Why do I stumble? Fail? Why do I keep falling into sin after living by faith for a season? These are the questions I have asked myself these questions many times after receiving salvation. Before getting saved, being forgive by Jesus, I did not have these experiences nor thoughts of failure because I was in sin and did not know the wonderful blessing of being in a relationship with God Jehovah and his son Jesus.
What was the problem? I did not have the knowledge and understanding of scripture at the level where I am now. Growing up I needed the maturity that scripture and prayer to give me the strength I needed. I also cared what people thought about me when I should have been strong and let myself be myself. The other problems are that I let the sin capture me and keep me in bondage. I knew sin had pleasure attached to it and I kept looking over the fence. So, realizing all this what have I been doing to understand? I sat down and wrote a definition of the sin nature from my experience and studies.
What is the Sin Nature of Man?
Before defining we need to know the origin of the sin nature. In Genesis we find Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden. Both God had instructed Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of good and evil. The serpent we call Satan began to tell Eve that if she ate of the tree of good and evil, she would know the difference between good and evil and will become like a god. Adam, I believe was sitting there with her and heard the exchange of the conversation. Like any human, curiosity fed the imagination of how it would taste. The longer she thought about how the fruit tasted the greater was the temptation. Eve made the decision to eat of the tree. She enacted the free will that God gave all of us to whom we will serve. Either we search God Jehovah or Satan. That was the choice. As soon as Eve ate of the fruit her eyes was opened. The veil of innocence fell from her eyes. Her innocence was stolen by Satan who lied to her. Adam soon partook of the fruit as well. Scripture does not record why he did not object or direct Eve not to partake of the fruit, but scripture records the fall from perfection into sin.
The Sin Nature of Man Defined
The sin nature is a fallen position. A position that man fell from God’s safety, goodness, love, and a perfect world. The fallen position is the separation of man from God. The purpose of humanity was to worship God and be totally in his image. God created man to multiply and to oversee all of creation on earth. This was man’s habitation. From the soil of earth to the boundary of the first heaven—the sky. When man fell, he was no longer the subject of God, but in bondage to a new master, the slave of Satan. Man had dominion over the earth until his sin, but now Satan has dominion over the world. The Earth was a state of perfection before sin entered, and man went from a perfect creation, a glorified state, to a fallen state into darkness. With God man was always in his light and had direct access to all God possessed. Now Satan wants to illuminate humankind with his gloomy light. Now that sin entered the world and universe, the future generations of man defiled by the sin become part of every human being because the situation did not have a remedy. Sin is generational and has become innate. It is not genetic but is a spiritual transformation. The remedy is an atonement, a blood covenant, and a perfect sacrifice to die for man. No animal or sinful human is perfect. Only God’s son Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. He is pure. There is no spot or blemish, no defilement because he has never sinned. Yet, he took sin upon his shoulders for you and me to deliver us from sin and bring those who accept him back into perfection by believing in him and accepting him. Justification is now in place for those who accept him.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Genesis 2:17
“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Genesis 3:24
The tenets of sin are pride, selfishness, the rebellion against God, his word, and the image of God. Sin is about the destruction of innocence and causes man to be guilty before God and accountable to his rebellion. The nature of sin is humanistic using pleasure to enslave humanity and keep him in depravity. The type of pleasure is varied and affects the psyche of man causing a perversion in his thinking process, imagination, and spirit. Hate, rebellion, disobedience, selfishness, and pride enters the spirit. Now, man has a desire for power to control mostly because of pride. The prideful man is about controlling other men, and nations. Their desire is to be a dictator, a god, that other men look up to as a savior and worship. This is an antichrist type and destruction of God’s creation is the goal. We have seen in world history men who came to power considered themselves as god as evident in the Roman Caesars, and other prominent dictators as recent as the 20th century. The sin nature is enmity against God. It is against God’s image to usurp his position while working to destroy man who was created by God in his image. Man was originally created above the angels, yet when he sinned his position was lowered below the angels.
Going further into the realm of sin, its claws grab ahold of mankind’s heart and brings upon humanity spiritual bondage. Humankind imprisoned by Satan’s control and now man is a prisoner, a peon, slave to sin and control. Man’s heart now deceives him since the seed of sin has been planted. Man’s master now is Satan because of sin imprisons.
”His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.”
Proverbs 5:22
The spirit of man is now at war within himself. He may want out, but his flesh and mind war against each other. This is the prison. Within this prison we have become defective, ineffective, and impaired, not being able to function as created.
“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Romans 6:16
” 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.”
Romans 7:23
The sin nature, a prison, a prison within ourselves that we cannot shake. We cannot provide the answer, the remedy, because of defilement and not in the perfect state. All of creation is wailing and groaning because what man has done. The remedy came in the form of a man and God. He has given his life as a reconciliation and broke the chains of death by giving his life on the cross. He further brought sin to its knees by his resurrection and procured eternal life for all who believe in him. Those of us who want out of the spiritual prison we have found ourselves can now choose the remedy and be set free from sin’s dominion. When we are set free our master becomes Jesus and the reward is eternal life. The sin nature of man will bring him to eternal death. Death being the penalty, the eternal death of separation eternally from God. The first step to a decision to eternal life is realizing and understanding the sin nature of man. Now, we know what holds us. Liberty is at hand.
Notes: All scripture has been taken from the King James Version. Public Domain. BibleGateway.
“Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.”
Proverbs 13:15
Darkness, the spiritual nature, is found throughout the earth. Its presence is evil and makes life difficult. Our lives were placed on this path after the disobedience of Eve and Adam. They were told by God the Father and Creator that they would work the soil for their sustenance, and Eve would bear labor in birthing children. From that day sin became generational in the manner man is born into the way of sin.
What is sin? It is a general term used by Christians to denote the different levels of wrongdoing. In our minds we perceive sinfulness from bad to worse even though God sees them as one big lump of disobedience. This word really means to “miss the mark”, and is unintentional, but there are levels of sin that are committed intentionally in rebellion against God. The intentional sins are various forms of sexual immorality, murder, theft, lying, vile affections, deceit, wickedness (corruption), envy, whisperers, malignity, backbiters, haters of God, boasters, inventors of evil things, covenant breakers, being unmerciful, and without understanding (Romans 1). Our actions should cause guilty feelings and shame and should prick our conscience so that we will reflect and change our hearts.
People all over the world live in a world of sin. Some do not realize the difficulty of their lives because a life of sin is all they have ever known. At times, they will tell you how hard their life is because of life’s experience of dealing with the death of loved ones, the misbehavior of kids, or difficulties they are having because of what life generally brings us. People throughout the world bring difficulty on themselves because of their idolatry, in worshiping demons, participating in the occult, or may be businesspeople and working to obtain wealth, or simply materialistic. Anything that a person covets will become idolatry. The most common idol is money.
We, mankind, were created by God to possess freewill. All of us decide who we serve on earth and in the supernatural. Man, either chooses Jesus as their Lord, or Satan who is described in Isaiah 14 as the son of Dawn as their lord. The choice is made by default is Satan and can be changed in accepting Jesus by seeking forgiveness of sin.
