One of the reasons why people keep falling into sin
is, because they have not understood that their own flesh, their own human
personality, and the human being that they are, their human strength - is
totally impotent to do the will of God. We, in our own strength, can never,
never, never overcome sin. Any amount of determination, any amount of
self-discipline, anything you like you can do, but cannot overcome sin because
sin is so deeply rooted in our nature. It's like trying to train a pig to be
clean. What chance is there of success? Maybe by whipping and feeding and
offering it rewards, you can try and get a pig to be clean for a little while
but leave it alone for some time and it reverts back to its original nature;
that's how it is. This type of overcoming through self-effort is not victory at
all. It's just personal self-discipline, a good thing but not what God offers.
Now, we need to recognize the weakness of our own flesh, our own weakness. And
if you realize this, there will be two things that you will do: first of all,
you'll run away from temptation, you will not expose yourself to danger. Who
are the people who expose themselves to temptation? Those who don't feel their
weakness. One who feels his weakness will run away. And that's what the Bible
says we should do; flee from youthful lusts; flee from immorality. The Bible
says in 2 Timothy 2 that Paul told even a godly man like Timothy to flee
from youthful lusts, to flee from the love of money, to flee from idolatry, to
flee from immorality. We read all these exhortations in 1 Timothy 6, 1
Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 10 and 2 Timothy 2. Flee, flee, flee, flee, to
run away...why do we run away? Because we realize we're weak. And we can
overcome many sins if we just obey that exhortation to run away. The second
thing that a person who has recognized the weakness of his flesh will do is: he
will pray to God earnestly, for help. You see, prayer is a sign of weakness.
When do people usually pray, even worldly people? When they're in real trouble,
when nobody else can help them. And one of the things that Jesus taught us to
pray is - lead us not into temptation. Why do we pray that prayer? Because
we're convinced that our flesh is weak. One would think that someone like
Timothy who had advanced in the Christian life so much, was not in danger of
youthful lusts, but even he needed to run away. Now, if we realize our
weakness, we will not only want to run away from temptation, but we will also
pray, 'Lord, please help me. Give me strength to overcome this weakness.' Just
like we need to see the seriousness of sin, we also need to see the weakness of
our flesh.
One of the wonderful things, truths in scripture, we
read in Hebrews 4:15, is that Jesus Christ was tempted in all points, as
we are. He did not live on earth without being tempted. In Matthew 4,
we're given a very clear description of how He was tempted, at least in three
areas. But in Hebrews 4:15, we're told He was tempted in all areas, just
like us, but He never sinned. How is it He never sinned? Was it because He
automatically could not sin? Well, we don't want to probe into the nature of
Jesus. There is much about His inner nature that we cannot understand; there's
much about our own inner nature we can't understand. Psychologists try so much
and they still don't know everything about the human personality. It's
impossible to try and gauge what went on within Jesus, and we don't even want
to attempt it. But one thing we know: Jesus prayed. Why did He have to pray?
You know, the stronger we feel within ourselves, the less we pray. The more
capable we think we are, the less we pray. It's the one who realizes his
helpless dependence upon the Father for everything - for wisdom, for strength,
for guidance - that's the one who prays. The one who feels, yeah, well, I can
handle all that myself, I don't need God's help; I can sort out, I can gauge
the relative importance of things and make decisions; he doesn't pray. But
Jesus prayed. He prayed all night before He chose His twelve apostles; He
didn't want to make a mistake. Now these things indicate that Jesus
received strength from the Father through prayer. And we don't receive it
because we don't pray as much, or we don't pray as earnestly. We're told in Hebrews
5, that Jesus prayed with strong crying and tears. Imagine that, can you
picture that in your mind? Of Jesus Christ, the perfect man who walked on this
earth, praying with strong crying and tears? When was the last time you prayed
with strong crying and tears? Why, the difference? Don't you think you and I
need to pray much more than Jesus needed to? He had lived in the presence of
the Father from all eternity. He did not have a sinful nature like you and I
have. And yet, He prayed. How much more we need to pray?
See, true humility is to recognize the weakness of our
flesh. All of us are weak, but not all of us are equally conscious of our
weakness. The one who's conscious of his weakness, will run away from danger
when he sees it, and he will cry out for help. So this is the third reason why
many people fall, they don't run away from temptation. They foolishly expose
themselves to temptation and they don't cry out for help.
Let me give you another reason why many people fall
into sin. In 1 Peter 4: 1 & 2, it says we must arm ourselves with a
mind to suffer in the flesh, like Jesus suffered in the flesh; because if we
suffer in the flesh, we cease from sin, it says. Now that's not a verse which
is easy to understand. It's not talking about bodily suffering because people
who suffer bodily don't finish with sin. We know that, otherwise the hospitals
would be full of people who're finished with sin. So it's obviously not
referring to bodily suffering. What does it mean when it says 'as Christ
suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind' - 1 Peter 4: 1
& 2 - 'because he who suffers in the flesh ceases from sin so that
he can do the will of God'. It's referring to an attitude of mind where we
would suffer in self-denial, rather than get the least pleasure out of even a
single sinful thought. When we're tempted, all of us, have the
opportunity either to indulge in it and get some pleasure out of it, or to
resist it and reject it, and that causes a certain suffering. That's the
suffering that is mentioned here. And he says, before you are tempted, you must
be armed for the conflict. In other words, you must be armed with this attitude
of mind, which says, 'I'd rather suffer than enjoy the pleasure of sin even for
a moment.' It says about Jesus, that He was obedient 'unto death', even
unto death; which means, that Jesus' attitude was, that He would rather die
than sin. Now that is quite a radical attitude; I'd rather die than disobey my
Father in the smallest little thing. That is the meaning of Philippians 2:8, He
was obedient even unto death. He calls us to follow in His footsteps, to be
willing to suffer rather than displease God.
One more reason why many Christians do not progress
spiritually, and fall, is because they're not seeking to press on to
perfection; they are satisfied with the progress that they have made thus far.
And if you become satisfied with second standard, you'll never get to the third
standard. That's for certain, because you feel you're better than all the
others who are in the first standard and kindergarten. But if you are determined
to press on, you would say, well, I've overcome something but I want to get
something more. I want to press towards the mark - Paul said in Philippians
3:13-14, '…one thing I do, I press towards the mark, for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus' i.e. the goal of becoming like Jesus
totally, in every part of our personality. What is the result of Paul having
this attitude? It not only kept him from stagnating in the Christian life, it
also kept him from sin. Paul told Timothy to not only flee from temptation, but
also pursue after righteousness, godliness, love and gentleness.
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