MY FRIENDS, CAN WE LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES AND SEE THE CONFLICT?

March. 18, 2017

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES AND SEE THE CONFLICT?

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” Rom. 7:18-20 (NASB) So, my friends, we must recognize we are not capable of winning the daily prolong struggles we encounter with the “spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places”

Remember, the very thing we do not want, we are no longer the one doing it, “but sin which dwells in us.” So “Conflict after conflict must be waged against hereditary tendencies.” In addition, we must “criticize ourselves closely, and not allow one unfavorable trait to remain uncorrected. Let no one say, I cannot remedy my defects of character.

If [we] come to this decision, [we] will certainly fail of obtaining everlasting life. The impossibility lies in [our] own will. If you [and I] will not, then [we] cannot overcome. The real difficulty arises from the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit to the control of God.” (E.G. White, Christ Object Lessons p 331)

My friends, God’s Spirit continually seeks a conviction from you and I. The disciples were not just introduced to the Holy Spirit when they became disciples. But, throughout their lives “Conflict after conflict was waged against hereditary tendencies.” And then they were introduced to Christ and their lives were change and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, “they were all on one accord in one place.”

Which tells us through God’s Spirit they “criticize themselves closely and did “not allow one unfavorable trait [of sin] to remain uncorrected” as they remedied their defects of character” by “forsaken all others” and allowing God’s Spirit to finally convict, instruct, restore, guide and empower every aspect of their lives.

But one disciple, Judas, allowed those hereditary tendencies to remain within Him and then Satan encouraged him to take His own life which then took Him outside the boundaries of what occurred at Calvary. My friends, we must remember we are all “shapen in iniquity; and in sin did our mothers conceive [us]. Ps. 51:5 (KJV)

But we must also remember from birth “God will put His Spirit within us and remove [our] heart of stone from our flesh and give [each of us] a heart of flesh, that we may walk in His statutes and keep His rules and obey them. And [we] shall be His people” Ez. 11:19-20 (KJV) But first we must respond as we repent and submit complete control of our life over to God and His Spirit.

Friends, “the curtain has been pulled back by God’s holy angels” and we see that lawlessness continues to abound. And nation continue to rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom and famines and pestilences, and earthquakes continue in various places. We are witnessing prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes, as time moves faster than ever before.

“It’s as if we’re watching the blur of a speeding train pass,” moving towards Christ second coming and as we see the conflict within us rage on, are we willing to give it all to the Master in exchange for life eternal.