Grace Abounding To The Chief Of Sinners/...

 "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." Rom. 5:20 

One may ask: How much grace do we need?  It is often said by cliche even that we're saved by grace, everybody has heard that but nobody understands what is meant by that fully or comprehensively.   For the grace of God is infinite.  And like God's mercy cannot be measured or limited,  God's grace abounds to the chief of sinners wrote John Bunyan and Paul would say God save me the chief of centers. Often it is the worst kind of sinner that God shows the greatest grace to And the greater the sin the greater the grace or abounded grace abounded all the more. (Romans 5:20).  But it says we're saved by grace and this means grace all the way from first to last, beginning to end, we do not participate in our salvation we're only recipients of it. 

This is called synergistic salvation.   God does everything from beginning to end. He makes believers out of us he kindles faith in us he makes us believers by grace or an act of grace and in fact, faith and itself is a work of grace a gift of God, and the work of God (John 6:29).   Now Paul went through great effort to teach that we receive the grace we received faith like all brethren we don't achieve it we receive it does not work if faith were a work then salvation would be by works this is what the Catholics believe that faith is a work and not a gift they deny it's a gift.

 For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself it is the gift of God, not works and so forth in this verse we see that that is the antecedent of faith so it's referring to faith as not the is the gift and faith is not of ourselves Jesus himself said you can do nothing of yourself nothing apart from me (John 15:5).   Peter said that we receive a like faith  (2 Peter 1:1).  We are not saved by works of righteous which we have done. (Titus 3:5).  In a faith world, work that would be a reason or crown for boasting in God's presence would say while I was smart enough or wise enough or good enough to have faith no one will get with this for this faith is a gift it's what we do with our faith that matters not our faith itself. 

Faith is not salvation it's the object that saves Christ. We do not put faith in faith we put faith in Christ it's the object of the faith that matters not the amount of faith we can have faith as a grain of mustard seed and it will be sufficient to move mountains.  Now Romanists will tell you that faith is merely acquiescence or an assent or consent to the doctrine of the dogma of the church. Not true, faith is active faith is living faith is growing and faith is commitment and dedication and renewal.   We must first have the correct body of knowledge to have faith but must believe the right things secondly we must have trust in that knowledge that it is correct, thirdly, we must commit our dedicated ourselves to that knowledge and live it out and this is not just a one-time event but it continue all ongoing resolution day by day. 

So living faith means you are growing in it is alive is going somewhere is not stagnant or static. The whole gist of Reformed theology is that we are saved by the Lord not by ourselves (monergism) as Jonah said "Salvation is of the Lord."   What this means is that it is not a joint effort between us and God or synergism. Is not our efforts alone that bring salvation either no one can do much for salvation even though mankind is addicted to doing something for his salvation. But Salvation is wholly a work of God and his grace and we contribute nothing we receive it by grace as a gift to do anything for it would be to insult God in a mustache to the Mona Lisa it's an insult to add something to a perfect masterpiece such as salvation our salvation work of God. 

You know if God required some work for salvation a lot of people would celebrate because they think they could do it but you know the work would be impossible if it were possible and no one could achieve it in fact only Christ did and he lived the perfect life he's the only one that did it he obeyed the law completely. But if people are just like an argument had to do something then feel secure because they wanna put their confidence in their own works. 

But to put our confidence in our faith in God requires a belief of faith and trust and dedication to God not ourselves not our self-esteem but our God-esteem. We have to give God the credit, not ourselves credit in other words if God did make some work available to due for our salvation you know we would blow it because we are only human we would mess up our own salvation it's a good thing we receive it by faith we do not achieve it. 

It is not something we conjure up or imagine or conceive, it is something that is kindled in our hearts as they become alive by the spirit of God and open the eyes of faith within us? You see what matters in the final analysis is what we think of God not what we think of ourselves our estimation or appraisal of our self matters that we are worthless and can do nothing for our salvation this is nothing but music to God's ears when we realize that we are helpless I need God to have mercy on us. We must file for spiritual bankruptcy in other words and realize that we are at God's hands in our salvation our destiny is in his hands not ours he controls our future.

Sin Wants To Destroy You....

 ".. that they should repent, turn to God and do works befitting repentance." (Acts 26:20). 

"Testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21). 

"Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance." (Matt. 3:8). 

"He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." (Prov. 28:13). 

"Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin." (Ezek.18:30). 

