Deeper With GOD – Go and sin no more (the woman caught in the act of adultery at the feet of Jesus)

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Forgiveness of sin , a sermon by Colin Dye

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I have repeated the statement several times: sin will not keep you from grace, but grace will keep you from sin.

Legalistic Christians oppose this message and say it is nothing more than a licence to sin. So, they believe we gain our salvation by faith, but we have to keep it through works. That we are saved by grace, but we must be sanctified (made holy) through the law. In this way, they dilute the message of grace and rob us of the experience of its power to bring holiness into our lives. But, grace brings freedom from sin and not a licence to sin. The truth is, we are saved by grace and we are sanctified by grace.

The case against you has collapsed and all charges have been dropped. Sin will never again separate you from the love of God.

The law has only one power in your life, and that is to bring you under the control of sin, guilt and condemnation. That is why, in order to save and sanctify you, Jesus had to destroy the power of the law over your life. Not only has he removed the penalty of the law, he has also delivered you from its power through his death and resurrection.

Read carefully the following statements of scripture: Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Romans 7:4-6

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 1 Corinthians 15:56

When we put all this teaching about the law together, we discover a crucial life-changing truth. We must be delivered from the power of the law in order to be free from sin. Legalistic preaching and teaching is more than useless, it is totally counter-productive.

The law brings the knowledge of sin. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil it brought the knowledge of sin in their life. In the same way, the law also brings fruit into our lives ? sin, condemnation and death. It is not that the law is evil. It is good and glorious, but we are weak and sinful in ourselves. So, in order to overcome sin, we must be freed from our bondage to the law.

The good news is that we are in Christ and therefore not under the law. Christ?s death became our death and his resurrection, our resurrection to newness of life. We have died to the law in order to be joined to Christ so that we can serve him in the power of the Spirit. The law can only bring to light our sin and failures; it can never help us live for God. But Christ, who lives in us through the Holy Spirit, enables us to do the things that please God. We are led by the Spirit, not by the law. The power of the law is broken and that means the power of sin is also broken over our lives.

Legalism dilutes the message of grace and robs us of the experience of its power to bring holiness into our lives. We need to re-discover the power of grace to shape our lives. It is grace that changes us, grace that brings us close to the Lord and grace that teaches us not to sin. In Titus chapter 2, Paul explains this carefully, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age Titus 2:11-12

The grace of God appeared in Christ ? he is the grace of God. His death on the cross made it possible for us to be reconciled with God, and this grace instructs us in the ways of holiness. The word used for ?teaching? in Titus 2:12, is the word paideuo, which means ?to instruct and to train?. All good teaching is like this. It not only instructs us in the right way of living, it also trains us in that way. In other words, grace leads us and forms us in a lifestyle of grace.

In Galatians 3:24, it says that the law was our ?tutor? to bring us to Christ. In other words, the law acted like a schoolmaster, instructing us and keeping us under his control. But, when grace comes into our lives through faith, we have no further need for a schoolmaster. Grace sets us free from this bondage to rules and regulations and teaches us a new way of living, the way of faith. Now, we discover what it means to live by the grace of God.

Grace brings freedom from sin and not a licence to sin. We are saved by grace and we are sanctified by grace.

We are familiar with the famous hymn by John Newton, Amazing Grace. And, grace is truly amazing! Grace enables us, motivates us, encourages us and persuades us to live lives totally dedicated to God – grace, not legalistic religious systems, not guilt-provoking preaching and certainly not manufactured self-effort.

Enabling Grace

Grace means, ?unmerited favour?. It also means ?enabling?. Paul said, ?I am what I am by the grace of God?, but he also went to say, in effect, ?I can do what I do by the grace of God?. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

Here we see the enabling effects of grace. Grace does not create lazy Christians! It produces joyful, liberated, hard-working and committed Christians. If you are struggling with any of these things, then learn more about grace. Discover what God has done for you by grace and you will find a new joy in serving Jesus, your Master, your Lover and your Saviour. Grace works within you and changes you from the inside out.

