Overcoming Sin
What will ultimately determine where a man spends eternity depends solely on his attitude towards sin i.e. whether he embraces sin or abstains from it.
Sin has been with man from the beginning. Right from creation sin has been a problem to man.
What is sin?
The Greek word for sin is Harmartia meaning to miss the mark of perfection in order to be considered righteous by God.
The dictionary defines sin as the act of deliberately breaking divine or moral law.
But according to the Bible sin is lawlessness, that is, sin is the free moral transgression of God's law or man's free moral non-reaction to the law of God.
1st John 3 vs 4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
This means there is sin of commission and sin of omission.
James 4 vs 17
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Sin is also defined as all unrighteousness.
1st John 5 vs 17
All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death
In other words, any words, thoughts or actions that are not right' In the sight of God are sin.
Ordinarily the nature of sin is such that sin is sweet and pleasurable to the natural man.
1 Johnn 2:16
For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
There is a daily battle for the soul of man between God and the devil. See Romans 7:21-25 which tells us how this battle is carried out in our minds .
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Sin is preceded by temptation.
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YES it is possible
1st John 5:3, confirms that God's commandments are not burdensome.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
So, God does not ask us to do what we cannot do. Let us note that what it means to overcome sin is that you have the power to say NO to sin; and not that you will no longer be a human being or that you will be taken away from this planet.
Galatians 2 verse 20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Jesus showed us an example to follow.
Hebrews 4 verse 5
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
God hates sin
Zechariah 8 verse 17
do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD .
Proverbs 6 verse 16-17
There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
Although God hates sin, yet He loves sinners. This is why He sent His only begotten Son to the world to save man from sin. And because of God's hatred for sin, He turned His eyes away from Christ when the latter carried the sins of the world on the cross .
If we do not overcome sin, sin will overcome us and this will consequently lead to death -eternal separation between God and man.
Revelations 21 verse 8
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars,they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Fine writeup. To overcome sinful tendecies, we need God's holy spirit. We can request for it because God gives it out freely. It's a two way thing indeed, sinful tendencies may overcome us if we are not careful.
Thanks for contributing to SteemChurch Murfie. When we have the support of God, we can overcome anything in life.
Upvoted & Resteemed
J8.
I really love this quote "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars,they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death"
This is a detailed post about sin @murfie, i never knew sin is Harmartia meaning to miss the mark of perfection' which makes sense, God is perfection, his kingdom and his righteousness but sin keeps us away from it, that is missing the mark of perfection, kudos!
Sin have never been a good thing in the eyes of the lord.
Any time we have done a wrong thing our heart is always in the part of destruction .
Harmartia as described by the author if this article is very dangerous because we will always loose our relationship with God anytime we have sin against him.
When you disvover that you have gone contrary to the will of God , always come to your knees and go into him in prayers and he will definiatelly forgive your sin .
When we first come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we begin by confessing our sins and accepting the forgiveness He gives to us through His sacrifice on the Cross. That is the process of being “saved” or “born again.”
When you give your life to Christ, you are immediately saved from the penalty of sin. Since you are now born again, you begin to avoid the things you do before which ain't right before God, you also stay clear from bad groups, gatherings or friends, because associating with them may draw you back to your old ways. That is the first stage to overcome sin. Keeping on the faith, steadfastness are other factors that determines how long we can handle our faithfulness. In this wicked world where Satan rules, it is difficult living a full life without fallen prey of satanic temptations. But in all I concur, sin can be overcome! But before you are able to do so, you must prepare to face many spiritual battles.
I enjoyed reading your article, nice one @murfie
Sin has caused we Christians to forsake out duty as Christians and end up in flesh. For it kills faster than poison and weigh us down easily if we have the conscience of what we've done as being wrong. Overcoming sin requires a feasibility study of God's word.
SIN begins from the heart, if you want to overcome sin, you do so from the heart.
But, let the word of God transform your heart.....
Thanks for sharing
There is a daily battle for the soul of man between God and the devil. See Romans 7:21-25 which tells us how this battle is carried out in our minds .
That is why the bible said that we battle not with flesh and blood but with pricipalities and power in high places so overcoming sin is never by our strenght or power but by his grace.
Sometimes victory over sin comes quickly. Other times, victory comes more slowly. God has promised that as we make use of His resources, He will progressively bring about change in our lives. We can persevere in our efforts to overcome sin because we know that He is faithful to His promises.