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Permalink Reply by MaryAnn on July 22, 2008 at 10:43pm

Hi Jonathan, Your question 'Why do we continue to sin?' is indeed an interesting one. Obviously our fallen nature comes into play. Maybe our hearts need more softening. It's not easy to change behaviour, because of the familiar.

I am not excusing us, only trying to understand. It takes a lot of effort to change. But praise God, HE loves us anyway, even though HE hates the sin. I am thankful every day of HIS abounding mercy and grace. Yesterday I asked my 10-year-old grand-daughter what repentance is. She said. ‘It’s when we ask forgiveness for something we have done wrong, and we know we are forgiven’. I love that answer.

We can ALWAYS come to the Lord in humility and ask forgiveness, and HE is ALWAYS faithful to forgive us.

Jesus is our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption, so in Christ we have all we need. I think our sinning will most likely continue until we are perfected in glory, and we hope it becomes less as we grow in the LORD Jesus.

Holy Spirit conviction is a beautiful thing. He helps us to recognize our sin, helps us to sorrow over it and confess. We must be so ashamed of our sin, even hate it so much that we turn away from it and toward God, who is always there to rescue us.

I will be interested in reading your analysis,

Blessings to you brother,
MaryAnn

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Permalink Reply by Ron Payne on July 23, 2008 at 12:34am

Hi Johnathan,
Excellent question, but difficult to give an answer stamped in Gold.
May I also add that you will get replies saying that God always forgives when we repent. But this can be dangerous. Cause as you well know: Repenting for the same old sin over and over again is not true repentance. Repentance requires us to turn away from the sin and not continually repeat the same sin time and time again.
Why do we do this? There's a number of reasons:
1. We will always have this nature bent towards sin.
2. Continue in the same sin, means we love the sin and not prepared to stop.
3. We falsely believe that God sits on His throne and is quite happy to continue
forgiving us. No matter what! (I mean He is a God of love, hey!)
4. Then we have an enemy, who persists in encouraging us to sin.
5. We always compare the sins of others against our own. "We are not THAT bad."
Hence we feel it is OK to simply continue with the small sins we can't help.
Forgetting that in the eyes of God, "Any sin is as bad as any other"

Finally, no matter what or how we feel about ourselves, WE ARE Sinners, saved through the Mercy of God and His Grace. We need to be truly appreciative of this and show it in our relationship with the one who has taken up residence in us by not making Him ashamed of His Residence,

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Permalink Reply by Bob B on July 23, 2008 at 8:27am

Jonathan,the problem is that we, as the children of God, still live here in this sinful, lustful, wicked world.
How can we stay pure, in an impure world?
How can we live righteously with the unrighteous?
How can we live sin free?
We turn away from sin and turn our lives to God, when we are saved.
Christ died on the cross, He was crucified and died for our sins.
So that our sins could be removed and we could be reconciled to God, permitted to live with God for eternity after we die.

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.
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 2:1-4

Let not(don't let) sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield (don't yield)ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:
but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:12-14

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Romans 6:15-18
Why do we sin after salvation?
We are unable to completely live sinless until we receive our perfect heavenly incorruptible bodies and are removed from this sinful world.
Other people do not cause us to sin, we are born with a sinful nature.
If we lived on a deserted island, away from all people and civilization, we would still sin.

So are we unable to stop sinning?Yes and no.
Yes, we can through the strength and the power of God stop purposefully sinning, but we cannot stop inadvertently sinning, because we are in our natural flesh bodies.

We cannot stop inadvertently sinning because we are in our natural bodies, still in the flesh.

God promises all His children that we can stop purposefully sinning, living for sin, serving sin, planning sin and purposefully participating in sin. God Himself gives us His power to stop sinning.
When we are saved, we put on Christ, we can live righteously because of Christ.
We are able to do all things through Christ, that God wants us to, through the strength of Christ Jesus. This includes NOT sinning.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

So the way I see it is like in the book of Ester, When the law was set in stone to kill all of God's people, the king gave them authority to fight back. We not only have authority to fight back, but we have assistance by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God the sword of the Spirit to win the battle that we all must contend with.

