Some Sober Thoughts on the Power of Sin

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." (Rom. 3:19 )

There is not much said nowadays about the power of sin, but the Bible is clear: man cannot deliver himself from the power of sin, who is a cruel tyrant that brings judgment and death to mankind. Sin and death has reigned over mankind since the original sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden, as Romans 4:12 tells us.

If man could deliver himself from the power of sin, the coming of Jesus into the world would have been an absurdity. He came for one primary purpose: to "save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21.

The reader must not think that any man is so delivered from sin in this life that he is sinless and perfect, for that belongs only to heaven. But it is true, that any man makes a beginning in righteousness only when he is united to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith. This is why we are called to put off the old man and put on the new man as Paul says in more than one place. Eph. 4:22 and Col. 3:9.

And so we read, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:6 ) “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” (1Pe 3:18 )

This is the reason why the preaching of the cross is absolutely necessary if men are to be truly saved. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1Co 1:18 )

The Gospel is not preached when men are enticed to become Christians because of the promise of fun and games and pleasure. If the enticement is in terms of the love of money, love of fame, love of pleasure, love of the world, or any such thing the power of the cross is removed and sin exercises it power and tyranny in the life. The message of the cross is this: the sin of man is so great that he cannot deliver himself and can be saved only by agreeing with the verdict of the cross that man is worthy of death but the love of God has been revealed in that Christ died in place of the ungodly. This message is the only hope for man, and to corrupt this message is to take away all hope.

New lIfe in Christ only comes in terms of the crucifixion of Christ and my union with Him in His death. As Paul said,

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Php 3:8-11 )

Of course, this is foolishness to the proud, the greedy, the arrogant, and the lustful. Such men have their portion in the world and know nothing of the power of the Christ, but remain under the power and dominion of sin. We live only because we die in Christ.

If you think that all this is foolishness, you do not understand the cross of Christ and are yet in your sins.

A Soul Before God

I do not know whether or not Ted Haggard is guilty of the charges against him. I am no great admirer of human nature, and think that most people are capable of terrible things if not sustained by the grace of God.

But the spiritual wars being fought in America are bloody and vicious wars. The left does not care about Christians or their families. My wife had taught the Haggard children in school and they are are wonderful family.

But Haggard is no more important to the whole scheme of things than the individual GI who landed on Normandy and was a casulty in the war. If he is guilty, Ted Haggard will find solace in Christ and learn a depth of the meaning of Christ's death that he never dreamed existed before, and will be a better man than before, although without his ministry and world-wide influence. God cares nothing about that either, for He will sacrifice the whole world for the salvation of His elect.

Christians and non-Christians need to realize that all men are flawed. The fundamental difference between the saved and the lost is the election of God to faith and adoption. God has pledged Himself in Jesus Christ to save His people from their sins by faith in the blood of Christ. They will be justified, sanctified and glorified. If Haggard is one of these, he will be finally saved, though he walks through the depth of discouragement and abasement. The non-elect have no such hope.

The man who accused Haggard did it from malice and hatred of religion, by his own admission. Haggard is nothing, but the anger of God will be more than this poor sodomite will be able to withstand. Christians are not to seek revenge, and no true Christian will do so, but they trust in the word of God, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay."

For Ted Haggard, the only thing that matters if he is guilty, is not his ministry, his political agenda, or his church. It is now a matter of his soul before God. He must come clean, repent, and cast himself upon the Christ whose love he professes. Christ only receives sinners, not the righteous.

A word to the Sodomite lobby: "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" --1Peter 4:18

California Poppies 

It might very well be ungovernable. Last year there were 190, 178 crimes of violence causing 2503 deaths, or about 8 per day. There were almost 10,000 forced rapes, about one per hour, and over 114, 161 violent assaults, or one every 12 minutes. The borders are porous and police are not able to seal them off to keep foreign criminals out.

Though rich in natural resources, it is so badly governed that there is no assurance that there will be electricity or sufficient water during certain parts of the year. The inner cities are rocked with violence and the schools are in disarray. Many have given up and are trying to flee the state. There is ethnic and religious discord.

No, we are not talking about Iraq or Afghanistan. The state is California, which has only a few more millions of people than does Iraq.

Why do you suppose that we do not get a daily body count from California from the media? Surely there is some newsworthy reporting and possible a Pulitzer Prize for somebody motivated enough to report on the break down of civilization in California.

But I am sure that it is the Republican’s fault for the disarray in California. They do have a sorta-Republican governor.

They probably were better off when they had Spanish dictators. We should set a time-table for getting out of California