God had warned Cain: "Sin wants to destroy you but don't let it!" (Gen. 4:7). God always precedes judgment with a warning.  There might come a time when we seek repentance with tears and it is hard to come by as in the case of Esau. We must heed the warning and take it seriously and know there is a time to repent! Today is the day of salvation!  Also, we can never look upon repentance as a finished work but should as an ongoing, continuing solution.  Just like we "keep" the faith, we "renew" our repentance.  We cannot ever say that we "had" faith if we do not "keep" the faith!  Likewise, we are not just "filled with the Spirit" once but continually!  God gives us a regular time to reflect on our sins when we partake of the Lord's Supper and we should take it seriously and not tolerate our pet sins.  Paul urges us to "examine ourselves" as a form of assurance of our salvation. 

We must realize that sin is spitting in God's face, offending his holiness, insulting his person, rejecting his truth, contradicting his truth, repudiating his justice, resisting his grace, nullifying his grace, contradicting his wisdom, and outright rebellion against His authority.  We need to "listen up" when God speaks to our hearts lest we turn a deaf ear to his voice and become spiritually hard of hearing.  We cannot excuse ourselves or rationalize our sins to justify ourselves.  This is a time as Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." If we do not know ourselves, how can we know God!  Also as the Greeks said, "Know thyself!"  

We cannot alter the truth of God to make ourselves look better or to blame others for our problems or sins.  We are all culpable and accountable to God and shall give an account of ourselves at the Judgment Seat of Christ for how we lived according to the grace given us. We must not water down the gospel message or dumb down it either to exclude the call to repent!  There will come a time when we violate even doing something when we know better and our own conscience judges us.  God is patient with us not willing any should perish and this means our salvation!  If we got what we deserved, we would be in hell! 

Now, Paul had a unique view of weakness: he would boast of his weakness so that the power of Christ would rest on him.  God's power is made perfect through our weakness.  The more we acknowledge our weakness and the more we depend upon the grace of God, the more glory we bring to God. Weakness to God is letting him get things done through us and depending upon him to use us.  Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to him. The problem is that most people will not admit their weaknesses and give a sham they are strong or masquerade as mighty in the faith when it is weak.  We need to be strong in faith not in self-confidence. We don't need self-esteem as much as God-esteem. It is also not how big our faith is, but how big our God is. Obedience must be viewed as the measure of faith: "By faith Abraham obeyed..." 

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith as God said, "Look unto Me and be saved...." Our focus is on him when we admit our weakness and need for him but many people are so self-confident and think they are so righteous they see no need for God.  Remember how Peter began to sink in the water when he got his eyes off Jesus? Well, we must focus on our Lord and give him authority over our lives and see things from his perspective. 

Now, I have mentioned but not defined or expounded on repentance itself. First, is it granted by grace when we believe (they go together as in believing repentance and penitent faith) according to Acts 20:21. They are linked just as works of repentance must follow to prove its genuineness. (Acts 26:20).  It is a complete and radical change of mind, will, and emotions toward our sin; not just a change of heart of opinion.  We must renounce our sins and begin a new life with Christ at the helm. We must turn from our sin and towards a walk with God. It is the missing ingredient to our faith because most preachers shy away from preaching on this topic.  It is more than just feeling sorry but actual control and change of direction.

We must become radicalized for God!   We must see the seriousness of our sin: rebellion, independence, faithlessness, lovelessness, and irresponsibility. We do a complete turnaround, about-face, or a 180 and this is more than a New Year's resolution, AA pledge, or turning over a  new leaf!  There can be no genuine repentance without saving faith! They go hand in hand or they do not save!   That is what Judas lacked though he was sorry for what he had done and betrayed innocent blood!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Listening To The Flesh

 Sin has been your downfall! (Hosea 14:1).  Sin wants to destroy you, but you must not let it! (Gen. 4:7). We all dread committing the sin unto death (1 John 5:16) or letting some sin domineer or dominate and rule over us (Rom. 6:14; Psalm 14:13).  We all have some sin to keep us humble as a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:9) and easily besets us (Heb. 12:1-2).  Some of us even fear some unforgiveable sin (Matt. 12:32) or doing some egregious or heinous sin that we cannot forgive ourselves for. All sin is avoidable if we are filled with the Spirit and is a violation of our own conscience as well as God's perfect Law and plumb line of the Word of God and even falls short of the conduct of Jesus, our Exemplar. If we refuse to repent, "Beware you sin will find you out!" Numbers 32:23. 

I know sin is a killjoy word and is avoided in the pulpit; it's a thankless job to call people to repentance especially when you do not know of what. Nevertheless, we must call a spade a spade and not invent pretty names for it. For instance, if you take the label of the essence of peppermint and apply it to cyanide, you do not avoid a possible poisoning.  People do this by calling sin a mistake, error, flaw, weakness, shortcoming, or peccadillo.  Sin must be seen as our birthright and the virus inherited from Adam as we are born in solidarity with him and we sin because we are born sinners as Adam's legacy.  Sin is our Declaration of Independence from God!   So, the question on the pulpit:  Whatever became of sin?  

