Of
Wills and Ways, Part 4
Today's
Three-minute Bible Study
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Title:
Of Wills and Ways, Part 4
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Date: 8/11/2002
Keywords:
"confidence" "fail" "power"
"resurrection"
Welcome
to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Passage:
Philippians
3:4-11*
4. although I myself might
have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has
a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far
more:
5. circumcised the eighth day,
of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a
Pharisee;
6. as to zeal, a persecutor of
the church; as to the righteousness which is in the
Law, found blameless.
7. But whatever things were gain
to me, those things I have counted as loss for the
sake of Christ.
8. More than that, I count all
things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in
order that I may gain Christ,
9. and may be found in Him, not
having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law,
but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of
faith,
10. that I may know Him, and the
power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death;
11. in order that I may attain
to the resurrection from the dead.
Questions
1. Is your confidence
shaken when your willpower fails?
2. What do you think the Apostle
Paul means by "the power of His resurrection" in verse
10?
Practical
help
"I just don't have the
power to resist. I've tried, but I don't have the
strength."
This is a familiar refrain for
the recurrent porn struggler. What's a struggler to
do? Just give up, and admit you'll never overcome it?
Well, yes and no.
Personal resolve that seeks its
power from self can and does manage to change a
behavior for a while. It's that 'a while' part that
gets to be so troubling. Ultimately, we each find that
our self-derived will power doesn't prove itself
effective. It eventually fails and therefore won't
suffice as the basis of our confidence.
The true God of the universe did
something that proves His claims are true. He
raised His son — the Lord Jesus Christ —
from verifiable death to verifiable life. This act,
this proof, that Christ's death was accepted by God as
final punishment for our sins (past, present and
future), is what Paul seeks to know (trust) as the
power to live his life by (verse 10).
This is the power we all need to
live our lives by. It's not going to happen with our
self-derived will power — that needs to die with
Christ on the cross. It's going to happen when our
will depends on the power of His resurrection. Our
will power can confidently become resurrection power.
Jesus is living proof.
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2002 by eXXit
*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD
BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995. Used by permission."
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