Victory over Sin

We have already remarked that probably no character in the Old Testament had a clearer vision of the authority and power of God’s Word than the psalmist David. For an introduction to our present subject, victory over sin and Satan, we may turn once again to the words of David.

“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Ps. 119:11)

The Hebrew word here translated “hidden” means, more exactly, “to store up as a treasure.” David did not mean he had hidden God’s Word away so that its presence could never be detected. Rather he meant he had stored up God’s Word in the safest place, reserved for things he treasured most, so he might have it available for immediate use in every time of need.

In Psalm 17:4 David again expresses the keeping power of God’s Word.

“Concerning the works of men, By the word of Your lips, I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer.”

Here is a word of direction concerning our participation in “the works of men” – human activities and social interaction. Some of these activities are safe, wholesome, acceptable to God; others are dangerous to the soul and contain the hidden snares of the destroyer. (“The destroyer” is one of many names in Scripture for the devil.) How are we to distinguish between those which are safe and wholesome and those which are spiritually dangerous? The answer is, by the application of God’s Word.

One often hears questions such as these: Is it right for a Christian to dance? to smoke? to gamble? and so on. The answer to all such questions must be decided not by accepted social practice, nor by accepted church tradition, but by the application of God’s Word.

For instance, I remember that a group of Christian African women students once asked me, as a Christian minister, if there was any harm in their attending dances at the college where they were being trained as teachers. In reply I did not offer them my own personal opinion or the regulations laid down by a mission board. Instead I asked them to turn with me to two passages in the Bible.

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31)

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:17)

I pointed out that these two passages of Scripture contain two great principles which are to decide and direct all that we do as Christians. First, we must do all things to the glory of God. Second, we must do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God by Him. Therefore, anything that we can do to the glory of God and in the name of the Lord Jesus is good and acceptable; anything that we cannot do to the glory of God and in the name of the Lord Jesus is wrong and harmful.

I then applied these principles to the question they had asked me. I said, “If you can attend those dances to the glory of God, and if you can freely give thanks to God in the name of the Lord Jesus while you are dancing, then it is perfectly all right for you to dance. But if you cannot do your dancing in this way and upon these conditions, then it is wrong for you to dance.”

It was my responsibility, as I saw it, to give those young women basic scriptural principles. Thereafter it was their responsibility, not mine, to apply those principles to their particular situation.