Good Morning Friends,
“Everyone who has this hope in him purifies
himself, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is
lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.
And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues
to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead
you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He
who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning
from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the
devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's
seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This
is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil
are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone
who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:3-10)
Jesus came to set us free from sin.
Jesus has taken our sins away, erasing their
guilt and their shame. We don’t bear our sins anymore. They have been removed
by the blood of the cross. Forgiveness reigns through a relationship with Jesus
and all condemnation has been eliminated.
Jesus has destroyed the work of the devil. The
devil’s work is sin and to move others to sin. Jesus defeated the devil on the
cross. The devil is still at work, but his fate is sealed, his defeat is sure. His
temptations no longer have to defeat us, God has provided the power to overcome
them.
Jesus has planted His seed in us, the
promised Holy Spirit, to provide the power we need to say “no” to sin. Having
removed our sin, He didn’t leave us alone to keep struggling with it in our own
power. He put His Spirit within us so it would be possible to overcome sin.
That doesn’t mean that all sin is gone from
our lives. We often ignore the Holy Spirit and fail to tap into the power He
makes available. But it does mean that sin no longer has us in its bondage and
God is at work to change us into His image of purity.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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