Sin Shifting

Sin Shifter - Are You a Sin Shifter?

Pushing sins around- sweeping some under the rug, others into a corner, others still into a dustpan where they're dumped into a trash can.

Dirt pushed under a rug can work its way to the outer edges of the rug until it's visible once more. The rug could be turned over sending dirt flying everywhere. A little bit of a wind can take the dirt out of a corner spreading it every which way. Sin shifting is like trying to hide dirt rather than getting rid of it entirely, it's something people do to ease their conscience. Hide a bit of sin for awhile maybe turning the focus onto another sin for awhile. Of course shifting things around whether it's dirt or sin does nothing at all to get rid of them does it? You can shift dirt all around a floor and it's not going to make the dirt disppear. You could even spread the dirt so eveningly about it seems like hardly nothing spread out, rather than a big pile when all pushed together. Shift it anyway you like. Divide it into halves, quarters, eights, sixteenths go on, divide it into hundredths and you're still going to have just as much dirt as before. Sin is like that too. We can shuffle our sin about, shift it this way and that. We can let it dominate or be submissive but it's still there, still in our lives.

Sin no more.


What words! What amazing words!


Who said them? Jesus said them.


John {5:14} '...sin no more...'


John {8:11} '...go, and sin no more.'


Does it often feel like our very existence is sin itself? That we wake up in the morning and as we climb from our beds we are already sinning?


Sin we know is the transgression of the law. 1 John {3:4} Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.


The law is-

Deut. {5:6} I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
{5:7} Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
{5:8} Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
{5:9} Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me
{5:10} And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
{5:11} Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. {5:12} Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
{5:13} Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work
{5:14} But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
{5:15} And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
{5:16} Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
{5:17} Thou shalt not kill.
{5:18} Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
{5:19} Neither shalt thou steal.
{5:20} Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
{5:21} Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
{5:22} These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.


The law is-


Mark {12:28} And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
{12:29} And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
{12:30} And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
{12:31} And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
{12:32} And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: {12:33} And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.


Perhaps we feel the weight of sin weighing upon us so heavily because God isn't first in our lives. We aren't loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength. Maybe we love Him just a little bit, not entirely. Maybe we've giving most of our heart, our soul, our understanding, our strength to loving ourselves, putting ourselves first.


1 John {5:1} Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
{5:2} By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
{5:3} For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
{5:4} For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
{5:5} Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?


1 John {4:7} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
{4:8} He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
{4:9} In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
{4:10} Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
{4:11} Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
{4:12} No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
{4:13} Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
{4:14} And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
{4:15} Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
{4:16} And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
{4:17} Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. {4:18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
{4:19} We love him, because he first loved us.
{4:20} If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
{4:21} And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.


I say again- perhaps we feel the weight of sin weighing upon us so heavily because God isn't first in our lives. We aren't loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength.


Shifting sin around will not get rid of sin.
Being told to go and 'sin no more' seems in impossible feat.
Are we alone in this belief? That it's impossible not to sin?
No.


Romans {7:7} What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
{7:8} But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
{7:9} For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
{7:10} And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
{7:11} For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
{7:12} Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
{7:13} Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
{7:14} For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
{7:15} For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
{7:16} If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
{7:17} Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
{7:18} For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
{7:19} For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
{7:20} Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
{7:21} I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
{7:22} For I delight in the law of God after the inward man
{7:23} But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
{7:24} O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
{7:25} I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.


{8:1} There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
{8:2} For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
{8:3} For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh
{8:4} That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
{8:5} For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. {8:6} For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
{8:7} Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
{8:8} So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
{8:9} But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
{8:10} And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
{8:11} But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
{8:12} Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
{8:13} For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify* the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
{8:14} For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
{8:15} For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
{8:16} The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God
{8:17} And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.


*mortify (môr´te-fì´) verb
mortified, mortifying, mortifies verb, transitive
1. To cause to experience shame, humiliation, or wounded pride; humiliate.
2. To discipline (one's body and physical appetites) by self-denial or self-inflicted privation.

Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary


If we rise up out of bed determined to live carnally we are taking on sin and all its evil.


If we rise up out of bed and determined to live after the Spirit we are trusting in Christ to forgive our sins.


We aren't just shifting our sins about putting on a light sin one day and a heavier, warmer sin the next day. We aren't shifting sin under the bed or the dresser, we are bringing our sins boldly into the light and that light is Jesus! The Light of the World, the forgiver of sin!


No, it's not at all simple or easy to choose to live Spiritually rather than carnally, but we must. Until we determine to walk a Spiritual walk we will forever be doomed to walk carnally. Our flesh is weak and if we look to our flesh for sinlessness we'll never find it there. We must look to the Spirit of Christ and walk after the Spirit, looking to Jesus.


