Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

July 21, 2018

7/25/2018

Temptation                        OVERCOMING THE WORLD

        For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4.

    If we could all overcome sin, it would surely cut down on the tragedies we experience in this world, wouldn't it? I am interested in overcoming sin, aren't you? And we know that it will happen only as we focus on Jesus. The Bible has some things to say about sin and how to overcome it.

    God has only one kind of victory over any kind of sin, and that is natural and spontaneous victory, for the one who is abiding in Christ. All of the forced victories are the ones that we do ourselves. And what we call victory in that case is only external. The Bible definitely has made it clear that God has power that He wants to give us to keep us from sinning. He has also made provision to forgive those who fall and fail while they are growing. We can be thankful for both truths today.

    The righteousness of Christ includes both God's forgiveness and His power to overcome. However, we need to remind ourselves that anyone who overcomes sin is not going to go around advertising it, and is not going to be claiming that he is sinless. In 1 John 1:8 we read that anyone who says he has no sin (or sinful nature) is deceived. But this doesn't do away with the Bible truth that we can overcome sin.

    Have you ever heard anyone say that you won't stop sinning as long as you live on this earth, but so long as you hate it, everything is OK--that's all God expects? Do we say this to the murderer? Do we tell him to do the best he can not to kill too many people, but that so long as he hates what he's doing, there's no problem, that's the best God expects of him? Do we give that advice to the thief or the drunkard or the adulterer? Then should we take comfort in that idea for our "little" sins?

    In 1 John 5:4 we find one of the key factors in overcoming sin: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." When we learn that faith is a byproduct of the faith relationship with Christ, that faith is trust in someone whom we know is trustworthy, then it becomes clear that the way to victory is through ongoing fellowship and communion with Christ. This is the avenue that He uses to bring us to true obedience.

July 20, 2018

7/25/2018

July 19, 2018

7/19/2018

Temptation                        LIVING WITHOUT SINNING

        To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev. 3:21.

    Can anyone live without sinning? Yes. Jesus did. Can we? No. Romans 8:7 says the sinful mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned. Until we realize our desperate condition, there is no chance for our presuming to handle the question of living without sinning. We aresinners, and we're going to remain sinners until our nature is changed.

    So we come to a strange enigma. Psalm 1:6 says that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Well, we are called righteous because of Jesus. But is that all that's involved? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Jesus was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If that's true, then whatever can be accomplished in our lives in living without sinning is going to be accomplished through connection with Jesus, never independent of Him. So when we ask whether or not anyone can live without sinning, the answer is Yes. One did. His name was Jesus. We can't, apart from Him. There's no way. But we can and must, in connection with Him.

    You don't have to read very far into the book of Revelation to find the "he that overcometh" phrases. Overcoming is one of the last things we glimpse as we study the Bible. It is one of the last realities concerning those people who live before Jesus comes.

    When Jesus said to the woman that was dragged to Him, "Go, and sin no more," when He said to the man who was healed, "Sin no more," was this idle talk?  Couldthey obey His command? Was it possible through His power? Of course!

    Let's not get bogged down in trying to figure out who's done it, either. It's none of our business who's don’t it. Trying to decide truth on the basis of who has done it is very dangerous business. Jesus is our example, and it is to Him that we are to look. If we abide in Him as He did in His Father, we will be overcomers, in the same way that He was. It is only in looking to Him, not in looking to others around us, or in looking to our own lives and trying to measure ourselves, that we find victory.

July 18, 2018

7/18/2018

Temptation                        JESUS TAKES AWAY OUR SINS

        And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 1 John 3:5.

    Someone wrote a book about how to live the victorious Christian life. The author is listed on the cover as "the Unknown Christian." When I saw that, I wondered what he was trying to tell me. How to live the victorious Christian life, by the unknown Christian. Who's done it? Can anyone do it?

    When we talk about living the victorious life, we are not talking about overcoming unknown sin. That would have to be totally God's department. How could we possibly do anything with sin that we don't even know about? And we are not talking about what is going to happen to the sinful nature. Whatever happens to our sinful nature would also have to be handled totally by Christ. The one thing that we are talking to and can be aware of is how known sin is overcome. We are not talking about absolute perfection, but simply the question of overcoming known sin. This is possible, this is necessary, and this is God's plan for us in our lives today.

