Today’s world is filled with all manner of unspeakable evil. It seems that sin in all of its forms abounds everywhere, knowing no barrier, being no respecter of persons regardless of gender, colour, and nationality, rich or poor. Sin and its destructive attributes cover the entire globe knowing no boundaries, destroying everyone without mercy in its destructive path. What exactly is sin and is there away to overcome it and its destructive power? Is there away to escape the misery sin leaves in its wake? Some people believe it is a sin to listen to certain kinds of music such as rock and country music, others think that dancing and having fun is sinful as well and others will argue that smoking and drinking is a one way ticket straight to hell.

The definition of sin can be found in most dictionaries and in God’s word, the Holy Bible. The Webster Dictionary defines Sin as "an offence against God; a weakened state of human nature in which the self is estranged (separated) from God." The Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines sin as "The breaking of divine or moral law, especially by a conscious (wilful) act." God’s word states in 1 John 3:4 (King James Version), that "Whosoever commits sin also transgresses the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." The New King James Version gives a clearer understanding of what sin is "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." The Webster Dictionary describes Lawlessness as "having no law: Unruly, Disorderly." Without law and order this society would be in total chaos - anarchy and lawlessness would be the order of the day; it would not be safe to step out of our homes.

The Eternal God has also put into effect laws governing all of His creation including mankind. Not only are these laws in effect, they are also enforced! All people are bound by the laws of God and are commanded by God to keep these laws. Also, every person who has ever lived will be resurrected to stand before Jesus the Son of the Living God during the Great White Throne Judgement and to Him, they will have to give an account for every sin that they have ever committed.

Long ago God, on Mount Sinai gave the children of Israel a set of laws called the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17). The first four commandments have to do with our relation ship with the Eternal God and how we are to serve Him. They are: 1. "You shall have no other gods beside Me" 2. "You shall not make for yourself any carved images; you shall not bow down to them nor serve (worship) them" 3." You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain" 4. "Remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy." If we obey the first four commandments and do that which is right in the sight of God he will truly bless those of us who love and serve Him. But the first four commandments are of little use if we neglect the last six, which describes our relationship with other people, and these are just as important as the first four commandments. Starting with the fifth commandment, "Honour your father and your mother" 6. "You shall not murder" 7. "You shall not commit adultery " 8. "You shall not steal" 9. " You shall not bear false witness (lie)" 10. "You shall not covet (desire that which is not yours)." By keeping these ten simple commandments we can have a life full of love, joy, peace, happiness and blessings. But if we break these commandments, we then transgress the law, turn away and are separated from God. God’s Spirit cannot dwell where there is sin. God hates sin! Don’t take it wrong; God does not hate the sinner. As stated in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not parish but have eternal life."

Living a life of sin we see our society falling apart at the seams. We continuously hear of murder, rape, robbery and theft of every kind. Terrorism and war are continuously in the news. Greed and corruption are in every corner of our society, from the average person on the street to our schools and universities to our courthouses, in business, and in politics. Adam and Eve, the first humans created by God, disobeyed the Eternal by taking the forbidden fruit, which God clearly told them not to. (Genesis 2:16,17; 3:1-24). Being deceived by Satan who spoke the first lie, both Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thus allowing sin to take a foothold on their lives and on the lives of every person ever since. Their sin had caused them to be separated from God and to be evicted from the Garden of Eden, and because of their rejection of God the ground was cursed, thorns and weeds grew from the ground. Men would have eat the herbs of the field and would also have to work by the sweat of their brow, woman would conceive in pain and men would rule over them and become the head of the household because of sin. Also Adam and Eve’s son Cain was the first recorded murder in human history. He murdered his own brother Abel (Genesis 4:8) and the world has been following this destructive path ever since.

The sins of this world have become so great and wicked that God; the very Creator of mankind would have to destroy His creation! (Genesis 6: 5-7) "Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, " I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air for I am sorry that I made them."

Yes because of the sin and wickedness of man, God had no other choice but to put an end to humanity. But because of the righteousness of one man, Noah, God relented on destroying the entire human race for his sake. God, after the flood would again repopulate the earth through Noah and his wife, and his sons and their wives. Noah and his family were the only survivors of the flood. From the 6th to the 9th chapter of Genesis we can read how because of sin God had to destroy mankind. We can read how righteous Noah and his family were spared destruction, able to board the Ark and then after the flood repopulate the earth. Throughout the bible we can read how God destroyed societies because of their sinful and wicked ways. God had burned down cities, sent in armies to slay the wicked. He had caused drought and famine by holding back the rain. God will punish nations and individuals for their sins. Everyone will be held accountable. Even as God had punished sinful peoples and nations back then, the awesome powerful hand of our Mighty God will once again punish our modern day peoples and nations!

