Is walking without falling into sin possible in this life?

[FinallyAlive]

For me, when I was younger, (and in truth, even up to the end of last year,) I understood “sin no more” as something I was going to have to be responsible for. I was, unfortunately, up until that point, perfectly contented with the way I was living my sinful life, thinking that my actions or secret sins “weren’t really hurting anyone”, and that task sounded daunting. Incredibly so. I was selfish. I cared about how *I* was going to feel in each moment of *my* life. How wrong was I?

But the beautiful and glorious reality for me was... when I truly repented, when I cried out to God as someone who was broken, ready to change, and more importantly, in my heart fully claimed that forgiveness and the promises He offers us through Jesus... the desire to sin left from me. With no effort on my part.

[Not me]

13 hours ago, 4LdKHVCzRDj2 said:

It is just a matter of faith. The person's heart must desire a clean heart, desire the Holy Spirit.

"Blessed are the pure in heart,
    For they shall see God." - Matthew 5:8

 

It is a choice that must be done in faith from the heart, with no doubt.

"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
    For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;" - James 1:6-7

 

It is an acknowledgment that sin is a waste of time and living according to the flesh profits nothing indeed.

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." - John 6:44

 

It is a choice fully motivated by love, love for the light, love for the Holy Spirit.

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love." - Galatians 5:6

 

When people are unsure or resist to submit to Christ and His righteousness they will remain slaves to flesh/sin and stuck in their self-righteousness.

It is a resistance triggered by pride and/or fear.

"So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
    Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness;
        there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 
            “For many are called, but few are chosen.”" - Matthew 22:12-14

Faith that “tries” to believe something will not work. Only the faith planted in “knowing or seeing” will produce the desired effects. 

Much love in Christ, Not me

Edited April 8, 2018 by Not me

[Not me]

A Christian Author by the name of Watchman Nee wrote a book called the “Normal Christian Life” that has a section on Romans chapters 6,7,8 that is a excellent read, if anyone would be interested in reading how someone else describes “being died in Christ” and “reckoning yourself dead”. Both Watchman Née and Andrew Murray have written extensively on the subject. Both are quite good  Authors. Each speaks on this  same truth, just with different words. Sometimes hearing how others speak a truth helps with the understanding. 

Much love in Christ, Not me. 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Not me

[Not me]

6 hours ago, Gideon said:

Then Hr removed the scales from my eyes to clearly see what had eluded me for 38 years. It was in Romans 6. Paul told us, after KNOWING that we died with Christ and also rose again as new creatures, to appropriate it as MY  truth. 

 

Gideon

This “knowing” that your speaking of, I think this is where the explaining needs to be. For until this is “known or seen” these words will be not understood as they should be. For all true faith come from the ground of “knowing” or in your words “making this truth your own”.  

Hope it helps. 

Much love and prayers, Not me 

 

[Not me]

1 hour ago, FinallyAlive said:

For me, when I was younger, (and in truth, even up to the end of last year,) I understood “sin no more” as something I was going to have to be responsible for. I was, unfortunately, up until that point, perfectly contented with the way I was living my sinful life, thinking that my actions or secret sins “weren’t really hurting anyone”, and that task sounded daunting. Incredibly so. I was selfish. I cared about how *I* was going to feel in each moment of *my* life. How wrong was I?

But the beautiful and glorious reality for me was... when I truly repented, when I cried out to God as someone who was broken, ready to change, and more importantly, in my heart fully claimed that forgiveness and the promises He offers us through Jesus... the desire to sin left from me. With no effort on my part.

Blessed are you! For scripture does say;

“you will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” 

Love to read where the Lord makes Himself real to a believer in a new and deeper way. 

That this would happen in all our lives! 

