GospelNotes.life

Category: Sin

  • Least and Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

    Matthew 5:17-20

    1. “Do not think that I came to destroy (get rid of) the Law or the Prophets (prophecies). I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away (after the Millennial Kingdom and the Great White Throne Judgement), one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all (all prophecies, including the end of Revelation with the destroying of the current Heaven and earth, and the creation of new ones where we will dwell for eternity) is fulfilled.
    2. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
    3. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

    In point one, Christ tells us that He came to fulfill the law, which we later find out is on our behalf, that anyone who places their faith in Him receives His imputed righteousness. But He also mentions in this point that He does not abolish/get rid of the law – it still stands, just not for salvation.

    In point two, He tells us that those who obey the law and teach other believers to do so as well (again, not for salvation, but because its statutes are good and sums up the holiness of our Father who adopted us as His children) will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And the opposite is true: while technically we can choose not follow the law and teach other believers that they don’t have to either (because we’re no longer under the law for salvation and that we’re saved by grace and not by works), for doing that we will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

    In point three, He makes an interesting point: that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we cannot enter the kingdom of God. The Pharisees were known for the most stringent perfection of law keeping, and not even they were good enough? We have to be more perfect than they? What Jesus is doing here is elevating the standard of the requirement of law keeping for salvation to perfection, naturally leading people to the question: “Well who can be saved then? Since no one can keep the law that perfectly – not even the Pharisees.” Christ partially gave the answer in part one: He will fulfill the law, and we learn later in the epistles of Paul (primarily Romans) that we all fall short of the law’s standard, and the only way to achieve the righteousness that God requires (point three: a righteousness greater than the Pharisees) to enter into the kingdom of heaven is to get the imputed righteousness of Christ that comes by faith in Him alone – not by working the law.

    And again, in points one and two, while we’re no longer saved by following the law, the law hasn’t been abolished (ie: murder and lying isn’t all the sudden ok), and we’re still to uphold it because we agree that its statutes are good (not murdering is good. Not stealing is good), and if we choose not to obey the law and teach others they don’t need to follow it either because we’re saved by grace and not by law keeping, we will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

    Why do we still follow the law if we’re no longer under the law for salvation? Because it’s good, and its statutes bring true joy, peace and freedom (and the entire point of life is to feel peace and joy): it’s good not to murder. It’s good not to lie. It’s good not to steal. It’s good not to commit adultery, etc. The law sums up our Father’s holiness. He adopted us as His children, and like any good Father, He wants His children to grow up to be like Him. It’s like adopting a teenager who was in a street gang. You would want to teach him that the gang is not good, and would want him to separate from the gang. You would teach him good ways (the law) and would want him to start living a good, honorable life. Like Father, like son.

    We uphold the law because it’s good, but we’re not saved by keeping it.

  • How to Turn from Sin (not for salvation)

    The first thing to understand is why we turn from sin: the goal of life is a life of true joy and peace, operating in love for others, which brings more joy and peace. Turning from sin brings the joy, peace and love into our lives.

    The next thing to understand is that turning from our sins is not what saves us. Believing that Christ died to pay for all our sins is what saves us.

    The next thing to understand is the truth behind sin: it promises to bring joy and peace, but in actuality, when you really sit down and deeply meditate upon your life, it’s the source of all our depression, anxiety, stress, fear, panic, worry, bitterness, anger, hatred, and sadness. Sin is like walking through a tar pit with a 500 lb weight on your back. The Bible likens it to being caught in a spider web, where every move you make makes the situation worse.

    Satan tells you that true freedom is to be able to do whatever you want. But the truth is that true freedom is freedom from sin and the negative emotional and physical consequences that sin produces.

    When you’re free from sin, you feel just that: pure, light, airy and free! Take it from someone who knows a thing or two about sin: being free from it feels really, really good. Life changing. There’s nothing like the feelings of freedom and godly joy, peace and love.

    Coming back around, so the goal of life is true joy and peace, which is found in our loving relationships with God our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, our family and friends, and in our lifestyle that’s free from sin. The key is understanding that sin is not freedom – it’s slavery to all sorts of negative emotions and sometimes physical problems.

    It’s really hard for most people to stop certain sins. The key here is developing one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): self-control. Most people these days don’t have any, and neither did I to start.