    Can sin be overcome? The answer is Yes. One person did it. His name was Jesus. According to Hebrews 4:15, He was tempted in all like as we are, yet without sin. 1 Peter 2:22: He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. John 16:33: He said of Himself, "I have overcome." 1 John 3:5 tells us that in Him is no sin. But the same verse also tells us that He came to take away our sins. Did Jesus live His sinless life by being God? Or was it through the power of God, united to His human nature in the same was that is available to each of us?

    Jesus lived His life as a man, not as God. He was born God. But He did not use that power to live His life. When He said, "I can of mine own self do nothing," He was telling us that He is our example. He came to show us how to live in dependence upon another power. The power that He had for living His perfect life came from above Him, rather than from within.

    I don't have to be told that I don't have any power within me apart from Jesus. I have been beaten down too many times. But if His power is available to me as well, then it is possible for me to live today as He did, and be more than conqueror through Him that loves us.

June 17, 2018

7/17/2018

Temptation                        OUR ONLY SAFETY

        Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Matt. 26:41.

    "Satan is well aware that the weakest soul who abides in Christ is more than a match for the hosts of darkness....Therefore he seeks to draw away the soldiers of the cross from their strong fortifications."--The Great Controversy, p. 530. Satan knows that he has to do this in order to get us. He knows the power of abiding in Christ.

    If one who is abiding in Christ is more than a match for the powers of darkness, and if one who is abiding in Christ does not sin (1 John 3:6), and if one who is abiding in Christ doesn't even feel like sinning, but rather finds sin repulsive (seeThe Great Controversy, p. 508; Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 92; The Desire of Ages, p. 668), then how could Satan manage to tempt us?

    On pages 71 and 72 of Steps to Christ there are five ways listed that he comes to bring temptations to us when we are abiding in Christ. "When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan's constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Saviour and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ." So his constant effort is to get us to look away from the abiding dependence upon God's power to ourselves. Then we end up trying to fight sin in our own power.  Steps to Christ then lists the ways he accomplishes this separation. (1) The pleasures of the world. These would have to be innocent pleasures, but things that could divert our attention from God if we focused on them. (2) Life's cares, perplexities, and sorrows. We have all had our share of these, and know how difficult it is at times to continue trusting God when troubles come. (3) The faults of others. Have you ever had your mind turned away from Christ because of the faults of others? (4) Your own faults and imperfections. This one is especially effective for those who are the most conscientious! And finally (5) anxiety and fear as to whether or not we shall be saved.

    It wouldn't work for Satan to come to one who is abiding in Christ and tempt him to break one of the commandments. Sin is repulsive to the one who is abiding in Christ. So Satan comes instead with whatever will get our attention off Jesus. It is only through abiding in Christ and keeping our eyes fixed upon him that we have victory.

July 16, 2018

7/16/2018

Temptation                        ALL OR NOTHING

        Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain yield both salt water and fresh. James 3:11, 12.

    There are only two choices in the Christian life when it comes to abiding. We can be abiding in Christ, or we can be not abiding in Christ. We can be depending upon Christ, or we can be depending upon ourselves. There are no other options. We cannot depend partly upon Christ, and partly upon self. It's all or nothing.

    If when we first came to Christ we had locked in on God's power, and stayed there ever since, we would never have disobeyed or sinned again. "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not" (1 John 3:6). But most of us are willing to admit that we have not had continual, unbroken victory in our Christian life, from the day we first came to Jesus to this very moment. Instead we admit to falling, and failing, and having to come to God for His forgiveness again and again. In the Christian life we experience a swing between abiding dependence upon Christ and depending upon our own power. This is why we have the interrupted victory we have known. If sin gets through to me at any moment, it is because I was not united to Christ by faith at that point.

