Christian's Birthright
Like Daniel, Joseph was not a nonentity in his society. He wielded great authority in one of the greatest nations of that age. He climbed, with God’s providence, from the insignificant slave boy to the second most powerful man in all Egypt. On his way to the “ top,” he encountered one of the most severe moral tests that any person has ever met in the history of man: namely, fornication. Thousands of young people throughout the world today indulge in this without giving it a second thought. It is coming to be looked upon less and less as a sin, and more and more as the “usual thing” to do. Still, God’s Word still stands: “ For this is the will of God . . . that ye should abstain from fornication” (I Thess. 4:3). The severity of Joseph’s temptation lay in the manner in which he was enticed. His master’s wife, in effect, said, “You can lie with me and never be discovered, because we are all alone in this house.” Furthermore, Scripture says she tried to seduce him “ day by day.” Here was a powerful prompting to gratify the sex desire secretly. Joseph never yielded for one moment. His remarkable victory brilliantly confirmed the truthfulness of I Cor. 10:13. Daniel and Joseph gave a clear answer to the two questions asked above. Now let us consider the question: How do we attain such mastery over sin as portrayed in I Cor. 10:13? This verse says triumph is potentially ours, but how is this triumph achieved? We can answer this question generally by three words: (1) Reckon, (2) Refuse, (3) Receive. First we have to “ reckon” or count upon the fact that through our identification with Christ in His death we are “ dead to sin.” (I am assuming that we have already been born again.) This means that in God’s sight we are judicially and potentially freed from sin. Rom. 6:6; and 8:2 state it this way: “ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him . . . for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Thus, in our daily life, we must really believe this great truth. Having done this, we must now refuse or reject any allurement of sin. We are under no obligation whatsoever to obey it. We cannot stop sin from presenting itself, but we need not surrender an inch to it. Romans 6:12 says,
“ Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Joseph illustrated this in refusing to yield to the seductions of Potiphar’s wife. We must renounce sin. Last of all we must receive by faith Christ’s victory on the Cross. We must appropriate this victory as our very own. In the preceding paragraph I stated the negative aspect of renouncing sin. Now we must positively claim God’s power. Christ judicially conquered sin on the cross, but the Holy Spirit who lives in each believer, makes this victory a reality in our experience. It is a super natural deliverance. When we turn away from sin, and turn to God, or commit ourselves to God, He works in us through the Holy Spirit. In Romans 6:13 and 8:4 we read: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Praise God! Victory is not only possible, it is our birth right! From victory to victory He leads us on!
Valdo Petter graduated from Biola in June, 1959, with a major in Psychology. He attend Talbot Theological Seminary, and hopes ultimately to serve
Christ in some foreign country as a missionary.
OCTOBER, 1960
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