After a Wednesday night Bible study a
woman said to me, “I had to sin (referring to her speeding) just to make it to
church on time.” It was indeed an oxymoron that caught me totally by surprise,
and yet, I was refreshed by it like a summer southern rain on a hot muggy day.
There was a heart of honesty that expressed her behavior in seemingly innocuous
tones what we are all guilty of doing, breaking the speed limits. Now we usually
look at those signs as speed suggestion limits; don’t we? How guilty do we feel
when we creep over the speed limit or put the pedal to the metal because we are
just going with the flow? Are we sweating with conviction and having to pull
over in asking forgiveness? I doubt it.
It reminds me of a story about a group
of vehicles that were exceeding the speed limits down a stretch of an isolated freeway.
A state trooper pulled over this one car, and the driver who happened to be a
Christian was irritated that he was pulled over and not the rest of the pack. He
reasoned with the trooper that everyone was speeding, and it wasn’t fair that
he was singled out. The trooper casually informed this agitated driver that
when a shark goes after a school of fish, it usually catches only one of the
many. “You are that one fish today, Sir,” said the trooper! Here was a man who
was angry not because he was sinning but because he got caught. I don’t know how many
people I’ve known throughout the years that sorrowed over getting caught rather
than sinning against God.
As natural as fish swim, sinners sin. Sinning is as natural as breathing to a non-believer as well as a believer. No one has to teach us how to sin; we stray from the womb (Psa 51:5)! What parent has ever had to teach a child how to lie (Psa 58:3)? We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners (Rom 3:9-18). When we received Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior, the penalty for sin, eternal death, was removed and placed on Christ, and the power that sin held over us was broken by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but not rendered impotent.
Even during salvation the presence of sin remains within us, referred to as the old man or the sin nature. It naturally loves to be in hot water with the Lord. It still loves to sin, nothing changed with our old nature when we were saved. We became a new creation, referring to regeneration or the new birth (2 Cor 5:17) but not the old nature; it remained untouched and is as ugly still as the day we were born again. We are not spiritually bipolar, but we do have two spiritual natures within us: the old nature from physical birth and the new nature at spiritual birth (Jn 3:3).
As natural as fish swim, sinners sin. Sinning is as natural as breathing to a non-believer as well as a believer. No one has to teach us how to sin; we stray from the womb (Psa 51:5)! What parent has ever had to teach a child how to lie (Psa 58:3)? We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners (Rom 3:9-18). When we received Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior, the penalty for sin, eternal death, was removed and placed on Christ, and the power that sin held over us was broken by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but not rendered impotent.
Even during salvation the presence of sin remains within us, referred to as the old man or the sin nature. It naturally loves to be in hot water with the Lord. It still loves to sin, nothing changed with our old nature when we were saved. We became a new creation, referring to regeneration or the new birth (2 Cor 5:17) but not the old nature; it remained untouched and is as ugly still as the day we were born again. We are not spiritually bipolar, but we do have two spiritual natures within us: the old nature from physical birth and the new nature at spiritual birth (Jn 3:3).
Unfortunately, we can’t just take the old man out of our bodies like a fish out of the water and that would be the end of it, flopping until it was dead. No, it’s going to hang around with us this side of eternity causing us all kinds of problems if we let it by yielding to the flesh. With the presence of the sin nature, it presents an alternative, the perpetuation of choice, to obey or disobey making faith viable and real. It is analogous to God not driving out all of the inhabitants of the land during the conquest to see if the people would be faithful and serve Him or not (cf. Jdg 2:20-21, 22).
The alternatives are the old man and the new man through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10), and therein is the rub, obeying the impulses of the flesh or walking in the Spirit. Either way, God in His infinite wisdom preserved an alternative, the basis of choice, within our heart at salvation to be free to choose to be unfaithful or faithful to Him in the daily routines of life. So in essence, when we sin we cannot blame Satan, the environment, DNA makeup, idiosyncrasies, learned behavior from our parents, other people, or our sinful nature. The latter is important for us to understand that we cannot blame our sins on being a sinner, or even blame it on God (Gn 3:12; Rom 9:19-20, 21)! So the fault rests squarely on the shoulders of choice, our choice; the same as it was in the Garden with Adam and Eve.