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Permalink Reply by MaryAnn on July 23, 2008 at 8:59am

Not sure if this was already expressed. We Need God’s help to live without sinning, and we have it in the Holy Spirit. We cannot live pure lives in our own strength, but must allow God to work in us by the power of HIS Holy Spirit, who brings conviction on us. Conviction is godly sorrow that leads to repentance, and brings about change…not to be confused with condemnation, which comes from Satan, and is meant to tear us down.

The Christian life would be very much simpler if we could really grasp that it consists of working together with whatever the Holy Spirit is seeking to do in and with each of us. We should live life in sensitivity to whatever God is doing in our lives and co-operate with Him. This is not always easy, as we have a certain way of doing things, and it is not easy to change, or often even to recognize the need for change.

6 Points of Repentance

1 Recognize our sin
2 Sorrow over our sin
3 Confess our sin
4 Be ashamed of our sin
5 Hate our sin
6 Turn away from our sin

God bless
MaryAnn

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Permalink Reply by mary jones on July 23, 2008 at 5:59pm

godly sorrow is a blessing and always moves you towards the LORD JESUS AND NEARER THE FATHER. ACCUSATION PUTS ONE DOWN AND LEADS YOU TO DEATH THANKS MARYANNE

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Permalink Reply by JERRY RODGERS on July 23, 2008 at 3:41pm

Why do we continue to sin after we are saved? Because salvation is the gift of forgiveness for past sins granted us by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, but it does not eradicate the root of original sin planted in us by the fall of Adam. To accomplish that it was necessary for Christ to send the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to cleanse us from all sin, and enable us to live the life of holiness (sanctification) that He commanded us to live. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Christ himself by which we are granted the power to live as Christ lived in this world--a life without sin. (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 4:20; Eph. 3:16-21; 2 Tim. 1:7-9; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 2 Pet. 1:3-4; 1 John 4:13-17)

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Permalink Reply by Scribe D'Nucov on July 23, 2008 at 4:11pm

There are a few key points of view on this topic, in Christian teachings. Which, I would like to boil down into today's language (strip all the churchy jargon out of it).

The basic points are:
1. you can't help it.
2. you can help it, but you choose not to.
3. God doesn't care anymore and you're hung up.
4. If you prayed more, you wouldn't have this problem.

all of these are flawed, I believe. But, they are core teachings of numerous church groups.

I think that there is a better way to see yourself and your relationship to God. It's similar to that of "Christian" in the book Pilgrim's Progress. On a quest to grow and mature as a christian. Each of those 4 points is based in some measure of biblical teaching and experience. Each one, I believe falls short.

My conviction is that God has payed for all sin in Christ's atonement and no longer sees my sin as a barrier in our relationship. (item 3) However, sin is both destructive and debilitating. It interferes with my spiritual connection to God and it causes a breakdown in relationships to people. (Item 2) The Bible says that there is a war within our life as Christians, between the flesh and the spirit. I have to learn to win that war by walking in the spirit. (item 4)

The people who fall on item 1 are, I believe, not able to see that God absolutely intends for us to be overcomers.

I do not believe in the "sinless perfection" doctrine that some adhere to; but I do believe we overcome and defeat our tendencies to sin by walking in the power of the spirit and obedience to Christ.

The challenge is how???

The answer will never be found in our own strength, but only in the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We have to learn to walk in dependency on him.

About 20 years ago, I sorted through my life and figured out what I could and could not do in walking the Christian life. --- more to come

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Permalink Reply by LT on July 23, 2008 at 6:36pm

The issue is regarding a battle that takes place. It is the greatest battle we will ever be involved in as a believer. It is the battle within. We are at war. The transformed heart is at war with the unregenerated flesh. The battle ground is the mind, and the war is for control of the mind.

