To best answer this question, we’re going to look at two powerful
passages of Scripture. The first is found in the book of Psalms: “As far
as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions
from us” (Psalm 103:12).
One of the most effective tricks Satan plays on Christians is to
convince us that our sins aren't really forgiven, despite the promise of
God's Word. If we've truly received Jesus as Savior by faith, and still
have that uneasy feeling wondering whether or not there is true
forgiveness, that may be coming from demonic influences. Demons hate it
when people are delivered from their grasp, and they try to plant seeds
of doubt in our minds about the reality of our salvation. In his vast
arsenal of tricks, one of Satan’s biggest tools is to constantly remind
us of our past transgressions, and he uses those to prove that God
couldn't possibly forgive or restore us. The devil's attacks make it a
real challenge for us to simply rest in the promises of God and trust
His love.
But this psalm also tells us that God not only forgives our sins, but
removes them completely from His presence. This is a profound thing!
Without question, this is a difficult concept for humans to grasp, which
is why it's so easy for us to worry and wonder about forgiveness
instead of just accepting it. The key lies in simply giving up our
doubts and our feelings of guilt and resting in His promises of
forgiveness.
Another passage is 1 John 1:9,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us
our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” What an incredible
promise! God forgives His children when they sin if only they come to
Him and in an attitude of repentance and ask to be forgiven. God’s grace
is so great that it can cleanse the sinner from his sin so that he
becomes a child of God. Even when we stumble, we can be forgiven still.
In Matthew 18:21-22,
we read, "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times
shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’
Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’”
Peter was probably thinking that he was being generous. Rather than
repay a person who had committed a sin against him with equal
retribution, Peter suggested giving the brother some leeway, say, up to
seven times. But the eighth time, forgiveness and grace would run out.
But Christ challenged the rules of Peter’s suggested economy of grace by
saying that forgiveness is infinite for those who are truly seeking it.
This is only possible because of the infinite grace of God which is
made possible through the shed blood of Christ on the cross. Because of
Christ’s forgiving power, we can always be made clean after we sin if we
humbly seek it.
At the same time, it must be noted that it is not biblical for a person
to sin habitually and continually as a lifestyle and still be a believer
(1 John 3:8-9).
This is why Paul admonishes us to “examine yourselves to see whether
you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ
Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
As Christians, we do stumble, but we do not live a lifestyle of
continual, unrepentant sin. All of us have weaknesses and can fall into
sin, even if we don’t want to. Even the apostle Paul did what he didn’t
want to do because of the sin at work in his body (Romans 7:15). Like Paul, the response of the believer is to hate the sin, repent of it and ask for divine grace to overcome it (Romans 7:24-25).
Although we need not fall because of God’s sufficient grace, sometimes
we do because we rely upon our insufficient strength. When our faith
grows weak and, like Peter, we deny our Lord in word or in life, even
then there is still a chance to repent and be forgiven of our sin.
Another one of Satan’s tricks is to get us to think that there is no
hope, that there is no possibility that we can be forgiven, healed, and
restored. He will try to get us to feel consumed and trapped by guilt so
that we do not feel worthy of God’s forgiveness any longer. But since
when were we ever worthy of God’s grace? God loved us, forgave us and
chose us to be in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-6),
not because of anything we did, but “in order that we, who were the
first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12).
We must always keep in mind that there is no place we can go that God’s
grace cannot reach, and there is no depth to which we can sink that God
is no longer able to pull us out. His grace is greater than all of our
sin. Whether we are just starting to wander off course or we are already
sinking and drowning in our sin, grace can be received.
Grace is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). When we sin, the Spirit will convict us of sin such that a godly sorrow will result (2 Corinthians 7:10-11).
He will not condemn our souls as if there is no hope, for there is no
longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). The Spirit’s conviction within us is a movement of love and grace. Grace is not an excuse to sin (Romans 6:1-2),
and it dare not be abused, meaning that sin must be called “sin,” and
it cannot be treated as if it is harmless or inoffensive. Unrepentant
believers need to be lovingly confronted and guided to freedom, and
unbelievers need to be told that they need to repent. Yet let us also
emphasize the remedy, for we have been given grace upon grace (John 1:16).
Grace is how we live, how we are saved, how we are sanctified, and how
we will be kept and glorified. Let us receive grace when we sin by
repenting and confessing our sin to God. Why live a sinful life when
Christ offers to make us whole and right in the eyes of God?
