Watch the vid below by Steve McVey of Grace Walk fame: Christian Religion Lie #48: “We Need To Speak Out Against Sin” and my comments (of course) follow…
This is a great one… and sadly this lie has affected the whole of Christendom today!
Jesus already dealt with sin once and for all when He gave up His life for the sins of the world on the cross.
In fact, He did such a good job with it, that He proclaimed “It is finished” right before His last breath.
Why talk about what’s already DEAD?
We aren’t called to talk about something dead. With Jesus’ death AND resurrection the power of sin (death) was conquered — so why spend so much time talking about it… worrying about it… paying attention to it… and drawing attention to it?
We’re called to talk about the Gospel — the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
To speak of His love, his grace, and His FINISHED work.
People already know they have indwelling sin…
To think “If I don’t go beat that guy over the head with the knowledge of how sinful he is… He’ll never want to accept Christ” is a poor idea at best.
I think most people know there is something wrong deep down inside. Our fall from God, because we were born in Adam, assures us that something is missing. This is why there are so many different religions in the world. Religion is man’s way of trying to get back in touch with God.
This is also why when people here on earth conquer everything on the “lower levels” of living… wealth… fame… women (or men)… and have an abundance of EVERYTHING they ever thought could make them complete…
They’re still miserable. They’re still searching. And the ones that don’t realize it’s God they’re searching for end up committing suicide because they think “if I already have everything, and I’m still miserable — there must be no hope!”
It’s NOT our job anyways
And the Holy Spirit can convict people. God… the creator of the universe, time, and everything in existence… is quite capable of convicting people of their sin — if they need it.
It’s simply Not our job.
Focusing on how God wants to punish them for their sins turns people away from God
If a person comes to see God as a mean man in the clouds who created them sinful and now wants to punish them in eternal torment forever unless they agree to accept Him and follow Him like a slave… then it’s going to “turn them off” to God.
They’re not going to want a relationship with Him because they will be relating to God in FEAR.
Our Job is to reveal God’s LOVE to people
Our job is to love and to tell people about God’s love.
Revealing God’s love will take away the fear people have about God (1 John 4:18 ). They won’t be afraid to run back into His arms like the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable.
God loves them UNCONDITIONALLY (yes, even if they’re still sinners). Because it’s this which will turn them away from their sin and cause them to want a relationship with God.
Scripture says we Love God because He first Loved us (1 John 4:19).
So what’s the best way to bring the lost to Christ?
So if we can allow God to love people THROUGH us first… and then when we’ve showered them with love (as opposed to beating them overhead with condemnation)… when this perfect love has cast out their fear of the unknown… the fear of coming back to God and they ask us “why are you the way you are?”
That’s when you tell them the Gospel… when you tell them about why you’re loving them so much… why God loves them so much that He gave His Son for them and only asks to have an intimate relationship with them again… and… Loves them so much — He’ll even keep the relationship going.
So don’t believe this lie anymore that we need to “speak out against sin”
With Love,
Caleb 
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Marie Walton 06.23.08 at 8:54 pm
The devil is the God of lies and he is filling your head with lies. Yes Christ died on the cross for all sins of the world and God the father raised him. God sent his only son to preach to the universe and of his Kingdom but we must earn the right to be taken to God’s Kingdom becuase not one of us here on earth is without sin. SO IT IS OUR JOB TO PREACH AND COVICT AND CONVERT HEARTS TO JESUS BECAUSE THE DEVIL IS JUST WAITING FOR THERE SOULS AND HE DOES NOT EVEN CARE ABOUT OUR SOULS BUT JESUS DOES AND HE LOVES US AND THERE ARE FAR TOO MANY IN THE WORLD THAT ARE LOST AND THERE LIVES ARE FILLED WITH RUIN FROM SIN AND WE NEED TO SHARE WITH THEM ABOUT THE GOOD NEWS THAT JESUS IS ALIVE AND WILL RESCUE THEM FROM THE FATHER OF LIES AND LIVING IN SIN IS NOT OKAY WE CANNOT CHANGE GOD’S WORD (THE TEN COMMANDMENTS)….WE NEED TO TELL,TELL ,TELL, AND DELIVER THEM TO JESUS.
calebo 06.24.08 at 2:38 am
Hi Marie,
I appreciate your comment, but… you’re way off base
For example…
“we must earn the right to be taken to God’s Kingdom”
This is just not true, Paul confirms that salvation is by faith, not works, lest any man should boast.
