Tuesday, September 27th

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Isaiah 41-42, Romans 7

I love this passage in our OT reading today....

I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:9b-10

Isn't that a beautiful promise?

Originally made to the Israelites, God's chosen people, this promise stands true for believers today. All believers are God's chosen people and we all share the responsibility to represent Him to the world. We cannot do it in our own strength, but thanks be to God who strengthens us, who helps us, who upholds us so that we do not need to fear or be dismayed. He is our God and He is with us always.

On to our Romans passage. I read John MacArthur's sermon, Understanding the Believer's Battle with Sin (Part 2), and it really helped me to understand this chapter better. I sometimes find Paul's way with words to be convoluted and I just can't figure out what he's saying. I found this quote, in particular, very helpful....

"...since the time of my salvation on, sin is alien, it is a foreign body, it is a virus that is attacking me." Paul is saying, in a sense, that sin is no longer the real me. He has been recreated into an incorruptible new creation, the new will never die, the new is above and beyond sin, it is the divine nature, it is an eternal seed that cannot sin. That is clear. Since that time, he says, this new life longs to do what is right, but there is an alien in me called sin which indwells me. This is the way to understand it. This is the way to view it. After salvation, the part of man where sin lies and resides is not in the new creation, the real self, the true you. But it is in you somewhere. Where is it? Verse 18, "It is my flesh." That's simply a word for my humanness. But even my humanity, in a sense, is alien to me. I now have an eternal life. This world is not my home. My home is in heaven. My name is there, my Father is there, my life is there. My life is hid with Christ in God, my heavenly life. And all of a sudden my humanity becomes alien. But my humanity, according to Galatians 5, is still producing things like verse 19, Galatians 5, "Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, dispute, dissension, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these." Those are the kind of things that characterize people who aren't believers but they are still residual in an alien form in my new life. And that is why my salvation is not yet complete. I haven't had the redemption of my body, as we saw in Romans 8:23, so in verses 24 of Romans 8, "In hope we have been saved." We still have something to hope for. We are still persevering to that day when hope is realized.

So what we have is not reigning sin, but surviving sin. It is not consistent with our new life, it is alien. (emphasis mine)

The truth is, as you grow more mature as a Christian, and as you become more aware of the holiness of God and how abhorrent sin is to Him, you will begin to sin less often, but you will hate it more. As we mature in Christ, we become more and more aware of the immense contrast between God's holiness (His absolute separation from anything sinful) and our own humanity still tainted by our struggle with sin.

I know one thing about the true children of God. Their inner person desires holiness and they will pursue an environment where they are aided in fulfilling those longings....True believers... admit their sin, confess their sin.... they grieve over their sin, they hate their sin. (emphasis mine)

We will have victory over sin in this life. As we pursue holiness and an environment that aids us in that pursuit, we will begin to sin less. But our awareness of our sin will be magnified as our awareness of God's holiness increases. We will hate our sin and our struggle with sin more and more. And we will continue to struggle with this until Christ returns, when our inner self, that new creation will finally be free from our sinful humanity and we will truly be redeemed. Thanks be to God for the hope that we have in Jesus.

Tomorrow's passage: Isaiah 43-44, Romans 8:1-21