Don’t be Sin Conscious
Don’t be Sin Conscious
A friend of mine once said that if someone asked him whether he still sinned he’d answer, “I don’t know; I haven’t been paying attention.” To most Christians that response would sound irresponsible, even crass, but I want to encourage you to consider it carefully.
The Law says, “Do good, get good; do bad, get bad.” That’s the way the Mosaic covenant worked. But what about the covenant before that? Remember Abraham? He’s listed in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, and we read in several places that his faith was credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:3, 9, and 22; Galatians 3:6; and James 2:23)
But let’s take a closer look at Abraham, the great man of faith who was called a friend of God and to whom was given an unconditional covenant of blessing.
In Genesis 12 and again in Genesis 20 we read about Abraham misleading someone by telling them that Sarah was his sister. In truth, though she was his wife—the fact he was trying to hide so that he would not be killed—she was his half-sister.
Genesis 12:10–13 “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land. It came about, when he was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” (NASB 2020)
Genesis 20:5–11 (Abimelech speaking) “Did he himself not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”
8 So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants, and told all these things in their presence; and the people were greatly frightened.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?”
11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. (NASB 2020)
So, Abraham behaved deceitfully and allowed Sarah to be taken from him twice so that he would not be harmed. Yet God blessed Abraham each time. In fact, in the second situation God told Abimelech to go to Abraham for prayer so that he would not die!
Clearly God did not call Abraham “friend” because he was without sin.
Then there was the covenant with Israel that was made through Moses.
Exodus 19:3–8
3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel:
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.
5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;
6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him.
8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. (NASB 2020)
We all know that the Hebrew nation could not live up to their end of the agreement. It was do good, get good; do bad, get bad. This covenant was flawed because of the flesh.
Paul said that in Romans 8:3 “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (NASB 2020)
This weakness needed to be addressed or we would all remain without hope and without God.
Hebrews 8:7–9 & 13 points this out “For if that first covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have been sought for a second. For in finding fault with the people, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL BRING ABOUT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO BRING THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT”
13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is about to disappear. (NASB 2020)
This new covenant is not like the old one. It is a covenant God made within Himself.
Hebrews 6:17–18 “In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us.” (NASB 2020)
Father promises to be merciful to our unrighteousness and our sins and lawless deeds He promises to remember no more according to Hebrews 8:12. Yet we often choose to remember what God Himself has forgotten.
The story is told of a Catholic Cardinal who heard of an old woman in some South American country who claimed to hear messages straight from God. He, of course, was skeptical, but he had a trip planned to a nearby area and decided to go and see this woman and test her to see if she really heard from God. On the day of his visit, he asked the woman whether she still heard from God. She said that she did, so he said, “The next time you hear from God, ask Him what I said in my last confession.” The woman agreed and the next day she returned, and the Cardinal asked her if she heard anything from God the night before. The woman said “Yes, I did, and I am going to tell you His exact words. “OK”, said the Cardinal, “What were they?” The woman leaned toward the Cardinal and said, “He said, ‘I don’t remember.’”
Abraham had taken matters into his own hands with a servant to produce an heir for him, but God was unaffected by this sin of Abraham and He returned to reiterate the promise he had made. Genesis 17:16–18 records this interaction. God said to Abraham, “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” (NASB 2020)
Despite the failures we’ve seen, look what Paul says about Abraham in Romans 4:19–22
19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;
20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. (NASB 2020)
Without becoming weak in faith?
He did not waver?
Being fully assured?
What!?
But Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Because of the gracious gift of God, Abraham was made righteous. Keep in mind that what is accomplished in eternity is true for all time. So, in Abraham’s day it was credited to him, but when Jesus finished His work, it became reality. Since that reality was true in eternity, it included Abraham.
Jesus told the Disciples about something that would happen when the Holy Spirit came. In John 16:8–9 Jesus said, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me” (NASB 2020)
The conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit comes upon the world. His conviction comes upon them because the world does not believe in Jesus Christ. To be sure, most people in the world (and sadly even in the church) think that conviction comes because of their sins and because they do not do the things God requires. This error in people’s thinking has been made over and over throughout history. There is an example in John 6:28–29 “Therefore they said to Him, “What are we to do, so that we may accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (NASB 2020)
Jesus says that the singular work we must do is to believe. That is a response, not an accomplishment. Hebrews 4:11 talks about laboring, or working, to enter His rest and that’s the idea exactly. We have nothing to do to keep this covenant other than to believe, and thus to receive righteousness. Just like Abraham, our response to the promise of God through faith in Jesus Christ results in our righteousness, and we have something Abraham never had. We have the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead, living within us.
