Why is the Christian life so hard?

Here’s an illustration. I'd been doing my best to resolve the mosquito issues we'd been experiencing at my home for some months. This breed of mosquitoes seemed to laugh off Mortein (a brand of insecticide) when I used it on them. I'd use Baygon, a stronger brand, and see their dead bodies strewn all over the floor afterwards but our relief was always shortlived; they'd be humming all over the place again within hours! They tormented me day and night.

But one day, I remembered Integrated Science or was it Home Economics from secondary school: mosquitoes need stagnant water to breed! I rushed outside: close to our living room windows were two buckets, both of them half-filled with rain/tap water, and with all sorts floating thereon. Mosquitoes everywhere!

My point is no matter how often I sprayed the house with insecticide, our respite from mosquitoes would always be temporary unless their breeding places got destroyed. Plus insecticides have their own harmful effects on humans and the mosquitoes would eventually become resistant to them too. Getting rid of them would only become more difficult. How does this relate to living the Christian life? Romans 5:19 says-

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

From the above verse, we see that committing acts of sin is not what makes people sinners. People are made sinners by Adam's sin. Everyone descended from Adam is born with this sin/old nature. Sinful deeds are the result of having this old/sin nature. Sinners will produce sins just as the one infected with HIV will produce symptoms of his infection at some point. Remove the virus and its symptoms will disappear.

The stagnant water in the buckets represents man having the old/sin nature inherited from Adam. Having the root of sin/sin nature is what produces the mosquitoes that cause diseases which kill (acts of sin that result in death) to proliferate. The disease and death-causing mosquitoes that bothered me represent acts of sin which cause sickness, lack, stress and every earthly ill that came to be as a result of Adam's fall.

As long as my answer to getting rid of the mosquitoes (acts of sin that lead to death) was insecticides (human effort at getting rid of sins aka law-keeping,) they would keep on increasing. We see this reflected in Romans 7:5-

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

Unfortunately in the church today, the focus is on preaching the killing of mosquitoes and treating the resultant malaria that kills (acts of sin that lead to death) by using insecticides (human effort at curbing sins aka law-keeping) as the path to attaining righteousness and salvation, when what is needful is ridding the flock of the old/sin nature that was inherited from Adam (getting rid of the stagnant water.) That approach of curbing sins by human effort is as useless as an HIV carrier expecting that using his self-brewed cough medicine will heal his immunodeficiency-driven tuberculosis or make him virus-free. Recall what Christ says in John 3:14-17-

“14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Christ Himself is telling us how we are saved from the fiery serpents' sting (inherited sin nature) and its deathly effect (acts of sin that lead to death) in John 3 above. But instead of looking utterly to Christ for salvation and putting absolutely no confidence in what we can do save ourselves as the affected Israelites did and so got to have life, many pastors are leading the flock to focus on treating their deathly snakebite symptoms (curbing acts of sin that lead to death) and ignoring the snake sting (sin/old nature) which Adam passed on to all of his descendants, which can only be excised by looking to Christ lifted up for our salvation from sin and death. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 says:

“56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The law strengthens sin. Romans 5:20 says “The law was given that sin might increase…”

Just as the snake sting (sin nature) would have been strengthened to wreak more havoc and produce more killer symptoms (sins) in the affected Israelites had they taken their eyes off the bronze serpent (a picture of Christ) to focus on treating its deathly effects (law-keeping,) the sin/old nature in man is strengthened to produce more sins when the carrier depends on his human effort at curbing sins (aka keeping the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil and kills like the tree of the same name) to make him whole/free from sin or ungodliness.

The hallmark of the sin nature is dependence human effort (arm of flesh) at keeping the law for the attainment of godliness aka to “be like God” — the same deceit that Satan sold to Eve in Eden.

The law/letter kills and gives the knowledge of good and evil, just like the tree of the same name. See the forbidden fruit as a typology for the law which many churchgoers are trying to obey in order to be godly or develop godly traits (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG)—

8-12 "Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me."

The one who is trying to obey the law or depends on himself to produce even an atom of good (be like God) has the sin/old nature. He is not a new creation in Christ. Christ died to rid us of the old/sin nature. See Colossians 2:11–

“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.”

In Him, we are a new creation. God made Him to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, as it is written in 2 Cor. 5:21-

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

When you receive God's abundance of grace and believe that you are saved and made righteous by the obedience of Christ (Romans 5:19) and not your own obedience, good works or your self-discipline and law-keeping prowess, you no longer have the old/sin nature. You are dead to the law. Old things have passed away. No more curse. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus, made righteous not by your own obedience to the law but wholly by Christ’s obedience (Romans 5:19;) none of that abominable, “neither cold nor hot” mixture of human effort at obedience (law) plus Christ’s obedience (Grace.) And this is the result according to Romans 7:4-

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

Instead of stagnant water (sin/old nature inherited from Adam) in vessels which can only produce acts of sin and such that lead to death, in Christ, we overflow with living water; are a new creation. We have His righteousness nature, so we get to live right and produce righteous works that please our heavenly Father. Just as the sin nature produces acts of sin, as a new creation with Christ as our righteousness, we get to bear fruit to righteousness. We get to produce “a harvest of good deeds for God” (Romans 7:4,) yet not us but Christ in us.

