Daily Bread - NOV/23/07

Romans 4:15 - For the law brings about wrath for where there is no law there is no transgression.

Those who would think for a minute that they are no longer responsible for their sin now that the law has been abolished would have to ignore the whole of the Bible that warns against sin and its consequence. Just step back and ask yourself why would God want to redeem us from sin? Is sin something that God would fellowship with now or in the future? Can sin be acceptable or agreeable to God? Perhaps if you dress it up and send it to church and give it some money to place in the offering then it is okay? Is the sin of a saint more tolerable than the sin of a sinner? Shall we rejoice that we can now sin and not be concerned of a possible judgment because we are not under the law? What we fail to realize is that God hates sin of any kind so much that He made Hell an eternal judgment against it. If sin is acceptable in any form then shouldn't God repent for making Hell and just do away with it and any notion of judgment in the future?

Could it be that the salvation that is in Christ Jesus delivered us from sin and its desire and liberated us to walk in the life of God? (1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6; 2 Corinthians 5:17). The message of the Bible is that righteousness is far better than sin and that the ways of God are far better than the twisted nature of the devil. Shouldn't we rather rejoice that we have been delivered from the power of sin and are liberated to know God and the glorious realms of His abundant life? Why would we look for permission to hold on to sin after the message of salvation and liberation has come? What Paul would say to those who would think that they could continue in sin because they are not under the law is "God forbid!" Don't you realize that to whom you yield yourself you become its slave? If it is sin then you are slave to both sin and death (Romans 6:15-16). Some would be so naive as to suggest that Paul implied that we could sin without a consequence but nothing could be further from the truth. What Paul did say in light of this issue was, "shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? No way! How can we who are dead to sin live any longer in it" (Romans 6:1-2). Both the law and sin have been destroyed so that we can now serve God in righteousness and holiness all the days of our lives and worship Him in Spirit and in truth (Luke 1:74-75; John 4:23).

Paul was strongly opposed to any notion of those having been made righteous considering themselves sinners. Paul also made it clear that those who had come to faith in Christ Jesus could make themselves transgressors. He said, if while we seek to be made righteous by Christ we ourselves are found to be sinners then we in fact build again that which was destroyed and make ourselves transgressors (Galatians 2:17-19). Paul equated sin with the law and the law with sin insomuch that he argued that if you take away sin you take away the need for the law. What had to be destroyed first: the law or the sin? Did Jesus come to destroy the law? No, He came to destroy sin, and where there is no transgression there is no need for a law (1 Timothy 1:9; 1 John 3:4). Paul argued that the life in Christ Jesus did not make the law void but rather established it (Romans 3:31). How? Because those who have been created anew in Christ Jesus and restored to a nature of righteousness and true holiness fulfill the righteousness of the law instinctively (Romans 8:4; Galatians 3:21; 5:14; Romans 13:8,10; Ephesians 4:24; Hebrews 8:10; 2 Corinthians 3:3).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org