Must we Continue in Sin?
I can't even begin to tell you how much material I have run across that makes it clear "that no man can be set free from sin in this life". Now, if it is true that no one can be purged of ALL the corrupting influences of sin during their stay here in the body, then the question becomes: How much sin can Christ set us free from while we still live here on this earthly plane?
The Bible is abundantly clear on this subject:"IF we walk in the light as He is in the light, [THEN] we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from ALL sin " (1 Jn. 1:7).
Thus, the saint who is walking in the light as He is in the light is CLEANSED from all sin! However, today most professing "Christians" argue for just the opposite; that is, they misunderstand John (due to their theological views) when he says,
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn. 1:8).
John was addressing those who were walking in darkness yet claimed to be without sin. Also please notice just a couple verses further, see the "IF":
"My little children, these things I write to you, SO THAT YOU MAY NOT SIN. And IF anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 Jn. 2:1)
Sin is not the foregone conclusion in the Christian walk, as many standing in the pulpits today say. The saint who is walking in the light as He is in the light IS cleansed from ALL unrighteousness (sin), and then has an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous - on the condition that he confesses AND forsakes (doesn't continue in! Pro. 28:13) any rare occasion of sin that he may commit (1 Jn. 1:9). This clearly is not a license to practice habitual sin or to cling to pet addictions and simply "confessing" them when we do repeat them (as millions believe!). The grace of our God does not condone lewdness or lasciviousness; it is no license to sin! It is blasphemous to think so; that we can flippantly continue to disobey a Holy God and expect him to wink at our unrighteous deeds - which are in stark opposition to His very purpose and character and which have wreaked havoc in His universe, and are soon to bring judgment upon all those who participate in lawlessness, having not a love of the truth, but rather suppress it in unrighteousness. The Bible clearly says that ALL unrighteousness is sin (1 Jn. 5:17). So, what is the result of someone being cleansed from ALL unrighteousness? Wouldn't this mean they are cleansed (set free) from ALL sinfulness? Definitely! To attempt to get around this is to ARGUE in favor of sin and the comfortable continuance in it's destructive path! This is further explained by John in the same Epistle just a few chapters later:
"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 Jn. 3:7-8).If the today's version of the Gospel is in fact correct, then many professing "Christians" are really of the devil! Most all of today's so called "Christians" insist that John was teaching the believer's lifestyle is to "sin, confess, sin, confess..." (by misusing and abusing 1 Jn. 1:8-10). However, how can this be true when John later writes that: "HE WHO SINS IS OF THE DEVIL!" (1 Jn. 3:8)
What is sin anyway? John defines sin as transgression of law and therefore, those who transgress it are transgressors, sinners and OF THE DEVIL:"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." (1 Jn. 3:4)
So the question is: Must we continue in sin?
According to John the one who does is OF THE DEVIL. To say you have fellowship with God (light) and walk in darkness (sin) is to LIE and to NOT do the truth (1 Jn. 1:5-6). To say you have come to know God but still continually break His commandments in thought, word, and deed is to make yourself a LIAR and fit ONLY for HELLS FIRE! (1 Jn. 2:4; Rev. 21:8)."For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 Jn. 5:3).
Isn't this what Paul taught in Romans 3:31, that is, we are to "UPHOLD and ESTABLISH the law by faith"? If this is so, then how are we to understand that breaking these commandments continually is the normal operating procedure of the born again believer? Thus, the next question arises: How does one uphold and establish the law by faith (Rom. 3:31) if they were to violate it continually in thought, word and deed?
That's just it, it's impossible! You either uphold and establish law in your heart (proven by behavior) or you don't, but rather you violate it - NEVER can they be done at the same time! Likewise, it is just as much a contradiction to claim you have an INDWELLING Savior and INDWELLING sin at the same time! For what communion does LIGHT have with DARKNESS (2 Co. 6:14)? How much darkness remains in a room when the lights are turned on? NONE."The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt. 6:22-23)
Paul makes this same case in Romans 6:11-14:
"Likewise reckon (impute) ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you (see Gen. 4:7): for ye are not under the law, but under grace."
What is Paul's instructions to "servants of righteousness" (believers)? Observe:
- RECKON or IMPUTE yourselves to be DEAD TO SIN (v.11)
- Let NOT sin reign in your MORTAL BODY to OBEY it's lust (v.12)
- DO NOT yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. (v.13)
- YIELD yourselves unto God... and your members as instruments of righteousness (v.13)
And as a result of fulfilling these conditions:
"Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the [Mosaic] law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14).
So, must we continue in sin? Absolutely not! "You are a slave to whom you obey: sin unto death OR obedience unto righteousness" - NOT BOTH! (Rom. 6:16) The same grace that PURGES the conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Heb. 9:13-14) has the efficiency to CONTINUALLY cleanse us from all sin as we walk in the light. This is the "TRUE GRACE OF GOD" (1 Pet. 5:12). This is the grace that redeems us and sets us free from EVERY lawless deed and PURIFIES our hearts so we can serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Titus 2:14 & Heb. 12:28-30), and teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and to live (behave!) soberly, righteously and godly in the PRESENT AGE (NOW!) (Titus 2:11-12).
Let no man deceive you, Christ is coming back for a SPECIAL PEOPLE who have been washed in His blood that are void of offense, HOLY and without blemish (1 Pet. 2:9 & Eph. 5:27 & Rev. 1:5). His sheep hear His voice, He knows them and they FOLLOW HIM (Jn. 10:27). This is the universal call of the gospel according to Christ:
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Lk. 9:23).
"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." -Eze. 18:20
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