“8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the
devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” – 1 John 3:8
This
week we will continue along down the path; the path from a sinner to a saint,
from death unto life, from the power of “Satan
to that of God.” As discussed last
week, the first major step onto the path was/is our entrance into this
world. We came into this world as little
babies and within every one of us is carnal sin or the “want-to” sin. Knowing this will help us understand the next
step; committed sin. In my opinion,
committed sin is like an 18 wheeler Mack truck in your blind spot. It is so obvious when you finally turn your
head, but until you do, no matter how large or dangerous it is; it will be
totally blind to you. This is committed
sin, well really, this is all sin.
The
weed in your front yard is like the sin in your life. When you are born you are born with the root
of sin within you (carnality). This
remains unseen for some time, hidden beneath the surface of the innocence of
youth. However, very soon it begins to
sprout and show signs of disobedience before God. A stem and leaf begin to grow and this is
committed sin in your life. Committed
sin is very simply those sins you commit against God. They’re the ones where you knew good and well
you were not supposed to do it and you went and did it anyway. These sins you
commit do not testify to the fact that you are a Christian, they testify to the
fact that you are of the devil, you are separated from God, and that you need a
Savior. These committed sins are a
product of the root cause, carnal sin, however, unlike carnal sin with
committed sin you have a choice. Let me
give you an example. Little boys love
cookies (Hey! big boys love cookies too J). I mean, is there anything better than a fresh
baked cookie when you get home from school?
We love them, it’s in our nature to want to eat cookies, which are bad
for us. We have the desire to eat the cookie, but that does not automatically
mean that we WILL eat the cookie, you have a choice. So, when Momma tells you
“do not eat the cookie, you will spoil your dinner.” You say, “Ok I won’t.” Then when she leaves the room, you turn
around and steal a cookie……..People do the same thing with God in a sense. God tells people not to steal or commit
adultery or fornicate or what have you, and they know better, but as soon as
they think no one is looking, they go out and do it anyway. Why is that?
Because they desire it AND choose to do it. The desire we were born with, but the choice
we made ourselves. One is carnal sin,
the other committed sin, and Jesus Christ can cleanse us of both. We all walk this path. You desire to disobey, and when temptation
comes along, you eventually choose to disobey.
There are some of us, because of raising and upbringing who seem to stay
away from committed sin or at least make them less frequent. There are others who don’t have any moral
compass whatsoever and just run wild. It
is important to understand, this is not about “how much better are you than
your fellow man at obeying God.” Rather,
it is “how much do you love Jesus?”
Up
until this point you have heard only bad news.
You have heard that you are lost, broken, sinful, wretched, hell bound,
of the devil. Wow, not the best sales
pitch right? Go and tell you all the bad
stuff out the gate. What a Debbie
downer. Well, this is no sales pitch,
this is the truth, and the truth is that the beginning of our path takes us
down dark roads, but the good news is this.
Once you understand that you are a sinner, you no longer have to
be. This leads us to the next step along
the path, this we reserve for next week (the good news!).
