And it just keeps on keeping on. The shear lack of biblical understanding and ignorance permeates the majority of the “christian” community today. I actually think people are afraid of the truth, because it would cause them to set aside all their wrong believing. That of course would bruise their pride and leave them with nothing to do in the way of performance.
I mean, how in the world could they determine if they measured up to a set of standards that would give them favor with God if they didn’t have rules, laws, and standards to satisfy? After all, we are just sinners. Really??? Where does it say that in scripture?
We’ll get to that in a minute, but first I want to know what would be so bad about setting aside your pride of wrong believing and resting in His truth, thereby eliminating your works oriented/performance behavioral christianity? Hmmmm. What’s so bad about that? That’s why I’ve always said I would rather talk with someone who knows nothing about the bible, has never been in church or affiliated with any form of religion, than I would a religious intellectual, who is steeped in a wrong belief system of legalism.
Someone posted this on FaceBook, so I felt that since it was on a public social domain, it would be okay to use it for a springboard into a teaching on sin…..once again. So, here it is in total and then I’d like to take it a piece at a time. When you read it you’ll see it has that ring of spiritual prowess, but in fact is filled with legalism and religious dogma.
My intent is not to attack the person who wrote this, because I understand being in bondage to improper teachings and messages. I was once there before getting a revelation of God’s great grace. So my purpose is to bring truth to this issue of sin, performance, and the law. Okay, here we go. Here’s the post.
“What’s the point to that big ‘ole book we call the Bible???? To show us we ARE sinners, we ARE ALWAYS gonna be sinners until the day we die! Big sins, little sins we are just gonna sin! BUT, it points us to JESUS!!! That alone is the whole point!!! Everything else is just layers and layers of richness in showing us how much we need Him and draws us to desire to be more like Him. And while we are working to be freed from sin, (because let’s face it, some are harder to kick than others) Jesus NEVER leaves our heart or let’s go of our childlike hand when our acceptance of Him was with a true heart!
1 John 1:8-10 The Message
If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean break of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.”
Whew!!! There is a lot of error in there, so let’s start at the beginning. “What’s the point to that big ‘ole book we call the Bible???? To show us we ARE sinners, we ARE ALWAYS gonna be sinners until the day we die! Big sins, little sins we are just gonna sin! BUT, it points us to JESUS!!! That alone is the whole point!!!”
All right. First of all, “that big ‘ole book we call the bible” is NOT for the purpose of showing us we are sinners. That’s why the law was given. Read Galatians 3. There is truth in that set of words, but it would have to be stated this way. What’s the point to that big ‘ole book we call the Bible???? it points us to JESUS!!! That alone is the whole point!!! Now that makes sense, but lets look at what was said in between.
“To show us we ARE sinners, we ARE ALWAYS gonna be sinners until the day we die! Big sins, little sins we are just gonna sin!” Really? Then what does John 1:29 mean – The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. And what do these mean – Romans 6:6 -”knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Romans 6:7 – for he who has died is freed from sin”. I especially like this one. 1 Corinthians 15:17 – “and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins”.
Well, the last time I checked scripture it says that HE HAS BEEN RAISED. SO ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE, YOU’RE NOT IN YOUR SINS. Now I didn’t say that. That big ‘ole book we call the bible did.
Let me throw one more in here just for good measure. Heb 9:28 – “Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely,salvation”. (Message).
Here it is in the New American Standard – “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him”.
Now I don’t know about you, but what scripture just said there is pretty clear to me. He said it was a one-time event. He said “once to bear the sins of many”. Then God goes on to make sure that we don’t misunderstand what He’s saying. He describes what will happen the next time Jesus comes. He says the outcome will be salvation. He says He’ll come “without reference to sin”. Why? Because there’s no sin to reference. Don’t forget that Jesus said “It is finished”. I don’t think He was kidding. Case closed.
Now I’m just getting started, but that should be enough to show that we are not sinners, we are not always going to be sinners, and that we are in fact freed from sin. Besides, you can’t be a sinner if you’re righteous. What was that? You want to know where it says that? Well, let’s start with this scripture. Romans 6:18 – “and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness”. Now we can’t just use one scripture, so look at this one. 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. One more just for good measure. 1 Peter 4:18 – “and if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner”. If you look at those scriptures closely, you’ll see two sets of people. The righteous and the ungodly or sinner. You can’t be both. Besides, sin has absolutely no power in your life, because your not under the law, you’re under grace.
First let’s show how we are freed from the law and instead we are righteous. I think I’ve already shown that we are righteous, but lets make sure. Romans 3:21. “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets”. And Romans 4:13. “for the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith”. One more. Romans 10:3. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”.
So it’s ignorance that keeps people from understanding they are set free from the law of sin and death. Also, that the law does not apply to the righteous. Where does it say that? Well right here – 1 Timothy 1:9 – “realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers”. Now once again we see in this verse a distinction between the ungodly and the righteous. Also, study Galatians 2. You can’t miss it. Look at verses 16, 19 and 21. Come on. It’s so simple. Why do we try to make it difficult?
This is a great verse in 1 Timothy that shows the law is not for the righteous man, but how does that keep sin from us. Easy. Sin has no power. How do I know that? Well, because scripture says so. 1 Corinthians 15:56 – “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law”. So, since we are not under law but under grace…sin has no power over us. Also, since we are righteous and the law was not made for righteous man, sin has no power. Whew!!!
Okay. Back to the post. “And while we are working to be freed from sin, (because let’s face it, some are harder to kick than others) Jesus NEVER leaves our heart or let’s go of our childlike hand when our acceptance of Him was with a true heart!”
I really like the part that follows the portion in parenthesis, but the part about “while we are working to be freed from sin” is simply religious and legalistic. So we have a mixed statement. The last part about Jesus holding our hands is all about grace, but the first part mixes law into the equation by suggesting we can “work to be freed from sin”. That’s Galatianism. Mixing law with grace. It’s the very thing Paul chewed out the Galatians about. “Who hath bewitched you”.
Paul was not happy with them. He said to them that they started out under grace and then fell back into the old works mentality. Study Galatians and see how adamant Paul was that they not employ works into the mix. So much so that he states that anyone who teaches that works are a part of our righteousness and acceptance by God shall be cursed. Read it for yourselves. Do your own study on that. I could give you the verses, but I gave you the book. You do the leg work on that one.
Okay, there's more to come, but this is some good meat of the Word right here. We'll continue with this in my next post. Grace and Peace.