Many will admit no one is perfect or to err is human but deny they are sinners!  Sin is defined  many ways: whatever Jesus would not do; anything irresponsible, autonomous, rebellious, unbelieving, unloving, or disobedient to God, either in commission or omission.  The Book of Common Prayer says sin is any want of conformity to or transgression of the Law of God.  Any thought, word, act, feeling, desire, or reaction contrary to what God would or would not do.  In hamartiology, we say that sin is by definition, "missing the mark." It has been called "the refusal of the love of God."   

We fall short of God's glorious ideals and standards of conduct.  Confession means saying the same thing as and agreeing with God about what we did with no attempt at coverup or blaming others, but taking full responsibility for our sins. We then renounce and denounce our sins and ask for forgiveness because of the blood of Christ and Jesus making intercession for us. 

It is the Law that convicts and shows us we cannot keep it and brings us to repentance: "Indeed it is the straightedge of the Law that shows us what sinners we are." Romans 3:20  By the Law is the knowledge of sin; the Law was not given to save us but to measure us!  We must realize that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."  And as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Prov. 23:7.  

Jesus changed the concept of sin by internalizing it; i.e., making sins of the heart (as Jesus condemned in Mark 7; Matt 15) just as serious and sometimes more so than just doing the action. Ovid said, "I know the better things and I approve them, but I follow the worst." Pierre in War and Peace by Tolstoy said, "Why is it that I know what is right and do what is wrong?" Even Paul in Romans 7 admitted he struggled still with sin. 

There are degrees of sin and of punishment for them. There are no mortal sins that remove us from our state of grace in salvation, and there are no venial sins in the sense that they are not serious or harmless. All sins can condemn a person; if you break one part of the Law, you are guilty of breaking all of it. Actually, we should not limit grace because where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. (Romans 5:20).  We are all sinners and should not compare ourselves; God doesn't grade on a curve!  

Sin is universal and no one can claim to be sin-free or have reached some point of maturity without any sin (Prov. 20:9; 1 John 1:8,10).  But we all have feet of clay with flaws not readily apparent and we should pray for a lively sense of sin because that leads to less sin!  The more mature we are, the more  we see our sin and we must see how bad we are to be saved! and we don't know how bad we are till we try to be good! What a catch-22!  Soli Deo Gloria! 

What Is The Main Point Of Christianity?

 The answer to this question is not so obvious and may seen contraindicative. The average Joe would think that the purpose of Christianity is to live by the Golden Rule or to love one's neighbor or be a good Samaritan or in some way just be a good person. Yes, God is love and he who loves another fulfills the Law of Christ who told us to love each other as He loved us.

But the point is that people of all faiths think they are "good," and that the purpose of all religions is to be good. Yes, if that is all you choose or want or aspire to be is good (in whose eyes though?) then ANY religion will do. There are good Jews, Mormons, JWs, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, and you could even argue for good Secular Humanists or even in some cases, good atheists, which only proves you don't need religion to be good. This sense of good and evil comes from God who gave everyone a moral compass or conscience to judge right and wrong and holds us accountable.

Don't people realize that our righteousness and good deeds are as filthy rags in God's sight and count for nothing by way of salvation? When we say we are good, we contradict the Lord who said only God is good--we are then evil in comparison because God doesn't grade on a curve; however, people play, "Let's compare," and don't realize God is the standard, not our neighbor; in comparison to Adolf Hitler, I am a saint! People all commend themselves!

But God has leveled the playing field and labeled, reckoned, and judged us all sinners who fall short of God's glorious ideal and measure of perfection. Paul called himself the "chief of sinners" yet he is numbered among the saints!

Jesus made an important point to Peter when He asked the disciples: "Who do men say that I AM?" This is what Christ was trying to point out! Jesus also said, "Unless you believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins..." John 8:24 Jesus is God in the flesh! This means that we must correctly understand who Jesus is.

We must realize Christ as our Lord and Savior not just some moral guide, Exemplar, martyr for a noble or good cause, victim of an evil society, but as one who voluntarily laid down His divine life and even chose the moment to expire for us.

The whole point of Christianity is to know God and Jesus His Son. This is eternal life in essence and consists of a vital, growing, living, saving faith and relationship with the triune Godhead. John's Prologue says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us! John 1:14 Yes, this is the point we must grasp to be saved. The point then is as the question goes, Do you know God? Not are you a good person. Jesus didn't come to make bad people good but to make dead people live!

All religions teach us to be good and people even know that much by their own conscience. Don’t forget true faith expresses itself and has fruit for we are to be a redeemed people zealous of good works, thus validating our faith in the eyes of men. Soli Deo Gloria!

