What is it, about this message that suggest a person can not only be truly be set free of sin by Jesus, but they can remain free and actually go...and ‘sin no more’...that angers and offends us; especially ‘church folks’? Seriously...it just riles us up and makes us bristle inside. I can understand being incredulous and ‘cautiously skeptical’, but angry and offended? I don’t get it. (Well, honestly I do but more on that later) 

Yes, I am aware that John warned about claiming to ‘have no sin’, but that is not the same as saying you are a sinner and you should just count on sinning until you die. And you’ll notice that he adds this: “IF...IF...IF.... you sin, (not ‘when’) you have an advocate with the Father who forgives you, who will pick you up and get you walking again in the manner He created and called you to walk...which was just like Jesus. (1 John 1:8-2:1,6) 

I’m extremely grateful and comforted tin knowing I walk with a Savior whose ‘mercy endures forever.’ And IF...I sin...He is there ready to forgive me (after He chastens me -Heb. 12:5-11) and His love never changes or diminishes for me. You know what else I’m thankful for? My spare tire in the back of my car. Rarely do I need it though in spite of all the miles I drive. And every time I get in my car, I don’t go check the spare to make sure it has air nor am I always reminding myself it’s in there. I just know it is and IF....I need it, it will enable me to get ‘back on the road and headed where I need to go’ in the event I pick up a nail and have a flat tire somewhere.  ;- ) 

 So let's explore some reasons today as to why so many sincere Christians continue to sin despite what scripture teaches regarding how Christ came to ‘set us free’ from it. 

You do recall Jesus stating in the most ‘assured’ way, that 'whoever commits sin is a slave to sin’? (John 8:34) He adds there that a ‘slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.”   His use of the word 'whoever' is all-inclusive with zero exemptions.  I see no *'s next to that word.

Then, twice, He drives home this point: ‘You will know the truth and the truth will set you free’ and ‘IF the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”(32,36) 

 Paul, in his letter to the Romans, expounds upon this concept repeatedly, twice mentioning in the same paragraph that we ‘were once slaves to sin’ (past tense) and repeats ‘having been set free from sin’. (15-22) 

 You’ll note there that Jesus compares a ‘slave’ to a ‘son’ where only one will ‘abide in the house forever’ and it’s not the ‘slave’ who will do that. It’s the ‘son’.  Surely we don't believe 'sons' remain slaves, or we are 'sons who live like slaves', do we?

Now the NT is filled with passages that addresses true believers making mention of their ‘past’ as ‘sons of disobedience’ and ‘children of wrath’, (Eph.2:2-3, 5:6) and how they ‘don’t live that way anymore’. 

And it bears worth repeating that not everyone is a ‘child of God’. It makes for good poetry and songs and clichés from a secular point of view, but scripture is clear in distinguishing the difference between children of God and children of the devil. (John 8:44; 1 John 3:10) 

We were ALL...sons of disobedience prior to coming to Christ; but it should also be pointed out that in order for one to become a child of God, they “must be born again”. (John 3:7) 

 So looking back at that passage in 1 John, he does not seem to mince words here when he writes “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (3:9). His words, not mine.  Now look how he begins vs.9 –“He who sins is of the devil”.   So when we 'humbly' admit on a regular basis how we 'fail God daily and sin', we might want to think twice on that and 'plead the 5th'; (legal term) as I am reminded of Matt. 12:37.

 So who are the children of God according to Rom. 8:14? – Those who are led by His Spirit. 

And IF...we are being led by or ‘walking in His Spirit’, guess what we are not doing? - Fulfilling the lust of the flesh. (Gal. 5:16) Everything that is rooted in this flesh nature, is sin because it will not subject itself to the law of God (Rom. 8:7). That’s why the Spirit leads us to put it to death. (Rom. 8:13). 

