In the administration of justice in the secular realm, there is the practical need to distinguish the seriousness of any given breach of law, and to impose a corresponding punishment on the offender to make things right between the offender and the governing authority.
One, for instance, would not expect to be punished as severely for shoplifting as the one who robs a bank.
But in the spiritual realm, sin is sin, and it took the atoning Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to make things right between Fallen Man and God. Man (apart from God) never had, does not now, or ever will have the means or the power to obtain forgiveness and to make things right with God.
There is no such thing as a harmless or little sin when one considers what it took the Lord Jesus Christ to do, in order to atone for it!
the spiritually mature believer can hear the clanging of the spikes being driven into the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ when he or she conducts a 2Cor.3: 12 self-examination, and acknowledges that it was his or her own sins that, in part. put Him on the cross.
Maintaining a 24/7 conscious awareness of the omnipresence of God will go a long way in keeping oneself on the narrow path that God desires for His disciples to tread.
Compounding the seriousness of our own individual sin(s), is that from divine viewpoint, the one who breaks just one of God’s laws, as we ALL have, stands as guilty as the one who has broken them all (1)!
Heb. 12: 1 speaks of there being at least one sin within all of us “that so easily entangles” us, causing us to trip more often than what we would care to admit.
It seems that no matter how hard we try to resist it or to restrain ourselves, we are easy targets for the forces of evil when this temptation or circumstances present themselves.
Again, what this specific sin is, that so easily entangles us, is different for each individual, as what is “the” sin for one person may not be “the” sin for someone else.
In addition to the sin that so easily trips us up, it is our areas of strength and weaknesses that defines us as the type of person that we are in the eyes of Man, be it for the better or the worse.
Should our weaknesses become known, our reputation with Man will be jeopardized, but with God, He knew of our individual dark side and sins all along.
In fact, in His omniscience, He knew of every sin that we would commit BEFORE we were even born.
He had to have known, in order for Him to have included the complete record of our individual sins that He placed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who atoned for them, while on the cross.
Sinners will find comfort, acceptance, and encouragement from the fallen nature within us, especially in the presence of like-minded individuals and groups who are involved in the same type of sin, but are out of fellowship with God, to Whom we all are accountable.
Dealing with the pressure imposed by the fallen nature is a daily experience for an advancing disciple.
Experiencing no such pressure is an indication that the devil is content to leave you alone, right where you are, as you bring little, if any, glory to God, and pose no threat to the devil’s agenda. He may even prosper you for your unwitting cooperation .
Once saved by being born-again, the issue of one’s salvation has been settled for all of eternity, but our ongoing struggle with the fallen nature that wants to be satisfied and control us, has only just begun.
Advancing disciples are a work in progress, and will continue to be so, until the day they die, when they leave their bodies, and the sin nature behind.
Our successes and our failures in the midst of this ongoing struggle does NOTHING to improve or to destroy the integrity of our salvation, but has much to do with the quality of our post salvation spiritual life.
The quality of our post salvation spiritual life has got NOTHING to do with WHERE we will spend eternity, as this has already been determined.
But what remains to be determined, is HOW, that being with or without the reward and privileges (2) awaiting the born-again believers in Heaven, who advanced in discipleship while here on Earth.
Our post salvation presence here on Earth is for the purpose of bringing glory to God. The born-again believer glorifies God through discipleship. Discipleship calls for the ongoing study (3) and the application (4) of the Word of God 24/7.
Discipleship is initially for the spiritual advancement of the born-again believer, with the long-term objective of participating in the Great Commission (5), evangelizing and or spiritually edifying others, by way of, word and example.
In conclusion, as we spiritually mature, we will develop the ability to better apply our areas of strength and to better deal with our areas of weakness. Our areas of strength consists of the areas of our life where we consistently apply the doctrines circulating in our edified soul structure (6).
Our areas of weakness consists of areas of our life in which we either are ignorant of the appropriate doctrine(s), or do not consistently apply the doctrines that we have learned.
The building and application of an edified soul structure will be an ongoing process in the life of an advancing disciple that will never end, this side of Heaven.
The day one thinks he or she already knows enough or is doing enough, is the day he or she becomes disobedient to the command (not an option) to c-o-n-t-i-n-u-e to grow in God’s grace and knowledge (7).
Any open space in our soul structure, that should be filled with the appropriate doctrine, will be receptive and filled with human viewpoint and rationalization that appeals to the fallen nature within us.
The advancing disciple will identify and manage his or her areas of weakness well, by learning and applying the appropriate Bible Doctrine to whatever issues present themselves on any given day, and by rejecting human viewpoint that would have us do otherwise.