the ramifications of sin

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1: 9


For those forgiven of sin, there are some things missing: guilt, lack of assurance, innate
rebellion. One thing that isn't missing is sin; it continues in an all-out battle between
worldliness and righteousness, a battle that goes on at many levels and one that will
continue until the return of He who will set all things straight.

In the meantime, the question becomes, do those who have been saved face any
ramifications of continued sin against God? I believe that sin always brings implications
and ramifications to all created by God.

Though Jesus was not 'created' by God, he, nevertheless, walked this earth challenged
by temptations just like the ones that we face; the difference was that He, fully man
and fully God, did not sin. Can you imagine the ramifications had He sinned? All
would remain lost. He was the second Adam, the One sent by the Father to secure
salvation for all.

What about our sins? Alistair Begg, in a sermon given on Psalm 2 entitled, 'Deliverance,'
from April 28, 1991, relates a wonderful story he had heard as a boy. Let me try to
paraphrase it:

The boy has reached the age where he begins to act out against his father. In an effort
to show the boy that there are implications to his behavior, the father begins pounding a 
nail into the woodshed door each time the boy misbehaves. This goes on and the
nails accumulate until the boy comes to his father and asks to be forgiven. His father
agrees to forgive him and to remove the many nails from the door of the woodshed.
The next morning, the father finds his son sitting by the door, now free of nails,
crying. When he asks the boy why he is crying, the boy answers that though the
nails are gone, the holes remain.

I would never doubt the scripture above because it is God's Holy word. I do,
however, believe in my heart, that we continue to be affected by our sins. Take
a moment and remember the risen Christ, entering the upper room and showing
Thomas His hands. The holes remained! In a very real sense, whether or not
you believe that all sins, past, present and future were loaded onto Jesus at the
cross, there is a great motivation, I believe, to not add additional sins. It
is, in the end, a matter of the heart. Our heart and His heart. Ramification.
Implication. One who died with our sins imputed so that we could be His
righteousness.

Praise our God.