Chapter 28
HEALING
Part III - Sin
(Matthew 9:18-31)
Before we begin this study let us pray,
Dear Heavenly Father, Almighty God
We come before You in the name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Father as we explore the theme of this last section on healing we ask You to please open our eyes, our ears and our hearts. Father, please enable us to see, hear, understand and acknowledge that the greatest healing of all is the healing from sin. Holy Father please cause us to also realize that it was for this main purpose that You sent to this earth your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
INTRODUCTION
In the previous two chapters, that are chapters 26 and 27, we found that Jesus Christ is our Physician. We read that it is He, Jesus Christ, who heals our physical infirmities. We also found that by the power and authority of His Name the people who are possessed and/or oppressed by unclean spirits are set free.
In this third and final chapter with respect to the topic of healing we will explore the greatest and most important healing of all, which is the healing from our sins. To do this we will,
1. Refresh our memories that every human being, with the one exception of Jesus Christ, is born with a deadly disease called "sin" or "the sin nature."
2. Discover that Jesus Christ is the only Physician Who can and will heal us from our sins.
We begin this study by refreshing our memories that,
WE ARE ALL SINNERS
To see this we will,
1. Discover the sinful state of man kind.
2. Explore the resulting consequence of sinning against God.
3. Review some examples to illustrate that we are all born as sinners.
To read about the sinful state of fallen mankind let us go to,
Romans 3:9(b)-10
"[9b] … Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. [10] As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
Thus, all have sinned and fall short of God's glory,
Romans 3:23
"[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
THE CONSEQUENCE
The Bible also clearly states that the resulting consequence for sinning against God is death. To see this let us read from,
Romans 6:23(a)
"[23] For the wages of sin is death,..."
Some may ask "What does the Scripture mean when it states that the consequence of sin is death?" To find out let us read what will happen to those who have not been healed of their sin. It is recorded in,
Revelation 20:11-15
"[11] Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. [12] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. [13] The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. [14] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. [15] If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Let us notice the following verses,
12-13 … The first death is the physical death. This was/is the consequence of the sin or fall of Adam and Eve.
14-15 … The second death is the one that will be experienced by those who die in their sins, that is without receiving and/or accepting God's forgiveness for their disobedience to Him.
To illustrate the fact that we are all sinners and are guilty of committing sin against God we will look at three examples of those whom we tend to think are holy and righteous in themselves.
The first example comes from the Old Testament and his name is,
MOSES
For this example we will go to Israel’s journey from Egypt towards the Promised Land of Canaan. The situation of interest is recorded in.
Exodus 17:1-7
[1] Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. [2] Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?” [3] And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” [4] So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!” [5] And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. [6] Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. [7] So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Let us notice the following verse,
6 … God said that He would stand before them on the rock.
As we read further in the Bible we find that in addition to striking the rock once Moses was also to speak to it. This is recorded in,
Numbers 20:7-8
[7] Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, [8] “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.”
Let us now read what Moses did as recorded in,
[9] So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him. [10] And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” [11] Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. [12] Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
Let us notice the following verse,
11 … Moses did not speak to the rock. Instead he struck the rock twice when he was to only strike it once. Remember God said He will be standing before him (Moses) on the rock. In the New Testament we find that it was actually Jesus Christ who was on the rock. To see this let us read from,
1 Corinthians 10:1-4
[1] Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, [2] all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, [3] all ate the same spiritual food, [4] and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
12 … Because of Moses’ disobedience/sin God told him and Aaron they would not enter in the land of Canaan.
The second example to illustrate we are all inflicted with the sin disease is,
PAUL
In reading the New Testament one cannot help come to the unquestionable conclusion that the Apostle Paul, who was also known as Saul, faithfully loved and served our Lord Jesus Christ. However, before he became born again, we get a glimpse of Paul's sinful nature. To see this let us read the following excerpt concerning the martyrdom of Stephen.
Acts 7:59-8:3
"[59] While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." [60] Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep."
"[8:1] And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. [2] Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. [3] But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison."
Let us notice the following verses,
59 … Stephen was one of the first deacons of the church (see Acts 6:3-6).
60 … Even while being stoned to death Stephen was so filled with God the Holy Spirit that he asked God to forgive those who were killing him.
