Death to Sin!

April 15, 2024 Monday Message:

Colossians 3:5 NLT: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

Paul is counseling the Colossian church to live a more virtuous life than the rest of the world. In Paul’s language, these impure behaviors should be “put to death!” Ideally, sin would never be present in a Christian assembly.

But let me be clear: Eliminating mankind’s earthly nature won’t get you into heaven. You can’t “earn” your way into heaven. Salvation is an undeserved gift (grace) given to us by the work Jesus did on the cross. We receive it because of our faith in who Jesus is, and believing that he can and will do what scripture promises.

So what we need to do is ask Jesus to live in our hearts and then change everything! Jesus will take care of living in you if you ask, forgiveness of those who repent and return, and ultimately salvation. But getting your way of living back on track is your responsibility. Sinful ways that used to be the norm need to be put to death. Stopping the sin but still thinking about it isn’t good enough. We need to completely eliminate it from our thoughts. Sin no longer has a place on our agenda of possible things to do today. It’s out of the question! We should put it to death, bury it and walk away forever.

Paul wrote, “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” The key is that this is written as “past tense.” Most of us used to do things like these, but now because of Jesus we are born again. Because of Jesus, everything is changed. Because of Jesus, everything is better!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship