Jesus Instruction Regarding Sin – Part 2
Luke 17:1-4 (3b-4)
February 2, 2020
About 2600 years ago, in 588BC
• King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem.
• He basically enacted the “Slow Death” protocol by cutting off supply of food into the city.
• 2 years later, in 586BC the city had had enough.
2 Kings 25:3-11 “On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and he passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon. Now on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire. So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Then the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the people, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile.”
It was the darkest day for Israel in the entire Old Testament.
These were God’s chosen people…
• People whom God had led out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders…
• People whom God had supernaturally sustained in the wilderness…
And this was God’s Promised Land.
• Land that God Himself chose for them…
• Land that God cleared of its enemies that Israel might live there…
And this was God’s City.
• The city of the great King…
• The city where God’s name would dwell…
And this was God’s Temple.
• Where God’s glory would abide…
• Where sacrifice had been made…
• Where atonement and forgiveness were sought…
And it was all destroyed.
• People starved…
• Men killed…
• Women raped…
• Babies bashed to death on the rocks…
• Important men hung and humiliated…
• And everyone who survived forced into exile and slavery…
Why did it happen?
An entire book of the Bible was written to weep over what occurred there.
It is called Lamentations.
And in that book JEREMIAH GIVES THE EXPLANATION for the horrific judgments that occurred there.
Lamentations 5:1-18 “Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; Look, and see our reproach! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, Our houses to aliens. We have become orphans without a father, Our mothers are like widows. We have to pay for our drinking water, Our wood comes to us at a price. Our pursuers are at our necks; We are worn out, there is no rest for us. We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. Our fathers sinned, and are no more; It is we who have borne their iniquities. Slaves rule over us; There is no one to deliver us from their hand. We get our bread at the risk of our lives Because of the sword in the wilderness. Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine. They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah. Princes were hung by their hands; Elders were not respected. Young men worked at the grinding mill, And youths stumbled under loads of wood. Elders are gone from the gate, Young men from their music. The joy of our hearts has ceased; Our dancing has been turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head; Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our heart is faint, Because of these things our eyes are dim; Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate, Foxes prowl in it.”
What occurred in Jerusalem occurred because of their sin.
They disobeyed the righteous ordinances of God
And they were judged because of it.
It is just one of many graphic examples of the horrible effects of sin.
SIN DESTROYS EVERYTHING.
• Adam and Eve transgressed the command of God and brought death into the world, and it wouldn’t be long before they buried their son Abel.
• Abraham had a son with his handmade and suffered the pain grieving his wife and even having to send that son away.
• Moses acted in pride by striking the rock and never entered the Promised Land
• Samson fell for Delilah and it cost him his eyes
• Saul broke God’s commands and lost the kingly line
• David had an affair and lost a child
• Solomon had many wives and they led his heart into idolatry
• And on and on and on
Sin destroys everything.
But without a doubt the absolute worst consequence of sin
Is that sin brings about the eternal wrath of God in hell.
Isaiah 13:9-11 “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.”
Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
I just can’t stress enough how terrible sin is.
And yet, despite the horrors of sin, OUR WORLD has a propensity to take a sort of NONCHALANT VIEW of it.
• Netflix boasts a TV series called “The Sinner”
• Or you can go to a website that sells “Sinner Apparel”
• Even churches have begun to trivialize the term seeking to lessen its blow by stating, “It’s ok, we’re all sinners; we all fall short”
The fact is that
• Sin isn’t a novelty…
• Sin isn’t trendy…
• Sin isn’t insignificant…
• SIN IS HORRIBLE
Sin offends Holy God and brings about His eternal wrath in hell.
Having a distorted view of sin is a very dangerous thing.
This is why Jesus addresses the issue of sin with His followers.
It is important that all men know the truth about sin, and how to deal with.
In the first 4 verses of Luke 17 Jesus actually gives
Very direct instruction regarding how His followers should deal with sin.
We saw the first two last time.
#1 DON’T EVER CAUSE IT
Luke 17:1-2
Jesus reminded us that this world is filled with “stumbling blocks”
SKANDALON in the Greek, referring to the “bait stick in a trap”.
These traps are everywhere.
• We can thank Satan, the god of this world.
• We can thank evil men who love to see others sin.
• We can even thank our fallen flesh that still loves it.
Traps are everywhere, they are inevitable.
But just because they’re inevitable doesn’t mean they’re condoned
Jesus actually said, “but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the fire, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.”
