There is a Solution for Sin
Happy New Month! I hope this month of March is treating you well. I feel like the heat has relented a little bit, but I may be wrong. How has your week been? I am here to bring you an interesting write up today. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy!
I was strolling down the streets of YouTube and happened upon a video by Piers Morgan. He was having a conversation with another individual. The individual was a teacher, who was fired because he “misgendered” a female student who wanted to identify as a boy. Piers empathized with him, however, the conversation soon took a quick turn because the teacher didn’t just identify the student as a female, (because he believed that was the rational thing to do), his proper identification of the student was driven by his Christian beliefs.
As the conversation progressed it was revealed that the former teacher was also a street preacher who called people to repentance. In a clip shared of him, he pleaded with people to turn to Christ because the penalty of sin is death. This made Piers uncomfortable. While he agreed that they lived in a “free” society, and everyone could do as they pleased, he did not agree with the man’s “radical” views on life.
He then posed a question, “is adultery a sin?” the man answered, “yes.” Piers asked another question, “do you believe that people should be stoned for adultery?” The man laughed and said, all sin is punishable by death, according to scripture.
Piers was taken aback. He wondered why a common sin like adultery, should be punishable by death. He argued that Jesus would even agree with him. He then concluded that the man was nuts. He said, “that means no one will remain in this world, according to your standards, only you will be here.” The man lit up, he said “You are correct that none will remain, however this is why Christ died for us, he became our substitute so we wouldn’t bear the punishment for our sins.” Though Piers claimed to be a catholic, he said that he didn’t believe that the bible would teach something that radical.
Truth is, many of us still reason that way. At least Piers was bold enough to go all the way to adultery – he believed it was a trivial thing to break one’s marriage vows. For us, it might be lying, or covetousness, or a little gossip here and there. The enemy tends to make us believe that God has bigger fish to fry, than to be worried about our “trivial” sins. As such, he makes us minimize them, and carry on as though nothing happened.
Sin is very easy to commit
When you start out your day, I doubt that one of the items on your to do list is “I am going to sin today.” Many of us don’t do that. We may even start out our day with prayer, and intense worship, professing our love for Christ, however hours later, something happens, and we fall, some of us terribly.
I had one of such moments yesterday. I woke up, started out doing some work, felt bad that I hadn’t yet read my bible and prayed, then I paused to do that. I felt so much better after I did and carried on with my day. Somewhere along the line someone called me, and we were having a normal conversation. One thing led to another, and I was dishonest when she asked me about something. The reason for my dishonesty was because it was something I had kept hidden many years ago, and I was caught off guard by her questions.
One lie led to another and to another. I felt terrible and ashamed of myself. All morale had left me to even continue what I was doing when the conversation ended. I said to myself. “You are just as sinful as you were all those years ago, you haven’t changed.”
That scenery from scripture when Peter was saying to Christ (paraphrased) – Lord, even if everyone leaves you, I will not leave, in fact I am willing to die with you! I can imagine Jesus doing “yimu” with his nose and mouth, or pointing his four fingers at Peter, with his thumb curved under the remaining four, saying (paraphrased) – see this one, you wey go deny me three times before the cock crows.”
You see, leading up to that point, Peter believed that he will never leave Jesus’ side, just as I didn’t set out at the beginning of my day to be dishonest with my cousin. I felt deep sorrow and regret because I had broken God’s law, and for what?
A few minutes later, I sent her a long text opening up to her about everything and revealing that I was dishonest in our prior conversation. It was tough for me to do, but I was glad I did it. Her response left me with graciousness, and encouragement. This experience also made me to be even more appreciative of what Christ has done for us on the cross. How he took our place so we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty for our own sins. The bible says that even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Why Did Christ Die?
We must understand that God is very much love, as he is just. Because of his holiness, all sin must be punished. His wrath against sin must be satisfied. In the Old Testament, God’s people sacrificed bulls and goats, or whatever animals were used as the substitute for sin. They had to consecrate themselves and present the animals to the priest, who performed the sacrifice. The priests also had to offer sacrifices for their own sins, because they were not perfect either.
Hebrews 10:5-7 speaking of Jesus says, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
1 John 2:1-2 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the world.
I am so glad for this great advocate that we have, because without him, who can stand before the righteous God? It is because of what he did for us on the cross, that is why we do not bear the penalty for our sins.
The reason why you weren't immediately struck down after telling that lie, is because we have an advocate who intercedes for us at the right hand of our Father. His understanding of our human frailties stems from his own experience of becoming like one of us. And because he remained sinless, with his help, we can win this battle against sin.
So, rather than excusing our sin, or minimizing it, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Continuing with a sinful lifestyle implies a rejection of what Jesus accomplished for us, essentially signaling to God that we prefer to bear the penalty for our own sins.
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