Before exploring whether or not Christians sin, let’s define a couple of terms. Regardless of how tattered the word Christian has become throughout history, the biblical definition of a “Christian” is one who is a Christ-follower, a disciple of Jesus (Acts 11:26).
A Christian is NOT someone who has ascribed to a particular set of
religious beliefs or practices, joined a church, prayed a prayer, or
participated in certain sacraments or rituals. A Christian is a person
who has responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit (John 6:44) by putting his or her whole faith in the finished work of Christ for salvation (Ephesians 2:8–9; John 3:15–18). Christians are those who have repented of their sin and have made Jesus Lord of their lives (Romans 10:9–10; Acts 2:38). They are born again by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:6–7).
“Sin” is any thought, word, or action that is contrary to the character or law of God. We all sin (Romans 3:23), and even what we consider good deeds are often tainted by selfish motives or pride (Isaiah 64:6). Left to ourselves, it is impossible to please God or to be completely free from sin (Romans 3:10; Ecclesiastes 7:10).
When we come to Christ by faith and trust Him to forgive and cleanse us of all our sin, we are in that moment born again (John 3:3). That new birth of the spirit results in a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). God gives the repentant sinner a new heart that is now turned toward obeying and pleasing Him rather than self (2 Corinthians 5:9; Romans 8:5–6). Whereas we were formerly slaves to sin, we are now “slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:16). Sin’s control has been broken by the power of Jesus (Romans 6:6; Titus 2:14).
However, we still live in the flesh, and the flesh is prone to want what it wants. In Romans 7:21–23,
Paul admits the battle between flesh and spirit in his own life: “So I
find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there
with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another
law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a
prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” Each battle with
temptation is won or lost based upon how fully we are surrendered to the control of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16–17).
The book of 1 John was written to Christians. The apostle says, “If we
claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us
our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8–9).
It is clear from this passage that even those who have been born again
and redeemed by the blood of Jesus will still sin. Through thought,
attitude, or action, we will “grieve” (Ephesians 4:30) and “quench” (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
the Holy Spirit at times. But this passage also reassures us that God
offers continual, ongoing grace whenever we agree with Him about our sin
and ask for His cleansing.
However, other passages clarify the boundaries of this ocean of grace. First John 3:6
says, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues
to sin has either seen him or known him.” Verse 9 says that those who
have been “born of God” will not continue to live sinfully. The
implication is that this is not a matter of trying harder. Rather, it is
the equivalent of saying, “A fish cannot remain on land for long
because its nature is to seek water.” A fish could flop onto the shore
and survive for a short time. But it was not made for land and cannot
continue there. When we are born again, our natures change, and we
cannot continue in sin. Christ not only erases our past sin; He also
transforms our hearts so that we no longer desire it (Colossians 2:13–14).
Paul asked, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how
can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1–2).
Although Christians will still sin after being saved, the heart change
that the Holy Spirit brings will result in a new attitude toward sin.
Sin cannot continue being a lifestyle choice if we have surrendered our
lives to Jesus. That’s what it means to say that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9; Colossians 2:6).
We have a new boss. We cannot be followers of Christ and followers of
sin at the same time. They are going in opposite directions (Luke 9:23; 14:33). Romans 12:2 instructs, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Renewal can take some time, but it is a process that produces a change of behavior.
When a true child of God goes astray, our Father administers discipline to bring him back into obedience. Hebrews 12:7–8
says, “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating
you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then
you are illegitimate children and not sons.” If a professing Christian
can choose a lifestyle of sin without experiencing enough discipline to
bring them to repentance, then according to this Scripture, it is highly
unlikely that that person is a child of God.
Do Christians sin? Yes. Do they willfully continue in sin? No. Scripture
indicates that, while we will always “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23),
we have the hope that the power of God is at work in us to “make us
more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT).
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the
action by which God takes up permanent residence in the body of a
believer in Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the Spirit would come
and go from the saints, empowering them for service but not necessarily
remaining with them (see Judges 15:14; 1 Chronicles 12:18; Psalm 51:11; Ezekiel 11:5).
Jesus revealed to His disciples the new role the Spirit of Truth would
play in their lives: “He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).
The apostle Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are
not your own? For you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in
your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).
