How Does the Christian Deal with Sin?
a study series by Arthur J Licursi
Part 10 of 14 – Nevertheless, We Will Sin
Christians will in fact commit acts of sinning, but the fact of sin is not the issue here.
The provision God has already made on our behalf is the essence of God’s entire revelation to us: Christ has become our righteousness! God has replaced our filthy rags for His royal robe. He has removed the shackles that bind us in slavery to Sin and replaced them with His princely ring of grace.
Between the two extremes—license and law—we have a wonderful position, we are “in Christ.”
We have been made free from the law’s demands. These demands have been met by Christ on our behalf. Because of our co-death with and in Jesus we have been set free from slavery to Sin, and thus we are now free to live by His resurrection life that we also share. “for when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] Sin [among men].” Romans 6:7 (AMP)
We are not obligated to the law’s demands any longer. The prison doors have been opened and we walk outside—free at last! Why go back!
But, at times, we will all commit to acts of sin. We do that by simply not trusting Christ in us as our life and our daily provision. If we don’t trust Him and live with anxieties and fears, that is sin. Paul says “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Do we live by a trusting faith in Christ in the midst of our trials 24 hrs a day, every day? Not if you’re like me! We are all human beings and, as we live by our self-souls we have a built-in proneness to the wrong doing, we tend toward independence so long as we have “not yet so learned Christ” (Eph 4:20). This may be our tendency so long as we live in these corruptible Sin-laden bodies, if we don’t come to trust Him in all things. And this is where the grace of God is needed and works in our life. The blood of Christ not only saved us once, but also His blood continues to work its marvelous work of forgiveness for us every day of our lives – even for our unconscious sins of ignorance.
What if we do sin? It’s not that we are to come to God begging for Christ’s blood to be applied to our sin at every occurrence. God has already pardoned us once for all time. Hebrews 9:12 (KJV) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. “Eternal” is a word that reaches back and forward to it covers all time. Our Sins—past, present, and future—have all been forgiven through the same one application of Christ’s blood. We are forever free from the penalty of our sins through His shed blood, and we are forever free from power of Sin by our co-death and co-burial “in Him.” (Rom 6:3-4).
So long as we live in the Sin-laden bodies of flesh we still live in the presence of Sin every day. Sin, as an alternate voice from within, works to prompt us to not trust God. Sin is like a renegade evil ship’s captain who has been overthrown and confined to the ships brig. The ships crew may still hear his voice barking out orders from the brig, but he no longer has power or authority over the crew. The good news is we don’t need to yield to Sin’s promptings and temptations.
I have met Christians who for many years have battled Sin, who are still caught in a vicious cycle of sinning, repentance, self-commitment to godly living by law-keeping… only to Sin again with no end in sight. What they fail to see is the once-for-all nature of God’s forgiveness by the effectual blood of Christ and they fail to identify with the Christ’s cross and burial as the cross where they also died and were buried “in Him.” Romans 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Apart from seeing these two points of our co-death and burial in Christ they cannot see that they also then participate in His resurrection life right now.
What does Paul say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against those that God has chosen? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom 8:31, 33, 35)
These are not questions that need an answer. The answer is assumed, and stands as a loud - “Nobody” and “Nothing!” can condemn us or separate us from His love and life.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
This is grace!
Regardless of what anyone can do to me—or anything I could ever do to myself—I cannot be separated from the hold God’s grace has on me. I am free from condemnation. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus… (Note: Romans 8:1 in the Authorized Version of the KJV incorrectly has inserted the 2nd half of the verse, while it is not in the earliest Greek manuscripts or the NIV, etc). This is significant because, our non-condemnation stands unconditionally.