“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And it’s desire is for you, but you should rule over it!” (Gen.4:7)
This verse personifies sin as an enemy at our doorstep. God told us that He gave us the power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. The greater One lives in us. When we live in sin, we feed the devil. We should not have a consciousness of our past forgiven sins but we should be conscious of our current sins to repent from them. Build a hatred towards sin so that it is easy to reject it. Make no place for the devil.
When you do sin, know that we have an advocate to the Father who is Christ Jesus and we can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy in time of need. God has given us the victory. It’s up to us to walk in it. When we come to Jesus, repent and begin a relationship with Him, we receive the forgiveness of sins. We still need to confess our sins to God as they happen because confession exposes darkness and frees us from it by bringing it into the Light. God’s word tells us to confess our sins that we may be healed. Confession of our sins also demolishes pride. When we expose our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness that we obtained through that sin.
Holy justice has been satisfied in eyes of the Almighty, however when we choose to live in habitual sin then we need to investigate if we have truly turned our life over to God. Hebrews 10:26 tells us “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins remains.”
God uses imperfect people, all of us are imperfect. There is a difference between imperfect and flat out in constant rebellion against God. King David was imperfect. He slept with Bathsheba and murdered her husband and she conceived a son, but they paid a price, they lost their baby and David also lost his other son. King David also was not allowed to build God a temple because he shed too much blood in warfare. He paid a price for his sins while on earth, however because of his repentant heart, he was still used mightily and loved by God. God used his lineage to usher Jesus into the earth.
Many times people lose their earthly destinies because of rebellion against God. God is just, whatever a man sows, that shall he reap. I have seen God remove many, many judgements off of my life that I had brought on through sin. He removed them because of His mercy and love after I repented and fought the temptation to commit those sins again. God is not looking for people who do the right thing 100% of the time. He is looking for those who walk in humility, repentance and relationship with Him by obeying His statutes and His commands. Jesus said,”If you love Me, you will obey Me.” The Ten Commandments do not bring us salvation, but in seeking to obey all of God’s word, we allow God to keep a hedge of protection around us to keep the enemy of our souls at bay. Remember that laws are never made to save or change a persons heart, they are made to protect. That is why we need the Holy Spirit in our lives and the proof of Him being present is the fruit of the Spirit which demonstrates a changed heart.
Salvation is through grace not works, but works should certainly follow to show that we have received the gift of salvation through faith. James 2:24 says,” You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” If after we receive Jesus we still look like the world, act like the world, talk like the world, sin like the world, live like the world; then have we truly been converted? Why would the world come to us for help if the world sees the same things in us? Simply put, when it comes to sin, God says,” Rule over it!”
The Teaching Ministry of Michael Cannatello
TMMC