It is a horrible thing to lead someone into sin.
It is to push someone under the very wrath and judgment of God.
Last Tuesday Tommy came down with the flu.
• By Friday Peggy started getting sick.
• On Monday night she texted me that she was coming to work.
• Carrie actually prayed that she not be carrying anything that would infect me at
work.
Think about it, if someone has the flu and then gives it to you,
Do you consider that an act of love?
But worse than that is spreading sin.
Carrie should have prayed
That Peggy wouldn’t lead me into sin while drinking coffee!
DON’T EVER CAUSE IT!
It is the worst and cruelest thing you can do to another person.
And God promises to cruelly punish anyone who causes it.
We also saw Jesus’ second point regarding sin.
#2 GUARD YOURSELF FROM IT
Luke 17:3a
“Be on your guard!”
We already know that traps are set,
And so we must be careful not to step in them ourselves.
• Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
• We must “be on the alert.”
• Paul even said to “put on the full armor of God.”
We must make every effort to guard ourselves from sin.
Colossians 3:5-6 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,”
Ephesians 5:5-6 “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
We have got to see sin as the biggest threat we face
On a daily basis and be on guard against it.
Now certainly we are those whose SIN HAS BEEN ATONED FOR
By the death of Christ, and so it’s not that we now fear eternal hell.
But that DOES NOT MEAN that
We are now free to sin without consequence.
Sin still ruins lives, even believers lives.
• Sin kills our witness and makes us useless in the gospel ministry.
• Sin spreads like leaven to those around us.
• Sin brings temporal consequences and temporal peril.
Sin must be avoided.
And so this is what Jesus taught His followers.
• Don’t ever cause anyone to sin.
• Be on guard yourself against sin.
This morning we move on.
#3 REBUKE YOUR BROTHER FOR IT
Luke 17:3b
“If your brother sins, rebuke him;”
You will see in a minute that
Jesus had much more to say on this subject than just this sentence,
BUT THERE IS SOMETHING VERY ENLIGHTENING ABOUT
How direct and to the point Luke was in his gospel account.
With no fluff and no explanation…
Without easing into it or beating around the bush…
As direct and straightforward as one can be…
Jesus says, “If your brother sin, rebuke him;”
“rebuke” translates EPITIMAO
It literally means “to fix a value on”
It carries the idea of giving what is deserved for something.
It is somewhat of a NEUTRAL WORD in that
It can be used of honor or it can be used of rebuke.
It is a call from Jesus to give your brother what He has earned.
If he has done well, that would be praise or honor.
If he has sinned, that would be a rebuke.
TO TALK STRAIGHT TO HIM
Regarding what he has done and how it is unacceptable.
Yes, Jesus commanded this.
• Most people thought He only said, “Judge not”
• Clearly not.
And one must certainly see the love in this
If we are to understand it best.
It carries the idea of necessary intervention out of love.
• It is the rebuke given to a man who is letting drugs ruin his life.
• It is the rebuke given to the one who is harming his life with bad choices.
• It is not given out of a desire to destroy, but rather out of a desire to save.
Our world says that such a rebuke is not loving,
But the reality is to withhold such a rebuke is actually the absence of love.
James 5:19-20 “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
That is what we are talking about.
• Saving people’s souls from death.
• Coving a multitude of sins.
It is perhaps the greatest form of love that we can offer.
The New Testament is extremely clear about the necessity of this.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.”
Christian love requires that those who are “unruly” get admonished.
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
The call is for a very clear and very painful rebuke and punishment of a sinning brother, and yet it is clearly done out of love for the brother.
Even the grossly immoral brother of 1 Corinthians 5.
• Remember the man who was sleeping with his mother-in-law.
• Paul called for that man to be removed from the church.
• One of the reasons was for his own good.
1 Corinthians 5:3-5 “For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
It may have appeared that through their tolerance
The Corinthians were showing love to this brother.
THAT THEY WERE NOT.
Paul passed judgment on the man “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
• Paul cared about the man’s soul.
• Paul cared about the man’s eternity.
• It is clear that the Corinthians did not.
That is such an important understanding
In our cowardly self-absorbed world today.
People are terrified to confront sin.
People are terrified to call their sinning brothers to an account.
And they use the most pitiful excuses imaginable.
• “God didn’t call me to judge” – YES HE DID!
