There was a time when the world was not groaning and travailing in pain and when men were not suffering. That time in history was when God created the universe and made everything perfect. After six days of creative miracles, God said that everything He made was “very good.” (Genesis 1:31). Adam and Eve walked with God in perfect harmony with His will for a time. Then they disobeyed God when they ate the forbidden fruit! By one man, sin entered the world and death by sin and death passed to all men because all sinned. (Romans 5:12). All men inherited Adam’s sin nature and became sinners who were under the judgment of God.
People sin as a way of life because it is natural to them. The sin nature that people inherit is the inherent disposition of a person that affects his conduct and behavior. All an unsaved person can do is sin because he is under the power of his corrupt nature. The unregenerate person is a slave to sin and cannot escape that bondage by his own will and effort. He will continue to violate God’s commandments because he is lawless by nature and cannot bring himself to submit to God’s law (Romans 8:7).
But God, who is rich in mercy, made a way for sinners to be free from the bondage to sin, the dominion of sin and the judgment of God. God sent Jesus to earth to become a man and live a sinless life and die in the place of sinners. Whoever believes in Jesus for salvation will be accepted by God. When a person is saved, his whole life changes. He begins to love God, the Bible, the church, fellow Christians, and all people, even his enemies. The new born believer wants to be holy and desires now to do God’s will. He has power to overcome the old ways of thinking, speaking, and behaving but he still has to battle his sin nature to live victoriously. The temptations are numerous and the schemes of the devil are clever so it is easy to stumble and fall. The new born believer will not be sinless but he will improve as he looks to Jesus for grace and strength each day. The sin that a Christian used to love and practice now grieves him if he commits it and causes him to repent and forsake it.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:12, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust.” Sin will try to control you like it used to when you were unsaved but if you abide in Christ and His Word, you will be victorious over sin and you will become more and more a partaker of God’s holiness (Hebrews 12:10).
Love in Christ,
Pastor Dennis