Motivating Grace

The grace of God is a powerful motivating influence in your life. It is the attitude of gratitude that comes from knowing your sins are forgiven, that you can never be lost and that you owe all of this to Christ?s magnificent and breathtaking love. However, this is not to be confused with the legalistic response in which you feel you have to pay God back for what he has done for us. That is impossible and it makes nonsense of the Father?s free gift of salvation. How long would the Prodigal Son have had to have worked as his father?s hired servant to pay back the family fortune he squandered? It is totally unthinkable, and yet, that is how some ?holiness? preachers would have us respond. The true motivation for living a holy life is simply the joy of being forgiven. Jesus said, ?the one who has been forgiven much, loves much? (Luke 7:47). We see an example of this kind of loving devotion in the (previously sinful, but now forgiven) woman who lavished her affection on Jesus. Simon, the legalistic Pharisee barely welcomed Jesus because he had no concept or experience of grace. We are saved by faith, and by faith alone, but faith works through love. I emphasise: love, not law. Having begun in the Spirit, we cannot be perfected by the flesh. The Galatian believers Paul addresses in his letter had to discover that for themselves. We are guided by love and not by the law. Love is the Golden Rule, above all law. God is looking for true lovers and not mere law-keepers. You can live a virtually blameless life and miss the grace of God. This was the problem the elder brother had in the parable of the Prodigal Son. He represented the legalistic Scribes and Pharisees who resented Jesus? acceptance of sinners. In other words, they had no loving, intimate relationship with God, and knew nothing of his grace.

Encouraging Grace

Grace is also the best encourager there is. Grace teaches you that there is no such thing as failure in the kingdom of God, because there is always hope. You cannot fail beyond recovery, and you cannot lose – the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin. That?s a winning attitude! Grace leads you away from looking at yourself to see Christ, who is your life, your justification and your holiness.

Paul speaks of the transforming power of spiritual encouragement which has its source in grace, in 2 Corinthians 3:18. Here, he compares and contrasts the fading glory of the old covenant governed by the law, with the surpassing and permanent glory of the new covenant governed by the Spirit. The Spirit is the Spirit of grace, and he constantly reminds us, not of our failings, but of our position in Christ. Because we are in Christ, we no longer see ourselves, but we see Christ, who has become everything for us. The encouragement of seeing and sharing in the glory of the Lord is what transforms us to become like him. This is all by grace and has nothing to do with law. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Persuading Grace

Grace is also the most persuading influence in the world. God?s goodness convinces us that his way is best. The apostle John says, ?God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.? There is no ?dark side? to him; he is all love and he is all grace. We can go to him at any time totally persuaded that he is ready to bless us. He is a rewarder and not a withholder.

The assurance of the grace that comes by faith is that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrew 11:6). From the very beginning, Satan has always tried to portray God as a withholder. That what his tactic with Eve. She was deceived into believing that God did not want her to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil because he was withholding something good from her. She gave into the temptation to eat that fruit and immediately discovered that God had been protecting her all along. She realised that God?s way had been best all along.

In the same way, we can come to know God?s goodness through grace. We discover that our life of sin only leads to disillusionment and shame, and we are able to prove for ourselves that God?s will is good, acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). It blesses, it rewards and it satisfies. Once we see that, we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind. In other words, we are no longer sinners subject to the knowledge of our sin but, persuaded by grace, we desire the things that only God can give and gladly pursue him and his flawless ways in our life.

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Compared to the damage that such sins as adultery can cause, masturbation is, by all accounts, not the worst sin in the world. But the worst aspect of it is the guilt, condemnation and self-destruction that it produces.

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Deeper With GOD : Go and sin no more

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The Prodigal Son coming home

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Be free from soul ties today!

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The Fruit of Temptation looks Good. But sexual Sin has consequences.

Adultery or fornication

Obvious sexual sins include adultery ? a married person having sex with someone who is not their husband/wife; and fornication ? promiscuous sex between unmarried people or simply ?sex before marriage?. Society tends to turn more of a blind eye towards fornication than it does to adultery. The world?s mindset is, ?We love each other, we respect each other and we?re not hurting anyone, so it doesn?t really matter.? But for believers, it really does matter! If you truly love and respect one another, then remember the covenant!
Modern society has tried to erode the value of the marriage covenant. People live together in trial marriages because they want to make sure that, among other things, they are ?sexually compatible?. But in this business, you don?t get to test drive! Do you know statistics show that people who live together in trial marriages are much more likely to divorce and separate? The Bristol Community Family Trust has recently warned that three-quarters of all family breakdowns affecting young children now involve unmarried parents. Their research shows that unmarried parents are five times more likely to break up than married parents.
Also, many women are pressured into sex before marriage by men who say, ?I?m interested in you and I?m thinking maybe we?ll get married so what?s wrong with going to bed?? But the Bible says this is fornication.

