It blows my mind sometimes how many people who claim to follow Jesus Christ argue that there is nothing wrong with their sin, they can go on doing whatever they feel like doing. After all, they argue, their sins are forgiven and they are free in Christ. Many of these people tell me that the Bible says we are now “free” in Christ! However, what the Bible means when it talks about being free, is the fact that we as true believers are now free from the control and power of sin, we are no longer held captive by sin, we are set free from sin’s grasp by the blood of Jesus Christ.
I wonder many times have these people ever really read the Bible, or do they just read what they want the Bible to say? When the scribes and Pharisees brought the woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus, look at what Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11) He didn’t just say, that’s okay, you’re free now. He said “STOP DOING THAT!” sin NO MORE!
And then, look at the next verse “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” (John 8:12) Whoever follows me WILL NOT walk in darkness. We CANNOT follow Him and keep on doing what the Bible clearly tells us is wrong!
“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Isaiah 1:16-17)
“Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14)
The Bible is CRYSTAL clear that the more we follow Him, the less we will want and desire to do wrong. We cannot go through life just continuing to live however we please and ignoring His Word and commandments! That’s not what many people want to hear, because they have too much of a love relationship with this world and with their flesh. But look closely at these two verses:
“No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him.” 1 Johjn 3:6)
“Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.” (3 John 1:11)
“No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him!” No one who continues to live a life of sin and disobedience is a true follower of Jesus Christ!
Now, obviously, we all sin every day, because we still have the flesh. However, we will learn to hate sin, and we will seek to sin less and less the closer we get to our wonderful Savior!