On Guard!

(Colossians 2:10) “And in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power:”

How I long for the day when I will see my King and Saviour and I will receive a body like His, it will be incorruptible and will not have tendencies that drive and urge it toward sin. It will be a body full of praise manifesting the infinite glory and wisdom of God my Father, it will continuously speak of His saving grace and yet it will be without sin. We must understand that we have been sanctified by the blood of the lamb even now as we battle with the urges of life and we fight against the tug of sin. At times we find we fall in our ability to walk in righteousness, we transgress the law of God and heaviness overshadows our joy, sin robs us of our peace. If that is where you find yourself this morning then I implore you to call out to Jesus as He is never far away, He oversees all his soldiers, looking out for them. He is the King of kings and will come to the aid of all who call upon Him. But we must find a willingness to scrutinize the areas in our lives that habitually cause us to err! We must not ignore the enemy and the sin that so easily ensnares us. We must not pretend that sin is not alive in our lives if indeed it is, if there is no habitual sin is in your life, then praise God and may we all find the grace to walk uprightly, as it is available to every believer. If we find we need to deal with areas, which we are constantly at war with, we must then begin, if we haven’t already consciously started to use those experiences to teach us to repent and help lead us into the paths of righteousness. There are many stepping stones in life designed for our benefits. If we continue to err in a particular sin, call it “your thorn in the flesh” let us not wallow in self-pity but rather find repentance, as we wrestle like Jacob did for his blessing, we must confess our sin to a just and faithful God, who will be quick to forgive us, Jesus has overcome! Praise God! But let us remember as we seek forgiveness to also forgive those who trespass against us.  “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)

We have an enemy that roars like a lion and at this time of the year with festivities and merriment the order of the day we need to be aware of his devices and the traps he will use to ensnare the children of God. Let us soberly examine ourselves and then unpack the areas where we always seem to fall. Once we have isolated those areas then we need to be careful to avoid places or situations that we know will be lead to our demise.

However having said all of this we must always remember that we are justified by His work and not our own righteousness or our own ability to walk uprightly with self-justification as we excuse ourselves and accuse others. We are made full in Him! He is the head of all principalities and powers, there is no being seen or unseen that has dominion over our King. He rules sovereignly and therefore He calls the shots! If we have died with Christ, if we are born again and we are no longer ensnared by the basic principles of the world, this then should be our understanding and if not we need to seek it out through prayer and supplication; “why, as though living in this world do we subject ourselves to regulations—do not touch, do not taste, do not handle which all concern things that perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:20-23) 

Remember sin was defeated on the cross by Jesus Christ our Lord and supreme King, He defeated sin and death on that cruel Roman cross. We will never be justified outside of His redeeming work, therefore remember to put off sin and place on the cloak of righteousness. Do not make the common mistake looking to excuse sin in our lives as a small matter, sin is mammoth, it cost Christ his life, a cruel death it was…

Yes we are reckoned righteous if we have been sanctified by the blood of the Lamb. We are either children of God or not! We are not a son one day and then a bastard the next. If we have the Spirit of God, then we are indeed His children. Never believe that you can fall in and out of sonship. We may however fall in and out of obedience, but that in itself is a completely different issue.

We are covered by the righteousness of Christ so when God looks upon us although we may feel unworthy to enter His presence, we are worthy, and only because of what the Lord Jesus did on the Christians behalf.

In conclusion, we can never be justified by our own achievements even if they are commendable before men. We have been justified by the blood of the Lamb, let us remember not to continue in sin so that grace may abound. The waters can get muddled here as the sin within looks to find an out, sin always wants to be set free, it has a will of its own and it must be tested in our lives. That is why we also pray; "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil". Be on guard against compromise; “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:1-3) 

Signing off

Tyrone