BIBLE ONLY CHRISTIANITY

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BIBLE ONLY CHRISTIANITY

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“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

HAMARTIOLOGY

The Doctrine Of Sin

The Lord has given us His Word in order for us to know with certainty what life with Him is in reality. And with

our world so far from God with endless mixed ideas of Who He is, and what His Truth is in all matters. We MUST

do a responsible study of the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15-16 KJV), relying on the Spirit’s leading (Romans 8:14 KJV), in

order to learn God’s perspective of life – His Truth!

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,

and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11).

BE SURE TO LOOK TO THE LORD TO OPEN THESE TRUTHS OF HIS TO YOU...

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(The following is based on Mark Cambron’s, ‘Bible Doctrines’.)

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Hamartiology is derived from the Greek word, hamartia, meaning ‘sin.’ Therefore, hamartiology is

the doctrine of sin.

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1. THE ORIGIN OF SIN (See Study 01.)

2. THE REALITY OF SIN

(Continuing…)

3. THE NATURE OF SIN

3.1. The Modern View Of Sin.

1. Society calls it indiscretion.

2. Scholars label it ignorance.

3. Evolutionists say it is the trait of the beast. i.e. Natural and therefore to be expected.

4. Some ‘christian’ scientists teach it is the absence from good.

5. The fleshly man excuses it as amiable / likable weakness.

6. The new theologians declare it is merely selfishness.

3.2. The Biblical View Of Sin.

3.2.1. Sin Is Coming Short Of The Glory Of God

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23).

This Scripture needs to be understood in context of broader spiritual principles:

a. Firstly, sin means to come short of the divine aim of God for us. The divine aim of God is that

we glorify His Name, that we bring glory to His Name. Sin causes man to be incapable of fulfilling

this purpose.

1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, DO ALL TO THE

GLORY OF GOD.”

b. Secondly, sin prevents the child of God from securing future glory FROM the Lord in Heaven, …

1 Corinthians 2:7-9

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before

the world unto our glory:

8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified

the Lord of glory.

9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the

things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings

of Christ, and also A PARTAKER OF THE GLORY THAT SHALL BE REVEALED:” (1 Peter 5:1).

“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, YE SHALL RECEIVE A CROWN OF GLORY that

fadeth not away.” (1 Peter 5:4).


There is so much that the lost sinner denies themselves when they choose to remain in their sin,

rather than repenting towards God, and having faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. They cannot

know the wondrous privilege of bringing glory to Almighty God! What purpose the child of God has!

And if that is not enough, the lost sinner, and the carnal believer, will never know the wonder of

the glory and honour given to them in Heaven. No! When in sin we fall short of the glory of God in

both ways!

That sin causes man to fall short of bringing God glory due Him, should help us to better

appreciate the extent of the wickedness of sin.

3.2.2. Sin Is Transgression Of The Law

1 John 3:4 “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of

the law.”

At the Great White throne judgement the lost will be judged by their works according to the law of

God (the laws of Moses). See Joshua 7:11, 15; Isaiah 24:5; Daniel 9:11; Hosea 6:7; 8:1 KJV.

3.2.3. Sin Is Rebellion Against God

Isaiah 1:2 “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished

and brought up children and they have rebelled against me.”

See also 2 Thessalonians 2:4, 8 KJV.

3.2.4. Sin Is Disobedience

Sin is a lack of response to God.

Ephesians 2:2 “In time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the

prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”

Ephesians 5:6 “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the

wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”

3.2.5. Sin Is Unbelief

Unbelief is the terrible sin of not trusting God. And then putting that which the Lord says into

practice in daily life.

1 John 5:10 “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not

God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”

Hebrews 3:12 “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in

departing from the living God.”

Unbelief, in the child of God, is replaced by faith through reading, studying and meditating in God’s

Word, …

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”.


