
The Bible doesn’t paint a pretty picture about sin. I am glad it doesn’t. Many like to sin. Sinning feels good. Sinning is fun. Sinning brings momentary satisfaction.
But sin is a killer. Like a deadly disease, sin is in our blood and the only cure is the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7) and also empowers us to overcome sin (Romans 6:11-14). Sin cannot be conquered through rehab or through self-help programs. Sin can only be overcome through the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:16-17). If left unchecked, sin always leads to death (James 1:12-15). God can help us overcome sin (1 Corinthians 10:13) but we must be wiling to look to Him for help in overcoming sin. The minute that we begin to believe that we can overcome sin in our own power or that we are strong enough to overcome sin, sin will creep into our hearts and destroy our lives.
The only hope for conquering sin is the cross of Christ. We must die to self. We must die to this world (Luke 9:23-25). We must die to everything in the light of Jesus and His gospel (Luke 14:25-35). The cross testifies to the satisfaction of God’s wrath against sin (Romans 5:8-9) but also shows us the power of God to help us conquer sin (Galatians 2:20). The cross shows that we understand that we are sinners before God who deserve His just wrath against sin but we understand His grace in light of the cross (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Our passion, through the cross, is to be like Jesus in all that we say or do (1 Peter 1:15-16). This motivation for holiness doesn’t come through our own will-power to conquer sin but only through the grace of God given to us in Christ Jesus (Titus 2:11-14).
God calls His people to be holy and pure before Him and to be blameless in this wicked generation (Philippians 2:15) and He calls us to be people of integrity (1 Timothy 4:16; Titus 1:16). I pray that 1 John 2:15-17 would be our heart’s cry. Let us forsake sinning and seek God. Let us be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). The standard of God is not a little bit of sin and a little bit of holiness but He calls us to complete holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 12:14). I pray that we would be those type of disciples of Jesus (Matthew 5:48).
Thank you to the SEEKING DISCIPLE for this guest post. You can find his full post with comments at http://arminiantoday.com/2012/04/11/sin-always-destroys-always/
BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.