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Tract Number 54
Audio download at bottom of page
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HE WAS SINCERELY WRONG
Some time ago, our newspapers carried the story of a young serviceman in Los Angeles who had just returned from overseas duty. During his absence, and unknown to him, some of the exit ramps of the city’s great expressway system had been changed to “on” ramps. Traveling a very familiar route, he started to exit, was struck by an on-coming car and killed instantly. HE WAS SINCERELY WRONG.
Friend, you may be just as sincerely wrong about your religion. The Bible says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12. Sincerity will not keep you from being eternally lost. Contrary to all you may believe or have been taught about sin in the life of a Christian, the Bible condemns sin in every form. Holiness (sinlessness) is God’s requirement for entrance into Heaven. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. You had better settle it in your heart right now. If you want to see the Lord, you must live without sin in this life.
In Matthew 1:21 we read, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” From means “out of the possession or control of: released.” His people are free and released from sin. You are also told not to be deceived by men who teach that you may and do sin after being born again. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” 1st John 3:7-10.
Beware, also, of the one who teaches that it is the body and not the spirit that sins. The body itself is not capable of sin. You may sin against the body but the body is only the instrument that carries out the desires of the spirit. It is like the hoe standing in the corner of the tool shed. It can do nothing of itself but becomes an instrument in the hands of man. The spirit may sin without the aid of the body, but the body alone can do no sin. “Every sin that a man doeth is without (not with) the body.” 1st Corinthians 6:18. Sin is the desire or act of the soul and we read, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:20.
You may have been just as sincerely wrong as the young serviceman, but holiness, not sincerity is the key to Heaven. If you will humbly, honestly and in faith pray the prayer of the psalmist David, “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalms 51:2), you will become a new person capable of living a pure and holy life. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things (sinful living) are passed away; behold all things are become new.” 2nd Corinthians 5:17. Time is short: the end is near. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2nd Corinthians 6:2b.
YOU CAN BE SINCERELY RIGHT TODAY!
Phyllis V. Martin
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