This message is intended especially for christians who are struggling to overcome sin. Some of our most famous preachers have had this problem, and their sins have been revealed. It would not surprise me any if many others have not been discovered. If those who have been called by God to preach, struggle with this problem it is no wonder that others have the same problem. Why is this so? Where is the victory? What is the problem? How can we win? Hopefully we can examine these questions and come up with some answers. These are important questions for the church because the inability to overcome sin has robbed us of joy, robbed us of our witness, robbed us of our service, robbed us our love for God. We know who the robber is. The father of lies. So let us look at the truth from the word of God to neutralize the lies of the evil one. This will be a three part message. We will first lay the ground work for our salvation, then we will look at our freedom from sin, then we will speak of our service.

THE LAW:
We will first discuss when the law was given, what it purpose is, what it can do, and what it cannot do. First of all let us fully understand that the law is good, the law is holy, obedience to the law is the right course of action, every person that ever lived should follow all of God's laws completely. Obedience to God's laws brings joy and peace and health and happiness and prosperity BUT it will not bring salvation. I'll say that again. The law will not bring salvation. When we speak of the law of God we are primarily concerned with the 10 commandments written by the finger of God and given to Moses. They were not give to Adam and Eve. Many years elapsed between Adam and Moses without any written laws of God. Nevertheless God's brought judgment against mankind as illustrated in the flood and Sodom and Gomorra. Mankind did whatever evil entered his mind and even though he knew deep inside that there is a god, he chose to ignore him. I believe that it was because of God's love for man that He gave us the ten commandments so that he could keep us in check so that His anger would not be kindled and judgment were to come. It was never meant to bring us into a personal relationship with Him. Keeping the law will not atone for our sins. Not sinning will never make up for sinning. The law was also given so that we would become more aware of our sins and aware of the fact that we needed help. We need a savior. There is absolutely nothing you can do to pay for your sins. The law says that the soul that sins shall die and leaves no hope at all. If God had not intervened on our behalf we would all remain eternally separated from God. But God did do something. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
 

GRACE:
Grace is often defined as "the unmerited favor of God". Unmerited, what a wonderful thought. Where as the law says, if you do something to please me, I will do something good for you, grace says, even though you don't deserve it, I will do good  for you because I love you. God is love. When Moses asked God to show him His glory, God said "I will make all My goodness pass before thee". The most glorious attribute about God Is His goodness. If we, being evil, do good thing how much more should we expect that God will do good. And he has. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

SALVATION:
Well we have come to the heart of the subject. Salvation. How do we establish a relationship with the Almighty God and how do we overcome sin. These 2 questions have always been the most important questions of live. They are universal in time or local and have eternal significance. Heaven or hell. Life or death. For what does it benefit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul. The answer to both questions is Jesus Christ the Son of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. If the Son (Jesus) shall set you free then you shall be free indeed. Let's first examine God's plan for restoring fallen mankind to Himself. His word says "by the works of the law shall no flesh be Justified", "if there had been a law given which could have give life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (obviously it couldn't), "if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain", "no man is justified by the law in the sight of God", "a man is justified by faith without the deed of the law", "by the deeds of the law there shall on flesh be justified in His sight". Do you hear what God is saying? Are you waiting until you "get your life straightened out" to come to God. You're barking up the wrong tree. You life will never get to the point where your righteousness will reconcile you to God. God knows this, do you? God's plan has never been to reconcile you to Himself by the law. Trying to establish a relationship with God by keeping the law is mostly an ego trip and stinks of pride. God hates pride. God is love. God love's man with an unselfish love. God hate's sin and His nature demands that He punishes sin but His love for us is greater. He could not just overlook sin because that would be condoning sin so He, in the person of His Son, took upon himself the punishment for our sins. His requirement of us to become benefactors of this great sacrifice is not obedience to His laws but faith in His Son. God has given us a free will and we chose our own destiny. By His grace, God will give you faith to believe in His Son. It is a free gift to whosoever wants it. Decide today whether you will except this gift our not. For by grace are you saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. For God so loved then world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

VICTORY OVER SIN:
Our first consideration will be an understanding of the magnitude of God's Holiness. To help us understand, we will
look at the magnitude of God's creation. "The heavens declare the glory of God". Our sun is a star. If we were living
on a planet of another star/sun, our sun would look like a star. Our sun belongs to a group of stars known as the
Milky Way galaxy. There are millions of stars in a galaxy and there are millions of galaxies. The number of stars in the universe and the size of the universe is beyond comprehension. Add to this His creation of the spiritual realm and you get some idea of his magnificense. Everything about God is of this magnitude including His Holiness. I have said all this, so that you will understand that our idea of holiness is not God's idea of holiness. We think in terms of degrees and in terms of our light about what is sin. God said "The soul that sins shall die" and "If a man keeps the whole law and yet offends in one point he is guilty of all". This means any sin. Man does not have the ability not to sin. Neither before he is saved nor after he is saved. The only being who can live without sin is God. The difference
between a christian and a non-christian is that God lives within a christian and will work in his live "to will and to do of His good pleasure". It is God's "good pleasure" for His children to be set free from sin. God works by grace through faith both in salvation and in sanctification. Even though God hates sin, He uses it for our good both in the crucifixion of Christ for our salvation and in the crucifixion of ourselves for our sanctification. If God had made us in such a fashion that we could master our passions, our evil inclinations, our fallen nature by the sheer force of our wills then we would be filled with pride because of this great accomplishment. God hates pride. Victory comes from death. God is at work in your life to bring you to the place of the death of yourself. You will suffer in the flesh until God has revealed to your heart that you cannot overcome in your own strength. A seed cannot bring forth fruit until it has fallen into the ground and died. We cannot bring forth the fruit of the spirit until we fall before God and die to self.