Daily Bread - 06/08/07

John 5:14 - After this Jesus found him in the temple and he said to him, See now! You have become well, sin no more so that a worse thing does not come upon you.

Jesus told two people in no uncertain terms that they were to "sin no more.' The first person that He said this to was this crippled man who He had healed. The second person that Jesus told to "sin no more" was the woman taken in the act of adultery (John 8:11). Jesus was so insistent about sin being totally removed that He said if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away for it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell (Matthew 5:29).

Although, this man in this passage of scripture had been a paralytic for 38 years a far worse thing could happen to him if he did not stop sinning. More than likely what Jesus is referring to was Hell rather than just another sickness. Jesus was as much interested in this man's soul as He was in his physical body and if this man was going to make the Kingdom of God then sin would have to come to an end.

The arms of the Lord Jesus were wide open to forgive the woman who was taken in the act of adultery but He demanded that she "sin no more." Under the law the woman should have been stoned so that sin could be crushed out of the heart of Israel. However, Jesus would crush sin out of her heart, and everyone else who would receive through His death, burial and resurrection.

He through His death destroyed the power of the devil so that sin could no longer reign over the heart of man (Hebrew 2:14; Romans 6:12; 2 Timothy 1:10). He made provision for anyone who would call upon his name to have their lives transformed by the Holy Spirit. Through the name of Jesus and the power of His blood we are transformed from darkness to light, from death to life and from sin to righteousness.

One of the great tragedies among many ministries today is that they have embraced sin as a continuous and inevitable part of their lives. They have left off the good fight of faith and surrendered to the influence of sin, supposedly equipping their people to better deal with their failure. Unfortunately, what these ministries do not understand is that the wages of sin is death. They fail to realize that Jesus came and set us free from sin so that we could live unto righteousness (1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21). They have adopted a similar belief to those who opposed Paul when he wrote, "shall we continue in sin that grace might abound? By no means! How can we who are dead (separated) to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 5:1- 2; 6:15-16). Paul said that all who have sinned without the law will perish without the law and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, which also demanded death (Romans 2:12). Paul was so radical against sin that he said if anyone sins rebuke them in front of the whole church so that everyone will fear (1 Timothy 5:20). Peter makes the argument that if God did not spare the angels who sinned, nor the ancient cities in the days of Noah and who also overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah what do you think will happen to sinners today who have an insatiable desire for sin? In conclusion Peter expresses how God feels about sin when he says they are, "accursed children" (2 Peter 3:4-6, 14).

The word used here in this passage for sin is found 267 times (hamartia-173; hamartema- 4; hamartano-43; hamartolos-47) in the New Testament. In not one single instance does God describe it as something that belongs in the lives of His people. Rather, God has condemned it and demands that sin have no place in the life of His people. Could there be an example of a more damning heresy and deception in the church than to teach people that God excuses sin? Or that sin will continue on in your life until you die and then you will go to be with God?

The good news, that should cause every heart to rejoice, is that righteousness has now come to every man through Christ Jesus! As sin came into every man's heart through Adam's transgression righteousness has now been given through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12,17). Now, after being filled with the life and goodness of God if we sin God will forgive us if we confess our sins (1 John 1:9; 2:1). Once again, if sin was something that God's people were to accept as an everyday expectation of God's will then there would have been an excellent opportunity to suggest such a doctrine in 1 John 2:1. Instead of saying "If you sin" John would have said "When you sin." Certainly, there was no one more radical against sin in the life of the believer than John (1 John 1; 3:4,5,6,8;9; 5:18).

Could there be any greater shame placed upon our lives than to be a part of robbing others of godly sorrow and steeling from them the knowledge of God? (2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Corinthians 15:34; 2 Corinthians 10:5). What a great injustice we would have done to others if we taught them that the deceitfulness of sin would continue in their lives. We would be responsible for their inability to resist the devil and would be to blame for having set them up to develop a hard heart against the convictions of the Holy Spirit. The judgment upon those who would participate in such wickedness will indeed be great. It would have been better to have never been born than to cause one of God's little children to be defenseless against a raging enemy like Satan. The doctrine of sin is not an insignificant doctrinal issue, but the focus of why Jesus died. The subject of the elimination of sin is a central concern in the New Testament (The Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament). Please listen, if we willingly persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries (Hebrews 10:26-27).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org