The following sermonette, emphasizes that the Christian will always have sins with which to contend. There will never be rest until glorification; also, that as a Christian matures, he will see more sin in his life; he will come to accept what the Bible says about him.
Luther’s speaking points: [in my words, any addition by me is in square brackets]
- Our new nature is pure and holy
- Our flesh, which exists simultaneously, is otherwise
- Parable of the good Samaritan is an illustration of Christ ministering to our new nature, strengthening it in it’s fight against the flesh, a lifelong fight
- The parable about the leaven is a picture of faith: it will grow and overcome
- In scripture, when the saints are called holy, that is in reference to the new man; the old man is otherwise and must be mortified
- Those who teach otherwise, err; they speak only from reason, not experience: great saints who have written and taught much, have stumbled greatly [they know their own sinfulness from the stumbling, and have factored that into their assessment, or description, or conception of the Christian walk]
- The writings of Origin and Jerome do not indicate experiential understanding
- Augustine’s writings do, he seemingly obtained that in his contentions with the Pelagians
- Peter: if you’d be pure and have complete sanctification, continue to contend with your evil lusts
- With strong effort, this must be done; the greater your faith, the greater the struggle [ that seems to indicate that greater faith sees more sin with which to contend; also, it likely means that as a Christian grows in faith, his tests and afflictions from God will be greater, revealing more of his sin that was formerly not apparent to him – Jeremiah Burroughs book on the jewel of Christian contentment seems to indicate such]
- Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 7:23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
- Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
- Such is the cry of all the saints: after the Spirit and faith enter into us, we see nothing but sin from the crown of the head to the foot
- There is a great conflict between the Spirit and faith in us with the Devil, the flesh and the world
- Don’t despair about wicked thoughts, e.g., just don’t be imprisoned by them [keep fighting in the Lord’s strength against them]
- Where faith is, there will be much opposition from the world the flesh and the Devil; just see to it that you are not taken captive: you must seek the Lord’s help against all temptations
- The Christian life: Not at perfect rest; Not without apprehension of sin; although a Christian feels sin, he mustn’t allow it admittance; pray, labor to weaken and suppress lusts; the Christian must constantly war against sin — if one has not learned this by experience, then he must not call himself a Christian [that is, it can’t be learned in the theoretical realm; only in the realm of real experience]
- If you’ve been saved, then be on guard against sin and temptation, you are not safe for one hour from the world, the flesh and the Devil
- Psalm 24:8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! [seek His help!]
After the video, I added a few summary thoughts:
Thoughts derived from my own reading and experience, and conceptualization of the Christian walk during the past 15 years, thus, not yet complete:
- Sin is ever present within me
- The new nature in me will move me to fight daily against it
- It is essential that I see as much of my sin as is possible, that I might contend with it; therefore, I must ask the Holy Spirit to show it to me
- To think that I have overcome sin is to be vain, foolish and proud; not to mention, spiritually blind
- When I fail in my fight against sin, I must believe that I am not fighting in the strength of the Lord, but in my own strength or that I am relying on one of my idols; the Lord does not let a Christian succeed in his own strength, he cannot, Satan is too powerful, as are the world and the flesh
- As I mature as a Christian, I will have greater faith; I will also see more sin, and will be required to depend more upon the Lord in order to continue fighting as the battle intensifies
- Owning my sin is essential; examining my sin for motives (why I am enticed by it; what I love about it…) is also essential; that is, I cannot pretend I don’t have it or sweep it under the carpet — that will cause me to backslide
- Knowing my motives indicates to me where I am not believing the Lord and His word, see Psalm 119: 25-32 for example
- If you call yourself a Christian and are not at war with sin, and failing, and being shown your idols…then you are likely not born again
- One must abide in God’s appointed means of grace to successfully fight this battle: prayer; reading the word; hearing the gospel preached; taking the Lord’s supper; and Christian fellowship around the word — all of these are means whereby the Spirit of God humbles a believer and sanctifies him — that is, He shows him his sin, his wretchedness, moves him to mourn it, to be meeked by it…as Christ describes the Christian in the beatitudes (see, Categories, The Beatitude Life in this blog)
- Col 2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
Col 2:7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving - we received Him by faith, we must walk in faith, depending upon Him
- Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
- That is, one cannot be sanctified in the strength of his own willpower, or by keeping rules; it seems that one is sanctified by submitting to the Spirit as he abides in the means of grace appointed by God for that purpose
Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Php 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Sermonette from YouTube site: Christian Sermons and Audio Books