Fatalism Revised

1JN 2:1 NLT

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

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Jesus advocacy warms our hearts!

The person who knows Jesus can make real choices. Before we are received into God's family by grace through faith we are slaves to sin, Paul says. We have no choice. Everyone who isn't a believer in Jesus can't help but sin. Sin is their master and they are not free agents. If sin says jump, they must jump. And the deception of sin is powerful. We know nothing else. What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God. Sin is disbelief in his promises. Sin is an inextricable headlong run toward death. Sin is self destruction. Sin is selfishness. Sin is loveless. Sin takes and destroys. Sin murders when it cannot have what it wants. Sin leads to death.

So sin requires judgement. God is just. He will not allow sin to ruin everything. God will save some from sin. He has set some free. He has released some from the slavery of sin and the fear of death.

But we who are free to choose life, the ones able to obey, may still fall prey to sin. Although we are free from the hideous, cruel master that wants our  destruction and uses us to lash out in rebellion against God, we sometimes still sin. We should hate sin. We should find sin repulsive. We should see past the moment of selfish pleasure and we should loathe the harmful, hateful former master of our torture and destruction. We should feel the sting of being a pawn in the full on assault against life. We should feel the shame of being a treacherous traitor who has deceived the vulnerable and harmed the neediest of this world.

We don't have to sin, but we do. We sin against God. Even more, we sin against Jesus who died for our sin. We add to his suffering.

And what does he do?

He defends us. The Father and the Son must execute justice against our sin. This sin we cling to in many ways is a greater offence, for it is the sin we chose. We were washed, we were saved. We had a choice. We knew better.

And the one we keep hurting the most is the one who defends us.

Jesus stands up for us. He says, I died for them. Jesus is the only one who is right. We are wrong. And yet he makes us right even when we are a traitor.

Choose not to sin! You can. You are not a slave. You are free.

But if you do sin, Jesus defends you, Jesus protects you, Jesus is your advocate. Jesus loves you. He has chosen you to be his. Jesus knows you are a sinner. Jesus knows your heart, your motives, your fears and he knows your selfish heart. Jesus knows your disbelief and your stubborn selfish pride.
And still he defends you, still he protects you from his coming wrath. Jesus sees you sin and try to hide it and, even so, he will treat you as righteous because of his own righteousness.

So stop sinning. You don't have to; you are free.
But if you do sin, repent without fear. Return with no reservation. You are safe. 

Oh sinner, you are safe.

Why reward the rebel?

Isaiah 65:1-2, 12b NLT

The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name. All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes...

... For when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes— and chose to do what you know I despise.”
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Is your face turning red? I suppose you are like me and you read those lines penned by Isaiah so long ago and you can't help but feel like a person in family court but all alone. There is your Dad explaining to the judge how all his Fatherly love and overtures of help were ignored. It's not like you didn't need any help either, so you feel like slinking into your seat until you are absorbed by the oak bench. Oak would suit us because were as deaf as a stick when it comes to hearing God's still, small voice We'd make a fine pair there, you and I, hearing how we'd stubbornly tried to make it on our own, spurning the vital assistance offered. We both know it would not be so bad for us two insubordinate siblings if it were not so many other people we have hurt by turning our backs on our Dad in heaven. And really it isn't even the oppressed and people racked with pain that we snubbed--it's Dad. How could we ignore our own Father? And not just any run-of-the-mill papa either. We'd been hand-picked for adoption into the most royal family the world has ever known and then spent most of our life trying to run away. We wanted our own street cred, we wanted to make it on our own. But we are utter failures. When I look in the mirror with you I'm ashamed of us. You know we knew better. You know our Father expressly warned us how we'd hurt him and so many others if we were to disobey him. So we turned around and blatantly publicly went our own way and we were proud to tell and show everyone we were our own person and we weren't fettered by Dad's ideas.

Shame, embarrassment, self-loathing and the hot salty tears of repentance well up in our eyes. We love Dad. We have hurt him so often, but here he is again coming after us. And furthermore, he endangered our older brother by having him face our enemies. Our brother has had to trawl through all our filth to make it possible for us to be here. We've dragged the whole family into it, and they have the scars to prove it.

So what is going on?! Wasn't this a funeral? Weren't we dying on the inside? So where did all this good news come from?

Hallelujah!!! This is freaking amazing! You won't believe what your Dad and brother are saying now! Somehow they've worked it out at their great expense to make it right again. We are saved! Listen to what's being said now!

Isaiah 65:17-25 NLT

“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more. “No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young! In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards. Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains. They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the Lord, and their children, too, will be blessed. I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But the snakes will eat dust. In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
https://soundcloud.com/wkbode/consider-the-following-reward