Tonight we are continuing our series on a life of full sanctification. Last week, I attempted to show that it was possible for us to live without known sin in our lives. In fact, one of the points of the study, which I didn't emphasize much, but is nevertheless important is this: it is actually a subtle form of idolatry to say that it isn't possible.

We looked at the examples of Elijah and Enoch; showing that those two understood the process of sanctification to the degree where they were able to go directly to Heaven, never tasting the sting of death. What I concluded from that was this; if it was possible for them to do it, it is possible for every single one of us to do the same thing. To say otherwise is to believe that they had some "special advantage" over us, whereas James plainly states that Elijah was a man of "like passions" to us in James 5:17. In fact, here is that verse, by way of quick review: "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. " (James 5:17)

Someone, during the course of the study, brought up a verse I had originally been planning to talk about this week, but we discussed it briefly then, and it was this: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8) This, at first seems like a direct contradiction to what I was saying - and even worse, to what John himself says later on: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."(1 John 3:9)

However, on examining the context of the first chapter of 1 John, we see that there is no conflict at all, and a perfect harmony; comparing, for example to this verse: "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John 1:6) We find that John is speaking to a target audience who ARE in sin, and who were claiming that nothing they do is sinful. He was saying to these specific people: "If you say you have no sin in you, you're lying to yourself." This in no way dilutes or compromises what the victorious Christian's experience is to be - as taught by him, by Paul, by Peter and the others.

So we're going to look at some of those passages tonight; we can continue with John, since we're already discussing his works, and then move on to Paul - maybe even touching on Peter if we have time :) And of course, please interrupt me at any time with a question or statement you want clarified - the burden of this specific series has been laid on me rather heavily, and I would rather not finish and continue where I left off next time than have someone miss a point.

So now, the book of 1st John.

We've already examined a large part of what I wanted to say about that book. This is one of the most powerful "anti-sin" books in the Scriptures, and uses the strongest language possible to condemn hypocrisy, and those who continue living sinful lives after having learned better. Here is that verse we saw above: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (1 John 3:9)

Of course, those who would weaken the Gospel look for wonderful and complex ways to dilute this passage, but in the Greek original, it's really saying just that: "Ou dunami hamartano," "He does not have the ability (dunamis=power) to wander away from the Path," because he is born of God. This seems to fly right in the face of the passage we'll look at next, which includes the verse: "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." (Rom 7:19).

We'll get to that soon, but let's look at some of the ways that 3:9 verse is watered down. One person told me, "Oh, that verse just means we will not continue in sin, not that we just stop as soon as we find out what it is." Well, that's not being a new creation - that's trying to evolve. Paul said this: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Cor 5:17)

In Christ we are new creatures, we are NOT improvements over the old. This is a very important, though subtle point. We don't improve, getting better. We are new, and the rest is just realizing the ways in which we are different than we were. In that sense, that translation has some light in it: we do not "continue sinning," but at the same time, we don't phase out something. We see the uncleanness, and then with prayer, we ask Him to put it away. Not our efforts, remember, not our own abilities that will keep us walking on that water.

And of that phasing out sin - the question I would ask is, "Is that the way God has ever done anything?" In terms of creating something, has He ever made something and then let it improve? Yes, He made the world in 6 days by a process, but at the end of each day: "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." (Gen 1:10)

At the end of every day it was "good." That's like us - we also follow that pattern. We don't start out as "completed" Christians, but at every stage we are "very good," as we walk in the light He provides for us. That's an important point, or Satan will of course step in with the doubts, "That's not possible, just look at all the problems YOU have!" That's when you tell him to get behind you. It's not about your problems, it's about Christ's grace living IN you, that does this, and does it well - because our Redeemer cannot do anything unless He does it well. See, this is very much a study about Creation :)

There's one more thing to look at before moving on to Romans. "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1)

This also seems to be saying: "I'm writing all this so that you'll avoid sin, but if you don't... that's okay, we always have an advocate with the Father. It's fine." Now, what's the difference between what I wrote and what that verse says? Well, here is just one: John said, "AND," I said, "BUT." What I said, using the conjunction "but" reduces the strength of what I went before. John didn't say that, he said, "And." That word is "Kai," and it means also, together with, likewise. In fact, the connotation of kai is sometimes, "furthermore," meaning that what he says next is actually going to strengthen what came before.

