25th August 2020
Minister: Pastor Bola Bello
The fact that the fundamentals of the faith are not satisfactorily taught, is one of the major causes of the problems the church faces today. The church still battles with sin because we have not fully understood it. Instead of being taught the fundamental truth and the doctrine of salvation, many are being taught how to make money. And because many do not have an understanding of what is expected of them to do and their person in Christ, they fall for false doctrines. The assumed revelation can sound good to our ears but if it does not align with the scriptures, it is not to be followed. Today, we will learn how sin is defeated in the life of a believer and why we should not return to it.
2 Corinthians 5:14-19
That one man died for the sin of the world does not sound logical and it was not easy for Paul to preach. Note that Jesus did not die only for the church, He died for everyone. Therefore, the church is saddled with the responsibility of preaching this truth to the world. Christ died not to reconcile the world to Himself but to reconcile men to God. Unfortunately, present day pastors are reconciling people to themselves and not to God.
Romans 1:23
Religion did not come to eradicate sin as no religion has the ability to forgive sins and give life. In fact, mere religion will only multiply sin. The entire world accepts the spread of sin. All religions accept that sin came in through Adam and that sin is universal but not all religions believe in universal forgiveness. God will judge the world because it fails to accept the gift of forgiveness. Christ has come to reproof the world of sin (John 16:7-8), He came as the acceptable righteousness of God. If the world can accept that sin came through Adam then it should accept that forgiveness came through Christ.
Being a new creature is different from being rebranded. That a man becomes a new creature means he is no longer affected by the sin of Adam. He now has a new history as regards sin. There has been a transition of his personality.
The first Adam was created in the similitude of the last Adam (Jesus) – he was neither a mortal nor an immortal person but he had the right to choose who he would become. The immortality in him would only thrive as long as he remains within the confines of God’s will. The continuity of his life was hinged on his decision to either eat the fruit in the middle of the garden or not. Just like Adam, Christ was embodied with flesh and that flesh has the capacity to sin. The only difference was though He was a natural man, He submitted to the will of the Father at every point. Sin is normal but not fighting against it is abnormal. The atmosphere of the earth is wicked, sinful and very corrupt but looking at Jesus, despite the fact that sin was in the world, He went everywhere and conquered sin.
The idea of propitiation is not a New Testament concept; it has its origin from the Old Testament (Romans 3:25; Leviticus 16:7-9). Adam received pardon from God through a propriation of a beast for his sin. Thus, his nakedness was covered. We saw another pattern in Abraham, when a ram was substituted for Isaac as sacrifice offering. Therefore, Moses was only illustrating what has being from Adam to Abraham. That Christ was made a propitiation for sin in the New Testament means Christ was used as a substitute for sinners. Barabas, a confirmed notorious sinner, who was awaiting execution was a picture of the sinful world, whose sins were propriated with the sinless Christ. He became sin so that man can be righteous before God. Therefore, sin no longer has dominion over us because we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).