The Danger of Sin in Believers
“If any man be in
Christ, he is a New Creation, old things have passed away, behold all things
have become new!” 2Cor5:17
In the present day church professing Christians have a mandate to
commit sin. They are given permission by the preachers who argue in favor of
sin almost on a daily bases while at the same time believing within themselves
that they are preaching the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ. However the common
observer need only examine the conduct among professing Christians to
understand that church goers have a definite impression that a true Born Again
child of God can indeed ‘sin with impunity’ throughout their entire lives and
still be assured of heaven when they die. But nothing could be further from the
truth.
While it is true that the bible does indeed teach that believers
must daily struggle against principalities and powers, their own evil nature
and the desires of the flesh, it DOES NOT teach that yielding to these
temptations is inevitable. Surly the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the
Spirit against the flesh, Gal5:17, but IF you are LED by the Spirit you are not
subject to the ‘works’ of the flesh. Gal5:18-21. The infection of our evil
nature can be put to death and ‘crucified’ by the Spirit, Gal5:24, Rom8:13. In
this manner you are not spending all your energy resisting temptation, unable
to serve God in righteousness and purity, but have ‘once and for all’ RECKONED
yourself dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus! Rom6:11-14
The passages in 1John1:8-9 and Rom 7:14-25, are NOT a mandate to
continue in sin. Just as the Apostle Paul referring to his PAST life as the
‘chief’ of all sinners, 1Tim1:15, DOES NOT infer that he was presently sinning
everyday in thought, word and deed. (as many have implied in order to condone
sin.) “Shall we continue in sin that
Grace abound?” he asked in
Rom6:15, GOD FORBID! If you COMMIT
sin you are a SLAVE to sin. Nothing could be more clearly stated in Scripture,
John8:34, Rom6:16, 1John3:8. However does sin remain in the true believer and
if so, to what degree? Obviously sinless perfection is beyond the scope of
human endeavor even under Grace, but living victoriously over the corruption of
lust is the PROMISE of Scripture! (2Pet1:3-11)
The sin that remains in a true believe cannot be an OUTWARD
presumptuous action of willful disobedience to God’s Commands. That would
negate saving faith. 1John3:4 states that ‘all sin is transgression’, in other
words, sin in God’s eyes is WILLFUL transgression of His law and Commandments.
That’s why scripture can state emphatically that ‘he who commits sin is of the devil’ 1Jh3:8. NO ONE who continues to
commit acts of known, willful sin against God’s law is a Christian nor can he
remain a Christian. However contrary this is to the teaching of our day and
age, it is absolute scriptural truth and nothing anyone can say from a pulpit
or theological seminary has any bearing against it. If a born again person
relapses into known and willful sin he forfeits his faith, plain and simple.
Otherwise the wages of sin is no longer death and God has become a respecter of
persons, which divides scripture against itself. The myth that your future sins
are already forgiven even ‘before’ you commit them, is just that, a MYTH,
invented by the preachers to keep you comfortable and coming back for more
Those truly Born of God do not continue in willful sin. They have
been brought from darkness to light, from the Power of Satan to God, Acts26:18.
Their old man was crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be done away
with, they are no longer slaves of sin but free indeed! Rom6:6-7, Jh8:32. They
walk in newness of life with the Mind of Christ, free from the corruption of
lust, Rom6:4, Phil2:5. The love of God is shed abroad in their hearts and the
Spirit is bearing witness they are sons of the Light! Rom5:5, 1Pet2:9. IF all
this DOES NOT at least imply that a Justified person is freed from the outward
corruption of sin, then salvation is no better than making a profession of
faith and remaining in bondage to yourself.
Yet two contrary principles are apparent in the lives of true
believers, one of nature and the other of Grace. Although the heart has been
set free from the bondage and power of sin, there remains the ‘nature’ of sin
in the flesh. Thus the flesh lusts against the Spirit and Spirit against the
flesh, but sin does not become transgression until you yield to the enticement and ‘commit’ the act that leads
to death. (James1:14-15) Therefore the
opposing nature of sin is ‘kept down’ by the Spirit abiding in you, so that you
may please God while yet in your ‘mortal’ body, Rom8:11. Daily sin is
NOT inevitable that you must yield to its evil desires and die spiritually.
As a new believer in Christ it is vital to understand this internal
opposition and how it works, since your soul is hanging in the balance.
Passages such as 1Cor3:3 that speak of ‘carnality’ in young believers are NOT
condoning acts of sin. Although Paul affirms that the new believers in
Notice in Rev2:2-4, where Jesus is warning the believers at
The responsibility of abstaining from the all appearance of evil
rests solely on the believer, ‘He who is
Born of God KEEPS himself’ saith the scripture, 1Jh5:18. He does so by the
Grace of God given him freely in Christ. Therefore it is your responsibility to
cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and perfect
holiness in the fear of God! 2Cor7:1. You can NOT receive His Grace unless you
humbly lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness according to His
Word, James1:21.
The heart is made pure by obedience to the Truth, 1Pet1:22. But a
pure heart, free from offense toward God is fighting against all sin through
the Power of His Might, Eph6:10. Thus every true believer knows of his own
natural tendency toward evil desires, his proneness to depart from God and his
TOTAL dependence on the Power of God’s Grace to continually cleanse him of evil
tempers and lust. ‘If by the Spirit you
put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live!’ Rom8:13, THIS is the battle cry of every true child of God.
No degree of heart Purity can achieve ‘sinless
perfection’ but a constant awareness against the real and present danger of
willful sin secures your soul.
