Saved From SIN

Notes by Zach Sloane

Sept. 2026

What is Sin?

Miss the Mark

Sin: ἁμαρτάνω : to miss the mark

Think of an archer missing the targeted bullseye.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We have missed the mark, target, bullseye of God’s glory.

Romans 14:23 (ESV)

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Ultimately, everything that does not spring forth from faith working through love is sin.

TRESPASS

Trespass / paraptóma /  παράπτωμα:  a side-slip (lapse or deviation). An unintentional error or deviation, or a willful transgression.

Willful sin or a  slip-up that involves crossing boundaries, deviating from truth that is known and clear.

Ephesians 2:1 (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

Romans 5:15 (ESV)

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

Iniquity

anomia / iniquity /  ἀνομία: lawlessness, a violation of law, or wickedness.

Disregard for God’s law, not simply being ignorant of it.

1 John 3:4 (ESV)

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Sin in Romans

Hamartia - Missing the Mark - THE NOUN

Used between 39-43 times as a noun. Sin is portrayed as a state of being, or as a personified power, or an energy at work in the human being. Sin the “thing:”

Enslaves people: "You were slaves to sin (hamartia)" (Romans 6:17).

Pays wages: "For the wages of sin (hamartia) is death" (Romans 6:23).

Dwells within: "It is no longer I who do it, but sin (hamartia) that dwells within me" (Romans 7:17).

Hamartano - Missing the Mark - THE VERB

Used 6 times in Romans as a verb, an act that humans do. This is an action, thought, feeling, word said, something done that missed the mark of God’s glory, trespassed a boundary, or was lawless.  It is something we have all done at one time or another.

"For all have sinned (hamartano) and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

How did we get Here?

Romans 5:12 (ESV)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men  because all sinned.

Sin the power, and its corrupting influence, was passed on to us from Adam.  Yet, we have also all sinned and ourselves done sinful things. We are both sinners by action and nature. As a consequence the power and penalty of sin is being released against us.

Wages or Consequences of Sin

Death

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Genesis 2:17 (ESV)

 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

The sinful act of disobedience by Adam created and passed on a condition within us called spiritual death. This spiritual death involves our persons being inwardly corrupted and twisted to no longer be the sinless creation we were made to be in God’s image, but being filled with ourselves, evil, and wickedness.

*Spiritual death is not absence of existence but is a state of being.

Ephesians 2:1 (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

Broken Relationship

Isaiah 59:2 (ESV)

but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you  so that he does not hear.

Genesis 3:9-10 (ESV)

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Shame, guilt, and sinful self-awareness made Adam hide himself from God.

Hardens the Heart and Deceives

Hebrews 3:12-13 (ESV)

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Ephesians 4:17-19 (ESV)

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Our hearts become hardened, callous, unresponsive to God, and our perspective changes so we are less in tune with his voice, agreeable to his word, and less sensitive to His presence.

Will Not Inherit

Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV)

 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 5:5 (ESV)

 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (ESV)

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

We can be believers but we will not inherit all that God wants us to walk.

Destroys Relationships

Galatians 5:14-15 (ESV)

 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Lawbreaking and sin create relationships not built on love and trust but on evil, fear, selfishness, ambition, needs, and unhealthy dependence.

Releases Destructive Consequences into Life

Galatians 6:7-8 (ESV)

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Brings Discipline

Revelation 3:19 (ESV)

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Hebrews 12:4-11 (ESV)

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6  because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Discipline is God’s loving first step to help us learn, grow, change and be conformed to his image by leaning on him through faith. It is not punitive, but aimed at helping us share in his holiness and to grow up.

Brings Judgement

1 Corinthians 11:29-32 (ESV)

 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Judgement can be destructive but it is not wrath. Its is redemptive and aimed at producing repentance or saving those it is targeted at.

1 Corinthians 5:5 (ESV)

you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Brings Wrath

Psalms 145:20 (ESV)

The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

2 Thessalonians 1:9 (ESV)

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

Romans 1:32 (ESV)

Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Isaiah 13:11 (ESV)

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

Revelation 19:15 (ESV)

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

Wrath on Actions

Romans 1:18 (ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Colossians 3:5-6 (ESV)

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

Ephesians 5:6 (ESV)  

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Wrath on Fallen Nature

Ephesians 2:3 (ESV)

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

John 3:36 (ESV)

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Discipline, Judgement, Wrath

Discipline — This is unto training, and all real children of God go through it!

