sin

Sin is lawlessness, a state of rebellion against God. Since the time that sin came into the world through Adam and Eve, man has been under the yoke of sin - a yoke that can only be removed by God's grace through Jesus Christ. The sinful state of mankind shows itself in the tendency to put oneself and one's own interests above God and his will. Sin leads to alienation from God and suffering and death. Because all people are sinners, they all also need the redemption that God offers through his Son. (1. John 3,4; Romans 5,12; 7,24-25; Mark 7,21-23; Galatians 5,19-21; Romans 6,23; 3,23-24)

Entrust the problem of sin to God

“OK, I get it: the blood of Christ blots out all sins. And I also realize that there is nothing to add to that. But I have one more question: if God has completely forgiven me for all my sins, past and future, for Christ's sake, what should stop me from continuing to sin to my heart's content? I mean, is the law meaningless to Christians? Does God now silently overlook when I sin? Doesn't he really want me to stop sinning?” That's four questions – and very important ones at that. Let's look at them one by one - maybe there will be more.

All our sins are forgiven

First of all, you said that it was clear to you that the blood of Christ is all sins. That's a significant approach. Many Christians are not aware of this. They believe that the forgiveness of sins is a business, a kind of trade between man and God, whereby one behaves in a Godly manner and the heavenly Father pleases one, in return, forgiveness and salvation.

For example, according to this model of thinking, you use your faith in Jesus Christ, and God rewards you for doing so by blotting your sins with the blood of His Son. Tit for tat. That would certainly be a good trade, but still a trade, a business, and certainly not a mere act of grace, as the Gospel proclaims. According to this model of thinking, most people fall victim to damnation because they are late in their work and allow God to give the blood of Jesus to only a few - so it does not serve the salvation of the whole world.

But many churches don't stop there. Potential believers are drawn to the promise of salvation by grace alone; once he has joined the church, however, the believer is then confronted with a series of guidelines according to which non-conforming behavior can very well be punished with expulsion - not only from the church but possibly even from the kingdom of God itself. So much for being saved by grace.

According to the Bible, there is indeed a reason to exclude someone from the fellowship of the church (but not from the kingdom of God, of course), but that is a different matter. For the moment we want to leave it to the statement that in religious circles one often does not like having sinners around, when the gospel expressly keeps the door open for them.

According to the gospel, Jesus Christ is the atonement not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world (1. John 2,2). And that, contrary to what many Christians are told by their preachers, means that he really took the blame for each and every one of them.

Jesus said, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to me" (John 12,32). Jesus is God the Son through whom everything exists (Hebrews 1,2-3) and whose blood really reconciles everything that he created (Colossians 1,20).

By grace alone

You also said that you are aware that the provision that God has made for you in Christ can not be changed by your turning to your advantage. Again, you have a lot in the way of others. The world is full of sin-struggling moral preachers who send their intimidated followers week after week to a course paved with potential mishaps, during which they have to cope with a series of special requirements and omissions, and their adherence or failure to let God's patience be torn threatens, with which the whole pathetic little group is constantly exposed to the danger of suffering as spiritual failures the fire torments of hell.

The gospel, on the other hand, proclaims that God loves people. He's not after her or against her. He doesn't wait for them to stumble and then crush them like vermin. On the contrary, he is on her side and loves her so much that through the Atonement of his Son he has freed all people, wherever they may live, from all sin (John 3,16).

In Christ the door to the kingdom of God is open. People can trust (believe) God's word, turn to it (repent) and accept the inheritance so generously given to them - or they can continue to deny God as their Father and disdain their role in God's family. The Almighty grants us freedom of choice. If we deny him, he will respect our choice. The choice we make is then not the one intended for us, but it leaves us the freedom to make our own decisions.

Answer

God has done everything imaginable for us. In Christ he said "yes" to us. Now it is up to us to answer his "yes" with "yes" on our part. But the Bible points out that, amazingly, there are actually people who answer "no" to his offer. It is the ungodly, the hateful, those who are against the Almighty and against themselves.

