Why Baptists Believe What Baptists Believe - Part 29

Why Baptists Believe What Baptists Believe

Part 29

WHY BAPTISTS BELIEVE WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE, PART 29

DEALING WITH SIN, PART 2

This is a series of True-False questions. We know 1 John 1:9 about confessing our sins. These are the verses that lead up to it…

John says, “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7).

[Question 7]

True or false? Our fellowship with God has little to do with how we live our life. It is False. The passage is clear. There is a direct correlation between “walking in the light” (obedience to His Word) and “fellowshipping with Him (with God).”

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

True or false? If we confess our sins to God, He will forgive us. True. Aren’t you glad? Praise the Lord. Selah.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

True or false? A person can love this evil world and love God at the same time. This is False. These two “loves” are mutually exclusive, a good math term. In other words, you can have one or the other or neither but you cannot have both at the same time.

“So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Romans 6:11-13). This verse goes along with the Baptist Faith and Message in response to that question we saw earlier about the social order. We should affect positive change in our world, right?

True or false? As Christians we cannot help but give into the temptation to sin; after all, we are only human. This is clearly False after you read the Romans 6 passage. We have the power, according to what Paul says, within us through the Holy Spirit to overcome temptation. The Bible teaches that even though we are sinners and have a sin nature, we have the option NOT to sin with the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible also tells us: “For He who is in you [God, the Holy Spirit] is greater than he who is in the world [Satan]” (1 John 4:4). So, I just gave you the answer to [Question 14].

OK, so why do we struggle with temptation?

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

True or false? God works in His children giving them a desire to obey. That is True, even though it doesn’t state it that way. God wants us to have the same desire He that has for us. He wants us to be obedient children. That’s His “good pleasure,” or at least one component of it.

“I can do all things through Him [Christ] who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). This is one of those Praise the Lord verses.

True or false? I can resist temptation through Christ’s strength. Well, “all things” means all things. So, that is True. I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me – I can even overcome temptation!

[Question 8]

Case Study: It is Friday afternoon and while at work you lash out in anger at one of your coworkers about something. Ten minutes later the Holy Spirit begins to convict you that you were wrong in what you said and how you said it. How should you respond?

First, ask the Lord to forgive you. Then, go to the person you spoke angrily to and ask them to forgive you as well. Sometimes we sin not only against God, but also against other people. We need to get things right with both. By the way, this actually happened to me years ago.

Jesus addresses this same issue in the Sermon on the Mount: “So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother [or sister] has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother [or sister], and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

Jesus taught that there is a direct correlation between our fellowship with God and a right standing with others.

By the way, the result in my particular case is that my co-worker, a fellow believer, forgave me. It all ended well. On another occasion, however, when I have asked forgiveness from people they flat out refused. They were really mad at me. So sometimes the people we wrong and that we go to in order to make things right may not be willing to offer us forgiveness. But thankfully God always does forgive us. I praise Him for that. I’m so thankful that God doesn’t hold grudges.