The Secret Of Spiritual Victory

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Believers in Christ have been made “free from sin” by grace  (Rom.6:14,18) in the sense that they need not, indeed, should not,  yield to sin when temptation arises (Rom.6:12,13). Believers have also  been made “free from the law of sin and death”(Rom.8:2) for Christ,  in grace, bore the death penalty for them.

But no believer is free from what Paul calls “the law of sin which is  in my members” (Rom.7:23), that is, the old Adamic nature, with its  inherent tendency to do wrong. Nor is he free from the conflict with  the new nature which this involves. If the Christian would be truly  spiritual and deal in a scriptural way with the sin that indwells him,  he must clearly recognize its presence; he must face the fact that  while, thank God, he is no longer “in sin”, sin is still in him.

But this conflict should not discourage us, for it is one of the true  signs of salvation. It is unknown to the unbeliever, for only the  additional presence of the new nature, along with the old, causes this  conflict, for the Bible says about these two natures: “these are  contrary the one to the other” (Gal.5:17).

But not only is this conflict within the believer a sure sign of  salvation; it also creates within him a deep and necessary sense of  our inward imperfection and of the infinite grace of a holy God in  saving us and ministering to us daily in helping us to overcome sin.  And this in turn gives us a more understanding approach as we proclaim  to the lost“the gospel of the grace of God”.

Paul’s epistles show clearly that there is nothing that will so help  us to overcome sin and live pleasing to God as an understanding and an  appreciation of what He has done for us in Christ. As we are occupied  with these “things of the Spirit” we find ourselves“walking in the  Spirit”, and Galatians 5:16 says:“WALK IN THE SPIRIT, AND YE SHALL  NOT FULFIL THE LUST OF THE FLESH”. How much better to have our  lives transformed by occupation with Christ (IICor. 3:18) and our  position and blessings in the heavenlies with Him (Col.3:1-3), than to  assume the hopeless task of trying to improve the “old nature”; always  engaged in introspection; always occupied with the flesh!