Let’s paint a more challenging scenario. Inside of each believer is a nature that we are stuck with this side of heaven that naturally loves to do what it does best – to be sinful (1 Jn 2:16) in opposition to the new man’s desire to hate sin and love righteousness (1 Jn 2:5). On the outside are people like the Pharisees of old well versed in pointing out our flaws, shortcomings, and inconsistencies as believers in Jesus Christ. You realize of course that the Pharisees were the true blue self-righteous nit-pickers and the sin hunters of Jesus’ day (cf. Mt 12:1-2). They were all about control and attempted to control those who did not think like they did. The Pharisaical mind can never tolerate a believer’s freedom in Christ because they cannot control freedom. They are obsessed with binding others to their rules and regulations, having no understanding of mercy (Mt 12:7), and will do all that is within their power to bind us to their rigid way of self-righteousness or destroy us in the process (cf. 1 Jn 5:2).
I think that self-righteous, Pharisaically-minded folk are some of the most miserable people in the world. Since misery loves company they try to force others into their ranks by leveraging a superficial form of righteousness comprised of dos and don’ts. If you hadn’t discovered about being slaves of self-righteousness, it’s a world of nothing more than fear, guilt, and misery, the same characteristics of being a slave to sin. Sin hunters are notorious for losing their sense of proportion. Jesus described them as straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel (Mt 23:24)! In other words, they would focus on the minutiae or the minor details of the law, and ignore the major things like justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They should have been dealing with both rather than one at the expense of the other. Jesus called them "blind guides."
I believe in church discipline of those who have abused their liberty in Christ (cf. Gal 5:13), but those who passionately point out the sin of others with a Pharisaical heart are nothing more than the accuser of the brethren. Instead of showing mercy, they bring condemnation to the table. There is one who does this accusing thing day and night against the believers in Christ which is more an obsession than a passion (cf. Rev 12:10). You would think that sin hunters are related or at least act like they are related to the devil! Believers can be devilish, too!
I was talking to someone the other
day, and she mentioned about two dogs and how they revealed the way
people act in private and in public. “The stronger of the two was the one fed
the most,” she said. It was just an illustration of feeding the two natures
within us (forget about growling over the canine analogy or arguing what if the
dogs were a Chihuahua being fed and the other a Great Dane being starved or citing
a verse of Scripture like 1 Jn 4:4).
"Two dogs fight within my breast –
The one is cursed, the other blessed;
The one I love, the one I hate;
The one I feed will dominate."
Every believer we make contact with is either feeding one nature or starving the other. We all can see and understand when the flesh is in its element and appreciate when the fruit of the spirit is evident (Gal 5:22-23). You may or may not have to come to grips with this, but the Holy Spirit will allow the flesh to dominate our thinking and behavior. I am not going so far as to say He is pleased about it in the least bit (cf. Gal 5:16, 25 with 3 Jn 1:4) because He doesn’t slap our hand the moment we slip and go south on Him spiritually.
Now if fleshly overtures continue or depending upon the nature of the sin, we will definitely get our bottom spanked (Heb 12:7-8), but the motivation to be like Christ does not come from legalism but agape love that appreciates what Christ has done on the cross and avoids grieving the Holy Spirit with unholy thinking and living (Eph 4:30). We cannot serve two masters though many believers try to be spiritual and worldly, living the “best” of both worlds. It doesn’t work that way with money (Mt 6:24) or getting snuggly with unrighteousness (Rom 6:10-14).
Freedom isn’t about how much sin we can get away with before the Lord addresses it. It’s about the freedom to love God in spirit and truth, unshackled from the law of sin and death. I know we get accused by ignorant people that say, “You once saved always saved people think you can live like the devil then go to heaven.” Apparently, they have never read or understood the epistle of First John or the NT, for that matter, much less understood the freedom we have in Christ through salvation.
I mentioned these three verses below because the charge against those who believe in eternal security is that it gives the believer a pass to sin or encourages sinning. This is a ludicrous charge because it violates the prime directive of all of Scripture for the believer (Deut 6:5) and love for others (Lev 19:18). Please note that those words in bold letters below are all in the present (tense), active (voice), and indicative (mood).
1Jn 3:6, ESV – No one who abides [keeps on abiding] in him keeps on sinning [lives a life of sin, not occasional sin]; no one
who keeps on sinning [the one who
keeps on sinning] has either seen him or known him [has not the vision or
knowledge of Christ].
