The Truth about Sin

 1 John 3:1-10 “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God

In John 1:10:13, the Apostle John confirms the Apostle Paul by stating the truth of the Believer’s adoption that as a child of God though faith in the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ. They both also confirm that by the sin nature, the (God-rejecting) world system does not recognize or know Him or His children. It’s bitter to think that we either belongs to the devil’s lawless system or belong to God’s system (because He makes the law, commandments, statutes, but it one or the other and that darkness or light difference equates to sinful or righteous, unforgiven and forgiven, unredeemed or redeemed, lost or saved, unreconciled or reconciled, wrath on your for your sins or wrath on Jesus (in your place) for your sins and ultimately separated in the damnation Hell or in glory with the Lord in Heaven for eternity. Do we take sin and salvation seriously or for granted?

Romans 3:22-25a “The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement , through faith in His blood..

I was once told by a teenage girl in our church Youth Group that it was so difficult for her to think that some of her family and friends were not going to be with her in Heaven, just for not knowing and believing in Jesus, but the truth (as hard as it is to accept) is that all have sinned against our Maker Father God and deserve the just penalty for that willful sin. Jesus tells us in John 3:18 that because of our sin, we all stand condemned already. It is the love and mercy of our sovereign Creator God that flows the grace (that unmerited favor of God) to produce His plan of Salvation of sending His sinless Son to the world as an atoning sacrifice for redemption “salvation” through our accepting faith and live there. That is the reason that Jesus came. Those who do not accept the free gift of forgiveness, adoption into the family of God, citizenship in Heaven and eternal life have made the choice to remain in their sin and go to Hell. God doesn’t send them to Hell. God wishes nobody to perish, to come to a rebirth into life through saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The truth about sin is that we send ourselves to Hell; God offers forgiveness and salvation.

Romans 6:22-23 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Christ, Brian