Jesus' Victory Over Sin

The Gospel is empowering.  Often it is thought of as a gateway into the "weightier" matters of Christianity.  However, the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, is the empowering force that infuses believers with the ability to live life the way God desires, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  It should not be neglected, though, that because of the Good News, we may overcome not only sin but also its repercussions.

Obviously, as sin is a human ordeal (not to speak of the spiritual element in regards to Satan, etc.), there are certain elements of the human experience that can be directly traced to sin.  Among these are two in particular that are worth highlighting for further examination: (1) grief & suffering, and (2) temptation.  The purpose of this dialogue is to offer encouragement that the Gospel empowers believers in both of these aspects of the human experience.

Grief, pain, suffering are all consequences of sin traced back to the original sin (Gen. 3).  As a result, humanity is consistently marred by misery and sorrow.  In reality, the malady of sin and its mortal sting affects us wholly through this earthly life.  This is inescapable.  Luckily, we have God both to empathize and to comfort.

For this, one needs only to look at the life, especially the death, of Jesus.  Isaiah 53:3-4, in particular, describes in grave detail the grief-stricken life of the Christ.  Moreover, Jesus has taken on the grief and sorrow due us as a penalty for our sin.  As a result, the Gospel then is the ultimate source of comfort and empathy when we are forced, by the consequences of sin, to trudge through sorrowful seasons.

The writer of Hebrews agrees with this assessment of the role of the Gospel amidst suffering (Heb. 4:15).  Therefore, we should look to Him. Think of Psalm 23, "even though I walk through the valley..." Does this not also assert that, though we fear and suffer, we will find our source and comfort in the Lord?

Lastly, Jesus is clear that the Holy Spirit is the "Helper," the "Comforter," whom Christ sends to indwell within us to empower us through the hardships (John 14:112-14; Acts 1:18).  Also, because the Holy Spirit is acquired by faith, it is then our faith in Jesus that, by the Holy Spirit, who comforts and helps us.  Jesus has overcome sin, not just redeeming us from it by justifying us in terms of judgment, but also in that He saves us in the midst of hardship and suffering as well.  Let us then press into Him not only on the sunny days but also when the tempests rage so as to find comfort and help in our times of struggle!