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Two of Me

The Struggle with Sin


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Presented in 7 Chapters
by David Wilkerson
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And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32).

There is no other right belonging to mankind more important than THE RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM SIN'S POWER. License to sin at will is not freedom, rather it leads to a demanding bondage.

The freedom Christ offers is the breaking of every sin chain and the opening of every prison of evil habit. To suggest that any life-controlling sin is acceptable to God is to charge Him with cruel negligence and unconcern. What kind of a loving Father could accept His child being held in chains and used as a slave?

Can a Christian keep on indulging secret passions and stay in favor with God? My answer to that is: Why would he want to? That is like asking, "Can a man be at his best chained in a prison?" Why would any prisoner prefer to stay locked up when a judge stands at an open gate, pointing him to freedom? It serves no purpose to condemn sex sin only as an abomination, as unnatural, or as a perversion or depravity. Those are only the side effects of the real problem—IMPRISONMENT.

The Bible says TRUTH SETS MEN FREE. Christ died to provide that freedom, and He is not about to permit men to make a mockery of it. I am not at all interested in the age-old arguments of what the sin of Sodom was or in splitting theological hairs about what the Bible does or does not say about homosexuality, alcoholism, drug addiction, or other such life-controlling habits. All I know is that when men accept the truth of Christ, it sets them free—period! And just so men can't explain that Christian freedom as the right to sin at will, God clearly defines what that freedom is.

The old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, CAN NEVER PLEASE GOD (Romans 8:7,8 Living Bible).



A New Love



It is impossible to bring any life-controlling problem to a dead stop and remove it without putting something else in its place. Sin won't yield to exposure; fear can't drive it out; it won't self-destruct. There is no such thing as a simple separation from an old habit.

It takes more than a simple act of resignation. It takes more than just a Sabbath or nighttime emotion of sorrow. It takes more than a theatrical surface repentance. The heart will not consent to be robbed of one affection without another to fill the void. It will not consent to be left desolated of love, unless a greater love dispossesses the old.

The heart of man revolts against being left empty; it cannot bear to be left in a state of waste or cheerless emptiness. Nature does abhor a vacuum, so to tear away any affection from the heart and leave it bare is a hopeless undertaking. The human heart must grasp and fasten itself to some great affection. It has to have something to lay hold on, to cling to.

Any person who tries to tear out of his heart some kind of pleasurable sin or affection without putting something in its place is flirting with a disastrous situation.

The last state of that man could be worse than the first, with a legion of demons flocking in to fill the void.

Christ is not some kind of "sin plucker" who goes about taking habits and pleasures away from sinners, leaving them clean, but empty. God doesn't take anything from anybody; He simply offers something far better. God doesn't make voids; He fills them. We have God all wrong. We come begging Him to take things away from us, rather than asking Him to flood our souls with the mighty Niagara of His love and give us something far greater.

The love of God and the love of this world are two affections; not just rivals, but enemies. They cannot dwell together in the same heart. But the love of God is so powerful, so all-consuming, it subordinates all other loves. If other affections won't yield, He chases them away.

When we accept our adoption into God's family by faith in Christ, He brings the heart under the mastery of one great and glorious affection, thereby delivering us from the tyranny of old affections.

You will not be free until you set your mind to possess this affection for things above. Don't allow your unbelief to screen out the vision of God's wonderful love. The best way to cast out your impure affection is to invite in a pure one.


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