In the end, they claim to know a better way; they do not need their Heavenly Father. They respect neither God nor man. His offer to forgive us all our sins and to be blessed by him for all eternity is in their eyes not worth a fuss, but sheer mockery - without meaning and value. God, who also gave his son for them, simply acknowledges their dreadful decision to remain children of the devil, whom they prefer to God.

He is the Redeemer and not a destroyer. And all his doing is based on nothing but his will - and he can do what he wants. He is not bound by any foreign rules, but he freely remains faithful to his solemnly praised love and promise. He is who he is, and he is exactly who he wants to be; He is our God full of grace, truth and faithfulness. He forgives us our sins because he loves us. That's the way he wants it, and that's the way it is.

No law could save

There is no law that can bring us to eternal life (Galatians 3,21). We humans simply don't obey laws. We can debate all day about whether we could theoretically be law-abiding, but in the end we don't. So it was in the past and so it will be in the future. The only one who could do this was Jesus alone.

There is only one way to obtain salvation, and that is through God's gift, which we can receive without quid pro quo or conditions (Ephesians 2,8-10). Like any other gift, we can accept or reject it. Whatever we decide, it is ours by God's grace alone, but it will only bring us benefit and joy if we actually accept it. It's just a matter of trust. We believe God and we turn to him.

On the other hand, if we are indeed so stupid as to reject it, we will, sad as it is, live on in our self-chosen darkness of death, as if the golden goblet giving light and life had never been enough for us.

Hell - a choice

Whoever decides in this way and rejects God with such disregard for a gift that cannot be bought - a gift that is dearly paid for with the blood of his son through which everything exists - chooses nothing but hell. Be that as it may, God's offer of a life that has been bought so dearly applies to people who choose this path as well as to those who accept his gift. Jesus' blood atones for all sins, not just some (Colossians 1,20). His atonement is for all of creation, not just part of it.

For those who disdain such a gift, access to God's kingdom is denied only because they have decided against it. They do not want to have any part in it, and although God never stops loving them, he will not tolerate their whereabouts there, so that they can not spoil the eternal celebration of joy with their adored pride, hatred, and unbelief. So they go where they like best - straight to hell, where there's no one who enjoys joking their miserable self-centeredness.

Grace granted without return - what good news! Although we do not deserve it in any way, God decided to give us eternal life in his Son. Whether we believe it or mock it. Whatever we choose, that is true forever and ever: with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has shown us in detail how much he loves us and how far he goes to forgive us our sins and join us to reconcile him.

He generously gives away his grace to everyone in never-ending love everywhere. God makes us the gift of salvation out of sheer grace and without a return, and truly anyone who believes his word and accepts it on his terms can enjoy it.

What is stopping me?

So far so good. Let's return to your questions. If God forgave me for my sins even before I committed them, then what would stop me from sinning what it is?

First, let's clarify something. Sin arises first of all from the heart and is not a mere juxtaposition of individual misdeeds. Sins do not come from nothing; they have their origin in our stubborn hearts. So, to solve our sin problem requires a steadied heart, and to do that we have to tackle the root of the problem instead of merely curing its effects.

God has no interest in consistently well behaving robots. He wants to cultivate a love-based relationship with us. He loves us. That's why Christ came to save us. And relationships are based on forgiveness and grace - not forced compliance.

For example, if I want my wife to love me, then I force her to pretend? If I did, my behavior might lead to docility, but certainly I would not be able to persuade her to really love me. Love can not be forced. You can force people only to certain actions.

Through self-sacrifice, God showed us how much He loves us. He has shown his great love through forgiveness and grace. By suffering for our sins instead of us, he showed that nothing can separate us from his love (Romans 8,38).

God wants children, not slaves. He wants a covenant of love with us and no world full of docility forced to docility. He made us free creatures with real freedom of choice - and our choices mean a lot to him. He wants us to choose him.