3.2.6. ‘Sin’ Is Everything That Offends God

a Introduction

‘Sin’ is sin because it is contrary to Who and What God is. Sin is anything that conflicts with the

Lord. And for this reason ‘sin’ is a very serious matter to the Lord. The fact that the Lord sent His

Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die in mans’ place tells us that sin is very, very serious. The fact that

the Lord punishes sin of those who are not born again, in eternal fires, reinforces the fact that sin

is very, very serious to the Him! All sin WILL be dealt with, either in Christ on the Cross, or in the

lost sinner in hell.

Most of today’s children of God show how out of step they are with the Lord, and more in step with

the wicked world, by their careless altitude towards sin.

b. God Is Holy

Meaning that He is separate from, and against, everything that He considers unholy, impure, or

unacceptable.

In the Theology studies we discussed the holiness of God …

‘The holiness of God means that the Lord is set apart from all else. While the Lord is not so set

apart from all else that we don’t know about Him, or don’t know anything about Him, or cannot

know Him in any sort of relationship. He is set apart in that He isn’t influenced to change Who, and

What, He is in Himself, by anything, or anyone.

When we ignore, or neglect, God’s holiness, we think casually of sin. We are living in the day of

compromise, when people hold ‘casual views.’ It is hard to get people to honestly, and seriously

consider their lost condition and the peril of eternal hell ahead. They think casually of salvation,

because they have a casual / low view of God’s holiness. The appropriate view of the Lord’s

holiness is powerfully expressed in the Scriptures, …

Exodus 15:11 “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in

holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”;

Leviticus 11:44, 45 ”For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye

shall be holy; for I am holy: …, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy”

Isaiah 6:2, 3 “Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain [TWO] he covered

his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another,

and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory”

Isaiah 57:15 “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I

dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the

spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones”.

A contrite and humble spirit / attitude before the Lord in all His holiness is the only appropriate

response from the best to the least of men or women. Such is the holiness of God.


c. Sin Is EVERYTHING That Offends God, EVERYTHING That Is Different To Him

Going back in time, about 6000 years, before creation, we find only the Lord and no universe yet,

…

Colossians 1:16-17

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,

whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and

for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The Lord is complete in Himself, and not lacking anything, …

Acts 17:24-25

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth

not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all

life, and breath, and all things;

An unchanging Being, “For I am the LORD, I change not; … .” (Malachi 3:6; See also Hebrews 13:8

KJV). The Lord made the decision to create a universe with both angels and humans as eternal

creatures, …

Nehemiah 9:6 “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens,

with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and

thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.”

See also Colossians 1:16; Luke 20:34-36; Romans 6:22; Revelation 14:10-11 KJV). Both angels

and humans would have the opportunity to be loved by the Lord, and to have such a God that they

could love in return, …

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever

believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. “

Mark 12:30 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with

all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”; See also Romans 8:28,

39; 1 Corinthians 2:9 KJV).

The only worthwhile love is love though choice. And so both angelic and human creatures are given

the opportunity to choose whether or not to obey the Lord, or to indulge in self-centred rebellion

against Him, …

Jude 1:6 “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath

reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (See also 2

Peter 2:4 KJV).

John 1:10-12

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that

believe on his name:

In order for both angelic and human creatures to enjoy such a blessed relationship, both have to

conform to what the Lord accepts, and that which will not conflict with Who and What He is.


Remember, the holiness of God means that He is apart, or separate, from all that conflicts with

Who and What He is.

i. Angelic Rebellion

Led by lucifer / satan, one third of angelic beings rebelled against the Lord. And therefore were

cast out of Heaven to live as demonic creatures until the final judgment when they will be cast into

hell (Jude 1:6; Revelation 12:7-9 KJV).

ii. Human Rebellion

The Genesis 3 account of how satan, through the serpent, persuaded Eve to eat of the forbidden

fruit in the Garden of Eden, and how Adam chose to also eat of the forbidden fruit is well known

(See also Revelation 12:9 KJV). This single sin brought a conflict between our first parents and

Almighty God. And even that single sin tainted them and their children still to come, …

Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so

death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”.

