Folks will want to bring out commentaries and suggest it’s nonsense. Others will want to cite personal experiences and failures to suggest why God’ word could not possibly mean what it says. In fact, the more opposition I see to such an idea tells me that maybe there is more to studying and sharing this than what I first thought. We do read where we have a spiritual enemy who comes to refute the word (Gen. 3) or to ‘snatch the word from our hearts lest we believe and are saved’. (Luke 8:12). He’ll even offer up ‘other gospels and Jesuses’ to consider and make us feel better about ourselves. (2 Cor:11:2-4)
Jesus, who IS the Word (John 1:1) got nailed to a tree for declaring this truth to ‘whosoever’. And the ones who spearheaded this opposition? - The ‘church’ of that day...religious folks. I know...I know...go figure.
Jesus told them: “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” (John 8:34-35) He goes on to add that if the ‘Son sets you free, then you are free indeed!’.
A ‘son’ would be a child of God. Is there any way of being able to tell or recognize who a true child of God is? Well, Romans 8:14 tells us that ‘for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God’, so there is that one. Jesus Himself indicated that all men would know...by the love they demonstrated towards others. And not just the ‘good ‘ole boy’ kind of love we formulate in our own minds. We will love others as He first loved us. (John 13:34-35)
Rom. 8:13 says that His spirit leads us to put to death all the deeds of the sinful nature which is hostile to God and everything He represents. Then, Galatians 5:24 reads that those who ‘belong to Christ have put to death all the deeds and desires and passions of the flesh nature’. Have I mentioned before that passage in 1 John 3:6,9 that says whoever is abiding in Him no longer sins...and cannot sin because they’ve been born of God? Which leads us to Paul’s incredulous question of “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?...we were set free from sin, having become slaves of God/righteousness and holiness’. (Rom. 6:2, 19,22)
So as we have been studying the past week...it’s a legitimate question to ask...IF...we have been set free from sin...why do we continue to sin? Why has it become just the ‘norm’ to advocate that ‘everyone sins...because we are not perfect’? Where in the bible do you read that a true follower of Christ who abides in Him will continue to sin? And why would it anger you to even suggest such a thing contrary to this? Did Jesus sin? Are we not told that those who abide in Him will walk ‘JUST LIKE HE WALKED’? (1 John 2:6)
Sin brings wrath. (Rom. 4:15; Eph. 5:6; Col.3:6; Matt. 13:41-42; 2 Thess. 1:7-9)
Wrath is not a good thing. (Ps. 78:49-50).
Jesus came to ‘save us from God’s wrath’. (Rom. 5:9).
The way He does this is He commands us to surrender our lives, to repent and turn to Him with ALL our hearts and then follow Him. He then in the process leads us to die to sin by putting to death ALL the deeds of the flesh nature (which is sin and causes us to sin and provides ground for the enemy -powers of darkness- to operate in our lives). (Eph. 2:1-3). And if we are truly walking in the Spirit, we are not fulfilling the lust of the flesh nature (which is sin)(Gal. 5:16) and as we follow the leading of the spirit and not the flesh, we no longer experience condemnation as all the righteous requirements of the law are fully met in us (those who follow Him). (Rom. 8:1-4)
That’s how He saves us from the wrath of God...He delivers us or sets us free from sin so we ‘sin no more’ and this only happens when we ‘abide in Him’. (John 15:1-8). Do not attempt to try this at home on your own...you will fail miserably. You will need to make Him ‘Lord’...which means you do what He says. (Luke 6:46). Folks...this is not ‘rocket science’. Nor is it some ‘off the range strange doctrine’. It is right there in your bibles that we love to hold up and declare to be the ‘Holy Word of God!’. Why are we so set on resisting and fighting this?