• “I choose love” – NO, YOU CHOOSE HELL
• “I just want to encourage people” – TO DO WHAT, BE JUDGED?
What is actually happening today is we have people who love themselves
And they aren’t willing to jeopardize their relationship with someone else.
They won’t confront their brother for fear
That it might make their brother quit liking them.
What a selfish mentality.
I READ YOU EARLIER about the judgment that fell on Jerusalem.
• People starving…
• Men having their eyes gouged out…
• People being hung by their hands…
• Little children dashed against the rocks…
• Women being raped…
Can I back you up a little and show you a few months before that?
Ezekiel 22:23-31 “And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ “There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. “Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. “Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. “Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken. “The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. “Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord GOD.”
That entire city was living in sin, and no one would confront it.
• Not the prophets, not the priests, not the princes, not the people.
• They just all ran around telling everyone how great they were.
• They all ran around crying, “Judge not! I’m just going to walk in love”
All the while God said, “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”
• No one was willing to call out sinners.
• No one was willing to rebuke their brother.
AND THE RESULT WAS THE FURY AND WRATH OF GOD.
Jesus was clear: “If your brother sins, rebuke him;”
It really couldn’t be any clearer.
Well, you also know that Jesus said quite a bit more than just that.
Matthew 18:15-20 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Here the term “rebuke” takes an a whole new meaning.
For here we see THE ENTIRE PROCESS as it unfolds.
When “your brother sins” you “rebuke” him, but that first rebuke is done in “private”.
• Obviously the goal is let him save face.
• Obviously the goal is to keep it private.
If he refuses to listen you take the next step of taking someone else with you.
• This confirms the consensus that his behavior is wrong.
• This confirms that it is not just a personal vendetta.
• And this still allows the brother to save face.
Then you take it to the whole church, which is still a level of safety and protection from the world, and ultimately, if there is no repentance, he is removed.
• He is shamed.
• He is shunned.
• He is ostracized.
The point is to so severely discipline him
That he will feel shame and reproach and embarrassment
And ultimately come back to the church in humility in repentance.
Now in our world that seems so cruel and drastic to people.
I REMEMBER A CONVERSATION with another Christian man many years ago about that passage and he said, “I just don’t think I could ever conceive of a situation so bad that would warrant a church doing that.”
HIS REASONING WAS DISTORTED.
He had fallen prey to the common deception that discipline is unloving,
And since we are to be loving, then there is no room for discipline.
Jesus here sets our minds straight.
• No one ever loved greater than Jesus.
• No one ever demonstrated true God-like love like He did.
• No one ever commanded love more adamantly than Jesus either.
And this Jesus, who commanded love,
Also commanded us to rebuke our sinning brother.
WHAT DO WE MAKE OF THAT?
The presence of a rebuke is not the absence of love,
It is an expression of it.
It is not those who rebuke their sinning brother who are being unloving
It is those who do not.
Regarding that sinning brother in 1 Corinthians, remember what Paul said?
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.”
• Paul didn’t call their lack of discipline loving, he called it arrogant.
• To Paul it was selfish and prideful and irresponsible.
Even later in the chapter he wrote
1 Corinthians 5:6 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?”
• Think of yeast, and how it spreads.
• And this was also a danger.
In short, by not rebuking their brother,
They were setting his soul up for destruction
And were giving a horrible example to the next generation.
THAT IS NOT LOVING!
• If sin is really as dangerous as the Bible says it is,
• Then we must not allow our brothers to just run into it without reproach.
THIS IS HOW JESUS SAID TO DEAL WITH SIN.
Don’t Ever Cause It – Guard Yourself From It – Rebuke Your Brother For It
#4 FORGIVE THE HUMBLE OF IT
Luke 17:3c-4
“and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
This was another area in which THE DISCIPLES UNDERSTANDING of how to deal with sin was NEGATIVELY INFLUENCED BY THE PHARISEES.
Pharisees knew nothing of forgiveness.
As we see this with the parable of the prodigal or with the woman caught in adultery, or with any other tax collector or sinner who longed for mercy.
The Pharisees did not believe in it.
• In their mind a sinner must wear their reproach for the rest of their life and experience no deliverance from it.
But Jesus gives another command.
It is the command of forgiving repentant brothers.
“if he repents, forgive him”
“repents” translates METANOEO
It means “to change one’s mind” or “to think differently”
In other words, “If your brother comes to see his sin as no longer that which is desirable, but rather that which is deplorable.”