An Impossible Debt

 To get saved, we need to be forgiven of an impossible debt to God that only He can pay (Christ's sacrifice, being God, was perfect and infinite value); we must declare spiritual bankruptcy in God's court.  We do not have a chance to meet God's demands and it's good that Jesus paid it in full by declaring: "It is finished [Tetelestai]." Which in interpretation, means and implies "Paid in Full." Once you have remitted a bill, you forget it! Same with God, once we are forgiven at salvation, God keeps no record of wrong and doesn't count our sins against us. (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19; Psalm 32:2).  We no longer are debtors to God after our salvation because God no longer can count our sins against us or there would be double jeopardy and God is just and cannot allow His justice to  be perverted. 

We owe an outstanding debt to God and man to love and this the summation of our ethic: loving God and our neighbor. We even owe a moral debt or obligation to society in general!  We forgive others then as Christ has forgiven us! We return the favor and be examples of forgiveness without any malice or vengeance for trespasses against us. Our forgiveness is not conditional because that would not be grace. 

Just like Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer that we should forgive others their debts or sins as God forgives us. This is not legalism or adding to the grace of God: Jesus plus this or that. The statement is highly troubling and some think that if they haven't forgiven someone, they are lost.  But we want to forgive out of gratitude and the operative word is "as" meaning we will do it. That is not the same as saying "if we forgive others."  All our sins are forgiven upon salvation and we need only confess them to regain fellowship, not salvation.  The woman forgiven of adultery loved Jesus so much that Jesus was prompted to say that he who is forgiven much, loves much!  

God's grace is not only necessary for  salvation, but sufficient. We forgive others out of love and a change of heart  because God has transformed us from the inside out to be new creatures in Christ eager to do good and love others. Whenever we partake of the Lord's Supper, we are to examine ourselves to see if anyone holds something against us or we have sinned against a brother, even offending them or making them to fall. 

God's mercy means that God doesn't treat us as we deserve and punish us, and His grace means He give us what we do not deserve as a blessing. We must never come to God seeking "justice," for if we got that, we would certainly be condemned. Some wish God were only "fair" to them and don't realize that would not be living by grace and we would forfeit the grace of God. If we deserved salvation, it would be justice, not mercy. The cost of unforgiveness is damnation!  It does cost to be saved, but more not to be!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Do You Sin Against God?

 

1. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (cf. Romans 3:23).
2. “For there is no one who does not sin.” (cf. 1 Kings 8:46)
3. “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin,” (cf. Psalm 51:2).
4. “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.”(cf. Eccl 7:20).
5. “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure? I am clean and without sin.’” (cf. Prov, 20:9).
6. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (cf. 1 John 1:8).
7. “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and the word is not in us,”(cf. 1 John 1:10).

Christians even sin but they are forgiven. God doesn’t call us sinners but saints. Gal. 2:17 calls us justified sinners. God doesn’t make us just but declares us so, but we are a work in progress as God continues to work in us (cf. Phi. 1:6).

I sin because I have an old sin nature inherited from Adam. We are all sinners by nature, by choice, and by birth, this is called being “in Adam.” We have inherited the sin virus from Adam. Thus everyone is in solidarity with Adam until they are saved and then possess power over sin and are not its slave it servant anymore. In sum, Christians are effectively dead to sin and liberated from its power (cf Romans 6:14) and God doesn’t hold our sins against us (cf. Psalm 32:2); we need not have any sin have dominion over us (cf. Psalm 119:133; Romans 6:14).

What Is Sin? ...

“Any want of conformity to or lack of obedience to and transgression of the Law of God is sin; anything that is against the nature of God and offends God’s holiness. It’s utter rebellion against and rejection of God’s authority.

We need not know God’s Law to be sinners, transgressors, lawbreakers, unjust, or disobedient. The Bible says, “Sin is lawlessness.” There can be no lawlessness without Law, nor injustice without justice or a Judge (for Abraham knew: “shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”), nor iniquity, which is another name for evil which Satan had and tempted Adam with, nor can there be disobedience without obedience [(to some commandment) which was the test for Adam; we are all born “in Adam” and in solidarity with him. Since God told Cain that sin wanted to destroy him (cf. Gen. 4:7), we know that sin existed before the Law was given to Moses but not reckoned or imputed. The fact people died just proves sin as its wages. (cf Rom. 6:23).

“The Law came through Moses and grace and truth through Jesus Christ,” (cf. John 1:17). Even Abraham knew about righteousness and obeyed the Law (e.g., giving sacrifices, tithing, adultery, marriage, lying) and it has always been written in the hearts of men (cf. Romans 2:14–15) with a moral compass or conscience. There had been an oral tradition from Adam. They were all culpable for their sins, iniquity, lawlessness, and injustice.

