Post by ambassador on Aug 22, 2009 0:51:40 GMT -5
Sin: The Costly Infringement Against God’s Word
What is sin? Surprisingly, in a nation with Bibles in every home, and churches on nearly every street corner, very few Americans even know the definition of “sin.” It is ironic that you can find many churches refraining from mentioning the word “sin” because it is “too negative.” Parents are untaught, so they are unable to instruct their kids about sin. Whether or not we are willing to admit it, all of us love to sin because sin is part of the human makeup; we can refrain from saying the word “sin,” but we CANNOT avoid sin no matter how hard we try. It will always be a part of our lives in this world.
But, how do we know we sin? After reading Romans chapter 7, the answer is clear. The Mosaic Law says “thou shalt not covet.” And guess what, your old sin nature says “COVET, COVET, COVET!!!” You worship false idols, you steal, you lie—everything the Law says NOT to do, you do it anyway! Paul was just as much a sinner as we are, and our righteous nature from Christ wars against our old sin nature from Adam (Galatians 5:16-24).
The Law was “weak and beggarly,” as Paul wrote in Galatians 4:9, because we could not measure up to it, and thus could not conform to God’s righteous standards. It was a “yoke of bondage,” an everyday burden to the Jews, because they failed miserably, and the Gentiles could not do any better. As James says in his little epistle: breaking one of the Commandments means you broke ALL TEN! The Law is perfect and pure because it came from God, so there is nothing wrong with the Mosaic Law. The problem lies in the fact that we cannot “keep the Law,” no matter how hard we try—the problem is with US!
The Mosaic Law is like a mirror: it shows us just how wicked and sinful we are, but it cannot help us become righteous (Romans 3:19-20). As Christians, the indwelling Holy Spirit convicts us when we sin—brings us to repentance, or a change in mind—then He enables us to do what is right (Romans 7:6). Sin is more than just “failing to bring God glory” like one ear-tickling preacher said in his book. Sin is doing something that is contrary to God’s Word to you. Absolutely, sin is a negative word, but it is a BIBLICAL word, and we cannot ignore it just for the sake of appeasing the masses.
Whenever a brother or sister in Christ is living a life of deliberate filthy sin, it is your Christian duty to confront that person in LOVE and HONOR (Galatians 6:1-2; 2 Thessalonians 2:14-15). The Bible cautions us not to look down upon the Christian who is living in complete sin, or have a “goody-goody,” self righteous attitude because we could easily fall into that trap ourselves! We are just as human as they are, and we all make mistakes (1 Corinthians 10:12-13), but we should be looking out for our brethren. None of the loss world will look out for them!
Everyone sins, even Christians! Whenever you sin, you do not have to grovel in the dirt and beg God to forgive you. God has ALREADY—past tense—“forgiven you for Christ’s sake” (Ephesians 5:23). Why ask for forgiveness if God has already forgiven you? In God’s eyes, believers are “blameless.” This is not because Christians are sinless, but rather that the blood of Christ has completely canceled out their sin and its eternal penalty. Christ’s righteousness has been applied (imputed) to our accounts as members of the Body of Christ. And, I emphatically remind you: GRACE AND FORGIVENESS ARE NEVER LICENSES TO SIN.
What is sin? Surprisingly, in a nation with Bibles in every home, and churches on nearly every street corner, very few Americans even know the definition of “sin.” It is ironic that you can find many churches refraining from mentioning the word “sin” because it is “too negative.” Parents are untaught, so they are unable to instruct their kids about sin. Whether or not we are willing to admit it, all of us love to sin because sin is part of the human makeup; we can refrain from saying the word “sin,” but we CANNOT avoid sin no matter how hard we try. It will always be a part of our lives in this world.
But, how do we know we sin? After reading Romans chapter 7, the answer is clear. The Mosaic Law says “thou shalt not covet.” And guess what, your old sin nature says “COVET, COVET, COVET!!!” You worship false idols, you steal, you lie—everything the Law says NOT to do, you do it anyway! Paul was just as much a sinner as we are, and our righteous nature from Christ wars against our old sin nature from Adam (Galatians 5:16-24).
The Law was “weak and beggarly,” as Paul wrote in Galatians 4:9, because we could not measure up to it, and thus could not conform to God’s righteous standards. It was a “yoke of bondage,” an everyday burden to the Jews, because they failed miserably, and the Gentiles could not do any better. As James says in his little epistle: breaking one of the Commandments means you broke ALL TEN! The Law is perfect and pure because it came from God, so there is nothing wrong with the Mosaic Law. The problem lies in the fact that we cannot “keep the Law,” no matter how hard we try—the problem is with US!
The Mosaic Law is like a mirror: it shows us just how wicked and sinful we are, but it cannot help us become righteous (Romans 3:19-20). As Christians, the indwelling Holy Spirit convicts us when we sin—brings us to repentance, or a change in mind—then He enables us to do what is right (Romans 7:6). Sin is more than just “failing to bring God glory” like one ear-tickling preacher said in his book. Sin is doing something that is contrary to God’s Word to you. Absolutely, sin is a negative word, but it is a BIBLICAL word, and we cannot ignore it just for the sake of appeasing the masses.
Whenever a brother or sister in Christ is living a life of deliberate filthy sin, it is your Christian duty to confront that person in LOVE and HONOR (Galatians 6:1-2; 2 Thessalonians 2:14-15). The Bible cautions us not to look down upon the Christian who is living in complete sin, or have a “goody-goody,” self righteous attitude because we could easily fall into that trap ourselves! We are just as human as they are, and we all make mistakes (1 Corinthians 10:12-13), but we should be looking out for our brethren. None of the loss world will look out for them!
Everyone sins, even Christians! Whenever you sin, you do not have to grovel in the dirt and beg God to forgive you. God has ALREADY—past tense—“forgiven you for Christ’s sake” (Ephesians 5:23). Why ask for forgiveness if God has already forgiven you? In God’s eyes, believers are “blameless.” This is not because Christians are sinless, but rather that the blood of Christ has completely canceled out their sin and its eternal penalty. Christ’s righteousness has been applied (imputed) to our accounts as members of the Body of Christ. And, I emphatically remind you: GRACE AND FORGIVENESS ARE NEVER LICENSES TO SIN.