Judgement — We will all be judged, but judgement is an action by God toward us that is corrective, protective, and redemptive.

Wrath - Although repentance is possible up to very end, wrath is God moving to put an end to something. It is not unto training or redemptive correction, it is unto destruction. It is punitive, love-based, and just!

History of Sin

Adam and Eve were created perfect but needed to mature relationally and in love. They were given one command, by which under pressure from temptation to violate that command, and while filling the earth and subduing it, they would have proven their love, faith, and obedience to God by trusting him to be their source and their destiny. By choosing him and believing in him through their mission, they would have grown and matured relationally to partake of Christ (the tree of life),  and been transformed from being sinless humans made in God’s image into being humans filled with the very life and Glory of God. Image bearers vs glory carriers!

Instead, Adam and Eve sinned by taking the fruit and eating it. They did the act or verb of sinning and as a consequence, became sinful, corrupted, indwelled, and enslaved to the power and presence of the power that is sin the noun.

They became at this point both guilty of sinning and doing wrong, but also sinful in the sense that they become infected with the prideful, selfish, independent, enslaving power called sin that changed their nature from sinless and holy,  to sinful and rebellious.

Adam passed on this nature to all of humanity, and all of humanity no matter how hard we try to escape it, is guilty of both sinful actions as well as possessing a sinful corrupted nature that is dead in trespasses and sins.

Romans 5:12 (ESV)

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

Romans 5:14 (ESV)

Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

Although all humans after Adam did not sin the same way Adam did by eating the wrong fruit from a tree, we all had a corrupted nature that was sinful, selfish, self-righteous, separate from God and in a condition called spiritual death. We were enslaved to and unable to escape the power of this inner corruption called sin.

More than this, we all are also guilty of committing the acts of sin in one form or another; lawlessness and iniquity, trespasses, or the sin of just missing the mark or target of God’s glory.

Enter the Law

Both our sinful actions and sinful nature were destroying us, yet because of the effects of sin to blind us and make us ignorant via separation from God, we did not know what was sin and what was not sin. We became our own judge of what was good and evil.

The nature of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that it makes you think that you get to determine what is right and what is wrong based on what we know. However…

Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

So God gave the Jewish people his law to show them what He said was good and evil.

Law brings knowledge of sin & makes us accountable…

Romans 7:7 (ESV)

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Romans 4:15 (ESV)

15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

Romans 5:12 (ESV)

for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

With the law came accountability for what we know. This is a major principle of judgement before God. We are judged by what we know. The law showed us what was and was not a sin, and made us accountable to God for it (guilty or innocent).

Makes us Aware of our Sinfulness

When the law is read,  it provokes in our fallen nature a rebellion to do the opposite.

Romans 7:5 (ESV)

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

Its like sin and its power sat dormant within us, until the law said don’t do something. Then, the good law that God gave us, awakens within us our rebellious nature and we either do the opposite or rebel, OR, we take that law and try to justify and prove ourselves.

Romans 7:8-11 (ESV)

 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

So God’s good law shows us what God says is sin ,as well as making us accountable to God for what he says is right and wrong. Yet, by hearing the law it at the same time awakens in us the rebellious side of our human nature. This is why Paul said the power of sin is the law, and that is why it frustrated him so much (Romans 7).

1 Corinthians 15:56 (ESV)

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

The Law Pointed to Jesus, God’s Solution

Hebrews 10:1 (ESV)

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Galatians 3:23-25 (ESV)

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

The Law

1. Makes me know what sin is

2. Makes me accountable for sin (guilty)

3. Stirs up the sin in me.  (Law is good but I am a slave to sin)

4. Pointed to Jesus

Law is not bad but good! The problem is us.

Romans 7:14-17 (ESV)

 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

False Righteousness - A False &  Sinful Solution

Abraham had set the example before the law was given.  The just or the righteous would walk with God by faith, being justified by faith (declared not guilty).

Romans 4:1-5 (ESV)

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Romans 10:3-4 (ESV)

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Instead of allowing the Law to show them what sin was and thereby making them accountable to God, and instead of the law helping them see that they were in fact sinful and unable to help themselves, and being unwilling to accept the sacrifice of the Lamb of God that the law pointed to, they sought to use the law to attain their own righteousness. In other words, to prove how good they could be.

