No Longer Identified By Sin

689 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Sa 22:43 Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trod them like dirt in the streets, And I spread them out. This is one of the Bible's favorite ways to describe the annihilation of an enemy. Pulverized into the finest dust to be trampled underfoot or cast to the four winds. A total loss of identity. This is meant to be a picture for us of the utter defeat by Jesus of the devil and his demons and all their workings, namely sin. In 1Jo 3:5-10 we read, “ And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. (Jesus, the sinless Son of God, was manifested, (came to this earth in the incarnation) for the sole purpose of carrying our sins away as the four winds carry away dust.) With the work of Jesus, sin is going to have an identity problem. 6 Whoever abides in Him (in Jesus) does not sin. (Is no longer identified by sin!) Whoever sins (keeps their old identity) has neither seen Him nor known Him. (Since they are not connected to Jesus by faith, they are still identified by their sin.) 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. (Our works testify as to who we are following, the devil, or Jesus. By the way the chief identifying work is love of brother 1 Jn 3:10) This dust problem has been with us from the beginning but, “ For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came to destroy sin! The word destroy is interesting. It means to “break up,” or “to beat to pieces” And the dust analogy of David fits the work of Jesus to a tee! 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, (does not have sin clinging to him, is not identified by his sin) for His seed remains in him; (therefore we are identified by the Seed that is in us namely Jesus!) 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. As children of God, we still sin, but we are no longer identified by our sin, because Jesus pulverized it on the cross, and though we pick up particles of sin in our daily living, we remove it daily through confession, contrition, and absolution as promised in the Word of God. 1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.