Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
When we study about "the origin of sin," we don't find much Good News there; but when we study about the "eradication of sin," there's the Good News. The very first page of the New Testament declares that Jesus came to "save His people from their sins" (not in them; Matt. 1:21).
God cannot eradicate sin from His universe until first He eradicates it from human hearts. That is where sin has taken root; the human heart is the last lair where the dragon of sin lurks. Sin's roots go down to our toes. Can sin be overcome, eradicated? The outcome of the great controversy between Christ and Satan depends on the answer.
Some say that sin itself will never be conquered until Christ comes the second time, zaps His saints and gives them holy flesh, removing temptation from them, the implication being that as long as we have our "sinful flesh," sin will still win out. But the Bible is clear:
Rom. 6:13, 14--Even though we still have sinful flesh or a sinful nature, "sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace."
Rom. 5:20--"Grace abounded much more" than "sin abounded." In other words, the idea is clear: grace is stronger than sin. If that is not true, the great controversy must end in defeat for God.
2 Cor. 5:14, 15--This grace of God operates through the revelation of the love of God (agape). Therefore, "the agape of Christ constrains us ... [henceforth, KJV]" to live not for self, but "for Him who died for [us] and rose again." The love of self is the very essence of sin, its quintessential element that filled Lucifer's heart in the beginning and which here at the very end of time forces the "church of the Laodiceans" to be lukewarm in heart.
John 12:31-33--Christ did not only conquer the problem of sin by His sinless life and His sacrifice on the cross. In order for the great controversy to come to an end, He must have a people whose faith demonstrates that such agape will "constrain" them also to overcome "as [He] also overcame" (Rev. 3:21).
Rev. 15:2--The bright picture at the end of the Bible is Heaven's spotlight on a group who stand on "a sea of glass mingled with fire" who have "the victory" over sin, "having harps of God." That wasn't accomplished by zapping them with sinless flesh, but by giving them grace to "overcome" in sinful flesh.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 29, 1999.
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