Much love and prayers, Not me. 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Not me

[Sower]

 

To sin is to miss the mark.   Miss the target by a mile, miss it by a fraction. It is sin. Temptation is not sin. Action is required, physical or mental. When I get really angry at someone  without thinking about it first (premeditated) I sinned. Through out the day I'm telling myself "why did I do/think that" at times, and then confess it, agreeing with God that what I did was wrong, putting that correct data in my memory, (Psa 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.) for future reference.  When I passed up an easy opportunity to help some one but didn't feel like it, I sinned. I have sinned already reading some of these posts, as I have judged harshly in my mind, some of the reply's.  I missed HIS mark. I miss the mark all day long, I admit it.  For someone to say they never sin is not truth, and they have called God a lair. My bible says this. Or maybe some have a very low understanding of God's perfect standard. 

Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Don't misunderstand, my flesh enjoys sin. My mind hates it. A large portion of my waking moments is centered around this subject, sin, and the avoidance of it. We all make hundreds of decisions every day, and have thousands of thoughts. I would like to meet one who claim they do not sin.              (I will, some day...................)

[Not me]

5 minutes ago, Gary Lee said:

 

To sin is to miss the mark.   Miss the target by a mile, miss it by a fraction. It is sin. Temptation is not sin. Action is required, physical or mental. When I get really angry at someone  without thinking about it first (premeditated) I sinned. Through out the day I'm telling myself "why did I do/think that" at times, and then confess it, agreeing with God that what I did was wrong, putting that correct data in my memory, (Psa 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.) for future reference.  When I passed up an easy opportunity to help some one but didn't feel like it, I sinned. I have sinned already reading some of these posts, as I have judged harshly in my mind, some of the reply's.  I missed HIS mark. I miss the mark all day long, I admit it.  For someone to say they never sin is not truth, and they have called God a lair. My bible says this. Or maybe some have a very low understanding of God's perfect standard. 

Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Don't misunderstand, my flesh enjoys sin. My mind hates it. A large portion of my waking moments is centered around this subject, sin, and the avoidance of it. We all make hundreds of decisions every day, and have thousands of thoughts. I would like to meet one who claim they do not sin.              (I will, some day...................)

Blessed are you that God is working so very much in your life. That we would come to know Him in all things. That one and one personal relationship with Him is our everything or as scripture called it “Christ our lives” Blessed are we to have such a great and loving God! 

Much love in Christ, Not me

[Gideon]

7 hours ago, Not me said:

This “knowing” that your speaking of, I think this is where the explaining needs to be. For until this is “known or seen” these words will be not understood as they should be. For all true faith come from the ground of “knowing” or in your words “making this truth your own”.  

Hope it helps. 

Much love and prayers, Not me 

 

Excellent point, and thank you for pointing that out.  It is imperative that we know how our salvation works and what exactly it accomplishes, amen? And the first ring is, we must nail down as FACT that we, our old sinful nature, died when Christ died. And why is this important? Paul tells us a few verses later in Romans 7 that the law has dominion over us as long as we live. And what is the strength of sin? The law. We had to get freed from the grip of the law in order to get freed from the grip of sin and to do that? Death is absolutely necessary. So let’s look at what Paul actually says in Romans 6:

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? “

So here is the question that needs answering. Is it important as children of God to walk without sin? Yes. And just as important.... is it possible, since we are only humans with flaws and weaknesses, to actually walk with sin under our feet? The answer is an emphatic  and glorious YES! Then Paul continues as he explains the HOW of our victory. And it starts with nailing down two facts....

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Notice the tense. Past tense. We died. Not are dying. Paul then transitions into the second part of our knowing, and it is just as important. We are not left just forgiven but not cleamsed nor freed from the power of  darkness. Listen, dear saints of God,  we too were raised to newness of life! 

Yes, our fleshly bodies remain, BUT, our spirits? They are brand new! Our old sinful nature died with Christ. His death was our death, glory to God!  Again Paul repeats this amazing pronouncement and what we need to know as fact. We, our old carnal sin loving nature, that cannot get victory over sin no matter how hard we try, has died. Past tense. And Paul contiues...

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.“

. Again, the importance of knowing these are facts. Done deals. Past tense. So what is Paul telling us we need to nail down as fact?

1) Our old natures died with Him.

