Let’s face it, all Christians struggle with this at some time or another. No one can say that at all times they desire to do the “Ought To’s” that God requires. So my question today is what do you do about it? Do you just give up in frustration? Do you say, “What is the use!, I always fail, so why even try” Or do you screw up your will and force yourself to obey even though your heart is not in it? Are you a “white knuckle” type who uses his or her willpower to make the cut and earn your acceptance? My friends, this is not what the Gospel message has for us. We as God’s children have been given so much more.

The Gospel is “Good News” only if you understand it.

If we must use are own willpower and goodness to live a holy life before God, then the gospel is not good news at all, it is an impossible task. Jesus lived, died and rose again to not only set us free from the penalty of sin but the power of it. We need to know this, we need to remind ourselves of this daily. Without this knowledge we will live frustrated defeated lives, or maybe even worse, become smug prideful legalists.

The problem is worse than we think.

How many times have we been in church and heard “that sermon” preached. The sermon that convicts us of sin, our lust, our worldliness, our lack of zeal, our love of possessions. We hear the message and agree completely, We say to ourselves, “I’ve got to get it together, time for change, Lord I’m sorry”. But nothing ever really changes does it? Oh, we might make some resolutions to read our bible more, to pray more, to give more, but in no time at all we are repeating the cycle over and over again. How many of us live like this and think this is part of normal Christian living?

“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”
(Romans 8:6-7 ESV)

We are in a very bad state without the transforming power of God actively working in our lives. We cannot obey, and if we externally obey out of our own strength we have not really obeyed. The only obedience God is satisfied with is God wrought, Spirit led obedience.

What do you feast on?

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
(John 6:35 ESV)

In order to break the cycle of sin, you must be satisfied with Christ. Jesus must satisfy our thirst and conquer our hunger, we where made for this, and nothing else will do. No willpower based system will work. All the admonishments in the world about the “ought to” won’t do any good without knowing and feeling the surpassing beauty of Jesus Christ. Until Jesus looks better than sin, we will always sin. Its not just about keeping the rules, its about changing what we delight in most, and we just can’t do it, and we where never meant to outside of God’s grace. It takes a supernatural power to become new people.

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
(Romans 8:13 ESV)

God does it.

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again* he cannot see the kingdom of God.””
(John 3:3 ESV)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
(1Peter 1:3 ESV)

Notice from 1 Peter that God does this, he causes this. It is the work of a Sovereign Creator. God not only causes us to be born into His kingdom he cause us to walk in holiness.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
(Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV)

At the most profound and deepest level our walk of holiness is a work of God. He gives us a new heart, he puts His Spirit in us and causes us to walk in His statutes and to be careful to obey His rules. So what do we do? If God does it do we have a part?

We must do something. We must give up.

First, we must pray to God for a change, and give up our futile attempts at a “will-power, I’m a Christian I can do this” self improvement program. The gospel is not a self improvement morality program, it is a supernatural event caused by an all-powerful, supernatural all-conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Second, we must pray that God’s glory will be the primary motivation for our change. We must have a God centered goal in our transformation. The main goal of a Christian is to make Jesus look good, to make known to the world how valuable He is to us. Nice, moral, good people are not the main goal, the glory of God is. Third, pay very close attention to your own heart, know what draws you away from Christ and stay away from it. Know that you are a worshipper by nature and that you will worship something or someone. If Jesus isn’t your main delight something else will be, and whatever you delight in most, will be your god. We live in great danger if we do not guard our hearts closely. Fourthly, use every means of grace that God provides to help cultivate a new spiritual taste. This is where I begin to sound very old school. Spend time meditating and memorizing scripture, read your bible! Not just at church or Sunday school, but every chance you get, be in the Book. Spend time in prayer. Ask God for new desires, ask God for new delights in Him, ask God to take out the heart of stone and give you a new heart of flesh. Ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11) Fifth, and lastly, wait on God. Don’t apply yourself for a few days and weeks and then give up at your first failure, trust God to make the change.

Is is through Christ and for His glory.

We can have the greatest hope that God will bring this to pass. God has purposed that He have a justified, sanctified and glorified people to the praise of His glory. To become a Christian takes a miracle, and to walk in holiness and obedience takes no less a miracle. The Gospel is good news because of what Jesus has done for us, and to us. God has not left His children to fend for themselves in the hope that they make the grade, but is working with all his omnipotent energy to ensure that they are given a new heart that loves and treasures Him above all else. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 the Apostle Paul sums up the Christian life very well. By grace we are His, and though we work with all are might, it is NOT finally up to us, but God and His amazing grace.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
(1Corinthians 15:10 ESV)

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1Corinthians 15:56-57 ESV)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us* for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
(Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV)

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,* for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
(Romans 8:28-30 ESV)

““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
(Matthew 7:7-11 ESV)

An excellent article on the same subject by John Piper can be found here.