Rom 6v1-2: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6v6-7: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Once saved there should be a change in our lives. We should no longer live in the sin that we previously lived. We are not to be servants to sin. However, sadly thatn doesn't mean we won't sin as we shall read further on.

Rom 7v14-25: For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that I do not, but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
1 John 1v9-2v1: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Whilst the above passage from Romans is long and perhaps difficult to read in one go, it is one of great encouragement. Here is the apostle Paul, who wrote so much of the New Testament and did so much to spread God's Word, and yet he struggled with sin. He found that, that which he hated doing he did and that which he would like to do he didn't.
So often we have good intentions and yet sadly the devil drags us away from them. So often we abhor a sin and yet when the time comes, we cannot drag ourselves away from its temptation. Whilst our spirit is wanting to serve the Lord, our flesh so often is found lacking.
We are reminded in John that God is faithful to forgive us our sins. Not only to forgive but also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, the all being all inclusive, including all sin. John reminds us that if we try to say we have not sinned then we are calling God a liar, for he tells us through his Holy Spirit in Romans: "that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
John wrote his letter that those reading it might sin not. He knew that they were at the end of the day, sinners saved by grace, like you and me and indeed John, himself. It is wonderful to be reminded as we battle against sin, that those times when we do fail we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Who died that we might be justified (that is made right with God, just as if I had never sinned)

Heb 10v26: For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

The letter to Hebrews was written to non-believers and believers. Some of these non-believers would have heard a lot of the truth of the Gospel, and yet turned their backs on it, willfully rejecting the offer of Salvation through Jesus Christ.

To conclude: just because we are Saved doesn't mean we will never sin again. It means that we should not continue to commit those sins, but sadly until our Lord returns for us and "this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality" (1 Cor15v54b) we will still sin. It should not be the normal practise for us believers, but when we do we need to come before our Lord and confess our sin, that He may forgive us, and cleanse us.

Having read what the Scriptures saith about sin and the believer, now read What saith the Scriptures
on the promise to he that overcometh	on marriage and divorce
on the Certainity of Salvation by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ	Back to topics menu