Help in the Daily Battle

         
          After examining John 3:16 for a few days, here are some more highlights from
     The Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges.


          Chapter seven - Help in the Daily Battle

                                               
                                                "In the same way count yourselves dead to
                                                 sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
                                                                                             Romans 6:11


          Jesus Christ came into this sinful world and took our (believers) place on Calvary.
     He died to sin and through our union with Him we died to sin also.  Now we are freed
     from sin's reign;  we are no longer its slaves.  We are to count on this fact and resist
     sin so that it does not reign in our mortal bodies.

          We are united with Christ in all His power.  It is certainly true we cannot live a
     holy life in our own strength.  Christianity is not a do-it-yourself thing.

          Holiness is not a series of do's and don'ts, but conformity to the character of God
     and obedience to the will of God.  Accepting with contentment whatever circumstances
     God allows for me is very much a part of a holy walk.

          Notice that Paul said he could respond in contentment because Christ gave him the
     strength to do so.

                                    " ... being strengthened with all power according to His
                                      glorious might so that you may have great endurance
                                      and patience..."
                                                                                         Colossians 1:11


                                   " ... [God] is able to do immeasurably more than all we
                                     ask or imagine, according to His power, that is at work
                                    within us."
                                                                                         Ephesians 3:20

           This is the first implication we should grasp of being "alive unto God."  We are
     united with the One who is at work in us to strengthen us with His mighty power.

          Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, "To realize this takes away from us that old
     sense of hopelessness which we have all known and felt because of the terrible
     power of sin ... How does it work?  It works in this way:
        "I lose my sense of hopelessness not because I can say to myself that not only
     am I no longer under the dominion of sin, but I am under the dominion of another
     power that nothing can frustrate.  However weak I may be, it is the power of God
     that is working in me."

          To count the fact that we are dead to sin and alive to God is something we must
     do actively.  To do it we must form the habit of continually realizing that we are
     dead to sin and alive to God.

                                                              *****

          A second implication of being alive to God is that He has given us His Holy
     Spirit to live within us.  It is He who gives spiritual life and the strength to live
     that life (Romans 8:9-11).  It is the Spirit of God who works in us that we may
     decide and act according to God's good purpose (Philippians 2:13).
     
          Paul said,

                           "God did not call us to be impure, but to live a
                             holy life.  Therefore, he who rejects this in-
                            struction does not reject man but God, who gives
                            you His Holy Spirit."
                                                                 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8


          Here Paul connects the giving of the Holy Spirit with our living a holy life.
     We are also told that we are controlled not by our sinful nature but by the Spirit,
     if the Spirit of God lives in us (Romans 8:9). 

                           "Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires
                            of the sinful nature."
                                                                     Galatians 5:16


                                                 *****


          The Holy Spirit strengthens us to holiness, first by enabling us to see our
     need of holiness. He enlightens our understanding so that we begin to see
     God's standard of holiness.  Then He causes us to become aware of our specific
     areas of sin.

          The Holy spirit opens the inner recesses of our hearts and enables us to see
     the moral cesspools hidden there.  This is where He begins His ministry of
     making us holy.

          The natural result of seeing God's standard and our sinfulness is the awaken-
     ing within us of a desire to be holy.  This is also the ministry of the Holy Spirit
     as He works to make us holy.
          We are sorry for our sins with a godly sorrow that leads to repentance
     (2 Corinthians 7:10).

          When the Holy Spirit shows us our sinfulness, He does not do this to lead us to
     despair but to lead us to holiness.  He does this by creating within us a hatred of
     our sins and a desire for holiness.

                                                    *****


          We express our dependence on the Holy Spirit for a holy life in two ways.
     The first is through a humble and consistent intake of the Scripture.  If we truly
     desire to live in the realm of the Spirit we must continually feed our minds with
     His truth.  It is hypocritical to pray for victory over our sins yet be careless in our
     intake of the Word of God.

          We are to come to the Word in a spirit of humility and contrition because we
     recognize that we are sinful, that we are often blind to our sinfulness, and that we
     need the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

          The second way we express our dependence on the Spirit is to pray for holiness.
     Paul prayed continually for the working of God's Spirit in the lives of those to whom
     he was writing.

          He told the Ephesians that he prayed God would:
                       
                                     " ... strengthen you with power through His spirit
                                        in your inner being."
                                                                                Ephesians 3:16


          He wrote to the Thessalonians:

                                   " ... May He strengthen your hearts so that you
                                     will be blameless and holy in the presence of
                                     our God."
                                                                            1 Thessalonians 3:12-13


          We have to learn that we are dependent upon the enabling power of the
      Holy Spirit to attain any degree of holiness.  Then, as we look to Him, we
     will see Him working in us -- revealing our sin, creating a desire for holi-
     ness, and giving us the strength to respond to Him in obedience.