1 … Even though Saul may not have thrown a stone at Stephen, he did consent and gave approval to Stephen's death.
3 … Paul did his best to persecute and abolish the body of Christ. At this time Paul was not yet aware that Jesus Christ was the awaited Messiah.
Even after Paul received God's forgiveness for his sins and was filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul was always acutely aware of his sin nature. In his letter to the Romans Paul gives us a good description of how his sin nature was always ready to lead him astray. To see this let us read from,
Romans 7:22-8:2
"[22] For in my inner being I delight in God's law; [23] but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. [24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."
"[8:1] Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [2] because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."
Let us notice the following verses,
22 … Paul delighted in God's Word.
23 … However, Paul was also well aware that within his members there was a power that wanted to lead him into sin.
24 … How often have we all lamented about that fact the even though we delight in God and want to follow His ways the temptation to be disobedient and go our own way may arise.
25(a) … The remedy for our plight is Jesus Christ!
25(b) -8:2 … As we will see later in this study, the key to our successful and fruitful Christian life is for us to learn to live under the control and influence of the Holy Spirit.
For the third and last example to illustrate our need for the healing of our sins, we go to the example of,
MARY – JESUS’ EARTHLY MOTHER
In the Gospel according to Luke we read that Mary found great favor with God. She was given the privilege to conceive and bring forth into this world the one and only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. To refresh our memories let us read from,
Luke 1:26-33
"[26] … God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, [27] to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. [28] The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." [29] Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. [30] But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. [31] You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.""
Let us notice the following verses,
28-30 … The angel Gabriel told Mary she was highly favored by God.
31-33 … The angel Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bring forth a son who will be called the Son of the Most High that is the Son of God.
Even with all this tremendous blessing Mary still recognized she was completely human and needed a Savior. To see this let us read the following excerpt of what Mary said to Elizabeth while Jesus was still in her womb.
Luke 1:46-48(a)
"[46] And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord [47] and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, [48] for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant…"
Mary acknowledged that God was her Savior and was mindful of her humbled state. In other words, Mary acknowledged that she was in need of God to save her from her sinful nature.
Now that we clearly see that each and every one of us has been born with the sin disease or nature, the question arises as to; "What are we to do?" “How can we be healed from this plight?" The answer to this question is to go to,
JESUS - OUR ONE AND ONLY PHYSICIAN
This fact that is clearly stated in,
Acts 4:12
"[12] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.""
With this in mind let us examine the Bible to see how the healing from our sins takes place. In doing this we will find that when we go to Jesus and ask Him to heal and save us from our sin:
1. We will be forgiven from our sins and will be rescued from the second death, which is the Lake of Fire.
2. We will receive the Holy Spirit and thus have the power within us to effectively overcome sin.
With this short introduction we begin by reviewing the fact that when Jesus died on the cross and rose again to return to Heaven,
JESUS HEALED OR SAVED US FROM THE PENALTY OF OUR SINS
In other words we have been forgiven. To understand what Jesus did let us explore,
The work Jesus did on our behalf
For us to receive forgiveness for our sins and hence be healed from their penalty, Jesus made atonement for you and me. When Jesus went to the cross, died, was buried and raised again He made amends, on our behalf, with God the Father. To see this let us read from,
Hebrews 10:1-10
"[1] The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. [2] If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. [3] But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, [4] because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Let us reflect upon the following verses,
1(a) … The Old Testament sacrifices were only shadows of what was coming. In other words, they were instituted in the Old Testament days to teach the people of Israel and us about what was to come in the New Testament or New Covenant. These ceremonial laws and sacrifices were not the reality in themselves.
1(b) … The Old Testament sacrifices could never make a person perfect.
2 … If these Old Testament sacrifices were able to make one perfect that is cleansed them from their sins, then they would not have had to be constantly performed. In other words, if an animal sacrifice could make the person offering it perfect or clean; then, once a sacrifice was performed there would be no need to do it again.
4 … It is impossible for the blood of animals to take away sins.
Returning to Chapter 10 of Hebrews let us continue with the following verses,
[5] Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; [6] with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. [7] Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'" [8] First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). [9] Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. [10] And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Let us now reflect upon the following verses,
5-9a …These passages record for us what our Lord Jesus Christ said to God the Father. Namely, You Father have given Me, Jesus, a body to be offered unto You, the Father.
