Our Enticements & Christ's Sinlessness
The incarnate Christ faced temptations to sin, winning for us a transferable life of holy human choices, as well as providing for us a pattern for fighting our own temptations.
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Jesus, Son of Adam: Indebted to a Forgiving God
We should gratefully celebrate the incarnation, knowing something of the cost to Christ in taking on the humanity of Adam to save sinful humans.
The Brevity of Life
As we start to understand the trouble & brevity of this life as God’s theological & sometimes practical response to sin, we should learn to earnestly seek his solutions.
Guilt & Forgiveness
God is loving and faithful to inflict his children with feelings of guilt and conviction so that we will quickly be brought to confession, repentance and restoration!
Why "Just Trying" Doesn't Work
Romans 7 presents a dramatic and frustrating internal conflict that illustrates that attempts to please God without the enablement of the Holy Spirit are always futile.
Thinking Rightly About Holiness & Sin
The law was given to expose our sin, make us see our need for grace, as well as giving us an objective expression of what holy conduct looks like.
Understanding Our New Break with Adam
As Christians we cannot rightly understand the imputation and effects of Christ’s righteousness until we understand the imputation and effects of Adam’s sin.
The Goal of Scripture's Many Rules
The rules & the assessments of the Bible are directed strongly and specifically toward each of us so that we might own our many sins and cry out for grace without excuse.
The Word's Clarity About Our Sin
We must vigilantly avoid relative definitions of sin & righteousness and humbly accept God’s scriptural declarations about our deficiency before a holy God.
Making Sense of the Bad in "The Good Book"
Sin is a terribly bad even though God uses it for good – that’s why we should work to run from temptation without any rationalization or excuses.
No Hiding Behind Religious Trappings
Grace (acquired through faith) transforms a heart which responds in obedience; but partial adherence to the law (ceremonial or moral) cannot and does not save you.
Learning to Hate Hypocrisy
The hypocrisy of thinking we are “better than others” when in fact we all break God’s laws is terrible because it keeps us from seeing our need for Christ and gives onlookers cause for disdaining God’s people.
No Excuses About the Man in the Jungle
God is perfectly just to judge all people for their sins because he has provided a moral standard in human conscience which makes everyone culpable before God.
Being Totally Honest About the Problem
Our ability to readily discern sin in others must be utilized in honestly appraising and admitting our own sinfulness as God’s unmerited forgiveness requires.
Sin & Unrighteous Behavior
We would do well to identify the sins that so easily entangle us, wage war against them and never applaud those who practice them.
Sin & Unholy Thinking
The problem of sin is a problem with our thinking that needs to be remedied by new birth in Christ and constant maintenance and daily discipline.
Sin & God's Temporary Concession
We must be mindful that the current moral chaos is a result of God’s temporary concession to sin and sinners, always anticipating his coming righteous solution!
Sin & Its Deceitfulness
All people are culpable before God because our sin has involved a rejection of God, a willful rationalization and a love of folly over wisdom!
Sin & God's Universal Campaign Against It
Everyone is able (though most are not willing) to perceive the power & goodness of God in the universe he created, which should lead us all to turn from sin & trust him.
Sin & God's Necessary Aversion to It
As we gain a more accurate view of God we will learn to respect, not resent, God’s necessary and stern response to all things sinful.
Getting Honest About Myself
The prerequisite to having eternal life is admitting we fail at keeping the rules God requires and the only way to be acceptable to God is to trust Christ who kept the rules for us!
Breaking Recurring Patterns
We must take necessary steps to break the pattern of recurring sin so that we don’t thwart progress in our sanctification and incur greater discipline from our heavenly Father.
Spurred on By Godly Examples
Sin is a powerful and detrimental entanglement that we must fight everyday so that we may continue to grow up into Christ’s likeness.
Courage to Do the Right Thing
God requires ambitious faith to boldly face the consequences and temporary deprivation of resolutely pursuing a righteous life and saying no to the lure of sin.
Being Totally Honest About Your Sin
The Gospel benefits require a complete and total honesty about our guilt and culpability before God’s holy tribunal.
And Our Problem with Sin
Sin is our problem before our Creator, but we have trouble seeing it because we’re blinded by pride and of our tendency to compare ourselves to others instead of God.
Answering the Remaining Questions in Romans 3:3-8
Sin is bad even though God uses it for good; its effects are so bad that we should do our best to avoid it and never think about rationalizing it away.
Addressing the Broader Questions Raised in Romans 3:3-4
We should wake up the incredible and precious gift God has given us in entrusting us with his word; and so we should reverentially dig in to our Bibles every day!