Jesus answered 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. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:34-35)

May I ask: What do you think Jesus came to ‘set us free’ from? (Rom. 6:20,22)

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (breaking the commandments of God) – 1 John 3:4

“He who sins is of the devil...and for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)

Friends - Sin is breaking God’s law; Period.

I know, ‘missing the mark’ is a much softer definition for the word ‘sin’ and makes for a charming word study on how archers never hit a perfect bullseye every single time they sling an arrow, and therefore God knows you will do the same, as in ‘sin often’. There’s just one problem with that play on words- it’s deceptive.

That passage I refer to regularly in Matt. 7:21-23... we read how Jesus makes it clear that "not everyone who ‘says Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of God...”. He goes on to say that ‘many will come before Him in ‘that day’, reminding Him of all these wonderful things they did in His name, only to be told to ‘depart from Him’.

Do you see the reason as to why He tells them that, along with saying He ‘never knew them’? They continued to ‘practice lawlessness’, which is ‘sin’. Care to guess who are the ones He ‘knows’? Look at John 10:27 – “My sheep hear my voice...and I know them and they follow Me.” Guess what? IF...you are following Him, you no longer sin. (Gal. 5:16; 1 John 3:6)

So let’s just take a deep breath here, and can we agree that all we are doing now is examining God’s word and reading plainly...what is written down on those pages? Trust me, I realize the conflict many of you continue to experience within and how something inside of you is resisting this...for all the reasons. You’ve probably been taught just the opposite of this...that “everybody sins, including ‘Christians’’. Some of you have probably been warned to steer clear of anyone out there teaching the ‘dangerous doctrine of sinless perfection’; or better yet...they always want to point to Paul, who laid claim of being the ‘chief of sinners’ and continued to sin based on his statements in Romans 7:15-24. So we'll talk about Paul and his allegedly...continuing to be a ‘chief sinner’...here in a bit.

But first...I don’t know who needs to hear this but ‘having bad thoughts’...is not ‘sin’. Nor is it a ‘sin’ ...to be ‘tempted’ to sin. We all will continue to be tempted to sin to break God’s laws because that is how the devil gains access back into our lives to ‘steal, kill, and destroy’ (John 10:10; Matt. 12:43-45). That’s why Paul exhorts us to ‘give him no place’ (Eph. 4:27) and why both Peter and James implore that we ‘resists him’ (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9). Even Jesus Himself warned to ‘go and sin no more or something worse may come upon us’ (John 5:14).

However, if you have been taught your whole life that you will ‘always be a sinner...saved by grace’, it’s easy to understand how difficult it is to untangle those lies and process what God’s word actually says...as opposed to what you have always ‘thought’ it said. Does that make sense? Having to ‘unlearn’ falsehoods can be challenging at best; but if you truly desire to ‘know the truth’...Jesus promises that you can know the truth...and the ‘truth will set you free’ (John 8:32,36). And this is a good thing!

Yes, when you first start to ‘walk in this narrow path’ as a ‘babe in Christ’...there will be stumbles, along with loving ‘chastisement’ from the Father if/when you do sin. That’s to be expected as you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you out of darkness and carnality (1 Cor. 3:1-3; 1 John 2:1).

But ‘nobody is perfect except Jesus’ we’ve been told. I’m not contesting that fact at all...but guess whose nature and likeness we are being conformed to? Yep...Jesus (Rom. 8:29) and anyone who is abiding in Him...’ought himself to be walking just as He walked’ (1 John 2:6).

Did Jesus not teach we are to be ‘perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect’? (Matt. 5:48). Are we not exhorted in Heb. 6:1 to ‘move on to perfection’...having become partakers of the Holy Spirit and tasted of the good word of God ‘(5)? Did James not explain how these tests and trials we encounter are designed to make us ‘perfect and complete’ (1:2-4)? And what about Paul’s reminder to the Ephesians that the purpose of the five-fold ministry is for the ‘perfecting/equipping of the saints’ (Eph. 4:12)?

I know, that word ‘perfection’ can throw us; but let me also remind you what it is that we are being ‘perfected’ in - It is the love of God that is being ‘perfected’ in us (1 John 4:12, 17). And let me make this ‘perfectly clear’ – you cannot be perfected in God’s love if you continue to hold on to greed, or bitterness or hatred, or any of the other ‘evident works of the flesh nature’, as Paul points out in Gal. 5:19-21. Yeah...that’s where the ‘chief sinner’ reminds us that those who continue to live this way will NOT...inherit the kingdom of God’.  Nor...can you be 'perfected' in His love if you are not abiding in Him (John 15:4-5)

You say you’ve been a ‘Christian’ nearly your whole life, have studied and memorized plenty of scripture, sing on the worship team...go on mission trips...serve on your church leadership board...yada yada yada...but you still have this one problem with ___________. Why is that? What seems to be so hard to ‘let it go’ or ‘die to it’...or overcome it? Do you remember what Jesus told that rich, young ruler...”You only lack one thing...if you want to be perfect....lay this down and follow Me...(Matt. 19:20-21). The young man was not willing and turned and walked away (22). And what did Jesus say about this ‘path that leads to life’, in Matt. 7:13-14?

...to be continued....