    The Bible tells us we need to exercise ourselves in godliness. Godliness is becoming more Christlike in character/personality and conduct. What is Christ’s character? It is found in the definitions of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7): joy, peace, kindness, patience, goodness (doing good), faithfulness (doing what you say), gentleness, self-control, not envious, humble, not rude, not self-seeking (seeking the benefit of others over oneself – selflessness), not provoked to anger, thinks no evil, does not find joy in iniquity, but rather finds joy in what’s good, forgiving, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

    And what is becoming more Christlike in conduct? Abstaining from sin: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like.

    The Bible tells us in Galatians 5:16 that the key to abstaining from sin is to walk in the Spirit, which is to become more Christlike in character (as defined above).

    The Bible tells us that we need to exercise ourselves in godliness (becoming more Christlike in conduct and character – 1 Timothy 4:7). You have to take action and exercise yourself (your inner man/soul) – the transformation doesn’t just happen miraculously without any effort. Take an example from the physical body (the flesh/outward man). Say you want to build muscle. Someone gives you the weights, but if you don’t exercise yourself with them, you’re not going to gain any muscle. Such is with the inner man, you as a soul. If you don’t take action and force yourself to produce the fruit of the Spirit to become more Christlike, you’re never going to grow. Take it from someone who sat on his butt for 10 years as a saved Christian, living in sin, praying to be transformed in conduct and character miraculously. It never came, until one day the Lord told me I’m being worthless and it lit a fire under me to do as the Bible says – “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2)” and “exercise yourself in godliness (1 Timothy 4:7)”: meaning, take action. You have the Holy Spirit as a believer to help and enable you to become more Christlike, but you have to practice. The Holy Spirit will help you, but He’s not going to override you – He’s very subtle and gentle. And just like any form of physical exercise, it’s really hard at first. Feels really unnatural and sometimes painful. But the more you exercise, the more natural, easier and more enjoyable it becomes, and the more you abstain from sin and grow in the character of Christ, the more true joy, peace and love you will feel, and it’s addicting, and it’s a good, safe addiction. It’s also important to note that “unnatural” is not “disingenuous” if you truly want your actions to be genuine. And the more you exercise what feels unnatural and what you deep down mean to be genuine, over time it will become more natural feeling.

    The next thing to know: know your enemy. Sin is way, way beyond just personal desire to do something wrong. The desire for sin truly comes from sin that dwells in the flesh (Romans 7) and the influence of demonic entities, whispering in your ear night and day enticing you to sin (Ephesians 6:11, 1 Peter 5:8-9).

    Now back to how to overcome sin by developing self-control and patience. When you first go to overcome a sin, the enemy is going to ride you hard. I mean – hard. It’s going to be mentally painful at first, but the more you resist temptation, the stronger you become, the more easier it becomes. The Bible tells us in James 4:7 to “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” There is also great reward from God at the bema seat for resisting temptation (James 1:12). Think of it like this when you’re in the midst of a temptation: “I’m being trained by God, being exercised in self-control and patience, becoming stronger little-by-little.” It may take many days (if not a couple weeks) to develop self-control and overcome the temptations, but the urges will taper off near the end, and the feeling of joy that you get when you’ve developed enough self-control to resist a bout of temptation is truly rewarding.

    So to recap: your journey to a joyful and peaceful sin-free life filled with love begins with developing self-control and patience, in which God will allow you to be tempted by the enemy in order to give you a chance to exercise yourself in resisting temptation that builds self-control and patience. Sin is not freedom like Satan says – it’s slavery to all the negative emotions like depression, anxiety, stress, fear, worry, panic, hatred, anger, bitterness and sadness. True freedom is being free from sin: feeling pure, light, airy and free. Self-control and patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Christ’s character), and to become more Christlike, you must exercise yourself in godliness (becoming more Christlike in conduct and character) by starting out to force yourself to produce the fruits of the Spirit: joy, peace, kindness, patience, goodness (doing good), faithfulness (doing what you say), gentleness, self-control, not envious, humble, not rude, not self-seeking (seeking the benefit of others over oneself – selflessness), not provoked to anger, thinks no evil, does not find joy in iniquity, but rather finds joy in what’s good, forgiving, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It’s hard at first and can feel fake and unnatural (but that doesn’t mean you’re not being genuine), but it becomes more natural the more you exercise, and brings nothing but true joy, peace and love in your life.

  • The Only Unforgivable Sins

    Unbelief = sin

    Well, and taking the mark of the beast is unforgivable.

  • Sin in the Book of Hebrews

    The sin talked about in Hebrews is the sin of unbelief.