Both angelic and human rebellions were contrary to Who and What the Lord is, and had to be dealt

with. The fallen angelic beings are already condemned, each having personally chosen to rebel

against the Lord. But each and every human being is given the opportunity, in the brief life in this

world, to choose to respond to the Lord’s redemption provision through His Son the Lord Jesus

Christ, or not to (John 1:10-12 KJV). We all need to know that belief in Christ is not an addition to

a child of God’s life – He IS our life, “For to me to live is Christ [LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HIM], and to

die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21). Anything less is not being born again.

iii. God’s Law

Right from the time of mans’ fall in sin, the Lord has been abundantly clear with man in the various

ages, or dispensations, of His dealings with man, exactly what He required of them: what He

required of them to do, and what He forbade them to do, in order to enjoy life with Him. The goal

being to offer man a way for them to be redeemed to Himself, and then through the Law – and

other supporting Scriptures - making it abundantly clear just what constituted a relationship with

Him. A relationship where the Lord would love the redeemed person – where they would be able to

identify the Lord’s loving Hand in their lives - and then they in turn would be able to get to know

and love the Lord in return, …

John 14:21 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he

that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

see also John 15:10 KJV.

What we need to understand here, is that our Holy, unchanging Creator, cannot change. He cannot

change to accommodate those tainted with sin. Each sinner faces the righteous wrath of Almighty

God if they choose to remain in their sinful state (Revelation 20:11-15 KJV). Each individual MUST

be reconciled to God! The Apostle Paul’s Gospel message to the lost, Jews and Greeks, was

outlined as, …

Acts 20:21 “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, REPENTANCE toward God, and

FAITH toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (See also John 1:12 KJV). Therefore, in order to be

redeemed to the Lord, and have eternal life with Him, each individual MUST:


i). Repent towards God – be willing to yield their wills, or independence to Him, …

Romans 14:7-8

7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we

live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

(see also Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:15, 17 KJV).

Being repentant towards the Lord, or being willing to yield to Him as Almighty God, starts with

conversion, or the spiritual birth, and continues, as we have just seen, in their life / walk with their

Father (Romans 14:7-8 KJV) – and then, …

ii). Have faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Both repentance towards God and faith towards / in

the Lord Jesus Christ are needed in order to be born again, or born into the family of God. God’s

children allowing sin to be easily committed, or become ongoing habits in their lives is not only not

taking the Lord’s commands seriously, but we are not taking the Lord Himself seriously!

This is no small, casual matter! When a lost sinner is born again, their whole life, and their life’s

direction is changed, …

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed

away; behold, all things are become new.”

(See also Colossians 3:1-10 KJV).

Almighty God is the focus of their lives, “For to me to live is Christ [LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HIM], and

to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21).

The first time that the laws of God were delivered to man in writing were the Ten Commandments,

given to Israel through Moses (Exodus 20 KJV). Here the Lord made it very clear what was

acceptable, and what was not acceptable, to Him as a holy, unchanging God. And so the Lord

made it clear, ‘what behaviour He would not accept’, and ‘what obedience He required’, in order for

His children to enjoy life with Him. Life with Him beginning in this world, and continuing in eternity

after this short life.

3.3. The Sum Of The Matter

The sum of the matter is simple: Sin is all that is contrary to Who and What Almighty God is. Sin is

therefore a supremely important matter. And when we are casual towards our committing sin, we

are rebelling against Almighty God Himself! A very serious matter!

When those who have been born again find themselves casual towards sin in their walk. They have

allowed themselves to lose focus on reality – God’s reality! They’ve allowed the world around them

to dictate their life and values, to the point that the sinful world’s values become the careless child

of God’s values. They are in effect saying to the Lord that they prefer the ways of the world to His

way, and to Him! This is no small matter!

