“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1)
The big Truth is that when we come to Christ, we are freed. To come to Christ means to believe on Jesus. As Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer and the prisoners, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Act 16:31) Believe that He is Who He said He is, the Son of God, born of a virgin to die for us in order to redeem us. It means to believe that His crucifixion, death and resurrection paid the penalty for our sin, has removed our sin and His blood has cleansed us, purified us and forgiven us of all guilt. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1Corinthians 15:3-4). It means to accept this great and merciful free gift of God and repenting of all sin, meaning to make that decision not to sin. “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10) Now this is the biggest miracle that occurs when we accept God’s gift. We know that we have tried countless of times to stop a certain behavior and it’s an impossibility. But the miracle is that when we come to Christ and accept God’s gift, we no longer want to sin. And we no longer sin.
This is the background story of our lives. I never understood what Adam and Eve’s sin had to do with me. And why I had their sin. But because they are our original parents, all humanity was in them. When they sinned, we sinned. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12) When they lost their fellowship with God, we did too. When they went under the curse, we did also. When they went under the dominion of God’s enemy, we did too. When they went into the kingdom of darkness, we did too. This is why humanity is birthed sinful. It’s the nature of Adam and Eve that we inherited. And we were trapped and unable to free ourselves from this kingdom of sin and darkness. There is no sacrifice, no good work and no price that man can give to be free of this life in the kingdom of sin and darkness. That was our bondage. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” (Romans 5:6-11)
But God Who could not accept any payment for the forgiveness of sin from anything tainted with sin sent Jesus born of God and not of man’s seed, therefore free of sin to pay the price for sin, death. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Once payment was made and Jesus arose from the dead, man could be free from the bondage that had held them in the kingdom of sin and darkness. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (Colossians 1:13-14). God offers man this free gift because of His mercy and love. But like any gift that we receive, we must accept it. Man must believe and receive. Then the miracle happens. God literally takes us out of the kingdom of sin and darkness. We could not do it. God could not violate His own Law. Payment for sin had to be made. And that was done and completed when Jesus died. “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:30) Man could now be free, but we must make that choice.
Now about not sinning, this miracle happens when we accept God’s gift of life. All sin was forgiven. The old sinful man died on the cross with Jesus. And with the resurrection of Jesus, we were born again of God a new person, a sinless, guiltless, pure spirit man before God. God saw it then. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:6-11) And it happens when we accept God’s gift. This new person has the nature of God. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Corinthians 5:17) It does not sin. But, because we live in this sinful world and still have our sinful flesh which struggles against the sinless spirit man and the Holy Spirit, we may fall into sin. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17) But our spirit man remains pure and holy. We repent each time sin manifests because the Holy Spirit is revealing it so we can repent of it and rid ourselves of it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9)
In our Scripture of study Paul pleads with us to firmly remain free in the freedom Jesus has bought for us. We’ve been set free from the bondage of sin so that we can live a life of holiness and righteousness. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Peter 2:24) When we continue sinning, we can come again under the bondage of sin again. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:12-14) So, when sin manifests, if we did sincerely believe and receive God’s gift, sin will be detestable to us. What do we need to do? Repent. Turn from that sin. (1 John 1 :9) And the Holy Spirit Who indwells will help us not to fall into that sin again. With that victory we will discover another sin of which we must repent. This is a continual thing as the Holy Spirit continues to make us into the image of Jesus. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Corinthians 3:18) This process of sanctification happens as long as we are here on earth and until we see Jesus face to face.
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