The way of the transgressor is hard because we are trapped in the bondage of sin. Our lives are made hard because of our unwise decisions because sin is pleasurable. There are opportunities of getting rich quick, which plays on our greed, and the desire by fiat. Decisions that affect us emotionally by seeking revenge for something someone has done against us causes us to reap consequences and find ourselves incarcerated, by taking drugs to overcome being abused, or drowning our sorrows using liquor. Sickness and disease cause our lives to be difficult as well, and never considering there is a higher power that can help us live a better life. Some have heard of Jesus, but some have not heard. The lifestyle of sexual immorality may result in sexually transmitted diseases, and if left untreated can cause death or mental illness.
Human life is based on needs. People live in poverty because of various reasons. The lack of skills to make a living, politics, or being overtaxed by government entities. This would bring difficulty in meeting the needs in life, and not having a faith-based system to keep hope within our hearts. Everything I have said here in the article can bring distress and depression, but as I said earlier there is a way out of this path of hardship.
As a Christian looking backward before my conversion, I have experienced some difficulties in my life. I know the feeling of having a yoke, a weight on my shoulder working to meet my needs and worrying about money. I have had other difficulties like dealing with death of loved ones and friends. The difficulty of dealing with personalities, and sickness. I see the evil and corruption in America and the world. I cannot fully fathom the level of the evil I see. Even as a sinner I would marvel at the level of evil and corruption, and that is due to my Christian upbringing. Listening to news reports and seeing the faces of people I see an emptiness I have never seen before, and that emptiness is caused by the deepness of depravity they are involved in. In their eyes I do not see joy. All I see is a lack of hope. I see and feel fear from the American people.
The world today is communicating fables to the people and convincing them it is truth. Their truth is presented in various forms of mediums to persuade people. Over the decades and centuries, the fables would come in the form of false theology. Now it is propaganda and disinformation in the mix of deception. Why the fables? Why false doctrines? The reason for the fables and the false doctrines is to keep people from believing in Jesus and coming to faith. In Jesus there is life, is eternal, and a gift given freely to all mankind. All is required is to accept Jesus and salvation into your heart. There, the Spirit of God will flow freely, and a joy rises from within, and sometimes it is unexplainable. The spirit of the recipient will know it is the Spirit of God because he has created us to sense his Spirit. People who create fables and false doctrines do not posses the Spirit of God.
There are different types of people who are living a life without Jesus. Some believe that God does not exist, but he does. We see his handiwork everywhere with our eyes and even through microscopes. By seeing his handiwork and through science we can see the works of our mighty God. Even though with all the evidence of his existence many people do not see an escape from the despair, bondage, and the darkness. They may see their salvation in themselves which is humanism. The answers to our human plight are found in our Creator—God.
Light counteracts and causes darkness to flee. Many years ago, I found this hope. This hope I found was giving my life to Jesus. From that point forward, I have had my problems, temptations, have sinned, but God and his son Jesus had mercy on me and granted me grace once again. I know the experience of living for Jesus. It is a joyful, and a spirit of love arises when I compare the life before, and my life now because I am redeemed. The old man has died, and the new man has arisen within me. A change took place in my heart and his Spirit filled my soul. My outlook, insight, and paradigm changed. I saw the world with fresh new eyes. Yes, all of this is spiritual, yet there has been a physical change within my soul. The change taken place is a changing of the mindset from sin to righteousness. The will and the desire to no longer sin, to do the things I once did, and a new desire boiled up from within to live in righteousness and to follow the commandments of God. My life, mind, and heart were changed because of the new covenant that Jesus fulfilled, and I came to learn and follow the teachings of Jesus who taught the old law at a higher form with an infinitesimal amount of grace. A superabundance of grace.
Why would a person live a life without Jesus? Why live-in despair when there is a better avenue of life? The way of the transgressor is difficult, but the way of following Jesus is easier. Though I must tell you even life as a Christian disciple is challenging, we have hope in the fellowship of other believers. There is encouragement, understanding, and wisdom that is found in the reading of the Bible. Our souls are fed in doing so and recharged by prayer. Paul in his writings in the New Testament teaches us how to live in our Christian walk. We are to keep our eyes on the prize, which is eternal life, doing good works, purging the sin through prayer, and resisting the devil. His letter of Ephesians tells us how to interact as a church and be successful.
In my spiritual walk knowing Jesus I have seen frowns and hard looks turn into joy. I have heard of everyday lives being changed. People being blessed by jobs and places to live. Lives changed from alcoholism and drugs. Their countenance and health becoming better and the presence of healing. You can see it on their faces. Things like worry and fear are no longer present because we have learned not to fear the things that the devil puts upon us. Life in Jesus makes us stronger within and even words and the looks of men cannot cause us to fear because we know that God is with us. So, why would you live without Jesus any longer?
Note: All scripture given is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.
A young man saw a lady across the church congregation wondering if she was single. So, after church he went to introduce himself to her. Upon meeting her they chatted for a while getting acquainted and then he asked her to if she would go out with him on a date the next week. She said yes, and a friendship began to spring. As we know there are steps in a relationship between a man and a woman. Eventually, they decided to be exclusive, and not to date another. This began a covenant, a promise not to consider another person for possible dating. Each remained within the covenant they made to each other, and their covenant was sealed by marriage. A covenant over another covenant. The marriage covenant ideally is to be for life.
As they continued to live being married the couple made time for each other, confirmed their feelings and emotions for one another, and their love for each other grew as the years went by. Never looking at another person, nor even had vain imaginations, their marriage was successful until one passed away. The spouse passing went to be with Jesus to be granted of their inheritance which is eternal life, which is a spiritual wedding between God and the past spouse. While we are here on earth having accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are betrothed to him awaiting our marriage. The physical and the spiritual covenants parallel to one another. We make the choice in whom we become betrothed and marry. This is an example of faithfulness.
Faithfulness defined is an allegiance, an oath or covenant created between two parties. To be faithful is to not commit any acts against the covenant made. As in marriage, one will not commit adultery and hurt the spouse. It is a promise made and shall not be broken.
In the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior in receiving salvation we create a covenant between God and us. We are to be faithful to him as though he is the Groom, and we are the bride. For the Church is described in scripture as the bride of the bridegroom, and he will come after he has everything under his feet to claim his bride. All of us are his bride, collectively the Church.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”
Isaiah 61:10
As our relationship with God and us we are to remain faithful, and we are faithful as stewards of our house. Our house is our body, soul, and spirit. In scripture our house is also described as a temple of God. For he dwells within us after sanctification has occurred in the salvation process. We are responsible for the upkeep of his house, to keep our sanctification current, and not yielding to sin or temptation. Even though we have trouble remaining faithful because of temptation and yielding to sin, God is always faithful to us in the relationship. He understands why we fail and continues to love us. All we must do is confess we have failed and restore the relationship. The relationship requires stewardship from each other.
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
1 Corinthians 4:2
Two people in a relationship or covenant will be faithful and remain faithful if they genuinely love one another. They know that any breach of the relationship will cause pain, distress, and distrust. The same goes with God and us. He is faithful to us because that is his nature, and because he loves us and will take care of us in sustenance and care. When we need him, we can go to him in prayer and God will listen to us. Caring spouses will listen to one another and work out the differences too. Whether earthly covenants or spiritual covenants both takes work to remain in faithfulness. Forgiveness is part of remaining in faithfulness to one another, and if a man or a woman does not forgive it puts a strain on the covenant or will negate the covenant. Both must be forgiving to stay within covenant, and this is the same in relation to God and us.