2) We have been given brand new natures, natures that not only want to avoid evil, but CAN avoid it.

Then Paul continues and tells us what all this means for us...

“For he that is dead is freed from sin.”

 Glory to God forevermore! Now some will say that this means we are free from our guilt, and indeed we are! But.... there is more. We are freed from the power of sin over us. How do we know?  Paul tells us clearly in Colossians 1:13:

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son”
                                Colossians 1:13                                            

Our salvation is far greater than we have thought. What we are being awakened to is what was actually accomplished on the cross ..... and with Christ’s resurrection. Forgiveness? You bet! But there is something more. We were made NEW. Our very nature was changed. Deep inside you, whether you feel it or not, down deep in your core, you are pure, you are clean, you are new. And you are FREE INDEED. 

I will continue on into the next step, which is our activation of this truth in our lives, in the next post. 

Blessings to all, 

Gideon

Edited April 8, 2018 by Gideon

[Gideon]

7 hours ago, Yowm said:

Is this repentance a daily or at least an often occurrence, or are you saying you have attained a sinless status where the 'desire to sin' has left?

I know this was not addressed to me, but if it is ok, I would like to share what I see.

What is being shared is not a “state” one arrives at. That would imply accomplishment on our part. And we can accomplish nothing. No amount of trying will get one into the rest God has for us, called our new nature. The struggling we  all seem to do to get there is so that we truly finally realize the above truth.

And it is when we get to the place we have NO strength, and all our efforts to be good are pointless and sin, our sin.... has become exceedingly sinful to us, it is then we are finally prepared to leave the wilderness and enter our promised land of rest. Why? We have ceased from our own labors and.... ONLY believed. That is why weakness and brokenness is such a key. 

Can one sin while walking in his new nature? Yes, indeed! That is why John says IF any man sin... But note, he does not say WHEN.  Indeed in 1 John 2, he says “Little children, these things I write to you that you sin not.”

We must understand, we enter into our rest by believing. But when we do, our good fight of faith actually begins! Satan will try everything to get us back into doubt. Why? Because we are genuine threats to Him now. So when we first reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God as new creatures, our faith is weak. We are like toddlers learning to walk in newness of life. Can we fall? Yes. But not because it does not work, and that God cannot keep us from falling, but simply because our faith is weak!

So... IF we slip back into sin, we remember the facts again. We are not the old nature anymore. That US died. We are new! At that moment we do not feel new, but it changes nothing. So, what do we do? We repent of  our sin, and then we repent of our unbelief, for that was the open door Satan used. Our shield was up, but it was small and wavering. Is that all? No. One last step. We again reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. We believe again. And glory to God, guess what? Our faith grows. 

As to your question as to daily repentance, if we are being kept by God, if the Holy Spirit who convicts us if (not when) we sin is in us, we repent only when God tells us we have slipped. In Hebrews, we are told that once cleansed, we are to have no more consciousness of sins! We have clean consciences and that is why there is glorious rest. Here let me add, I had to most sensitive conscience of all. I walked under constant condemnation. But when I finally broke, and believed the good news of who I was, my conscience too became white as snow. I saw myself no more as ‘just a sinner saved by grace’. I was a child of the king, and joy replaced guilt and condemnation. And that, dear brother, is why Paul tells us in Romans 8 that there is no more condemnation. There really isn’t! 

You asked if the desire to sin leaves. Indeed it does. In my case, lust and porn were HUGE problems. Thoughts would come, I would embrace them as mine, and off I would go. But once I reckoned myself as dead to sin, and yielded myself to God as one who was alive from the dead,  a thought would come, and I recognized it immediately as an arrow from the enemy. And I immediately rejected it as MY thought, for it was not. 

I have shared this before, but as new creatures, thoughts come. Satan’s greatest weapon against us is shooting temptations or accusations at us, but here is what makes them so effective. He does not say “You are a failure as a Christian.” No, no. He says “I am a failure as a Christian” and here is the kicker, he does it in MY voice. 