In essence, no matter how many canisters of insecticide one expends in a bid to kill the mosquitoes (trying hard by one's power to be sin-free through obedience to the letter that kills,) without getting rid of the stagnant water (rejecting the old nature that was inherited from Adam and receiving our Lord Jesus' blood-bought righteousness which is given as a gift to all who believe Him,) he can never be free from mosquitoes (acts of sin.) He has the old (sinner) nature, like HIV. Sin will multiply and the end is death.

Remember Romans 6:14-

“For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace.”

Sin has dominion over those who are trying to obey the law in order to be godly (be like God.) This is why many in the church today are trapped in an endless cycle of committing acts of sin and attending deliverance/curse-breaking sessions all in a bid to be free from one bondage/curse or the other that Christ hung on the cross and died to free us from. Like my Baygon insecticide and mosquitoes experience, any results will be short-lived. The old nature is still intact so no matter how much such do to be free from their "mosquitoes" of acts of sin and the symptoms/beginnings of death that they cause (sickness, lack, depression, etc,) more will come.

The one with the old nature rejects the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might freely have and strives to attain righteousness/godliness (be like God) by human effort, just as Adam and Eve did. He does not believe Romans 5:19–

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

He does not believe Romans 5:9- “And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Christ says— “There is none good but God.” But the one with the old nature disagrees. He does not believe that of himself, he has absolutely no good in him to obey even a tittle of the law. He is unaware that God’s mercy is the “skeleton” that is keeping him from devolving into the helpless and sins-ridden mass of flesh that man is of himself. He strives to be righteous (be like God) in God's sight and escape His wrath by keeping the law. But Romans 3:20 says :

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Also, Galatians 5:4 says "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Understand that God’s Grace is not a thing or subject in a theological school curriculum. God’s Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

“God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

“Saviour from sins” is Christ’s job description. Being cut off from Christ for one’s efforts at trying to obey the law in order to get God’s favour or get right with Him means no salvation from sins. So for the one who has the old or sinful nature inherited from Adam aka is putting even an atom of trust in his fallen humanity by trying to keep the law in order to be godly (be like God) even a tiny bit, sins increase—

“The law was given that sins might increase…” Romans 5:20.

But the one with the new nature - receiving God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ - he utterly depends on Christ for Righteousness and Strength, believing that in Christ, God sees us as righteous, “even though we are guilty of many sins.” See this truth in Romans 5:16 below. This is not so that we should keep on wallowing in sins and do no works as antichrist pastors and their followers who deceive by preying on man's tendency to trust in human strength and logic imply. Man's logical reasoning can only interpret the truth about God's saving Grace in boldface above as license to sin,

“For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18.

But the word of God whose ways and thoughts are higher than man's says this is the Way to live in triumph over sin and death-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

This is the message of Christ: Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. As it did the overly religious but antichrist Pharisees whose lives were dedicated to doing what the law commands in order to be godly, the Message angers the self-righteous who challenge Christ by claiming that they have some good in them to obey even a jot of the law or produce good works towards being more deserving of salvation, this when Christ says “There is none good but God.”

But to the one who agrees with God's word (There is none good but God) and looks utterly to Christ lifted up for salvation from sin and death as did the Israelites with the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness, it is the Good News.

Like Peter who thought his Maker was wrong about his then upcoming denials but ended up denying Christ thrice; like Job who reasoned that calamity should not befall him because of his many good works and had no idea that it was by God's mercy alone that he prospered, many who see themselves as “good" are unaware that it is God's restraining hand that is preventing them from being sifted like wheat by Satan and propping them up from devolving into the helpless heap of sins-ridden flesh that man is of himself. Peter saw this after his denials and was humbled, hence 1 Peter 5.

Recall Christ says “There is none good but God.” We can view the sin nature in “no good" man as a dead rat (sin nature) in a vessel (man of himself) whose location is subject to the vagaries of Time and Chance as well as Satan's sifting but for God’s mercy by which we are not consumed by heinous sins and Job-type calamities. The vessel's expression of putrefaction is dependent on the weather conditions at its current location-- whether arctic, arid or anywhere in-between. Like Peter before his denials, some vessels that are currently residing in Antarctica by no effort of theirs boast about their ability to not express maggots and the horrid stench of acts of sin which vessels that find themselves in tropical regions are expressing-- until Time and Chance or Satan's sifting happens to them. Of ourselves, everyone is the same. The potential to commit heinous sins is in everyone. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances make many think that some sins are beneath them. Peter's example and God's word in 1 Corinthians 10 counsel us --

""So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.""

If God was not filtering and screening…

Apart from Christ as our Righteousness and Strength, death (a process- see explanation below) is what all deserve. This is why men ask the question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” No one is good but God. Apart from Christ, all have the sin nature and are subject to death in all its ramifications but for God's mercy. The only one who is good/righteous in God's estimation is the one whose righteousness is through the blood of Jesus:

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." Romans 5:9.

