Freedom From Sin

FREEDOM FROM SIN

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Dominion means something that has supreme authority; or control over us. God does not intend for sin to be our supreme authority in life, nor does He allow that sin should control us. This is not to say we do not, or can not sin as Christians.

1 John 1:8,9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Charles Spurgeon said in his book Prayer and Spiritual Warfare: "Oh, if only we could get rid of the memory of sin! What a torment it is for us to remember dirty words and snatches of obscene songs. If only we were free of sin in our thought lives!". "Many people have committed fornication, adultery, theft, and even murder in their imaginations by finding pleasure in the thought of them".

The Christian is definitely uncomfortable with sin, because It brings separation of fellowship with God.

Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

The meaning of death, is separation, it could be physical as when we go into the grave and are separated from our loved ones, or it could be spiritual meaning separation from God. Now we know that since sin does not control us, and because of 1 John 1:9 above, we can have our fellowship restored as Christians. The lost, however, who never come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, suffer the "second death" which eternal separation for God.

Rev 20:13,14 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

So how do we find freedom from the sin that so easily besets us?

Let’s look at a passage from the Old Testament:

Gen 39:7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.

Gen 39:8 But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;

Gen 39:9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

Gen 39:10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

Gen 39:11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.

Gen 39:12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

I/ JOSEPH KNEW WHAT SIN WAS:

In his book "All the Doctrines of the Bible" Dr Herbert Lockyer says the following 15 things about sin:

(1) Sin Is a Lie.

It started in the Garden with the question of divine veracity-Hath God said? Sin is thus false, seeing it had its origin in the father of lies, even Satan, whom Christ called a liar. Sin entered the world through a blasphemous lie and maintains its hold upon men by asking them to believe a lie. Our Lord confirms the lying nature of sin when He speaks of the devil as one who is a stranger to truth (John 8:44).

(2) Sin Is a Delusion.

As sin is naturally treacherous. it is full of guile and that by which man is cruelly betrayed. "In whose spirit there is no guile" (Psalm 32:2). Looking within sin’s fair promises there can be heard the hiss of the serpent. Sin is ever deceptive. What it affirms is fictitious! It is full of make believe.

Sin unto thy hive may bring

A little honey-

But expect the sting.

Sin offers much pleasure, but only the pleasure of which Robert Louis Stevenson writes: "pleasure with a thousand faces, and none of them perfect; with a thousand tongues, and all of them broken; with a thousand hands, and all with scratching nails." Sin offers itself as a friend, then becomes a fiend.

(3) Sin Is Darkness.

The darkness of sin represents fundamental and final ignorance of God, who is Light (John 1:5; I John 1:5). Sin comes from the darkness, lives in and loves the darkness. It shuns the true light lest its true nature should be discovered (John 3:20). Satan is referred to as the prince of darkness (Ephesians 5:11). He it is who inspires works of darkness, and his end is the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 13).