We are all sinners and born in utter disregard for God’s Law. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, (cf. Romans 3:23). “There is not a just man on earth who does what is right and does not sin,” (cf. Eccl. 7:20; cf. 1 Kgs 8:46). It isn’t just sinners and the lost who utterly disregard God’s Law, even believers are capable of it. Christians are justified sinners, but still sinners (cf. Gal. 2:17). God declares us just but doesn't make us just.

But in times before Jesus, God overlooked man’s ignorance though he was a sinner now commands all men everywhere to repent (cf. Acts 17:30). Even Christians need to repent and live of life of repentance. But the point is that we all are in sin and sin by birth, by nature, and by choice; we are not sinners because we have sinned, but we sin because we are sinners—it’s our nature as fallen creatures.

The unsaved cannot not sin; they are incapable of not sinning or doing good, (“There is none that doeth good, no not one,” —cf. Romans 3:10,13). Note: Only the believer can have victory and power over sin.

How Do I Believe I'm A Sinner? ...

 You are a sinner because you fall short of God’s standard and ideal for a man or woman set by Jesus’ perfect life; i.e, you fall short of His glory: You are born in sin, sin by nature, and sin by your own choice. Sin is anything you do against the nature of God that offends God: autonomy, unbelief, rebellion, irresponsibility. Going your own way and doing your own thing! (cf. Isaiah 53:6). You have not only done that which ought not to be done but have not done things you should’ve done. Any thought, word, deed, desire, or omission contrary to God is sin. It’s any want of or transgression of God’s perfect Law. Sin is literally “missing the mark,” or the goal.

But also, it’s in the heart where the seat of your thoughts arises and can have sins of omission as well as of commission (“For as a man thinks in his heart so is he.” “For out of the abundance of the heart flow evil thoughts….”)This means we sin by what we think and not just what we do. We look on women or men with lust and commit adultery in our hearts.

God doesn't justify the sin but the sinner: Even believers sin but they are justified (cf, Gal. 2:17) and God doesn’t count sins against them (cf 2 Cor 5:19). Jesus intercedes for us when we sin (cf. Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1–2) and sympathizes about our weaknesses. We are still sinners, but justified ones and called saints, not sinners by God.

Sin is a virus that we inherited from Adam and we are in solidarity with him and have declared our independence from God in so doing. We are born the slaves of sin and cannot do anything but sin unless we are saved. But we are not made righteous but declared righteous or just. that’s why Christians still sin.

God has not already forgiven you unless you repent and believe in His Son. He is under no obligation to forgive you or it would be justice. But He forgives by mercy because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. That is how much He loves you because His Son died for you. You believe by grace, you don’t conjure it up or do it on your own power, it’s the gift of God and He opens your heart and changes your heart from the inside out. It is by the power of God that you believe and repent, through grace as a work of God in your heart. He can turn your heart of stone into one of flesh.

It is God's job to convict you of sin (cf. John 16:8–13) and He says all have sinned and there is one righteous. That you are a sinner is an open and shut case. No one is perfect or good but God alone. the closer you bet to God, the more you realize and are convicted of your sins; you become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If you deny sin, read the Bible and realize the high bar that God sets and you will be enlightened to your sins. Satan accuses you, but God convicts you. There should be no doubt about it and you will feel guilt and shame and realize you are addicted to the power of sin and its slave.

You have forfeited your freedom by sin and can't quit by your own power. You are not a sinner because of some sin or that you happened to sin, but sin because you are a born sinner and it’s your nature. Just like you dont’ realize how much you're addicted to cigarettes until you try to quit, you must try to be good to realize how bad you are and that you cannot be good. But you must realize how bad you are to be good or to be saved. You will still sin but you will not want to and will have a penitent faith or believing repentance.

As far as believing it, you must read the Bible, hear the preaching of the Word, and confess your sins to God to have a lively sense of sin and forgiveness. The more awareness, the less sin. God convicts you by the Holy Spirit and that’s why He’s called that. I cannot convince you but God can by the ministry of the Spirit in your heart.  Soli Deo Gloria! 

First, Examine Your Sin...

 

SEEING OUR OWN SINFULNESS

"The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8, NIV).
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9, NIV).
"... But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it" (Gen. 4:7, HCSB)
"It is no use giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them." --John Stott
"In Adam's fall/ We sinned all" (The New England Primer, 1727).

We all are born "in Adam" (as opposed to becoming "in Christ" upon salvation) or with "original sin" (the result of the first sin) inherited from Adam, by virtue of his being the representative head of our race and acting on our behalf when he disobeyed God. When Adam ate of the so-called "proverbial apple" it was the prototype or model sin: "He spurned God's grace; contradicted His truth; rejected His authority; disputed His wisdom; repudiated His justice, and resisted His grace" (Author unknown).