Let it be known that sin is so serious God commands that the offenders be put to death. The death spoken of is not just that of the death penalty for rape or murder nor the natural death that everyone has to die ("And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement," Hebrews 9:27), rather the death spoken of is called the second death; this is a final punishment for sin. It is a punishment from where there is no resurrection! That is it you now no longer exist. (Romans 6:23) states "For the wages of sin is death," not life. Not life in some ever burning hell fire being tortured by demons for all eternity but death which is the absence of life.

Jesus himself confirms the second death in (Matthew 10: 28), "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him (God) who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell," (The lake of fire) this is the second death. (Ezekiel 18: 20) says "A soul that sins shall die." Not only does this say that unrepentant sinners will die a second death, but it also confirms that we do not have an immortal soul. A soul that sins will die. The book of Revelation also confirms a second death as a result of sin. Chapter 21 verses 8 confirm who will have their place in the lake of fire. "But the cowardly, unbelieving, murders, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Also going back to (Revelation 20:14-15) "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

So the wages of sin is very real. The reality of losing one’s life for all eternity is a certainty if one wishes to continue in sin. But there is a way we can escape the second death, the wages of our sins. God does not take any pleasure in the death of any person, He desires that all should repent and receive His gift of eternal life. "But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all my statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surly live and not die. None of his transgression shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness, which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked shall die? Says the Lord God, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?" (Ezekiel 18:21-23).

Certainly God wants all of His children to turn away from sin and to live righteously so that they may receive His forgiveness, His grace and His Holy Spirit that will free them from the bondage and the wages of sin and to receive His free gift of eternal life. But one may ask "How can I be forgiven of my sins and receive God’s gift of eternal life?" The answer is in our bibles. First of all we must repent of our sins. To repent is to turn away from sinning, stop breaking God’s laws. Stop serving other gods and taking His name in vain, stop swearing, lying, cheating and stealing. Honour our parents regardless of our age. Remember to keep the Sabbath holy (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) and to keep His true holy days (Passover, The Feast of Tabernacles, etc.). Turn away from pagan festivals that have nothing to do with the true God such as Easter, which is pagan sun worship, and Christmas, which has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ.

Please note that keeping the Sabbath and holy days will not save us. Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ will. Only the forgiveness, grace and the Holy Spirit that God the Father gives us will. The keeping of the Sabbath, holy days and the rest of God’s laws are an act of obedience and worship, we are required to obey every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. But the Father through Jesus Christ wants to give us His gift of eternal life. God wants us in His soon coming Kingdom that will be established here on Earth by His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Another part of repentance besides turning away from sin is to first confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, we must not deny Him, but rather we must confess Him with all our heart and with all our soul. Confessing that He died on the cross for our sins and that He was resurrected and now sits at the right hand of the Father on His throne in Heaven. As said earlier, the first step to be forgiven of one’s sin is to repent, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). Jesus said in Mark 1:15, "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." The next step after repentance is to be baptized. In order to be forgiven of our sins and receive God’s Holy Spirit we must go through water baptism. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is God’s seal upon His people. This now means that our sins have been washed away and that we are now forgiven. We now belong to God and nothing can take us out of His hands. We have now made a life long commitment to Him and He made a commitment to us by giving us His Spirit.

When a person is baptized and has received God’s Holy Spirit he or she must begin to live a life of overcoming sin and the ways of this world. Changing one’s behaviour and character is not easy, it take a lot of faith and prayer. We must go to the Father daily in prayer to ask for His help in overcoming sin. We as humans will fall and unfortunately human nature dictates this. We will resort from time to time back to old habits. We may resort to hatred, anger, frustrations, resentment, envy and other past sins. These attitudes cannot be apart of a Christian’s life; they must be repented of and put out of our lives daily. This is why we must go to the Father daily to ask for His forgiveness and ask Him to help us overcome and repent of sin. Jesus Christ will intercede for us when we come to Him with a repentant and willing heart, because he knows our weakness. So if we do mess up, and we will from time to time be taken in by temptation through our weaknesses - this is reality, here is what the writer of Hebrews through the inspiration of God has to say. "Seeing that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and to find grace in time of need" (Hebrews 4: 14-16).

