If the answer to which we seek for any problem is not Christ and Him Crucified, it is law. In others words, you have come up with a new way. The Bible also calls it witchcraft.
It is only by Grace through Faith in Christ and Him Crucified we receive the help of the Holy Spirit. Any other way is 100% flesh!
The Christian is doomed to failure if he thinks he can face the sin business and simply say yes or no. That's not the way it works. Those who try that
(and almost all have) will conclude by failing every time. You may win for awhile, but after awhile, you're going to fail.
Now, stop and think about this for a moment: If it were possible for us to defeat sin and the attacks of Satan by willpower, then Jesus would not have had to come down here and die on a Cross. He could have merely taught us how to function within our willpower, and that would have solved the problem.
However, He didn't do that, did He? The truth is, the problem of sin is so deadly that it took the Cross to defeat this monster, and even then, we have to have the help of the Holy Spirit to get this thing done. That's why Paul said, "But if the Spirit
(Holy Spirit) of Him
(God the Father) who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit who dwells in you"
(Rom. 8:11).
This tells us that sin is so powerful that it takes the same power to overcome this thing as it did to raise Jesus from the dead, which, of course, is the power of the Holy Spirit. Understanding that, we should come to the conclusion that our personal willpower is totally inadequate.
However, most Christians little understand the victory of the Cross and try to do this thing on their own, which always results in failure.
The majority of Christians know nothing about the Cross of Christ for sanctification. Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin, while sanctification delivers us from the power of sin. The Cross of Christ is as necessary for sanctification as it is for salvation
(1 Cor. 1:18).
If you get Jesus wrong, it does not matter what you get right!
JSM
