UI – Part 236 – Sin – Plain and Simple

Know You Sin

Know sin. Whether or not you believe in Original Sin (the sin man inherited from Adam’s act of disobedience towards God in the Garden of Eden) disobedience to God is a sin.  It can take many forms.  At one end of the spectrum you have Homosexuality, Adultery, and Murder (include Abortion) and the opposite you have a lie, a fabrication of the truth, selfishness and deceit.  If man’s laws do not cover a biblical sin that does not make it any less of a sin in God’s eyes.  Now, and hear me on this, I am a Christian, but not a fundamentalist.  Conservative – yes – and I try to live my life as Jesus wants believers to do so.  Is it my right to condemn a homosexual, or an abortion doctor? I say no, that is between that person and God.  But if that person is a Christian, having repented and accepted Christ’s saving Grace, they are reborn and live accordingly. If not, and certainly not everyone is a Christian, then as long as how they live does not infringe on my rights or home, then I cannot be a critic. But I can share what I believe.  I am called upon by Christ to spread the Word of God, to allow others to hear and be exposed to God’s truth.  Then they must make a choice.

Islam and Original Sin

The Adam and Eve story is much in synch between the Bible and the Quran, but there are differences.  Muslims claim the differences are corrections, but I believe God, being perfect, would not need to be corrected. For one the Quran suggests angels submit to man.  But the point I am making here is that after the Fall in the Garden Adam according to the Quran, came to Allah to ask forgiveness.  Being forgiven he was restored; the stain of sin erased.  Yet Muslims sin.  Do they need to be forgiven each time?  There were others that were not forgiven, not certain who they were, but referred to in the Quran as friends of Satan.  The disbelievers either did not ask for forgiveness or were not forgiven, and are not to be friends of Adam.

God’s Forgiveness

Consider the Murderer in prison that becomes a Christian.  God forgives.  Society may not. To have the Lord welcome him/her into his eternal kingdom that person will be tested.  Did they live avoiding their sinful nature once they became a believer, intent noted and understood by God and your advocate, Jesus?  Same for Homosexuality.  Such a sexually persuaded person discovers Biblical truth and accepts Christ’s sacrifice, the punishment for their sin, they repent, and as the adulterer who met Christ was told, “go and sin no more.”  An alcoholic is still an alcoholic if they never drink again.  But they have repented and stopped their addiction, as difficult as it may be every day. Apply that to a pathological liar who accepts Christ, they must become truthful and trustworthy in what they say. God will know.  The good they do, or the life they lead, is in recognition of their sinful nature, daily repentance and acceptance of God’s gracious gift of salvation. No one is perfect – only Jesus, only Isa.

“For the wages of sin is death (spiritual death – no eternal kingdom for you), but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) The KEY to the Eternal City is available to those who truly believe in Christ.

Eternal Life

All who read this can have eternal life, by acting, accepting your sin nature, the bad news of who we are.  No matter the magnitude or societal stigma associated with your sin, or the total lack of concern or importance of the sin you commit, it is what it is in God’s eyes. Understand God’s free gift; he died for our/your/my sin so we can be free and saved.  Just repent and ‘sin no more.’  Find new life in the New Testament.  Be reborn.

How To

We are not saved by doing good works. We do good works out of gratitude, our thanks, for the Grace of our Lord and Savior, his imputed righteousness in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.  Doing what is good is not the cause of our salvation but the effect of knowing as believers we are saved. Paul is saying in Ephesians 2 that we are not saved by good works but to do good works. We are not saved because we have amassed more good deeds than evil deeds, or more heavy deeds than light deeds, but because God would have us do good works. So good works are a result, not the cause of, our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith alone, but not by a faith that remains alone.

God’s (the Creator’s) grace does not eliminate our duty to do good, however imperfect we are or however minimal our sin is in the eyes of man (the created).

Christmas celebrated Christ’s birth. It was also a reminder of why God sent Him to earth.  He was perfect, thus without sin.  God placed all of our sins on Jesus and sacrificed Him for you and me, as punishment for our sin nature. In so doing God made possible for believers in the Risen Lord to be made right with God.  Only a person right with God will gain access to His Kingdom.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)

Thanks Be to God.

Grace and Peace