Sin is our birthright and a virus we all have inherited. It has been defined by the Westminster divines as "any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God." By the way, it's "any thought, word, action, omission, or desire contrary to the Law of God" (Charlie Riggs of the BGEA) i.e., anything contrary to the nature of God--our Declaration of Independence from God--it's such a killjoy word for preachers but cannot be ignored without peril. It's our birthright and a virus we inherit. We must be against it!

We must see our sinfulness to be saved and come to repentance. The law was given to make us see our sin ("for by the law is the knowledge of sin," cf. Rom. 3:20). It was never given to save us but to show us we need salvation. We don't know how bad we are, till we attempt to become good, and we cannot become good without knowing how bad we are--the solution to this catch-22 is knowing Jesus as our Savior. This so-called doctrine of total depravity or more realistically, radical corruption. means our whole being--heart or emotions, mind or intellect, and will or volition--are corrupt and unable to please God--we're not utterly depraved or as bad as we can be, but as bad off as we can be!

Even our reasoning powers and conscience are corrupt--spoiled by sin (cf. Titus 1:15). We are stubborn, rebellious people whom God has to conform to do His will like a Potter working on clay. G. K. Chesterton said tongue-in-cheek that this is the only doctrine "that can be proved." "... [B]ut men loved darkness rather than light" (cf. John 3:19).

Our sinfulness becomes even more apparent to us as we get closer to God--the closer our walk, the more consciousness of sin. Peter exclaimed, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man" (cf. Luke 5:8). Samuel Rutherford said to pray for a hearty sense of sin, because "the greater sense of sin, the less sin." The point of being bad is not that we are too bad to be saved, but never good enough to be saved--Isaiah 64:6 says "Our righteousness is as filthy rags."

In fact, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (cf. Rom. 5:20). Let's not play the "let's compare game!" It doesn't matter that we may be better than our neighbor--we all look like saints compared to Saddam Hussein, because God doesn't grade on a curve--we're all in the same boat of falling short of God's glorious ideal per Rom. 3:23.

This solidarity in Adam means we have a legacy of sin as our inheritance and we cannot escape our birthright. We were born in sin, not born free! Our wills were in bondage too, not free till we were freed in Christ upon salvation (cf. John 8:36)! We cannot even save ourselves and don't even meet our own standards of good, as Ovid said, "I see better things and I approve them, but I follow the worst." But the whole point is that the greater we are forgiven, the greater our love, as William Jay of Bath said, "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior."

In Adam's fall, we all ceased to be good, though not ceasing to be human. We all have a dark side or are like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--we all have feet of clay or a vulnerable side no one sees. The world thinks a man is basically good, but he is inherently evil and cannot please God--all he can do is sin. People think this means we are as bad as we can be, but we are as bad off as we can be. We are not as corrupt as possible, for God restrains sin, but our whole nature is corrupt.--total depravity, not utter depravity. Why? God can turn the wrath of man to praise Him (cf. Psalm 76:10). We see goodness in light of evil and evil brings opportunity for good. The good news is that no one is too bad to be saved, but grace abounds to the chief of sinners, as John Bunyan wrote (cf. Rom. 5:20).

Sin has been our downfall and we must be reminded of our old sin nature or it will dominate. "Sin wants to destroy you, but we must not let it" (cf. Gen. 4:7, CEV). We need to renounce sin in ourselves and turn from it first to have discernment. "The absurd," according to Albert Camus, "is sin without God"--we must become aware of sin to repent of it; that's why knowledge and admission of sin is the missing ingredient (Whatever Became of Sin? by Karl Menninger, MD).

We are all guilty of rebellion, independent attitudes, lawlessness, godlessness, injustice, unbelief, iniquity, and all manner of transgression and unrighteousness--these are all evil violations of God's person and nature. D. James Kennedy says the law was given to show us we don't keep it, the "law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul" (cf. Psalm 19:7). The Law doesn't convert us or save us, it measures and convicts us!

In the final analysis, we all must exclaim to God as Paul did, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Cf. Rom. 7:24). He answers his own question: "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Cf. Rom. 7:25). The higher law Christians adhere to is the law of love, which is done willingly and gratefully. Soli Deo Gloria!

What About Sinning After Salvation? ...

