WILFUL SINNING DOES NOT FIT A TRUE CHRISTIAN
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Moedswillige sonde pas nie by ‘n ware Christen nie
Translator: Lynda Botha
Today, I want to share something with you that came to me after I heard someone talking.
I heard someone say something along the lines of:
‘He only listens to the preacher when he preaches about love.’
There are shepherds who declared that they are no longer preaching about sin.
Now, I am not saying that the reason for this, is the only reason, but I wonder if this is not the main reason why most Christians live the way they live. Although I could have used other Christian nations as an example, I will use this country where 80% (this is the last figure I heard) of the population professes to be Christians but are still lingering in this type of lifestyle.
Since times we live in now is what it is – where wellbeing are in mammon and not Jesus – many pastors, I almost wrote most pastors, are therefore only preaching what the people want to hear because they are scared that their member number reduces and with that also their tithes (which does not apply to Christians).
Of course, what is happening is not a surprise to us, who believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God. The Word says, for all who believes, that this is exactly what will happen in the last days:
2 TIM 4:3 “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”
2 TIM 4:4 “They will reject the truth and chase after myths.”
You get in my opinion two major types of Christians:
You get Christians and then you get true Christians.
When I spoke to someone one day regarding true Christians, he called me a Christian snob.
You can decide for yourself, once you finished reading if I am a Christian snob.
The first type of Christian would answer as follow, with some variation, when asked what Christianity means to them:
"Jesus died for my sins at Golgotha. My sins are forgiven."
Of course, this is correct, and I share with you an example of the many I could have used:
1 JOHN 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
This is so wonderfully true, and it is also with what most preachers stick to today.
Many churches today, and I feel like writing most churches – increasingly began to preach, what I call a “pamper gospel”.
You know where everything, even that which is expressly declared as sin or evil in the Word, is lived or done as long as it is in love.
We read in one place in the Word:
JAM 2:19 “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.”
If I may use the same notation:
You testified that you are a Christian because Jesus died for your sins.
He died for all the people's sins in this world, and most people go to hell.
JOHN 3:16 "For this is how God loved the world (for all the people in the world): He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Therefore, understanding this matter is to distinguish a true Christian from a Christian and the Word of God is as clear as daylight:
Most Christian truly testifies that Jesus died for their sins. How many times have you heard this confession from another Christian you know?
A true Christian also testifies that they are no longer a slave to sin. How many Christians have you heard testifying this in sincerity to you?
ROM 6:3-13
3 “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death?”
4 “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”
5 “Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was.”
6 “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
7 “For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.”
8 “And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him.”
9 “We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him.”
10 “When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God.”
11 “So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”
12 “Do not let sin control the way you live, do not give in to sinful desires.”
13 “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”
Does this then mean that true Christians don’t sin?
No, of course this does not mean that true Christians don’t commit any sin. True Christians still commits sin, as we are naturally sinful creatures because of the sin which entered this world – but true Christians doesn’t sin deliberately. In other words, true Christians are endeavouring not to sin wilfully.
Some true Christians will still shout a swear word if they bump a toe. Some of them may even in the heat of the moment display infuriated actions towards a taxi that did something unlawful and almost caused an accident. We are only human, and the god of evil has a way to stealthily action attacks on us, to stalk us sometimes mentally, all awhile we are unaware, just to pounce on us unexpectedly – but then we will immediately repent and confess it to our Lord.
What a true Christian will refrain from doing (and I am not referring to addictions), is to know that what I want to do now is sin; and then to go ahead and deliberately do it anyway.
Because we are no longer slaves to sin and we were set free from the power of sin
I mentioned above that I am not referring to addictions, but this can apply to addictions as well, I know, I was there. To use myself as an example, I used to smoke but my conscience complained every time, so much so, that my smoking later became so unpleasant that – praise the name of our Lord – later out of obedience to the Holy Spirit who resides within me –
I conquered this addiction because I was no longer a slave to sin, and the wilful sinning no longer remained an option for me.
you remember what you have read?
ROM 6:11-13
11 “So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”
12 “Do not let sin control the way you live, do not give in to sinful desires.”
13 “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”
Because we are no longer a slave to sin, we behave as follow:
A true Christian is caught unexpectedly by satan but because Christ lives within a true Christian, and the true Christian is no longer a slave to sin, they will not decide “this is a sin but I will still go ahead and do it.”
In other words:
A true Christian will not premeditate to do wrong, let me rephrase: to do sin, let me rather call it what it is because ultimately it is exactly this: a true Christian will not deliberately decide to be evil – but let my hero Paul rather explain what I have been trying to explain:
PHI 3:7-8
7 “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.”
8 “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.
Again, I just want to emphasize:
A true Christian is not someone who never sins, on the contrary, it is us who satan targets and never leaves in peace. Because we do not walk on the broad road, in the direction he wants us to walk but with regards to sin, we are also not deliberate in our actions by virtually saying to our Lord:
"God, I know what I am doing now is wrong in your eyes, but it is how it is."
No!
Once we realize what satan intends – and yes, sometimes we are already ensnared, we must begin to actively work against the sin in our lives. We must not continue to dabble in sin.
No, we must fight against it, even if we have to fight right through our whole lives here on earth from a specific type of attack from satan. For we know:
PHI 3:12-15
12 “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”
13 “No dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,”
14 “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
15 “Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.”
Read here what the Word of God are saying with regards to people who claim to be Christians but live according to the world around them and not as true Christians who have died and is no longer a slave to the sins of this world:
2 Peter 2:20-22:
20 “And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.”
21 “It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.”
22 “They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
I conclude with the following thought and ask you who have read thus far to ponder once again on the following:
After Jesus' crucifixion and His burial, there were two versions which were circulated throughout the world of what had happened, and both are still being preached today in Christianity through the lives of Christians
Since this letter is already quite lengthy, I am not going to quote the whole passage. I will only highlight the relevant sections, but you can refer to Matthew 28 to read this for yourselves.
The first section starts with the following and how wonderful it gets when you read further:
MAT 28:5-7
5 “Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.”
6 “He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead, just as He said would happen. Come, see where His body was lying.”
7 “And now, go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and He is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there. Remember what I have told you.”
The second section begins at:
MATTHEW 28:11-15
11 “As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened.” (You can read about this part yourself in Matthew 28)
12 “A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe.”
13 “They told the soldiers, “You must say, “Jesus disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole His body.”
14 “If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.”
15 “So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.”
Both these groups have seen and surely knows that Jesus died and was buried.
What I need to ask myself today is the following:
Do I live as a Christian by proclaiming the second version of what happened that day, as we find it in Matthew 28:13 namely, Christ died for my sins?
MAT 28:13 “..Jesus disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole His body.”
In other words; Do I live my Christian status out, concerning sin, in the way that 2 Peter 2:22 explains it?
2 PET 2:22 “They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
or: Do I live out my life with certainty by the first version of what happened during that time? That Jesus died to forgive my sins and was buried to rise from the dead, and therefore conquered death and sin for me?
That I am now a person made new in victory to honour and glorify His holy Name by following His orders given to me, in one way or another, even if only by the way that I live?
MATTEW 28:18-20
18 “Jesus came and told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.”
19 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
20 “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
How wonderful, when I eventually can cry out of jubilation in my life like my hero Paul – concerning sin, I will still stumble but not wilfully:
GAL 2:20 “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”.
ROM 6:6 “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
Greetings,
Sakkie