3.3.1. Unrepentant Sin Is Devastating To The Child Of God’s Spiritual Life

When God’s children are careless in their walk with their Father, they are easily led astray by their

enemies. Of particular importance are their hearts / flesh, …

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”


When the child of God is careless in their walk, they sadly often allow their hearts to lie to them,

and they – in effect – tell themselves that while they are not perfect, they are not as bad as many

others, or they tell themselves that they will soon repent of the sin that they are indulging in, but

not right then! They deceive themselves! Then the sinful world around them with its wicked

practices becomes too tempting for them to refuse. And before they know it they are allowing

more and more sinful habits to creep into their lives. And the longer that they refuse to repent of

the sin in their lives, the more sinful habits and practices creep in.

3.3.2. Sowing And Reaping

The principle of sowing and reaping, where sowing to the flesh – walking after the flesh – will

cause them to reap spiritual and moral corruption.

Galatians 6:7-8

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the

Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Even if we don’t know all that “sowing to the flesh” is referring to, the fact that the Lord refers to

the result as “corruption” tells us that it is not good. We’ve looked at this Scripture in a previous

course so we won’t go into it in great detail. Paul writing to the Galatian believers warns them, and

us, that if we allow the “lusts” (the sinful passions) of our flesh (our bodies and sin damaged souls)

to dictate our direction in life, and our values, as well as our behavior, we will corrupt – we will be

carnal (like the lost around us) - and not grow to being spiritually minded like Christ (the Lord’s

perfect example Whom we MUST follow). We will not know the joy of a relationship with our

Heavenly Father. We will not know His providential Hand in our lives as our Father takes care of

us, His children. Instead, if we are born again, we will not be happy and content in our Faith, we

will be living in guilt. And this is not what the Lord offers each child of His. We are bringing

unnecessary trouble into our walk with the Lord!

James 1:13-15

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil,

neither tempteth he any man:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,

bringeth forth death.

James writing to the scattered Jewish believers, raises the point that we have just been discussing.

And tells us the same thing as Paul in Galatians. Where Paul uses the word, “corruption”, James

uses the word, “death”. This is not physical death in this case, but spiritual, the child of God’s

relationship, and usefulness to the Lord in His purposes in our world. Paul also used the following

statement to refer to the child of God who in not enjoying spiritual victory as they should, …

Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of

God, neither indeed can be.”

Living like the lost, the child of God’s spiritual walk with the Lord will be damaged. Their joy

removed, their prayers not answered, their testimony to the lost damaged, their attitude to the

Lord ungodly, and unworthy of Him. They like the lost are at enmity with Him (Romans 8:7 KJV)

Unrepentant sin is very destructive in the child of God’s life!

Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these

are contrary the one to the other: SO THAT YE CANNOT DO THE THINGS THAT YE WOULD.”


Praise the Lord that in Christ the child of God may at any time confess and repent of sin, …

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.”

3.3.3. Sin That Challenges Today’s Child Of God

Sin is always because of walking after our sinful flesh, and not walking after the Spirit (Romans

8:1-7 KJV). Like the world and the three passions that drive the world in their sinful lives, so are

carnal children of God driven by the same three fleshly passions…

1 John 2:15-17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the

Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of

life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

We have examined this passage before in some detail already. So we will only briefly note the

essential warnings that the Lord gives His children in this passage…

Here we are taught that our world conflicts with the Lord through walking after their sinful flesh, or

as worded here through three sinful “lusts” or passions. And when a child of God is living in

unrepentant sin, they too are living according to these same lusts of the flesh:

a. The Lust Of The Flesh

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh…”

Our sinful world of people are influence and driven in life by passions relating to their physical

flesh:

Sexual passion

Indulgence in good tasting food

Neither of these two, we have noted, is sinful. But when we are not being fulfilled by a godly

relationship with the Lord, we look to other ways to fulfil our lives. This is when these normal

passions become sin. When we try and make life better, or make life more tolerable, through

looking to these two strong physical passions. Instead of receiving our person fulfilment in our

walk with the Lord.

b. The Lust Of The Eyes

“For all that is in the world, … ,the lust of the eyes, …”

You may recall that this lust is seeing and wanting what we see. Sinfully coveting what others have

that we don’t. The sin here is ‘not being satisfied for what we have through the Lord’s provision’.

