Pastor Matthew Peters,
High Prairie Bethel Baptist Church.
Is all sin the same? In this sense, no!
The sin that dwells in me and tempts me to lust, and I conquer through Christ, is not the same as giving in to that sin. To live in sin is to be a non-Christian. To battle sin is to be fighting the war of a Christian. To find strength to overcome is part of salvation.
A Christian is not now free from the foe of sin but has been given a Captain who enables him to overcome it. He is free from its ultimate consequences instantly and freely but is being freed from its grip through Christ.
The one who says, “All sin is the same!” to try to justify sin is only deceiving himself. When confronted about his sin, he may say to you, “Don’t you have sin”? When you say yes, he will say, “See, we’re all sinners. You can’t judge me.”
Thus, he equates the Christian who mourns his sin and battles it to be the same as him who indulges in it daily and feels little to no conviction over it. He thinks that since there is grace, God will forgive him. Not realizing he is terribly deceiving himself and will end up in hell. He is not battling it but giving into it. The Christian is beginning to fight it and overcome. He has God’s seed in him and can no longer continue in sin as though it were a small thing.
We’re not all sinners. Those who belong to Christ are saints who are battling sin. The apostles never spoke this way to the saints. When the saints were living contrary to their profession, they would remind them what God had done for them. At times even wondering if the people they were writing to were indeed Christians.
What about Romans 7 where it says, “We do what we don’t want to and don’t do what we want to?”
Isn’t that the daily norm for a true Christian?
No! Paul says the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 7 is what it means to walk in the flesh.
Is it possible for Christians to dwell there? Yes! Is it expected and continuous throughout their whole life? No!
Read Romans 8. It’s what Jesus meant when He said that those who want to follow Him will need to deny themselves daily, pick up their cross, and follow Him.
Some people, when I speak about this, may realize they aren’t taking sin seriously and be convicted about it. Others who are taking sin seriously may feel they aren’t as far as they should be or they’ll only be able to dwell on the sin they committed yesterday and read their whole conversion in light of that, not seeing the work that God has done.
I want to emphasize that God can actually be pleased with His people as they learn to abide in Jesus and overcome their old nature.
That God delights in the obedience of His people, even if it is sometimes a shaky obedience. He isn’t impossible to please and is patient with us. That you don’t have to be sinless as a Christian in order to please God. He knows our weakness and delights in the faith expressed by His disciples, even if it is weak faith.
We must see that we are sinners, by nature, that there is a principle of sin in us, that Christ came to set us free from that, that He didn’t take it away but gives the ability to put it to death.
We will always have sin, but we don’t need to practice it. The difference between the Christian and the man of this world is not that one has sin, and one doesn’t. Rather, that one is a slave to the sin that he has, and the other one is not. One can’t stop sinning; the other is dying to himself daily and putting that sin to death through Christ.
That’s the question for you then. Are you being set free from sin or are you a slave to it? If you do not read the Scriptures, you’ll have your own standard of judgement by which you’ll determine if you are living in sin. Jesus says if you just look at a woman with lust, you commit adultery in your heart. If you hate someone, you’re a murderer. God’s standards go deeper than mere surface level.
If you are aware of this and unwilling to change, you will be judged as guilty on that day. In this sense, all sin is the same. All of it will lead you to certain death. You are guilty but God did not send Jesus into this world to condemn it but to save it. (John 3:16-17). He came to save you from that sin.
Jesus died to pay the price you owe for your inward and more obvious sin. However, you must acknowledge it’s a reality and be willing to forsake it. Otherwise, your pleasure will cost you your soul.
On the other hand, “If Jesus sets you free, you’ll be free indeed.” (John 8:36).