In the book of Malachi, God says, “I am the LORD and I change not.” He can say that because He is holy and there is no kind of imperfection or impurity in Him. That is not true of us. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, we have been born with a sin nature. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 3:23, wrote, “For everyone has sinned: we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” So, we need to change. At our conversion to faith in Christ, the Bible says we are given new natures. In Ephesians 2:8, he wrote, “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” Even though we are given a new nature by God, the old nature still tries to exert itself.
In Galatians 5:24-26, Paul wrote, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of the sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. Since we are living, we are living by the Spirit; let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” Paul is writing to Christians and is clearly saying that even after being saved, we may still sin.
The Apostle John says much the same thing when he writes to Christians – 1 John 1:8-9 “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But, if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” I am so glad John wrote those words. I would imagine that many of us wonder, “Will I ever change? Will I ever get to the place where I can live a victorious life for Christ? The tense of the word ‘cleanse’ actually means He “keeps on cleansing us.” We are not encouraged to sin, but we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is righteous. So, if we confess our sins, we will be forgiven, and God keeps on cleansing us so that we can live a life that honors Him. There is victory in Jesus.
In Psalm 19:14, we have a prayer to God from David – “May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” That would be a good prayer for each of us to pray. He covers what we say and what we think.
Perhaps you have some kind of habit or addiction that is robbing you of your joy, and Satan is telling you that you don’t need to be concerned about those things. He says, “God understands your struggles. After all, you are only human. Don’t try so hard.” Folks, God has given us His word and His Holy Spirit to empower us to live victoriously.
In Psalm 119:11, we read, “I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” What a great antidote against sinning.
In 2 Peter 1:3-4, we read, “By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous grace and excellence. And, because of His glory and excellence. And because of His glory, He has given us great and precious promises. There are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”
Folks, if we want to live a life that pleases our LORD, we see from the scriptures I’ve shared that we can change and be victorious in our faith living. We can be more than conquerors through Him who loves us and gave Himself for us. Romans 8:37
We are encouraged many times to pray for each other. Let us be sure to pray that each of us will grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
For His glory and our victory,
Pastor Leonard
