Holier-Than-Thou

The problem with my "Holier-Than-Thou" attitude is my own life.  How many times do I have to come back to God in repentance seeking His forgiveness for the same dumb thing?  I am sure that the Old Testament saints are saying the same things about me that I say about them.  "Come on, Smith, do you really have to have that attitude again?  What an idiot!"  "Hey look, guys!  Brad is at it again.  Why isn't he just faithful to God?"

If we are really honest, to some extent, we all live right there.  We all have our own little cycle of sin, exile and repentance that we go through.  The question is, how do we break this cycle?  Unfortunately, it is easier said than done.  On paper, it seems easy.  In reality, it is painful and difficult.  

I believe it starts at the cross.  That may seem like an elementary statement, but it is so true.  Without the atoning work of Jesus on the cross, there is no salvation, no forgiveness, no power to change.  But what do we really believe about the cross?  What do we really understand took place?  For some of us, believing in the work of Jesus on the cross was a one time experience.  We call this our salvation experience.  This is an incredibly important time in the life of each believer.  If you have never had a salvation experience, if you have never put your faith in Jesus alone by faith alone to forgive you of your sins, give you a personal relationship with Him and guarantee you eternity in Heaven, please email me by clicking here.  I would love to talk more with you about this all-important subject.  But there is another thing we need to talk about.  Sanctification.  There are three facets of sanctification.  "Positional Sanctification" is first.  This is what happens to a person the moment they put their faith and trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.  The third aspect is called "Ultimate Sanctification".  This is what takes place when we get to heaven, we are with God for eternity, there is no more sin or sin nature.  But it is the second form of sanctification that we want to look at.  Theologians call it "progressive sanctification" or "experiential sanctification".  The word "sanctify" means to be set apart, or holy.  So progressive or experiential sanctification means the process of making us more and more set apart, holy or like God.  Commonly, we refer to this as "spiritual growth".  Are you more like Jesus today than you were yesterday?  Are you closer in your relationship to Almighty God today than you were 5 years ago?  Have you learned more about Him?  Have you witnessed more for Him?  Have you worshipped Him more intensely?

Galatians 5:1 has long been an important verse for me.  It says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." [NASB].  Romans 6:1-2 says, "What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase?  May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" [NASB]  Romans 6:5-14 says, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is free from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." [NASB]

I could go on with many more verses, but the main thrust of these passages is this: we are dead to sin, we are free from sin, stop going back into sin.  Do you realize that many times we keep on doing the very things that put Jesus on the cross?  When we continue to sin, it is like we don't care, and we are putting Him right back up there again.

So let's do this: let's stop having a holier-than-thou attitude about people in the Bible, or people that you know, or people that you hear about in the news.  Let's end the cycle of sin patterns in our lives.  Let's recognize that Jesus has already set us free from sin, so we have no need to go back, and sin has no power over us.  Let's get busy with getting to know the God of the Word by getting to know the Word of God more.  Let's get busy with true worship.  Let's get busy with sharing our faith.  Let's take our relationship with Jesus Christ to a more intimate place than it has ever been before.  Because when we do that and we are more focused on that relationship, it becomes easier and easier to say no to sin.