Mortifying the deeds of the body-


Dictionary definition states that mortifying means to discipline one's body and physical appetites by self-denial or self-inflicted privation.


How many of us understand this mortifying business?


We are used to gratifying our desires, our wants, our lust, our appetites. We are not used mortifying anything, it's an alien concept to us. We live in a world that tells us gratifying our desires is our life-long goal. Having enough money, enough time, enough energy to gratify our desires is paramount or what the heck is life worth living for? If we can't satisfy our desires, our seemingly harmless desires then what's the point to it all? Really, what is the point of being alive if we can't get pleasure from living. If we can't push aside everything and do what we want to do, is there a point? We work hard so we deserve to give ourselves a break, right? We work hard to afford all that we want out of life. We work hard to get the nice car, that nice dress, those nice shoes, that nice expensive fish, new furniture, the big tv, the amazing laptop, the newest video game, the list is endless. We live without sacrifice, we live without knowing mortifying- and this isn't a temporary mortification demanded by circumstances. This mortification is that which you do when you don't have to do it, but rather choose to do it because you know, you realize that gratifying all your senses and desires is selfish and draws your mind back to yourself and only to yourself and away from God. We live carnally, and in living carnally how do we ever supposed to live spiritually? When circumstances demand that we no longer have the means to live carnally and we are forced to live spiritually it'll be too late then because we will be too busy mourning the carnal things we've had taken from us to care about anything spiritual. We'll look upon our losses as deprivations forced upon us against our wills and woe to us. Like Lot's wife we will turn back and long for that which has been taken from us, we'll have no choice but to do so because we have no real spiritual connection and things spiritual will seem wrong some how and be the enemy of us because they've taken our carnal desires away. When we're stripped of things carnal we will mourn, not celebrate. Mortifying- self-denial, self-inflicted privation. It's a choice to deny yourself.


Romans {8:12} Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
{8:13} For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify* the deeds of the body, ye shall live.


If we live after our flesh we will die.
But if we THROUGH the SPIRIT deny ourselves, inflict privations upon ourselves, those deeds of the body the carnal desires we shall live!


Romans {8:5} For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. {8:6} For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.


We have to ask ourselves which we are... are we carnally minded? Or are we spiritually minded?


People claim Jesus came and died for us, forgiving us and giving us eternal life and asked nothing of us. He asked a lot of us, He asked the hardest thing of all from us, the one thing that most will find impossible to do. Give up self.


He didn't ask us to do it on our own but through the Holy Spirit. By drawing ever closer to God it will be possible. But to think that you don't have to suffer a thing, that you don't have to deny yourself is a falsehood that will trap many. People have labeled self-sacrifice as works, saying we're working to get ourselves to heaven, we're trying to work out our own salvation. It's a perfect scheme of Satan and it works on many, many people. As long as people believe they don't have to mortify the deeds of the body, they're safe from a true Spiritual life. As long as we believe we are saved no matter what we do, Satan has us. He'll let us believe our strong delusions. He'll dance a little jig of happiness as we go about our lives satisfying our desires, our wants without once thinking that maybe, just maybe we really do need to deny ourselves something.


Yes, you could give up everything and live a life full of self-denial and it won't get you salvation.


You have to give up things and live a life full of self-denial in the SPIRIT, not seeking salvation by the acts, but seeking a closer connection to Christ. Choosing God first, not self.


You can deny yourself and still do it selfishly and that is what is meant by trying to work your way to salvation.


Ultimately it's the reason behind your actions that matters.


Jesus needs to matter most.


Not I, but Christ.

There is song called just that-

Not I, but Christ, be honored, loved, exalted;
Not I, but Christ, be seen be known, be heard;
Not I, but Christ, in every look and action,
Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word.

Not I, but Christ, to gently soothe in sorrow,
Not I, but Christ, to wipe the falling tear;
Not I, but Christ, to lift the weary burden,
Not I, but Christ, to hush away all fear.

Christ, only Christ! no idle words e’er falling,
Christ, only Christ; no needless bustling sound;
Christ, only Christ; no self important bearing;
Christ, only Christ; no trace of “I” be found.

Not I, but Christ, my every need supplying,
Not I, but Christ, my strength and health to be;
Not I, but Christ, for body, soul, and spirit,
Christ, only Christ, here and eternally.



By the Grace and Mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May we come to Him and ask for forgiveness of our sins. May we stop shifting about our sins and lay them at the foot of the cross. May the light shine in the darkness of our lives revealing the sins we try to hide or ignore. May the grace of God shine on us, the mercy of Christ fill us, the blood of the Lamb cleanse us from all unrighteousness, now and forever.

Amen.