You don't have to keep messing up. This episode focuses on the assurance of victory over sin by exploring the idea that as Christians, we face temptations but do not have to succumb to them. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 10:13, we discuss God's faithfulness in providing a way out of temptation. I emphasize the importance of recognizing our choices and the need to seek alternatives to sin. By understanding our identity in God's plan and engaging with scripture, we can find strength and purpose that help us avoid wrongdoing and lead fulfilling lives.
Takeaways:
The assurance of victory over sin means we don't have to keep messing up.
God provides a way out of temptation, showing us how to endure it effectively.
Even Christians face temptation and can choose not to sin in their lives.
Understanding our free will and God's control is essential in our spiritual journey.
Replacing bad behaviors with positive actions is crucial for spiritual growth and fulfillment.
Reading Proverbs regularly offers wisdom for making better life choices and avoiding sin.
This is an encore presentation for the Hobo Soul podcast while the Bible 805 offices are being redone. And our topic for today is--
You don't have to keep messing up.
We can also call this the assurance of victory over sin.
That was our title and now here is the verse that goes along with it.
comes from First Corinthians:
"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you're tempted, he will show you a way out so you can endure it."
Just because you're walking with Jesus doesn't mean you'll never sin. You'll never do anything wrong again. You'll be tempted just like everyone else.
But as a Christian, you don't have to sin. God will provide a way out and you can say no. Now, how this all works out in real life is a little bit more complicated. So.
So let's look at it more closely. God has not turned you into a robot. He hasn't erased your mind when you become a Christian, and he hasn't taken away your will.
The balance between giving us free will and God being in control of it all is a concept that I don't think anyone on Earth has totally figured out. But Pastor Rick Warren shared an analogy a few years ago that has really helped me understand it and let me pass it on to you.
He said, when you become a Christian, it's like you're on a big cruise ship. You're on the ship for the journey, you can't get off. The captain, also known as God, is in charge.
He's never going to abandon the ship, and he will get you to the destination, eternal life in the kingdom with Him. However, on the ship on the journey, you have quite a bit of freedom.
You can do what you want to do in many ways, but your actions will have consequences.
If you choose to follow the rules of the ship, in other words, the Bible, do your assigned tasks and work to get along well with your fellow passengers. You'll have a pleasant journey. Or you can ignore the rules and the captain. You can be an obnoxious traveler.
You can fight with your fellow passengers and generally cause trouble. If you do that, you won't have the journey you were intended to have, and you may even end up in the brig. Now, no analogy is ever perfect.
And it's important to emphasize that the Christian life is not a transactional one where you do this or that and God guarantees this or that outcome.
I've got lots of other lessons on this whole idea of transactional faith, particularly in my lessons on Genesis and Job that you can find on the Bible805 website. But the important thing to emphasize here in this podcast, based on this verse and many others in the Bible, is that you have two choices.
You always have choices of whether to mess up to sin or not. There is always a way out. You need, though, to look for it. So let's look at this in a little more detail.
Really, the best way that God provides for us not to get into certain situations really for a way out in the first place is stay out of situations before you get tempted. For example, obviously if you want to quit drinking, don't hang out in bars.
If you want to lose weight, don't buy boxes of snacks that you're supposed to be using for Bible study but that are within arm's reach now. Not that I know anything about that situation. I'm kidding here. There's a reason we don't have snacks in my afternoon Bible class anymore.
I simply couldn't avoid the temptation. I'd lock them up and then I'd get them out at night when I was watching tv. Just crazy. So I just said to the class, I'm sorry, more snacks.
Now, as sensible and as obvious as this advice is, really the best preparation for not messing up isn't just to avoid what we know is wrong to do. Although that's kind of bottom line and important. But even if we do that, it only takes us to a neutral point.
We need to go on to replace bad behaviors and the desires that produce them with something better. Something so appealing and wonderful and satisfying that pursuing those desires and goals, the good ones, takes all our time and energy.
We find that something better when we realize who we are in God's plan for us once we're His. Now here's one of the verses that explains this.
It's 1st Peter 2, 9, 10 where it says but you are the ones chosen by God, God's chosen instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night and day difference he made for you from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. You're chosen by God to do his work and purpose far beyond any self absorbed sinning you're tempted to do.
Your life has meaning no matter where you are or what you're doing. You can reflect God. You can share hope and peace. You can be the calm one when others are in a panic.
You can be the kind one when others pick on someone or mock them. You can be silent when others are snarky.
You can learn these ways out of sin and leading a life of purpose by reading God's word, by looking at the lives of people who are pleasing to him, by reading their advice. One great source of advice is the book of proverbs.
It has 30 chapters, and many Christians make it a habit to read one chapter a day every every month and then start over again and read it again.
I personally read one chapter from Proverbs one day and one Psalm the next day in addition to my daily Bible reading, and I go back through when I reach the end of them. I found that that helps me so much in Proverbs. Here are just some of the verses that have been meaningful to me.
First of all on when to keep my mouth shut, and then on living a thoughtful life. These all come from Proverbs 15 where the first one says, a gentle response diffuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper.
Fire the next one kind words heal and help, cutting words wound and maim and then one on our life overall, a life frittered away disgusts God. He loves those who run straight for the finish line.
You see how just reading verses like this, thinking about them during the day can give you such a head start on making the right decisions. Decisions on not messing up. Back to our starting challenge. You don't have to mess up.
Proverbs tells us how not to when it says, as I remind you, don't fritter away your life. Run in God's way. God loves to watch you do that, and it's really the best way to live.
That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the bible. Go to www.bible805.com for now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.
May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hobo soul, no more a transient wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.
