Expert: John Fields - 4/23/2011

Question
Hi thanks for your time. I love God and I pray everyday, and I go out and spread his word to people in other towns and I study my bible everyday. But once a week or so I willfully sin or give in to temptation. I pray and confess these sins and I will do good for 4 or 5 days and feel so holy then I will mess us and give in to sin. choose sin over god. sometimes I don't give in but sometimes I do. Is this willfull sin and am I practicing lawlessness? If i defeat sin and repent for good will God still hold it against me?

Answer
Dear Josh, yours is a problem that many people face. Many think that because they knowingly sin that they will not be forgiven. Yet, what does the Bible teach us?

In Old Testament there was a practice of ceremonially placing the sins of the people upon a sacrificial animal called the Scape-goat.

Leviticus 16:21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites — all their sins — and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task.

The animal was sacrificed in a different way than normal though (if you can refer to it as a sacrifice). It would be annually released into the desert wilderness with one scarlet thread tied around its neck signifying the people's sins and another piece of the same scarlet thread tied to the temple door. The goat would never be seen or heard from again. This signified that the people's sins were sent away, never to be seen again. According to historical documents, when the goat reached the wilderness, the thread which was on the temple would turn white, showing that sin had been forgiven.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Interestingly, two different sources cite that the thread supposedly stopped changing color from scarlet to white after the death of Christ.

All three types of sins were placed upon the goat, iniquity (meaning gross immorality), transgression (meaning open rebellion) and sin (meaning falling short of the mark). Jewish scholars all agreed that ALL sins were forgiven, even capital crimes.

God is very forgiving.

Exodus 34:7 tells us that God forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Deuteronomy 9:26-27 (26) I prayed to the LORD and said, "O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin.

Wickedness (iniquity), rebellion (transgression) and sin (human failure) are three different kinds of infractions with different states of pre-meditated knowledge and willfulness. These three scriptures indicate that God would forgive these three kinds of sins, yet, He would not leave the guilty unpunished. Who are the guilty?

ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but not all have necessarily committed gross immorality (the word iniquity) nor have all necessarily stood in open rebellion (the word transgression) against God. But for those who have sinned in ANY of the three ways, different degrees of gross immorality, different levels of open rebellion, and plain falling short of the mark as weak humans (the word sin), EACH AND ALL can be forgiven. God says that though they are forgiven, the consequences of their sin will still follow. They WILL be punished. What will their form of punishment be? It can be sickness, plague, misfortune of any kind, death, or various kinds of miserable consequences. The GOOD NEWS is that IF we will repent and turn away from our sins, there is NO sin that we cannot recover from so long as we still care enough about our sin to turn to God and do something about it. It is only fair that though we are forgiven in ways that will not bring about eternal consequences, that we should at least be punished temporally. The fact that we as humans are aware that God is often involved in this can be witnessed over and over again. "Why has God done this to me?" "Why am I being punished?" Often, the ones doing this are so self-righteous or unaware of their sin before the holiness of Almighty God that they don't realize that one of the best responses to these consequences is to do the modern day equivalent of repenting in dust and ashes, fasting, and meditating on ways that we can improve and do better for God. If a thing has been brought into our lives, it is ultimately going to make us better and stronger if we respond to God in the right way.

In the case of the scapegoat, AND the clear statement that God DOES forgive the three kinds of sin, it is evident that God intends for the people to have a certain definitive knowledge of having been forgiven, since all three kinds of sin are removed from them. Since punishment was still a reality even with these things having been forgiven, what of the punishment and what of the forgiveness? Those who had been forgiven, while still receiving just punishment in the here and now, would not also be guilty in eternity, their temporal punishment having already been incurred.

    We have precedent for this in the Old Testament. Recall that David engaged in gross sin and misconduct before God. He coveted his neighbor's wife, knowing she was married he committed adultery with her anyway, lied and attempted a cover-up. Involving others in his sin, he had righteous Uriah murdered by being moved to the front lines and deliberately withdrawn from in the heat of battle. When confronted with his sin, he admitted to it and was repentant. Yet, he had terrible consequences that befell him as a result of his sin. His earthly sojourn was dreadfully impacted while His eternal condition was secured. Many people assume that since Nadab and Abihu were burned to death for their irreverence and that since Uzzah was killed for his own irreverence in touching the Ark of the Covenant that these men are examples of the lost. I do not share that opinion since there does seem to be precedent for temporal judgment being executed in order to keep from exercising eternal judgment.

Some may make notice or mention that I have drawn the teaching and precedent from the Old Testament. Since we no longer live by the Old Testament, according to their mind-set, it is no longer allowed to be used. To a point, I agree. Yet, they must also realize that the Scapegoat was a symbol (type) for how our sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ (the anti-type). He is OUR Scapegoat. Therefore, whatever could be said about the first Scapegoat is also true of Jesus, since it was He that the original Scapegoat symbolized in the first place.

We should all work fervently to avoid ALL sin to be loving and obedient toward God. After all, our wonderful Savior died because of sin. Know that whatever you are fighting against and whatever saddens you in the form of sin can and will be forgiven.

What should we all be especially vigilant against? We should try to NEVER make room for it by means of grace. For example: I knew a girl who seemed a passionate believer when you saw her on worship days, yet, she planned for and did not seem the least bit sorry for wild, sin filled weekends. I would be VERY concerned for the soul of any person who gave themselves over to sin like that.

Strive to let the heart of Jesus Christ beat in your chest, loving and hating the things He loves and hates while striving to act accordingly. When you do this in Christ, you will have no worries about salvation.