Answer the Question, Brother!

1.) It is against BB rules to use the name of another poster in the thread subject line.

2.) I haven't read the previous thread, so I'm simply responding to questions given in this context.

Nope. When a person becomes a believer, their desires will change. Their desire will be to please God and to become a faithful disciple. Of necessity, they will seek to learn the disciplines of Christ by emulating his lifestyle of prayer, fasting, giving, service, solitude, celebration, fellowship, submission and servanthood (among others).

Not at all. Of course, the believer is given the power and all the resources to walk holy, but there is a lifetime of continuous training in holiness in front of them.

Think of it this way, a teenager can buy a pair of Michael Jordan’s basketball shoes (and have exactly the same kind of shoe that Jordan has), but they won’t suddenly give him the ability to play basketball like Michael Jordan without a lot of old fashioned training, practice and experience. In a similar way, Jesus calls us to follow Him and gives us the resources, ability and the new life possible to live life to its fullness in pleasing and uninhibited fellowship with God. But just as Jesus had to “grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man”, we must also grow. (A servant is not greater than his master!) Just think of all the times Paul used images of sporting events to illustrate this training and perseverance. If we are to be disciples of Christ, then we need to exercise ourselves spiritually and practice self-discipline.

Yes. But the believer has the power to master the flesh.

An informed believer will be self-motivated toward holiness, but will occasionally need some encouragement to persevere in good works. An uninformed believer (those who have had a corrupted gospel preacher to them – such as “Jesus is a ticket to Heaven, ask Jesus to be your Savior and you won’t burn in Hell” or a gospel of legalism) may need to have a more complete presentation of the gospel given to them before they will understand the yearnings to pursue holiness. If someone claiming to be a believer does not have a yearning to be a disciple of Christ, it is very likely that they have not truly committed their lives to Christ and are not truly a believer.

 

Oops! Sorry. I should have known but I didn't. </font>[/QUOTE]A moderator can come by and fix it. You can contact one of them yourself and they will be happy to assist you.

 

Eccl. 7:20, "Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins."

 

The answer to the question is answered by another question: Who in all history has become a Christian and has automatically stopped sinning? Even Billy Graham struggles with sin, he even openly sinned by turning his pulpit into a political agenda once! (something he apologized for later which confirms that even he in all his years of evangelism still struggles with sin)

 

When one is a Christian, he is a partaker of the Divine nature. That nature can never sin. However, the carnal nature, still active in his members, can never do good.

And so the Spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh lusts against the Spirit.

We must grow in the Spirit and put to death the lusts of the flesh. So the Christian is constantly growing more spiritual and less carnal, but never completely so until death sets him free.

 

Of course Christians sin just as much as non Christians. But we have an advocate or mediator to cleanse us from our sins. And that is Jesus Christ. I John 1:7-9. If we say we have no sin we make God a liar. For the bible says ALL HAVE SINNED and come short of the glory of God.

When we sin we should CONFESS that sin and repent of of it before God. We should be truly sorry for grieving God and the Holy Spirit. And we should try through God's grace not to commit the same sin or sins in the future. Many false ministers cite I John 3:9 and claim a born again Christian does not sin period. But John the Apostle did not mean this. For a simple comparison of I John 1:8-9 proves this. Why would one confess sin he never committed? No, what John meant was that a born again believer does not PRACTICE sin or make it a constant habit of committing sin.

 

Since my salvation, I have definitely changed in my character and in my conduct.

However, the devil does continually bring up my old self in order to accuse me, and I do struggle with my old sins and habits.

The difference now, though, is that since I am a new man in Christ and have been saved by his blood, I have a firm foundation to stand on. With this, I am strengthened to resist temptation, be reminded of what Christ has done for me, and realise that the devil has no more claim on me or on my past.


mozier

 

mozier

That's a wonderful testimony brother and our Savior will always be there helping and strengthening you. From one saved sinner to another, I marvel at his grace that even after he has saved me, why he continues to put up with my shortcomings. If it were anyone else, they would have given up on me long ago. But there's power in the blood, thank God and it keeps on cleansing and the Holy Spirit keeps on working within us. Isn't Jesus wonderful?

 

It shouldn´t be that way. We´ve got the Spirit of Holiness living on the inside of us. God has given His Spirit so we are able to do the will of God.