“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” Romans 7:7-11
Unbelief is a sin. Any fad that directs our faith away from Jesus for our deliverance, our victory or our day to day Christian living is a sin. With each fad comes another requirement to accomplish desired result. Although religious in appearance, these requirements are the very thing that provokes our sin nature. In the above Scripture the Apostle Paul was speaking of the Mosaic Law but sin will take occasion by any rule, requirement or regulation and it will slay you. If you don’t believe me go on a diet and see how quick you want a piece of chocolate. Pardon the analogy but the diet is the “law” and the chocolate is the “sin”.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. We are saved by grace through faith, praise the Lord! However, we are also sanctified by the same grace through the same faith…faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work.
“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14. Please don’t think I’m saying it is okay to sin because we are no longer under law. What I am saying though is because we are not under law, we no longer HAVE to sin. Our sin nature does not have dominion over us because of our faith in Jesus’ finished work. The difference is someone who believes it is okay to sin because we are not under law is actually under law. Stay with me here…they have turned grace into a law. They do not know the Grace of God because if they did they would not WANT to sin. Their faith is not in Jesus and His finished work to deliver them from sin, their faith is in their law of grace and that it is okay to sin. In this case not only is their sin of choice their sin but self righteousness is their sin as well. They will be the first to rebuke you when their grace rule is broken. The religious always care more about their rules and regulations than they do the person. The bondage of religion is the worst kind of bondage because of it’s religious nature.
These fads that sweep through the church always have religious rules and regulations that provoke the very sin nature we are trying to overcome. Understand this, if we could overcome our sin nature Jesus would not have had to go to Calvary’s Cross. These fads point us to faith in our works, our efforts and our abilities. The Word of God will always point us to what Jesus has done which grows our faith in Him, in Who He is and what He has done and it is through our faith in Jesus that we have dominion over our sin nature. Because of our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is then commissioned to isolate our sin nature (Romans 8:2) which frees us from the law of sin and death.
These rules and regulations of the religious fads will not and cannot free us from the law of sin and death. The same Grace by faith that saves us will also deliver us from the dominion of sin, faith in Jesus and His finished work on Calvary’s Cross. Blood moons, shemitahs, harbingers, 40 days of purpose, feasts, festivals, rituals and ceremonies don’t point us to Jesus and His finished work for victory over our sin nature, which is man’s problem, they point us to traditions and schemes of man.
” For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14.
-Donna Clark Warren
Living in The Spirit 