Sin part 4
I'm just going to throw this out there and then move on. If all of our sins are forgiven... how, then, could someone end up in what many people believe is the eternal punishment for sin known as hell? Just something to think about. Moving on. To 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Does not sin because he cannot sin because he is born of God. That, to me, is so powerful. That, to me, is what we should be preaching. Not, "Stop sinning or else." But, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). If the sin of the world--which is unbelief--has been taken away... then how could we possibly continue therein? A believer, by definition, cannot unbelieve. One born of God, then, cannot sin. So why are we still struggling so hard with an issue that has already been dealt with? Why are we still using the concept of eternal fiery prison to scare people? Instead of being on a sin hunt we ought to be on a righeousness hunt. Instead of focusing on what's wrong with people we ought to be telling them what's right with them. One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible talks about training up a child in the way he SHOULD go. Building people up instead of tearing them down. Teaching people who they are instead of telling them what to do. When you know who you are, you will do what's natural to you. When you know your new (TRUE) nature is the love nature of Jesus... you will love with every breath you take and every move you make. Sin won't even be an issue. (By the way, I explore a lot of this in my book "The Sin Issue.) Here's the point: God not only took away the sin of the world (unbelief) by giving us something (someONE, Jesus, love) to believe in, but He forgave us for our sins. Took any sort of idea of punishment for sins out of the equations. Gave us a system of animal sacrifice to kind of continually sweep them under the rug, and then brought that animal sacrifice to its ultimate conclusion with the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Before there was ever a "sinner" there was a Savior. Before we were ever in trouble, we were out of trouble. God doesn't want us to fear Him. Or run from Him. Or be afraid of Him. He wants us to run TO Him when we need help. He wants us to cast our cares upon Him, because He cares for us. God doesn't want us to suffer. So in what world would He create a place for constant torment and suffering? It doesn't add up. And if you have to "believe in Jesus" in order to go up on the cosmic elevator instead of going down... that's a work. By grace we are saved. It's nothing that we've done, or will do, or could do. It's what Jesus did. For us and as us. On the cross. It's the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world and purifying our conscience with a hot iron. I'm already neck deep in this so let me drop one more memory verse. "And death and hell were cast into the lak of fire> This is the second death" (Revelation 20:14). If hell was cast into the lake of fire, it seems doubtful to me that hell IS the lake of fire. And the second death, by the way, was the cross. The first death was when Adam ate of the tree of death (the tree of knowledge of good and evil), and the second death was when Jesus died on the cross. The cross is when everything happened. The cross is when sin and death were defeated. Stop fighting a defeated enemy. Stop fighting anything except the good fight of faith. Laying hold of the gift of eternal life that you have already been given. Experiencing the gift of God by letting Jesus live His own life in you, and through you, and as you!