Laying the Foundation

by James Lee Beall

...let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof (Romans 13:12-14).

What Spiritual Change Results From the Working of Repentance in Our Lives?

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Repentance is our response to God; regeneration is God’s response to us.

It is a change from death to life as the Holy Spi...

It is a change from the kingdom of darkness to God’s kingdom of light.

It is a change from alienation to acceptance.

Sin broke all relationship with God—and still does each time we sin.

Man was created for the pleasure of God, but both his fellowship with God and his ability to serve God were lost through sin.

God’s purpose for man can only be realized by man’s reconciliation to God, which involves restorati...

God is perfect in holiness and cannot tolerate the presence of sin.

Sin has totally ruined man’s capacity to please God.

Basic to all sin is selfishness as opposed to godliness. Sin is loving ourselves and preferring our own ways instead of loving God

and seeking to please Him. Sin can be that of commission—doing anything which is not God’s will for us, or of omission—failing to do what God does will. Sin is the choice of our own will as against God’s will, the use of our capacity to make decisions to rebel instead of to obey.

Sin is missing the mark (hamartia).

The most common word for sin in the New Testament is hamartia (ha-mar-ti-a). This word summarizes sin as our failure to be the person God intended us to be.

Ouch!

Hamartia describes sin in a three-fold way: (1) The source of wrong actions. (2) A power which acts through the members of our physical bodies. (3) Wrong actions.

Sin is moral wickedness.

Sin is willful transgression of the law.

Transgression is the deliberate stepping across the border between right and wrong, the violation of God’s law.

This stepping across is not accidental or without knowledge; it presupposes our knowledge of an objective moral ...

Transgression is man’s invasion of forbidden territory or crossing over the moral bound...

D. Sin is lawlessness.

Lawlessness is the temper of our times. This aspect of sin not only includes the indwelling source of sin and its many manifestations, but the guiding principle of life.

3. What Does Sin Do to Us?

The most important result of sin is that it breaks our fellowship with God.

But it also does things to our own in...

When we say that the wages of sin are death, this does not simply speak of the final accounting at the end of life. Sin produces results now. The death process is set in motion the moment we sin and cuts off the flow of G...

A. Sin makes us less of a person.

Each time we sin, we become less the person we were intended to be.

Something dies within us. We know something about ourselves that makes us think less of oursel...

Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God (I John 3:21).

B. Sin creates guilt.

God has built into us an inner alarm system to tell us the difference between right and wrong. We call it “conscience.” It is possible to alter the conscience until it is no longer accurate, but its purpose is to give us basic moral guidance. When the a...

The two ways we can respond to guilt are: by confessing the sin and receiving forgiveness, or by seeking punishment—ev...

God’s answer to guilt is the way of repentance: confess, ask for forgiveness, receive His cleansing...

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all ...

C. Sin begets m...

Each time we do a sinful act, this makes it easier for us to do t...

Habits are created through repetition and reinforcement. We must allow God to interrupt our sinful patterns through giving us repenta...

4. What Does it Mean to Walk in the Light?

But all these things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light (Ephesians 5:13).

5. What Kinds of Problems Often Hinder Our Walking in the Light?

A. We confuse temptation for sin.

Temptation is not sin. Jesus was sinless, but He experienced every kind of temptation.

Temptation is a strong pull or push to sin, but it is not sin itself unless we give in.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust [desire], and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:14, 15).

B. We confuse condemnation for the reproof of the Spirit.

Wow!

The Holy Spirit’s reproof comes as truth and as light.

Condemnation brings cloudiness and a vague self-hatred. It tells us we are all wrong but does not pr...