Real freedom

God gives us the freedom to behave the way we think fit and he forgives us our missteps. He does this of his own free will. That's what he wanted it to be, and that's how it goes, without compromise. And even if we have a bit of understanding, we realize how his love is meant and cling to it as if it were the last day today.

So what should stop us from sin freely? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it has never been any different. The law never stopped anyone from sin when they wanted to (Galatians 3,21-22). And so we have always sinned, and God has always allowed it. He never stopped us. He doesn't approve of what we are doing. And he doesn't even look over it in silence. He doesn't approve of it. Yes, it hurts him. And yet he always allows it. That's called freedom.

In Christ

When the Bible says we have righteousness in Christ, it is meant exactly as it is (1. Corinthians 1,30; Philippians 3,9).

We have righteousness before God not from within ourselves, but only in Christ. We are dead of ourselves because of our sinfulness, but at the same time we are alive in Christ - our life is hidden in Christ (Colossians 3,3).

Without Christ our situation is hopeless; without him we are sold under sin and have no future. Christ saved us. That's the gospel - what good news! Through His salvation, as we accept His gift, we gain a completely new relationship with God.

Because of all that God in Christ has done for us - including his encouragement, even urging, to trust him - Christ is now in us. And for Christ's sake (for he stands up for us; he resurrects the dead), although we are dead because of sin, we have righteousness before God and are accepted by him. And all of this happens from beginning to end, not through us, but through God, who wins us over not by compulsion, but by virtue of his love, which goes to the point of self-sacrifice, as it manifests itself in the giving of himself.

Is the law meaningless?

Paul made it unmistakably clear what the meaning of the law was. It shows us that we are sinners (Romans 7,7). It shows that we were slavishly addicted to sin in order that we might be justified by faith when Christ came (Galatians 3,19-27).

Now suppose for a moment, you put yourself in the firmament of the Last Judgment
Convince yourself that you can stand before God because all your striving has always been to obey Heavenly Father. And so, instead of putting on the wedding dress kept ready at the entrance (the free, pure robe intended for the sin-stained people who know that they need it), dressed in your own everyday dress, which has been badly marked by constant effort, you step through a side entrance take your place at the table, with your foul smell with you every step of the way.

The master of the house will say to you, "Hey, where did you get the nerve to come in here and insult me ​​with your filthy clothes in front of all my guests?" and throw him out on edge!”

We simply can not purify our own dirty face with our own dirty water, our own dirty soap and our own dirty washcloth and cheerfully continue on our way in the mistaken belief that our hopelessly dirty face is now pure. There is only one way to defeat sin, and it is not in our hands.

Let us not forget that we are dead because of sin (Romans 8,10), and the dead cannot, by definition, come to life. Instead, our heightened sense of guilt should move us to trust that Jesus will wash us away from our sinfulness (1. Petrus 5,10-11).

God wishes us sinless

God has given us such abundant grace and redemption to free us from sin and not to give us the freedom to continue to sin at will. This not only frees us from sin guilt, but also enables us to see naked sin as it is, and not in beautiful trimmings that are designed to deceive us. And so we can also recognize and shake off its deceitful and presumptuous power that it exercises over us. Nonetheless, Jesus' atoning sacrifice remains for us - even though we continue to sin, which we will most certainly be - endure without compromise (1. John 2,1-2).

God by no means tacitly overlooks our sinfulness, but rather condemns it simply. So he does not approve of our sober, purely rational-minded approach any more than our comatose suspension of common sense or our utterly precipitous responses to temptations of any kind, from anger, to lust, to mockery and pride. Often enough, he even lets us carry the natural consequences of our self-chosen actions alone.

However, he does not close us, who put our faith and trust in him (which means we wear the pure wedding garb that he has in store for us) (as some preachers seem to believe) because of the poor choices we make , from his wedding party.

guilty plea

When you have come across a sin in your life, have you ever noticed that your conscience torments your conscience until you have confessed your wrongdoing to God? (And there are probably some that you have to go to confession quite often.)