This self-righteousness just made the situation worse.

Galatians 3:10-13 (ESV)

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

Relying on our own ability to keep the law brings a curse, deception. It is rebellion to God and unbelief in Jesus. It is not neutral. It is a serious sin!

Galatians 5:4 (ESV)

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

James 2:10 (ESV)

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

The consequences of one sin is that it makes us a law breaker and thus we fall short of God’s glory. There is not even one little sin in God. The consequences of one sin is spiritual death and inward corruption.

Self-Righteous Religion…

To try to be right with God by keeping the rules, being a good person, and being justified by your own good behaviour  shows that:

1. You don’t believe the word of God when He says that your present and future good deeds can’t erase or get rid of the guilt you have for your past deeds.

Ezekiel 18:20 (ESV)

The soul who sins shall die…

2. You won’t accept that God demands justice, and it is a price you cannot pay.

Psalms 49:7-8 (ESV)

Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, 8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,

3. You are deceived about your own condition.

Romans 3:10-12 (ESV)

 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11  no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:19 (ESV)

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Even if we are able to keep the external rules and treat people well, even the best of us have failed in relationship with God.

4. You are deceived and think you know better than the word of God, not submitting to God’s method of righteousness. This is an even bigger sin.

Romans 10:3-4 (ESV)

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Real Solution:

Being a good person, going to church, praying, reading your Bible, following another religion - none of that fixes the problems with sin.

1. Dealing with Sin the Verb (Acts of Sin)

You are guilty of committing /doing sin and the penalty is death. Jesus never sinned, but he bore the punishment for our sins in our place.

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Isaiah 53:6 (ESV)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Wrath was appeased and justice was done!

Romans 3:24-26 (ESV)

“…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Note on penal substation: The Father did not need to kill the Son because he was so angry at sin that he needed to vent his pent up emotions on someone, as opponents of penal substitution mischaracterize God as needing to do. This would make God no better than a pagan deity that needed child sacrifice to be happy.

The soul that sins shall die. The just penalty for rejecting God is death. Jesus paid it for us. God was in Christ reconciling world to himself. The penalty was paid by Jesus who was one with his Father.

Acts 17:30 (ESV)

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent

Romans 3:25-26 (ESV)

whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The just penalty for all sins needed to be paid. God not only executed the sentence as the Just Judge, but also bore the punishment as our Justifier.

2. Dealing with the Entity of Sin and its Power

Sin needed to be dealt with as a power or a condition that had infected us and become part of our fallen nature.

To fix this we needed to be re-born, given new life and a new nature, not just told to stop doing bad things.

Knowing the rules and trying harder to keep them doesn’t fix anything - in fact it makes it worse. You must be born again, filled with Spirit and learn to live by Spirit — by God inside of you, not by a letter on a page outside of you.

2 Corinthians 3:6 (ESV)

who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

We needed a new life and a new nature to escape what we had become,  not just what we have done.

Romans 8:3 (ESV)

 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,  he condemned sin in the flesh,

Hebrews 2:14 (ESV)

 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

Romans 6:1-11 (ESV)

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

We have died with Christ, and been raised up together with him into newness of life, born again as a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

This new creation died to sin, and is learning how to walk by the Spirit.  We died to this power and now we are learning to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.

The flesh is the ways of life, the thoughts, attitudes, habits, desires, way of being that we learned when we were under sin’s power. Now we take up the cross and put the deeds of the body to death by the Spirit,  and thus live out of Christ’s life by faith.

Romans 8:13 (ESV)

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

The power is now given to us by the Holy Spirit. Its now up to us whether we will live in sin or obedience.

Romans 6:12 (ESV)

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

The mature sons of God have learned over time (amongst other things),  through pressure, under testing and trials, to be led by the Spirit and not by the flesh, by sin, or by the devil.

Galatians 5:24 (ESV)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Belonging

Belong here is to be understood relationally. Its not possessive, but belong in the sense of having given self to.

Belonging to the bride-groom

Song of Solomon 7:10 (ESV)

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.

Belonging to the Father

Malachi 3:17-18 (ESV)

They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 (ESV)

17  Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18  and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Walking it Out

Galatians 5:16 (ESV)

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Learning to walk by,  and be led by the Spirit is the pathway to mature sonship.

Romans 8:14 (ESV)

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 8:3 (ESV)

 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

So how do we do this and what does it even look like?