“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”
Deuteronomy 7:9
As we live our life righteously, think of how our life can be a testimony to someone who does not have a relationship with God. Our lives show either good fruit, or bad fruit. Either will cause a person to decide to live for God or not. They are watching us and how we are faithful and the manner we remain faithful. God never fails us. He can never be unfaithful because he is truth, love, and compassionate about being in a relationship with us, and he knows a righteous relationship is life, and that its result is eternal life with him. That is our inheritance. The inheritance for the married couple, the man and the woman are their testimony to future generations. This is the heritage of the earthly couple, their testimony. God’s heritage is the righteous living of his children who come to live with him eternally.
The success of being faithful and remaining faithful is having hope in each other and living a righteous life and placing our hope in God. His compassion is new to us every morning and his love is refreshed.
“They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”
Lamentations 3: 23-24
Be faithful to each other. Be faithful in your promises remaining true to both sides. Above all remain faithful to God.
Notes: Merriam Webster Dictionary online.
All scripture is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.
Life and culture were vastly different before the computer age came to America. As a boy I remember going to the variety store, the 5 & 10 stores where one can buy a different item needed for the home, and toys for the kids. I would buy the wind-up trucks and cars that were less than a dollar and play in the sand with them. Also, plastic soldiers were part of my younger days. The source of communication was by telephone, CB radio, HAM radio, church socials, or hanging out on the drag, meaning sitting and talking with your friends at a hamburger joint while other teenagers’ road the same streets that made a circle. Life then was listening to soft rock, the songs of Jim Croce, and my country music favorites.
As I got older, I began to see the first microwaves, calculators, and by the time I graduated college computers were coming into the colleges and universities to learn the Basic Code and programming. Typewriter’s were the keyboards of that day, and we had a lever to make the carriage return to the left of the page, now it is the enter key. Life was slower, and people knew one another better. That is the just a small peek into yesterday. There was more going on, but at a much slower pace.
The changing of America took place during the 1980s forward. Technology increased at a greater pace. This period in our history we saw the Radio Shack computers, Apple computers, cell phones, and later the internet. Information at your fingertips began to come, and the minds of Americans began to change, to be mesmerized by the screens of technology, and now we are consumed with everything digital. In the past we had our imaginations, told stories to one another, and dreamed. Today our minds are captured by the screens of computers, TV’s, cell phones, tablets, and pods. We are doing less critical thinking in our current times and believing what we are being told in the news, and all forms of media. Our imaginations have turned from cranial to virtual, and we are becoming less social and isolated with gadgets. Our minds have been captured. Our minds being filled with interests of the world with all forms of subjects, immorality, and games. Technology can change us without us realizing, and it shows up at the dinner table, restaurants, and in church gatherings where people are more interested in their phone screens than interfacing with real humans. Games that are violent are creating violent people who take what they encountered and reenact it. The articles, literature, books, magazines we read online influences us, and changes our moral and value system. These changes affect our spiritual lives, that is the area that should be the most surprising and we should come to realization. These worldly changes keep us from the word of God, our prayer life, and in the ministry of others. The change affects our righteous living because we are bombarded with immoral images, desensitizes us from life because of the influence and advocation of abortion. We should be concerned about moral values, and the sanctity of life, but we are more interested in pleasure and convenience. We tell ourselves we do not have the time for God, but the technology has become our god, an idol. We make time for the technology and what pleases us there on the screen. Do not get me wrong, technology is a great tool for us if we use them correctly and in balance, but what I see as well as others is an imbalance in life.
The enemy, Satan, wants our minds in carnality to keep our minds off God. Anything he can use to corrupt our minds he will use. Many of us do not realize we are in a battle of our minds. There is a tug of war between Satan and God, but I will tell you Satan will lose. He already has lost but he is working before his demise to take everybody he can with him to eternal separation. Paul in his New Testament letters tell us,
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Romans 8: 5-6
To return us to balance would be to get our minds upon God through the reading of his scriptures and doing the good works of our faith. To work continually for the salvation of man by presenting the gospel to all. We are to get our minds off the world, off the pleasures of the flesh. It is the world that brings trouble, suffering, depression, stress, and anxiety, but it is being in the presence of God that brings peace to our spirits.
We are in a war, and that war is for our souls. The mind currently is being controlled through indoctrination of philosophies and ideologies, speech has been suppressed, and truth repressed. The war is to keep us separated from God, knowing his truth, and teaching his truth. Also, in the speaking of truth in history and current affairs. Since we are in a war, what does each side provide us? Satan’s side presents us with death, corruption, and the promise of mankind being his own god. That lie has been unabated since the garden of Eden. The promise of being our own god brings a person desiring power, and influence, and causes the mind and soul to be prideful. This characterization in man is against God the Father. All sin is against God. The war rages against our mind. Again, Paul reminds us of the war.
“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.”
Romans 7:23
If Satan can keep our minds from serving and pleasing God through the pleasures of sin, then he has complete control of us. We do need God to help us out of this trap and ask him to help us overcome. The war of the mind would be from the partaking of addictive substances, images, pagan religions, Gnosticism, false doctrines, and fables. Satan wants to keep you blinded of things eternal, to prevent you from realizing your purpose in life and from attaining your destiny. Satan works to destroy all of God’s creation.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
2 Corinthians 4:4
What does God want for us? He wants us to obey him. The Father wants us to have life, joy, freedom in life and spiritual worship. He works as a parent for us so that we can see the purpose God created us to achieve so that we can be happy in our purpose while he gets glory out of us living a holy and balanced life. He wants us to see, to hear, and be beware of things that can defeat us. Most of all, God wants us to conform to his image and remain in him because he has so much to give us in return for obedience. To conform to his image, we can have a relationship with God, and will not be separated by the veil of sin. We must be the guardian of our minds, and our souls.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2
How do we renew our minds? Our minds are renewed by continual and daily prayer asking God to purge the sin out of spirits every day, and every hour if needed. We must strive to please the Lord in our living, and in serving each other in meeting needs through good deeds. This is a testament of our faith and showing love to one another as he intended.
How do we prove ourselves? By sanctification, and by the trials and troubles that challenge our faith that refines us. Sometimes the troubles and the sadness that life brings seem to be like we are in a fire, that life is overwhelming at times, but we are to welcome these times knowing it is improving us spiritually and helping us grow in maturity of our spirit so that we can help others who are in trouble and in spiritual need. It is the overcoming of these troubles and trials that brings us to perfection to righteousness.
Be on guard, for Satan comes as a wolf. He is a deceiver, and we must use discernment to be able to discern truth from a lie. We must be watchful, for evil is everywhere and tries to trap us in situations. We are to remain blameless, and to make sure that anything that causes us to spend time away from God could become an idol to us. The changing of life and culture creates a challenge to our minds and does affect our spiritual life. In the year of 2020, the world changed dramatically, and America changed. Change is still going on in America and seems to be changing at an exponential rate, not just in changes in technology, but in all areas of culture. Look for the positive things that will edify God and refuse the negative. Spend more life away from the screens and notice the difference in your thinking and decisions. America, look for a wave of the Holy Spirit in revival and respond to the Lord while we have time. The change spiritually will change the culture and the nation.
