God's Plan for Victory

In his book, Sexual Sanity for Men, David White has stirred my thinking to a variety of new concepts related to victory over sin. It's a book that every man should read, even if sexual sins are not the current struggle. The principles are the same whether you are struggling with pornography or gluttony or bitterness - besides, I don't think God makes a distinction.

The "new idea" of this past week has been the teaching that confession to others is part of God's plan for victory over sin. And he's not talking about confession to those whom we have offended through our sinful actions, although that topic comes up in other sections.

1 John 1:9 is a common verse which talks about confession: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Usually, we read it, "If we confess our sins to God, He is faithful..." But that is not what the verse says.

If you look at the context of 1 John 1:5-10, John is talking about walking in the light, which includes fellowship with other believers.

Look at verse 7 :"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Consider also Proverbs 28:13, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." We can't hide our sins from God who sees everything. We can, however, keep them hidden from others.

And James 5:16 states, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

When we choose to sin, we not only wish that God would not see us, but we work very hard to keep it hidden from others. We keep our distance. We lie. We make excuses. We talk about other problems, but not the temptations that are keeping us from obedience and joy. We do good things to compensate for the bad. We are extremely creative in covering up sin.

Think of the freedom that can be had when you confess your sins to others!

You now longer have to hide from them. You may have driven some away from you, but you will know which people are truly brothers and sisters who are praying and encouraging you.

The hunger that you have for close fellowship and help will be there. God created us to have fellowship with Him and with others. If our fellowship with others is just fun and food, we might as well join the golf club.

But our hidden sin builds a barricade to that kind of brotherhood.

As the sin that has been weighing you down for years is exposed, you will experience a release from the pressure of hiding. You will be able to cry out to others for help. You will gain a team of prayer warriors.

Part of God's plan for healing, restoration and victory over sin includes other people. But YOU have to make the first step, confessing sin and crying out for help.

Promised Victory

During the conquest of the land, the kings of northern Canaan banded together to fight against Joshua and his troops.

The army was immense. "...like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots" (Joshua 11:4).

It must have seemed like an impossibility to Joshua, because the LORD comes to encourage him. "Do not be afraid of them for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel" (v 6).

But they still had to fight.

Some battles are recorded in the history of Israel where the enemy killed each other in the night, or an angel wiped them out, or they fled in fear.

But not this one.

The next morning, Joshua and his soldiers pursued this enormous army, not leaving anyone alive.

All the horses were hamstrung. All the chariots were burned.

Think of all the physical exertion. Think of all the blood. Think of the mess they had to clean up over the next days.

God promised victory, but they still had to fight. The Israelite soldiers must have been sweaty, dirty and tired at the end of the day.

They were victorious, but it had taken great effort on their part.

The same is true in our battles against temptation.

Think of all the commands in the New Testament about how to live the Christian life.

Flee temptation.

Love your wife.

Submit to your husband.

Obey your parents.

Support the widows.

Work with your hands.

Don't be angry, vengeful, or bitter.

Don't gossip, slander, or lie.

And on and on.

Those are all commands. And God promises us victory. But we have to fight.

We'd like God to just make all of that easy. But if He did, we would soon learn that we don't need Him.

God promises victory, a way of escape from every temptation. He promises strength, so that we can endure, work hard, bear up under temptation (1 Cor 10:13).

Giving in to temptation is the easy way out. But it means certain defeat. If Joshua and the army had simply waited, the immense army would have run them over. They went out and fought, claiming God's promise of victory.

They came back bloody, dirty and tired. But victorious!