You also claim that…
“IT IS OUR JOB TO PREACH AND COVICT AND CONVERT HEARTS TO JESUS”
When this is also not true
Name once in scripture when Jesus tried to “convict” someone’s heart to turn them to Himself.
You can’t.
Jesus simply loved people. The most He ever did was say “go and sin no more” way AFTER loving them first.
It is this Love, this Divine Love that takes the hearts of unbelievers and turns them into fellow lovers of Christ (1 John 4:19)
With Love
Caleb
Mark Vilen 07.05.08 at 4:34 am
Caleb,
I somehow stumbled onto your website, and I’m a “fan” of Steve McVey. I have been a believer for 42 years, but only in the last several years have discovered what I now consider, “authentic Christian living,” which is walking in grace.
I like your comments, and you have a great website. I have it now saved under “My Favorites.” Keep up the good work in talking about grace.
Blessings,
Mark
calebo 07.05.08 at 5:26 pm
Hi Mark!
It’s great to hear from you
I’m not sure how you found my website, but I’m glad it is a blessing to you, and that you like it so much you decided to add it to your favorites!
That’s really cool to hear
And you’re right, it’s amazing when you finally discover, as you put it (and I agree), “authentic Christian living”.
And I’m on an unstoppable mission to share this authentic Christianity with the world — so feel free to pass this site around!
With Love
Caleb
Doug Gibson 07.05.08 at 5:48 pm
I will disagree with you Caleb. When Jesus died he merely made atonement available. The Apostles still taught repentance, as your concordance will settle that point. Even the epistles continually warn believers against sin and apostasy. You are unfamiliar with the basic message of repentance preached by Whitefield, Edwards, Wesley and Finney. True, people know they have sin, but this is because they have a conscience. The conscience is the preacher’s ally; it doesn’t relieve the preacher from the duty of thundering against the abuses of God’s rights. But it is our job to testify WITH the Holy Spirit as Jesus indicated several times at the last supper in John’s gospel. The convicting work of the Holy Spirit does not occur without the believer testifying both in word and in deed. You should know this. And it is still the Holy Spirit’s job to reveal God’s love to people. You can’t arbitrarily say this part is God’s work and that part is yours. In fact, the very verse you quoted actually proves it is God who revealed his love, not us. It says nothing about ‘our part’. This may be news to you, but sinners are already ‘turned off to God’. They are dead in selfishness.
However, you CAN explain to sinners reasons why God will judge them and TURN their attention from the punishment to the cause-their sin. By doing so, you can help them see that God is justified and reasonable in being just. We are to show them that God loved them through JESUS first (not through us first as you asked.) I think that your way of ‘loving sinners’ to Christ is to imitate the cults, because they practice something called ‘love bombing’. By love bombing, the ‘victim’ eventually loses their inhibitions and if they are needy, they will quickly become converts. The more needy they are for acceptance, the more loyal they become. In the end, they only stay because of the psychological strokes they get from being accepted by the group. I don’t think this is quite the love the Apostles taught. Go back to your Bible. Peace and grace, Doug
Doug Gibson 07.05.08 at 6:00 pm
Also, Caleb, you asked Marie to present one verse where Jesus ‘tried to convict someone’s heart’ to turn them to himself and you assumed there weren’t ANY. Well, are you familiar with ANY of the responses he gave to the pharisees? What about the response he gave to the rich young ruler who wanted to know what he still lacked in order to acquire eternal life? What about passages where Jesus says ‘go and sin no more’ to several individuals? What about the entire ‘bread of life’ discourse? And Jesus’ response to the apostles, ‘you do not also want to go away, do you?’ What about Jesus’ rebuke to Simon the pharisee? And did Jesus never say, ‘have you not read…?’ Caleb, do you think Jesus was only being impressed by the sound of his own voice? What about the points that the majority of his parables were making? Have you never read those either? Doug
Terence 08.03.08 at 5:48 pm
I think what Caleb is trying to say is that we are not the primary ones involved in convicting others of sin. We do sometimes play a secondary role, but in most cases if that role is anything other than loving them and sharing our experiences with sin in a humble loving way we are not aiding the Holy Spirit we are hindering it.
