05/07/17 TO SIN OR NOT TO SIN

05/07/17 TO SIN OR NOT TO SIN

#1 THE BELIEVER CAN SIN.
#2 THE BELIEVER CAN "NOT" SIN.
#3 THE BELIEVER CANNOT SIN.

#1 A BELIEVER CAN SIN
It is possible for a person who has believed on Christ, for salvation from sin, to return to sin either for a moment or for a lifetime. God created us with free will and God enables us to use our free will to believe and receive His saving power. God does not take away our free will at salvation. God allows us to choose to abide in, or to abandon our relationship with Him. The Scriptures warn Christians not to sin. The Scriptures condemn Christians who do sin. The Scriptures call Christians back to salvation, if they do sin.

#2 A BELIEVER CAN "NOT" SIN
God leads the trusting, obedient believer out of darkness, out of temptation and God gives grace to the believer to resist the devil and to do the will of God.
God has provided the grace that can keep a person from sinning.
God enables a believer to walk in the light.
God enables a believer to keep His commandments and to do that which is pleasing in His sight.
It is not God's will or His fault when and IF a believer chooses sin over God.

God even offers advocacy to the disobedient. When a believer sins a sin, the Holy Spirit has already led that person to not sin, but the believer chose to disobey God (as perfect Adam chose to disobey God in the Garden).
God's Holy Spirit then convicts the person of that sin and leads that person to repent of that sin.
When that person repents and believes on Christ to forgive that sin, Jesus hears and honors that person's cry for help and He gives that person life.
God's grace provides forgiveness, cleansing, renewal, restoration.
But God does not force His grace on anyone. Humans, even after they have been saved and after they sin, are still free moral agents, choosing their own path to follow.

If the person does not repent of that sin, then he has already started down a road and life of sinning because failure to quickly repent of a sudden and single sin is actually the commission of a second sin.

Remember, it only took one sin to corrupt and destroy the human race.
It only took one sin to separate angels from God forever.
It would have only taken one sin to disqualify Jesus from saving us.

It only takes a quick, but sincere repentance to continue in Christ. The second sin (un-repentance for the first sin) quickly leads to a continued life of sinning against God. The further a person goes into sin, and the longer a person goes without repentance, the harder it is for that person to turn and the less likely that they will call on Jesus.

#3 A BELIEVER CANNOT SIN
When a person is saved, then he is given spiritual life. That life is not inherent to the person, and is not unconditional. Life in Christ is the gift of God to those who believe and receive Christ and His salvation. The Spirit of God (the Spirit of life, the One who gives life to the believer) continues in (abides with) the person who continues to have saving faith.

Saving faith is not simply a momentary trust from a person's past history: Saving faith is a current, ongoing, continuing and constant trust in, and relationship with God, through Christ.

As long as a person is looking to Christ and walking in the Spirit, he cannot sin, because sin is the disobedience to God and a believer, by nature, obeys God.
Once sin enters and remains in a person, then that person is not a Christian, is not a believer, is not presently born of God.
A person cannot walk in light and darkness at the same time.
A person cannot walk with Satan and God at the same time.
A person cannot be pure and impure at the same time.
A person cannot love God and riches or the world at the same time.

EITHER
Sin separates from God
OR
God separates from sin.

(BUT WHAT IF A BELIEVER DOES SIN SUDDENLY)
Then we are brought back to point #2. God extends forgiveness and life to the person who repents of a sudden and repented sin.
The Bible says that the believer who sins, but then repents, is given life.
There are consequences for sudden and brief lapses, but immediate repentance allows the life of God to continue in the penitent person.

HOWEVER, unrepented sin results in eternal separation from God, therefore the believer cannot sin.

THE FACT REMAINS that a person who has the life of God cannot sin and continue to be a believer.

The believer has the ability to sin.
The believer has the ability to turn from his sin and renew his relationship and life with God.
The believer does not that the ability to sin and keep the life of God at the same time.
Therefore, a person cannot be a believer and be sinning at the same time.

God Has Said
1 John 3:4-10
(4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
(5) And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
(6) Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
(7) Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
(8) He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
(9) Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
(10) In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

AS I MENTIONED, regardless of the grace of God, and the renewal, forgiveness, and ultimate victory of the believer, there are still consequences for sin, even for a single and sudden sin. Forgiveness, Divine life within a person does not make their sudden and single sin nondestructive. The destruction may happen to them or to those around them. Grace does not neutralize all of the consequences of sin.

Don't let people run you away from total surrender and faithful following of Christ. The Christian life is livable for those who trust and follow Jesus.