Thursday, May 10, 2018

Enslaved by Sin

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.  

The Bible says in Romans 3:23"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God..." Have you ever been enslaved by sin? I have! In our opening verse of scripture the Bible says that "all have sinned." That all includes you and I. What shall we do about it? In the Book of Acts 2:37b the Jewish hearers of Peter's message said. "...what shall we do?" They recognized that they had become guilty of the death of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. They were in a real dilemma because in Deuteronomy 18:15-16 Moses the Lawgiver had said, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken..." The Israelites, because they heard the voice of God speaking directly to them had said, "...  Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not."

In 
Deuteronomy 18:17-19 the Bible says, "And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."  They knew that Moses had spoken true and they were convicted in their hearts that they had crucified and slain the very one that God had sent to be their Messiah and Saviour.

Before I came to know the Saviour Jesus Christ, I knew I was a sinner. I was deceived into thinking that a holy God would not want a dirty sinner such as I was, in His holy heaven. I had never read the Bible and did not understand that God did not hate sinners. Rather the Bible says in 
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." God does hate sin, but He loves the sinner. No, God does not want sin in His holy heaven. In Ezekiel 33:10-11 God said, "Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Peter's hearers had ask the right question when they said, "...what shall we do?"

It is still the right question! Listen to Peter's answer in 
Acts 2:38-39"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." This is so much more than just getting wet. Apostle Peter said in 1st Peter 3:21, "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ..."  Do you believe that the Lord Jesus died for sinners, was buried and rose from the dead? It was for you and I. Find someone to baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ to have your sins forgiven, and God has promised you the gift of the Holy Spirit. You need not ever be enslaved by sin again. (See also John 3:5 and Acts 4:12)

No comments:

Post a Comment