Heb. 10:26-27, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” Those are actually pretty scary words. Some delusional souls may claim to be sinless, but the rest of us are fully aware of our fallen nature and tendency to sin. In fact, the Bible is pretty clear in that regard. It does not say we may be sinners but that we are so. And BTW, it is not Adam’s fault alone that we have a proclivity to sin – we are as much to blame. Fair enough, we are not responsible for sin, but we have the same choice Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden.
Although they were made in the image of God, they chose to be disobedient and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Bible says this in Rom. 5:12, “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.” Two things stand out for me in this verse. Firstly, sin came into the world not because Adam was sinful by nature but because, as I said previously, he had a choice and made the wrong one. Secondly, death spread to all men because all sinned, not just a few – ALL SINNED.
Rom. 3:23 states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That is speaking of you and me, my friend – no exceptions. You know the delusional souls I spoke of earlier; the Bible has some choice words for them. 1 John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We have to admit we sin in order to do something about it. No one who claims they aren’t doing anything wrong will take steps to correct it. Moreover, when the writer of Hebrews says, “If we go on sinning deliberately,” he may as well have said, “WHEN we go on sinning.” I think it is safe to assume that everyone will sin deliberately from time to time.
“Oh, I try not to,” you may say, but even that is admitting you do. “Well, I don’t murder, steal or cheat,” you may counter, but those are obvious sins. I am speaking not only of them but those we do not consider sinful. Gossiping, slandering someone, bearing false witness against an individual by blaming them for something they did not do, or “taking” a single pen from a desk is also deliberate sin. Even the famous “white lie” is technically a sin. Nowhere in the Bible will you find it written that lying is permissible to spare a child’s feelings or to let someone off the hook when you break up with them.
It seems harsh, I know, but it is what it is. Most people will readily lose their temper in a road rage incident or yell profanity because someone did something they consider “heinous.” They will partake in the vices of life like greed, lust, envy, gluttony, and slothfulness to satisfy their desires without a second thought. One would hope that does not apply to Christians, but I am sad to say, there is undoubtedly a number that absolutely does so – and maybe even worse. The title “son or daughter of God” does not automatically remove our inability to fall prey to our carnal self at times.
The fact is that sinning when we have come to the knowledge of the truth is an affront to God. The only just punishment for our actions is for us to be banished to eternal punishment. But, thank God we have an advocate pleading our case to the righteous Judge. 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. In the very next verse, we read how He accomplishes that for us, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:22.). That does not mean that we should go on sinning, but does mean that even though our fallen, sinful nature will get us into trouble from time to time, we have someone in our corner pleading our case. Thanks to Him, if we are repentant, we will not receive the punishment we are so clearly deserving of. Thank you, God, for Jesus, and thank you, Jesus, for appeasing God.
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