Notes:
All scripture is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.
Grace, a subject St. Paul talked about a great deal. Grace defined is unmerited favor, but could be love expressed by our Creator, and loved us so much that he created a plan of salvation before everything in creation was created—before the world began. God being the Father called us to be his children, and because of sin we were separated and that kept us from knowing him spiritually, a breach in our relationship between God and us. So, God in his wisdom extended grace to mankind before the world existed. Grace was part of his plan.
His plan of salvation expanded into atonement, a sacrifice, and redemption. The atonement was that a price had to be made, and a perfect man who was fathered by God to be the sacrifice, and to make sure the price was paid in full then the son of God would give his life on the Cross. This caused sin to be defeated, and death would be defeated by his resurrection. His plan of salvation also ushered in the last covenant, the new covenant of Jeremiah 33, called the better covenant. This covenant annulled the old covenant, and it was to give all of us life, both Jew and Gentile. The old covenant could not save people from sin because the blood spilt was from the blood of bulls and other animals, but the blood of Jesus the perfect man who lived a blameless life, his blood could save all of mankind. His plan God created wanted us to be blameless, to be free from sin.
In Ephesians 1, God predestined us to adoption, to make all of mankind his children. Predestination means he predetermined his plan, and what he wanted his creation to be and how to interact in creation and in man’s relationship to God. He wanted to invest himself into his creation, to be available should his creation need him, and it proves man would need him forever. He adopted us, he chose us to be in a relationship to him, just like an earthly father and mother would adopt an orphaned child so that the child would have a life, freedom, and to take care of the orphan’s needs. The orphan would grow in maturity and fulfill the purpose and destiny injected to him at conception.
What did God predetermine his creation, man, to be like? He wanted us to be like him, to conform to the image of Jesus, and we see what Jesus was like by reading the gospels about his character and spirituality. God wanted man to act with righteous morals, to be obedient, pure, having wisdom, and come to the knowledge of him, Jesus, and of course his Holy Spirit.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
Romans 8: 29-30
How would I explain predestination further to make sure it is understood? Well, consider God the Father as an artist. The artist will have a format in which the person will follow. Not every artist will create the same, but I see God creating much the same as I would create. My process would be to conceive of an idea, plan his creation by sketching, taking note of the color palette, and whatever means he needs to execute his creation. God, as an artist I see would have much the same process but would decide what his creation will be and the extent of his creation, and foreordain the creation to possess order, beauty, and in his plan, he conceives of a rescue. That rescue was salvation. His creation would be perfect. Man’s creation would be imperfect. God’s creation would make a choice and fall into sin and would only have one way to salvation. Man’s creation may take several attempts, but is not guaranteed success, but the Father’s creation will have success as man stays within the boundaries of his grace, that he purges himself daily. God knew his creation would fail and that is the reason for salvation.
The Father calls man to salvation by the convicting of man’s heart by his Holy Spirit. Conviction by the Holy Spirit is the movement of the Spirit to cause the man to realize he had sinned through his conscience, and the thoughts of his sin will come to remembrance. The conviction will tell us we know we are not pure, and the Spirit is beckoning us to come to a decision for forgiveness. When a person decides to repent, to receive forgiveness justification will be enacted meaning he is pardoned of his sin, no longer held guilty.
Further into Ephesians 1 we see Paul writing about redemption. Redemption comes to us by his saving grace. We are saved by God’s grace, that he loved us so much he would provide a way out of sin so that we would not be condemned to eternal death by choosing his Son Jesus. Why did he give us grace? Because of our innocence and not having knowledge of what sin would cause, and never having the experience of evil. Redemption gave us access to God through faith. When he made man, he planted a grain of faith within his being, and we have been taught to enact that faith, meaning believing whatever we conceive will be done as long it is within, he will of God and his word.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
Ephesians 2:8
What else would redemption bring to man? The redemption of man would be his inheritance. The inheritance would be eternal life, and to live in the New Earth that God would create for his children. This inheritance is guaranteed if we live in obedience, growing in wisdom, knowledge, and trusting in God. As we spend time with God you learn more about him, his personality, and his ways. Spending time reading the bible, in prayer, and the interaction of the Holy Ghost within us is how we learn to know and learn of him. As we get to know God, we will see his glory more as time goes by, and we understand the inheritance he has chosen for us. Those who have accepted Jesus are his chosen ones. As we interact with God in prayer, and the reading of his word he constantly reveals himself and his works. He shows us his full power in his works of the Holy Spirit through us and from us ministering to others.
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1: 13-14
The inheritance is given to us as soon as we give our life to Jesus, and this inheritance was also assured by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and by the fulfilling of the new covenant. The cross gave us the victory over death, and through Jesus resurrection he ascended to heaven to sit on David’s throne and to administer the kingdom to bring things to an end. He is there sitting by the right hand of God reigning until his return to earth.
We see in Ephesians 1 that God has set Jesus above all creation giving him all authority as the head of the Church and the kingdom, and that God is Israel (God prevails). His Church is his body, his temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. In administering his covenants God has brought all the major covenants to fulfillment. His Church is prevailing in the last covenant sharing the gospel to the world so that all men will have the chance to salvation that was predestined before the beginning of creation. Grace, faith, salvation, and redemption were in place waiting for the time to come to being to bring men out of sin and to bring in the New Earth, which is Eden and the inheritance.
God deals with man through his covenants written in his word, and dispensation (administration) to cause man to stewardship (relationship) with him giving him deliverance and restoration. Can you see the love of God in all his actions? Why would God go to such lengths if he did not love us? The fact is his action is the ultimate love anyone would express. Wouldn’t a parent on earth not do the same? Your hope that Paul writes about in his letter is within God’s grace, and your hope is the resurrection that conquers death for eternity. Let me ask you this. Are you willing to change to live a righteous life to achieve eternal life? To assure your place in a beautiful, perfect place for eternity? To live and not die. Are you willing to place all things on the altar so you can break from the bondage of sin and your habits? Are you tired of sin? Tired of uncertainty? If so, make your decision so that you will assure your place in God’s record of life.
Notes:
From the website messie2vie.fr Strong’s Hebrew 3478, Yisrael.
All scripture given is taken from the King James Version, Pubic Domain, BibleGateway.
Hope is endurance and looking for the prize at the end of the road.
By James G. Owen
What is hope? Hope is to be expectant, to have trust and being patient. It is about having trust in a God that will provide for his children and ministering to our needs. Hope is to wait and endure. It is also about a promise, our guarantee of an eternal life. Hope is endurance and looking for the prize at the end of the road.
The definition of hope among secular people does not take on a spiritual rational. Their rational is to hope for something material, or ephemeral. As in a lady hoping to be married and having children, or a little boy dreaming about being an astronaut. Their hopes are attainable, but for some people what they hope for will never come true.