John 3:18 makes clear the importance of trusting God. It says, “The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (NASB 2020)
From this we learn that judgement, or condemnation, is the default state of everyone who chooses to reject God and go their own way. We aren’t talking here about behavior. We are talking about unbelief.
It was the same for those who lived before the cross. Jude reminds us in verse 5 “Now I want to remind you, though you know everything once and for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” (NASB 2020)
From these passages we can see where condemnation comes from. It isn’t from sin, it’s from unbelief. It’s hard for people to accept, but when all is said and done, it is not about whether we sin or don’t sin. We all sin, even after we have been remade. What’s important is belief.
For sure, sin leads to death. Death is the earned wage of sin, but it’s important to remember that we are all born into sin because we are from Adam’s seed. The only way out of that bondage is through Jesus Christ. If we don’t believe He has provided that for us, we remain dead in our sin. Unbelief is the real problem.
Please be careful to note what I am not saying. I am not saying that we should sin. I’m not saying that it’s OK for us to sin, or that our freedom in Christ gives us license to sin. The Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Living God lives within us. How can sin characterize us when we are in Christ?
What I am saying is what Paul said in Romans 6:7 “…he who has died has been freed from sin.” What I am saying is that we are dead to sin, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” as he asked in Romans 6:2
Do we actually trust that the death and resurrection of Jesus has made us righteous and acceptable to God?
There is an old Hymn by Horatio G. Spafford (1828-1888) entitled “It Is Well with My Soul”. My favorite verse is this:
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
The whole of our sin was nailed to the Cross when He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21) and we bear it no more!
Jesus’ perfect sacrifice brought an end to repeated atonement.
Hebrews 10:1–2 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, make those who approach perfect. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?” (NASB 2020)
They would have had no more consciousness of sins. Of course not; because they would have been purified, so there would have been no sins of which to be conscious! We’ll get back to this thought, so stay with me.
Hebrews 10:3–7
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED SACRIFICE AND OFFERING, BUT YOU HAVE PREPARED A BODY FOR ME;
6 YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN PLEASURE IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND offerings FOR SIN.
7 “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IT IS WRITTEN OF ME IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’ ” (NASB 2020)
Let’s unpack this somewhat cryptic Old Testament quotation a little. It comes from Psalms 40:6-8.
It tells us that the blood of bulls and goats was inadequate. It failed to provide satisfaction; it wasn’t what God really wanted. God wanted pure people. He wanted them to love Him from the heart.
Animal sacrifice was established to provide a temporary covering for sin, but it could never take away sin. In the fullness of time, Jesus came to provide blood that was adequate—the only blood that could possibly be adequate. Perfect life fulfilled the Law. Perfect blood eradicated sin. Taking it away, He nailed it to the Cross.
Colossians 2:13–14 “And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (NASB 2020)
What is this “certificate of debt,” or “handwriting of requirements”? The only handwriting of requirements we are told about in Scripture is that done by the hand of God; those ten requirements written in stone. And this passage says Jesus wiped it out. It was a certificate of debt because those who were party to that covenant were indebted to keeping its tenets.
OK, back to Hebrews 10, picking up with verse 8:
Hebrews 10:8–9 “After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND offerings FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.” (NASB 2020)
Here the writer of Hebrews shows us that the sacrifices and burnt offerings were being taken away in favor of the second, better, and last, sacrifice.
Now to verse 10:
Hebrews 10:10–14
10 By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,
13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (NASB 2020)
You are perfected forever, saints; the offering was once for all. You need have no further consciousness of sins. You are dead to sin. You can be like my friend who said that he couldn’t recall whether he had been sinning because he hadn’t been paying attention to that.
Hebrews 10:15–18
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,
16 “THIS IS THE COVENANT WHICH I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, DECLARES THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEARTS, AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR MIND,” He then says,
17 “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL NO LONGER REMEMBER.”
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, an offering for sin is no longer required. (NASB 2020)
The word rendered “forgiveness” or “remission” here is aphesis. It means pardon, deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, remission.
Where there is freedom, pardon, deliverance, forgiveness, liberty from, remission of sins and lawless deeds, no offering is needed. Why? Because the infractions don’t exist.
If there is no longer an offering for sin, then sin is not the issue. Your sin has been taken away. You are dead to sin.
Don’t mix up the two covenants. You are not under the old covenant—in fact as a gentile, you never were. Scripture says that you were lost, without hope and without God in the world.
Ephesians 2:11–12 “Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (NASB 2020)
You are under the new covenant. The covenant of grace made in Jesus’ blood.
Be conscious of Christ, what He has done for you and who you are in Him, rather than conscious of your sin. Make Christ Jesus your mindset. Live, move, and exist in Him.
