Sin –

Sin is the transgression of the law. That means whenever you break one of God’s laws, you have sinned.

We also we that –

So, whenever you violate your conscience, you have sinned.

We can see then, that sin is all around us. There is no escaping it’s entrapment. We are bound to do it sooner or later.

In fact, the Bible has already branded us all sinners, because that seems to be the intent of the human race.

We are also told that the wages of sin is death.

The good news is, of course, that Jesus died in our place – He bore the wages of sin – He took our place on the cross.

Now, we must understand that, not only did He take away our sins, but in Him is no sin.

That means that if we are in Him we should not be in sin – there should be no sin in us. Now, without getting hung up in legalism, let me share with you what I am convinced the Lord wants from each of us.

We need to properly understand this passage to understand our relationship to Christ and to sin. At first glance, it would appear that the Christian cannot sin, and if he does, he is no longer saved. Some denominations teach it that way.

I want to say that that is not the case, but at the same time I want to say that we have too long excused sin.

Of course, we realize that we are saved by grace, and we are kept by his grace. We are not saved by the law, for –

We do not want to go back to the law.

But how long will we say, "Oh it doesn’t really mean what it sounds like it says." We had better start taking sin seriously.

Now in this passage, the tenses of the verbs are important. What I mean is, we all know the difference between the statements, "I have sinned," and "I am sinning". It means two different things – right?

Properly translated, it literally says, "Whoever keeps on abiding does not keep on sinning." (Just like the seek, ask, knock verse.)

In other words, if you stay in Christ you’ll stay out of sin.

So, whoever keeps on sinning does not really know Christ. Knowing Christ will change your life. The proof is in the walk, not the talk.

That is, whoever lives in righteousness and keeps on doing righteousness is righteous. Not the part-timers, but the full-timers. You can’t be a part-time Christian.

Again, whoever keeps on committing sin, or living in sin, is not of God. Sin is of the devil, and though we all slip from time to time, we don’t jump into it if we are saved. We don’t wallow in it and live in it. The Christian is saved out of sin. We have Christ and His Spirit to help us stay out of sin.

The purpose Jesus had coming to this earth was to destroy the works of the devil. Sin is His work. So, Jesus is out to destroy sin from your life. If you choose to continue to live in sin, that is, to keep practices the same habitual sins with no intent of stopping and no effort to stop, you are missing the point of salvation. Salvation is not to excuse your sins but to remove your sins.

Whoever is born of God does not – cannot keep committing sin as a lifestyle. Sin should be the exception in your life, not the norm.

God’s seed is in you. Jesus lives in you. How can you remain in sin and be content.

Holiness –

Holiness is a requirement if you want to see God. But what is holiness?

I’ll tell you what it’s not –

It is not a denomination.

It is not legalism – hard nosed law following.

It is not long stringy hair, old long dresses and no make-up.

It is not a sour face and a drab life where you have no fun.

Holiness has nothing to do with the way you look, or the way you talk, or what church you go to. Holiness is a condition of the heart. It will affect all those other areas. But holiness has to do with the way you think and the way you live. It is a goodness and a godliness that flows from the heart.

Holiness is a pureness before God. It is a life set apart for the purpose of pleasing God and ministering to others.

Is there any holy?

Only Jesus is holy. But we are told to pursue holiness –

You may not reach perfection on this side of eternity, but you should strive for it – you should seek it.

We have excused ourselves and taken the easy route for too long. We need to pursue holiness. We need to seek God. We need to hunger and thirst for righteousness. We need to get out of the world and get into the Word.