"Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into
temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41
Why watch and pray, below explanation is based on and what I
have understood from the series of books of John Owen (1616-1683).
Since indwelling sin always abides in a believer, not only
abides but acting, not only acting but produces soul destroying sins, it is the
believer's responsibility to mortify the sin.
Below two principles help us to understand it more clearly
Principle 1: Indwelling sin is a law. (I find then the
principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. Romans
7:21)
Principle 2: There will be no mortification of any sin
without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience. (If anyone
comes to Me, and does not [n]hate his own father and mother and wife and
children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My
disciple Luke 14:26)
Because indwelling sin is a law and principle it is
believers responsible to watch all its motions and eruptions of sin, someone
wisely said watch all eruptions of your corruptions.
The best illustrations for indwelling sin is a river water
stored in a dam, the water has a huge potential energy stored in it and always
trying to find a way out. Whenever it finds an open rock water try to come out
from open place with a great force and also try to make the vent bigger and
bigger by removing other neighbor rocks, once it get hold on the flow it may
also collapse the entire bridge.
This is how the sin in the believer works, we always try to
deal the sin which troubles us more, takes away all our peace, gives pain to
our conscience and bring much guilt upon us, when this happens we try to run,
find a solution, get counsel, repent of that particular sin and ask the Lord
for forgiveness.
Once we get the victory from this particular sin which
troubled us we will come to know that there is another more wretched sin is
waiting for us to deal, this happens in a believer because we have not
understood the nature of the indwelling sin in us, indwelling sin is a law and
principle, it always tries to show its face in one way or the other.
That is the reason a Christian can never have victory over
sin unless he determined to deal with it in its entirety, which means not the
sin which troubles him but the sins in him which troubles God, for example
anger is troubling a believer a lot so he try to deal with it, but he forgets
all about his covetousness and worldliness which remain in him, which are equal
and greater sins before God.
Lord Jesus said If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his
own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and
even his own life, he cannot be My disciple Luke 14:26
Because there will be no mortification of any sin without
sincerity and diligence in a universality of complete obedience.
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