Whoever shall keep the whole
law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. —James 2:10
{CHAMBERS} “The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human
beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It
simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either
for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and
eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak
to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and
eternity. If we are not aware of this, it is because we are less than alive.
Once we do realize it, our life immediately becomes a fatal tragedy. “I was
alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I
died” (Romans 7:9). The moment we realize this, the Spirit of God convicts us
of sin. Until a person gets there and sees that there is no hope, the Cross of
Christ remains absurd to him. Conviction of sin always brings a fearful,
confining sense of the law. It makes a person hopeless— “…sold under sin”
(Romans 7:14). I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get right with God— it is
impossible. There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that
is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea
that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever
obey God to absolute perfection!”
{ELGIN} Understanding sin in the context of a holy God. Until a person comes to the point of
conversion .. coming under conviction by the Holy Spirit and having a sudden
awareness of who they are and who God is, they will never experience a sense of
guilt before God and their need for salvation.
Many people are more sorry they got caught than the fact that they did
something wrong. They doing something wrong
is an attempt to satisfy some need they have.
Physical or emotional. Sin is an act of desperation. Man trying to be his own god. It all started in the garden. (Genesis
3:4-5) “You will not certainly die,”
the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be
like God, knowing good and evil.” The
Law brings an awareness of what is necessary to “be like God”, and it is
impossible for sinful man, by himself, to be like God. Recall that Adam and Eve were already created
in God’s image and likeness. (Genesis
1:26) But they wanted more than
that. They wanted to be equal to God. They
wanted to decide what is right and what is wrong. (Sound a bit like our culture?)
So what about today .. for you
and me. Does becoming a Christian make you sin-proof? No. It
does make you Hell-proof. Sins can be
both internal and external. Jesus taught
that. We tend to focus on the external and
try to manage those sins .. to keep them under control. Not good enough! If you compare what you do plus what you
think to the holiness of God, you will quickly realize that you are not so “holy”
as you hoped. If most of your sinning
goes on – on the inside, you may fool people around you, but not God, who sees
the heart. The Law and our sin is a
constant reminder that we need a Savior because we cannot be holy on our
own. We need a little – well more
correctly – a lot of help. God does not
want you to live a life of guilt because you struggle with sin and the flesh ..
He wants you to confess and repent. But
repentance is more than trying harder .. it is trusting more … it is submitting
more … it is “faithing” more. I don’t expect to be perfect in the flesh … but I
also know that I cannot ever be satisfied with my sinful nature. Some people say “That is just the way that I
am!” in response to some attitude or action that does not glorify God and is
hurtful to other people. As if they can
blame their sin on heredity … well they can, but then again, they can’t. Adam and Eve may have started it, but we are
each responsible for our own sin. So we need to own it, confess it, and repent
of it. Today would be a good day to get
started.
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