Hope in the spiritual and biblical sense is totally different because it involves for us to have a relationship with God. That relationship begins in a prayer for forgiveness after believing he sent his son Jesus as our Savior and accepting him. When we hope in the biblical sense, we inactivate our faith knowing this kind of faith is long term. It is a hope to long for all the days of our lives, yet knowing if we stay on the righteous path, we will achieve our goal, and God’s goal for us, and that is to be with him. Hope is a prize of eternal life, and we achieve our goal by not walking in the flesh but walking in his Spirit. We cannot walk the road alone because of the obstacles that are placed in our path by the enemy, Satan, who does everything he can to keep us from victory.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:”
Romans 8:1-3
Satan has accused us in God’s court of sin, or anything he can think of to accuse us, but if we walk in faith living in it, then we are free from the law of sin and death. Our walk is not by works, though we do works to win others to Jesus, the law of works cannot save us, only Jesus can through his blood and ushering in the new covenant.
To have hope, and to achieve our goal of eternal life, we must be unmovable and determined and keep ourselves in the word of God by daily reading and study. This is paramount. We are human, and if we make a mistake or sin, then we are to get right back up after asking for forgiveness and move forward. Jesus is our hope.
“For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;”
Colossians 1:5
The word of truth in the gospel is how we are saved by the blood of Jesus, and we are to take on his image by living and acting like he shows us in the first 3 books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He was perfect, pure, and obedient while listening to the voice of God, and for the voice of God to lead and guide. The word tells us how to live our lives, what God expects, and we will find our purpose in life by reading the bible. Also, prayer leads our lives as well because of our worship, and learning to stop and listen.
Will the road be easy in our walk on the road to hope and eternal life? Scripture teaches us that we will have temptations, trials, and tribulations. Some of will face persecution for serving Jesus, and this may mean torture or death, but it is an honor to be persecuted. Persecution will come to some, but not all, but what tribulation and trials come our way works patience to be within us. It is by patience we learn to endure, and to perfect our walk. It is by this experience we gain knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to help others walk the path and to give them hope
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:”
Romans 5:1-4
For us to have hope here on earth, and the eternal hope, God sent his son to be the last sacrifice, to end the old covenant and annul it, to bring in a better covenant that will save a man by his blood, and not cover the sin by the burnt sacrifices of bulls. The better covenant was to begin his kingdom here on earth, and we enter his kingdom on earth by accepting his salvation by faith through grace. The new covenant prophesied that God would write the law upon our hearts, our minds and conscience so that the law would pass because it could not save us, but made us aware of our sins, and was to school us in righteous behavior. The hope that we look for is the return of Jesus and for him to resurrect us to life, and this is how Satan will be finished and sent to the lake of fire, for our victory is in the resurrection and it is the final blow to Satan.
Our hope is to be with Jesus eternally in the new earth and heavens. For a short while we will be fellowshipping with Jesus at the marriage supper of the lamb before we embark on our new lives and work in his perfect, pure, and balanced new creation. We will be made perfect and incorruptible because of the resurrection of our bodies on the Last Day. This is the reason we should hope because of our knowledge of a coming new world with peace and no longer a worry or fret, we are to set our eyes on the prize and not consider anything material, for we cannot gain in earthly things.
Notes:
All scripture is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.
The bible tells us we all have sinned and come short. We have lost the perfection we were created in while our parents Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden, and the relationship between God and man was lost. Sin had caused a veil to come between us. So, God put in place his plan of salvation to bring back the perfection, and to remove the veil of those who want and choose a relationship with him. That relationship is one between a child and a father because that is who we are, his creation and his children.
Adam and Eve held the keys to their mind and heart that God gave them, and they would forever keep the keys if they obeyed him, but scripture tells us Eve was beguiled and deceived by the serpent who told her they would become like gods if they ate of the tree of Good and Evil. The serpent lie was told to them and Satan wanted to destroy God’s creation because he is angry at God for dispelling him from heaven because of the sin of pride and causing an insurrection in heaven with one-third of the angels behind his lead. There was a coup de tat in heaven. He was thrown from heaven along with his rebellious angels, and that is how we find his presence in the garden. He took their innocence by theft, and death came sweeping into creation. The presence of death because of a deception now defiled earth and all that is in creation. That is the reason for physical death and spiritual death.
At the confession of our sins and becoming a new creation, a Christian, and truly following Jesus and God’s word, our responsibility of deciding to live for Jesus does not stop here. It is our responsibility to continue living a righteous life, reading our bibles, and spending time in prayer. We are to find our “prayer closet” and spend time with God. My prayer closet has composed of my treks to work, and returning home, and my home is my closet. The responsibility is to keep our “houses” clean, for we are the temple of God, and we are to provide security at the “door” of our souls, meaning we are to be watchful what we see and hear, and are to filter the input. We are to control our thoughts, action, and our eyes, for it is the eyes that are the windows to the soul.
It is natural to dream, and to fantasize, but the dreaming and fantasizing needs to be in holiness as well. It is here, our thoughts that the keys of our mind and heart are given over to the devil. When our thoughts are sinful, we give the house keys to the devil and these thoughts become more frequent. The thoughts may come through temptations, or by intention. Since we have given Satan the house keys, we may have given him keys to other areas in our lives and these sins are acted out physically.
Once he gains entry, other thoughts come into the mind, and if not taken care of by speaking our authority in Jesus’s name then these will take hold and will be hard to repress. A person who thinks on the past, and entertain temptations is double minded. We should get our minds on God and his purpose and destiny for us. For us to think in righteousness. There are times we will have carnal thoughts in our lives, but we are to control them.
“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
James 1:8
What is happening to us in the spiritual realm is that our physical bodies are warring with the spiritual. The trials, tribulations, sin, and temptations are the result of the old man trying to come back up and bring the new man down. If we give the keys of the house to Satan, the spiritual battle will become more intense, and what we need to do is call for help from Jesus! There are things we cannot do by ourselves, and we should learn to take authority over all negative matters by telling the devil to flee from us in Jesus’s name. We have the right to command him to leave us alone.
“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.”
Romans 7:23
The key to the entry doors of your house need to be kept in a safe place. When we give the devil entry he will go through the house and learning every sin that your brain has recorded of your past. It can be more than the sin of your past. Your past may include addictions to alcohol, drugs, smoking, or any other substance. Giving him the run of your house, you may discover yourself back into the position you were freed from, and now you will need deliverance by the Holy Spirit to escape.
In conclusion, be strong and blunt telling Satan to flee from you. You have that authority as a disciple of Jesus to use his name to make the demons flee. Tell them you are not a puppet and will not let them pull your strings. It is up to you and your decision. Do not bargain with Satan, nor have a conversation with him. Resist the devil, make him flee! James, the brother of Jesus gives us his thoughts in the manner in what we must do in his letter.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded
James 4:7-8
Notes:
All scripture used is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.
The water of the Holy Spirit washes our soul and spirit bringing us out of the dry land of sin.
By James G. Owen
Jesus is the author of eternal salvation having first established the kingdom of a spiritual type on earth fulfilling two covenants, namely the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. He is the author having taught the law in his ministry to the people of moral behavior to live righteously, raised the dead, healed the sick, lame, deaf and blind. In his ministry he has set the captive spirit free of all types of bondages including demon possession. The best qualifier of his authorship is his death on the Cross as a perfect sacrifice, and his resurrection after being crucified on the Cross three days later as prophesied by the story of Joel and the whale. This not only established his authorship, but also fulfilled the promise given to Eve in Genesis.