Paul is the one who reminds us there as well, that if we continue to practice these sins of the flesh, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:21). I realize this messes up a lot of our man-made doctrines and theology that we can find security in, but I can only share with you what I see the word clearly declaring. And God is trying to wake us up from our sleep in order for us to get our hearts cleaned up. (Rom. 13:11-14; 2 Cor. 7:1; I John 3:3) There’s a wedding approaching and the ‘bride’ He is coming back for is going to be ‘pure and holy without spot or wrinkle and blameless.” (Eph. 5:27; Col. 1:21-23; 2 Cor. 11:2; 7:1; 1 John 3:3; Matt. 25:10) 

 So if we are truly ‘In Christ’ and following His leading, which is what His sheep do (John 10:17) then we are ‘abiding in Him’. And you should be familiar now with that verse in 1 John 3:6 says about those who abide in Christ – they don’t sin. 

 Do you see how problematic this becomes? IF we are continuing to sin, as everyone seems fine with admitting, in spite of being set free of it, then -“Houston, We Have a Problem.” (Heb. 10:26-27)

 I am not belaboring this point to discourage you if you are one who seems to never be able to overcome those pesky sins in your life. Nor am I trying to heap condemnation on you either. I am simply wanting to convey some truth straight out of your bible that just might be instrumental in setting you free...given that is what truth does. ;-) (John 8:32,35) 

 So why...do we continue to sin in spite of all we read here? Good question. God’s been asking that for some time! (Luke 6:46 – ‘Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I say?”) 

I will address three possible reasons that might help you answer that question for yourself. But I first have to ask you a question that Jesus asked a man who just was incapable of ‘walking the way he was created to walk’ and that question was: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6) In other words, do you really want to walk like Jesus walked since that was the plan from the start as He conforms you to His image. (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 2:6)

The first point would simply be we have not been enlightened, taught, or just misinformed...regarding what Christ did and what it means to abide in Him. I think we can agree that sin is what brings death and destruction and pain in our lives. (Rom. 6:23; Rom. 8:13; John 5:14). So if we have not been taught correctly nor heard the ‘whole counsel of God’, then we may be in that category of people that Hosea mentions how God lamented - “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”. (4:6) 

 In other words, you might have ‘joined a church’ and attend regularly and like the people and do all those ‘church things’ we are groomed to participate in, but if you are still sinning, then you are still a slave. (John 8:34) His words, not mine.  You are either a 'son' or a 'slave'.  You can't be both.

 I’ve written about this before, but you probably heard how June 19th was finally made a Federal Holiday known as ‘Juneteenth Day’. You should Google the background on that tragic footnote in history but basically, thousands of slaves here in Texas were not made aware of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln freeing ALL slaves in 1863. Federal troops came in to Galveston two years after the fact to free them. Imagine being told that you had been living as a slave all that time when your freedom had been declared two years earlier. 

They just did not know. As do many sincere church members not know what Christ did for them and offers them....IF...they will turn to Him with their whole heart and experience the freedom that comes with abiding in Him. 

The second reason so many continue to sin dovetails off the heels of the first one and just having a ‘lack of knowledge’ or maybe they heard 'another gospel' that Paul talks about in 2 Cor. 11:2-4. If you are continuously being told you will always sin, then why would we expect anything different? I would also suggest it has to do with our lack of understanding what ‘sin’ actually is given we no longer hear much teaching on the Law of God.  And sin...by scriptural definition, is breaking the laws of God, or ‘lawlessness’. (1 John 3:4).  If we are ignorant to God’s law and its relevancy to us, then we would not understand what sin is. Which means we would fail to understand God’s judgments that STILL come against sin today. (Rom. 1:18; John 5:14; Eph. 5:6). 

So if we fail to not recognize God’s judgements, then it only makes sense we have little if any- ‘fear God’. At least the ‘God of the bible’ as opposed to the other versions we hear preached more often today. (2 Cor. 11:2). And knowing that the ‘fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’ (Prov. 1:7) then we can clearly see why God’s people...God’s people...are ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’. (Hosea 4:6) 

 Tomorrow...we can look at that third reason as to why we continue to sin. It has to do with just maybe...we love that sin more than we love God...and we don’t mind a ‘little light’, but we are not going to come into ‘all the light’. Jesus said that was a ‘thing’ as well. (John 3:19-21) So what about You? Do You...want to be made well? Are you willing to ‘come to the light’ and at least examine these things I share to see if they are indeed true? (Acts 17:11) Tomorrow?