If I knew a sinner who was having a problem with drinking, should I simply tell them to stop drinking?
Or if I have a friend who is a sinner who swears all the time should I tell him the answer to his problem of swearing is for him to pray that God would help him stop swearing.
Or perhaps I may know someone who is just plain rude and mean to many people. Should I, “As a Christian,” just tell them they need to just stop being mean and rude to people?
Just telling these people to stop will never work; as a Christian, I should realize that each and every one of these problems (and many, many others not mentioned), are there simply because they have not allowed the Lord Jesus Christ to helped them to stop doing that particular thing (through the Holy Spirit).
The first thing I believe I should tell a sinner who has one of these problems is that they need Jesus Christ. “Are you Trusting in Jesus Christ for your Redemption?”
The very first thing they need, is to realize that, “Jesus Christ shed his Blood for them at the Cross, and gave His
Life, so they could have life.” Without getting this point across to them first (and the Lord giving them Grace to believe); getting them to stop some type of sin is like trying to stop a train by jumping on the tracks in front of it and holding out my hands in a hope that I can physically stop it. Not only will it keep going full steam ahead, but I will get squashed in the process. The best way I know to stop a train would be to stop the engine. Simply turn it off, or disengage it.
When I want to stop a sinner from any particular sin, “The first thing which must happen is the sin engine must be disengaged.” This can only be done by the Blood of Christ, and by a person having faith in what Christ accomplished on our behalf, on the Cross.
I am sure that all believers will understand this simple concept:
Disengage the Locomotives engine; stop the train.
Disengage the Sin nature engine; stop the sin.
This seems rather simple I suppose. But the Gospel is simple.
THE ENGINEER
Now, what if I see someone who is having a drinking problem who is a Believer?
Or perhaps someone who is mean or rude and does not display love toward others most of the time, but I know this person to be a Believer.
Or again maybe one of my Christian friends still seems to have a problem with swearing (or any other type of sin we might think of).
Why are these people who have trusted in Christ, now having a problem, if they have stepped onto the train and disengaged the engine?
The answer is really quite simple.
Every train has an Engineer or Conductor who’s job it is, to keep the train moving down the tracks. After disengaging the engine, if we turn and jump off the train thinking that all is well and the train will now stay put; we will find that the engineer will do his best to reengage the engine in order to get the train moving again.
If after disengaging the sin engine, I do not stay on the train and resist the engineer (the good fight of faith), I will find him doing his best to reengage the sin engine.
Remember, the way we disengage the sin nature is through Faith in Christ and what he accomplished on the Cross. The way we keep the sin nature disengaged is to CONTINUALLY thank the Lord, that when He died on the Cross, we were crucified with Him, when He was buried we were buried with Him, and when He arose from the dead we rose with Him in newness of life (Romans 6:3-6). CONTINUALLY thanking Jesus Christ for shedding his Blood and giving His Life for us.
CONTINUALLY? Yes, continually. By staying on the train and trusting in Christ continually; we are allowing the Holy Spirit to help us resist the engineer.
CONCLUSSION
If we or someone we know, are having a problem with any kind of sin. That could be any thing which we know is contrary to the Will of the Lord. Then whoever is having the problem should get back on the train and resist the engineer (the devil), by Faith in what Christ has done for us on the Cross (the good fight of Faith). If we will STAY with Faith in Christ (not faith in things we are doing, but Faith in what he has already accomplished for us), we will find the Holy Spirit will STAY with us and help us defeat any sin problem which we could be having. (Remember, if we jump off the train, even though the Holy Spirit is still with us: we are not in a place where he can help us to defeat the devil [engineer].)
Galatians 3:3
Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh.
I have not sent this message to you because I believe you to be lacking in some way but because I believe you to be dedicated to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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