The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the
law (1 Cor. 15:56).
One of the things that occupied my thoughts most of the time
after I became a Christian was how to stop sinning. Mostly, I realised it was
not sinning in general but a particular sin that seemed to plague me. It was
the sin I struggled with all the time. The one I felt easily entangled me and
impeded my progress in the Christian
life. Like every true Christian, I wanted to stop but stopping was out of my reach.
Sometimes I could succeed for a while before I found myself plunged into it
once again. It never seemed to lose its hold on me. Beloved, your experience
may not be very different from mine. I
know many Christians identify with this problem I had.
So I did a lot of things in my attempt to stop. I went
before the church to be prayed for. I promptly responded to altar calls and
constantly repeated my vows to the Lord (after I had fallen into that sin). I
tried to pray when the urge was coming. I tried doing other stuff to take my
mind off it. All these worked only for a while and normally in the first
instance of applying them. I was utterly helpless at times, plundered by a deep
sense of guilt. But the Lord showed me something. It blew my mind. He told me
to stop struggling with the sin and instead, consider the source of the
strength of the sin as revealed in His word.
Notice the above scripture: The sting of death is sin. This
means when death wants to work, like a snake, it stings its prey with sin. So
the effect of the work of death in the life of a person is sin. Now, the
strength of sin is the law. In other words for any sin to continue ruling,
there must be the presence of a law. Take away the law and the sin loses its
strength and death therefore will have no effect. So to break the arm of sin
one must remove the law. Sin has no strength without the law, simple.
The question here is: why does sin need the law to exercise
its strength? The answer is pretty easy because God already shows us in His word.
The law presents a standard, in order for sin to appear as sin, there must be
the breaching of some standard. That standard is called law.
Romans 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me?
God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that
which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
The inability to keep a standard brings the ground for
condemnation. Sin needs the law for strength because with the law comes the
standard by which men are condemned. Sin therefore seeks condemnation and the
law helps it to do exactly that. To remove the law is to remove the element of
condemnation and thereby the strength of sin.
Rom. 7:11 For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
To slay here means to condemn. So sin takes advantage of the
law, deceives one to sin and then condemns him. The aim of sin as we can see is
condemnation. Condemnation is to be declared unrighteous. Meaning not fit for
the realm of righteousness, the exact opposite of God's purpose in Christ.
2 Cor 5:21 For he hath made him[Jesus] to be sin for us, who
knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him[Jesus].
Anyone who is not fit for the realm of righteousness dwells
in the realm of death where the devil reigns. It begins with death and ends
with a person walking in the realm of death.
Now we know that the Christian is not under the Law. He is
under grace. In fact we, who were once gentiles, have no previous relationship
with the Law at all since it was given to the Jews and not us (Rom 9:24,25).
However, owing to the training and upbringing of many
believers in church, they find themselves walking under the principle of the
Law. The principle of the Law is trying to attain righteousness by merits. Many
people have in their minds a set of dos and don'ts by which they try to make
themselves acceptable to God. Many think they must pray for a certain number of
hours. Many think they must study their Bible everyday to be accepted before God.
Many think they must evangelise to gain acceptance. Many think they must not do
certain things in order to stay accepted.
Many also have carved their own impression of who a
perfectly righteous person is and therefore attempt by might to reach it. Many
hear the testimonies of others and try, by dint of discipline, to achieve those
testimonies for themselves. Such people give strength to sin in their lives.
Because in their minds, they must act or live a certain way before they qualify
to be accepted by God, sin takes advantage of that mindset and deceives such
ones into doing the very things they do not want to do and afterwards condemns
them (Rom 7:11). Sadly, these people gladly welcome the condemnation thinking
it is God disciplining them. The best place the devil wants a Christian is in
the pit of despondency, trying to attain the righteousness he has already
received as a gift through works of merit. That is where his strength is.
This is what the Lord taught me: Remove any sense of law
from your mind. Never allow yourself to be condemned when you commit any sin.
Never allow yourself to feel unaccepted. Never
regard sin as a problem in your life. See it as dealt with. See it as
something having no bearing on your life. In this way, that particular sin will
have no strength in your life. It will lose its ability to deceive you and it
will no longer be a temptation. Temptation thrives in fear. So we are mostly
tempted with our worst nightmare. But what if you don't have a worst nightmare?
What if you there is nothing that you are afraid of doing? What if nothing can
condemn you? Then sin has no strength in your life and you will now find
yourself walking in perpetual victory over that very sin.
Remember that that sin must lose its strength and for that to
happen, you must not see overcoming that sin as a means of gaining acceptance
or being a better person before God. You already are accepted and most holy in
Christ. See yourself as having already met the requirement of righteousness in
Christ. The moment you see this, that sin will not have the strength to condemn
you again and therefore will begin to lose its hold in your life. Remember,
without the Law sin is weak. Don't make any attempt to remove the sin directly.
Leave the sin alone. Remove the law that says committing that sin makes you
unacceptable or unrighteous and by so doing remove any possibility of
condemnation.
Then the sin will remove itself because it will no longer have
strength. This is what Jesus did for you. He took away the strength of sin so
you could walk without condemnation.
Then the righteous life will become possible for you to live. REMOVE ANY
SENSE OF LAW AND CONDEMNATION AND SIN HAS NO STRENGTH. Halleluyah!
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