    We are told repeatedly that Jesus hated sin. Every sin was torture to His spirit (see The Desire of Ages, p. 111). He hated sin with a perfect hatred (see SelectedMessages, book 1, p. 322). Contact with evil was unspeakably painful to Him. He could not witness a wrong act without pain that was impossible to be disguised (seeThe Desire of Ages, p. 88).

    When we are united to Him be faith, sin will be hateful to us, as it was to Jesus. We will have no relish for sin (see Messages to Young People, p. 338). We will look upon sin with abhorrence (see The Great Controversy, pp. 649, 650). The renewed heart will have hatred for sin (see The Great Controversy, p. 508). "The prevalence of a sinful desire shows the delusion of the soul."--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 92.

    When we find sin to be appealing, we may know that we have somehow turned from the abiding dependence upon God and are depending upon ourselves. It is when we have done this that temptation has power over us. But victory comes spontaneously when we depend upon Him.

July 15, 2018

7/15/2018

Temptation                        INSIDE OUT

        Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Matt. 23:25.

    Most of us have tried harder to clean the outside than the inside, and that's our trouble. That was the trouble of the Pharisees in the day of Jesus; He told them that if they would clean first the inside of the cup and platter, the outside would be clean. He didn't tell them to first clean the inside and then go to work on the outside. Being a new creature comes as a result of being in Christ. But most of us have spent years in fruitless effort trying hard to be new creatures, new people--from the outside. And we have spent little or no effort on being in Christ.

    1 John 3:6 says, "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not." This is another cause and effect. Should we put forth effort to abide in Him, or should we put forth effort to "sin not"? Most of us spend our time and energy in trying not to sin rather than directing our time and energy toward abiding in Him. Some say that this verse is talking about habitual sin. But when does sin become a habit? Is it a habit if you do it once a year? How about six times a day? How about twice a week? It is difficult to say definitely when sin becomes a habit.

    Look at Steps to Christ, page 61: "If we abide in Christ, if the love of God dwells in us, our feelings, our thoughts, our purposes, our actions, will be in harmony with the will of God as expressed in the precepts of His holy law." Please don't miss this point. Our feelings, our thoughts, our purposes--not just actions--will be in harmony with God's will. And it will happen when we abide in Christ, and His love dwells in us.

    Have you ever heard someone say, "I haven't taken a drink for twenty years, but I haven't felt like drinking for three days"? But if we abide in Christ, our feelings as well as our actions will be in harmony with God's will. God doesn't give victory by changing simply the outward actions, and doing nothing about the feelings, thoughts, and purposes--the inside. God works from the inside out. And if our feelings, thoughts, and purposes are in harmony with God's will, would we have to try hard to obey, and to overcome temptations? No, it will come spontaneously to the one who abides in Christ.

July 14, 2018

7/14/2018

Temptation                        ULTIMATE VICTORY NOW

        Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Rom. 8:37.

    When we talk about the obedience of faith, we are not talking about an effortless life. We are talking about effort that comes naturally, instead of forced. We should be afraid of a religion that simply sits and waits and does nothing. There was a group of people known as Quietists who were legitimately charged with that. They expected God to do everything. But there is something that God cannot do for us. He cannot respond to Himself for us. We have to respond to Him ourselves. This is the way we cooperate with Him.

    Some of us have had the idea that we will spend most of our lives struggling and fighting and gritting our teeth in an attempt to refrain from sin, and that somewhere down at the end of our Christian life, just before we die, we will find our efforts rewarded by no longer having sin appealing to us. But it is good news that this ultimate victory is available now.

    When I was a teen-ager, I thought that probably by the time I reached my 20's, I would be experiencing this sort of victory. Late in my 20's, I decided that it must happen in my 30's. But toward the end of my 30's. I was still flunking the course. And I moved it ahead to my 40's. I wouldn't want to tell you where I've had to move it now! But does the experience of being a new creature in Christ have to wait? Do we have to wait until we are so old that we couldn't sin anymore if we wanted to, because we are too feeble? Do we believe in righteousness by senility?

    I've had grandmothers and grandfathers tell me that they are still looking for allthings to become new. Age is not the determining factor. The thing that makes the difference between the old and the new is being in Christ. That is the big if--"If any man be in Christ."