 

1. No man can live without sin; “For there is no man that sinneth not,” (cf. Prov. 1 Kings 8:46). “There is not a just man on earth, who doeth good and sinneth not,” (cf. Eccl 7:20). “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, and I am pure from my sin?” (cf. Prov. 20:9). “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” (cf. Romans 3:23). This is known as the universality of sin.
2. Jesus is able to save us to the “uttermost” since He ever lives to make intercession for us (cf. Heb. 7:25; cf. 1 John 2;2) When we do sin, we have an Advocate to plead our case. If God marked iniquity, no one could be saved (cf. Psalm 130:2).
3. All our sins are forgiven upon salvation, past, present, and future (cf. Psalm 103:3). He throws them into the sea and deletes them: we have no permanent file! (cf. Isaiah 43:25; 44:22; Micah 7:19).
4. We are justified in God’s eyes: not made just but declared just. As God is both just and justifier and we are justified sinners (cf. Gal. 2:17). God doesn’t hold our sins against us, but does still rebuke us when we do sin to learn righteousness: “As many as I love, I chasten, be zealous therefore and repent.” (cf. Rev. 3:19). He disciplines us to learn righteousness (cf. Heb. 12:5–6).
5. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (cf. 1 John 1:9).   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Battle Is The Lord's

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, NIV).  

"The battle is the LORD's," (cf. 2 Chron. 20:15). 

HOW'S THE BATTLE?  We are engaged in great angelic conflict in which we have no chance of coming clean without God's help using the military armor of God.  We sin over and over again to be forgiven over and over again, sometimes for the same old sins (we certainly don't want new ones to worry about). Sin is like the smoking habit:  it enslaves us and alienates us from others.  People don't accept smokers as being "good" or polite company, especially when they light up without permission or even in your face.  Cigarettes can become a god or crutch just like our bellies!

"People are enslaved by whatever defeats them," (cf. 2 Peter 2:19, HCSB). [Smokes!]   Alcohol can be a god but people can become addicted for life as a crutch because they haven't learned to lean on God and trust in Him in times of need, knowing "the central neurosis of man is emptiness"--Carl Gustaf Jung. They need therapy!  NB:  "You belong to the power you choose to obey," (Rom. 6:16, HCSB).  We are bad, but not too bad to be saved!

That's why the first step in recovery is admitting slavery; that you cannot overcome it by yourself and need a "higher power," or a buddy.  It wants to destroy us but we must not let it (cf. Gen. 4:7).   Most men look for some outlet to let off steam, whether in escapism or in fantasies.  They won't admit they "cannot see clearly," or they are clueless.  Drugs seem to offer temporary solutions/fixes but the long-term effects aren't worth it and make one worse off.  We must realize how bad we are to be good, and we don't realize how bad we are till we've tried to be good (a catch-22).

We must realize that our lives our not our own and God has first dibs on our bodies because He owns them.   In God's economy, we must surrender daily; it's not a one-time event done at salvation, but a progressive one never to end.  We are to be continually filled with the Spirit (cf. Eph. 5:18) to live the Christian life, not just have the filling we all received upon salvation as evidence of our initiation into the body of Christ.

When we get saved, we engage in the mop-up effort to defeat Satan, who's already doomed because of Christ's victory at the cross. We cannot do this alone but need the body of Christ and must not become solitary saints thinking we can defeat the enemy on our own. This battle is a joint effort of the body of Christ where everyone has a ministry and mission to complete in God's plan for their lives.   That's where the ministry of the local church comes in to equip the saints.  Hezekiah felt overwhelmed by his enemies and was reassured that the battle is the Lord's (cf. 2 Chron. 20:15)!  God is on our side, He is fighting for us, and He is using us!

The good thing about our so-called slavery to sin is that where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more, as John Bunyan wrote, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, to describe his testimony and his self-estimation.   We must also realize God's grace is not only necessary for us for but we can do nothing without it, but that it's sufficient--we cannot merit it nor add to it nor subtract from it.  Grace means that you don't deserve it!

We don't believe in Jesus and try to be good!  We're a new creation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).   We don't try, we trust because it must be Christ who changes us, not us turning over a new leaf or making a New  Year's resolution, or an AA pledge. God's grace to us is infinite and we cannot exhaust it, He never gives up on us but we can give up on Him!  We are the ultimate works in progress that God isn't finished with yet (cf. Phil. 1:6).

We all have failed the Lord and must realize that we can come clean by confessing our known sins, keeping a short account with God (cf. 1 John 1:9).  Prov. 28:13 says that if we confess and forsake them we shall find mercy and if we hide them we will not prosper!  But if we have unconfessed sin our prayers are hindered and blocked due to us being out of fellowship and in need of restoration or reconciliation (cf. Psa. 66:18; Isa. 59:2). We are to examine ourselves periodically for the sake of fellowship with the body of Christ at least during the Lord's Supper celebration (cf. 1 Cor. 11:28) and we should always examine our hearts to see if it's really Christ living there (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5).

