What Does the New Testament Teach Us Concerning Sinful Behaviour?.

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It is clear to me that we must revise our understanding of how the new covenant addresses the problem of the sinful nature of man. To this point in the thinking of Christian scholars and people, sinful behaviour is accepted as an inevitable aspect of life on earth. The New Testament takes no such position.

(4/23/2007) When many years ago I began to preach the Kingdom of God, there were not many preachers, it seemed, who were on the same track. In fact, some may have regarded me as a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses persuasion.

Now it appears there are many who are talking about the Kingdom of God. However, as often is the case, Satan is perverting the true Gospel of the Kingdom. The Gospel of the Kingdom, in some instances, is being regarded as a kind of improved Christian experience in which we all do better and experience a happier life, in preparation for the return of Christ to the earth.

Anyone who knows the Lord can see what a sidetrack this is. The Kingdom of God is not a system for improving our life on the earth. The Kingdom consists of saints who have died to worldliness, the lusts of the flesh, and self-will, and in whom the Father and the Son exercise complete rulership. The great majority of such saints are with Christ in Heaven at the present time. They will return with the Lord Jesus and exercise Divine force as they establish with violence the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth.

The work of the Kingdom always serves to satisfy the needs and desires of the Lord Jesus, that is, to establish righteous behaviour on the earth. The purpose of the coming of the Kingdom is to please Christ, who patiently is waiting until the Father makes His enemies His footstool. It is not a program to enable human beings to live a more satisfactory life.

But the pleasure-loving, humanism-inspired believers of our day succeed in perverting the Gospel of the Kingdom, the original gospel, into a plan for making people happy. We American Christians, in many instances, are totally backslidden to the point we easily are deceived by those "Christian" leaders who are making merchandise of us.

One of the symptoms of the current delusion is the emphasis on the removal of physical afflictions. The idea is, if we can locate the areas of sin in our life, we can correct these areas and thus become completely healthy.

It is true that physical health often can be gained through the application of the redeeming authority of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, redemption can proceed while the believer still is afflicted. But the program of redemption cannot proceed while the believer is practicing sin of which He is aware.

There is power in the Lord Jesus by which we can gain victory over the sinful practices of which we are aware. It never is the Lord's will that we continue in known sin. But we can press forward in Christ while we are afflicted physically.

As we see in the case of the Apostle Paul, physical affliction was necessary if he was to learn to depend upon the power of Christ. This never is true of sinful behaviour. Thus there is a difference between spiritual and physical deliverance.

Paul advised us that we are not debtors to our flesh that we should live according to its sinful desires, for if we do so we will jeopardize the making alive of our mortal body in the day of resurrection.

We ought to gain physical health when we can; but when physical healing becomes the focus of our Christian life we will miss what God is seeking in the plan of redemption.

The Bible is about sin and righteousness. There at one time was a rebellion of angels. The Bible is about God's response to that rebellion. The emphasis of the Bible is on the installation of praise and worship on the earth—in particular stern obedience to God on the part of every saved creature. Thus an undue emphasis on the welfare of people leads us away from God's desire for our life.

When considering our deliverance from sin, we must begin with the fact that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the final atonement for sin. Christ will not have to die again to atone for the sin of mankind.

Because of the above fact, sinful behaviour is not acceptable under the new covenant. There is no additional sacrifice for sin!

One of two conclusions may be drawn from the fact that by one offering Christ has forgiven the past, present, and future sins of people.

The first, and nearly universally accepted conclusion, is that since we have been eternally pardoned, it is not necessary that we gain victory over sinful behaviour. It is true that we should try to "do better" in order to please the Lord; but the work has been done. We never again will be guilty of sin.

The second conclusion is, while the above is true, eternal forgiveness is conditional being based on our behaviour. By examine the writings of the Apostle Paul and the other Christian Apostles we discover that our eternal freedom from condemnation indeed is conditional.

Let us look at one of many such passages"

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:11-14)

The above text tells us that the program of redemption includes the giving of eternal life to our body when Christ returns.

It informs us that we Christians are not obliged to live according to our sinful nature.

If we obey our sinful nature we will die spiritually, that is, our mortal body will not be made eternally alive when Christ returns.

We are to put to death the actions of our sinful nature.

If we are led by the Spirit of God in putting to death the actions of our sinful nature we are the sons of God.

The above comments are crystal clear and prove that our eternal freedom from the guilt of sin is conditional It is taught commonly throughout the Christian churches that we cannot overcome sin.

As I was considering, in Ephesians and Colossians, Paul's comments concerning the deeds of the sinful nature, I was struck by the fact that Paul was telling us to just quit sinning! It is as though we have the ability to stop sinning"

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Colossians 5:3-5)

Does the above sound to you like we are unable to stop sinning? If we are unable to stop sinning, then the above is a waste of words.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

Does the above sound like we cannot stop sinning?

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (Colossians 3:8)

Does that sound like we cannot stop sinning?

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices (Colossians 3:9

Does that sound like we cannot stop lying no matter how hard we try?

And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:10) Are we supposed to put on the new self?

Have we not been greatly deceived?

I would suggest three methods of stopping sinning:

First, just stop doing it. Probably eighty percent of our sinning consists of behaviours we can just stop doing, meanwhile going before the Mercy Seat for assistance.

Second, we can confess our sin to the Lord, denounce it as evil, renounce it, saying we want no more to do with it, draw near to Christ with thanksgiving for forgiveness and deliverance, and then resist that behaviour in the future.

Third, in the case of a severe bondage, we can go before the elders of the church, confessing our sin and receiving the laying on of hands (and anointing with oil if they desire). The prayers of the elders will succeed in breaking that chain.

It never, never, never is the will of Christ that we walk in known sin. There is power under the new covenant to gain victory over sin.

There are at least four major consequences of putting our sinful behaviour to death:

Ability to do God's will in every circumstance.

Ability to bear a clear witness of God's Person, way, will, and eternal purpose in Christ.

Continual fellowship with God.

Entrance into abiding love, joy, and peace.

Physical healing may or may not result from our ceasing to sin. Physical healing is important to us, perhaps, but it is not nearly as important in the Kingdom of God as the ability to do God's will in every circumstance.

As I said at the beginning, the Christian churches must adopt a whole new attitude toward sinful behaviour. It is not the inevitable condition we had supposed.

Not only that, but if we do not press forward to victory in every area of behaviour we are in danger of dying spiritually, of slaying our own resurrection to eternal life.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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