Sin tends to be the center focus in most churches. As believers we know sin is an enemy, and that it separated us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Sin next to Satan is considered the chief villain in our lives; one that must be combated daily and resisted with righteous fervor. Or so it seems. I am going to make a statement that will unnerve certain people. The truth is that being sinner is better than being under a spirit of religion or being self righteous. A Christian who struggles with sin is safe. The truth is that, "Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit." (1 Peter 3:18). The Apostle Paul said of sin after believing in Jesus, "So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me." (Romans 7:17), and "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Another verse, says, "For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14).
Sin lost its power when the Son of God died upon the cross. The Blood of Jesus blankets us and keeps sin from achieving its ultimate goal of damnation and the Second Death (Revelation 20:14). While we are not given a free license to sin, Paul says, "So should we sin all the more so that God's grace may abound all the more? God forbid!" (Romans 6:1-2,15). However, being sin-centric is a sin. If we focus on our sin, we lose focus on our Savior Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages (6th to 16th century) made sin the focus of society and created systems of penance; methods to assuage guilt and sin through works. But the Bible says, "Sin has lost its power," (Roman 6) and "God works all things for good for those who love Him, who have been called according to his purposes." (Romans 8:28).
The truth is that even sin now serves God! Read carefully. When you make mistakes like having sex out of wedlock and having a child whom you raise and they become the next Martin Luther or Billy Graham, is that now God using "evil for good?" Now should we seek to sin? No. But if we fail, remember that "He is made strong in our weaknesses." (2 Corinthians 12:9). God can use your "mess to make a message and your test to make a testimony." So often we want to judge, and actually scream "crucify them!" But there is One who has already been Crucified for all mankind's sins, and the only requirement to have the endless blood of forgiveness is to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (John 3:16).
Someone in sin is better than person possessed by the spirit of religion. The Spirit of religion is a rule keeper for both the person who has the spirit and everyone else. This law keeping makes a person legalistic, and develops the "letter of the law, rather than the Spirit of the Law." (2 Corinthians 3:6). Sometimes people need justice and must go to jail, other times they need mercy and may receive acquittal of the charges. Only the Lord Jesus knows what each individual person needs to heal and reform them. If we believe we can decide by law keeping and prosecuting (persecuting) then we are like Lucifer, trying to play God! It is pride and arrogance that spirit of religion breeds, which leads to self righteousness. It creates an attitude of pride, that I am "better than others," when the truth is you need Jesus' mercy and blood of forgiveness as much as murderers and molesters! Scripture says, "God detests (hates) the proud man." (Proverbs 16:5). Why? Because a proud man or woman is not teachable, and they are incapable of changing into Christ-like character, ministering Christ's compassion to people, and ever needing Christ for anything! A self righteous religious person has their own path of salvation through works and deciding good from evil; they do not realize that they have set themselves up through their actions and attitudes into becoming an antichrist, they are saying, "I don't need Jesus's sacrifice, I can do it and I don't need God to be the Judge, I can do the judging, I can decide right from wrong; good from evil for myself and others." Is this not the same Forbidden fruit in Eden of "The Knowledge of good and evil?" (Genesis 2:17). Is this not the same trap that Satan used on Adam and Eve in Eden when he said, "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5). Religious spirits, legalism, self-righteousness, and judgmentalism are the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that Satan deceived our ancestors Adam and Eve into eating from. In effect, those who believe they can be righteous enough through ritual and religion (spirit of religion) and decide right from wrong independent of God, while pretending to be getting the measuring stick from God are in effect continuing the Original Sin.
I am not declaring that we should aim to sin. I am making the point that a sinner is easier to reach than self righteous person with a spirit of religion. God can bring a sinner to their knees more easily, because they are broken, admit they are broken, and while addicted to bad habits and antidotes for their pain; they still have open heart (to an extent, some are hardened). A self righteous and servant of religion is like Pharaoh already, they think they have found the way through rule keeping and religious rites. They become critical, cold, and lack compassion. As the Scripture says, "Because lawless be increased, the love of many will grow cold.." (Matthew 24:12).