• If your brother hates what he did, and wants freedom from it.
• And if he approaches you in that humility then by all means “forgive him”
“forgive” translates APHIEMI
It means “to let go” or “to keep no longer”
Or “to give up” as in the debt they owe you.
We might say today, “Let it go”.
If your brother has a mind change regarding his sin,
Which no doubt changes the desire, then let it go.
The great parable on this subject comes also in Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew 18:21-35 “Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
We’ve done the math here before.
The first man’s debt would have been the equivalent of somewhere around 3.5 billion dollars (insurmountable)
• But he was forgiven.
• His master let it go.
However the second man’s debt was more like the equivalent of around $10,000.
• Big, but certainly not insurmountable.
• And his master would not let it go.
The point of the parable, and the basis for the command is this.
No one has ever wronged or offended you even close to the degree
To which you have wronged or offended God.
If God is willing to forgive you your insurmountable debt,
Then you certainly should forgive your brother of his puny debt.
FORGIVE HIM; LET IT GO.
Even if you have to forgive him of MULTIPLE DEBTS.
(4) “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent’, forgive him.”
I think sometimes the MISUNDERSTANDING of this verse
Comes when people assume that the person is
Committing the same sin over and over 7 times in one day.
• He kicks your dog and says, “I repent” so you forgive him.
• Then he kicks your dog again and say, “I repent” so you forgive him.
• And over and over 7 times.
Obviously in such a case, there has been no repentance,
Only half-hearted and even hypocritical remorse.
THAT BROTHER STILL NEEDS A REBUKE.
We must remember that TRUE REPENTANCE IS REQUIRED.
2 Chronicles 7:14 “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Part of repentance is a mind change that results in a behavior change;
A turning from wickedness.
We read of Esau:
Hebrews 12:15-17 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
Obviously then repentance is much more
Than remorse over negative consequences.
Esau had remorse, even tears, but he had no repentance.
Clearly then, based on the prerequisite of repentance,
We are not talking here about a man who uses this passage
As some sort of loophole to stay in sin.
Rather, Jesus is referring to a brother who has sinned against you in many ways.
• He kicked your dog…
• He scratched your car…
• He stole your lawnmower…
• He talked bad about you on Facebook…
• He lied to you about doing it all…
• He never paid back the money you loaned him…
• And he didn’t let your kid play enough when he coached him in Little League…
And this brother has come one by one during the day
Confessing and repenting of all of those sins.
HE MUST BE FORGIVEN.
Even such great debts do not compare to the debt you have brought up before God.
AND THIS WAS REVOLUTIONARY TO THE DISCIPLES
Because many Rabbi’s taught that
God wouldn’t forgive a person more than 3 times.
Here Jesus gives us just the opposite teaching.
FORGIVENESS IS LIMITLESS.
THIS IS HOW JESUS COMMANDED US TO DEAL WITH SIN
BECAUSE WE SEE THE DEVASTATING EFFECTS OF SIN…
BECAUSE WE LOVE OUR BROTHER AND WANT BETTER FOR HIM…
BECAUSE WE LOVE GOD AND DON’T WANT TO OFFEND HIM…
• We never cause it…
• We guard ourselves from it…
• When it happens we rebuke it…
• When repentance occurs, we let it go…
We don’t want anyone Tempted to sin, Stumbling in sin,
Remaining in sin, or Unable to escape sin.
Our entire objective is to see men live lives free from sin and judgment.
This is the very heart of Christ.
He came as a Savior, and as a Savior from sin.
We cannot be His church or His followers
If we do not adopt His theology on sin.
AND HERE IS THE REALLY GOOD NEWS
Thanks to Jesus, sin can be dealt with.
• Apart from Jesus, I can never escape my sin.
• Apart from Jesus, my sin can never be atoned for.
• Apart from Jesus, I can never be forgiven.
But the very heart of the gospel is that now, thanks to Jesus,
Sinners can be saved from their sin.
That is what Paul said:
1 Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
Paul also taught us:
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
And when Jesus came, He set us free from sin.
Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The expectation then for us is that we live in that freedom.
Romans 6:8-14 “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Sin is the enemy, and we must never take a negligent view of it.
• Never Cause It
• Guard Yourself from It
• Rebuke Your Brother for It
• Forgiven the Humble of It
This was Jesus instruction regarding sin,
And so much of our church work would be so much more effective
If simply obeyed these 4 little verses.