These verses are telling us that the believer in Jesus Christ has the
third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, living in him. When an
individual accepts Christ as personal Savior, the Holy Spirit gives the
believer the life of God, eternal life, which is really His very nature (Titus 3:5; 2 Peter 1:4),
and then the Holy Spirit comes to live within him spiritually. The fact
that the believer’s body is likened to a temple where the Holy Spirit
lives helps us understand what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is all
about. The word temple is used to describe the Holy of Holies,
the inner sanctum in the Old Testament tabernacle structure. There,
God’s presence would appear in a cloud and meet the high priest, who
came once a year into the Holy of Holies. On the Day of Atonement, the
high priest brought the blood of a slain animal and sprinkled it on the
mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. On this special day, God granted
forgiveness to the priest and His people.
Today, there is no Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and the animal sacrifices
have ceased. The believer in Christ has become the inner sanctum of God
the Holy Spirit, having been sanctified and forgiven by the blood of
Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7).
The believer in Christ becomes the habitation of the Holy Spirit of
God. In fact, Scripture also says that the believer is indwelt
spiritually by Christ (Colossians 1:27) and by God the Father (1 John 4:15)—the Trinity is involved.
As the Holy Spirit lives in the believer, He brings about some life-changing results:
1) The indwelling Spirit comes to a soul dead in sin and creates new life (Titus 3:5). This is the new birth Jesus spoke of in John 3:1–8.
2) The indwelling Spirit confirms to the believer that he belongs to the
Lord and is an heir of God and fellow-heir with Christ (Romans 8:15–17).
3) The indwelling Spirit installs the new believer as a member of
Christ’s universal church. This is the baptism of the Spirit, according
to 1 Corinthians 12:13.
4) The indwelling Spirit gives spiritual gifts (God-given abilities for
service) to the believer to edify the church and serve the Lord
effectively for His glory (1 Corinthians 12:11).
5) The indwelling Spirit helps the believer understand and apply the Scripture to his daily life (1 Corinthians 2:12).
6) The indwelling Spirit enriches the believer’s prayer life and intercedes for him in prayer (Romans 8:26–27).
7) The indwelling Holy Spirit empowers the yielded believer to live for Christ to do His will (Galatians 5:16). The Spirit leads the believer in paths of righteousness (Romans 8:14).
8) The indwelling Spirit gives evidence of new life by producing the fruit of the Spirit in the believer’s life (Galatians 5:22–23).
9) The indwelling Spirit is grieved when the believer sins (Ephesians 4:30), and He convicts the believer to confess his sin to the Lord so that fellowship is restored (1 John 1:9).
10) The indwelling Spirit seals the believer unto the day of redemption
so that the believer’s arrival in the Lord’s presence is guaranteed
after this life (Ephesians 1:13–14).
When you accept Christ as your Savior (Romans 10:9–13),
the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart, bringing with Him an
entirely new life of love, relationship, and service to the Lord.
The New World Order is a conspiracy theory
which posits a new period of history bringing about a major change in
the world with the balance of world power. This New World Order is
theorized by some to involve a group or groups of elitist people bent on
ruling the world through a single worldwide system of government. The
appeal of this New World Order lies in its proposal to free the world of
wars and political strife, and its promises to eradicate poverty,
disease, and hunger. Its purpose is to meet the needs and hopes of all
mankind through worldwide peace.
Also labeled the new “era of globalization,” this New World Order will
supposedly do away with the need for diverse world governments. This
will be accomplished by the installation of a one-world political system
or body. One means to achieve this is by eliminating all lines and
borders demarcating the nations of the world. To effect all this change,
it is believed that the New World Order will emphasize tolerance
through the promotion and acceptance of other cultures, their values and
ideologies. Its ultimate goal is a sense of unity and oneness with all
people speaking the same language. Other objectives include the use of a
single world-wide currency, as well as oneness in politics, religion,
and moral values. As a result, conspiracy theorists believe, the world
will be under one rule, that of one government which promises worldwide
peace, the absence of war and the elimination of all political unrest.
Though it may be agreed that man needs hope in order to endure this life
and have peace of mind, the problem lies in where man searches for such
hope. The Scriptures are clear concerning all these things. As
Christians, we are commanded to obey and respect those in authority,
including our government. However, we can easily see that there are some
severe consequences of such a New World Order, both from an economic
and a religious standpoint (Romans 13:1-7; Acts 5:29).