Sin in the original Greek is actually translated, "missing the mark." The idea is you have target (Jesus Christ: being like Him, loving Him more than yourself, etc) and you pull out an arrow and shoot it with bow, but instead of hitting the bull's-eye you hit an outer ring or miss the target altogether. When you miss the mark, you say "I am sorry Lord, I repent," and in response the Lord does this: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). To coin the motto of ServPro, your sin before God is "like it never even happened." (ServPro Motto). In fact, it says, "He throws you sin as far as the east is to the west, (Psalm 103:12) and remembers it no more, (Isaiah 43:25)." God forgets your sin! When we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we are no longer sinners! We are instead, "A New Creation," (2 Corinthians 5:17) "A Royal Priesthood, A Holy Nation," (1 Peter 2:9) and "Sons and Daughters of God," (2 Corinthians 6:18).
The Spirit of Religion is seen as a safeguard against sinning. It is a human attempt to curb a bad habits ranging from eating to many pies to pornography, but it is a poor band aid. Rather than reform a person, religion makes the person more conscience of their sin and more despairing; because all their good programs, ideas, methods, and rituals cannot keep the beast at bay. In fact, religion and its laws empowers sin: "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law."(1 Corinthians 15:56). The Apostle Paul admitted two radical things that would shake pastors today and help us realize struggling is normal. Paul said, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want." (Romans 7:18). The Apostle admits he struggles with some kind of sin that bothers him, mind you this the Great Apostle to the Gentiles who founded numerous churches and who wrote two thirds of the New Testament. Then the Apostle Paul says something even more astonishing, "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself ( becoming conceited, arrogant), there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me" (2 Corinthians 12:7-8). Wait.. God gave Paul a demon?! Yes. What was worse than Paul being afflicted by a messenger of Satan was becoming proud. God decided immediately that it would be better for Paul to have a tormentor that would force Paul to trust Jesus Christ to keep in check, then to become a proud Pharisee again and thus become self righteous and open the door to a spirit of religion.
Paul struggled with Pride, and God so hates pride, that he sent a messenger of Satan to keep Paul from being proud. Sometimes are messenger from Satan is sin. We feel so proud of ourselves when we behave perfectly and attend church regularly. We feel like super Christians when we read are Bibles, watch Christian programming, and join in Church activities. Suddenly, we are on our way to becoming super saints like Augustine, Benedict, Luther, John Wesley, and etc. And in that process of building our pride, we lose touch with God. Now it is no longer Christ that gives us self esteem and who saves us from sin, we can do it, we can be good enough, even though our notions of good and evil are tainted by original strain of Sin in our flesh nature. Then we hit burn out, we feel the weight of self-holiness, and we struggle to keep the image of perfection protected; so then we pick up self-protection to help us stay strong; we avoid anything that could slightly make us stumble because we fear it will leap on us like some goblin, when in truth we are weaker now than before we chose self-holiness, self-righteousness, self-determination, self-promotion, and self-protection. Then it crashes, that "castle we made in the sand." (Matthew 7:24-27). We find the waves can topple us, because we are not built on the Rock anymore, we have not trusted the Redeemer to keep us safe in His blood, but we trusted in our walls which were made of sand and bushes that harken to Adam and Eve's first outfits (Genesis 3:7).
When we break, when storm makes us cave and unable to maintain our house of religion, we find walking on the shores and on the stormy sea our Savior Jesus Christ holding out His arms to us. We tried to be holy on our own strength and "decision making" but in the end we see only Christ Jesus can sanctify and save us through what He did two-thousand and fifteen years ago on the cross! In that moment of acceptance, of letting the Almighty God of Heaven do the acquitting and assuaging of our guilt from the cross, we gain that first relationship, that first love back (Revelation 2:4). We realize that Jesus Christ carried our sin, all of it, and we must let Him do it. Yes, we should want to stop sinning, but we must trust the Savior with our sins; and stop self abasing and self-determining our way out of sin.
The strange irony is you can feel closer to Christ after sinning, than being self righteous and under the spirit of religion. In your sin, you cry out, "I have done wrong! O God, forgive me!" And you hear back, "It's already forgiven, I love you, my child. It is because of love I died for you. It is because of love I want you through Me to change this bad behavior, so that it stops hurting you. Our relationship is protected, I paid for it through a gruesome and grueling death. You desire to reform should be because you love me and yourself, not because of fear of me. You should want to put to death things and practices that hurt you, and eschew you view of Me, and make you think I am distant; when it is your guilt, not my judgment that makes you feel far away. I want to hold you like hen does its chicks under my wings, but you must believe I love you, to be held."
