conflict. True, His human inclinations rancontrary to what the Father’s will required. Paul says that Christ did not please Himself(Romans 15:3). But much greater than the natural desire to avoid bearing man’s sin andsuffering man’s punishment -- was His satisfaction in doing God’s will. The prophetpredicted that Christ would say, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God” (Psalms 40:8).Visualize a piece of steel suspended between two magnets. It vacillates, unsureof whether it should swing to the right or to the left. For a moment, it wavers. It couldgo either way, because it is being simultaneously drawn in two directions. Then, as itswings toward the right, it wavers for a second and continues to move in the samedirection. Now it moves more rapidly to the right; it cannot swing back any more. It isout of the range of the left magnet’s power.