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
This scripture tells of two seeds. One is of the serpent in the garden that we know is identified as Satan, and the other seed is the Messiah who later is revealed as Emmanuel, God is with us, prophesied by Isaiah 7:14 and revealed to Joseph in a dream to accept Mary as his wife. Jesus fulfilled this promise by overcoming Satan’s temptations of turning a stone into bread, and not accepting the kingdoms that Satan could give him thus placing enmity between Satan and Jesus began. The furtherance of the defeat of Satan would be in the miracles, and the casting out of the demons in the town of Gadarene. The ultimate fulfillment in which salvation was established permanently was the bruising of Satan’s head by Jesus being nailed to the Cross. Salvation was brought to every man present and future from the place of Golgotha.
What is salvation?
Salvation was a plan created by God before the foundation of the world and creation. He knew his creation would be defiled by sin because of man and their sin of disobedience, so a plan was put in place. That plan was to redeem man through the atoning blood of Jesus to save men from their sin through the grace of God. This enabled the relationship that was severed in the Garden of Eden by sin to be reestablished through man asking for the forgiveness of his sins and becoming “born again”, meaning the spirit of the man being changed from the old sinful man to a new creation, thus being changed from the corruption of sin to incorruption spiritually. It is through salvation that we can receive eternal life.
How does the plan of salvation work?
First, for salvation to come into our lives we must acknowledge God the Father in who he is. He is our creator, the one and only true God. We acknowledge him through believing upon him and the proof he exists is that he has placed a desire to worship in our hearts. That desire is innate. We also see proof he exists in looking all around us in the intricate design of creation, including ourselves made in his image. Secondly, we must realize that all of us, mankind, are guilty of sin, that none of us are righteous, and that sin (original sin, being inborn in man) is a curse from the disobedience of Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden. Next, in Romans 5:8 we read that God exhibited his love by extending salvation to us, a way to correct ourselves to become new again, and this is his plan for us to escape eternal death which is hell.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
It is our decision to make whether to choose God, or not. If we choose his way, then we are to confess our sins, and call up on the name of Jesus in prayer asking him to forgive us of all our sins while believing and enacting our faith that we are being changed. When we call upon the name of Jesus believing we will be saved. In this aspect of explaining salvation, we are being changed on the inside, our hearts and mind.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Romans 10:9-10
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 10:13
Believe, trust, and faith, an interaction.
When we begin to believe what we have heard, read, or seen, then we trust that source as being truth. There is an interaction going on here I think between the three upon hearing the gospel. Our heart and mind tell us its truth because the Holy Spirit is working about us convicting us of our sins and speaking to us to come to repentance. Within ourselves we may be fighting the truth, we may question, but that is the flesh fighting our decision. Our flesh wants the desires of this world, but our mind says we must change. It is a war, a battle of carnality and flesh that is going on here. Once we believe then the three begins its interaction because we have made the decision to change because we have believed, trusted the source as truth, and faith has entered the decision by becoming loyal to God and his son Jesus. Belief, trust, and faith are similar, yet separate enough to understand how God has created us to think and make decisions. The result of the interaction of belief, trust, and faith is hope. We now have hope to continue living after we pass from this world to eternal life, and that hope also tells us we will be with our Heavenly Father in a restful, peaceful place. Having believed and trusted we reacted by stepping out in faith feeling secure and acting with confidence. Faith is loyalty, and that faith has become a spiritual marriage. Faith is a structure of doctrinal beliefs. Those beliefs should come from strict scriptural study being literal, historical, and cultural. Faith through doctrine is a statement of our morality and values.
This is the basics of salvation, but this is not all that we can receive from God. There is always more. We will discuss this later in the article. Next let us discuss a doctrine that many of us has heard in discussion or reading, and others may have been told at the time we were saved.
The Doctrine of Eternal Security: Unconditional Security
As I begin to examine the doctrine of Eternal Security, I will explain it in two forms. One as unconditional and secondly as conditional. The unconditional form comes to us from Calvinism in which I will address from the TULIP, which is an acronym for total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. There is an additional portion to the unconditional form, and that is the five points of Calvinism. I will not include it here, but I may choose to discuss it in another article so that I may have the time to research it fully.
Total depravity I will explain as a man in a boat fishing on a lake. The lake is sin, and the boat is man’s ark of safety. When man disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, he capsized the boat and Adam and Eve fell into the lake being totally submerged. Sin had caused a separation of God and man by placing the veil of sin between them, and it made all of creation imperfect and impure. We were totally soaked in sin from the outside to the inside. From skin to the mind and heart of man. There was no way out in our perspective and ability, but God the Father had a plan of salvation to defeat sin and depravity.
Unconditional election is a doctrine of works, that our salvation is based on good deeds. It furthers itself by stating that God had determined who would be saved and who would receive damnation, and who would be in a relationship with him and this was known before the foundation of the world.
Limited atonement is explained that atonement would be for some, but not for all. That some would be excluded. The unconditional election and limited atonement cause me to think of the interpretation of predestination by some to mean that God had predestined an elect to be his Church and those would serve in his kingdom.
Irresistible grace is the calling of people he had chosen to come to repentance and extended grace to them.
The perseverance of the saints is explained by the adage, “once saved, always saved”, that once a person is in God’s saving grace they will always stay within the hand of God until the person achieves eternal life. In my understanding, this is the unconditional part of this Calvinist doctrine, along with unconditional election, meaning no matter what action is taken in life after accepting Jesus, even sinning while claiming salvation one will go to heaven regardless of how they have lived their life.
The Doctrine of Eternal Security: Conditional Eternal Security
Simply, salvation is provided for all mankind and is given freely by the grace of God because he loved us all enough to give us the chance and make the decision for ourselves whether to choose him, or to choose eternal damnation. Whether to be in a loving, free relationship with God the Father, or choose the life and the pleasures of sin. In my explanation, this form will begin in John 3:16, that God loved us so much he gave his son Jesus and believed upon him as their Savior would have eternal life. Further in my discourse it is explained in the Roman road to Salvation at the beginning of this article. That we have all sinned and must come to that knowledge of being born into sin and acknowledging that we have a God that we must answer to for how we are living our lives. We must confess our sin and live a righteous and holy life to enter heaven. Also, know that God calls us to repentance, and he does so by the drawing of the person by the Holy Spirit. In Pentecostal terminology we call it conviction. He draws us by convicting us of our sins. Scripture tells us he must draw us by his Spirit, and I think that is what Calvin failed to bring out in his irresistible grace doctrine. In differing with unconditional security, I would state God calls all men, and gives us all the chance to repent and have eternal life, not an elect populace.
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:44
The Roman Road to Salvation is the basic form of coming to the Lord for eternal security, but there is more to salvation than living the basics form of salvation. We are to live our lives without spot, or wrinkle. We must show good fruit in loving people by helping them or ministering to any kind of need. We must live a life of holiness, and it will take the Holy Spirit to help us live in holiness for we cannot make ourselves holy by living and doing good works. Living in holiness and salvation has conditions, and boundaries that we must not cross to achieve eternal life.