9b … By making the perfect sacrifice for our sins, Jesus fulfilled and hence abolished, that is set aside, the whole sacrificial system and established a new covenant between God and man. Namely, it is by our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross that our sins are forgiven and we are cleansed.
10a … By the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ we have been made holy, that is sanctified or set apart. Just stop for a moment or two and reflect upon what we have just read. Namely, we have been made holy and set apart for Him!!!!
10b … Once and for all! In other words there is no longer a reason for any other sacrifice. Jesus did it all. He was the fulfillment of all what the Old Testament was pointing us to. He was the perfect sacrifice.
We now return to Chapter 10 of Hebrews and continue reading from verse,
[11] Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
Let us reflect upon the following verses,
12 … First of all with the change of covenant Jesus Christ is now our High priest sitting at the right hand of God the Father. The is revealed to us in,
Hebrews 8:1-2
[1] Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, [2] a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
In addition, He is also interceding for you and me. To see this we go to,
Hebrews 7:23-25
[23] Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. [24] But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. [25] Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
We finish our reading of Chapter 10 of Hebrews with the following verses,
[13] Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, [14] because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. [15] The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: [16] "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." [17] Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." [18] And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin."
Let us now notice the following verses,
13 … Jesus is now waiting for the time for His return to earth.
14 … By one offering, that is Himself, He (Jesus) did what all the animal sacrifices could not do; namely, He has perfected us who are now being made holy, which means set apart.
16 … God put His laws into our hearts and wrote them in our minds. More specifically, when we repent and truly believe and place our faith in Jesus, we become born again, that is we are forgiven and God the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside us. Thus, it is He, God the Holy Spirit living inside us, who will constantly remind us of His ways, laws and statutes.
17 … All our sins and lawless deeds He will no longer remember! WE ARE FORGIVEN!! Thank You Jesus!
18 … Since our sins are completely forgiven or atoned for, there is no longer a need for an offering or sacrifice for sin! Just as Jesus said, on the cross, as recorded in,
John 19:30
“…It is finished...”
Now that we read what Jesus did for us, the question arises as to:
WHAT ARE WE TO DO?
By faith we must pray to God for help. We must, with all our heart, confess to Jesus Christ that we are a sinner. We must confess to Him that we have transgressed against His commands and laws. We must be so sorry for this condition that we not only ask Jesus Christ to forgive us but also save us from the power that sin has over us.
When we do this, then Jesus Christ will send the Holy Spirit to live and dwell inside us. This is the “New Birth”. In other words we become born again of the Holy Spirit. When this happens, we become a child of God and by His Grace and Mercy are saved or healed from our sins. In fact, this is exactly what Jesus was telling the Jews during the great Jewish Feast of Tabernacles.
John 7:37-39
"[37] On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. [38] Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." [39] By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive…"
Let us notice the following verses,
37(a) … “If anyone is thirsty”. This is not the thirst for physical water but is the thirst for righteousness, holiness and for God.
If you thirst for these things, that is repented or sincerely want to live a life away from your sins, then
37(b) … Go to Jesus and drink! Cry out to Him for this spiritual water.
38-39 … If we believe and have faith in Him and go to Him to quench our thirst for righteousness and holiness, Jesus will provide us streams of living water to flow from within us. This living water is not physical water but the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
SUMMARY
Before we move on to the next section let us quickly summarize what happened to those who became born again believers in Jesus Christ. To do this let us read from,
Ephesians 2:1-10
"[1] As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, [2] in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. [3] All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. [4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. [6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, [7] in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Let us notice the following verses,
1 … We were dead in our transgressions and sins. Consequently, we were headed for the Lake of Fire.
2 … Prior to our new birth we followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air (who is Satan).
3 … Thus, all (both Jew and Gentile) were objects of God's wrath.
4-5 … Because of God's great love for you and me He made us alive in Jesus Christ. This new life was or is not the result of any good work or works we may have done. No, it is only because God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, has extended His favor to you and me.
6 …We are now seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realms. Notice, this is not future but present tense. This means we are now citizens of Heaven. To see this let us read from,
Philippians 3:20
[20] For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
8-9 … It is by His Grace, which is unmerited favor, we have been saved, forgiven and as we will see below we have been given the power over sin. It was nothing we earned; it is God's free gift to you and me.