Granted...it is in our spiritual ‘DNA’ to resist Him. (Rom. 5:12)
Do you recall that moment when Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem...knowing the destruction that was coming...and He cried out...”Oh....how I have longed to gather your children under my wings like a mother hen gathers her chicks...but you were not willing...you ...who stone the prophets’”. (Matt. 23:37)
I’d like to take you back to the Book of Numbers, 13-14. There are some beneficial truths to glean from here. Just to set the context of this...God was directing Moses to send in some men to ‘spy out the land’ of Canaan where He was going to lead them to dwell and settle. It was a very good land that God wanted to bless them in. These folks had been in bondage for hundreds of years, miserable, and had lost sight of who God was and all that He wanted to do in their lives and the lives of their children and their children, etc. Sound familiar?
Now there was the matter of there being some ‘wicked nations’ or groups of people inhabiting the land and God was wanting to remove them off the land...not because His people were righteous, but because these nations were ‘wicked’. Not really sure what all the extent of this wickedness entailed...I’m just telling you what our bible says. (Deut. 9:4-6)
So in go the twelve spies and after 40 days, they returned to give a report of their findings. They even brought back some samples of the fruit of the land which they did indeed confirm was a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’.(Num. 13:27)
They also confirmed the report about there being some bad folks there as well. (13:28). They were indeed an intimidating group, just like God had told them in advance...a people that were stronger than them. But He also had told them that while He was aware of their presence, not to be concerned as He would remove them from the land...just trust and obey Him. Some of the spies rattled on just a bit too much about how bad and ugly they looked...to which Caleb attempted to quiet them down. Funny how fear, dread, and negativity can quickly dominate a conversation and outlook. (30).
Then came the infamous ‘but’. There’s always a ‘but’. Read 13:31-33. The majority of them quickly developed a ‘grasshopper complex’ when they took their eyes off of God and His promises and focused on the obstacle. (Someone holler: “That’ll Preach!”)
The drama continues in chapter 14. A major pity party breaks out through the night and now people are in their tents crying and weeping and complaining wishing they were dead. (1-2). In fact they even started a search committee to find someone to lead them back to Egypt. It was not a pretty scene. Finally, Joshua and Caleb stand up to address the group reminding them of what God had already promised them... that they could indeed conquer and possess this land just as God told them they would.
Please note...all they did was remind the people what God said! Read that again, please. They just told them what God said.
Then look at vs. 10- “And all the congregation said to stone them with stones”. (As in...stone Joshua and Caleb for having the audacity to tell them what God said.)
I’ll let you read the rest of the chapter on your own...and you really need to do this. It did not go well for the majority of that group of people...and that first generation. God basically said ‘Fine...have it your way’...and washed His hands of them and did not let them enter the promised land. When God lets us ‘have it our way’, it usually does not end well. (Psalm. 106:13-15, 24-27)
So fast forward to some 2000 years ago...God sent Jesus, instead of Moses & Joshua, to lead us out of captivity and bondage (of sin) and in to a land of peace and rest. (Heb. 3-4). When He directs us to ‘sin no more’ (because He sets us free from sin) -what He really means is...”go, and sin no more.” And Acts 3:22-23 says if we don’t hear Him in all things (as in do what He says) we will all be ‘utterly destroyed from among the people’. I don’t know what you think, but that sounds a tad serious to me.
To finish up this morning...I’d encourage you to go revisit 1 Cor. 10:1-11 again and make note of all the warnings as to how what happened to them back then is an example and warning to us today. It really is serious and alarming. I heard someone say not long ago...”If we truly began to see how serious what all this bible teaches us, we would begin to understand the fear of God”. Some of you might be thinking to yourself...”I’m fine...I don’t need to be overly concerned with any of this...I accepted Christ as savior when I was 14 and got baptized...all is well with my soul.” Yeah...I bet that is what the guy in Matt. 7:21-23 thought too. Having it ‘his way’ did not end well for him either.
Please know...I share all this in humility and gentleness...echoing Peter’s reminder that it is not the will of God for ‘any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” ( 2 Pet. 3:9) (2 Tim.2:23-26)
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