The saints of God have always committed sin, which is why the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s Cross that sins might be forgiven. And even Jesus Himself did not preach perfection, but restoration.

Jesus saved the day at a wedding at the behest of the mother whom He loved, because Jesus’ ministry was not about ceremonial law or sacrifices, but about love.

The unsaved are lost, not because of their sin, as we are all sinners, lost or saved, but because of their arrogance, in that they refuse to recognize that they are not good enough to merit God’s Kingdom. Heaven is not a place for good people, but only for the humble people, because only the humble can be saved.

Once we have become righteous to God through our acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we then have the responsibility to mature; to grow, to understand, and to teach others the pitfalls of license and the benefits of maturity.

Jesus became a man, and increased His stature above perfection by not just obeying the law perfectly, but by sacrificing Himself for mankind. To sacrifice for someone else rather than to place blame on them is the true meaning of the Golden Rule, Matthew 7:12: 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

It is most important that the spirit with which we obey the law of God must be a sacrificial spirit, meaning that we must be able to put aside our own needs so that any benefit that comes from that which we do will go to others, and we must be able to put aside our desires to build up our own reputation so that any glory that comes from that which we do will go to God.

Washing with water, in the Old Testament, symbolizes purification. It is important to understand, however, that washing with water only symbolizes purification. Actual purification before God has to do with living a pure life on the inside; to be pure means having a pure thought life, because all actions start in the mind.

Disobedience – our arrogant thinking that we know better than the one that has the position of authority over us, and so rather than discussing the situation with them and getting their agreement to our proposed action, we can just ignore their instructions and do that which we want.