SIN
God came to earth embracing the fullness of His creation – humanity (John 1:1-3, 14). He came with the grand purpose of uniting a believing humanity back with Himself. Unfortunately, those who lived in His presence did not wish to respect Him as God. He was accused of wickedness and, ultimately, tortured to death for being “the truth” (John 14:6). Why did His plan include His own suffering and death by Roman crucifixion? Why is He needed as a sacrifice for humanity and why should humanity desire His sacrifice (Acts 2:16-47)? It is because of our SIN!
Let’s look at three concepts with reference to sin. First, those who choose a lifestyle of SIN will die in their sins. An anecdote that illustrates this concept, concerning the lifestyle of sin, utilizes three characters: an atheist, a bear, and God. The atheist (a nonbeliever in the existence of God) was walking in the forest and sensed something following him. He turned around and saw a gigantic and ferocious bear. He began to run. But it wasn’t running like someone who was trying to win a race; rather, it was running to save his very life. As he ran, he stumbled and fell down on the forest trail. Within an instant, the bear spread a dark shadow of doom and death over him. With his last breath, the atheist shouted, “MY GOD –HELP ME!”
In that very moment time halted, the wind stopped, and the bear froze with paws ready to strike. Everything went eerily silent. God spoke to the proclaimed atheist, “Why would you choose to call out My name when all your life you denied Me, rejected Me, and spoke evil against everything Mine. The atheist said, “I understand. I won’t be hypocritical in this moment but would You do something for me? Would You make the bear a Christian (hoping that the bear would turn and walk away)?” This was acceptable to God. The noise came back. The leaves began to rustle. And the bear changed his ferocious disposition to a reverent posture and said . . . “Thank you God for this meal I am about to partake.” This is a story that makes a real point. If you decide to live your own life than you will die in your sins (2 Peter 2; cf. John 8:19-21).
Second, not only is it possible to die in sin but, thank God it is also possible to die to sin. “And a number of those who had practice magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily” (Acts 19:18-20). Now, that is a lot of repenting. This is what you call living for Christ and dying to sin. Jesus became more important than anything else in the world. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it” (Romans 6:1-2; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14-17)?
Finally, we must realize that for us to be able to die to our sins someone must die for our sins. That is what Jesus did (cf. Hebrews 10). There was a story of a boy who was caught stealing. This boy was small for his age, poor, and always hungry. He was in a class filled with unruly students. They were so undisciplined, four teachers quit before the first semester was finished. A new teacher came in the class. This teacher devised a plan to help his students with discipline and structure. He allowed them to plan their own discipline program. The kids made rules and designed punishments to go with them. One of the steepest punishments was for stealing. They said that anyone caught stealing would get 7 licks with a “punishment” board. Time went by and this little boy was just too hungry not to steal food. He was caught. Punishment must be dealt out. Unfortunately, this boy was not large enough to handle such a punishment. As he was “taking-the-position”, suddenly, out-of-character, the boy whose lunch was stolen took pity on the scrawny kid and said that he would take the punishment for him.
Ultimately, this is what Jesus did for us. He took our punishment. He died for our sins. If He didn’t die for our sins it would be impossible for us to die to our sins. So, where do you want to be in relation to sin? Do you want to die in sin where there is no hope, no forgiveness, and no safety? Or, do you want to die to sin where believers are promised forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and a relationship with God, by faith, through Christ’s blood. You can die to sin because Jesus died for our sins and God recognizes that sacrifice.
The Lord’s humbled . . . John A. Reeves
Let’s look at three concepts with reference to sin. First, those who choose a lifestyle of SIN will die in their sins. An anecdote that illustrates this concept, concerning the lifestyle of sin, utilizes three characters: an atheist, a bear, and God. The atheist (a nonbeliever in the existence of God) was walking in the forest and sensed something following him. He turned around and saw a gigantic and ferocious bear. He began to run. But it wasn’t running like someone who was trying to win a race; rather, it was running to save his very life. As he ran, he stumbled and fell down on the forest trail. Within an instant, the bear spread a dark shadow of doom and death over him. With his last breath, the atheist shouted, “MY GOD –HELP ME!”
In that very moment time halted, the wind stopped, and the bear froze with paws ready to strike. Everything went eerily silent. God spoke to the proclaimed atheist, “Why would you choose to call out My name when all your life you denied Me, rejected Me, and spoke evil against everything Mine. The atheist said, “I understand. I won’t be hypocritical in this moment but would You do something for me? Would You make the bear a Christian (hoping that the bear would turn and walk away)?” This was acceptable to God. The noise came back. The leaves began to rustle. And the bear changed his ferocious disposition to a reverent posture and said . . . “Thank you God for this meal I am about to partake.” This is a story that makes a real point. If you decide to live your own life than you will die in your sins (2 Peter 2; cf. John 8:19-21).
Second, not only is it possible to die in sin but, thank God it is also possible to die to sin. “And a number of those who had practice magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily” (Acts 19:18-20). Now, that is a lot of repenting. This is what you call living for Christ and dying to sin. Jesus became more important than anything else in the world. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it” (Romans 6:1-2; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14-17)?
Finally, we must realize that for us to be able to die to our sins someone must die for our sins. That is what Jesus did (cf. Hebrews 10). There was a story of a boy who was caught stealing. This boy was small for his age, poor, and always hungry. He was in a class filled with unruly students. They were so undisciplined, four teachers quit before the first semester was finished. A new teacher came in the class. This teacher devised a plan to help his students with discipline and structure. He allowed them to plan their own discipline program. The kids made rules and designed punishments to go with them. One of the steepest punishments was for stealing. They said that anyone caught stealing would get 7 licks with a “punishment” board. Time went by and this little boy was just too hungry not to steal food. He was caught. Punishment must be dealt out. Unfortunately, this boy was not large enough to handle such a punishment. As he was “taking-the-position”, suddenly, out-of-character, the boy whose lunch was stolen took pity on the scrawny kid and said that he would take the punishment for him.
Ultimately, this is what Jesus did for us. He took our punishment. He died for our sins. If He didn’t die for our sins it would be impossible for us to die to our sins. So, where do you want to be in relation to sin? Do you want to die in sin where there is no hope, no forgiveness, and no safety? Or, do you want to die to sin where believers are promised forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and a relationship with God, by faith, through Christ’s blood. You can die to sin because Jesus died for our sins and God recognizes that sacrifice.
The Lord’s humbled . . . John A. Reeves