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The Daily Word of Righteousness
What Sin Is, #14
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. (Romans 8:12—NIV)
One of the great lies with which Satan has filled the churches is that while we are on the earth we are obligated to sin. The idea is that once we get to Heaven we no longer will be obligated to sin.
This is incorrect. Sin began in Heaven. It is not going to Heaven that delivers us from sin. There is no scriptural support for this religious tradition. Salvation from sin comes to us through our association with Jesus Christ. First He assigns His righteousness to us. Then He creates His righteous Nature in us.
Christ came to earth to destroy the works of the devil. He does not accomplish this in Heaven but on the earth.
Weak, abridged faith tells us that Christ cannot possibly deliver us from sin while we are alive on the earth. Strong, full, victorious faith tells us that the power and authority of Christ are sufficient to deliver each one of us from the chains of sin.
We have been given all we need to overcome the spirit of the world, the lusts of our flesh, and our personal ambition and pride. The only question is that of our belief or lack of it. There is no question about the sufficiency of Christ's power.
It appears that we have come to a new day in the Kingdom of God. Passages of the Scriptures not previously emphasized are suddenly becoming clear to us. These passages have always been in the Bible, we just couldn't seem to perceive them.
For example, notice the following:
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (I John 3:6—NIV)
This verse has been there all along. But it is clear that Christian preachers and teachers do not stress that the believer who continues to sin has neither seen nor known Jesus Christ. Rather we are teaching that salvation is by grace apart from our behavior.
Today it is as though the Book has been rediscovered. We can see more clearly what Paul was talking about in the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans, for example, where he taught us that the believer must choose to be the slave of righteousness or else he will die spiritually. The Book of Hebrews, with its several solemn warnings to those Christians who do not press forward to the fullness of the rest of God, is becoming alive and meaningful.
We have misunderstood the Apostle Paul's teaching of grace. We thought he was telling us that God no longer requires righteous behavior, when in fact Paul was proclaiming that we no longer receive righteousness by obeying the Law of Moses but by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was contrasting faith in Christ with the Law of Moses, not faith in Christ with righteous behavior. Paul would never contrast faith in Christ with righteous behavior because righteous behavior is the strongest evidence that we have genuine saving faith in Christ.
It is up to each one of us to gird up the loins of his mind and grasp the promises now being emphasized by the Spirit of God. The choice is ours to move ahead with God or to fall short of His Glory. (from What Sin Is)