Sin No More

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
(Romans 6:12-14)

While we cannot claim to be without sin as our Lord Jesus Christ was, being mature in Christ means that are living such that we go and sin no more. There was a time when, living apart from Christ we were slaves to sin. We were ignorant of sin and denied its existence because we were actually living in darkness. But when we encountered Christ who is both Lord and Savior, we began to recognize that we were sinners. Thanks be to God, we were delivered from our slavery to sin for in Christ we received forgiveness of sins. From that point our life began changing. Everything about who we are and what we believe is transformed by our being in Christ. As we surrender area after area of our life to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit we sin loses its grip on us. Eventually we realize that the greatest expression of our love is to be the Lord's bond-servant. Instead of serving sin as we had once done, now we serve the Lord in righteousness. We listen to what God says and we do it. If we were to ignore God's word when we hear it, we would be sinning. But we listen and do because we believe God. Thus, our belief in God is righteousness before Him. It is not a work we do, but our loving response to the one who first loved us and gave himself for us. We look like Jesus, not because we have lived free from sin from birth, but because in hearing the gospel and believing it, Christ entered our life and dwells in us so that we can live as he lived, in complete obedience to the Father's will.

Growth towards Christian maturity

Ignorant of Sin

Sin? That word has no meaning to us. Or maybe we just don't like that word. It is an archaic term to us at best that is only used to control people. We are not concern about sin because we deny that there is such a thing or that we ourselves have sinned. Darkness reigns over our heart and minds for we are totally unaware that we are slaves to sin. We think we are simply doing what we want to do and that whatever do is fine. We may even excuse our behavior by claiming that no one is getting hurt without realizing that we are heaping up condemnation for ourselves in the day of judgment. This is because we don't believe in such a thing of sin for we are not aware of the depth of our own self-centeredness. Whatever we do, we do it for our pleasure and for our own purposes. It is our will that is being done in our life, not the will of God. We are ignorant of sin so much so that we even deny being ignorant of it.

Sin Coming to Light

As we live our life the way we want, we may be bothered from time to time in our conscience about a choice we are making or something we are planning. For a long time we were able to ignore that inner voice of conscience, but now it is really starting to stir things up within us and we don't like it. What's more, there may be things outside of ourselves that are capturing our attention and making us start to realize that there are things in our life that cannot continue as they have been going. It maybe something in our private life, a relationship, something at work, or a host of other possibilities, but we are realizing that something isn't right. What is happening is that the Holy Spirit is opening our eyes to the reality of sin. We try to deal with the issue as best we can. We may try to make changes to our life. Maybe we have some level of success for a period time before things get even worse. Perhaps we find that no matter what we try, we just cannot break free. We are discovering that we are a slave to sin. Our sin is being brought into the light, not by our effort, but by the Holy Spirit who is convicting us. God's desired result of this process is that we would come to repentance for He doesn't desire that any would perish. In various ways and probably from various sources, Jesus Christ begins showing up on our radar. We are not seeking him out, rather he is seeking us out for we are sinners in need of a Savior. The result is that we encounter Christ and discover that he is the only one who delivers us from sin. He has the authority to forgive our sins and the power to set us free from slavery to sin. Christ and his gospel captures our heart and we submit to him. Our sin has been brought into the light and forgiven in him.

Am I Really a Sinner

Changes Are Occurring

We grow in our knowledge and love of Christ as we learn from him and put into practice what he says. As we live in the light and truth of his teachings we find more and more areas of our life in which we are experiencing victory over sin. Things that used to drive us are no longer of value to us. Things we didn't think twice about doing have been removed. The Lord has begun a good work in us. He is transforming us so that we look more like Jesus. Our selfishness is being surrendered one area at a time, one issue at a time. We don't have to go looking for areas of our life that need to be surrendered. Instead, as we spend time in God's word, listening to it and putting it into action we find that God in His perfect timing shows us something else that we need to confess and be set free from. Changes are occurring in our life. Not all at once for God is working in us for His glory and for our best. He keeps us from being overwhelmed having us deal with one area of our life at a time so that we are not bombarded by the amount of changes that need to take place in us as sin is rooted out. Our attitudes are changing. So are our priorities. There is a difference in the words we speak and the topics we talk about. Love and forgiveness are replacing anger and revenge. Spiritual realities are being made know to us as we are faithful to act upon the truths we are given. We are learning to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, and we are seeing the Spirit bearing fruit in our life. We are growing up into Christ who is the head of his body, the church, and it is in those relationships that we are challenged and encouraged to grow. In our interactions with the world we ourselves are likely to notice the most dramatic changes that have been taking place in our life. There was a time when our view of the world was devoid of God. Now our view is transformed such that we see things through the eyes of our Lord. We see things that we never saw before and in ways we could not have comprehended. In one way we see world in the light of God and we are amazed at His power and creativity. But we also are seeing that the world is covered in darkness, held in captivity by the devil through sin and death. Our desire to be completely free of sin ourselves keeps increasing and changes continue to take place within us. In addition to that, we find ourselves longing for the day when the whole world will be free of sin and death. Sin has lost its grip on our life.

Discovering Repentance

Led by God's Word

Bond Servant

Some may argue about whether we are ever free of sin in this life. Yet Scripture doesn't focus on whether or now freedom is possible, but repeatedly calls us to live life free from sin. We are not seeking after some idea of sinless perfection, but after God. Our desire is to love God with a perfect love. We are to sin no more, which simply put means that we are to listen to God and do what He says. If we are wanting to willingly disobey God, then we are putting another God before Him. That is not our desire not His desire for us. That is not the life he saves us to. Our call is to serve Him and Him only. Thus, we willingly identify ourselves as a bond-servant of our Lord. Our service to the Lord is not to win His love, for we already have it. Rather, our living as His bond-servant is evidence of our maturity. Instead of living for sin and self, we live for the one who died and was raised from the dead. As bond-servants, we live as God directs, understanding that God's desire is that we live the life He intended for human beings when He first created us. That is what He has saved us for. That is why He has set us apart for Himself. It is in His grace that he promised eternal life to those who believe Him and that is the kingdom we stand to inherit. It is true that in the fall that humanity turned away from God to live for themselves and we have inherited that fallen nature. But the good news we have heard and believed is that in Christ we are turned away from living for ourselves so that we may live for Christ. Now we are slaves to righteousness not sin. We understand that as long as we live in this fallen world, the enemy will be roaming around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us if possible. But our being in Christ, we don't have to fear the one who, though killing the body cannot kill the soul for our soul belongs to God. Just as our Lord was tempted, so too will we continue to be tempted. We are not ignorant of the devil's schemes. With the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and our abiding in the word of God, we are equipped with the power necessary to resist the devil such that he will flee. We are not deceived to think that the enemy has given up and turned away. Sure, as we draw near to God and resist the devil, he will flee. But he keeps looking for an opportune moment to try again. But we are in Christ and are to endure to the end. We are not looking to sin nor are we a slave to sin. No longer is our only option to keep sinning for we are a new creation in Christ. We can go and sin no more be we have encountered God's goodness, faithfulness, and loving-kindness in such a way that we know we can completely trust and obey him in all areas of life. Even though we know we will encounter the temptations that are common to all people, we are not fearful. We know that God provides us with a way out of those temptations. Our desire is simply to love God and do what He says just as our Lord and Master did during his earthly life.