This is really a topic for next week, when we deal with the nature of sin, but as it has to do immediately with the applications of what John is saying about the "advocate," here is a most interesting set of verses: "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." (1 John 5:16-17)

There is a sin not unto death? Does that make sense? Another apparent contradiction, perhaps, for both Ezekiel and Paul tell us: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 6:23) That is fairly basic to Christianity, and is our very basis for salvation in Christ. We have all sinned, and come short of the glory - past tense - therefore we have all already earned a death sentence. Yet, by the sacrifice of the Cross, we have been granted a chance for life everlasting, if only we accept it. Yet here John is saying, "There is a sin that does not lead to death."

Well, naturally Scripture interprets Scripture, and to understand how there could be a sin that doesn't lead to death, we have to all the way back to the third book of the Bible, Leviticus: "If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering." (Lev 5:15)

There's a key word: ignorance. All through this study, I have been showing where the Bible teaches holiness - a life completely free from sin. Though we will properly define sin in the next in the series, we should all have a pretty good idea what it is - doing something "bad," something that displeases God - essentially something that isn't what is best for our health; be it physical, mental or spiritual. Nothing can really "hurt" God, in terms of His well being, so generally speaking if we do something that displeases Him, we're doing something that is not in OUR own best interest.

But now, what the Bible does NOT say is that when you are born again you will automatically know how to live a perfectly righteous life. Ezekiel is the one who talks about the conversion experience: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezek 36:26)

I think that's beautiful. But... look at how Isaiah describes the walk thereafter... "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isa 1:16-17)

How many people see a prophetic reference to baptism there? :) Well, I do, but see it comes at the beginning. That's not the end of the story... after that there is a process of _learning_ what sin is, and avoiding it. We don't start out "perfect" in that we are fully mature... Job, whom we will discuss a little later, says: "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, 'I am perfect,' it shall also prove me perverse." (Job 9:20) But look at what is said OF Job: "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." (Job 1:1) You see, at every stage, the seed, the sprout, the young stalk and then the tree... at every stage we are perfect FOR that stage, even if we can't judge it with our own limited understanding: "Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life." (Job 9:21) That's a powerful statement, that we ARE perfect in Christ; and it should serve to have us guard against saying things like, "I'm only human," "I'm such a weak Christian..." And, of course, "What do you mean we can live without sin?"

Paul writes of that: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." (Gal 3:24) The Law (that is, the things that are taught by the prophets, and the Word, and Christ Himself), are there to show us what sin is... like a mirror, to show us where we have a spot on our faces. The mirror isn't bad... it's perfect. The face isn't bad - it was created by a perfect God; but the spot is. And it's the spots we are trying to find and put away. "That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph 5:27)

Okay, Romans.

Here are a few verses that really seem to throw a curve at the message of the Gospel, at least at first glance. "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." (Rom 7:14-15) "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:23-24)

Now if you just take those verses, plucking them out of Paul's stream of thought, they seem most forbidding, don't they? Rather dire, and certainly very, very different than the message of hope that John writes of. Earlier today, as I was talking to someone about this study, they said to me, "I've noticed, and often been impressed by how learned Paul is; and his writing style is even rather similar to Solomon." Well, I've thought about that, and I think she's right. In terms of style, Romans has certain similarities to the book of Ecclesiastes - you know: "All is vanity, everything under the sun is pointless..."

Well, just like John in some places, Solomon and Paul use the technique of repetition when discussing important points. As seeing as we are a little short on time, perhaps we can discuss this briefly, and then please study it out yourselves on paper, and feel free to ask me any questions at any time.

All these verses that Paul is speaking of, he is examining a certain point... actually this point: "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" (Rom 7:1) In fact, as you look at verses 1-6 you find Paul giving an analogy.

"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." (Rom 7:1-3)

Now here's an easy question at the halfway point: is he talking about someone who is saved or unsaved here? Who is bound under the penalty of the law? He is talking about someone who has not yet accepted the freedom in Christ. Now here is the rest of the story: " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." (Rom 7:4-6)

This is the analogy that he goes on to explain for the rest of Romans 7... AND into Romans 8! People miss that, because they stop reading at the end of that chapter, which is a really bad place to end, because it ends with this verse: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Rom 7:25) If we stop there, it seems to be saying Paul considers himself converted, yet with his flesh, he still does sinful things. This is NOT what this chapter is saying :) Let's backtrack a little and we'll see how verse 25 fits in.

After the verses 1-6 where he gives the analogy he proceeds to explain it. When we are unsaved, we are under the law, subject to death, for the law states that he who sins... dies. Now, he says, as long as we are living in that life, we cannot accept Christ, for He is like a "second husband." But, if one of the spouses in a marriage dies, then it's okay for a remarriage to take place. Now, it's not possible for the "sin" to die, because it's not a thing, it's a condition... that leaves only you.