Masturbation

One subject on which many people have questions is masturbation. It is a difficult area and I don?t want to bring anybody reading this book under condemnation, but there are some principles to consider which should guide us as to whether masturbation is permissible or not.
A question that crops up time and again is, ?Surely it is OK to give yourself some sexual relief occasionally?? I believe there is need for a lot of compassion and understanding here, especially for single people who have not emulated their peers, but have sought to keep themselves exclusively for their future partner in marriage. But there are three things that must be considered:
i. The context of sex is not self-enjoyment, but to bring pleasure to and bless your husband or wife. When you have sex with yourself (if you can describe it as such) it is so inwardly-focused that it becomes the very opposite of the purpose of sex.
ii. The Bible speaks about self-control and not being mastered by anything. The difficulty with masturbation is that it often can end in habitual masturbation and bring a person into bondage. As a Christian pastor and counsellor I?ve seen down through the years what a terrible bondage this can be.
iii. Finally, masturbation inevitably involves lust. I remember one pastor preaching and trying so hard to help people in this area. He was trying to be loving, but he said something so ridiculous: ?Masturbation is OK as long as you don?t think lustful thoughts and it doesn?t become a habit.? But lust and habitual bondage are the very things that masturbation tends to lead to!
Compared to the damage that such sins as adultery can cause, masturbation is, by all accounts, not the worst sin in the world. But the worst aspect of it is the guilt, condemnation and self-destruction that it produces. Guilt just complicates and worsens the problem of bondage, but thank God with the Holy Spirit?s help it is possible to break out of this.

Other physical acts

Another area where people have difficulty drawing clear lines, especially courting couples, is what is permissible (ruling out intercourse) before marriage? There are other physical acts between people which, a little like playing too near the edge of a cliff, can cause them to eventually plummet into sexual sin. Initially it may fall short of fornication, but unchecked it will certainly end by going further than either person imagined it would.
The fact is, no one can stand in a pulpit and say, ?When you go out with a boy or a girl you can do this, you can do that, but you can?t do this, you can?t do that.? Nowhere in the Bible do we have such a set of rules. Each of us is made differently, so what is important is for you, if you are a single person, to understand what are your limits before you are brought into a place of temptation and sin against your own body and somebody else.
Clearly, any sort of genital acts constitute sexual sin; and kissing and touching in a way that stimulates your boyfriend or girlfriend to the point of distraction and utter temptation is, at the very least, stupid. The rule is: if you want to avoid doing something, you don?t get as close as you can to it without actually doing it ? you?ve got to set sensible boundaries according to your own limits.

Pornography

Pornography in itself is debasing, but it is also a gross perversion of the truth because it focuses only on the physical act of sex and totally, utterly removes it from the covenant of marriage and the context of love. Added to which, pornography really is destructive and addictive.

Base sexual talk

Keeping a purity to your language is so important to your purity as a whole. The things you say, especially if they are suggestive and full of innuendo can set an unhelpful train of thought in motion in someone else?s mind. So much talk that is full of sexual innuendo takes place in the workplace that, as believers, we need to avoid participating in it and make a decision to be distinctively different.

Homosexual sin

I have written on the topic of homosexual sin in previous posts, but let me just note here that, if there is such a thing as heterosexual sin there must also be such a? thing as homosexual sin. I mention it here to keep the list complete.
What is the standard of God in all of this? Ephesians 5:3 says,
?But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints.?
I really like the NIV version of the particular verse which says,
?But among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God?s holy people.?
Not even a hint of sexual immorality is God?s standard. God doesn?t want you to play so close to the edge that you are likely to fall over, even if you haven?t fallen over yet. Why walk that close if you don?t want to fall over? Walk somewhere that?s safe instead.