    At any time we are in Christ, in relationship with Him and in dependence upon His power, we will be new creatures. It is when we leave the dependent relationship with Jesus, and try to manage our own affairs, that we lose the battle with Satan and fall and fail. But to be in Christ is the privilege of each one today, so long as we depend upon Christ's power.

July 13, 2018

7/13/2018

The Will                        THE WELL HAS BEEN DUG

        If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. John 7:37.

    Ed didn't feel very well. His mouth was dry, his lips were cracked, and he was so dizzy that he often fell down. And whenever that happened, he really got discouraged.

    One day he decided to go to the doctor. Surely he didn't have to be like this the rest of his life. After the doctor had listened to his symptoms, he nodded his head. "Ed, your problem is that you are thirsty! It's a common enough problem." Ed felt relieved. "What should I do?" he asked.

    The doctor leaned back in his chair. "First you should decide what bothers you the most. Is it the dry mouth, the cracked lips, or what? Let's say, for example, that your cracked lips bother you the most. Work on them until they are healed up. Then go to work on something else. Use your willpower. That's the key."

    Ed went home, but after several days of saying, "I choose not to have cracked lips," he was in worse shape than ever. He tried another doctor. The second doctor was sympathetic when he heard Ed's story. "I can't imagine why the other doctor didn't tell you!" he exclaimed. "What you need when you are thirsty is water!"

    "Water?" asked Ed faintly. "That does sound good. Where can I get some?"

    "It comes from a well," replied the physician.

    Ed hurried odd--and began trying to dig a well. In a short time he collapsed. It was apparent that he would die before he could dig deep enough. But then he heard the good news. There was a well already dug. All he had to do was to go to the owner of the well, and he would be given all the water he needed. Ed went to the well and accepted the free gift. Now he's jogging around the countryside telling everyone the good news.

    How many of us in our Christian life have spent fruitless time trying to overcome the symptoms of sin, and trying to gain for ourselves the water of life. When we understand that the proper use of our will is to come to Christ, who issued the invitation, "Let him that is athrist come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," we will find the victory that we sought in vain in our own strength. We don't need to dig the well--it has already been dug. All we need to do is to come and to accept the riches of His grace.

July 12, 2018

7/12/2018

The Will                        CHOOSING GOD'S CONTROL

        Choose you this day whom ye will serve. Joshua 24:15.

    The person who has the abiding relationship with Christ, that is, daily fellowship and communion, with the devotional life as its base, has chosen to put God in charge of his direction. Within this relationship, as God leads us upward, we are at any moment either depending totally upon His power or we are depending 100 percent on ourselves.

    Satan is constantly trying to distract our attention so that we will not stay locked in on the abiding dependence upon God's power. When we begin trying to fight Satan in our own strength, when we begin to concentrate on our behavior and performance, our attention is away from Jesus, and our dependence upon His power is broken. This can happen even though the relationship with Him may be continuing day by day. Whenever our attention is on our sins and weaknesses and problems, we are overcome.

    If a person chooses to have the abiding relationship with Christ, his direction will be upward. God controls it, bringing him just as quickly as possible to abiding and depending upon His power all the time. But as we grow, there are times when we look to Jesus, and times when we look away from Jesus to ourselves, even in the course of a given day.

    The beautiful thing is that God does not judge our character by the occasional good deed and misdeed that come as a result of that pattern. He looks at the tendency, the direction of the life. If we deliberately choose to place ourselves under His control day by day, by seeking the relationship with Him, He will lead us to total dependence upon His power all the time. The growth in the Christian life is basically the growth in learning to stay in dependence upon Jesus more and more constantly.

    If we do not choose to have the relationship with Christ day by day, if we do not understand the proper use of the will, and where to put our human effort, and if we continue to seek to fight sin and the devil on our own, then our direction will be downward. Anyone who does not have a continuing relationship with the Lord Jesus, whether he has once become a Christian or not, is giving Satan control of his direction.

    Our part is to choose the ongoing relationship with Christ, until ultimately we can be led to total dependence on Jesus' power all the time.