Wednesday, November 27, 2019

The Born Again Believer Hates Sin

Romans 7:21-25
"21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin."

Born again believers admit they hate the sinful bent of their flesh, they fight against it. When they become weak and lose one battle they confess that sin to be cleansed and continue on to do better.

1 John 1:9 "1 Written to born again believers.
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

In other words the born again believer has a battle going on inside all the time. The unsaved do not battle at all, they indulge and defend that which is indefensible. The born again believer admits their sinful attitudes and actions, because they cannot stand the way they are at times.

We will often hear a born again believer say, "I am so sorry I didn't do what was right." But the unbeliever will defend their sin as though they had a good reason.

This is the difference between a pretender who is unsaved and a born again believer who hates sin as much as he loves Christ.




Freedom From the Power of Sin

Being "under the blood" does not mean we have been freed to indulge in sin, just the opposite. We have been freed from the power of sin over our lives. Sin is still exceedingly sinful to God, He hates it as much as He always did and so do born again believers.

Those who use the blood of Jesus as an excuse to ignore or indulge in sin are trampling the cross. These are wicked people who love doing whatever they want whether or not it offends God. God is not very important to them. Avoid these people, they will argue and fight to defend sin while attacking you for holding up God's standard.

Romans 6:20-23
"20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."