*Adaptation and Republishing of If I Were To Let Sin Reign In My Body
Romans 6:12
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body”
Colossians 3:5-11
“…a kind of idolatry because it replaces your devotion to God….”
Letting sin dominate…cautioned to the extreme
There is a reason Christians are cautioned to the extreme about letting sin reign your life. It’s no small thing!
Our God is extreme to the nth! He is extreme beyond our understanding – not some ethereal, mere Force to be with you.
A little leaven
1 Corinthians 5:6
Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]?
Galatians 5:9
A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].
The huge monster
Sin is any “slight inclination to error” that perverts faith. It’s a monster.
The same is said in a different way in Romans 6. What many do not know, seemingly:
16 Do you not know that when you continually offer yourselves to someone to do his will, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either [slaves] of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness (right standing with God)?
– Romans 6:16
Jesus was emphasizing the same truth about “leaven” with the rich young ruler. He told him “one thing” was lacking, and… he was not on the way to Heaven (yet). Any “small thing type sin” is not actually “small” — it is a huge monster if it prevents you from going to Heaven! Sin is a horrible monster.
Being safe in Jesus
You may think you are safe in Jesus. You may constantly reassure your soul that salvation is forever. BUT, maybe you never had “salvation” in the first place.
Do you realize that having a sin actually reign …can be a sign that you are actually “practicing sin”? Practicing any sin is a monster error that precludes true salvation. According to the Apostle Paul, you are…
“…either [slaves] of sin… or of obedience….”
– verse 16
You are not “practicing obedience” if you are actually “practicing sin”. No way José! It’s more than no bueno. It is damning. You are either one or the other, practicing one or the other.
Without Christ in you
No matter “the sin strain” – the sin stains. And it stays if you are not covered by the blood of the cross.
Any sin strain
stains and stays
without genuine confession
If sin reigns
Any sin, if it is reigning… can mean your “salvation moment” was never effective. Your confessional salvation experience was no more effective than was the “one thing lacking” experience of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22). He thought he was fine.
He went away sad! Nobody goes away sad from a true salvation moment. 1
38 …you do not have His word remaining in you, because you do not believe Him whom He sent.
39 [a]You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me; 40 and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
– John 5:38-40
PIC: Theology of the Damned by Pete Garcia on rev310.net
Unwilling to come to Me
What God wants is that we follow Him in all things. He requires a heart committed 100% – a Psalm 51 type repentance and salvation.
Never has Jesus ever required 100% sinless “repentors”. We willingly come to Him “just as I am”, recognizing our need for 100% cleansing. We bring our soul to Him 100% in need of rebirth. He then begins a work inside us to mature us to be more and more like Christ. We kneel in our heart and commit 100% of our heart.
“You cannot harbor what you may call “special” sin, and just give Jesus bits and pieces of your soul. Won’t work! He demands all your heart be given to Him. We will never bring God into “conformity with [our] will and purpose.” He is asking us to conform to His Way.”
– Source: Claiming a sin as – God’s will for you
__________
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].”
– 1 John 1:9
__________
Repentors, or Rejectors and Pagans
It seems to me that many are actually 1) Out-right rejectors of the gift of salvation See Site Search for: rejectors , or, same outcome, 2) Wandering Pagans out standing far, far away (in the NAR-type outer field). Not willing repentors – all of them.
All of these are rejectors are unwilling to bow the knee to “all the counsel of God” See Site Search for: all the counsel of God, preferring rather to pick and choose bits and pieces of Scripture – and negate what they find inconvenient See Site Search for: bits and pieces.
Just like Jesus said: “you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” His message to us is: “Come to me”. Don’t be out standing far away with your godless predilections, false theologies, erroneous thoughts (Romans 12:3,16b,21) and who knows what. Be Berean and know exactly what is what with God See Site Search for: Berean. What is what with you – may not be with God… and then indeed you are lost!
