“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (NIV) Romans 8:1-2
The bible teaches us that the tragic enfeeblement of man is occasioned by sin. And to overcome this tragedy, humanity needs to cultivate his sensibilities to sin; we should feel the pain of its presence. How do we do that? This can only be achieved by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:5 – 6).
How does one acquire the Holy Spirit? One has to surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15b, NIV). For this reason, the Apostle Paul stated in Romans 8:2 that because we (Christians) belong to Christ, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed us from the power of sin that leads to death. This revelation depicts the gravity of the tragedy if one has not received the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Human wisdom and pop psychology may teach you that you can resist temptation by strong willpower but experience has taught us that even a strong Sampson could not resist a nagging Delilah (Judges 16:16, NIV), a mighty David could not resist a naked Bathsheba (2 Sam.11:2 – 4), a wise Solomon could not resist a dazzling bevy of ladies (1 Kings 11:1 – 6).
The Christian writer, teacher, and apologist Ravi Zacharias in one of his sermons gave an apt illustration to explain the frailty of the human willpower:
"Concrete is very good for a foundation up to a point. It is immersed under compressive strength. It can take enormous compressive strength, but concrete has no tension strength. And that is why when you build a foundation you just don’t build it with concrete, but you reinforce it with steel because steel’s tension strength is about ten times greater than concrete. And what concrete cannot do under tension, the steel does for the concrete under tension. The human will up to a point can take the pressures of this world. We need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to give the strength to have self–control."
We may have the willpower as humans, but self-control comes from the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit; it’s one of the offspring of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:23). When the Holy Spirit indwells us, He becomes the driver of our thoughts and emotions, subjecting the totality of our being under the will of God (Gal. 5:24).
In other words, we become dead to sin and alive to righteousness. However, this is not a one-shot experience. It is a continual transformational experience as God continues to change the way we think (Rom. 12:2). That is why we should form a habit of consistent study of the Word (Psalm 119:9). That is why we should always pray to God to keep us from sin’s way and fortify our inner man in order not to grieve the Holy Spirit. That is why we cannot afford to forsake the assembly of the saints. That is why we should be mindful of the kind of relationships and associations we cultivate even in the church.
Benediction: Ephesians 3:14 – 19