Sure Jesus said to the woman taken in Adultery, “go and sin no more” adultery is hurtful, it destroys families, it is unloving in almost every way. But to the people that brought the accusation against her he said “let them without sin cast the first stone”, to the woman he said “where are your accusers, neither do I condemn you”. For sure Jesus preached repentance why would he save us from the eternal death that sin brings and not try to save us from the destruction that sin brings about in our daily living.
There are many reasons to encourage people to repent. Sin bears the seeds of destruction.
But we are no longer going to Hell because of our sins.
To be honest I am not really crazy about this word “sin” any more — even though it is used in the Bible, the religious overlay attached to it has caused people to misunderstand the spirit of how God originally used it. Maybe calling it “missing the mark” which is what the term “sin” originally meant in the English would better suit the meaning that God intended it to have. It was an old archery term meaning you missed the bullseye.
We all constantly miss the bullseye of God’s love that He originally set up for us. When you really see that more clearly then you are in the position to help remove the motes that you find in the eyes of others. We all need help finding the bullseye. Our job is to work together in community helping one another, loving one another. Let’s lift up Jesus in our lives by loving one another. Let him draw all men unto him through the HS. The spirit of Love. Jesus tried to make is as clear and easy as he could for his disciples. Love one another as I have loved you. Love one another and you have fulfilled the law. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life… Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
By the way Caleb, I like your blog — it really is where “Love and the Legalism meet”.
calebo 08.04.08 at 4:40 pm
Terence,
thanks for drawing my attention to this post, it seems I forgot to answer Doug’s comments.
You did a fine job though — and I didn’t know that about the nature of the word “sin” either — that’s interesting I will study that more.
And I’ll add a little to what you said as well…
Doug,
Our job is to love. Not speak out against sin. Even any warnings in the Bible after Jesus from the apostles about “sin” were really just ways they were helping new believers in Christ know how to be loving.
It’s like this:
There aren’t 500 road signs on the interstate telling you HOW to drive safely. There are one or two giving you ideas of how to drive safely by showing you what’s not safe — i.e. speed limit signs, narrow shoulder signs, etc…
The whole entire law was, according to Paul, a “school master” to lead us to Christ. It was simply a way to show some examples of what is loving behavior and what is not. i.e. taking another man’s wife is not loving (this was the definition of adultery in Jesus’ time, because a man could take as many women as he wanted provided they weren’t married.) Now days, women have the same rights as men, so adultery in general (no matter who is initiating it) would be wrong, because it’s not loving (if it violates the marriage as most do).
God did not arbitarily say “these things are wrong, these things are right”. The laws, commands, admonitions all given in scripture were simply ways to serve as examples of the general principle of Love God and Love your neighbor. That’s why it wasn’t a sin for Jesus to heal people on the sabbath (when He clearly BROKE a law) because He was acting on the HIGHER principle of Love.
So do we need to speak out against sin today? No. We simple need to love people. Most people know they’re doing wrong anyways when they are.
Love will cause true transformations of peoples hearts that last FOREVER. Condemnation, guilt, shame, and fear never do cause a change of heart that lasts for very long.
With Love
Caleb