This, as in all three lusts, comes from not walking with the Lord by walking after the Spirit, but

being influenced (led) primarily by our sinful flesh.

The child of God who has a good, godly, walk with the Lord. And does not rely on anything but the

Lord for life to be full and meaningful. Is abundantly satisfied with whatever they have of the

temporal things of this world. They are satisfied even with only the most basic of necessities of life,

because the Lord Himself makes them abundantly satisfied.

To have such satisfaction in a world that has let go of self-control, and are indulging in their fleshly

lusts to the extreme. And our witnessing such behaviour happening all around us. As well as

having such a high percentage of ‘church folk’ exercising so little godly self-control (temperance).

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Some have to be willing to yield to the Lord without encouragement from other believers. And

build their walk with the Lord, relying solely on being encouraged and motivated by the Lord

Himself.

c. The Pride Of Life

“For all that is in the world, … , and the pride of life, …”

Our God resisting world preaches the ‘gospel’ of love for self, and of elevating self. This is the third

area of man’s sinful flesh that satan uses to manipulate the world, and lead them as far from the

Lord as possible. So that their very way of life, their thinking, their values are the opposite of what

the Lord is working at leading each individual to. First, of course, leading them by His Spirit to

being born again, and then leading them, also by His Spirit, from being carnally minded (living

according to the passions / lusts of their flesh, to being spiritually minded.) You may recall that

being spiritually minded is the Lord’s goal for every one of us. That is because that would make us

like Christ, not only when we finally get to Heaven, but now in this world.

It doesn’t take much to get us to be sinfully proud of ourselves. Each of us having the disease of

self-deception fighting against us like traitor that is too smart for us to defend ourselves against

(Jeremiah 17:9 KJV). When the child of God attempts to live as the Spirit leads them through

God’s Word. They discover to their dismay, that they have their work cut out for themselves. And

that unless they learn to, “mortify the deeds of the body”, through the Spirit (Romans 8:13 KJV).

(Meaning to break free from being controlled by their sinful flesh.) They have no hope of defeating

their weakness for being proud, or controlled by the other two lusts of their flesh. Lusts / passions

that oppose the Spirit’s work in their spiritual lives.

d. Examples

Some examples of sin in today’s world that challenges the modern child of God when they are

careless:

Worldly, carnal music: secular and in church

Carnal Pride:

o In appearance

o In impressive clothing

o Being popular

The World’s passion for being entertained (TV and the cinema, just two examples)

Dishonesty: the modern person easily lies when under pressure, and many out of pure

habit

Being casual towards sin:

o The child of God knows that they should study the Bible, but easily lives with the fact

that they put very little, or no effort to reading, studying and meditating in the Word

of God

Being indulgent: All around us there are people living for the moment. ‘Life is to be enjoyed’

is the catch phrase. I’ve read, ‘You only have one life, live it to the full!’ Now this is fine for

the lost person, but it is scandalous for God’s children to be carnally indulgent. i.e. Not

showing godly character by being temperate, and having their sinful flesh under control

through the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 9:25; Titus 1:8; 2:2)

3.3.4. Repentance

The repentance that the Lord calls His children to, when they sin, needs to be the Biblical

repentance for it to bring the erring child of God back into fellowship with their Heavenly Father.

The repentance firstly needs to be for the right reason: to restore fellowship between the erring

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child of God and their Father. Secondly, the repentance must be whole hearted. i.e. They must be

determined to turn from the sin, they need to be serious about dealing with the sin that they have

given into. Getting the most important of these two right, to restore their fellowship between them

and their Father, will ensure the second, dealing honestly and seriously with the sin that they have

allowed into their lives.

The Greek word used mostly in the New Testament for “repentance” (a noun) is ‘metaoia’,

meaning to ‘change one’s mind’. ‘Metanoia’ as a noun is used when discussing the subject of

“repentance”. And “repent” (a verb) is ‘metanoew’, meaning to change one’s mind for better. Being

a verb the reference is to the act of repenting.

Romans 2:4 “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not

knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

See also 2 Peter 3:9.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.”

