Friday, February 6, 2009

The Truth will Drive out Deception

What if the accusations being made against you are true? What if what Satan is saying is right? For sometimes he does say what's true. "You hurt so and so." Or, You sinned in such-and-such a manner." What do we do then? It always comes back to the same principle: "The truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Admit the truth, confess the sin, and go on. If restitution is necessary, provide it. Otherwise, leave it the hands of God. It's really as simple as that. How can we walk in the freedom Christ won for us at Calvary? Here are three truths about our relationship with God we can count on. 1. The power not to sin. First, as the redeemed, we do not have to sin. As God's new creation, we can walk by the Spirit, and He gives us control over the flesh. All of your sin (past, present, and future) is forgiven (Colossians 2:13). Now God can have an intimate love relationship with us as His redeemed ones. There is no more separation between God and redeemed man (even though God is still God and man is still man). In fact, God lives in union with the believer. God had declared us to be holy, irreproachable, blameless, complete in Christ, and fit for heaven. 2. Protection. As redeemed children, God the Father promises us protection from the enemy. We read, "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him" (1 John 5:18). The Lord Jesus guards the believer who walks with Him so that the enemy will not take hold of the believer and drag him off into sin. Though we will at times fall into sin, we will not abide in it. In fact, the verb form for sin in 1 John 5:18means to continue or remain in sin. If we have been born again of God, we know Satan cannot directly or continually drag us into sin. God's protection assures us. And while the spiritual battle is underway, we know God's superior might will protect us from Satan's overpowering us, "because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). 3. Comfort. God provides comfort when we are suffering. Have you noticed how in a time of crisis the enemy will send "Job's friends" to pitch their tents in your backyard? In some cases their unsolicited "comfort" can be worse than the trial you' re going through. (to see three theologically incorrect "comforters" in action, read, for example, Job 5,8, and 11. To see their error and God's response, read Job 42:7-9.) The true God of comfort sends true comforters who "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

No comments:

Post a Comment