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Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1.15

1. Make a decision

 
How do you get set free from sexual sin? First of all, as with any form of bondage, you need to make a decision that you want to be free. If you are in sexual bondage then you have to look honestly at what you have become and the damage that your sin is causing. How much of your life are you wasting by fighting sexual ?fevers?? Do you long to be free from the sense of guilt and failure that your sexual sin produces in you?
 
The standard of God?s Word, and what He wants for you, is for there to be ?not even a hint? of sexual immorality in your life. So there is a decision to make and the stronger the decision you make, the easier it will be to get free. Instead of continually fighting off sinful sexual urges which sap your spiritual strength and divert you from your purpose, make a decision to be free and take the steps that follow.
 

2. Receive prayer and deliverance

Receive prayer and deliverance to be set free fom sexual sin in your life

3. Discipline yourself ? learn new habits

 
Habits of the flesh need to be broken and the only way to do that is to discipline yourself to learn new habits. Especially for men, begin with ?bouncing? your eyes away from any sexual image. It really can make a big difference. Normal God-given sexual desire is manageable, because we realise that there is a fire burning on the inside of every man! Whether he?s a believer or an unbeliever, there is a fire there, we are no different! The thing to do is to keep the fire low. Don?t deliberately pour fuel on the fire. If you walk into your office and you see a girl wearing a low-cut blouse, bounce your eyes immediately, because if you don?t, you?ll put fuel on your fire and by lunchtime you?ll by totally distracted! However, you can control normal sexual desires that God has given you if you don?t let them grow out of control. Don?t make life tough for yourself. And ladies: watch your thought patterns. Bring then into line and don?t let your emotions carry you away.
 

4. Engage in discipleship

 
Discipleship is a very important part in the process of getting free and staying free from sexual sin. Put another way, get yourself into mutually accountable relationships with other believers. Everyone needs others around them, regardless of their position or status, because no one is immune ? that they can relate to honestly and pray with. Cell groups or prayer partners can be very beneficial in this regard because in them we can help each other, not as policemen but as fellow soldiers, to overcome our difficulties. If we are serious about the business of sexual purity then we also need to help one another.
 

5. Learn to walk in dignity

 
Sexual freedom is not about doing your own thing sexually ? just whatever you feel like doing ? it is about bringing your sexuality to order, to be harnessed for God?s purposes. That is true sexual freedom, and when you walk in freedom it brings dignity. When your desires are under control, that makes a true man.

Be intimate with God

6. Learn to walk in intimacy

 
Finally, learn to walk in intimacy. One of the biggest effects of sexual sin is that it robs us of dignity and intimacy. I?ve discovered in counselling men in particular who have sexual problems that every one of them speaks of a loss of intimacy. In other words, they have been seeking intimacy in the wrong way. Rather, focus on developing your intimacy with God so that when the time is right and it is time to ?awaken love? (see Song of Solomon 2:7) you will be glad that you disciplined and prepared yourself to be a real blessing and a gift to your partner in marriage.
 

Read also 😕What is Sexual Sin and Why is it Wrong?

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Does freedom mean I can do what I want? What about sexual sin?

To some, ?freedom from sexual bondage? might seem a strange combination of words. Most people in our post-modern society are crying freedom from rules and regulations. Surely freedom means that you can do what you want, doesn?t it? Such people would no doubt regard God?s rules for living as ?bondage?, and indeed biblical principles are often mocked by society. But I want to promote the truth that in fact, God?s rules are liberating.

By way of illustration, picture this scene: a high speed train is hurtling along its tracks towards its destination. Now imagine the same train leaping off its tracks, crying freedom and running across open fields, completely out of control. Which of these scenarios is a true picture of freedom? The train running smoothly along its tracks as it was designed to, or the train hurtling out of control, throwing passengers out, killing and destroying right across the field? If a train leaps its tracks, it?s not free ? it?s dangerous.


To use another illustration, imagine you go out to a concert one evening to hear a solo pianist perform. You are expecting to hear some relaxing classical music or perhaps some jazz, but the pianist announces that he is a ?free? musician and is going to play some of his own compositions. Being a ?free? musician means that he doesn?t believe in or follow any of the conventional rules of music ? he just plays a random, discordant and unrelated series of notes and chords. How many of us could listen to that for any length of time? Maybe you would you like to go to such a concert ? but that?s just the novelty element!

A train off-track, picture of real freedom?

Bound by sexual sin

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