Galatians 5:25 (ESV)

 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

We have been made alive and now live by the Spirit. We established that we have been born again, that we have died to sin, and that we are now alive to God.

You cannot walk in the flesh and please God!  Flesh is not just sin, but it is our best efforts too.

Self-righteousness and religion is not just about trying to save ourselves by our own best efforts, but also trying to change ourselves as well.

The law remember not only points out what sin is and brings the knowledge of sin, but in so doing it also stirs up in our sinful and rebellious selves the desire to do the very thing it says not to do.

Romans 7:7-8 (ESV)

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

Sin was stirred up in me by the law. Not because the law said I should do bad, not because there was something wrong with the law, but because there is something wrong and sinful with me.

Romans 7:14-20 (ESV)

 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

This leads to immense frustration for those with a passion to serve God, saved or unsaved, but who have not learned how to walk by the Spirit.

The problem with using the law, or rules, or principles, or guidelines to try to reform our nature is that no matter how good those laws are, our nature and our flesh is not good. These very things end up fomenting rebellion within us, or creating a proud sense of self-righteousness.

The problem with the law was that it was weak by the flesh. Not that the law was bad, but that our flesh was too weak to follow it.

Romans 8:3-4 (ESV)

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The law is only able to tell us what to do and not do, but does not give us power to do righteousness. In fact, it stirs up the unrighteousness in us.

Thus to try to use God’s good and holy law to save ourselves, OR TO CHANGE OURSELVES, is not only wrong,  but it will result in either failure and frustration, or delusional self-righteousness.

Where it all begins…

Romans 1:16-17  (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith. It starts with the Gospel. It starts with the Good News that Jesus didn’t just provide you and a ticket to heaven when you die, but more than just dealing with sin the verb and its consequences, He has also dealt with the power and presence of sin in our lives. Both are SALVATION!

Often the thrust of the Gospel is Jesus will save you form the consequences of your sin in the next life, which is true, but it isn’t even the half of it. He also saves us from the power and presence of sin in this life!

Often we are told that we are locked in a mortal battle with the power of sin that will enslave us for our whole lives. This is NOT what the scriptures teach.

God’s starting place for walking this is out is to believe all that we have just been speaking about, that:  we are dead to sin, that our old self was crucified with Christ, that we are no longer slaves to sin, that we have died to the law, that we have now been joined to Christ, filled with His Spirit, made new, and empowered to fulfil the requirements of the law not by the flesh but by the Spirit.

Believing this is the starting point. You cannot walk it out if you do not believe it!

Some people walk around defeated by sin, bound by a consciousness of sin, trying their best to do better for God. Constantly asking for mercy but never receiving it. Creating an identity around being repentant and wanting to obey, but never actually receiving by faith the power to obey. YOU MUST BELIEVE! Although this sounds Christian to be humble, repentant and in despair, IT IS NOT. Christians believe and receive!

Godly sorrow for your sin leads to repentants that brings SALVATION: from sin’s consequences BUT ALSO from its power and presence.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (ESV)

 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Sorrow and humility that has not progressed to salvation and life in Christ, is still death. It sounds Christian and virtuous but it is faithless nonsense.

Romans 6:11 (ESV)

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

You must consider this to be true!

Romans 8:5 (ESV)

for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit

To set your mind on the things of the Spirit is to believe the Word of God and what its says about Jesus’ death and resurrection, and what that means for you and your relationship to both sin and the law.

You are no longer enslaved by sin’s power and you are no longer under the law and bound to serve God in the strength of your flesh. You have a new power at work in you, the Holy Spirit.

To set your mind on the things of the Spirit is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2). It is to believe that the resurrection life of Christ is now in you and by the Spirit He gives life to your mortal body, empowering you to do what your flesh wouldn’t let you do when the only power you had was your own.

Part of taking up your cross and following Jesus is letting the Holy Spirit bring death to your own best efforts and your old way of thinking. You must believe and no longer let your un-renewed mind lead the way.

Romans 8:11 (ESV)

 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Walking out the righteousness of God is by faith from first to last…

You must believe…

Being born again, being in vital relationship with God, having His Spirit indwell you is a conscious experiential reality. You will know that you have been born again and made new. You will know that the Spirit of God dwells within, that you have been made alive in Christ, and he will testify to you in your spirit that you are God’s child.

