Hebrews 12:1-4 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (3) For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. (4) You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”
Our Lord Jesus is our ultimate example that we are to follow. And so although Jesus is our God, our Saviour and our Lord, He is also our brother, and we sometimes forget that Jesus lived His life on the earth in exactly the same manner that we do. We have already seen that Jesus was subject to the same weaknesses that we are but that He never once sinned, because of which He overcame sin in the flesh for us. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit tells us to look at Jesus as our example. In the context of this passage the Holy Spirit is telling us to follow our Lord’s example in overcoming sin, for the Holy Spirit tells us to consider Jesus who endured such hostility of sinners against Himself and how He resisted to bloodshed striving against sin. The Holy Spirit goes on to tell us that no matter how hard we may find it to resist the temptation to sin; none of us have had to resist that temptation to the point that we literally shed blood.
Psalms 39:1-2 “I said, "I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me." (2) I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up.”
Not only did our Lord Jesus bear our sins in His body when His blood was shed for us on the cross, but He also had to resist sin through that entire process. In the passage of scripture quoted above our Lord stated that He restrained His mouth with a muzzle during those agonising hours, even from speaking good. He did that so that He would not slip by sinning with His tongue in His weakened state. Our Lord tells us in the Psalms that they almost made an end of Him on the earth (Psalm 119:87). And so we see that although Jesus was the spotless Son of God He went to the cross as the Son of Man, and the pain and hostility that He went through on that day was more than any other man could bear and still not sin. Nevertheless Jesus resisted sin to that degree so that you and I don’t have to. And so in Christ we are well able to overcome any temptation to sin that might arise in our lives.
Mark 14:38 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above our Lord tells us that our spirits are willing but that our flesh is weak. When Jesus said that, He was speaking from His own personal experience, for He knew exactly just how weak our flesh is, because His flesh was in the same likeness as ours. This is why the Holy Spirit tells us to look at Jesus as our example for overcoming sin. He can do that because Jesus overcame sin in the flesh in exactly the same manner that we do, i.e. by faith. As an aside, when our Lord made the comment about our spirits being willing but our flesh being weak, He encouraged us to pray. Jesus did that because He knows that prayer helps us overcome sin by keeping us from entering into temptation to begin with. And so the Holy Spirit would not encourage us to look at the example of our Lord Jesus in overcoming sin if it were not possible for us to follow His example. It is certainly possible for us to follow His example, because it is no longer we who live but it is Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20).
1 John 1:3-7 “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (4) And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. (5) This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. (6) If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Although the bible teaches us to follow the example of our Lord Jesus on how to live a life free from sin there are many Christians who refuse to do so, simply because they do not believe that Jesus walked on the earth as a man. They may have seen what scripture says about the subject, but they still believe that Jesus had access to godlike powers that we do not have access to. And so to put Jesus forward as an example for them to follow falls on deaf ears. Nevertheless scripture does give us other examples of fellow believers that we can follow. These are men just like you and I who have learnt to walk in this life just as Jesus walked. In other words these men have learnt to walk free from all known sin in their lives. You will recall that we have differentiated in this teaching between known and unknown sin, and we have stated that it is entirely possible for the believer to go through this life walking free from all known sin. And so the first example that we will look at is the apostle John. In the passage of scripture quoted above John invites the saints to walk in fellowship with him and with his ministry team. When John does that he then goes on to say that he and his team were walking in fellowship with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. John then categorically states in this passage that it is not possible to walk in fellowship with God while walking in sin at the same time, for God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. John was not a hypocrite and so he would not have stated that he was walking in fellowship with the Lord if he was walking in known sin. And so we see that there is a distinct difference between being in Christ, and walking in fellowship with Christ. All believers are in Christ whether they commit sin or not, for it is in our spirit’s that Christ by His Spirit resides. Nevertheless not all believers walk in the spirit, for many walk in the flesh. And so because those that walk in the flesh are walking in sin, they are thus precluded from having fellowship with the Lord Jesus. They may pretend that they are in fellowship with the Lord but they are just lying about it, because it is not possible to walk in darkness and fellowship with light at the same time. Clearly John and his ministry team were walking free from all known sin and were thus enjoying fellowship with God the Father and our Lord Jesus. John then invites the saints to follow his example of walking free from known sin so that they too can walk in fellowship with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. John did not say that his fellowship with the Lord was a temporary situation, but rather implied that this was his permanent state. And so we can see that John and his team considered it normal to fellowship with the Lord because they had learnt to walk free from known sin in their lives.
1 Corinthians 4:3-4 “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. (4) For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.”
The second example we will look at of a fellow believer who overcame sin in his life is the apostle Paul. You will recall that we showed earlier that, contrary to what the translators of Paul’s letter to Timothy had recorded in the bible, Paul never described himself as a sinner after he was saved. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul stated that he knew of nothing against himself. In other words Paul was simply saying that he was walking free from all known sin. But I want you to notice that Paul goes on to say that he was not justified by the fact that he was unaware of any sin in his life, for the Lord was his judge. In other words Paul understood the concept of known and unknown sin, and he trusted that the Lord Jesus justified him from all unknown sin that he had committed by cleansing him from those sins with His blood.
1 Corinthians 11:1 “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul instructs fellow believers to imitate him even as he imitated Christ. Paul was not being arrogant when he made that comment, for he genuinely imitated Christ in his lifestyle and he therefore put himself forward to the body of Christ as an example of how to walk just as Christ walked. All scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and so we can just as easily say that the Holy Spirit is telling us to imitate Paul as he imitated Christ. Sadly not many ministers of the gospel today can say to the body of Christ that we should imitate their lifestyles because their lifestyles imitate that of Christ? Nevertheless Paul could confidently tell the church to imitate him because he had learnt how to walk as Christ walked, i.e. free from sin. And so if Paul could imitate Christ then we can do the same by learning to imitate Paul.
Romans 6:1-2 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (2) Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
In the passage of scripture quoted above when Paul admonished the church to no longer walk in sin, he was not being a hypocrite by telling us to no longer sin while he himself was still walking in sin. Paul practised what he preached and when he told the church at Rome to no longer walk in sin, it was because he was walking exactly like that, i.e. free from all sin. And so by looking at the examples given to us in scripture we can see that it is certainly possible, and should therefore be a reality in all believers’ lives, to walk free from sin.
Michael E.B. Maher
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