Are you at war with sin?

Obviously, there is nothing we can DO to earn salvation. It has been DONE for us by Christ's substitutionary atonement on the cross and is a gift of grace. But, once regeneration and conversion have taken place by repenting and believing the Gospel, we have a huge role in the "what now" part of our life -- our being made holy in sanctification. Christ defeated sin at the cross, but we still have to fight our sin nature until glorification. The Bible essentially asks us to 'go to war' with that sin nature. Martin Luther said that repentance from sin was a daily fight. I thought I might give you an idea of what that might look like after the challenges of the 'games that we play' over the past two weeks. If God is pressing us on a sin area (the barn in the next county), what do we do? Do we play a game or do we go to war with sin. True REPENTANCE!

You know that you are at war with sin if you are willing to do whatever it takes to get it out of your life. Sanctification and spiritual maturity come from being submitted to an intimate relationship with Christ and at war with sin. We are to allow God to go deep in our being and reveal everything that is in opposition to His will. He does all of the heavy lifting and transforming, but we have a huge roll to play in this war. There are too many 'to do' verbs in the New Testament to ignore. Watch, test, flee, submit, obey, offer, 'do not conform, hate what it evil!' Summary: Submit to God's authority -- Put sin to death! Go to war!

Remember the Summer on the Mount, so says Jesus:
"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

How about Paul (which he repeats about 5 times in other Epistles)?
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:11-14

Christ has freed us from sin and death. We are forgiven yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but for us to be used powerfully in the Kingdom, on the most exciting MISSION ever given, and full of deep inner satisfaction and joy, sin must go. Go to war with it. Invite God to reveal it and then with His power and might, put it to death. No game playing.