Overcome what?

Does beleiving in Christ give us power over sin? Do people still believe in this, or is it enough to have forgiveness of past sins through the Cross?

We overcome because Jesus overcame for us. And in the end .... we know the end of the story. WE WIN.

The world, the devil, and the flesh!

"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" Rom 6:16 ESV

"The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever." Jn 8:35 ESV

"For everyone who has been born of God, overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith." 1 Jn 5:4 ESV.

"The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death." Rev 2:11 ESV.

Gerry

All sin? Remember sin, according to Christ, is much more than just keeping the law as it reads. Just because I don't murder someone doesn't mean I am a law keeper because the spirit of the law requires me not to hate my enemies. If I hate someone, even someone that has done terrible things to me or my family, I am (according to the law) a murderer.

Now having said that believing in Christ does open doors to maturity. We can grow through Christ, but at the same time we can never say that we are perfect. We are only perfect "in Christ".

Rob

Good point Rob.

ALL willful sin!

Gerry

All sin is willful.

All willfully sin.

Of course we can overcome sin in our life if we have God's Spirit leading us and follow His lead and use His power to overcome.

It isn't a question of overcoming our sinfulness. Nor is it a question of overcoming every sin at the same moment. It is overcoming those sins that the Holy Spirit points out to us, and He doesn't point out every sin in our life at the same time. Otherwise we would be overwhelmed and give up.

The question is really one of whether we will walk by faith or by sight-- whether we take the Bible as it reads, or whether we want to believe it is not possible to overcome sin. If we accept the Bible and Ellen White's writings as they read, we can't help but know that we may overcome sin through God's grace and power.

I think the #1 reason we don't overcome sin is that we love the sin. If we hated the sin, and if we saw what sin does and did to Christ, we would be much more willing to stop it. For instance, if I knew that every time I committed a certain sin, one of my daughters would have to die-- well, you may be sure I would not have the attitude of, "Oh well, no big deal, God will just have to forgive me."

The only way anyone can say that all sin is willful is if they refuse to accept the evidence of the dictionary, the Bible, and Ellen White. We've been through that many times before and shown page after page of evidence that all sin is not willful.

It is like someone's repeating over and over again that everyone who commits a crime does so willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation. It should be obvious to anyone that there is a distinction between willful, planned and deliberate acts and those that are the result of ignorance, weakness, mental defects, etc. etc. The same difference pertains to the law in any human society.

That is what the New Birth, or being born of the Spirit, is all about. When God changes us, he does not only change our acts or behavior but he changes how we think and even how we feel. Of course that doesn't all happen at one time or overnight. But as we cooperate with God and as we walk with Him by faith, He does change our thinking and feelings so that they are more and more in harmony with the way He thinks.

For instance, instead of hating someone who we think does us wrong, we will find that we are thinking about their salvation and about helping them and praying for them. We won't even want to do bad things to them in return. God is all about changing minds, lives and characters.

I'm thinking along the lines of whether we believe that God can help others do things like heal from deep wounds or overcome addictions.

I'm talking about what power is available to us through Jesus for the right now. Is Jesus the answer only for past sins or can I recommend Jesus to those who are having a problem with drug addiction or porn addiction?

I think that John317 understands what I mean. Sometimes the words don't type as fast as I think them.