Grace is undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. If an iota of our strength is involved in getting God's favour, it is no longer Grace (Romans 11:6,) and only by grace through faith are we saved, so we have nothing to boast of in ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9,) not our own self-discipline, giving, morality, evangelism, tithe payment, dedication or right-living prowess. Wonderful as these things are, they cannot save anybody and are only a function of God’s restraining hand of mercy upholding and keeping many from expressing the symptoms of humanity’s sinful nature. Good works are the evidences of salvation, not conditions.

Depending on one’s human effort/arm of flesh to obey or doing “good” works in order to gain God's favour and acceptance is rejecting the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have; it is akin to killing mosquitoes inside your house but ignoring their breeding ground. The doer of such works of the law is unaware that God’s mercy is the “skeleton” that is still propping him up from expressing his true sinful nature— like self-trusting Peter before his denials showed him up; like an infant on his father’s shoulders in a parade boasting about how he can see further and better than his peers and disregarding his father’s help, attributing his position and success to his own strength. So much to say here. Paul addressed this truth in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) devolved into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

If God lifted off His restraining hand that restrains us from devolving into committing heinous sins and let us rely on our human effort (arm of flesh) or will-power at keeping the law or doing good works to prove our faith or for whatever reason, like Peter who trusted himself before falling flat on his face three times, we would all devolve into sin and see how utterly lacking in good we are of ourselves. Any work that one can boast of doing by his human effort/arm of flesh and sees as why God should bless, save, deliver or see him in a “good” light, it is a dead work. Only in the Beloved are we accepted. Ephesians 1:6.

With the Lord as our righteousness, the old nature is no more; "all these things shall be added unto you." We get to be transformed to the image of the glory of the Lord, from glory to glory, through no effort of ours but by His Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18.) We get to live in triumph over sin, stress, sickness and every ill. We get to love proclaiming Jesus. We get to give, love and live a life of moral excellence that surpasses that which the law demands, yet not us but Christ in us.

Romans 5:17 says: "For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

This death that is as a result of Adam’s offence is not necessarily immediate. It is translated from the Greek word “Thanatos" which has the following outline of Biblical usage:

• the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell
• the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell
• in the widest sense, death comprising all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth, to be followed by wretchedness in hell

Death is a process that begins with earthly ills and physical death, and culminates in the second death in hell. Fear, stress, worry, silly mistakes, working so hard only to lose it all, sickness, lack, anxiety, depression, fast-tracked ageing are all death begun. God said to Adam:

"for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die."

Psalms 90:4 says of God "A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,";

Moses wrote this concerning God's view of the life of man (see Ps. 90:3.) Adam did not give up the ghost immediately after his death sentence came into effect; he existed for almost 1,000 years aka one day gone by in the sight of God. Death is a process. Lack, poverty, disease, stupid mistakes, anything that impacts life in a negative manner, all are “death begun.” A death that Christ died for all. He paid the price for our salvation from sin and death in full, for we cannot. But many still try to with their own obedience and dead works, in effect, saying that what Christ did is not good enough for them.

Not only is the Christian life hard to live by human effort aka the arm of flesh, it is impossible for man to live. Only Christ can. This is why we sing “‘tis no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me.”

Only by receiving God's abundance of grace and having Christ as our righteousness do we get to live in triumph over sin and death.

Sinners are made righteous only by "one Man's obedience": Christ's; when we believe that God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21. Here, we are a new creation in Christ. When you believe that your right-standing with God, His blessings upon you and your ability to produce good works have got nothing to do with what you did or did not do but have ALL to do with what Christ has done, the old (sinner) nature is no more. The stagnant water is gone. In its place we have the same living water that Christ promised all who thirst and the result: out of our bellies flow rivers of living water.

There might still be some maggots or mosquitoes (acts of sin, sickness, etc) on your vessel, visible to men after the stagnant water is removed, but your inside is perfectly cleansed of that dead rat called the sin nature and now filled with the Holy Spirit. Those maggots and mosquitoes , they will all die off and there will be none to replace them because your inside in the Holy Spirit. Remember,

“The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18.

Things will only get better and acts of sin will become a decreasing factor in your life because you possess the only brand of righteousness that counts before God: Christ’s. This is why He gave His life for you and I--

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

In place of the root of sin that produces acts of sin that lead to death, we have Christ's righteousness so we bear fruit to righteousness. We get to produce "a harvest of good deeds for God." No more mosquitoes that cause disease (acts of sin that lead to death) but God’s perfect righteousness which produces right living and every blessing of God in Christ! This is the Good News. None of us has arrived. In the Holy Spirit-inspired words of Paul in Philippians 3:9, 12-13:

9 "and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith.

12 "I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

See the TPT: 12 "I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose that Jesus Christ has called me to fulfill and wants me to discover. 13 I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead."

None of us have arrived yet and we do not depend on our own strength to accomplish perfection. Whatever the level of our outward imperfection, we who trust/have faith in Christ all have one perfect Person in common: the Lord Jesus Christ in whom God sees every believer as perfectly righteous through His blood. For us, He is Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord our Righteousness.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.