The problem with the acceptance and approval of any New World Order is
that no government has ever offered, nor will it ever offer, real hope
and peace for mankind. When man turns to government to provide worldwide
peace and hope, he becomes disillusioned and enslaved by its false
promises. History has proven time and again that no quasi-world empire
has ever survived, simply because of its innate flaws of greed,
corruption, and quest for power.
Those who desire the ushering in of a New World Order, whether secular
or religious, are in for a rude awakening. The truth is that false
religious teachings cannot bring utopia into being, regardless of man’s
creativity and ingenuity. Only heaven brings lasting peace and
happiness. The Bible makes it very clear that all things associated with
this life on earth with its sufferings, its decay, its discontent, and
death will continue with this physical life (2 Corinthians 4:16; Hebrews 9:27). It is also clear that all these things are completely unknown in the heavenly city (Revelation 21:3-7 and Revelation 22).
They will be done away with. Yes, hope is needed. But it is the hope of
heaven we need, not the false hope of a New World Order. The one hope
for all believers lies only in heaven (John 14:1-4). It is not here on this earth.
The Bible does not use the phrase
“one-world government” or “one-world currency” in referring to the end
times. It does, however, provide ample evidence to enable us to draw the
conclusion that both will exist under the rule of the Antichrist in the
last days.
In his apocalyptic vision in the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John
sees the “beast,” also called the Antichrist, rising out of the sea
having seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 13:1). Combining this vision with Daniel’s similar one (Daniel 7:16-24),
we can conclude that some sort of world system will be inaugurated by
the beast, the most powerful “horn,” who will defeat the other nine and
will begin to wage war against Christians. The ten-nation confederacy is
also seen in Daniel’s image of the statue in Daniel 2:41-42,
where he pictures the final world government consisting of ten entities
represented by the ten toes of the statue. Whoever the ten are and
however they come to power, Scripture is clear that the beast will
either destroy them or reduce their power to nothing more than
figureheads. In the end, they will do his bidding.
John goes on to describe the ruler of this vast empire as having power and great authority, given to him by Satan himself (Revelation 13:2),
being followed by and receiving worship from “all the world” (13:3-4),
and having authority over “every tribe, people, language and nation”
(13:7). From this description, it is logical to assume that this person
is the leader of a one-world government which is recognized as sovereign
over all other governments. It’s hard to imagine how such diverse
systems of government as are in power today would willingly subjugate
themselves to a single ruler, and there are many theories on the
subject. A logical conclusion is that the disasters and plagues
described in Revelation as the seal and trumpet judgments (chapters
6-11) will be so devastating and create such a monumental global crisis
that people will embrace anything and anyone who promises to give them
relief.
Once entrenched in power, the beast (Antichrist) and the power behind
him (Satan) will move to establish absolute control over all peoples of
the earth to accomplish their true end, the worship Satan has been
seeking ever since being thrown out of heaven (Isaiah 14:12-14).
One way they will accomplish this is by controlling all commerce, and
this is where the idea of a one-world currency comes in. Revelation 13:16-17
describes some sort of satanic mark which will be required in order to
buy and sell. This means anyone who refuses the mark will be unable to
buy food, clothing or other necessities of life. No doubt the vast
majority of people in the world will succumb to the mark simply to
survive. Again, verse 16 makes it clear that this will be a universal
system of control where everyone, rich and poor, great and small, will
bear the mark on their hand or forehead. There is a great deal of
speculation as to how exactly this mark will be affixed, but the
technologies that are available right now could accomplish it very
easily.
Those who are left behind after the Rapture
of the Church will be faced with an excruciating choice—accept the mark
of the beast in order to survive or face starvation and horrific
persecution by the Antichrist and his followers. But those who come to
Christ during this time, those whose names are written in the Lamb’s
book of life (Revelation 13:8), will choose to endure, even to martyrdom.
The theological concept of “already but not yet” holds that believers
are actively taking part in the kingdom of God, although the kingdom
will not reach its full expression until sometime in the future. We are
“already” in the kingdom, but we do “not yet” see it in its glory. The
“already but not yet” theology is related to kingdom theology or inaugurated eschatology.
The “already but not yet” paradigm was developed by Princeton theologian
Gerhardus Vos early in the 20th century. In the 1950s George Eldon
Ladd, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, argued that there are
two meanings to the kingdom of God: 1) God’s authority and right to rule
and 2) the realm in which God exercises His authority. The kingdom,
then, is described in Scripture both as a realm presently entered and as
one entered in the future. Ladd concluded that the kingdom of God is
both present and future.
