I was thinking about the difference between a relationship with Jesus Christ, and the mechanics of organized religion. After reading a wonderful story about actor Mark Wahlberg’s faith and his desire to change his life, I began to contemplate what it is that so often causes people to lose interest in religion.
I know that for myself, whenever I attend a mainline church such as the Catholic, Baptist, or Pentecostal church, I find that they are lacking in the essentials that I am craving in my spiritual life. When church becomes an organized institution with the same weekly rituals and ceremonies, I quickly become bored and distracted.
What I really crave in a fresh experience with God everyday. To know Him and love Him in new and deeper ways than I have in previous days. To know that He is guiding and directing my life and helping me to control those behaviors that I want to change.
When we want to get to know a person better, we don’t take a picture of that person and base our relationship with them on what we learn from their picture, we try to get close and spend time with them. It is by relationship that we gain understanding with people and find out what they are really about.
Jesus did not claim to be just a good man or great teacher, He claimed to be the Living God, Creator of all things. Either that claim is true or it is not. The fact that history proves that Jesus rose from the dead three days after he was crucified, an event that Jesus claimed would proved that he is God, should distinguish him from all other men. When Philip asked Jesus to “show him the Father”, Jesus told Philip, “he who has seen me, has seen the Father…”
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
The Bible claims that Jesus is the exact representation of God, in every way. Through the words that Jesus spoke, we can hear the words of God. By observing Jesus actions, we know how and why God cares for all men and desires that they be saved.
Saved from what? The penalty of sin. All men are born sinners and do by their very nature, what they were born to do, commit sin. Wrong actions are as much a part of each one of us, as is the simple act of breathing. How foolish and a complete was of time, to deny that sin exists in the world, or than human beings are basically evil by nature. The entire history of man on the earth is a record of brutality, evil and consistent moral depravity. The Bible states that the constant thought process of all people, is continually towards sin, all of the time. We need a total transformation of our body, soul and spirit. Jesus claimed that if we would trust Him as our Lord and Savor, He would transform us from sinners into perfect beings.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Despite this statement, during this physical life on earth, none of those who trusts in Jesus Christ will ever be perfect. Although we have experienced a new birth spiritually by placing our trust in Jesus, we still live on in the same old body that loves to sin.
Perhaps as a new Christian, or one that has lived many years believing in and following Jesus, you have felt the conflict between your desire to please the Lord, and the actual life you lead. If no one has explained to you that you will continue to sin even as a believer, you may have even considered giving up trying to be a Christian at all.
The first step in salvation is the act of “justification”. In Justification we are made legally perfect in the eyes of God, by the removal of our sin record, through Jesus sacrifice. By Jesus death, He took upon Himself all of the sins of every person who has been born on the earth. From God’s perspective, He could not just forgive us and act as if our sins were not an issue any longer. God had to carry out the sentence promised by Him for the violation of His moral law.
Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
God provided an alternative to the death of the sinner, by allowing a person to be set free from the penalty of their sins, by their consent in placing their sins on Jesus Christ . Until a person agrees to allow Jesus to take their sins, they remain on the sinners record. At the moment that a sinner asks Jesus to forgive their sins, He takes all of their record of wrong and places them squarely on Himself.
Just as through one man (Adam), all men a are made sinners, through another man (Jesus), all men are made righteous.
Romans 5:17-19 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
The first step in salvation is Justification, by the removal of sins from the one being saved.
The second step in the process of salvation, is the continuing process of “Sanctification”. Sanctification is an ongoing and continuing process where God works in us to cause us to be more free from sin, day by day, over the entire course of our life.
In Justification, we have our legal standing with God changed from sinner, to that of “sons and daughters”.
In Sanctification, although we are now saved, we will continue to experience sin in our life until the day we die.
Justification, happens once, and last for eternity. Once we are saved, we will continue to be saved, as long as we willfully chose to remain with, and abide in Jesus Christ.
In Sanctification, the process of becoming more Holy, and to sin less, takes an entire lifetime.
In Justification, the work of salvation is done completely by God, after we agree to have our sins placed in Jesus, and accept His offer to saves us.
In Sanctification, we cooperate with God by allowing Him to change us day by day, as He places us into situations where we can see our bad behavior and make the decision to try and change.
In Justification, we are made perfect in the sight of God, the minute that we place ourselves in Jesus Christ and have all our sins paid for.
In Sanctification, we will never be perfect in this physical life on earth.
In Justification, the process is exactly the same for every person who comes to Jesus Christ.
In Sanctification, the process of being free from the power of sin in the daily life is greater in some believers than others. For some, sin is a more difficult process to stop in their behavior, than it is for other Christians.
