First off let me state, if you are saved God calls you to be holy, to be righteous in His sight and turn away from sin, see Leviticus 11:44; Psalms 33:5; Psalms 37:27-29; Matthew 5:48; James 1:22; 1 Peter 1:15-16; 1 John 2:6; 1 John 3:9; to name a few places where it is stated. Now while all these scriptures talk of our being holy like Him or perfect, we know as humans that it is impossible for us do, none of us are perfect or righteous on our own see Genesis 8:21; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Proverbs 20:9; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10, each one states that we are unrighteous that we do or will sin. In order for us to be righteous as commanded, we need the blood of the sacrificial Lamb of Israel to cover our sin, see Isaiah 53:3; Matthew 26:28; Matthew 20:28; Romans 5:1-11; Romans 6:23. So now we have established that none of us are perfect and that we all need Jesus to cover our sins.
Now I would like to talk a little about the fact that we are all struggling against our flesh, against our sin nature, see Galatians 5:16-18; and Romans 7:21-25. These passages address the struggle that we all experience as we learn to be closer to God and to turn away from sin. The hypocrite Christian will know nothing of this daily struggle, some openly flaunt their sins while professing Jesus saved them and that it's okay because they're forgiven, they love their sin and do not want to put it down. I say this as someone who spent many years in this category before coming to a place of being broken and vulnerable before the Lord. Other hypocrite Christians are more clever, they learn to hide their sins from those around them, and tend to be the first to cast stones, they are the ones that spend all their time telling others what they are doing wrong, where they fall short, but never look at themselves or their own shortcomings. They typically have a good knowledge of the word, but their practice of it is lacking.
The struggling Christian has a hearts desire to know and please the Lord. Their sin is a burden to them, one that hurts their heart because they know it grieves their Father. They typically react to sin within their desire to please God, that means they pray about it, confessing to God their shortcomings and asking for help. At this point, I will share with you one of shortcomings that I struggled to let go of. I was one of those teenagers who thought it was cool to cuss, not that I actually thought it was cool, I more or less believed it was my right since I was finally old enough to do it without getting my mouth washed out, or spanked. So, like most teenagers I abused that believed 'right' that I had, I abused it so much so that I was told I could work at truck stop, I couldn't get through a sentence most of the time without using foul language. Before I had surrendered my heart to God and had only just said the prayer (there's about a 6-7 year gap between when I said the prayer of salvation and when I gave Him my heart) I had no problem cussing. I really believed what I had been taught, that I was safe from hell after that prayer and didn't have to live righteously because I couldn't and that Jesus was okay with that. However, after I finally broke down and realized from having started to actually read my Bible, that this was untrue I repented of that belief, and shortly after that I started to notice that hearing others cuss bothered me, I realized that they sounded uneducated, and that acting that way myself made me sound the same. I wanted to stop cussing after that, but I found it nearly impossible after having allowed it to be part of my life for so long. Everyday I woke up with the intention of not saying any cuss words, and everyday I failed and grieved over it, until I asked God to overcome it for me because I was too weak, but even this took several years for me to get there! I am sure to other Christians I looked like a hypocrite, professing to love Jesus but using a lot of course language, but in truth I was struggling against it, I just couldn't seem to stop myself, kind of like what is described in Romans 7:21-25.
In describing the difference between a counterfeit or hypocrite Christian from a genuine Christian it is apparent that their hearts are the difference, one may think and say that they love Jesus, but the way they hold onto their sin says otherwise. Where as, a genuine follower of Christ may have still have sin in their life; but it isn't something they love they hate the sin, it is a burden that grieves their heart. They desire to be rid of the sin and to be closer to God seeking Him out daily and including Him in every part of their life. Looks like this running long so I'll stop here today and pick this back up tomorrow, be blessed.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
Psalms 37:27-31
27 Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.
28 For the Lord loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed ;
the offspring of the wicked will perish.
29 The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.
30 The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak what is just.
31 The law of their God is in their hearts;
their feet do not slip.
Matthew 26:28
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Romans 6:20-23
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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