"And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."
1 John 3:3-10
"Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness." God has always given men laws to abide by. He has always demanded an obedient faith. Sin is the breaking of God's laws or commands (1 John 3:4). The consequence of sin is spiritual death (separation from God, Isa. 59:1-2). We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). No man is born a sinner (Ezekiel 18:20), but when he chooses to do wrong, he becomes a sinner and is separated, alienated from God. Sin is a choice, and we need to learn to choose better (Romans 7:7-24; Ephesians 2:1-3). Sin is spiritual cancer that kills us spiritually if we do nothing to combat it. All mankind must mourn over sin (Matt. 5:4). We must not minimize our sins but admit to them and repent. The cure for the practice of sin is obedience to all of God's commands, putting off the old man, transforming our mind according to the will of God.
God has already done all that He can to redeem man from sin and wants all men to repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9). He has blessed us richly by giving us a plan of salvation. Indeed, He has shown His immense love to us in manifold ways (John 3:16). God has revealed His will to us through His revealed Word which tells us about Jesus Christ, the Son of God who left heaven and was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4-5). He grew up as a Jew under the Mosaic Law and lived a sinless life (Heb. 4:15). He was nailed to the cross, was buried and then arose from the dead, three days later (Mark 15:21-42). He died for our sins. His death, burial, and resurrection are taught by the Gospel, the Good News (1 Cor. 15:1-4). It is Good News because the Gospel is the power to save mankind from sin (1 Cor. 15:1-4). The Gospel is the power of God to remove our sins and restore us back to our Father in heaven. God gave us His Son even while we were still His enemies (Rom. 5:8). But God will not remove sin for us. We must do our part to be saved by demonstrating our faith in obedience. The choice is ours.
The grace of God is granted to all men, only through the Gospel of Christ. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:5-8). The Gospel of Christ is the grace of God that teaches us the standards of God and how we should obey Him. This is the grace of God that saves us (Romans 6:1ff). The grace of God teaches, whenever the Gospel is taught (Titus 2:11-12; Col. 1:23). Those who don't teach the pure Gospel don't teach the grace of God. The "grace" of God is all that God has done (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) for man's salvation. The central factor of the grace of God is the death of Jesus on the cross as a sacrifice for man's redemption. But grace is conditional. Though God provides salvation, salvation does not depend entirely on God! Man must do his part to accept the terms of salvation to benefit from that same grace. When man meets the conditions that are essential to salvation (by obeying the Gospel of Christ), he receives the benefits of the grace of God and is then reconciled back to God (1 Cor. 5:18-20; Eph. 2:8). We are indeed saved, justified by the grace of God in Christ, which was made possible by His sacrifice. The grace of God brings salvation in that it teaches us to deny ungodliness and live righteously. There can be no understanding of the sacrifice of Christ, none at all, without complete obedience to the will of God, conforming our lives to His will alone.
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14).
When Christians sin, the blood of Christ (the same grace of God) gives us forgiveness, but not without repentance and a change of behavior (1 John 1:6-2:1-2). This is how faith, works, and grace work together. The word "grace" in God's revelation leads man to the grace of obedience to Him as well. Titus 2:11-12 explains the standard of God's Word and our obedience to it. This is the only grace that saves. It is the grace that we read about in Romans 6:1-7. In verses one and two, Paul says that we cannot continue in sin so that grace may abound. Romans 7 demonstrates the folly of walking in sin without the grace that delivers us from the slavery of sin. We must die to sin! Here is salvation by grace through faith (Colossians 3:1-10; Titus 2:11-14). The grace that saves, teaches obedience to the will of God. Many of our friends consider God's grace as permission to keep on sinning or disregarding the authority and lordship of Jesus Christ, but we know from Romans 6:1-4 that we ought to stop sinning and die to sin. God's grace teaches us how to overcome sin. It is tragic that men are enslaved to sin and can't quit. The good news is not that God is going to save us in our ungodliness, but rather that He is making us holy through the Spirit's teachings (Titus 2:11-12). He is regenerating and shaping us into the image of His Son Jesus. By doing this, we are victorious and confident in Him.
God has promised us that we can overcome sin through His Son and I am going to hold on very tight to that promise!
Luci
No comments:
Post a Comment