Also we must keep in mind the blood of the Lamb, Jesus. As long as we are moving along in the conquest of sin, the blood of Jesus keeps making up the difference. We remain righteous and holy in God's sight.

One of the great errors of current Christian thinking and preaching is that we remain righteous and holy in the sight of God, even though we are not fighting forward in the battle against sin, because of our belief that Jesus saves us apart from any effort of our own. This is not at all true. We remain righteous and holy only as long as we are fighting the good fight of faith. If we do not judge ourselves and follow the Spirit in putting to death the deeds of our body, God will judge us. The result may be sickness or even death.

First of all, we must be clear that the new covenant does not permit our continuing in known sin. There are numerous statements of this fact in the New Testament. I will cite only two.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; Idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions And envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21—NIV)

But you know he appeared so he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (I John 3:5,6—NIV)

"Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning."

I do not think the addition of another ten passages would add clarity to the above two. They are so clear and unambiguous! No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. If we say we are in Christ we do not keep on sinning. It is as simple as this.

Sometimes I ask people, "Can Jesus Christ deliver someone from lying?" Usually they affirm He can.

"Can Jesus Christ deliver someone from stealing?"

Usually the answer will be, "Yes, He can."

Then I ask, "What sin is too great for Christ to overcome?"

Usually the answer is, "There is no sin too great for Christ to overcome."

We know this is true, yet Satan has convinced us that we have so much sin it is useless to start overcoming our sins one at a time.

One time I was driving to my job. It had been snowing and the roads were full of slush. I was late for work. There was a big truck ahead of me going very slowly.

I thought, "There is really bad traffic this morning. I don't dare pull around this truck because I may cause an accident. The roads are slippery."

Finally I perceived my opportunity and pulled around the truck. What do you think I saw? There was no car ahead of the truck. The road was clear for a long way.

To be continued.