We must "die to self," in order to accept Christ. "For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. " (Rom 7:11)

So we let the sin (not the law) slay us; that is, we accept the fact that we have sinned, come short, and are therefore "dead." But that verse about the wages of sin being death ends with a promise: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 6:23) When we consider ourselves dead to our old, sinful selves, we are free to be remarried. We can accept Christ, who raises us "from the dead," both spiritually AND literally should we die before His return... and that is the Gospel - that is the good news.

Now if you read Romans 7 and 8 through this lens, you find he is repeating the two modes: the first (Romans 7) talks about being under the law, and dead. He says: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Rom 7:18)

Here he defines it outright: sin lives in the flesh. By our urges, our desires, by our senses, these are the avenues by which Satan seeks to ensnare us. Our "fleshly lusts," are what lead to death. And as one under the law, he makes this lament: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24)

But if you get nothing else from this study: get this next part... he answers that question in the very next verse. "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Rom 7:25) Who delivered him from that body of death? Christ did! Paul is not claiming that this in-between, halfway, "I want to do it but I just can't" experience is his NOW. No, the "new man" Paul says things like: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom 6:1,2)

Now about that last part, "But with my flesh I serve the body of sin." This is not a compromise. Here he says, we still live in the flesh, our flesh is still subject to sin, and therefore... well, let him tell you. Read Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " (Rom 8:1)

He says, with my flesh, I serve the body of sin, BUT (not ending where the chapter does) I do not walk after the flesh any longer. If he walked in his flesh, if any of us do... we will sin.. naturally. But as Paul also says: "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Rom 8:5-6)

This is the conversion experience... this is the victory that walks on water. We are aware that we are still in the flesh, still able to be tempted, and never "above" it. Of Christ Himself it is written: "But He perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, 'Why tempt ye me?'" (Luke 20:23)

They were tempting Him... to anger, to violence, to losing love for those who purposely set out to discredit Him. But He resisted every time, and even His harshest words were designed to bring the hearers to true repentance. Now we walk in His footsteps, so we are the same way - we are tempted in many points, yet as He was without sin, so may we be. So should we be.

Do we understand Romans 7? I know it was brief, but if we go too deep into the "theology" of it, we'll lose some people :) The basic summary is this, following the pattern of the analogy: Before Christ, I was a sinner, subject to the law of sin and death. In this condition, sin dwelling in my flesh controlled me, and I was not free. Who shall deliver me from this awful state? Why... Christ did, and now, though my flesh is still subject to the sinful tendencies, I am crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20) and therefore now walk in the Spirit, doing always those things which are natural to me - those things which please my Father.

In fact, let's look at Galatians, a verse I keep coming back to in my studies. Only now it should have a new dimension, for we see it as a summary of three whole chapters: Romans 6,7 and 8: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20) The harmony there should be beautiful, and simple and clear.

So to round if off, let's look at our mindsets. Where do we stand on this? Those stuck in the traditions of it will say, "It sounds awful arrogant to say I don't sin anymore." Well, maybe so, from a worldly standpoint. Yet, our Savior said it: "And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him." (John 8:29) Paul, who was NOT the firstborn Son of God, said it: and tells us to do the same: "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." (Rom 6:2,12)

In fact, Paul says, "Be like me, I'm just like Christ!" Yes, he really said that: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. " (1 Cor 11:1) That word "followers" means literally imitators; and John said: "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

I think the biggest problem is getting over the stigma of that false translation of this original verse we looked at: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8) That is so ingrained into our "Christian" way of thinking that it seems proud, arrogant... somehow wrong to say, "I have overcome like Christ." But you see, the people He is looking for in these last days are we who can say that... we who DO say that, who claim the promise: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Rev 3:21)

Is it really arrogant to say, "I know I am right with God?" Well, we have our examples given above, and here is another one, clearer still. Job: "Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?" (Job 6:24,30) "Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand." (Job 10:7) He didn't really understand what was going on around him just then, but get this... he knew HE hadn't done anything wrong. That is a powerful statement... not of pride, but of faith. He knew God, and what He expected of him... and he knew that he did always those things that pleased his Father. And we know also: "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (Job 1:22)

The invitation is to be people like that today... people bold, who KNOW who they are, and who they are not. People who hate sin with the Father's hatred, and will not permit it for a second in their lives.

Now is a good time to take a break, I think, but next week we will look at what sin is. We have been talking about it in the past two studies, so it's about time we ask ourselves what it is we're talking about. If it's something we are to overcome completely, we need to know what it IS, naturally. So, hopefully I will see you all here for a third and vital section of this series, the nature of sin. If there are questions, I will be here for a while longer, but let's all close with a prayer.

David.