The Sin of Human Folly!

Sin is anything we do that God doesn't want us to do. It can take many forms and affect the way people look at each other. The definition of sin is also given to us in 1 John 3:4: "Everyone who sins transgresses the law, and sin is the transgression of the law."
Any other definition of sin is human wisdom. Or rather, human folly...

The fight against sin
Fighting temptation and not sinning is a recommendation found throughout the New Testament.
(Romans 6:1-6)
Do we remain in sin so that grace may abound? Far from it! We who have died to sin, how can we still live in sin? [...] our old man was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

James urges us not to sin or give in to temptation, but to endure temptation patiently. He describes the process of sin.
(James 1:12-15)
Blessed is the man who patiently endures temptation, for after he has been tested, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one who is tempted say, "It is God who is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own lust. Then lust, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, being consummated, produces death.

(James 1:27)
Pure and undefiled religion, before God our Father, consists in visiting orphans and widows in their afflictions, and preserving ourselves from the defilements of the world.

Peter urges us to put an end to sin and stop giving in to the lusts of the flesh as we once did before we knew the Lord.
(1Peter 4:1)
For he who has suffered in the flesh has done away with sin, in order to live, no longer according to the lusts of men, but according to the will of God, during the time that remains for him to live in the flesh.

Paul goes even further and tells us not to associate with Christians who claim to be followers of Christ and yet continue to live in sin!
(1 Corinthians 5:11)
Now, what I have written to you is not to have relations with anyone who, calling himself a brother, is fornicating, or covetous, or an idolater, or an outrageous person, or a drunkard, or a kidnapper, not even to eat with such a man.

Paul will even command Timothy this about sin:
(1Timothy 5:20)
Those who sin, rebuke them before all, so that others too may fear.

And Paul is quick to point out:
(1Timothy 5:21)
I beseech you before God, before Jesus Christ, and before the chosen angels, to observe these things without prejudice, and to do nothing out of favor.

Christians must no longer sin wilfully

Peter tells us that if we sin wilfully after knowing the truth, it would have been better for us never to have known it. Do you realize that?
(2Peter 2:20-22)
Indeed, if, after having withdrawn from the defilements of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they enter into them again and are defeated, their last condition is worse than the first. For it was better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have turned away, after having known it, from the holy commandment given to them. It happened to them as a true proverb says: The dog returned to what it had vomited, and the washed-up sow wallowed in the mire.

But the author of the epistle to the Hebrews warns Christians who defile the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and goes further than Peter, writing in black and white that they are lost!
(Hebrews10:26)
For, if we sin wilfully after having received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no sacrifice for sins, but a terrible expectation of judgment and the ardor of a fire that will devour the rebellious. He who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy, on the testimony of two or three witnesses; of what worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, who has held as profane the blood of the covenant, by which he was sanctified, and who has outraged the Spirit of grace?

God is not mocked...
God's grace is not a license to sin, as some Christians seem to believe...
(Titus 2:11)
For the grace of God, the source of salvation for all men [...] teaches us to renounce ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live in the present age according to wisdom, justice and piety.

Certainly, Paul assures us that we are free if we walk according to the Spirit.
(Romans 8:1)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

But Paul doesn't stop there, as some Christians would have us believe. He explains his thinking and describes why we must not live according to the flesh, but fight against sin:
(Romans 8:5-8)
For those who live according to the flesh set their affection on the things of the flesh [...] For the affection of the flesh is death [...]. [...] For the affection of the flesh is death [...] Because the affection of the flesh is enmity against God; for it does not submit to the law of God; indeed, it cannot. But those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Take the time to meditate on Paul's clear reasoning here, which denounces the incompatibility between the flesh and God's commandments: life according to the flesh is not pleasing to God, because the flesh cannot submit to God's law. For what do you think it means to "submit to God's law"? To submit to God's law, isn't it to observe God's commandments?

Doesn't John also declare that it is those who keep God's commandments who are pleasing to Him?
(1 John 3:22)
Whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Paul asks us to flee from the works of the flesh:
(Galatians 5:19)
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, dissoluteness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, animosities, contentions, divisions, sects, envy, drunkenness, gluttony, and the like. I tell you beforehand, as I have already said, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul goes on to warn us not to live according to the flesh and to flee from sin:
(Galatians 6:4-8)
Let every man examine his own works [...] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He who sows to his flesh will reap flesh and corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

What does Paul tell us again and again? That he who sows to the flesh will reap corruption! Not eternal life, which is reaped when you sow to the spirit... Even less so if you claim to serve God!

Christians don't read the Bible... Or very little...
(Hosea 4:6)
My people are destroyed, because they lack knowledge.
Since you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you, and you will be stripped of my priesthood;
Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

May God guard you and preserve you from defiling the grace of His Son's sacrifice!