Most people do live their life missing the mark. Most Christians sin daily in some capacity. THis is why Jesus went to the cross. He did not go so that we could continue to sin, He went to the cross so that sin is not imputed to us. 2Cr 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Most people are dead in their sins. The quickened are dead to sin and thus the desire no longer exist. The state of consciousness for those alive in Christ is to be compared to a light coming on and the darkness being swallowed up in victory. We can preach and tell people that it is wrong to sin, but how can they be held accountable if they are spiritually blind, deaf and dumb? The greater correction will be to those who know the truth and yet do not practice it.
When you read the words of Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah, Joel, Amos, Zechariah and Malachi, to name a few, you see that what they did was harangue on the children of Israel about their many sins, much like preachers do today. If telling people not to sin had worked, then Jesus would not have had to die. It did no good then to rant and rave about it and it does no good today. Knowing what is right has little to do with the ability to do what is right, as Paul expresses so well in Romans 7, where he laments, "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (Rom. 7:19). He asks the question that every sincere Christian has asked at one time or another, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24).
Thank God, he does not leave us on the ropes, trying to figure it out. In Rom. 8:1, the answer rings forth loud and clear: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1, RSV).
God had just shown the children of Israel the mighty works of His hands. He had delivered them from Egyptian bondage even as He promised them through Moses. He had parted the Red Sea in front of them and slaughtered Pharaoh's hoards behind them. He had brought forth water out of the rock, and had tended to their every need, and yet, the minute Moses' back is turned, they made a golden calf to worship and said of it, "These are your gods, Oh Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt" (Ex. 32:4). It really is difficult to understand such stupidity and such audacity. They saw what God did to the Egyptians when He killed the firstborn of every living thing and they saw His hand in parting the Red Sea so they could go across on dry land, and yet, they ascribed all this power and majesty to a lifeless idol made of gold. Truly, the devil's lies have caused a lot of grief in the lives and hearts of men and women, but God is sovereign over it all, and means all of it to us for good (Rom. 8:28).
Now that we see who is behind sin, what is the remedy for it? There was no long term remedy under the law, and in fact, Paul said, that the law is what brought sin consciousness to our minds. His exact words are found in Rom. 7:
9, "I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." What he is saying there is that without the law, we didn't know we had sinned, but it took the law to make it abundantly clear that "..all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23, RSV). All mankind had to wait until Christ came to be delivered from the death of trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), which accrued to them from Adam's sin. Paul explained, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned, for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law" (Rom. 5:12-13, NIV). Like it or not, fair or not, nevertheless, we all were born into the realm of death because of Adam's sin. Paul goes on to say that "For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" (Rom.
5:15, NIV). This is pure gospel, folks. We all died by Adam's trespass, but we were made alive by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ.
The glorious good news of the gospel is in this one statement made by the Apostle Paul: "For as in Adam ALL DIE, so in Christ ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE"
(I Cor. 15:22). This life of Christ comes to us through faith, of course, but Paul explains in Romans 6, that, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom. 6:4, NIV).
Perhaps, you've always known that you were baptized into Christ's death, but have you ever considered what that really means for your life in terms of sin? Listen to verses 6 and 7, "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin"
Do you hear those glorious words? "ANYONE WHO HAS DIED HAS BEEN FREED FROM SIN." Why? Because dead men don't sin and they have no guilt either! The glory of the gospel is that after all these thousands of years of struggling with sin, we are free at last. "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, RSV). Sin is no longer an issue for us. Now, I know there will be someone who will quote the Apostle John's statement, "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (I John 1:10, RSV). Of course, we have all sinned. I just read it to you in Romans 3:23, but we don't live there anymore. Let's go back to the book of First John, where the Apostle says, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (I Jn.
2:2). That is wonderful news, but keep reading. In Chapter 3, verse 9, he asserts, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." I want you to chew on this verse for a long time, because it definitely is the meat of the word. It is also protein, iron, calcium, vitamins and all the antibiotic you'll ever need for the disease called SIN. The reason we do not sin when we are born again is because God's seed remains in us, the Apostle says. Who or what is the seed? Paul tells us that the seed is one person, namely Christ (Gal. 3:16). When Christ is in us, we do not sin because it is His life, not ours that we live.
There is a false spirituality present in many Christians who are fond of saying, "I'm just a sinner saved by grace." That sounds good to the religious mind, but it stinks in the nostrils of God, and it makes the Apostle John a liar when He says that "He who is born of God does not continue in sin."
Churches have made a good little business by telling you what you must do, think, and give in order to be pleasing to God, but it is VERY self serving.
The Holy Spirit flows through us in love and in power, and He is the only one who can lead us into all truth (I Jn. 2:27). If we do not allow Him to lead us, we are like those of whom Paul said, "holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people" (II Tim. 3:5, RSV).