Losing the Eternal Security Gained
The question asked many times is can one who confessed his sin, became saved, lose their salvation? In my experience and belief is yes one can. My experience having been saved and then time passes by, I find myself not resisting the temptation that faced me, or the mocking I received when I confessed my faith. When I succumbed to the mocking and the temptations my conscience told me I had done wrong. If I had just asked God for forgiveness then, the dirt and the dust that came spiritually on my soul and conscience would not have settled.
The bible tells us that we cannot enter heaven with sin in our lives, and to be able to come into God’s presence to receive of him we cannot proceed with the sin in our lives. Yes, Christians can sin, and that sin will cause you to no longer be in the Kingdom of God if you do not take responsibility and take care of it.
“And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 21:27
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,”
1 Corinthians 6:9
Turning our back on God after being saved and going back into the sin we found ourselves out is called backsliding. We have slidden from God’s kingdom back into Satan’s kingdom and have found ourselves in bondage again. The turning back towards our past and committing sin is marital unfaithfulness, that our relationship between God and us is like a marriage, intimate relationship in that we confide in him about our needs, times when we need to feel safe, and just want to worship him. Sin separates us from that relationship. The sinful life will be a form of idolatry because we have our minds and hearts in sin and not on God who created us.
The story of Elisha and Elijah in 1 Kings 19:20 illustrates backsliding. Elisha is called by Elijah to go with him to minister the word of God, but Elisha wants to say goodbye to his mother and father before following him, but Elijah says go on back for I have done to you. Elijah, a prophet of God had chosen Elisha for service in God’s kingdom. His purpose was to look forward and not backward. What was before him in God’s kingdom and is wonderful and full of life, but he looks backward to what he had, and had not look forward to the riches and eternal life he would gain. Jesus teaching to the people on this subject told them what he thought of backsliding and was teaching them to move forward in life and follow him.
“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:62
Jesus statement in Luke 9 is blunt. Sometimes bluntness is needed to get people to understand the consequences of sin. The spiritual situation can be remedied if we repent of our sin and move forward.
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
Revelation 2:5
Eternal Security is continuous only if we stay within the grace of God and his boundaries. Sinning has consequences and that consequence is eternal damnation in the lake of fire, which is Satan’s kingdom headquarters. Paul, the apostle gives us words of encouragement in his letter of Philippians.
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,”
Philippians 3:13
His words are to move forward, never looking backwards. Life is going to be tough, but we are to have faith, to keep the faith, and understand that God will bring us through every situation, and that we have the victory already won. The victory was won on the Cross by Jesus’s death.
So, here in this part of the examen the doctrine that I live by and I believe is the most scriptural to keep myself in holiness is the conditional eternal security. I know I cannot live life in sin, and to say I am saved, then go live a life of sin I cannot excuse that kind of life, nor will I be able to defend myself before God in his court. As I told you earlier, there is more to salvation. What should we expect next in our walk-in salvation? Let us look at what I am naming the Wesleyan Effect.
The Wesleyan Effect. What is it?
John Wesley had met the Moravians in his travels between American and Europe. He was told of a doctrine of justification (justification by faith is also Martin Luther) and what is known now as sanctification. He was intrigued with the doctrine, that was new to him, and wandered why his mentor had never told him of this doctrine. When he studied in his scriptures to see about this new knowledge he began to believe and seek a joy he had not known. As time went by, he found the joy he was seeking, and from this experience that was profound to him, he considered himself not a Christian until his new spiritual experience. In this life changing event, John Wesley had found what it meant to be truly born again. Here, he found what St. Paul was talking about in the scriptures of the peace with God through Jesus. He also found that to be justified we would not only need to believe in Jesus, but to have the fulness of faith of which our hearts can hold. To believe in Jesus with zeal. Our justification does not come by works, but by faith, even though good works is showing fruit of out testimony, it is the light of faith that shows our souls have been forgiven and that the Holy Spirit reigns within our hearts. In justification it is meant that we are not held guilty for our sins, and justification is the action in the process of salvation that is after our prayer of confession of sins, and before sanctification. Justification is the pardoning of sin, that God as the judge in his court found us not guilty and giving us grace and love forgiving us of our trespasses. Justification must occur before the action of sanctification.
Sanctification is the process of washing of the spirit of man to wash away the sin, trespasses, transgressions, iniquities, and abominations that have spotted and trashed the spirit of man. The action is done by the Holy Spirit washing us in the blood of Jesus that takes every sin away.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Romans 5:1
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
Galatians 2:16
If we continue to see God after knowing we have had the experience of sanctification, we will experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit in which we will speak with tongues and fire. This is the experience of the disciples of Jesus and the people gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem in Acts 2. Some people believe that tongues has ceased, but they have not. It continues unto this day and will continue until the Last Day that the book of John speaks. How do we know that we are sanctified? John Wesley preached it as assurance, in other words by the experience you will know by faith and know without a doubt that your temple has been swept cleaned. You will know intellectually.
Sanctification, the Wesleyan Effect, is described above as the instantaneous sanctification. We are responsible for keeping our temple clean, and we do this by prayer asking God to take away any sin, spot, or wrinkle, that we may have done unknowingly. This is called purging. We must keep our souls washed every day spiritually and is called daily sanctification. What helps us to stay pure is to abstain from sin. To keep ourselves separate by not participating in other people’s activities in which we know they do not have the salvation experience. We are to witness to them to bring them to Christ, but we must not fellowship with them lest we be led astray. The purging is also explained by the transformation of our minds, that we are changed, made anew, a new creation in Christ, and being born again. We have come to a position that we are no longer separated from God, and a relationship has opened between God and us.
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Be not ye therefore partakers with them.”
Ephesians 5:3-7
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
Ephesians 5:11
We are to witness to them in love telling them we no longer participate in sin, and that we have found salvation in Jesus and found a new love that will lead us to eternal life. We are to disapprove of the sin and not partake of it being the light and witness to draw them into the love of God. By living our testimony in front of them we are showing them a life of holiness.
How do we become holy? We ourselves cannot make ourselves holy, but we can live righteous and by the work of the Holy Spirit he brings us into holiness. The purging of sin daily assures us that we will remain in holiness.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
2 Corinthians 7:1
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.; Neither give place to the devil.”
Ephesians 4: 22,24, 27
The works of justification by faith, instantaneous and daily sanctification, purging and living a life in holiness is the Wesleyan Effect. I pray that you will come to know this experience after reading this article, hoping the Roman road will lead you to salvation if you do not know Jesus. I invite you to read the scriptures for yourself and then ask God for confirmation if needed. This is the path in which I was raised and taught as a youngster, and now I am older and still believe this is the scriptural path of full salvation, the conditional form of eternal security, the gift that God has given us. He wanted us to have this full gift, and the power of the Holy Spirit by coming into our body and changing our spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us boldness and anointing to stay on the path, to give us strength and knowledge in situations when we will need that knowledge and gives us the power (dunamis) to serve.
Notes:
All scripture used was taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.
In the previous blog post, The Noahide Laws: Will the
Laws Be Used by the Antichrist? I
identified the seven Noahide laws, so we won’t be reiterating them here, but
giving the Christian and the secular Gentile the interpretation of these laws
from my studies in watching videos, articles, and reading the book entitled,
The Divine Code by Rabbi Moshe Weiner.