Jesus Christ emptied Himself of His Divinity to live as a flesh and blood human being. He had experienced what it was like to be a man and like us He had to sustain His life by breathing air, drinking water and eating food; He became a man and lived as a man. In fact He was tempted as we are tempted (Hebrews 4:15). He lived a sinless and righteous life, to set Himself as an example of how to serve God and how to live a righteous life before the Eternal God. He also laid down His life so that His shed blood would cover our sins and that we can enter from death into life, and to receive the forgiveness and grace of the Father. So therefore if while in our walk with our Saviour Jesus Christ we stumble and fall, He will be there to pick us up and set us on the right track. Jesus will go before the Father and intercede for us on our behalf when we go to Him with a genuine prayer of repentance. God is waiting to hear our prayers. He wants to forgive us. Jesus knows our every weakness and that is why He will go to the Father for us. God does not want one single human being to perish in the lake of fire. He is willing to forgive over and over if we go to Him in a prayer of true repentance. Once we have repented of our sins and are baptized and received God’s Holy Spirit - as stated earlier, we must now live a life of overcoming sin. Having God’s Holy Sprit does not give us a "license" so to speak - to continue in sinful behaviour. We must now put sin behind us and strive to live a life of righteousness before our Saviour Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.

As Paul states in his letter to the church in Rome, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raise from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For He who died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, who was raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him for since that death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He live to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Saviour. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey in its lust. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. But present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves to righteousness" (Romans 6: 1- 17). We are told that we are crucified with Christ, and if crucified with Christ we are no longer to continue in our sins. We are now commanded to live a life of righteousness so that in Christ we may have eternal life. God tells us if we repent and turn away from living sinfully that our past sins will be forgotten (Ezekiel 18:22). As stated earlier, from time to time a person may give in to temptation. We are not perfect. But that does not mean we are to give in and continue to sin. God gives us His Holy Spirit to help us overcome sin and live a righteous life.

Once we have His Holy Spirit, we must be careful that we don’t lose it! Contrary to what some may say, the doctrine of "Once Saved Always Saved" is a false teaching given by those who teach a "Feel Good" religion. It is this false doctrine that allows a person to repent, be baptized, and receive God’s Spirit and to continue to sin with out any fear of going into the lake of fire. Nowhere does the bible teach this doctrine. Remember the wages of sin is death - not life! "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, SHALL HE LIVE? All the righteousness, which he has done, SHALL NOT BE REMEMBERED; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin, which he has committed, because of them HE SHALL DIE!" (Ezekiel 18:24). "For if, after they have escaped the pollution’s of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them then the beginning. For it would have better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Peter 2:20-22). " Assuredly, I (Jesus) say to you, all sins will be forgiven of men and what ever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal (Death) condemnation" (Mark 3:28,29).

So as we can see, scripture does prove that if a person does reject God and the salvation that He grants us through Jesus Christ, that person will die, which throws out the window the false teaching of "Once Saved Always Saved." Scripture also tells us that it would have been better for that person to have never heard the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, than to learn the truth live by it, receive God’s Spirit then reject it and return to living a life of sin. By returning to a life of wilful sin (not the occasional slip up due to a momentary weakness) but deliberately turning away from God, the offender has rejecting the sacrifice of our Saviour Jesus Christ and rejecting the Spirit that God gives through His loving grace. That person has not only slapped the Father and our Saviour in the face by blaspheming the Holy Spirit, but that individual has also forfeited salvation guaranteeing that he or she will has his or her part in the lake of fire.

Now the Father is full of love and mercy. He will not cast anyone into the lake of fire for slipping up. This is why we go to him in daily prayer, to ask for His forgiveness. Remember even though we have God’s Spirit, we are still flesh and blood and still are able to be taken in by human nature. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Human nature is naturally hostile towards God. "Because the carnal mind is enmity (hostile) against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:7,8). From this we can see that human nature is not subject to the law of God. For this reason we need His Spirit. The Holy Spirit connects with our human spirit allowing God to build within us righteous character, helping us change from a life of sin to a life of obedience and righteousness towards our loving Creator.

Jesus promises those who turn from a life of sin the gift of eternal life in His soon coming kingdom. "Blessed and holy is who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power." He said to those that overcomes, that he will make them rulers with Him on this earth. "…But they shall be made kings and priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6).

Are you willing to turn to Jesus and to give up the life of sin? Are you willing to turn your heart over to Jesus and to allow Him to live His life in you? Will you now allow Jesus to build within you righteous godly character that will guarantee you salvation? If so, now is the acceptable time! Both Jesus and the Father want you to repent of your sins. They want to impart on you their grace, forgiveness and the Holy Spirit so that you may receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus said, " Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according to his work."

Revised 2003

Copyright @ 2002 - 2008 by Troy Craig

All scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version

Thomas Nelson Inc. Publishing