SIN
We are all sinners saved by the grace of God. In (Romans 3:10-12, Paul says- None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.) These are hard verses to understand, but crucial in our understanding of who we are before our Lord Jesus. We struggle because our sins are always before us. Our sentence is death. I will let our brother Paul explain it in chapter 7 of Romans. (Romans 7:13-20- It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandments might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what i do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer i who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good i want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what i do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.) This is the very struggle our brother Paul is talking about. The sin that dwells in me. So what do we do? The simple answer is nothing. It is Jesus who does something for us. Jesus sets us free! Our brother John says in the gospel- (John 8:34-38- Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.) So how does Jesus free us from sin? He does this through the cross. (Philippians 2:5-11 says- have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.) The act of Jesus in the cross is made possible by Jesus imputing our sin on him. (2 Corinthians 5:21 says- For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.) Jesus imputed the sins of the world on him and died on the cross and when he was raised from the dead, Jesus imputed righteousness on us. (Isaiah 53:11 says- Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous on, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.) This is beyond our true understanding, but we are left in total and compete thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for us. Praise the Lord! We must always remember and thank Jesus for what he did in his death and resurrection. Thank you Jesus! I will leave you with one more verse for our understanding of sin. (Psalm 51:4 says- For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have i sinned and done what is evil in your sight.) When we sin, we sin against Jesus and Jesus only.
