Why?

Why do we do this continually? Why do we tell new coverts (and one another for that matter) that even though they have been ‘born again’, they will 'continue to be sinners...saved by grace’ who will always practice sin on ‘this side of heaven’?  Doesn't sound much like a 'new creation' to me. (2 Cor. 5:17)

Do we do that because we...continue to fall and stumble ourselves, and practice sin? If so, when did our own ‘personal failings’ become God’s standard? (Matt. 5:48; Rom. 10:2-3)

And suppose you are ‘helping’ a new ‘born again believer’ to grow in their faith, a friend of yours perhaps, and they come to you and ask for you to explain what John wrote in his first letter: “We know whoever is born of God no longer sins...” (5:18); ... how do you white-wash and explain that one away? Maybe they launched off on a study of their own in John’s gospel, 15:1-8...about the need to ‘abide in Jesus’ and then they stumbled across 1 John 3:6 that says “whoever abides in Him does not sin”; what dusty old commentary do you turn to that will help explain why that is not true...in your eyes?

We began a few days ago looking at what ‘sin...is, and isn’t’. The past two days, we examined what we are often taught is sin, but in reality is NOT sin; and hopefully that brought a little balance to what you may have previously learned. Today, we will begin looking more in detail as to what ‘sin’ really is...and how...we can ‘cease from sinning’ as Peter suggest we should be doing if we have the ‘mind of Christ’. (1 Pet. 4:1-2; 1:14-17)

We must once again, start with a very clear and defined message of what ‘sin’ actually is; and for the love of God, can we set that definition on the shelf for the time being about ‘sin’ means ‘missing the mark’?

John writes and explains about as clear as it gets: Sin is breaking God’s law. (1 John 3:4). Yep...God set a ‘law’ in place many centuries ago (Gal. 3:17,19) and Jesus made it clear that He was not here to abolish it or do away with it, but rather to fulfill it. And those who are ‘in Christ’ will ‘walk as He walked’...and ‘go and sin no more’. (1 John 2:6; Rom. 8:4; John 5:14)

Friends...if you have been reading here for any length of time, this is not the first time you have heard me address this. The reason there is so much suffering and ‘destruction’ taking place in the lives of many ‘sincere believers’ today, (along with in the world) is because we have not been fully taught what God’s ‘law’ is all about and why it still matters today. (Hosea 4:6; Rom. 2:13; Ps. 119:66-71; 107:10-11). So let’s review...again:

God’s law can be summed up in these two commandments: We are to love God with ‘all’ our hearts and to love one another...’as Christ loved us’. (Matt. 22:37-40; John 13:34-35). That is God’s law that we are to fulfill and the only way this can happen is when one truly surrenders their life to His Lordship so that He can lead us to remove everything that is in us that would prevent us from fulfilling His law; which basically can be summed up as ‘our carnal flesh nature’. Period. (Luke 6:46; Gal. 5:24; Rom. 8:13-14)

IF...you think you can continue to live in or with your flesh nature...and still enter God’s kingdom, you are gravely mistaken and have seriously been led astray. (Gal. 5:19-21; Eph.5:5; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Matt. 7:21-23; Heb. 5:9; Rom. 8:13). Meet me here tomorrow?