Faith, Chapter Fourteen

 

Most of us were taught that we needed to deal with sin in our lives. In many churches sin is taught more than anything else. At the end of every sermon there must be an invitation given so sinners can come and be cleansed of their misgivings. In every prayer there is a request for God to forgive us of our sins and our unforgiven sins. We have been taught to always be aware of sin in our lives so we live our lives with a guilty conscious. Preachers have put us under condemnation so much that we even question our salvation. We are never sure that we are saved because of our tendency to sin.

Let me tell you something, the more you try to deal with sin, the stronger it becomes, because you are putting yourself under the law. We have been taught that we are living under the Law of Christ and we must make every effort to deal with sin in our lives. As a result we lie to ourselves thinking that we can be successful at dealing with sin and so, we endeavor not to sin. But try as we may it pops up every once and awhile when someone or some circumstance pushes our button and we give way to it. Then preachers tell us that we are just sinners saved by grace which is nothing more than an outrages lie. If you ever come to the realization that the real you is spirit and that you have been born of God, you will agree with the great Apostle John that you cannot sin! He said in 1 John 3:4-6,

"Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abides (lives) in him sins not: whosoever sins has not seen him, neither knows him."

Listen very carefully to what John is saying! Sin is nothing more than breaking the Law but where there is no Law there is no sin! Paul said in Galatians 5:18,

" But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

If you are not under the Law then there is no sin! Will this body of flesh that we dwell in sin? Yes! But this body of flesh is not who we are!!! I will talk with you more about this next week.

When we try to by our own will to not sin in the flesh it leads to nothing more than self-righteousness. Look, Lord at what we have accomplished!!!

Paul said in Rom. 4:1-7 (NIV) what Abraham, the father of the faithful, found out about trying to work out his own salvation,

" What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven,  whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man  whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

One who is trying to perfect themselves has not had a full revelation of the magnitude of Calvary’s victory. The Apostle Paul said many years ago in 1 Cor 15:56, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." The more you struggle with sin the stronger it will get. We need to stop living by the law and just be grateful that sin has been dealt with and we are not under the law but under grace.

Paul said in Rom 7:14-24

"For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."

I lived in Romans chapter 7 for many years until I finally understood the truth. If we are struggling with sin it is like a branch on a tree. If you cut a branch off it will just grow back. You cannot just keep trying to cut off the branches of sin and expect to ever win the battle. We must lay the ax to the root of the tree. I finally understood that to lay the ax to the root was to repent, change my way of thinking and realize that regardless of my experience my old man is dead. I believed a lie instead of the truth. The problem that I had an image of myself as something other than Christ and that image was being feed every time I went to church and had preachers and teachers tell me that I was just filthy rags saved by grace.

Let me tell you what the truth is today about you. You are a new person in Christ and old things have passed away. Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:14-19, (NIV)

"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." 

Paul was convinced that one man died for all men and that if one man died for all men then all men died. The reason that He died for all men was so that they might no longer just live for themselves doing whatever they desired to do but that they might live for the one that died for them and was raised again. How many times do we have to read that God has in and of Himself reconciled the world to Himself in Christ and is not counting men's sins against them before we believe that He has done this? It seems to be easy to believe that sin entered the world through Adam and as a result all men are subject to sin and death without ever doing anything to deserve it. However, it is so hard to believe that without us doing anything to deserve salvation, God provide a way for us to be reconciled back to Him through Christ.

Why is this so? Because the carnal mind just can't conceive that such a thing is possible without it being involved in the process. It's so hard for the carnal mind with it's enormous ego to submit to the fact that it has nothing to do with the salvation that has so freely been given to it by our Father. The carnal mind wants to be involved in the process so it can take pride in what it has done. But not before God. Paul said of the carnal mind in Rom. 8:6-9,

"To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."

Jesus made a very strange statement in John 6:44,

"No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

Is that really true Jesus? I thought that it was the purpose of the Church to take the Gospel to all the world and that we are to be soul winners for Jesus. I was taught that I must be a witness for Christ and was asked many time by preachers how many souls have you saved this year. This in nothing more than carnal thinking once again.

Jesus said that no man can come to Him unless the Father is involved in drawing that individual to Jesus. Do you realize that this is the duty of the Holy Spirit? Jesus said in John 16:7-8,

" It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:"

Is it God's will for us to be involved in leading people to Christ? Yes! Paul said in Eph. 3:10,

"To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." 

He also said in Rom. 10:14-15,

" How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

The point I want to make to you is that we cannot save anyone without the drawing power of the Holy Spirit and we can be used by God to share with the world the truth about the Gospel that the Lord has provided to all men but it is God who convicts them and draws them unto Himself. Jesus said in Acts 1:8,

" But you will receive power (authority) when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Listen, there is a big difference between being a witness and witnessing. Being comes from what you are inside and it flows naturally from within you. Witnessing is something you do.

Everybody that's ever been quickened and touched by God has had a circumcision of heart, and on the inside they are different. There may not be any change in the outward character at all, but you know something's happened on the inside of you. God works from the inside out and religion tries to work from the outside in by trying to get you to clean your life up.

Listen one more time to what the Apostle John said about this in 1 John 3:9,

"Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; (Why is this so?) because His seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

I had a hard time with this verse until I realized I was a spiritual being and my spirit and the Holy Spirit are one spirit. It is impossible for my spirit to sin when I am awakened or regenerated to the truth of my being. In my carnal nature I will always experience sin and separation but now my life is hid in Christ and now I am learning to function from my spirit and not my flesh.

Why, then, do not preachers not teach this truth? Either they are not yet aware of the truth of this fact or they know that if they teach this it will not be accepted by their people because of what they have been taught in the past and as a result they will loose not only their position as a preacher but they will be considered a heretic and be cast out of their church.

I would prefer to think that most preachers are not yet aware of what John was really saying. I know that for years I didn't understand this and didn't know how this could be true. It was not until, after many years of learning just who I really was and what really took place when I was born again, that I became aware of this great truth.

I know that what I am saying is hard for your carnal mind to understand but I ask you to seek the Lord on this subject and allow the Spirit to show you the truth.