The Noahide laws were written into the Talmud before
Jesus’s birth. The Talmud consists of the Gemara and the Mishnah, Jewish
literature that interprets Jewish law. There are two Talmuds, the Jerusalem
Talmud, and the Babylonian Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud is the one that is mostly
used. These two portions of literature are also known as the Oral Torah and is
called the traditions. Jesus certainly knew about the Talmud and the traditions
as he is confronted by the Pharisees in Mark 7, as they are called the
traditions of the elders in scripture.
And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the marketplace, except they bathe themselves, they eat not; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels.And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?
Mark 7:1-5 ASV
As I studied, I read about Moses in Egypt before
Pharaoh. Moses as he was before Pharaoh demands that he release the Israelites
from slavery. Moses was enacting the demands by his authority that God gave him
in Midian at the burning bush. Now, Moses is before Pharaoh and to convince him
to let the Israelites go, Moses obeys the voice of God and a series of signs
are performed before Pharaoh and his court. Within the interpretation of the
Noahide laws, they are establishing the definition of idolatry. Here, they told
of Moses being a prophet, yet he did miracles in Pharaoh’s court, and believed
he did so by sorcery. Here, I began to recall New Testament scripture of how
Jesus was treated by the Pharisees and I saw a parallel between Moses and Jesus.
The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out a demon from a man by sorcery.
Researching further, my thought was affirmed as I read a similar thought by the
One for Israel group. Why a parallel between Moses and Jesus? Moses is a messiah
type. He is an intercessor, an intermediary between God and the people. In the
Noahide laws one who worships a god that is an intermediary between man and their
god is idolatry. Also, if one believes that their god is more than one, then
that god is an idol. In Christianity, we believe in Jesus as Messiah because of
his birth, miracles, death to defeat Satan, that he is the Son of God, and an
intercessor. Also, most Christians believe in a trinity, the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. The Jews believe that God is One. He cannot be in the form of a
trinity in their view because they see the trinity as three gods. Further, they
believe God is spirit and does not take on a physical form. So, to them the Christian
believe in a trichotomous God is idolatry, and the Christian, whether they be of
any nation including the Messianic Jew would be in violation of the Noahide
Laws.
And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as Jehovah had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Exodus 7: 8-10 ASV
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but [a]by [b]Beelzebub the prince of the demons.
Matthew 12:24 ASV
A Gentile may convert to Judaism if they wish. The
Gentiles are only obligated to obey the Noahide laws but may convert. In doing
so, they will be expected to abide by the Torah law as well, but even in their
conversion the Gentile will not be permitted to observe the celebrations, nor
wear a tallit (prayer shawl), or have a mezuzah on their doorposts. In my
opinion, they are only allowed to get close to God as they are allowed. Also,
in order to understand the Torah, and the Tanakh the Gentiles are to be taught
by a Jewish person, most likely a Rabbi.
The law concerning circumcision is that the Gentile is
not allowed to circumcise their male children because that is an identification
of a Jew. If a Gentile is allowed circumcision, then only the first part of the
foreskin is allowed for removal. Within the Noahide laws exceptions are made
for every law within this code for the Gentile as they see fit.
These articles on the Noahide laws is not to be meant to be against the Jewish people. For we are to bless Israel, the nation and the people, meaning we are to love them as God’s creation just like we love other ethnicities and nations, but there is a portion of the Jewish population that are pushing the Noahide laws upon the world. The expectation is that all the people of the world is to obey the Noahide laws. These laws have been observed before in history, but it was during the time of the Second Temple when Gentiles resided within the nation of Israel. After these years the Jewish people were dispersed to the nations because of the disobedience of the law of God that the land was to rest every seventh year-a sabbath year. The Noahide laws were no longer enforced because the nation of Israel was brought down. It is known in history the Jewish people have been scattered among the nations and only in the last seventy-one years have established another nation (year Israel reestablished is 1948). During these diasporas, the Noahide laws were not spoken because the Jews were residing in foreign countries. Rabbi Schneerson said it is time that the Noahide laws be taught because the time of the messiah is near. A time that will bring peace and wisdom. I believe he is talking about a messianic kingdom. One will come but it will be ruled by Jesus. Any other kingdom will be that of the Antichrist, a time that will eventually bring oppression.
A one world system of government, one universal religion, and finance is coming as scripture says. One will need to keep their eyes open for deceit, and their head in scripture learning so that deception will not creep up on them. This system has been announced in our generations as the New World Order back in my youth. Be watchful, for our current days are of chaos, division, and disorder.
Notes
All scripture given is taken from the American Standard Version, Public Domain Biblegateway.
How do we receive wisdom from God? First, we must make repentance to God-the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob asking him to forgive us of our sins—to remove all the evil deeds we have done in our lives. In Hebrew, this would be teshuvah. We are to establish a relationship with him in righteousness, and to be able to receive anything we desire from him by asking. For sinful men, women, and children will not receive from God when we are living in sin.
After repentance and forgiveness is established in our hearts, we begin by listening to God as we pray, obeying his commandments, and what he tells us to do when he speaks to us. We must hide his word in our hearts, and we do this by serious study, memorization of scripture, and breaking down the passages to understand and find the meaning as it applies to our lives by meditating. If we do not understand what we are reading, then we can ask God to give us the meaning and learn by his Holy Spirit. For he will reveal it to us. So, stop and listen. If it doesn’t come soon, then think about it during the day.
Keep God and his word on your mind. As I read a scripture I may think about it during the day to see what God is going to say to me, or place a thought in my mind that I haven’t thought of before, and be prayerful throughout the day by unceasing prayer. Find moments during the day to pray privately, or voice a whisper as you go along. Apply his word in your heart and you will begin to understand.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
Proverbs 2:1-3 KJV
Ask God for wisdom and understanding. Maintain these gifts by daily scripture readings, daily prayer, and keeping the line of communication open. Listen for his voice, or any other means in which he will speak to you. It may come through an audible voice, a voice that seems like someone is there but not, or he may choose dreams that usually occur in the last portion of the morning, being 0300 am to 0600 am before sunrise.
As you gain wisdom and understanding, you will find that you understand the reverence of God. As you become closer to him in a relationship to him, you will discover you understand him more and his knowledge. For he speaks to us as a father would speak to his children in instruction, and we gain from his experiences, knowledge, and wisdom. As we walk with God in righteousness and holiness we will understand his law, righteousness, and his judgments. We will discover we have discernment and know what is sin and what is not. We will know the path to walk because of our conscience leading us telling us right from wrong.
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
Proverbs 2: 4-7 KJV
So, how do we know when wisdom is present? Discretion will commence and subsist. It will subsist as long as we are walking in righteousness. This discretion will deliver us from evil, and that means listening to his Holy Spirit, the visions he gives us, and instructions from his messengers.
He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
Proverbs 2:8-11 KJV
As we establish a relationship with God and we repent of our sins, we must not look backward any longer. For he forgave us, delivered us, and over time will bring us to maturity through hardships, troubles and trials, that will cause us to grow so that we may open new doors of spiritual opportunity for us with him. Through all of this is how we receive the wisdom of God.
Notes:
All scripture is taken from the King James Version Public Domain Biblegateway.
James G. Owen, Author 