The “already but not yet” theology is popular among the Charismatics, for whom it provides a theological framework for present-day miracles. “Already but not yet” is officially embraced by the Vineyard Church and underpins many of their teachings.
There is a sense in which God’s kingdom is already in force. Hebrews 2:8–9
says, “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels,
namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of
death” (ESV). In this passage, we have a “now” (we see Jesus crowned
with glory), and we have a “not yet” (not everything has been subjected
to Christ). Jesus is the King, but His kingdom is not yet of this world
(see John 18:36).
Also, in 1 John 3:2,
we read, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be
has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Again, we have a
“now” (we are the children of God), and we have a “not yet” (our future
state). We are children of the King, but we must wait to see exactly
what that entails.
Add to this the facts that Romans 8:30 says we are “glorified” and Ephesians 2:6
says we are seated with Christ “in the heavenly realms” as if these
were completed acts. We don’t feel very glorified, most of the time, and
our surroundings do not much resemble “heavenly realms.” That’s because
the present spiritual reality does not yet match up with the future,
physical reality. One day, the two will be in sync.
So, there is a biblical basis for the “already but not yet” system of
interpretation. The problem comes when this paradigm is used to justify
the prosperity gospel, name-it-claim-it
teachings, and other heresies. The idea behind these teachings is that
Christ’s kingdom is in full operation and that prayer can make it “break
through” into our world. Evangelism is thought to “advance the
kingdom.” And people are told they never need be sick or poor because
the riches of the kingdom are available to them right now.
The Bible never speaks of “advancing the kingdom,” however. The kingdom will come (Luke 11:2). We must receive the kingdom (Mark 10:15). And the kingdom is currently “not of this world” (John 18:36).
Jesus’ parables of the kingdom picture it as yeast in dough and a tree
growing. In other words, the kingdom is slowly working toward an
ultimate fulfillment. It is not sporadically “breaking through” to bring
us comfort in this world.
The King Himself offered the kingdom to the Jews of the first century, but they rejected it (Matthew 12:22–28). One day, when Jesus returns, He will establish His kingdom on earth and fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 51:3,
“The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all
her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the
garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving
and the sound of singing.” Until then, Jesus is building His church (Matthew 16:18) and using us for the glory of His name.
Rap is a genre of music defined by its
rhythmic lyrics spoken or chanted over a (usually) syncopated and
repetitive beat. Christian rap music follows the same musical pattern
but with lyrics that tie into the Christian faith. The question of
whether or not Christian rap music is appropriate is a matter left up to
the individual, but there are still some biblical points to consider.
Rap has a track record of being profane, violent, and sexual.
Unfortunately, this reputation is pretty well earned. A good chunk of
mainstream pop music is rap or hip-hop, and a good chunk of the
accompanying themes have to do with illicit sex and the objectification
of men and women. Because of these associations, some people have
trouble separating the lyrics they expect to hear from secular rap from
the lyrics that are actually being spoken in Christian rap.
If the music reminds us of vulgar things, distracts us from keeping our thoughts pure and focused on God’s goodness (Philippians 4:8),
or triggers negative feelings, then Christian rap probably isn’t the
best thing for us. Even if the lyrics are clean, music can have a
profound effect on our spiritual well-being. With any music genre, not
just rap, we should be aware of how it is affecting our hearts (Proverbs 4:23–26) and whether or not the Holy Spirit is telling us not to listen to it in the first place (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
Despite rap’s poor reputation, there are a growing number of Christian musicians
producing quality rap that is theologically and musically solid and
thought-provoking. While Christian rap isn’t for everybody, it offers a
more wholesome alternative to fans of the genre who would otherwise be
stuck with a steady stream of sordid content. However, it is also
important to note that, even if Christian rap has a positive effect for
you, it might have a negative effect on someone within earshot. The
moment our personal preferences overrule our love for our brother is the moment we’ve sinned (see 1 Corinthians 10).
God can use any type of music to communicate His truth. There are many
Christians who have embraced music as their ministry, and they execute
this calling through a variety of musical styles. Whether or not
Christian rap is the appropriate style for any given person comes down
to a matter of personal evaluation and conviction. If there is any
question as to whether or not Christian rap would be good or bad for
you, recall Philippians 4:6,
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God".
