A Vessel Unto Honour

What is sin and why does it matter to me? I am a good person. Why do I care about it?

Sin is a transgression against the Divine Law (a word, deed or a desire).

The bible says “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:13-15).”

Why would God have to work in us if we were able to be good enough on our own? The bible says “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Romans 3:10-12)… For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God… (Romans 3:23)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The bible goes on to reinforce the message that it is impossible for us to “be good enough on our own” to “earn” our way into heaven. God wants us to be humble. It takes humility to accept that we are all sinners… but it takes even more humility to accept that you personally have sinned, and that God is going to hold you accountable for it… and it takes the most humility to come before God and ask Jesus to forgive you and to pay for your sins for you.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith (Romans 3:27).

That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

Philippians 1:10

Not one person among us is perfect. God knows this. He is holy and sin offends and grieves Him. That is why He sent His only Son Jesus Christ (who was the Son of man and the Son of God, who was God among us on earth). If we didn’t need Christ’s blood to pay for our sins, then why did Jesus have to die? If we could escape the consequences of our sins by our own merit, then why did God prophesy of Jesus to the serpent after Adam and Eve sinned? Why did God have to make a plan to pay for sin? It wasn’t just that he was paying for sins: He was giving us a chance to participate in His divine nature and escape our corruptible old nature. We put to death the misdeeds of our body and participate in the new nature when we put our faith in what Jesus did and when we put our faith in who Jesus says He is.

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Galatians 2:21

Receive not the grace of God in vain. Give no offense in anything. In all things approve ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.

That is taken from 2 Corinthians 6:1-7 and can only be done by the grace of God after salvation. No one can live without giving offense in their own strength and power. We always fall short. We can do it for a little while, but then something happens and we fail at it. We can always justify our short comings, but God is the only one who can justify… and Justification is something that can only be done by the blood of Jesus Christ.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Romans 5:8-10