See Clearly |
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C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “If ONE SIN has dominion of us we are not the Lord's free men. A man who is held by ONLY ONE CHAIN is still a captive.” One sin in the life of a believer is like a log in your eye when you are trying to help a fellow believer or give a lost soul the Gospel. It binds and blinds your ability to see Truth clearly when most needed! Believers are among the worst persecutors of other believers there are! We have seen the Truth of God and understand WHAT sin is, but often lack the sight to see WHERE sin is in ourselves! We cannot pursue our enemy if we are held captive by him. But here is the promise of God to Joshua; “Thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.” Our besetting sin may have iron chariots, but if God is with us, that is, in our thoughts and deeds by faith, we shall overcome them! “This is the Victory that overcometh the world, even our Faith. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness (disobey God’s Word) unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness (obey God’s Word) unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the Law, but under Grace. let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Running the race with patience means obeying God in spite of circumstances and trusting in His perfect will, ability, AND timing! “They that WAIT upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” That doesn’t mean do nothing, because God’s Word is replete with specific instruction and commands. It is God’s Will for each of believer that they be conformed to the Image of Christ. “Though he were a Son, yet learned He OBEDIENCE by the things which He suffered; And being made (not conformed, but created) Perfect, He became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey Him.” Are you trusting and obeying God with patience? Today’s world is impatient; children raised in an environment of electronic saturation from TV to cellphones! They are provided instant gratification and one hour solutions to life’s worst dilemmas until they hit the reality of life, and then they are completely disillusioned! Teen suicides are on the rise, because without God there is no solution to life except death! As believers we should scrutinize ourselves as severely as we scrutinize others, and live obediently to God’s Word, so we can effectively offer hope to a hopeless world!
Those in prison cannot help anyone! You may possess the zeal of righteousness, but without its practice you remain the prisoner of sin! Yielding to sinful desire is disobedience of God’s Word.
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"And why beholdest thou the mote (speck) that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, ‘Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye,’ when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou See Clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.”