The flesh is consistent in the war. Consistent in strength and continually prone to sin. The Spirit is the key. At salvation we become babes in Christ. Our spirit (heart) is completely changed, we become new creations, but we must mature. As we mature the spirit will begin to take control of the mind and in the process subdue the flesh. When we fail to mature we surrender control to the flesh.

We must also recognize that we are multifaceted. In that, I mean we have numerous battle grounds in the mind. We may gain control of one area and at the same time still fail in another. This leads to great frustration on our part as we assume we should be past this, when in reality we are in specific areas, but are yet to gain control in the area that we failed in.

Summary: The war between the flesh and spirit is a battle for the mind. The maturing spirit, strengthened by God's Spirit, will control the mind and subdue the body. A weak spirit surrender's the mind and submits to the evil desire's of the flesh.

Food for thought,
LT

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Sue Schenfeld on July 29, 2008 at 1:16pm

I agee, it's complete INSANITY to keep willfully sinning after being redeemed from sin. If we know who we are in Christ & what's been done for us & what God's word says, WHY?!!! Why do we keep choosing SIN?! We have the Holy Spirit to lead us into ALL truth, so why?!!
Here's some possible reason why we do:

1. It takes time, (a process) to get the world Out & the Word of God IN. If we hide the Word in our heart, we will NOT sin against Him.
2. In America especially, we have too many distractions from the Word of God. If you grow up in an undisciplined society which expects instant gratification at all times, it's easy to lose your focus, of that FIRST LOVE for Christ & fall back into sloppy, worldly habits. Is that OK with God? NO Way!
3. Like you said, we are too casual with the Almighty God of the Universe! Is He our Father, who loves us & wants intimate relationship with us? YES! But, we must never lose sight of His holiness & standards of righteousness. The fear of the Lord makes us wise. Fear to displease & go back to roll in the mud.
4. We haven't really grasped the fact that we are made ONE with Him!
If a person falls in love & is married to their Beloved, are they going to go out & sleep with the pigs & join themselves to whores & run around looking for unholy action? NO, they keep themselves beautiful & pure, for their Beloved!

When we sin- we have an advocate with God, Jesus Christ, the Righteous! He is constantly making intercession for the saints, US! He's praying, "Father, make them strong & holy, by Your Spirit! Help them to overcome & obey and grow into the fullness of character that I exhibited to them!"

It's easy to look at Christians in the Body of Christ & get discouraged. Only God knows hearts & who will stand & who will fall away. Despite what I see & feel, I know Christ WILL have a Beautiful, spotless Bride! God is desperatly determined to see His plan through. He will do whatever it takes, even if it means we have to LOSE our comfortable American lifestyle! REPENTANCE is a major key. Time for the Church to wake up and BE the church.

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Permalink Reply by MaryAnn on July 29, 2008 at 4:09pm

Amen Deborah Sue!

The thought of Jesus, who just happens to also be Almighty God praying for us, asking our heavenly Father to make us strong and Holy by His Spirit, and to help us to overcome, to obey and to grow into the fullness of character that He exhibited to us. What an amazing thought. Let’s do that…allow Holy Spirit to have HIS way in us.

There are many of us Canadians who also agree with you, that it is time for the Church to wake up and BE the Church. No more excuses, ONLY RESULTS. We can do it if we decide to, with Holy Spirit’s help, of course.

In His Amazing Love,
Maryann

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Sue Schenfeld on August 4, 2008 at 12:52am

I just realized I said, comfortable "American" lifestyle! I usually think a little more 'globally' about the Body of Christ. Sorry!

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Permalink Reply by MaryAnn on August 4, 2008 at 12:47pm

LOL... That's okay Deborah Sue,

I too apologize, because I immediately put in a word for the Canadians, when in fact, as you said, there are many other nations represented here on AAG. God loves us all.

Please forgive me!

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