WHY SIN IS UNREASONABLE

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:1-2)

Devotion 7 of 23

THE GLORIOUS EFFECT OF ILLUMINATION

From one perspective, regeneration is the experience of illumination. Referring to their identity with Jesus Christ, Hebrew believers were reminded, "But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated (enlightened, NASB, received light, NIV), ye endured a great fight of afflictions" (Heb 10:32). Arguing from this viewpoint, the Spirit reasons concerning the liability of falling away--the result of not going "on to perfection." The state from which one can fall is that of being "once enlightened" (Heb 6:1-4). Referring to the same process, Paul wrote, "For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). In his prayers for the churches, Paul expressed a desire for this enlightenment to continue. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know . . . " (Eph 1:18-20). Those who deny that men are illuminated by God thereby acknowledge two things. First, they admit to their personal lack of familiarity with the sinfulness of man. Second they display their inexcusable ignorance of the nature of salvation.

Spiritual illumination has several glorious consequences. It results in a new and more accurate understanding of God Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is perceived differently also, no longer known "after the flesh" (2 Cor 5:16). Thus the world is crucified to the believer, and the believer to it (Gal 6:14). This is but another way of saying we die to the world, losing our affection for, and affinity with, it. The malignancy of sin is seen clearly in the light of God's glory as perceived in the "face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). Satan dulls our minds by corrupting our view of sin. The Lord sharpens our minds by clarifying the deadly nature of transgression. This is accomplished while we gaze into Christ's face.

The nature of sin is thus perceived by contrast. To the degree "the face of Jesus Christ" is comprehended, sin becomes apparent. That apparency results from its contradiction to the Divine nature. Its venomousness is seen in opposition to the wonderful grace of God. Sin is a violent intrusion into the spiritual mind. The individual who has been enraptured with the Savior of the world is encircled with purity. The sensitivity of the human spirit to this environment enables the saved to detect sin by its variant nature.

The Law defined sin, but Jesus exposed it. Sin needed to be defined, but there is no power in definition, only conviction. Spiritual illumination brings moral power; i.e., the ability to resist the devil and deny ungodliness, because it is understood with the heart. A spiritually enlightened person can abstain from sin because he sees it for what it is. Others, who are blinded by the god of this world, fall into sin because they do not understand its nature.

PRAYER POINT: Father, in Jesus' name, and with much joy, I confess I once was blind, but now I see!

-- TOMORROW: HE THAT HAS SUFFERED IN THE FLESH
HAS CEASED FROM SIN --