Let’s go through some steps here in the
Christian experience.
- If you are a Christian, then you accepted the fact that Jesus died for your sins.
- If you believe Jesus died for your sins, then your sins are forgiven.
- If your sins are forgiven, then God can have a relationship with you.
- If God wants a relationship with you, then it must be because He loves you.
- If God loves you, then you should want to love him back by living a holy life.
Romans 6 does a good job of addressing
this question as to why a Christian goes on sinning.
Don’t sin
because you know you are forgiven
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:1-4
We should not keep sinning so that God
can keep forgiving us. That’s an abuse of someone’s grace. Since we died to
sin, which means we ended our relationship to sin, we don’t have to live for
sin any longer. We can live a new life.
The old
self is no longer our primary influence
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:5-7
As a Christian you have two selves—the
old and the new. The old self, for a Christian, was destined for eternity separated
from God and inclined to sin with every breath. In other words, it was a slave
of sin. That old self was crucified with Christ and died on the cross with
him. If the old self is dead, then we
are no longer a slave to sin.
The new
self should live for God
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Romans 6:8-10
For those that allowed their old/dead
selves to die with Christ, they now live with Christ, eternally as a new
creation. And since Christ now lives for God, so should we.
We now
have a choice
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:11-14
Just because we are no longer slaves to
sin doesn’t mean that we don’t talk to our old dead desires. We have to change
our minds about sin and not go back to our old habits.
Sinning
doesn’t magically go away. We must
choose it away.
We must count ourselves dead to sin—have
a funeral for sin and refuse to live for it any longer. It’s called repenting
in the Bible.
We must not obey sin’s evil desires—it
will talk to you and want to be friends again with you, but you must say NO.
We must not offer our bodies to
wickedness—keep away from the traps that cause you to sin.
We must choose righteousness.
Let God be your master. Then you will begin
the process of not sinning as a Christian.
The process is either slow or fast
depending on your determination to please God and to follow him.
Temptations will always occur and they
get easier with time and maturity.
So don’t keep on sinning. Keep on seeking righteousness. You have a choice.