“Nobody can live a sinless life; only Jesus did!”

“God knows we’re not perfect and He’s always ready and willing to forgive us of our sins!”

“The Bible says that we are deceived if we claim to have no sin!” (1 John 1:7)

Those may have been a few of the first thoughts to come to mind after reading yesterday’s message. Trust me…it’s not like I’ve not been down this path myself and had those same ‘lines of defense’ rise up within me to refute some of the very things we read from God’s word yesterday. Which is why we have to be very careful when other ‘arguments’ well up within us in opposition to what God’s word says. Where do you think those thoughts are coming from? Yes, there was a Bible verse thrown in there in that third statement, but let’s not forget that even Satan quoted scripture to Jesus in the wilderness when trying to tempt Him to back off from the word (Luke 4:10-11).

So let’s take a look at that first statement, about how ‘nobody but Jesus can live a sinless life’. Let’s be clear…Jesus was the ONLY one to have done that, from the day He was born in the flesh. We are told that ‘He who knew no sin… became sin (for us)…” (2 Cor 5:21). In Hebrews 4, we are reminded that Jesus was ‘tempted in every point that we are, yet did not sin’ (15). Had He not been sinless, then He would have no longer been the perfect sacrifice as the ‘spotless Lamb’ of God. And we’d all be in a heap of trouble then.

And regarding the rest of us…God’s message was clear: “All have sinned and fallen short of His glory, there is none that is righteous.” (Rom. 3:23,10). But…but…but…what was God’s plan for all who ‘called upon His name’? We…were to be ‘conformed to the image of His Son…’ (Rom. 8:29). As we ‘enter into Christ’…having been set free from sin…we become a new creation In Christ as old things are passed away and all things have become new. (Rom. 6:18,22; 2 Cor. 5:17). And...'who' exactly...are we supposed to be walking like IF...we are truly 'abiding' in Him? (1 John 2:6)

Now…Jesus did not simply suggest…that we ‘abide in Him’; it was a command (John 15:4). And ‘if we love Him, we’ll do what He says ’ (John 14:15). I mean, we have two separate examples where Jesus extended healing and mercy to two individuals, before telling them both to ‘go and sin no more’ (John 5:14; 8:11). How unreasonable was that of Him to suggest they do something that ‘everyone knows (or at least says) is ‘impossible’ to do? And if that was not enough to make your brain implode…remember what He taught the multitudes in Matt. 5:48? “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Dare I mention once again…that all I am doing here is telling you what Jesus said? His words, not mine.

Let’s change gears here now and take a look at some words of caution that we find in both 1 Cor. 10 and Hebrews 3, where the writers point back to that first generation of folks who came out of Egypt at the hand of Moses. This was a foreshadowing of what Jesus was going to eventually do for us by delivering us from the power of sin and this world and lead us to live a life of overcoming ‘all the power of the enemy’ (Luke 4:18).

But that first group who came out, even crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground…made some huge mistakes on their way to the promised land of Canaan. And Paul cites some sobering instances in how they failed, and how God dealt severely with them, in 1 Cor. 10:1-11. Do you know what the message was there to ‘us’ who claim to follow Jesus? He was telling us: “Don’t be like them!”; because what they experienced in being destroyed in the wilderness…was ‘written down for OUR example and warning …upon whom the end of the age has come’ (6,11).

Hebrews 3 echoes similar words of warning, pointing out how those folks ‘always went astray in their hearts’ (10)…and ‘because of unbelief…evident by their lack of obedience’…they were not able to ‘enter in’ (18). Why take the time to repeat this to us?

Friends…do you recall WHY… all those ‘many people’ that Jesus refers in Matt. 7:21-23 who will stand before Him one day…convinced they were about to ‘enter in’…but were denied entrance? Look at the reason they are turned away, in vs. 23: “Because they continued to practice lawlessness’ (sin). That is what ‘sin’ is…it’s ‘lawlessness’, or breaking the commandments of God (1 John 3:4).

Let me tell you why this is so challenging, if not downright disturbing…to wrap our brains around - it’s like trying to force a square peg into a round hole, the round hole being our ‘man-made doctrines’…and the square peg represents the word of God. It simply does not ‘compute’, or fit with our current way of thinking…and believing.

We are told in both passages, 1 Cor. 10 and Hebrews 3…that God was ‘not pleased’ and was ‘angry’ that generation. Paul tells us in Romans 8:7-8 that if we remain carnally minded, or ‘in the flesh’, that we remain hostile towards God and cannot subject ourselves to His law, therefore being impossible to please Him. Could the message be made any louder or more clear: “Don’t be like those who fell in the wilderness and were destroyed!”

Would you like to know what the ‘proverbial straw’ was that ‘broke the camel’s back’ , which prompted God to wash His hands of them and vow they would not enter in to the land of peace and rest He had waiting for them? Yes…they stumbled along in those early days, weeks, and months…grumbling and complaining…and even built a golden image of a beast to worship; and still…God extended mercy and grace to them, time and time again. But the reason I am taking the time to belabor this key point that we need to heed…is that much of the church world today is guilty of committing the same grave error that those Israelites did in the wilderness, which ‘crossed the line’; and it is well worth revisiting again to be reminded.

It has been well said that the ‘only thing we learn from history…is that we don’t learn from history’. Most people today believe the same ‘lie’ they did back in the wilderness, and it led to their downfall. Yes, there are times when God will allow us to ‘believe a lie’ if that is what we want most. (2 Thess. 2:9-11; John 3:19-21)

You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s message.