Sin Is A Sticktight

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 1 Peter 3:18

I had been walking around the edge of a pond. When I got back to my car I saw the entire right arm of my hoodie was covered in stickers. I looked down and my legs were as well. I had seen these sticker seeds before. There is an entire family of them. They are generally called Sticktights. They are very aptly named as the only way to remove them is pulling the prongs of each seed out of your clothing one at a time. And just when you think you have gotten them all, you find a few more that you have missed. So it is with sin.

I firmly believe most people, even Christians, have a poor understanding of sin. Everything I say about this subject you should research for yourself, and be sure it aligns with scripture. Indeed, you should always do this with every Christian teacher or preacher or fellow Christian who speaks about what the Bible means. I have found throughout my life that even preachers I fully align with will occasionally get off of track. Yet I would have no idea if I had not read the Bible and studied it for myself.

It is shocking how even so-called mature believers can find themselves so easily swamped by sin. Yet we live inside a body prone to sin, and live in a world that thrives on sin. Sin is packaged so nicely that at times we barely recognize it as such. It doesn’t help that too many preachers barely touch on sin or the reality of hell. People get the general idea that we are all prone to do bad things, but they think that if we become believers in Christ that’s all over and done with, right?

Christ died to save us from our sins. We are born into this world as sinners and live our lives sinning. Even the nicest Christian you meet is still prone to sin. So what does it mean to “Be Saved From Our Sins?”

First off, it means Jesus is now the Master of your destiny. You have been forgiven of all of your sins by the sacrifice of Jesus on a Cross. He is now your Lord.  You have received the Holy Spirit within you. When the time of your death comes you will be with Jesus in heaven. 

It means that until you go to heaven the Holy Spirit will help you in the here and now. He will help you to overcome and avoid sins if you will let Him. Yet as long as you live in a human body, and in this sin-prone world, you will never be completely free from the tendency to sin. However, Jesus died to save you from your Past, Present, and Future sins.

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:10

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:19

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 1 John 2:1

I have seen the same people go up week after week in church to be “Saved Again”. What they are really trying to do is recapture that initial joy and good feeling of being free from sin. Jesus gives us that great joyful experience when we first become believers. But we are not in heaven yet. We are still surrounded by sin on this earth, and Jesus doesn’t want us relying upon our feelings but the fact of our salvation through Faith. 

There is much debate over whether you are Saved once and forever, or if you can lose your Salvation and must find it again. I am clearly in the doctrinal camp that once you are Saved–You are Saved! Do Christians backslide and displease the Lord? Yes. Are there times it is good to get on our knees and ask God to renew us spiritually? Of course. But how would part-time-Salvation work? Today you are saved, but tomorrow you will lose it? Next Tuesday you will be Saved again, but not next Wednesday?

Our Salvation in Christ is not a fickle thing. It is not a “Probationary Salvation”. But there are people who will say: “Great! Now I’m Saved and can do anything I want and still get into heaven!”

Good luck with that. The same God who Saved you is a loving Father who will correct and disciple you–I speak from experience. And while you can’t lose your Salvation, you can lose your life. Look at Ananias and Sapphira in the Bible book of Acts who even though they were believers, God took their lives because of a horrible sin against God (Acts 5:1-11) . Look at the scripture where the Apostle Paul warns believers that God will end your life if you take communion without respect to the meaning and purpose of it (1 Cor. 11:25-31). Some Christians had already lost their lives from disrespecting the Body and Blood of Christ by treating this Sacrament like some kind of pagan party. You can’t play games with sin. Christian or not. Rejoice in your Salvation, your eternal future is secure. Nevertheless, do not fool yourself there is no repercussions for willful sins against God. You must always respect your Heavenly Father. For just like a human father He will discipline and correct His children.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,

    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:4-11.

So yes, as believers we are Saved and Eternally Secure in Him and His finished work of Salvation through His death on a cross. That doesn’t mean we can behave like devils on this earth and our Father will just put up with anything. We are called to be Holy just as our Father is Holy. We will always fall short of His glory for He is God and we are not. We live in weak human flesh with a sinful world all around us. But just because we may never have perfectly pure lives on this side of heaven, it does not mean we are unable to make progress. We will with His help. We can do much good if we allow the Lord to work through these weak human bodies by His Spirit working within us.

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Corinthians 5:1

God’s enemy Satan once led a rebellion of angels in heaven against God. Then Satan in the Garden of Eden tried to lead humanity in a similar rebellion against God. Yet God had a glorious plan. God was not shocked at Adam and Eve’s sin against God’s Will. 

God’s plan would lead to a Human born of a woman, through God’s indwelling Spirit,  to redeem all of humanity. God would live beside us through Jesus, suffer with us, begin to reveal His glory through miracles, then shockingly be willing to die on a cross to carry humanity's sins away once and forever. God would have us as willing children who have tasted sin and seen its resulting death. Children who will receive Jesus as our Lord. Children who will wisely choose and serve God in eternal bliss rather than eternal separation from God which is Hell. 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.Romans 8:28-30.

Even though we are weak and prey to sin, through the mercy and grace of God we are redeemed. And not conditionally, but because God had determined to Save us from the beginning of our existence. God may sometimes be disappointed in us, and we may be disappointed in our own sins and failures, but we are never completely lost or forgotten. We will finish our days in the faith. We will do so with the New Spirit He placed in us when we called upon Him for Salvation. We will finish our race with His help. Sometimes tripping and having to get up again. Sometimes standing strong and bold because of our Lord. Through it all we are His and He is ours forever. Jesus will see us through until we step into eternity.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:33:39

Sin is a Sticktight. It clings to us and is hard to remove. Jesus, through His sacrifice for us, has set us free from the eternal consequences of Sin. You don’t have to go through life covered in sins. When you notice sin, you take it to God and ask for His help and deliverance. He is faithful and helps His children just as we help our children in this life. We do not abandon them, and God does not abandon us. When your children are in trouble you do everything in your power to help, and so it is with God and us. 

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Do not despair when you sin, take it to God. And when you see others sin, do not be quick to condemn as we are all subject to sin. Thankfully, we have an Advocate in heaven, interceding for us, delivering and forgiving us. Recognize sin for what it is, and be honest about your own weaknesses for we are all sinners Saved by His grace.

Prayer: Dear Lord, we are all sinners in need of both Your Salvation and Your Saving Grace daily in our lives. Be patient with us Lord, and thank You for your everlasting mercy and forgiveness. Amen

(If you have not asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to become your Savior please do so. You cannot get into heaven without Him. You will be lost without Him.)