At the moment of Justification, the process of Sanctification takes over and continues for the rest of our life. Once we have been “Born Again” (John 3:16), we cannot continue to sin as a pattern and habit of our life any longer.
When we are first Justified and saved by Jesus, the power that sin had over us formerly, is broken. We no longer love and enjoy sin the way that we had before we came into a relationship with Jesus. Although we will never in this life be able to say that we are completely free from sin, we also should never say that sin has completely defeated us. We do have the power now, through the Holy Spirit working in us, to defeat the continual practice of sin.
The process of being Sanctified more and more, involves our desire to break with sin as a habit of our life, because we now have a strong desire to please the Lord in all our words and behavior. If we find that we have no desire to please the Lord, the first step in salvation, being Justified, has not taken place yet. Only by sincere repentance from the old life of sin, and a genuine turing to Jesus Christ, can Justification take place. It is not enough to simply know who Jesus is. We must come into a personal relationship with Him, by faith and trust in the death that He died for us.
Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
At the moment that a person genuinely believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, salvation occurs, and the process of Sanctification begins. Throughout our life we are being changed from our likeness, into the likeness of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It should be our daily desire to press on towards becoming more like Jesus, despite the fact that we will fail every day.
Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Most of the new testament is filled with encouragement and instruction in how to grow into becoming more like Jesus in our words and actions.
Colossians 3:8-10 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…
James 1:21-24 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
1 Peter 1:14-16 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Although righteousness is our goal, to become more Holy in all of our conduct is our aim, we will NEVER be completely Holy in all our conduct in this life. Though we are followers of Jesus Christ, sin is still present in our hearts and it will win over our will to please the Lord from time to time.
Once we die and are set free from these bodies that love to sin, we will be made perfect forever.
Hebrews 12:22-23 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect…
The fact that we are not able to be perfect while we live in these physical bodies, does not remove us from the responsibility to not sin. God’s standards are not lower for Christians, they are higher. Now that we are saved, we must seek to achieve a life that is free from sin, by the choices that we make.
Becoming angry, is a choice. Lusting for a woman, is a choice. Telling a lie, is a choice. The process of Salvation and our daily Sanctification means that we must make new choices to not become angry, lust, and tell lies, any longer.
When John makes the statement that “No one who abides on Jesus sins”, he is not saying that some of us will achieve moral perfection in this life.
1 John 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
The original Greek language that John was written in, contains a “present-tense verb” that indicates that the person who has come into a relationship with Jesus Christ will no longer have a continual, or ongoing manner or habit of sinning.
In other words, “No one who abides in Jesus will keep as their lifestyle, sinning.”
Sin will still be present, but it will not be the dominating action of our new Life, as it was in our former life.
There are no scriptures in the Bible that teach that a Christian will every be completely free of sin in this life. There are however, many scriptures that teach that sin should not have it’s dominion over us. We should not excuse any bad behavior as simply being “the way that we are”.
When we see sin in our life, we need to immediately acknowledge our error, forsake it, and be willing to not repeat the action again. It is necessary to apologize to those we have offended, and to make a commitment to not commit that sin again.
Even as we grow in our Christian life to the point where the visible words and deeds of our life no longer consistently display sin, the inward sins and attitudes of our heart will always be present. Pride, selfishness, fear, inability to trust the Lord in all situations, these will never full lose their grasp on us ever while we are alive.
If you have noticed that you continually struggle with sin, even as a believer in Jesus, you should not be discouraged to continue with Him. Every person who has made the decision to follow Jesus is having the same struggle that you are having. If you take time to examine your life since you first believed, you will see a gradual change in your behavior, and a decrease in sins that you commit. The very fact that you really want to please the Lord is evidence that a dramatic change has taken place. Before you heard about Jesus and responded to Him, it is doubtful that you ever worried much at all that your behavior was not pleasing to the Lord. Most of us lived our lives enjoying our sin, without much thought to what the consequences for our actions would be someday.
Don’t be so hard on yourself when you sin. Confess it to the Lord, and ask for forgiveness. Then walk away and continue in your life with him, in confidence that those sins were all paid for at the same time by Jesus death for you. When you see other Christians sin and struggle, remember your own weakness and moments of failure. Have compassion on your fellow believer. Pray for them. Keep the awareness of their sin as a matter of your private intercessory prayer life, and never speak of their sin before other people.
Understand that as a follower of Jesus you will struggle with sin for your entire life. Your salvation is secure, heaven is your home, you are a son or daughter of the Most High God. Nothing can ever change that. Though you will struggle, you will overcome. On that final day when you depart this earth and open your eyes to a brand new physical life in heaven, the power of sin will finally be broken, and you will finally be perfect and Holy in all your conduct.
Rob Robinson
