Sin is sin. The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)
If you've broken one of the ten commandments, then you might as well have broken them all because you have already not met God's standard of perfection. (Matthew 5:19) (James 2:10)
God is perfect. (1 John 1:5)
All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23)
No one is perfect. (Romans 3:10-12) We have all sinned. (1 John 1:8) (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
That's why we need Jesus as our Lord and Savior. (1 John 1:9) Jesus is the perfect atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for all sin, past, present, and future. (1 John 1:7) So, when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you receive a free gift of eternal life with God in heaven. (1 Peter 3:18)
Once you accept Jesus into your heart, all God sees is Jesus. (Galatians 2:20)
Once saved, always saved! (Romans 8:38-39) (1 Corinthians 1:8)
So do Christian believers still sin? (1 John 1:8-2:2)
We are not supposed to sin and keep on sinning even though we know it's wrong. (1 John 3:4-10)
Because of what Jesus went through to save me, I don't want to sin and I try not to sin because I am grateful for His mercy and grace. We are to walk in the spirit and not walk in the flesh. (Romans 7:14-25)
We are sinners saved by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8) We are still sinners, (1 John 2:1-2) but we are striving to be more like Jesus. (1 John 2:6)
Christ was tortured and died a brutal death, just for us, knowing full well what he was doing, and he did it anyway, willingly, because He loves us that much. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:8)
God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die for us...that's how much He loves us! (John 3:16)
Can you imagine yourself as a parent sending your innocent child to take the place of a criminal, to be tortured and killed in order to save the criminal's life???
Sometimes we sin and don't even realize we have sinned. Let me give you a personal example:
Several years ago, when we were learning about the Passover, we thoroughly cleaned out and scoured the whole apartment from top to bottom. We got rid of all the yeast, the bread, pasta, even the crumbs in the toaster, because all of this symbolizes the sin in our lives. "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel." (Exodus 12:15) We couldn't believe how empty the cupboards were afterward! So we didn't eat anything we weren't supposed to for several days. But on the fifth or sixth day, we were sitting on the couch watching tv and I looked up for some reason. Bam! Staring at us right in front of our faces, on the shelf directly above the tv, in the living room for all to see, was a jar of noodles! We looked at each other in absolute bewilderment that there was leaven right in front of us for a week as we're staring at the tv and didn't even see it! The cleansing of the household before the Passover is to represent getting rid of all the sin and corruption in our lives. We really learned something important that day, that we could be sinning and not even realize it!
But even though we sinned unintentionally, we are still guilty according to God's law and atonement is required. (Lev. 5:14-19)
We may not act on our sinful thoughts, but even our sinful thoughts are still considered sin. (Matthew 5:27-28)
We may do something that we know is not right, but we do it anyway for whatever reason at the time, but then we regret doing it later, because of the consequences of our actions. Let me give a personal example:
As a parent, you tell your child not to touch the stove...why? because you don't want them to get burned! But the child doesn't understand that, all they hear is no, but they still want to touch the stove, and what happens? they burn themselves, and now you have to give them first aid and love and attention. Do you tell them that you told them so? Do you scold them when they're hurt and crying in pain? or do you give them a hug, and kiss the booboo and comfort them because you love them? You know that that burn is going to sting for quite awhile and there is really nothing you can do about it except put some cream on it and just be there for them to comfort them.
Well, the same goes with God. He tells what to do and what not to do to keep us safe and protected because He loves us as His children and wants to take care of us. God knows and tells us that we will have troubles, but God is our Comforter in all our afflictions. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
God gave us the law so that we would understand about sin. (Romans 7:7)
Even though we are not under the law, but under grace, we should still strive to not sin. (Romans 6)
The Lord sent us the Holy Spirit to help us and guide us to the truth. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. (John 16:7-14)
"God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are bing tempted, do not say, 'God is tempting me.' God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters." James 1:12-16
We are to be in the world, but not of this world. (Romans 12:2)
God is faithful, and He will always give us a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation...All this is from God...that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them...we are ambassadors for Christ...For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
We're not to judge whether someone is going to heaven or not by their outward appearance, because the change is on the inside. But we judge people by their fruits, to see whether we can trust them, do business with them, etc. We cannot look deep enough to see if someone is saved. Only God knows if someone is saved.
Some people may think that they are not worthy enough because they don't measure up to God's perfection, even after they were saved, when you couldn't ever even try to be good enough to receive salvation in the first place.
If a citizen breaks the law, they will pay a fine or go to jail, but they don't lose their citizenship.
If a student fails a test, they will get a bad grade, or if they misbehave, they may get detention, but they are not kicked out of the class. The student still goes back the next day to learn some more from the teacher.
If a son or daughter disobeys their parents, they will get disciplined, but they are still family.
If you sin, there are consequences to your actions, but you are still saved because of Jesus.
The Lord doesn't see as man sees. God looks into the heart. God looks at our spirit.
God adopts us. We are born again into the family of God.
God no longer sees us, but he sees Jesus. We are in the spirit.
The more you look at the flesh, the more you act like the flesh. If you see yourself as a sinner, you'll act like a sinner.
When you are meditating on God's Word, you live according to the spirit. (Romans 8:5) Then you'll see the fruits of the spirit. We are to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. Be transformed by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12:1-2)
We are free in Christ. We are no longer under the law because we have been saved by grace. We still sin even after we're saved. You cannot lose your salvation. When you sin, fellowship with God is broken but you don't lose your place in the family of God. There is a difference between relationship and fellowship. Confess your sin to renew your fellowship with God.
Our goal as believers is to strive to become more like Christ.
Thank you Jesus for being my Savior, my Healer, my Redeemer! Praise the Lord! Thank you so much Lord for your forgiveness, your mercy, your grace, and your loving kindness! Thank you Lord for being my Comforter, my Provider, and my Protector. Please guide me and direct my path Lord. Amen.
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What is sin? Are all sins equal?
