Throughout the entire Old Testament, sin was always getting Israel (as a nation) and different individuals in serious trouble with God, showing sin was the issue for them. The spiritual consequences of sin have never been desirable. A few victims from the OT are:
If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Mat 18:8,9)
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Mat 5:28-30)
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev 3:4-6)
For a person to miss the point about sin from those passages implies he has his eyes shut tight and his heart closed off to the truth! Even as Jesus was dying on the cross, it is clear that sin was the issue, since he prayed that the Father would forgive them, for they knew not what they did (Lk. 23:34). Early in the book of Acts, after Jesus rose from the dead, nothing changed regarding sin being a person’s downfall:
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord (Acts 3:19)
It was also in Acts that Ananias and his wife Sapphira died over sin (Acts 5:1-10) -- again showing sin is the issue under the New Covenant. Stephen prayed for his murderers so that their sin would be forgiven (Acts 7:60).
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:9-11, NASB)
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. (Eph 5:5-7)
Paul’s repeated message to Christian congregations explicitly shows sin is the issue now for Christians:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil .... (1 John 3:7,8)
These are just a few of the many Scriptures and examples which could be cited. It is clear that sin is to be avoided at all costs. Hence, when a popular teacher, regardless who he is, says sin is no longer the issue, DO NOT BE DECEIVED! Andrew Wommack ministries teaches that same poisonous heresy:
I’m going to begin this by dropping a bomb: Sin is no longer an issue with God; we are redeemed! With that statement, you are either rejoicing, shocked, or confused. (Redemption by Andrew Wommack, bold emphasis his)
Again, do not be deceived. The problem of evil or sin is the issue NOW, even for Christians.
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