Having salvation your way (the McDonald’s way) is not sufficient for Christ. In fact He warned that in the End Times many will approach Him as if they are truly born again, but hear Him in horror say:
“‘I never knew you; depart from Me [you are banished from My presence], you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].’” – Matthew 7:23
PIC from wng.org
Let sin reign loooong, and it may be tooooo long, and soon you’re sitting in Hell way long, as in forever. Letting sin reign is a Welcome Home to Hell precursor (“pre” as in “before you are cursed“). You think?
When I’m done and gone… I want to have it made! I want His side in the great divide! I want it made in the shade for eons of fun in the sun on distant beaches and mountain lakes and streams forever with eternal peace with our Loving Father God.
Have you let sin capture your heart? Are you letting sin reign like the conquering mongol Genghis Kahn? GoodReads.com
What I rather really want to do, is get ready for Jesus to Rapture me up. Instead it seems I dither dodder, act the lackadaisical airhead, a dim bulb doofus dolt ditherer.
– Source: I dither dodder, shilly-shally, fritter life away
Wishin’ and a’ hopin’ for dream lands
What I rather really prefer is to be in Heaven, but… gotta wait for that. No use wishin’ and a’ hopin’ for dream lands and what ifs.
If I were to let sin reign in my body, then…
Heaven help me!
I would water my lawn any day or hour during drought restrictions
I would under-report my income to the IRS
I would pay my workers as little as I could possibly get away with
I would curse at irritating drivers
I would cut them off, flip them off
I would build-up rage, foam at the mouth and scream
I would be rude, unkind, egotistical, and self-centered
I would not be nice
I would let my mouth say anything it had on its tongue
I would not guard my speech
I would say hurtful things all day to anybody for any reason
I would demean, humiliate and sneer at weak, unattractive people
I would hate anyone different than I
I would be a rotten son of a female dog
I would be a rotten friend and husband
I would cheat on my wife
I would seduce my neighbor’s wife up the street
I would seduce my neighbor’s wife down the street
I would seduce my friends
I would watch porn
I would peep
I would seduce teenaged girls
I would amass a huge porn collection
I would be divorced by my wife
I would be lazy and undisciplined and
I would loose initiative and drive and ambition and
I would waste all my day and
I would become broke financially
I would get out of business and sit around all day
I would buy everything that attracts my attention
I would have tons of broken-down, unrepaired “man-toys”
I would have huge credit card debts
I would loose all my investments
I would worry all day about my retirement days coming-up
I would beat-up that rude guy and
I would be arrested for assault and battery and
I would be hospitalized with serious injuries from the rude guy and
I would stalk the rude guy and
I would be arrested for stalking the rude guy and
I would be put in prison
I would kill the guy that tried to rape me in prison
I would be given a life sentence for the murder of the guy that tried to rape me in prison
I would be so depressed and full of hate
I would be paroled finally and continue my downward spiral
I would be miserable
I would commit suicide because of all my depression and despair
And, who knows what I am really capable of?
What are you capable of choosing to let reign?
Maybe I’d be all of these…
because I let sin reign in my body
_____________
The Warning is a strong one
(Ephesians 4:17-19)
“…you must no longer
live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live,
in the futility of their minds
[and in the foolishness and emptiness of their souls], 18
for their [moral] understanding is darkened and
their reasoning is clouded;
[they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God
[with no share in it;
this is] because of the
[willful] ignorance and
spiritual blindness
that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the
hardness and insensitivity of their heart.
19 And they, [the ungodly in their spiritual apathy],
having become callous and unfeeling,
have given themselves over
[as prey] to
unbridled sensuality,
eagerly craving the practice
of every kind of impurity
[that their desires may demand].
– Ephesians 4:17-19
_____________
Inner and Outer-man Struggle. From equip.org
Beware the “so-called [Christian] brother”
(1 Corinthians 5:11)
…any so-called [Christian] brother if he is
sexually immoral or
greedy, or is an
idolater
[devoted to anything that takes the place of God], or is a
reviler
[who insults or
slanders or
otherwise verbally abuses others], or is a
drunkard or a
swindler
– 1 Corinthians 5:11
These will NOT inherit… nor have any share in the Kingdom
(1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
Do you not know that the unrighteous
will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived;
neither
the sexually immoral, nor
idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor
effeminate [by perversion], nor
those who participate in homosexuality, nor
thieves, nor
the greedy, nor
drunkards, nor
revilers
[whose words are used as weapons to
abuse,
insult,
humiliate,
intimidate, or
slander],
nor swindlers
will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.
