Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat by Joseph Prince Page B

sinner and the result of grace is the power to go and sin no more. Isn’t that beautiful? That’s Who our Lord Jesus is. He loves the sinner and releases him or her with the power and strength to go and sin no more. A person whose heart is full of the love of Jesus doesn’t need to find love in an adulterous relationship. All your need for security, affirmation, and love is fully met in the person of Jesus. You don’t have to settle for a life trapped in sin when you know that Jesus has such a beautiful and glorious future for you!

The Defeated Life—Trapped in a Cycle of Sin
    How do born-again believers, who sincerely want to live holy lives, still end up trapped in a cycle of sin and living a defeated life? I believe that it is because they receive condemnation for their failings, and do not know or believe that God Himself does not condemn them because of the cross of Jesus. Show me someone who lives under constant condemnation and I will show you someone who is always struggling with sin. You see, the more believers live in condemnation, the more they actually become entrenched in a vicious cycle of sin, condemnation, and defeat.
    Let me explain what I mean with a simple illustration. Let’s say a believer is surfing the Internet one day when he chances upon pornographic images and looks at them longer than he should. Before he knows it, lustful thoughts tumble across his mind. At the same time, since he is a born-again Christian, he starts to feel guilty and condemned. He tells himself, “I shouldn’t have looked at the images. I shouldn’t be having all these unholy thoughts. Oh, I’m such a lousy Christian. God must be so disappointed with me.”
    The more he heaps guilt and condemnation on himself, the more he reasons, “What’s the point of resisting? I’m a terrible Christian and since I’m already guilty and fellowship with God is broken, I might as well go all the way.” What does he do? He clicks on one of the image links, which takes him to a pornographic website, and he indulges his fleshly desires. Now he feels all the more guilty and condemned, and even more convinced that God is angry with him and has distanced Himself from him.
    All this guilt and alienation from God just make him more susceptible to fail the next time he faces a similar temptation. There is no power to overcome subsequent temptations, and his indulgences quickly develop into an addiction that imprisons him in perpetual guilt and self-condemnation. He knows he has a problem, but is just too ashamed of his secret sin to approach anyone for help. This is basically how many sincere believers end up trapped in a cycle of sin and condemnation. You can see this represented in the Cycle of Defeat diagram here .
    Can you see how the cycle of defeat is perpetuated? Feelings of guilt and condemnation do not empower a believer, no matter how sincere he is, to overcome his sin. In fact, they leave him more weak and vulnerable to the next temptation. The truth is, those who are under constant guilt and condemnation have no strength to overcome temptation, and end up repeating their sins and living a painful life trapped in a cycle of defeat.
    In the countless testimonies my ministry has received over the years, many sincere believers shared how guilt, condemnation, and fear of God’s judgment only perpetuated their sins and addictions. My friend, if this describes you today, and you are living under a heavy yoke of guilt and condemnation and struggling with sin, your answeris found in the Lord Jesus and His grace. It is when you are under the Lord’s grace, not the law, that sin has no dominion over you (see Rom. 6:14). So let Him be your Savior. Don’t hide from Him. Come to Him and allow Him to set you free!

The Victorious Life—Breaking the Cycle of Defeat
    So how do we go from a place where like the apostle Paul we lament, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…. Oh,