Faith and Temptation

I Can't get very far away from this topic because I'm continually hearing someone equate being a sinner with being a follower of Christ. In fact it is often done with a good bit of pride and gusto, as if it's a good thing to say. Just heard it again the other night from a newscaster who professes faith in Christ. It was quite a bold comment that left no room for question, much like everything else he says. It's a real shame that there aren't a whole lot more believers who find such a comment offensive. It wasn't offensive to me personally mind you, seeing I didn't come from heaven to die on the cross of Calvary to make a way for man that is BETTER than the way that was presently in place. But I indeed find that kind of comment very offensive to the name and the person of Jesus, who DID come from heaven to make the way for mankind to be literally REDEEMED from the power of sin and of Satan, and be reconciled to God (Tit. 2:14; Acts 26:18). I especially find it offensive when someone says it with such a self righteous brashness, thinking it to be really noble to make such a confession. But let's just see in short order today if that kind of confession is truly noble in the sight of God, and if it stands up to the test of the scriptures. You probably have already guessed the outcome though, haven't you? That's good, because that means we're heading in the right direction in our thinking. Now a book could easily be written here if I want to use as much scripture as I could, but for the sake of keeping the article short enough to attract readers, I'll use just enough scripture to give an irrefutable answer that will make the noble 'defenders of sin' ashamed of their pathetic confession. Let's start out with this one: "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God" (Heb. 7:19). So like I mentioned above, the way that God had in place for men before Jesus came, did not and could not get the job done that he wanted done. But also as mentioned above, the way that JESUS made for us, DID AND DOES get the job done. What job, you may ask? Well, according to what we just read from Hebrews, the way that Jesus made in fact makes something 'perfect.' In that case I would say it behooves us to find out from the Bible just what it is that Jesus has made 'perfect,' that the law was not able to do. Again in the book of Hebrews in the ninth chapter, we see some description of how the old covenant sacrifices were offered in the tabernacle and temple; and we are given a very telling fact about those sacrifices: "Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience" (Heb. 9:9).

So there we see that it was the conscience of man that the old covenant sacrifices could not make perfect, which is to say complete. What this means is that even though the people under that covenant could confess their sins and have the proper offerings made for them, they still had a conscious awareness of having sin, and there was a very viable reason for that. In fact the next chapter of Hebrews gives us that reason: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:4). So the bare fact of the matter is that the sacrifices that were offered for sin under the old covenant just did not literally take the people's sins away. They were 'forgiven' for their sins if they made confession and offered sacrifice, but it was a figurative forgiveness or remission, rather than literal. In other words they still had present in their heart the thing that caused them to sin, and that would be the actual sinful nature that we all inherited from Adam, our common forefather. The apostle Paul described that nature in the following words from Romans 7, which many have misunderstood to believe he was speaking of his condition at the time of the writing; when he was actually describing himself before he was in Christ, and was depending on the law, meaning the old covenant, for his righteousness: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 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" (Rom. 7:21-23). He referred to the sinful nature there as "the law of sin." In any event, it was that law or nature of sin that everyone is born with that the old covenant sacrifices could not expel from a person, and that is why the people's conscience would remind them that they still had sin even after making confession and offering sacrifice for their sins. The conscience is made uniformly in accordance with the law of God, and the conscience does not lie. Ever. In fact a person has to be in disagreement and conflict with their conscience in order to lie. But let's get to Jesus now, and what he did that can and does make the conscience perfect in those who believe. We can just go right back to Hebrews for an emphatic answer that contrasts the old and new covenants on this very matter: "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:13,14).

So "the blood of bulls and of goats" only served to sanctify the flesh, or the outer man; but the blood of Jesus Christ, as the verse says, does "much more" than that because it literally cleanses the inner man from the sinful nature, and for the first time in the history of the world rest and peace is restored to the conscience of mankind! The ONLY way that the conscience is going to no longer tell a person that they are still in sin, is if sin is actually GONE from their being! Nothing that a person does, and nothing that is in a person, can fly under the radar of the human conscience. God made it in accordance with his own will, and it is perfect. That is why the conscience of those under the old covenant let them know that they were NOT perfect, because they still had the sinful nature and the conscience saw that clearly and stated it as such. And as our text verse states, "the law made nothing [i.e. the conscience] perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope [i.e. Christ] DID!" So whoever is confessing to still being a sinner at the same time as professing faith in Christ, has either never truly believed on Jesus, or has strayed from that path. Jesus has no sinners following him. That is impossible, and it is also contrary to the scriptures: "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked... And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous" (I Jn. 2:6; I Jn. 3:5-7). I suppose I could go ahead and throw in the faithful standby scripture for the sake of those who are not honest enough to acknowledge the plain, consistent proof of the scriptures that has clearly manifested the truth of the matter here. That would be the passage that knocks the wind out of the 'grace crybabies' who think the grace of God to be some kind of license for sin. So here that one is: "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). These religious folks who confess so proudly to being sinners have been deceived into thinking that they're giving Jesus all the glory, but the passage we just read graphically dispels that misguided notion. Trust me when I tell you my friend, that God did NOT send his only begotten Son to suffer and die the terrible death of the cross, so that mankind would be left in the exact same spiritual state as he was before the Son came. That did not happen. God is not an idiot, and neither is his Son who is exactly like him (Heb. 1:3).

The cross of Jesus Christ was not some kind of technical legality that paid the price for mankind's sins so that he would no longer be accountable for the sins that he continues to live in, if he 'believes' on Christ. That my friend, is NOT faith in Jesus Christ. According to the scriptures, and according to the apostle whom Jesus appointed as the leader of the other eleven who were with him, faith in Jesus Christ does something "much more" than that, just like Hebrews 9:14 has shown us already: "And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, PURIFYING THEIR HEARTS BY FAITH" (Acts 15:8,9). But some naysayer will try to make something technical, or figurative out of that too, so I guess we'll have to go to this verse as well: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:2,3). So according to this passage, if being pure is a technical or figurative thing, that means that Jesus is only technically or figuratively pure. People need to quit playing stupid games with their souls. This passage says very clearly that if we aren't pure the way that God's beloved Son is pure, then we WILL NOT be caught up to meet him at his coming, and be glorified together with him. Jesus Christ is not a sinner, and those who abide in him and follow after him are not sinners either. They are sanctified or made holy BECAUSE they are in him and are "partakers of his holiness" (Heb. 12:10). If we are in Christ then our sinful nature is dead like the scripture says, and it can only be reactivated if we dredge it back up by slothful neglect and spiritual weakness (Rom. 6:2,6,11,12; Rom. 8:13 Col. 3:3-5). This is not to say that a born again believer will never sin, but there is a big difference between someone who is striving to "walk in the Spirit daily," and may sometimes fall short; and someone who doesn't even believe that they can be without sin (Gal. 5:16). In fact the scripture that I just referenced tells us that if we "Walk in the Spirit, [we] shall NOT fulfil the lust of the flesh." I don't think the scriptures are telling us to do something that God has not made us able to do, any more than I think that the HOLY Spirit will lead us anywhere but into "righteousness and true holiness" (Rom. 8:14; Eph. 4:24). Well, there's much more that can be said, but I've already made it a mini-book, so I'll let this be sufficient to the point, and I'm certain that it is. That certainty is not about myself, but rather about the plain evidence of the inspired written record that God has so graciously provided us with to keep us in check (II Tim. 3:15,16). Amen, God bless, and above all things, "keep thyself pure" (I Tim. 5:22).