Genesis 4:7:
“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
My Understanding: If we do what is right according to God’s Word, he will accept us. This begins with believing in Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior, by his grace through genuine faith – repentance and obedience. When we do this, we are accepted by God as one of his children and as forgiven and made righteous via Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and his resurrection from the dead, in which he conquered death, sin, Satan and hell.
Nonetheless, when we do what is wrong in God’s eyes - which I believe implies willful disobedience in this context - it opens the doors of our hearts to further sin. Sin desires to have us, in this case, because we have already “been had”, which thus makes sin believe it can conquer us again. James 1:13-15 says this:
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
The solution to this situation of sin crouching at our door because we have not chosen to do what is right, and sin desiring to have us, is that we must master sin. I believe these are the necessary steps that need to be taken if we are to truly master sin in our hearts and lives:
1. We must agree with God about our sin (call it what he calls it) – confess and repent to God and to those whom we have sinned against by our words or actions.
2. In order to do this, we must first of all be willing to go through a time of heart examination before God to see what sins are in our lives and what is at the root of them (heart issues), and then be willing to do whatever God requires of us.
3. We must be honest with ourselves, with God and with others concerning our sin – “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (Jms 5:16).
4. If we are not willing to take these initial steps, then the process ends here.
5. Next we must examine any stumbling blocks or hindrances to our faith and obedience and be willing to eradicate them from our lives, if necessary, in order to gain complete victory – “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Mtt 5:29). This is saying we must rid our lives of those things that cause us to or that contribute greatly to us stumbling and falling into sin.
6. In other words, I need to evaluate the things or situations in my life that might provide me the opportunity to sin (especially related to sinful habits), and I should be willing to rid my life of any of these sin triggers or opportunities, where necessary, in order to gain complete victory over sin.
7. Lastly, I need to make a plan to not fail again – “If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail” (don’t recall who said that) – this is so true! If we don’t have a plan in motion as to what to do in the eventuality that we will be tempted again in the same or a similar manner, then we are just asking to be led right back into the same sin.
8. We must put on the armor of God daily (see Ephesians 6:10-20) in order to fight off these attacks of the enemy against our minds and hearts, for this is where the battle truly begins. This will take serious attitude against sin, i.e. we must have the same attitude about sin that God does. And, we can’t fight temptation just with the shield of faith. We must pull out that sword of the Spirit and we must fight temptation with the word of God and let Satan know we mean business!!
1 Corinthians 10:13:
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”My Understanding: We are all tempted to sin. The Bible says that there is no one righteous, no not one – Romans 3:10-11: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Isaiah 53:6: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
And, there is no temptation that comes into our lives that we cannot overcome or that cannot be conquered by God’s grace and via his provisions for defeating sin in our lives, if we choose to take advantage of those provisions afforded to us by Jesus’ grace to us. His Word teaches us how to get out from underneath the temptation to sin so that we can stand against sin and can stand for righteousness, so we need to know the truth so that the truth can set us free, which means not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge and obedience.
2 Peter 1:4:
“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
My Understanding: God has given us so many precious promises that help us to live godly lives and to forsake sin. Some of them are:
• He has promised to be faithful to us
• He has promised to not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear
• He has promised to provide a way out from under the temptation so that we can stand up under the temptation against sin and stand for God and righteousness
• He has promised to accept those who accept Him
• He has promised his grace, mercy and forgiveness to those who believe on His Name – “By grace we are saved through faith, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
• He has promised to heal us and to restore us if we will cooperate with his plan.
God’s grace is a free gift to us who would believe. The Bible teaches that belief is action, not just words or not just an intellectual assent to what Jesus did for us on the cross. True faith is faith that is accompanied by repentance and by obedience to God’s commands, not in absolute sinless perfection, but true faith makes this its life goal and mission to live for God and to walk in obedience to Him and to His teachings. This is not works-based salvation. This is merely an understanding of what it means to truly believe and to accept God’s grace into our lives. If we believe Jesus died for our sins so that we could be free from sin, not just the penalty of sin, but the control of and bondage to sin over our lives, then we would not continue to live in sin. The Bible tells us this in I John and in other places. So, God’s grace does not provide us the option to keep living in sin. Instead, a true understanding of God’s grace acknowledges that his grace provides us with the opportunity to be free from under the bondage and control of sin over our lives, and that is true grace!! Amen!!
Were It Not for Grace / Larnelle Harris
Time measured out my days
Life carried me along
In my soul I yearned to follow God
But knew Id never be so strong
I looked hard at this world
To learn how heaven could be gained
Just to end where I began
Where human effort is all in vain
So here is all my praise
Expressed with all my heart
Offered to the Friend who took my place
And ran a course I could not even start
And when He saw in full
Just how much His love would cost
He still went the final mile between me and heaven
So I would not be lost
Were it not for grace
I can tell you where I’d be
Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere
With my salvation up to me
I know how that would go
The battles I would face
Forever running but losing this race
Were it not for grace
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