Repentance in the life of the child of God is needed when they get careless in their daily walk with

the Lord, and are turned to allow their sinful flesh to motivate, or influence them where the Holy

Spirit used to lead them. In their spiritual walk they have grown careless, and negligent towards

the Lord. This usually comes about when they neglect quality private time with Him. No one can

motivate the child of God like the Lord Himself.

Repentance in the life of the child of God is the child of God turning from an ungodly casual

attitude towards the Lord, and sin, back to a holy fear of God, …

2 Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all

filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Hebrews 12:28 “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,

whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:”

(See also Luke 23:40; Acts 13:16; Romans 3:18; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 5:21 KJV).

Biblical repentance is firstly focused on the child of God’s thoughts / attitude towards the Lord, and

then on the sin/s committed. When they get their hearts and minds right towards the Lord, the

natural consequence will be to turn from the sin they have allowed into their lives.

When the child of God finds themselves having wandered from the Lord and in sin. They don’t

always have a loathing of the sin that they have enjoyed and indulged in. Their sinful flesh has

enjoyed the sin that so appealed to them. This is where the child of God needs to make up their

minds, with godly determination, to turn from their sin to the Lord. Spending time with the Lord in

His Word, as well as in prayer. Even if neither is done with previous enjoyment. Asking the Lord to

minister to their hardened hearts and minds. Holding on to the promises of their God that He will

come to their assistance and by His Spirit guide them in restoring their sweet fellowship with Him.

Romans 2:4 “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing

that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

The child of God needs to remember that their heavenly Father is more passionate about guiding

them through godly repentance, and back into fellowship with Himself than they are.

12 | P a g e Email:

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CONCLUSION

The Word of God is given so that we may know the mind of God in all matters of life in this world.

Therefore the Word of God gives us the mind of God in our present subject of sin. Put another

way: through the Word of God: by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, man can know God's view of

sin.

Through the Word of God we saw that sin is a very serious matter. Fallen angels and man are,

because of sin, facing condemnation from the Lord. The fact that the Lord sent His Son to die on a

cross to provide a way for individuals to be saved, demonstrates – not only His great love for man

– but also how terrible sin is. Then on the negative side, the fact that the Lord deals with sin in the

eternal fires of hell – in those who refuse Christ, or only believe in Him ‘on their terms’, or without

any repentance towards God when they ‘believe’.

I’m hoping that as we have briefly considered what the Scriptures reveal of the Lord’s view of sin,

that we have each asked the Lord to help us not to be casual with sin in our walk with Him. I don’t

believe that there have been any of us, who have seriously, and systematically looked at this

subject of sin through these morning devotional studies, who haven’t been challenged by the Lord

to take sin in our own walks, far more seriously than we have up until now. The subject of sin is so

challenging to every child of God that we all will always be striving to deal with sin better than we

have before. Our blessing and joy coming from making definite progress in our battle with the flesh

and sin.

Perhaps you have been like Paul who said, …

Romans 7:15 “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate,

that do I.”

And, …

Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these

are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

i.e. We know what the Lord wants us to do, but we find ourselves not able to be faithful in obeying

Him in those things. And the things that we know that we shouldn’t be doing, we find that we

really struggle to stop doing them. Perhaps you have gained the knowledge of how to address such

a spiritual dilemma. And you are going before the Lord at the start of each day earnestly praying

for Him to help you to learn the reality of “walking after the Spirit”, and “not walking after the

flesh.” So that by the Holy Spirit you actually learn how to, “mortify [put to death] the deeds of the

body.” And know the blessed reality of moving steadily from being “carnally minded,” to being

“spiritually minded.”

The Lord guide you by His Spirit to deal with sin as He wants you to. So that you may be a

testimony to true daily spiritual victory to His glory. And for each of us to learn how to be used by

the Lord to teach and lead others to the same daily spiritual victory.

Kingsway Baptist Bible School

www.kingswaybibleschool.co.za

http://www.kingswaybibleschool.co.za/

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