Romans 8:16 (ESV)

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Many don’t have the confidence that God has wrought a great change in their life, that they are made new, and empowered by God because they have only embraced the doctrine of this, the belief system, the theology. They have agreed with the idea and teaching, but not believed with a biblical faith that receives this as personal experience.

Biblical faith, the God-kind of faith is not simply agreeing with something, but it is being internally persuaded and gripped by the reality of what and who you believe in. It is knowing and being persuaded by experience that the power of the one you believe in surges through you!

For too long in order to coddle the insecure, to try to pad the numbers, make sure people don’t leave or get offended we have allowed people to stay stuck in unbelief, trying to reassure them that they believe something when really they don’t. For example:

If you can’t confidently say these things (as above)  about yourself, you need to ask God why, and you don’t need people to tell you its ok! Its not ok! If you have experienced new birth and have Christ within, you should know it! You need to seek God and pray through until you have real faith in the matter.

Call me and we will pray together if you need help!

2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

If you know and believe He is in you, you will know and believe that He is in you empowering you to walk in the Spirit,  to follow, obey, say no to sin. You will believe that His word concerning these matters is true.

If you do not know that he is in you, you will struggle with walking out his commandments because you will be doing it in your own strength.

This is why we are called to the obedience of faith! Biblical faith is persuaded to such an extent that it does not passively agree with true statements, but demonstrates itself through action. Faith without action is dead, but biblical faith that is sourced and rooted in Christ is demonstrated by its actions.

I believe I am alive in Christ, filled with His Spirit, dead to sin and alive to God and therefore by yielding to his power by faith, I yield to his inner guidance, his inner persuasion and leading.

By faith, not by will power, resolution, intellect or strength, but by faith I act, choose, and think as he leads,  knowing I am empowered to do so by His Spirit. This faith in his inner work and Presence is what allows me to walk in his power and not my strength.

Why People Get Frustrated at this Message…

This is not a 12 step program, it is a relationship with a Person. That is why the Bible says walk by the Spirit, but doesn’t give you the ten steps as to how to do so. He is a Person. You have been made alive and brought into relationship, and you must work this out with Him. It starts with, ends with, and is walked out by faith.

Galatians 2:20-21 (ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

My life in the flesh is now lived by faith. This is not knowledge, it is not agreement with truths, it is biblical faith that empowers action.

Some have taken this too far and become passive, saying they are not responsible to think, act, make choices, and that God will work in them and make them do right. They become passive waiting for the Holy Spirit to make them act or think or make them make right choices.

God has no plans to erase your personhood and make you a robot. God’s power does not override your ability to control yourself, think, and make choices. God’s power enables you, frees you,  and influences you, infuses you with his ability, but he does not control you!

Some have made God responsible for their behaviour by falsely saying, “God made me do good.”  However, by extension they are also saying that reason they did evil was because God failed to make them do good when he should have. This is absurd!

Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

You need to work it out.

How then do we speak of walking by the Spirit through faith, or by faith walking in his power and not our own?

I do so by believing what is word says,  that he is at work in me, empowering me, enabling me. I yield to his word, I believe his word. I yield to his leadership. I take responsibility for my own actions, choices, and inner world believing that he is at work in me, that he has freed me from sin. By faith I act. By faith I choose. By faith I decide. By faith and obey! I believe and in faith I do and I am!

God’s grace (enabling power and presence - Jesus) is released into my life by faith.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God’s grace saved me from consequences of sin, but also its indwelling power and presence, through faith! Do not nullify, cancel out,  or work against God’s grace and power by trying to do it yourself.

Galatians 2:21 (ESV)

21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Righteousness for heaven and righteousness for holy living is through Christ, not the law and the best efforts of our flesh that the law demands.

Rise up!

In the life of Christ within, it is time to rise up and start walking by the Spirit.

When we do we will see the results of walking by the Spirit in our lives, families, church, and community.

It is time to get free of what is holding us back. It is us, our sins, our unbelief. It is our own lethargy, laziness, distraction, comfortableness, self-interest, and ambition.

We are caught in a slumber by our own affection for other things!

Ephesians 5:14 (ESV)

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

It is time to:

Colossians 3:5-15 (ESV)

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Our future together in the purpose of God in this church, community, and at this time depends on our response to God in these matters.

Lets’ all be found willing to believe, receive, and obey!