10 … We are now God's workmanship and have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
In addition to the glorious gift of forgiveness,
JESUS HEALED OR DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF SIN
To understand what Jesus did to accomplish this portion of our healing from the deadly disease of sin, let us summarize,
The work Jesus did on our behalf
In the previous section we found that because Jesus made amends between us and God the Father we not only received God's forgiveness for our sins but are also received the precious gift of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, we became born again and are now a new creation or person. To see this let us read from,
2 Corinthians 5:17
[17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Now that we are born again of the Holy Spirit,
We are to do the works that God has prepared for us to do
To see this let us reread
Ephesians 2:10
"[10] For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
The question arises of, "How?" How are we to bring forth the good works that we have been created in Christ Jesus to do? To answer this question we must first understand and accept that only God is good. To see this let us read the following excerpt from what Jesus once said to a young ruler,
Matthew 19:17
[17] So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God...”
Consequently, only God can produce good works. Thus, the only way we can perform the good works is by God the Holy Spirit. Specifically, we are to rely upon God the Holy Spirit for Him to control and influence our lives. When we do this, it will then be His fruits that emanate from within us and not the fruits from our sinful nature. In other words, we are to live and walk in the Holy Spirit. To see this let us prayerfully read the following instruction from,
Galatians 5: 16-17
"[16] So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. [17] For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want."
Let us notice the following verses,
16 … If we rely upon God the Holy Spirit to control our lives His love will flow from within us. This in turn will prevent us from gratifying our sinful nature. As a result, we will be fulfilling all the requirements of the Moral Law, which are the Ten Commandments along with their ramifications. To see this let us read Jesus’ answer to a question that was posed to Him by an expert in the Law. The, Scripture of interest is in,
Matthew 22:35-40
[35] Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, [36] “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” [37] Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
To help us determine whether or not we are walking or living by the Spirit, God provided us with some examples of the various kinds of fruits. Thus, when we examine the fruit of our lives with those that follow we will be able to determine when we are yielding to our sinful nature and when we are yielding to the Holy Spirit.
First, there are the fruits from our sinful nature. These are described in part in,
Galatians 5:19-21
"[19] The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; [20] idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions [21] and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Let us pay particular attention to the stern warning in verse 21. Specifically, if a person continues to live their life under the control of their sinful nature, they will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
In contrast to the sinful nature, let us now read about of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Some of His fruits are provided for us in,
Galatians 5:22-23
"[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Let us notice the following verses,
22 … One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is love. Thus, it is through His love that we are motivated to do whatever works He calls us to perform.
23 … In other words, if we live our life under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will be fulfilling God's righteous laws. Just as Jesus said, He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. To see this let us read from,
Matthew 5:17
[17] “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
The beauty of this is that, in our case, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, He is fulfilling the Moral Law for us.
Hence when we yield our lives to the Holy Spirit we will find the following to be true,
Galatians 5:24
"[24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires."
In addition,
When we live our lives under the power and control of the Holy Spirit we will discover in our everyday life experience the truth of the following Scripture,
Romans 6:14
"[14] For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
As we reflect upon all we have covered let us now summarize,
THE MESSAGE OR POINT OF THIS STUDY,
Perhaps it is best summed up by the following two thoughts.
First and foremost,
JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONE AND ONLY PHYSICIAN WHO HAS THE CURE TO HEAL US FROM THE DEADLY DISEASE CALLED "SIN"
To refresh our memories, let us read from,
1 Peter 2:24
"[24] He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."
Secondly, once we have received God's forgiveness for our sins and received the Holy Spirit, that is we have been born again,
WE ARE TO LIVE OUR LIVES IN A MANNER WORTHY OF HIS CALL
To see this let us read from,
Romans 8:11-15
"[11 … if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. [12] Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. [13] For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, [14] because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
[15] For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Before we close there is one more question to be addressed. Specifically; “What if we stumble or fall into a sin?” “Is that it?” “Is it all over for us?” The answer to these questions is No!
To see this let us consider the following,
1 John 1:8-2:2
[8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
[2:1]My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. [2] And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Blessed be the Lord forever
AMEN and AMEN