1Jn 3:9, ESV – No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning [make a habit of sinning] because he has been born of God.
1Jn 5:18, ESV – We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him [to lay hold of or to grasp in order to harm]. The second half of this verse teaches that nothing enters our lives unless approved or orchestrated by God (cf. Jn 10:28).
1Jn 3:9, ESV – No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning [make a habit of sinning] because he has been born of God.
1Jn 5:18, ESV – We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him [to lay hold of or to grasp in order to harm]. The second half of this verse teaches that nothing enters our lives unless approved or orchestrated by God (cf. Jn 10:28).
Concerning eternal life, John states,
1Jn 5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given
us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
1Jn 5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have life.
1Jn 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to
believe in the name of the Son of God.
“Know" (Gk, oida, 1 Jn 5:13) is speaking of absolute knowledge, not experiential knowledge, a “beyond the peradventure of a doubt knowledge, a positive knowledge” (Wuest). Rather than worrying about losing something we cannot lose, our salvation, our focus should be on fellowshipping with God, living in holiness, loving our fellow believers, and longing for His appearing; this is how the Apostle John saw it.
Opponents of eternal security are motivated by control, in my opinion, rather than sound hermeneutics. If you convince people you can lose your salvation, you can resort to guilt, fear, rules, and regulations to leverage a certain degree of control over the masses buying into their false doctrine, creating a salvation of works under the guise of faith to build a religious empire.
“Know" (Gk, oida, 1 Jn 5:13) is speaking of absolute knowledge, not experiential knowledge, a “beyond the peradventure of a doubt knowledge, a positive knowledge” (Wuest). Rather than worrying about losing something we cannot lose, our salvation, our focus should be on fellowshipping with God, living in holiness, loving our fellow believers, and longing for His appearing; this is how the Apostle John saw it.
Opponents of eternal security are motivated by control, in my opinion, rather than sound hermeneutics. If you convince people you can lose your salvation, you can resort to guilt, fear, rules, and regulations to leverage a certain degree of control over the masses buying into their false doctrine, creating a salvation of works under the guise of faith to build a religious empire.
Not only am I a sinner (saved by grace) who loves to sin, but I am a new creation in Christ that hates sin and loves righteousness. If I am being truthful with you, I struggle between the two because our sinful nature is not going to lie down and play dead. But I can do all things through Christ who is strengthening me (Php 4:13).
Also, I was once a Pharisee-minded believer of a more liberal persuasion, a Pharisee nonetheless, a hunter of sin lacking compassion and mercy. I got that spiritual freedom killer behind me. Paul knew and recognized the type better than anyone whether saved or lost (Acts 26:5; Php 3:5). You know sometimes you can oppose something so much that you become the very thing you oppose! Admitting that to myself under the light of the Word and submitting to the authority of the Word set me free from that sin. With God’s strength, I will never go back there. Oh, on a side note, judging righteously is not being Pharisaical! Our freedom in Christ is something we never want to abuse because of our love for Him. We should be appreciative and exercise our spiritual freedom wisely before a lost and dying world (Mt 5:16) as well as the brethren (1 Cor 8:9; Gal 5:13).
Sin hunters will always be in our
midst (Gal 2:4), but where “the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor
3:17). Why do we who have been truly born again and believe in eternal security
refuse to live like the devil? There are basically two reasons: love for God
(Mt 22:37-38) and love for others (Mt 22:39, cf. Mt 22:40). In man’s world
there are speed limits for our safety; in a religious world there are speed
limits for control; and in God’s world there are no speed limits, and don’t let
anybody tell you any differently! We can put the pedal to the metal or simply
cruise to enjoy the scenery in service to the King. He decides the tempo and
the level of service; our job is to follow Him (cf. Jn 21:21-22). Read below for
the best way in dealing with sin hunters.
“Stand fast [keep on standing firm]
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal 5:1).
“Christ has set us
free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a
harness of slavery on you” Gal 5:1, MSG).
Did I tell you I went down Keith Street the other day going 50 mph instead of the 45 mph speed limit? I was running late for a doctor's appointment.... <><
Did I tell you I went down Keith Street the other day going 50 mph instead of the 45 mph speed limit? I was running late for a doctor's appointment.... <><
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