The crux of this article is short and simple: Yeshua offered Himself as the final sin sacrifice, but He did not die so we could go on deliberately sinning. The Bible makes it clear that there is no sacrifice for the continuous intentional sins of believers.

How many of today's believers behave in a way they know is sinful and yet they go ahead and do what they feel like doing, anyway? That's because they mistakenly think Divine grace covers intentional sin. That is a huge misconception! Divine grace has made wonderful provision for unintentional sin. But there is no provision for intentional sin. The Bible tells us so.

Deliberate, premeditated sin is willful disobedience and rebellion against God. It results in severe punishment or even loss of our salvation.

Hebrews 10: 26 For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only the terrifying prospect of Judgment, or raging fire that will consume the enemies.

The above Scripture is not referring to those unclean bondages that dwell in our flesh but to the conscious choices believers make. It refers not to our unintentional sins but to those we pursue knowingly and willingly.

Leviticus 26: 23 If, in spite of all this, you refuse my correction and still go against me; then I too will go against you; and I, yes I, will strike you seven times over for your sins.

1 Corinthians 6: 9. Or don't you know, that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of Elohim?* Make no mistake! Neither sexual sinners, nor idol-worshippers, nor adulterers, nor the corrupt, nor men who lay down with other men, 10. Nor the oppressors, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of Elohim. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE: Compare this to Matthew 5:17-20, where we are told that breaking the least commandment of Torah and teaching others to do the same makes a person "least in the kingdom" but they still get in. Y'shua implies that those with more serious sins won't make it in: "Depart from me, workers of iniquity, I never knew you"; but here, Rav Shaul gives a more specific list of what will keep them out.

1 Corinthians 6: 17. But he that joins himself to our Master (Y'shua), is with him one spirit. 18. Flee from sexual sin. For every (other) sin which a man commits, is external to his body*; but he that commits sexual sin, sins against his own body. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE:Actually the sexual sin goes deeper than the body, as the note on Romans 1:26 shows. But the other point is also that a sexual sinner brings sin upon himself rather than his partner, and vice versa, unless rape or abuse is involved.

It is not sin per se that causes a person who professes to be a believer to be eternally estranged from God but, rather, it is our surrender to sin which causes our faith and faithfulness to dim or completely die out. We flirt with spiritual disaster if we - by our thoughts, words, and conduct - deny Christ, reject grace, spurn redemption, and push away the Holy Spirit.

Under the Old Covenant, God put to death people who willingly disobeyed His commands or offered "strange fire" (Lev. 10:1-2). There was no atonement for intentional sin - and there still isn't. All of the sin offerings of the Levitical Law were for unintentional sin.

Case in point, Numbers 15:32-35 tells us: While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp".

The man who sinned willingly was not deceived in any way. He was not driven by uncontrollable impulses. He simply decided to ignore what God had said about the Sabbath. His reward was death.

Leviticus 4: 27 If an individual among the people commits a sin inadvertently, doing something against any of the mitzvot of ADONAI concerning things which should not be done, he is guilty.

Unintentional Sin

A sin can be unintentional when an individual is caught off guard and yields to the temptation to lust or anger, or when the person is not aware of God's commandments.

If the Holy Spirit points out a sin, we are to immediately confess it, denounce it as unworthy of the Kingdom of God, renounce it and have nothing more to do with it, and call on the Lord for the strength to keep us from repeating it.

With the one sacrifice in Yeshua HaMashiach, man has been absolved for eternity as far as the guilt of sin and the power of sin are concerned. The catch is, man has to walk this out in the daily conflict as the Holy Spirit enables him to overcome sinful urges. As he continues to obey God strictly, the blood of atonement keeps on cleansing him.

As we can see, deliberate sinning has tragic results. But, what about believers who knowingly, willfully disobey God, and then repent. Can they be saved from destruction?

Yes! God will make it possible for them to enter the new age of righteousness only if they will yield and return to Him!

Deuteronomy 7: 9 From this you can know that ADONAI your God is indeed God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot, to a thousand generations. 10 But he repays those who hate him to their face and destroys them. He will not be slow to deal with someone who hates him; he will repay him to his face.

If, after having been chastened a sinner continues in his rebellious ways, there will eventually be no turning back; he will be considered an enemy of God and thrown into the Lake of Fire to spend eternity with Satan.

Yeshua said:

Revelation 3: 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

He loves us, but no sin is acceptable to Him, no matter how great or small. Like a loving parent, He will allow us to learn from our mistakes and forgive, but there comes a time when He will "draw the line" if we continue to rebel.

Isaiah 66: 24 "As they leave, they will look on the corpses of the people who rebelled against me. For their worm will never die, and their fire will never be quenched; but they will be abhorrent to all humanity.

Hebrews 10: 29 Think how much worse will be the punishment deserved by someone who has trampled underfoot the Son of God; who has treated as something common the blood of the covenant which made him holy; and who has insulted the Spirit, giver of God's grace! 30 For the One we know is the One who said, "Vengeance is my responsibility; I will repay," and then said, "ADONAI will judge his people." 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

Many pastors around the world are of the opinion that verses such as the above don't apply to Christians because they are "saved by grace." Big mistake! The notion that a person can do whatever he wants after professing faith in Yeshua and not get into the most serious spiritual trouble is a dangerous and an unbiblical one! God has not changed; He loved us enough to give us a final sin sacrifice because man could never "get right" with God. Yeshua was that final sin sacrifice - but He did not come to abolish Torah (God's original teaching and instruction), or to offer Himself as a sacrifice for intentional, willful, ongoing sin....

Matthew 5: 17 Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. 18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah - not until everything that must happen has happened.

Has everything happened that must happen? Have heaven and earth passed away yet? If not, then Yeshua never "nailed it to the cross" as many in the church have misunderstood (see Book of Romans). He gave us a chance at eternal life; not the permission to break any of His commandments or to do whatever we please.