By WAYNE STEWART
August 19, 2011
Mention the word sin and people will bristle.
In many churches sin is never mentioned, out in the world the word is equated with religious zealots. The oft-quoted mantra of, “You can’t judge me!” is trotted out and believers cower in fear. No one, believer or not, enjoys the light of truth shined upon them.
So, the subject of sin gets pushed under the rug. Believers say, “I’ve been redeemed. I am free.” That’s true, as the apostle Paul confirmed, but he also warned against such libertinism.
Sin is a subject that shouldn’t be glossed over. Sin causes separation. Sin keeps the lost away from God and sin also interferes with a believer’s relationship with Jesus Christ. Sin is the proverbial elephant that’s been in the room since the Garden of Eden.
Out of sin come two incontrovertible facts: All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; and there is not a sin Christ’s blood cannot cover.
Following will be a few passages of scripture that will deal with sin:
“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you so angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” — Genesis 4:6-7
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
“At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
“No one sir,’ she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go and sin no more.’” — John 8:3-11
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” — 1 John 1:7-9
There is a requirement to be saved. The would-be believer must place their faith in Jesus Christ, believing on his death on the cross and his resurrection; it also requires repentance.
To place our faith, means we put our very lives into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus. Repentance means to change our minds. When we repent we actually change our minds toward sin. What at one time held allure and intrigue is to become abhorrent to a believer. While the believer is freed from the Law, a new creation is begun with the Holy Spirit within us as we begin our transformation into what Christ will have us to be, which will be realized at the resurrection of believers. So while we have been redeemed there is a war raging inside of us with our sinful nature, as Paul tells us in Romans. Through a love of Christ, we strive to live a life free from sin. There are times, many times in my case, when I falter, but a believer in Christ should always be in a state of repentance and as John noted in his first epistle, if the believer repents, then Christ will forgive us.
Remember what repent means, it means to change ones mind toward something. Notice what Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, go and sin no more. In other words, Jesus told her to repent, change your mind toward sin.
As a believer we should desire not to sin, not consider our redemption as a license to live a life of debauchery. What kind of witness is that to a lost and dying world?
Many people like to bring up the sin of homosexuality. Some will say Jesus sacrifice on the cross paid for that sin and they continue in that destructive lifestyle. It is true Christ’s blood paid for that sin, but let’s look at this example.
Imagine you are a bank robber. After you become saved you realize your sins and turn away from your desire to rob banks. Yes, if you robbed another bank Christ’s blood would redeem that sin, but you are aware that is a part of the life put to death when you accepted what Jesus did for you and you flee from it.
The same is true of homosexuality, or adultery or the sin of sex outside of marriage. Yes, Christ’s blood paid for those sins, but Christ asks us to “Go and sin no more.” Jesus asks us to change our mind toward those sins and to flee from them.
That should be our desire, to live a perfect life devoted to Christ. It is not required, but living that kind of life shows our fruit and it shows to whom we belong.
Even for the believer, sin is crouching at our door, just as God told Cain, but through the blood of Jesus Christ, who became sin for us, we are given the keys to conquer it and he has cloaked us with his righteousness.
Now we must take the charge of Jesus to go and sin no more.
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