Why do they do that? Is it because you have resolved to "sin to your heart's content from now on"? Or is it more likely because your heart is in Christ and, in accordance with the indwelling Holy Spirit, you are deeply grieved until you are right with your Lord?

The indwelling Holy Spirit, it is called in Romans 8,15-17, "bearing witness to our spirit that we are God's children". In doing so, you should not lose sight of two points: 1. You are, the Holy Spirit of God Himself testifies, in Christ and with all the saints a child of our Heavenly Father, and 2. The Holy Spirit, as your indwelling witness of the real you, will not rest to rouse you if you wish to continue living as if you are still "dead flesh" as before your redemption through Jesus Christ.

Do not make a mistake! Sin is both God's and your enemy, and we have to fight it to the death. However, we must never believe that our salvation depends on how successfully we fight against them. Our salvation depends on Christ's victory over sin, and our Lord has already borne it for us. Sin and overshadowing death have already been suppressed by Jesus' death and resurrection, and the power of that victory is reflected from the beginning of time to the very last eternity in all creation. The only ones in the world who have overcome sin are those who firmly trust that Christ is their resurrection and their life.

Good works

God rejoices in the good works of his children (Psalm 147,11; epiphany 8,4). He is delighted with the kindness and kindness we show one another, our love sacrifices, our zeal for justice, and sincerity and peace (Hebrews 6,10).

Like any other good work, these arise from the work of the Holy Spirit in us, who moves us to trust, love and honor God. They are inextricably linked to the love relationship he entered into with us through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord of life. Such deeds and works spring from the working of God in us who are his beloved children, and as such they are never in vain (1. Corinthians 15,58).

God's work in us

Our honest zeal for doing what God pleases reflects the love of our Redeemer, but our good works, performed in His Name, are not, let it be emphasized again, saving us. Behind the righteousness expressed in obedient words and deeds in our laws of God is God Himself, who works with joy and glory to bring forth good fruit.

So it would be foolish to want to attribute to ourselves what it does in us. It would be equally foolish to assume that the blood of Jesus, which erases all sins, would allow some of our sinfulness to persist. For if we thought so, we would still have no clue who this eternal, almighty triune God is - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who created everything and in his generosity redeemed us through the blood of his Son, the Holy One Spirit dwells in us and renews the whole of creation, yes that we share with the whole universe (Isaiah 65,17) re-created out of indescribably great love (2. Corinthians 5,17).

The true life

Although God commands us to do what is right and good, he still does not determine our salvation according to our needs and ours. Which is good for us, because if he did that we would all be rejected as inadequate.

God saves us by grace and we can enjoy salvation through him when we put our lives entirely in his hands and turn to him and trust him alone to raise us from the dead (Ephesians 2,4-10; James 4,10).

Our salvation is determined by the One who records the names of men in the book of life, and he has already written the names of all of us in that book with the blood of the Lamb (1. John 2,2). It is extremely tragic that some do not want to believe this; for if they trusted the Lord of life they would realize that the life they are struggling to save is not actual life at all, but death, and that their real life with Christ in God is hidden and just waiting to be revealed. Our Heavenly Father even loves his enemies, and he wants them, like their fellow men, to turn to him and enter into the bliss of his kingdom (1 Tim 2,4. 6).

summary

So let's summarize. They asked: “If, for Christ's sake, God has completely forgiven me for all my sins, past and future, what will stop me from continuing to sin to my heart's content? I mean, is the law meaningless to Christians? Does God now silently overlook when I sin? Doesn't he want me to stop sinning?”

Nothing will stop us from sinning at will. That has never been different. God has given us free will and attaches great importance to it. He loves us and wants to enter into a covenant of love with us; But such a relationship can only come about if it springs from a free decision based on trust and forgiveness and not brought about by threats or forced docility.

