Thursday evenings, a very good friend of mine and I go somewhere to grab a coke and visit. We were both in the ministry and we both have a lot in common. A few weeks ago at the food court in one of the local malls, I had just walked in and Bruce went to get a glass of tea. There was a somewhat disheveled man sitting at the table next to me. He noticed that I was using a cane, which I’ve had to do since having my back surgery in May and he asked, “What did you do to your foot.” I explained to him that I had had surgery and needed the cane to keep the muscles from knotting up so badly when I walk.
It was pretty obvious that the man was homeless but we invited him in to our discussions. We talked about some scientific things and after about an hour, I needed to get home to rest my back. Bruce ended up staying at the mall visiting with the guy until about 9:30 that night. Bruce called me when he got home and told me the guy was a Christian. He said the guy wanted Bruce to get his wife and some other people together so he could do a Bible study.
As the weeks went by, the man at the mall tried several times to call Bruce and me. I talked to him a couple of times but didn’t have time to get together with him. This afternoon, I called Bruce to make sure we were going to meet up and I suggested we invite meet us and visit with us.
I picked the guy up and when we got to the mall, we began to talk about God and what the Bible says. To make a long story short, the guy at the mall and I didn’t agree on every point of doctrine but we did agree on some things. He got very upset with me because I didn’t agree with him on the doctrine of salvation by faith alone and whether a Christian can sin.
Can a Christian sin? Of course we can. Should we, obviously not, but there is a battle that goes on in all of our lives between our spirit and our flesh. The battle takes place in our mind or, our soul. One of the pastors where I go to church said once, “You KNOW you are going to sin before you do it!” How true is that? Most of the time, if not all the time, sin starts in the heart. According to our friend at the mall, if we sin, then we will go to hell. I tried to understand exactly what he was saying and it seemed that, by his belief, we had better hope that when we die there is no unconfessed sin in our lives. He said that when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we get saved but that we must be saved when we die. I’m still not sure I totally understand that.
1 John 1:7-8
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. [8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
We should all strive to live a life free of sin because sin destroys us and separates us from God’s blessings but each one of us going to slip up occasionally. A sin is simply “missing the mark” with God. Jesus’ blood was shed to wash away those sins in our lives.
I asked our friend, how many times do we have to be washed with Christ’s blood to be saved. His answer was, “How many times do you sin?” If this is the case, then the shed blood of Christ is not enough and the Word is a lie. Let me assure you that when you put your faith in Christ and are born again, His blood “cleanseth us from all sin”.
Hebrews 10:10
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Where the Hebrews of old had to offer up a sacrifice once a year for atonement for sin, Jesus’ blood was shed once and for all! His blood is enough to forgive all of your sins, past, present and future!
Even the Apostle Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, struggled with this issue of sin.
Romans 7:15-25 (NIV)
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[b] a slave to the law of sin.
So how do we win this battle that rages in all of us? Paul gives us the key later on in the book of Romans.
Romans 12:2 (NCV)
2 Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.
The King James Version of the Bible says to “be changed by the renewing of your mind”. We do that through studying God’s Word, the Bible and finding out who He is and what He is like. I have always felt like studying the Bible is like finding buried treasure. It is more precious than silver or gold. The more I study it, the more I want to study it. The Bible is the only book in the world that is alive! As you study and seek God’s truth, your life WILL begin to change.
Don’t get discouraged if your life doesn’t change overnight. Just as a baby grows, it has to learn to crawl before it learns to walk. As you walk with the Lord, He will give you grace and you will grow spiritually and the Lord will give you victories over that battle that rages between your spirit and your flesh.