Wanting to stop sinning isn't wrong, but you can't stop apart from Jesus Christ. You have to trust Jesus to help you from within, not from without. You cannot curb lust, laziness, and lying through rituals, self-help programs, sheer will power, or even psychological drugs. It takes trusting Christ Jesus, letting Him change you through loving, and following Him. You see, we always want to focus on the sin and stop it; but that emboldens and strengthens sin. You have to keep your eyes on the Savior! If you seek Him, and love Him; have relationship with Him, you suddenly are drawn away from sin; you no longer crave brownies or beautiful blondes with no clothes; the change happens within. Jesus alluded to this, "You wash the outside cup, but the inside if filthy, first clean the inside of cup and then the outside will be clean" (Matthew 23:25-26) and "Unless man be Born again, he cannot be saved." (John 3:3). This born again experience happens upon believing in Jesus Christ as your Lord, Savior and God; but then it continues, you are born again every day, through that relationship and blood of Jesus; in a way you are birthed through the blood, like a baby, and thus brought into the "Life" which is Jesus Christ, "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John 14:6).
We do fight sin, but you cannot do it with self righteousness or a spirit of religion or services (acts) of religion; you must do it through only one source: The Savior, Jesus Christ! In Him is the only victory, and through loving and connecting with Him you will reform, but the goal is the relationship, not the reform. Do not go to Jesus to just reform you, seek him for the loving relationship you were always meant to have with God from the beginning! We in our doubts question God's love, but why? "God so loved the world, He gave his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and who ever believes in the Son shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). The Father loves so much he gave his Son to die, Jesus Christ loves you so much he died the most excruciating death by crucifixion, and the Holy Spirit loves you so much he comes to comfort you with His presence! The truth is, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:8). Yes the Almighty is just too, but even His justice is loving; for every part of God is saturated in love. Judgment is love, because it helps people reform their ways to love themselves and others, and eventually then know they are loved by God. You see, love is at the center of the Lord's heart towards man. It is us who pollutes God's image through our own guilt, self abasement, and our own experience with people; our fathers and mothers, family, and friends; everyone eschews are view of God. So don't let it! See the Truth, that you have a loving Father who gave his son (John 3:16), A loving Savior (the cross is the sign of how much he loves you) and loving Holy Spirit! The Trinity loves you! God died for you because of love! The Creator and Savior and Spirit love you so much that He lowered himself, allowed himself to be humiliated, hated, hit, hewn with weapons, and hung on a cross for love of you! God loves you! He will forgive your sin! Pray now, "Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me of all my sins. I believe you died for my sin and me on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. I make you Lord of my life, and believe in your fullness of the Godhead (Trinity): Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. I will follow you, I love you because you first loved me (1 John 4:19). Amen."
You have been born again. Your sin is washed away. If you stumble again in sin, remember you can repent and Jesus Christ will forgive you! As you draw closer to Christ in a relationship, you will find inside you a New Creation, a new outlook and you will react to sin negatively. Ask for the Holy Spirit to manifest, also known as the Baptism of Holy Spirit, and you will have even great conscience and closeness to God. Ask for the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, and find out what you get: "healing, tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits, interpretation of tongues, and so forth." Ask for the ones you want, and accept the ones God distributes to you, for "not all have same gifts." (1 Corinthians 12:29-35).
Next, you need a Bible (NASB, NIV 2014-215, NLT, TLB, and NKJV). You can get the Bible App and other programs for smartphones, laptops, computers, tablets, watches, and etc. Read John, the Gospel, then read Galatians, Ephesians, Hebrews, 1 John, Matthew 24, and from there move on to the rest of the New Testament Books and then into the Old Testament Books to see how Jesus Christ fulfilled 300+ prophecies, to understand how important it is Jesus said He is "The Way" and "The Living Water." Master reading your Bible, spend time in Prayer, move in Gifts of Holy Spirit, and find a community or some friends who devoutly want to follow Jesus Christ. Learn the Nicene, and Apostolic Creeds, and avoid fellowshipping with the "Jehovah Witnesses," "Scientologists" and "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."
Above all: Develop a loving relationship with Jesus Christ, Memorize your Bible, and lean on the Holy Spirit.
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