We are neither robots nor any virtual figures in a predetermined game. We have been created as real, free beings of God in his own creative freedom, and the personal relationship between us and him really exists.

The law is far from meaningless; it serves to make it clear to us that we are sinners and, as such, far from conforming to God's perfect will. The Almighty allows us to sin, but he certainly does not silently overlook it. That's why he did not even shy away from self-sacrifice to save us from sin. It is she who causes pain and destroys us and our fellow human beings. It springs from a heart hardened by unbelief and selfish rebellion against the original source of our life and existence. It takes the power to turn us to the real life, the real existence, and keeps us trapped in the darkness of death and nothingness.

Sin hurts

In case you haven't noticed, sin hurts like hell—literally—because by its very nature, it is true hell. So, by comparison, "sin to your heart's content" makes as much sense as sticking your hand in the lawnmower. "Well," I heard someone say, "if we're already forgiven, we might as well commit adultery."

Surely, if you do not mind living in constant fear of any consequences, being at risk of unwanted pregnancy or unpleasant STDs, and thus breaking the heart of your family, discrediting yourself, losing your friends to bleed for alimony, to be plagued by a guilty conscience, and likely to be dealing with a very angry husband, boyfriend, brother, or father.

Sin has consequences, negative consequences, and that is precisely why God works in you to bring your self into harmony with the image of Christ. They can listen to his voice and work with them or continue to put their power into the service of reprehensible actions.

Furthermore, we must not forget that the sins we commonly think of when we speak of “sinning at will” are just the tip of the iceberg. What about when we “just” act greedily, selfishly, or crudely? When we prove ungrateful, say mean things, or don't help when we should? What about our resentment towards others, envy of their job, clothes, car, or house, or dark thoughts we harbor? What about our employer's office supplies, from which we enrich ourselves, our involvement in gossip, or the belittling of our partner or children? And so we could go on at will.

Those are also sins, some big, some rather small, and guess what? We will continue to do as much as we want. So it's good that God saves us by grace rather than our works, isn't it? It is not okay for us to sin, but it does not prevent us from continuing to be guilty. God does not want us to sin, and yet he knows better than us that we are dead for sin and will persist in sin until our true life hidden in Christ - redeemed and sinless - is revealed at his return (Colossians 3,4).

As a sinner alive in Christ

Paradoxically, because of the grace and limitless power of our eternally living and eternally loving God that is so generously granted to us, believers are paradoxically dead because of sin and yet alive in Jesus Christ (Romans 5,12; 6,4-11). Despite our sins, we no longer walk the path of death because we believe in our resurrection in Christ and have accepted it for us (Romans 8,10-11; Ephesians 2,3-6). At the return of Christ, when even our mortal shell attains immortality, it will be fulfilled (1. Corinthians 15,52-53).

But unbelievers continue to walk the path of death, unable to enjoy their hidden life in Christ (Colossians 3,3) until they too come to believe; the blood of Christ will also eradicate their sin, but they will only be able to trust that he will deliver them from the dead if they can believe the good news that he is their savior and turn to him. So non-believers are just as redeemed as believers - Christ died for all people (1 John 2,2) - they just don't know it yet, and because they don't believe what they don't know, they continue to live in fear of death (Hebrews 2,14-15) and in the futile labor in all its false manifestations (Ephesians 2,3).

The Holy Spirit makes believers like the image of Christ (Romans 8,29). In Christ the power of sin is broken and we are no longer trapped in it. Even so, we are still weak and give way to sin (Romans 7,14-29; Hebrews 12,1).

Because he loves us, God is very worried about our sinfulness. He loves the world so much that he sent his eternal Son, that whoever believes in him should not remain in the darkness of death, which is the fruit of sin, but has eternal life in him. There is nothing that could separate you from your love, not even your sins. Trust him! He helps you to walk in obedience, forgiving you of all your sins. He is your Redeemer of his own free will, and in his doing he is perfect.

Michael Feazell

sin