From the book: Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray

by David Leach
(Temecula, Ca)

Gen 2:17 ...In the day that you eat of it (you disobey Me) you will surely die.
Gen 3:4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die".
2 Co I 1:3 ...as the serpent deceived Eve that your minds may be corrupted
Rom 8:2 ...The Iaw of sin and death. 1 Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin...
Jam 1:15-16 When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived... NASU
Rom 7:9 ...Sin revived and I died (I died to God and needed to be revived).
That You May Not Sin
In Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not,
-1 John 3:5-6

The apostle had said, "Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins," (1 John 3:5) and had thus indicated salvation from sin as the great object for which the Son was made man. The connection shows clearly that the taking away has reference not only to the atonement and freedom from guilt, but also to deliverance from the power of sin, so that the believer no longer does it. It is Christ's personal holiness that constitutes His power to effect this purpose. He admits sinners into life union with Himself; the result is that their life becomes like His. "In him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not,"

As long as he abides, and as far as he abides, the believer does not sin. Our holiness of life has its roots in the personal holiness of Jesus , "If the root be holy, so are the branches" (Rom. 11:16).The question at once arises: "How is this consistent with what the Bible teaches of the abiding corruption of our human nature, or with what John himself tells of the utter falsehood of our profession, "if we say that we have no sin…that we have not sinned" (1 John 1:8,10)?" It is just this passage that, if we look carefully at it, will teach us to understand our text correctly. Note the difference in the two statements, "If we say that we have no sin" (v. 8), and, "If we say that we have not sinned" (v. 10).

The two expressions cannot be equivalent the second would then be an unmeaning repetition of the first. Having sin in verse eight is not the same as doing sin in verse ten. Having sin is having a sinful nature. The holiest believer must each moment confess that he has sin within him: the flesh, namely, in which "dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). Sinning or doing sin is something very different it is yielding to indwelling sinful nature and falling into actual transgression. And so we have two admissions that every true believer must make.

The one is that he has still sin within him (1 John 1:8); the second, that sin has in former times broken out into sinful actions (v. 10). No believer can say either, "I have no sin in me" or "I have in time past never sinned." If we say we have no sin at present, or that we have not sinned in the past we deceive ourselves, But though we have sin in the present we are not required to confess that we are doing sin in the present as well; the confession of actual sinning refers to the past.

Christians choose either sin and death to God, or righteousness. For a Christian to make allowance for sin or to accept ongoing sin means they are actually making provision for their soul to die to God. Their spirit may have been born again but their soul becomes dead to God. And their soul remains that way, because no one can “re-life or re-vive” themselves, until they put themselves in a position for God to re-life them.
Ezek 18:20 The soul who sins shall die…(regardless of whether we are born again)

Die in what way? Physically? No, spiritually. What does that mean? It means to die to God. When? Sometime in the future? No, at the very moment the sin is committed.
Jam 1:15 (This is written to Christians) Then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death (to God). NASU
The awful consequences of the way of sin – for a Christian:

Prov 21:16 The man that wanders out of the way of understanding (meaning he once knew the way) shall remain in the congregation of the dead (to God). KJV
Jam 5:19-20 Brethren, if anyone among you (this is written to Christians) wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, Let him know that he who turns a sinner (now referring to a Christian brother) from the error of his way will save a soul from death (to God) and cover a multitude of sins.
Ps 5:4 O God…you cannot tolerate the slightest sin. NLT

The wonderful way of continual righteousness, living in Christ and obeying the Holy Spirit:
Prov 10:2 …But righteousness delivers from death.
Prov 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death.
1 Cor 1:30 …Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us…righteousness… KJV
1 Jo 3:5-6 …in Him (Christ) there is no sin. No one who abides (lives) in Him sins; NASU no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him (while or after they sin).
Rom 8:9 …But if anyone does not possess (nor is controlled by) the Holy Spirit he does not belong to Christ…(although he may have - before he sinned) AMP

The choice every Christian is constantly making, sin and death or obeying God’s Spirit:
Rom 6:16 …You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either sin resulting in death NASU (to God) or obedience resulting in righteousness (and staying alive to God)
Rom 8:2 For the law (or the rule over you) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law (or the rule over you) of sin and of death (to God).
Rom 6:22 Since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of AMP God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life.
Those who falsely teach that sin is inevitable, in fact teach that dying to God is inevitable.
The wages of all sin is death to God – but there’s sin resulting in permanent death

God’s clear teaching through the Apostle John on the subject of all Sin and its results:
1 Jo 3:5-6 You know that He (Jesus) was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides (lives) in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him (after they sinned, for if the sin is not repented of, they remain dead to God, not seeing Him or knowing Him).
1 Jo 3:8 He who sins is of (belongs to) the devil...(he doesn’t now belong to God).

The warnings in scripture of those once alive to God but who become permanently dead
Jude 5 I want to remind you...that the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt (equivalent to a Christian being born again), afterward destroyed those who did not believe (born again but now refusing to live in Christ).
Jude 10-12 But these (Christians who have gone astray and will not repent) speak evil of whatever they do not know...They are clouds without water, (hearts from which all the living water of God’s words have been stolen by Satan) carried about by the winds (given over to every false doctrine) ...trees without fruit (who cannot speak God’s words by God’s Spirit), twice dead (dead through sin but who now cannot be re-lifed), for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Prov 29:1 He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy (sinned beyond a point of no return).
1 Tim 5:6 But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away (and are twice dead), to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
2 Pe 2:20-22 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end (twice dead and incapable of being re-vived) is worse for them than the beginning (dead to God but still able to receive life).
Rom 6:1-23 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not...For the wages of (all) sin is death (to God and in need of life from God or to be re-vived)...

Since all sin results in death; can we see in this scripture John refers to permanent death:
1 Jo 5:16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin (and so, is no longer alive to God, and neither sees Him nor knows Him – 1 John 3:6) which does not lead to (permanent) death, he will ask and He (God) will give him life (for his brother, why does his brother need life? Because he’s dead to God) for those who commit sin not leading to (permanent) death. There is sin leading to (permanent) death. I do not say that he should pray for that (don’t pray, that sin is without remedy).