Many belivers act like Cain because they attempt to connect with God by their own labor, a relationship based on "hear and obey." They believe that they should rule over sin and subdue it but living by these words IS the cause of sin in the human.
When a person attempts to relate with God on the basis of not sinning by the knowledge of what God expects, that belief results ONLY in sin and death. "Not sinning" causes sin; it causes both good and evil, both of which are sin. Doing good is as sinful as doing evil, oftentimes more sinful, for the one "doing good" is building his or her own self-righteousness, his or her own claim on God - that is, covenant - because I did, then You must.
The fear of sin causes sin, drawing sin out of self and others. The New Covenant has nothing to do with sin or no sin. Sin in no way "required" Jesus' passage through the atonement, although that passage is redemption; Covenant always did. And that Covenant is the Heart of God.
Any Christian who approaches God on the basis of sin/no sin, even using Jesus as the crucifix inside of that mix, "I must rule over sin - and You must help me," is living by the Old Covenant. Jesus carries them by the New and even relates with them as He is able by the New, but they do not know it. This includes all who teach any form of "cleaning up the outer man" or "getting rid of the old skin." Their backs are turned against Christ; thus they are doing the opposite of what they say. "Getting rid of sin" serves only to increase sin.
We walk in a totally different Covenant Bond by which we walk together in pure and perfect relationship with the Father. Our Bond with Father is absolute, it is complete and it is utterly pure and holy without shadow of any kind, ever. It matters not what we feel like. The Father is in us and we see that our Bond with Him, utterly bound together in perfect Covenant union, Father and me, that Bond remains perfect and complete. And that Covenant Bond alone causes sin to vanish from our experience. The New Covenant is the actual Person of Christ who is alive right now within us.
Do you see how all of Jesus' statements concerning Gehanna, fire and sulfur, are referring directly to the two covenants?
Here is Gehenna (signifying the curse): "I must rule over sin - and You must help me."
The only thing that can result from this covenant for the human is fire and brimstone.
And when sin succeeds in not sinning, what does it become? Sin not sinning is called self-righteousness, the filthiest perversion of iniquity in the universe. Sin not sinning is the greatest sin of all. That is why those who try must lie by the very nature of their disobedience.
They close the door to Christ, and then, with their backs to Christ, they turn to face sin to defeat it. Only they remain in rioting and drunkenness, trying not to riot or get drunk so that someday they can enter into Christ. They remain in sexual immorality and lewdness, trying not to be sexually immoral or to be lewd so that someday they can enter into Christ. They remain in strife and envying trying not to strive and envy so that someday they can enter into Christ.
The problem with sin is not sin itself - except that which steals from another person what God gave to them. The problem is disconnection from God. The word is harmatia, which means missing the target in an arrow shooting contest. But there is another word that means hitting the bulls eye. That word is used in Hebrews, but badly translated by the Calvinist translators. The wording should actually say that Jesus has become our hitting of the target. In other words the sin of "sin" is using the "sin" to drive God far away from ourselves. But when we know that Jesus is our continuous hitting of the target, we place any action that might or might not be "sin," into Him, into His empty grave, and we continue walk as one person together with our Father without hindrance.
We sin before we try to do good because the thought that "I" can is the very essence of and the root of sin.
