In my heart I want to be like Jesus, and due to my circumstances in life I feel I cannot live a "sinless" life. Even if I leave my family that would put me in serious legal repricussions, and also it would not be Christ like cause He has never abandoned us.
I am definitely looking forward to this study.
God Bless,
Will

In brief, Christ's perfect life as our example would have been in vain if it were not possible for us to follow said example. In addition, if God's law were to be abolished at the cross, then it would have been in vain for Christ to have died thus. If He were going to change His law, since it was too hard for us to keep, then He could have changed it without said sacrifice, so as to no longer require the sacrifice. If the law could be changed, then we need not follow it.

Jesus Christ knew that humanity had not power in itself to resist the temptations of the enemy of souls, and therefore He clothed His divinity with humanity, left His royal throne and high command, and came to this world all seared and marred with the curse, and humiliated Himself, in order to set us an example. . . . He came to this world, not to attend horse races, not to attend the theater, but He came meek and lowly, and He invites us to learn of Him, the King of glory. By doing this we shall obtain the moral power He left the courts of heaven to bestow upon us.--Manuscript 16, Oct. 20, 1895, untitled manuscript, apparently a sermon preached at the Armadale Campground, Australia. {UL 307.6}

The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God, requires a struggle; but the soul must submit to God before it can be renewed in holiness. {SC 43.3}
Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?" You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him. {SC 47.1}
Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians. {SC 47.2}

Promises are estimated by the truth of the one who makes them. Many men make promises only to break them, to mock the heart that trusted in them. Those who lean upon such men lean upon broken reeds. But God is behind the promises he makes. He is ever mindful of his covenant, and his truth endures to all generations. "Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant." {YI, February 15, 1900 par. 9}
The gift of God's dear Son makes the promises ours of a surety. Christ clothed his divinity with humanity, and paid the ransom for man, and he desires that man shall rightly estimate the life thus provided. Man is to understand, by an experimental knowledge, the tender love of God for his creatures. God expressed his love in a wonderful way. He could not make man a partaker of the divine nature, until his only begotten Son, equal with the Father, should stoop to human nature, and reach man where he was. God did not withhold his Son. In Christ humanity touched humanity. In him man becomes a child of God, an heir to all the treasure of heaven. {YI, February 15, 1900 par. 10}

Dear brethren and sisters, do not flatter yourselves that all obstacles to your worldly prosperity would be removed, were you to yield unpopular truth. Satan tells you this; it is his sophistry. But if the blessing of God rests upon you, you will prosper; if you turn from him, he will turn from you. Jesus knows all your wants, and he has left exceeding broad and precious promises. He says: "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life." "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." {RH, May 26, 1885 par. 11}
These are precious promises. Can you not rely upon them? Can you not have implicit trust, knowing that He is faithful who has promised? Let your trembling faith grasp the promises of God. Bear your whole weight upon them with unwavering faith; for they will not, they cannot fail. {RH, May 26, 1885 par. 12}

Does God offer to empower us to gradually outgrow our character flaws and defects and imperfections? If so, where in the Bible do we find such promises? A lady at church explained it to me this way:

"I used to smoke dope. But when I became a Christian I gradually gave it up. Then I switched to cigarettes. I enjoyed smoking for years and then one day it occurred to me that smoking was wrong. It took several more years to quit but eventually God answered my prayers. I went from smoking three packs a day, to two packs a day, to one pack a day, and so on, until Jesus finally gave me the victory."

Is this the path to victory the Bible promises?