The next realties we want to discuss are SIN and DEATH. Sin can only be measured by its ultimate evilness, and what opens the eyes to its evilness is that men crucified God the Son when He became man - Jesus Christ - which God allowed for our sakes. God knew that would happen. You just can't put one sinless, righteous man in the midst of a world of unrighteous sinners and not expect that to happen (Rom 3:23). But God planned things that way through His foreknowledge:

Acts 2:23 "Him (Jesus), being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."

Jesus never sinned, and God raised Him from the dead because He was righteous and God is just. That resurrection is God's way of making His power over sin available to all who believe through faith in Christ and His finished work:

Heb 4:15 "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

When we do sin, we must recognize our sin, acknowledge it, repent of it, confess it and accept Jesus changing our hearts away from it. It is then that His blood that purchased us at Calvary continues its awesome work of saving us:

1 John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 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. 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."

Sin is basically this: missing the mark of walking according to God's word. We sinned before we were Christians, and we sin after we are Christians, the difference being that as a Christian, sin is no longer a way of life, no longer a lifestyle. It's important to remember that we sin because we are sinners. After believing on Christ, we still have our sinful nature, but we no longer have to sin because of God's Holy Spirit in us. He checks us when we tend towards sin and when we are tempted to sin in any given situation. Jesus' sacrifice of Himself on Calvary and His resurrection saved us from sin, but it is the Holy Spirit who adds the power to our lives not to walk in sin anymore.

THE PENALTY FOR SIN

The penalty for sin is death. God plainly told Adam in the Garden not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lest he die. Even Paul reminded us that this is still the outcome of sin when he said "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). But the wonderful thing about that verse is the last part, which reads, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Salvation is a free gift and it is ours by simply believing on the Son of God become flesh and His finished work. When Paul mentions sin, notice he usually includes the good news right along with this fact. For instance, in Gal 3:22, he says,

"22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

1 Cor 15:22 "22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

Notice, too, the facts related here about the Lord: His salvation for us is from sin so He can give us spiritual life in place of our spiritual death.

THE REMEDY FOR SIN

Sin offends God simply because He is absolute holiness. We deserve to die in our sin, but God offers us salvation because He is merciful, and that salvation is by His grace alone:

Eph 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Man could do nothing to save himself from his condition, for "22 . . . the scripture hath concluded all under sin" (Gal 3). That is why Christ died for all men, but they must individually accept God's free gift of His Son by faith as the remedy to their fallen condition. The way God paid the penalty for our sin was sending Jesus as the sacrifice we could then offer to God for our sin. In the Old Testament, God said,

Lev 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."

This is the same as saying,

Heb 9:22 "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

THE RESURRECTION: VICTORY OVER DEATH

Death was the result of sin, and Jesus made Himself an offering for our sin by the shedding of His blood. The resurrection, on the other hand, brought victory over physical death and spiritual death, showing that Jesus' sacrifice for sin had been accepted by the Father. Paul related these truths to the early Church, and promised the manifestation of these victories when Christ returns, though they are our possession now:

1 Cor 15:20 "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

Jesus brought the victory over physical death in His resurrection, but when He ascended to the Father to be glorified, He sent the Holy Spirit to give us the victory over spiritual death now. That is why all who believe on Christ receive the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, and we are placed in Christ when we are saved. When Jesus returns visibly and bodily in the clouds of the sky, the Spirit in us will change our bodies to be like His and final victory will be ours in the manifestation of the Sons of God. That is what Paul was saying in the above scripture.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

The New Testament speaks much about sin being the result of living in the flesh instead of in the Spirit, but it is the fruit of the Spirit that keeps us from sinning in any situation. Therefore, we should be constantly fruitful in this fruit because it is the very character of Christ:

Gal 5:16 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

Every Christian has the battle of not walking after the sinful nature, but reading God's word daily in reliance on the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us is the way to victory.

Ed