Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:4-10).
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:1-23).
How my heart breaks when I visit other blogs and newsgroups on the internet! Anything where someone writes about our Lord, and then opinion follows, is where it happens. In the past two months my heart has been broken so much by this that I had even thought that I was wrong and I wasn’t sure I was worthy to continue my walk with Jesus. Until one night my wife’s grandfather came by for a visit. We talked about The Lord. It was a good talk. Then the following week we started our nightly devotions in the book of Romans. That’s when it all came full circle and God’s Word hit me like a ton of cinderblocks. So what is it that had broken my heart you ask? It was the two twisted truths of the bible.”…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and the thought/statement “freedom in Christ Jesus”.
Let me elaborate. A few years ago I was on delivery with a guy who was working through a temp service. This fellow claimed to be Christian, yet his actions spoke otherwise. One thing I noticed was that he smoked a lot (I know you are saying “smoking is not a sin”, but I will open that can of worms and burst your bubble at a later date). Finally at the end of the week he said “Someone told me ‘You smoke? I thought you were a Christian?’ and I said ‘Hey! We all fall short of the glory of God.’” and then he lit his cigarette. Another fellow I worked with who was also a Christian used to get into discussions about Jesus. It then would become a debate when the word “sin” was introduced. My view is that sin does matter, it does separate us from God, and it needs to die and we need to repent and be righteous. His view was that sin does not matter and because Jesus died for our sins we are automatically saved no matter what we do and we can do whatever we want in life because we have “freedom in Christ Jesus”. Can you believe this fellow told me that drinking, smoking, drug abuse, cursing, and sexual immorality is NOT a sin? Wow! Then what is?
I illustrate these two stories as examples. Over the years they have repeated themselves, only with different names and faces. But always with the same scenario: We can live how we want and do whatever we want because Jesus gives us freedom. And if that involves sin, then that’s OK because we fall short of God’s glory. Oh my! Knowing how God’s truth has been perverted like this disturbs me. Is sin OK and salvation hollow? It’s a crying shame that all you have to do is read the beginning part of Romans to find out. Further proof that “Christians” who live in sin and feel justified by it don’t actually read God’s Word.
A lot of people take these statements and run with them and ignore that it is talking about falling short of God‘s glory when we were sinners. They use it as a justified excuse to sin. My friend, if sin is justified and excusable, then why did God allow His only begotten son to be beaten, bloodied, humiliated, and crucified? It would seem pointless and would leave the world thinking “Does God even know what He is doing?” If sin is OK, then why did it get Adam and Eve kicked out of Eden and caused a chasm between man and God? If you really think sin is OK, then give your bible away, because the entire book from Genesis to Revelations says otherwise.
The reason for Christ’s death and resurrection is redemption and salvation from being lost and sinful. He freed those of us who believe in Him (in relationship and walk with) from our sins. “Freedom in Christ Jesus” means that we are free from the bondage of sin, not free to go out and sin. Yet some Christians believe otherwise.
Now if you claim you are saved, yet you live in sin and feel like your actions are justified, then what exactly were you saved from? When someone is being carried away by flood waters, and a rescuer throws them a rope, but they refuse to take the rope, do they get saved? When someone is in a burning house and a firefighter comes in to rescue, and that person hides in a closet, did he get rescued by the firefighter? You cannot claim to be saved if you are still in peril. In order to be saved, you have to acknowledge the peril and cry out for help. When you recognize that sin has enslaved you and has destroyed you, then you cry out for Christ’s salvation. You cannot claim to be saved if you are still being swept downstream. So if you think that you are free, yet continue to sin, then you are sadly mistaken.
Another view we can take on the “freedom case” is simply the results of sin. It got Adam and Eve ejected from Eden. It caused the entire world to be flooded. It caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It caused a chasm between man and God that could only be corrected by the bloodshed of God’s only son. Do you hate something so much that you would sacrifice your own child to save people from it?
If you believe that “freedom in Christ Jesus” means that you can live life by your own path, without seeking God’s direction, without being righteous, without edifying yourself by His Word and works, without surrender and obedience to God through Jesus, and you believe that falling short of God’s glory is an allowance to sin, then think of it this way:
Man sinned since Adam and Eve. Since then man had a hard time living by God’s standard and following God. Maybe God seemed like a distant being. Maybe it was hard to believe in what you could not see. But nonetheless man continued to sin and fall from God. Man fell short of God’s glory. Then God revealed Himself to us in the form of a man. We could see God, feel God, and hear Him speak. The veil that separated us from God was torn. We now have a direct link to God. Jesus is our advocate in Heaven.
But, with your view, you are saying that God sent Jesus to die to automatically save us from our sins. That we could go on to live with reckless abandon because His death gave us freedom to keep doing as we please. This is implying that God said “I can’t get them to listen to me. So I’ll send my son to die for them so that they can keep sinning, but be automatically forgiven of their sins”. In other words God gave up and let man have his way. Man defeated God.
It’s kind of like giving man a “Get out of Hell Free” card. Or telling a repeat criminal that they are free to go because the legal system is tired of putting up with their crimes. Go on thief. Go on rapist. Go on dealer. Go on DUI champion. We’ll turn a blind eye and ignore it. If you believe that this is God’s truth, then I suggest you read or re-read the bible. As all bible believing Christians will agree, God hates sin and wants us to live an obedient and righteous life. Reading the four gospels we learn from Jesus how to live, and Paul’s letters to the churches is a further illustration on how we should live accordingly. I can assure you, being that I do read and study my bible in several translations, that I have never seen any writing that says that sinning is OK and justified with God. And if you know of any writing that says otherwise, please let me know in the comments section of this blog so that we can publicly discuss it before the other readers and get other points of view.
So, in closing, I urge you to continue reading and studying God’s Word. Make it first and foremost. Meditate and pray on what you read and seek God’s guidance. And never believe in the lie…”God loves the world and all of it’s worldliness so much that He gave His only begotten son so that we can automatically be forgiven of all we have done and will do. That whoever believes in Him may go on living in sin and lust, with total reckless abandon, in whatever way we want. Because He came to allow the world to carry on in Satan’s ways, but being justified in doing so. We all fall short of God’s glory because man cannot help himself. So keep on sinning because we cannot change and God doesn’t expect us to, because He gave up on trying to convince us to be righteous. So don’t worry, get drunk and be merry.” (John 3:16.7.89.34/5.1@78%, Revised Standard Americanized British Edition)… (an obvious altered view of John 3:16).
Love In Christ
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption (redeeming of sins) that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26).
(My emphasis added).
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