At the moment you experience a true and living faith in God you are
cleansed of all sin and your heart is made pure in Christ, this is distinct and
unmistakable of those truly born of His Spirit. The seeds of holiness are then
planted into your soul as the Spirit takes up His abode within, thus the growth
process begins. You are undoubtedly at this moment a true child of God,
evidenced by the Spirit bearing witness with your spirit. No longer do you
commit acts of known and willful sin against God, but understand that your
faith is new and the enemy of souls will soon make his assault on your heart.
You may be given to bouts of fear, doubt or depression, even a burst of anger.
(which are all contrary to the fruits of the Spirit and thereby are ‘works’ of
the flesh, Gal5:19-21) Do not cast away your confidence and concede to the flesh
or the consequences may be fatal! Faith is the Victory that overcomes the
world! 1Jh5:4. Stand firm in your faith and know that God has given you all
things that pertain to life and godliness, 2Pet1:3.
The Devil and false teachers will try to convince that because of
the TWO opposing forces now at work in your soul, that it is normal to sin
everyday in thought, word and deed. In fact, they will tell you that it cannot
be avoided because no one is perfect and God had to make provision by Grace to
overlook your sins in Christ and take you to heaven nonetheless. The text of
scripture they will use to prove this assumption is 1John1:8-9, implying that
under the blood of Christ you have continual cleansing from your ‘sinful’
condition, thereby making you acceptable to God while you continue to enjoy
your sins. Yet this flatly contradicts 1John3:9-10 and the whole tenor of Ch 3.
Therefore 1Jh1:8 MUST be saying ‘If we
say we have never sinned,’ Because verse 7 fixes the entire meaning
altogether, showing that we ONLY have cleansing on the CONDITION that we are
WALKING in the Light as He is in the Light. Since light cannot be mixed with
darkness, 2Cor6:14, 1Jh3:8-9 makes perfect sense! “He who commits sin is of the devil. Whoever has been born of God DOES
NOT commit sin!”
The Nature of sin may remain rooted deep in the heart of a true
believer until he has experienced entire sanctification, 1Thess5:23-24, but it
CERTAINLY does not reign, nor does it have dominion over him, Rom6:14. He may
be ever aware of its presence but unless the ‘desire’ unites with the will, the
‘thought’ of itself is NOT sin because there is no actual transgression of
God’s law, James1:14-15. Desires may blossom into full blown sin when
entertained by the mind, as in the case of sexual immorality. The enticement
gives rise to the desire and BEFORE the actual act is committed sin has already
taken hold of the heart and brought forth death. Matt5:28. That’s why there is
no such thing as an ‘occasional’ act of sexual immorality. You may have an
outburst of anger or a tinge of jealously that is indeed sin (because what ever
is not of faith is sin, Rom14:23)
But it usually DOES NOT lead to spiritual death in an instantaneous
manner as does immoral behavior, hatred or uncleanness. The GREATER sin,
John19:11, will always result in spiritual death, 1John5:16, all Transgression
is sin, 1Jh3:4, and for a man to know what is right and do it not, is also sin,
James4:17. However to put all sin on the same level is not scriptural, some
sins are indeed more serious than others.
In a true Christian the guilt and power of sin have been crucified
with Christ. The sin that remains ‘in his flesh’ is kept down by WALKING in the
Spirit and putting to death the deeds of the body, Rom8:1-4. He is NOT governed
by pride, self-will or lust, but by the Spirit, Rom8:14. The unregenerate man
obeys sin and walks after the dictates of the flesh, he is ‘carnal’ sold under
sin, Rom7:14, incapable of pleasing God in any way whatsoever, Rom8:6-7. The
Born again man can have a ‘strong propensity’ toward anger or resentment
WITHOUT giving way to it, the ‘temper’ was in his heart, but DOES NOT become
sin (transgression) unless he yields. Thus what remains but meekness and
humility, which are the FRUIT of the Spirit.
Those who ‘learn Christ’ Eph4:20, PUT OFF concerning their former
conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lust and are
RENEWED in the spirit of their mind! They then will PUT ON the new man which
was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness, Eph4:22-24.
All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking will be put away, the
essence of their lives will be kindness, tender-heartedness and love,
Eph4:31-32. Uncleanness, covetousness, foolish talking and coarse jesting will
not be named among them, because they know that neither fornicators nor
adulterers will inherit the
The true Christian is exhorted to WATCH and PRAY without ceasing,
they war against the principalities and powers with weapons not made of flesh
but MIGHTY in the Spirit for pulling down strongholds. 2Cor10:5, Eph6:12-13.
They fight the good fight of faith and know that only those who ‘FINISH THE
RACE’ receive the reward of eternal life! 2Tim4:7-8. Deception lays in wait for
every believer who would enter into life through the Narrow Gate, Matt7:4-15.
Falling prey to a doctrine that teaches sin is normal behavior for those truly
born again has fatal consequences and disarms young believers of their
spiritual armor exposing them to all assaults from the world, flesh and devil.
NOTHING hardens the heart more quickly than the deceitfulness of
sin, Heb3:13. The bitter root springing up has defiled many and eliminated them
from the Kingdom, Heb12:15. If a young believer is not made immediately aware
of the dangers and snares along the
The preachers of our day will tell you that sin doesn’t matter
under Grace and only unbelief will keep you out of the kingdom. HOWEVER
Scripture paints a RADICALLY different picture of salvation by faith. Who will
you follow? Those who argue in favor of sin or CHRIST who will set you FREE
from all sin?
Contact: Mike
DeSario, mike@antiosas,Qrg
2172 Marhofer Ave,
Stow, Ohio 44224
330-945-6700