Hope for believers overcome by sin

Is there hope for believers overcome by sin?  Yes.

Whether it’s you or someone you know…there’s definitely hope.

You know that you or your friends were saved. The initial salvation experience was real.

Yet, today, you’re not living the Christian life you know you should, the kind of life revealed in God’s Word.

What can you do? Actually, it’s not what you can do, but what the divine seed can do within you.  It’s this seed that is full of hope.

So in this post we’ll consider the hope for believers overcome by sin–the sin-conquering  seed of the divine life in you.

Everyone who believes into the Lord Jesus is born of God

 The Bible is very clear. From the moment you believe in Jesus Christ you are born of God.

John 1:12-13 says,

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten…of God.“

So, If you have believed in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, you can be assured that right now you are born of God, born of the eternal life to be a child of God. This fact is settled regardless of your condition.

But, if you’re reading this post and have not yet received the Lord Jesus to be born of God, please take a few minutes to watch this video on “Who is Jesus?” Then stop and pray this prayer,

“Lord Jesus! I believe in You as my Savior. Thank you for dying for me.  Lord, forgive me of my sins and wash them away. Lord Jesus, I receive You right now. Thank you for coming into me. Amen.”

 So if you’ve received the Lord Jesus, you’re reborn–regardless of how you feel.

From the moment that you confessed that Jesus is your Lord, God accounted your faith as righteousness and put His Son into your deepest part—your spirit.

And you we’re reborn, that is, regenerated of an “incorruptible seed.” First Peter 1:23 says,

 “Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God.”

 So regardless of what your condition is, if you’ve believed in Jesus, you’ve experienced the divine birth and received the divine seed. It’s like a baby born of their parents’ life. It’s that life that gives the parents hope.

It’s the  same with us. The divine seed in us is full of hope.

 God’s salvation is eternal so you can never be “un-born”—John 10:28

 If you bring forth a child, they share your life. They’ve received your genes. So they can’t be “un-born.”

They may be naughty at times, disobey you, and offend you. They may even be estranged from you for a time,  but they can never lose your life.

It’s the same with God, our Father.

John 10:28 says,

“I give to them eternal life and they shall by no means perish neither shall any one snatch them out of my hand.”

 Part of footnote 1 on verse 28 in the Recovery Version says,

“Eternal life will never run out, and the hands of the Father and the Son will never fail. Hence, the believers are eternally secure and will never perish.”

Since God gave you His eternal divine life, He cannot take it back.

It’s this divine life in the divine seed that gives us hope for believers overcome by sin.

What’s more… our Lord’s hands are bigger than we are. So no one can snatch us out of His hands and neither can we wiggle out.  His hands hold us fast. For more on this point, you may want to read  “Four Reasons Why We Can’t Lose Our Salvation.”

But how does this apply to believers overcome by sin after they’re saved?

Every believer in Christ has a sinful past and failures in their Christian life and the cleansing of the blood of Jesus deals with these when we confess them to the Lord.

But what do you do with believers who are overcome by sin and seem to continue to live their sinful life?

First John 3:9 says,

“Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.” 

Note 4 on “cannot sin”  says,

“I.e., cannot live in sin habitually. A regenerated believer may fall into sin occasionally, but the divine life as the divine seed in his regenerated nature will not allow him to live in sin. This similar to a sheep: it may fall into the mud, but its clean life will not allow it to remain and wallow in the mud as a swine would.”

This verse points us to the power of the divine seed that is within us and our fellow believers. If we see it, we will be full of hope, even for the worst “prodigal son.”

We need to focus on this divine seed. As the footnote points out, it’s “the divine life as the divine seed in our regenerated nature that will not allow us to live in sin.”

However, if we neglect the divine life as the divine seed, we’re just as sinful as the next person and we’re capable of every kind of evil. That’s what makes us feel hopeless.

The divine seed in every believer is full of hope—1 Pet. 1:3

First Peter 1:3 says,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

It’s this divine seed that was imparted into us from the moment we were regenerated.

It’s this divine seed that contains the overcoming life of Christ, the life we need to live the normal Christian life.

It’s divine seed  in us that is full of hope!

So to help a sinning believer—whether yourself or someone else—the key is to come back to see and feed this sinless divine seed because that’s where the hope is.

We need to stop looking at ourselves and give the divine seed the care so it can grow. We need to feed this divine seed.

 How to feed the divine seed—1 Pet. 2:2

Since hope is with the seed, we need to cooperate with the divine seed so it can grow. That is, we need to “feed the seed.”

When a person’s body is malnourished it’s hard to fight off any kind of illness.  It’s the same in our Christian life.

In 1 Peter 1:23, we saw that we were regenerated of an incorruptible seed. Then, four verses later Peter says,

 “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word that by it you may grow unto salvation.” (1 Peter 2:2)

 The divine seed inside us has the ability to bring forth all the elements in God’s life and nature…if we nourish it.

So just nourish the divine seed every day!  Here are five ways to daily nourish that divine seed:

1. Spend a little time with the Lord each morning to pray.  Here are 10 short morning prayers for your time with the Lord. These short prayers will water the divine seed in you.
2. Pray-read a couple of Bible verses each day.  Here are 12 Tips on How to Pray-read the Word of God to be Spiritually Nourished.  This practice will help you to live on God’s Word as your spiritual bread (Matt. 4:4).
3. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus throughout the day just to breathe Him in. One hymn says, Just to breathe the name of Jesus is to drink of life indeed. Try it and see!
4. Confess your sins so God’s life can grow in you without hindrance.
5. Then lead the believers you’re concerned for also to practice these four ways to feed the divine seed.

If you’ve been helped by some point in this post, please take a moment to confirm it in a short comment.

References and Further Reading:

•  For more appreciation for this divine seed you may want to read The Life-study of First John, Messages 25 and 26. You can read them online at ministrybooks.org.
• This hymn strengthens the point of this post:  “The Lord, the seed of life, has sown“
• Photo credit: Morguefile.com