– 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Warning about idolatry
– those who habitually do “evil practices”,
“who routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts”
(Colossians 3:5-11)
5 So put to death and deprive of power the
evil longings
of your earthly body
[with its sensual,
self-centered instincts]
immorality,
impurity,
sinful passion,
evil desire, and
greed,
which is [a kind of] idolatry
[because it replaces your devotion to God].
6Because of these
[sinful] things
the [divine] wrath of God is coming
[b]on the sons of disobedience
[those who
fail to listen and who
routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts],
7 and in these [sinful things]
you also once walked,
when you were habitually living in them
[without the knowledge of Christ].
8 But now rid yourselves [completely]
of all these things:
anger,
rage,
malice,
slander, and
obscene
(abusive,
filthy,
vulgar)
language from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another,
for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices, 10
and have put on the new
[spiritual] self
who is being continually renewed
in true knowledge
in the image of Him
who created the new self—
11 a renewal
in which there is
no [distinction between]
Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised,
[nor between nations
whether] barbarian or Scythian,
[nor in status
whether] slave or free,
but Christ is all,
and in all
[so believers are equal in Christ,
without distinction].
– Colossians 3:5-11
But, the grace of God has been heaped upon me, and by the power of His Holy Spirit living and working in me – I am not these things. I am strong in Him. Only in Him.
FOR MORE:
If I were to let sin reign in my body, then — what a mess. But I don’t let it. I am not “these things”. I am strong in Him. Only in Him.
_____________
In Christ I am a strong person…I am strong in Him
God’s grace teaches us to reject sin
Trying God’s patience too long
Will you be turned away by Jesus?
Why might many Charismatics not be saved
NAR-types are changing God’s Way, denying the Old Testament
Ten quieries where Paul asks us – Do you not know?
Admitting I was wrong Excerpt: Lazy Christianity allows a hedge of thorns to grow up around your soul, says the Proverbs. Over time faith gets lazy.
Proverbs 15:19 The way of the lazy is like a hedge of thorns [it pricks, lacerates, and entangles him],
But the way [of life] of the upright is smooth and open like a narrow road.
We all like “smooth and open” highways, but… little sins prick and cut you up, and soon you’re entangled in a hedge of bad habits, “little sins” you allow to accumulate through lazy negligence and willfulness. (Ecclesiastes 7:17, Psalm 19:13, Psalm 119:10, Proverbs 18:1, Isaiah 57:17). We can stop those little pricks by cutting away the hedge of thorns.
I dither dodder, shilly-shally, fritter life away
Choosing God’s greater wealth rather than passing pleasures
Waiting for the Rapture – mentioned throughout the New Testament
Becoming fiery hot, glowing, Rapture Ready Watchers
About Heaven…God’s Home Heaven
There is a broad road that says Heaven but goes to Hell
Every believer’s new life in Christ
Read the series on Every believer’s new life in Christ, from Ephesians 1. We are made new creatures, given new life in Christ – when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
- Growing into our natural new life in Christ
- Every believer’s new life in Christ [Part One]
- Explaining the Basic Christian Experience [Part Two]
Why God rejects anyone …ineffective confession
Was your confession accepted by God?
What God secures – you cannot “lose”
Christ secured our eternal home
Why we never lose our salvation in Christ
Pop Quiz Question:
What did the rich young ruler lack?
Answer: Just one thing.
Footnotes
- This young man in this passage asked “what do I still lack?” The Answer: One thing.
20 The young man said to Him, “I have kept all these things [from my youth]; what do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered him, “If you wish to be perfect [that is, have the spiritual maturity that accompanies godly character with no moral or ethical deficiencies], go and sell what you have and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me [becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk]. – Verse 21
22 But when the young man heard this, he left grieving and distressed, for he owned much property and had many possessions [which he treasured more than his relationship with God].”
– Matthew 19:20-22.