If we are walking in our old nature, we simply bite on it and accept it as ours. But once we take the leap of faith and apprehend that for which we were apprehended, we see the hook hidden in the thought, for Satan is trying to get us back into doubt and condemnation. And we will have no part of it. 

Walking in our new nature is a walk. As Paul says “Now you are children of light. Walk as children of light.”

When the Israelites that left Egypt finally died in the wilderness because they would not believe God had given them the land of Promise, of the 600,000, only two remained to enter the land of rest. Who were they? Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who said “God said we can take the land, so.... we can take it, giants or not, it makes no difference.”

Omce they crossed over Jordan, they never went back into the wilderness. God told them that every step they took would be their possession, remember? Why? God had already given them the land! Done deal. And so it is with us. Now, enemies had to be driven out of the land, amen? As I said... can we sin here? You bet, if we take our eyes off Jesus. Rememer Ai? After destroying powerful Jericho, they were full of themselves. And ai thought them a hard but valuable lesson. We always cling to Jesus. He is our victory. He is our armor. He is our new nature. 

And as we walk out this walk, to our joy and amazement, we become established in the faith, and slipping simply never happens. Are we sinless? No. He is sinless in us and we abide in Him 24/7/365. 

I hope this helps.

Gideon

[Gideon]

8 hours ago, Gary Lee said:

 

To sin is to miss the mark.   Miss the target by a mile, miss it by a fraction. It is sin. Temptation is not sin. Action is required, physical or mental. When I get really angry at someone  without thinking about it first (premeditated) I sinned. Through out the day I'm telling myself "why did I do/think that" at times, and then confess it, agreeing with God that what I did was wrong, putting that correct data in my memory, (Psa 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.) for future reference.  When I passed up an easy opportunity to help some one but didn't feel like it, I sinned. I have sinned already reading some of these posts, as I have judged harshly in my mind, some of the reply's.  I missed HIS mark. I miss the mark all day long, I admit it.  For someone to say they never sin is not truth, and they have called God a lair. My bible says this. Or maybe some have a very low understanding of God's perfect standard. 

Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Don't misunderstand, my flesh enjoys sin. My mind hates it. A large portion of my waking moments is centered around this subject, sin, and the avoidance of it. We all make hundreds of decisions every day, and have thousands of thoughts. I would like to meet one who claim they do not sin.              (I will, some day...................)

I pray what I am going to say blesses you. 

Suppose I am driving with my family on the interstate and someone is riding my tail, literally three feet of space between us. I motion him around but he goes nowhere. I get angry, for it is threatening my family. Have I sinned? No. I have simply reacted to a situation with impatience, a dormant bud of patience already inside me.  The Holy Spirit inside me convicts me that anger is not the answer. So, I let it go. Praise God, no sin. 

Why was it not sin? Because as you pointed out, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. If I had continued and disobeyed the conviction of the Spirit inside me, then I would have sinned. That is why we are shown the example “Be he angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your anger.”

it is imperative we understand what sin is for us now. It is not moral perfection. When we take our stand as new creatures, we are pure as snow on the inside. But our outside still has all the bumps and imperfections as before. What are those bumps? Dormant buds, that God promises to change into fruits. And as we abide in Him, He causes those to swell and grow. 

Sin for us as new creatures is not a written rule book. Nor is it the perfect character of Jesus we are judged against. We would be under condemnation all day, every day. Where is the rest in that?? 

Do we not see? That perfect Jesus is inside us, growing outward! The Pharisees, and sadly, most of modern Christianity, have fallen into the trap of thinking  that we are to clean ourselves from the ouside in, eliminating bigger sins first and then eventually getting to smaller ones. It does not work....ever. We never get to our core, our heart, do we? And we always live with guilt. 

Ahhh, but God does it differently. He purifies us inside first, and asks us to believe it. And as we do, and hold up our shield of faith as to who we now are, and refuse his accusations and temptations,  we find to our joy and amazement that He begins to change us outwardly into the image of His Son.  Amazing God!!

Blessings, 

Gideon 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Gideon