NO SIN IS EXCUSABLE. The believer must realize that no sin is excusable. For the believer, from the smallest sin to the greatest, every sin by itself demands the death of Jesus on the cross. Whenever the believer becomes aware that he has sinned, it should serve as a reminder of what Christ has accomplished on the cross. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23b), and this means that the recompense for any single sin is likewise death. No sin is excusable because, for the redeemed, every sin requires the death of the Son of God.

Man’s fallen natural tendency is to justify their sin or explain their sin away, but this is an act of salvation by works. The one who explains away sin is subtly despising the death of Christ and is saying, in essence, that his particular sin or this particular sin is not that bad and therefore does not really merit the atoning death of Jesus. “I don’t need Jesus to die for this. I can handle this one on my own.” “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who may ascend into heaven?’ (that is to bring Christ down) or ‘Who may descend into the abyss?’ (that is to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Rom. 10:7). Instead of minimizing sin and dismissing a “little” sin as not worth a thought, the believer acknowledges that every sin is inexcusable. There is no justification for sin. At no time and under no circumstances is any sin simply dismissed and brushed away. God will never excuse (i.e., regard as trivial and so forget) even the smallest sin. “The wages of sin is death.” “The soul that sins will die.” “The day you eat of it (Gen. 2:17), you shall surely die.”

BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS, ALL SIN IS FORGIVABLE. But the believer also knows that, while no sin is ever excusable, all sin and any sin is forgivable. We know that, for the believer, “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The believer knows that “he has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24) and “has been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) and knows that his “old self has been crucified with Christ in order that our body of sin might be done away with” (rendered powerless; Romans 6:6). For the believer, every sin however “minor” is acknowledged as an act of rebellion against the Holy One of Israel. And, at the same time, every sin reminds the believer that the Savior willingly endured the full wrath of God and died to grant complete forgiveness to the believing sinner. “In Him, we have redemption in His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). Praise the Lord that all our inexcusable sin has been forgiven by the blood of the Lamb.

“But how can a man be in the right with God?” (Job 9:2). How, indeed! By the cross.

“Come now and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). How? By the death of Jesus.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 May 30, 2024.             #704