It is amazing the focus that we have placed on sin when the emphisis should have been on the redeeming power of the life of Christ. It seems that people are asking God all of the wrong questions and this is why His answers do not reveal that much. If we ask Father the right questions where our focus is on Him and not on self the answers will be the revelation we have waited for.
When you read the words of Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah, Joel, Amos, Zechariah and Malachi, to name a few, you see that what they did was harangue on the children of Israel about their many sins, much like preachers do today. If telling people not to sin had worked, then Jesus would not have had to die. It did no good then to rant and rave about it and it does no good today. Knowing what is right has little to do with the ability to do what is right, as Paul expresses so well in Romans 7, where he laments, "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (Rom. 7:19). He asks the question that every sincere Christian has asked at one time or another, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24).
Thank God, he does not leave us on the ropes, trying to figure it out. In Rom. 8:1, the answer rings forth loud and clear: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1, RSV).
God had just shown the children of Israel the mighty works of His hands. He had delivered them from Egyptian bondage even as He promised them through Moses. He had parted the Red Sea in front of them and slaughtered Pharaoh's hoards behind them. He had brought forth water out of the rock, and had tended to their every need, and yet, the minute Moses' back is turned, they made a golden calf to worship and said of it, "These are your gods, Oh Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt" (Ex. 32:4). It really is difficult to understand such stupidity and such audacity. They saw what God did to the Egyptians when He killed the firstborn of every living thing and they saw His hand in parting the Red Sea so they could go across on dry land, and yet, they ascribed all this power and majesty to a lifeless idol made of gold. Truly, the devil's lies have caused a lot of grief in the lives and hearts of men and women, but God is sovereign over it all, and means all of it to us for good (Rom. 8:28).
Now that we see who is behind sin, what is the remedy for it? There was no long term remedy under the law, and in fact, Paul said, that the law is what brought sin consciousness to our minds. His exact words are found in Rom. 7:
9, "I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." What he is saying there is that without the law, we didn't know we had sinned, but it took the law to make it abundantly clear that "..all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23, RSV). All mankind had to wait until Christ came to be delivered from the death of trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), which accrued to them from Adam's sin. Paul explained, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned, for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law" (Rom. 5:12-13, NIV). Like it or not, fair or not, nevertheless, we all were born into the realm of death because of Adam's sin. Paul goes on to say that "For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" (Rom.
5:15, NIV). This is pure gospel, folks. We all died by Adam's trespass, but we were made alive by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ.
The glorious good news of the gospel is in this one statement made by the Apostle Paul: "For as in Adam ALL DIE, so in Christ ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE"
(I Cor. 15:22). This life of Christ comes to us through faith, of course, but Paul explains in Romans 6, that, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom. 6:4, NIV).
Perhaps, you've always known that you were baptized into Christ's death, but have you ever considered what that really means for your life in terms of sin? Listen to verses 6 and 7, "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin"
Do you hear those glorious words? "ANYONE WHO HAS DIED HAS BEEN FREED FROM SIN." Why? Because dead men don't sin and they have no guilt either! The glory of the gospel is that after all these thousands of years of struggling with sin, we are free at last. "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, RSV). Sin is no longer an issue for us. Now, I know there will be someone who will quote the Apostle John's statement, "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (I John 1:10, RSV). Of course, we have all sinned. I just read it to you in Romans 3:23, but we don't live there anymore. Let's go back to the book of First John, where the Apostle says, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (I Jn.
2:2). That is wonderful news, but keep reading. In Chapter 3, verse 9, he asserts, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." I want you to chew on this verse for a long time, because it definitely is the meat of the word. It is also protein, iron, calcium, vitamins and all the antibiotic you'll ever need for the disease called SIN. The reason we do not sin when we are born again is because God's seed remains in us, the Apostle says. Who or what is the seed? Paul tells us that the seed is one person, namely Christ (Gal. 3:16). When Christ is in us, we do not sin because it is His life, not ours that we live.
There is a false spirituality present in many Christians who are fond of saying, "I'm just a sinner saved by grace." That sounds good to the religious mind, but it stinks in the nostrils of God, and it makes the Apostle John a liar when He says that "He who is born of God does not continue in sin."
Churches have made a good little business by telling you what you must do, think, and give in order to be pleasing to God, but it is VERY self serving.
The Holy Spirit flows through us in love and in power, and He is the only one who can lead us into all truth (I Jn. 2:27). If we do not allow Him to lead us, we are like those of whom Paul said, "holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people" (II Tim. 3:5, RSV).
It is amazing the focus that we have placed on sin when the emphisis should have been on the redeeming power of the life of Christ. It seems that people are asking God all of the wrong questions and this is why His answers do not reveal that much. If we ask Father the right questions where our focus is on Him and not on self the answers will be the revelation we have waited for.