We must be in awe of God's economy because the way to be filled is first to be emptied!  The more readily we confess, the easier filled.  As we get closer to God, the more we see our flaws and shortcomings, especially "laying aside every weight, and the sin which easily besets us" (cf. Heb. 12:1, KJV).  "Love covers a multitude of sins" (cf. 1 Pet. 4:8, HCSB).  NB:  But "the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation."  --Henry David Thoreau

All in all, we must give God some credit for delivering us from ourselves, for we are our own worst enemy.  It's not just you and I, that's the way it is and ought to be--to rely on God--we don't try, we trust!   In summation, the way to change our lives is by full surrender and to have a change of heart, (will, attitude, and understanding of our sins)--renouncing them and coming clean.  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Mystery Of The Proverbial Apple

What actually happened in the Garden of Eden?  There is a pseudepigraphical book, The Life of Adam and Eve, but I am not referencing that.  The first temptation of mankind in the perfect environment shows that we cannot blame our surroundings or call ourselves victims of circumstance.  Even if everything was perfect, we aren't and are vulnerable to sin; we would do the same as Adam and Eve and therefore confirm ourselves in sin to stand in solidarity with Adam, the head of the human race.

God had placed two special trees in the Garden of Eden:  the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam knew not their purposes.  God put one off-limits because Adam may not have been mature enough for it yet and He intended him to learn these things at a specified time or in the fullness of time, or whenever!  But this is merely speculation and we shouldn't second-guess God.

Eve wasn't looking for trouble, she was just curious, probably that a serpent could talk, or maybe she was too naive to think anything unusual. I wonder how much Adam had told her since she added to God's Word says, "And don't touch it."  It was referring to the forbidden fruit, whatever it was, we don't know for sure.  NB:  Temptation is not sinning (Jesus was tempted of the devil too), but when we yield it brings forth the fruit of sin.  Doubt often extends with augmentation or exaggeration and this leads to lies and distortions of truth.  Satan saw her coming and said, "Hath God said?" immediately calling God's Word into question and planting the seeds of doubt in her vulnerable mind (for the devil seeks whom he may devour).

The temptation went like this:  Eve was confused about the Word of God, then doubted it, then believed Satan, then she finally disobeyed God took of the fruit and gave some to her husband who then joined her willingly, for he was with her.

The question is not so much the act itself as the motive: why do it?  God looks on the heart (cf. Prov. 21:2).   Satan gave her incentive in promising,  "You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."  This sounds awfully tempting and alluring to anyone to be a god and today people seek to be gods rather than godly.  But it's the big lie of Satan.  The insinuation was that God was holding out on her!  Was she missing out on something that she deserves to have? Remember, Adam was nearby and failed to inform her and interfere, for he didn't dare cross her and chose to be on her side through thick and thin, even death.

God said that Adam was guilty of "listening to [Eve]."   They weren't choosing good vs. evil, for they were innocent, they were choosing to disobey God and actually, their own wisdom, delights, wills, enjoyment, fulfillment, and purpose apart from God's. They rejected God's plan!  People still do things their own way:  "We all like sheep have gone astray, we have all turned each to our own way" (Isa. 53:6).  We are like the Israelites in Judges who had no king and each did what was right in his own eyes.

This prototype sin that we all have confirmed ourselves in went as follows according to scholars:
Adam rejected God's authority, doubted His goodness, disputed His wisdom, repudiated His justice, contradicted His faithfulness, and spurned His grace. But haven't we all done that too? The point of Adam's sin was that he only had one simple rule to obey to keep in good standing with God and enjoy a life of paradise on earth,  and he couldn't keep that; what does that tell you about man-made rules, religion and our nature?  If he couldn't keep one simple rule, what makes him think he can keep any?

This worldly scandal had eternal implications--it changed the course of human history! They were expelled from paradise--the Garden of Eden for their own good (lest they eat of the tree of life and live forever in sin).  This was mercy.  God is also a God of judgment and must do something about the sin committed as promised ("the day you eat it, you shall die").  There would be no second chance or redo!  But God again in mercy delayed the culmination of death some 930 years, but the process of death began while they commenced to aging and growing old.

All in all, this episode wasn't just a phase they went through, but the suffering had just begun and the earth was now cursed for Adam's sake and Eve's pain in childbearing would begin.  They finally learned the great lesson of life of cause and effect and even though they tried to blame others, they had to admit that it was their own fault and they had failed God. God has been against the blame game ever since (cf, Isa 58:9).   Finally, the whole failure of freedom should be called "Edengate," or perhaps more appropriately:  "Applegate."   Soli Deo Gloria!  

The Man On A Mission Extraordinaire

Jesus came to save sinners and set them free from themselves, God's wrath, their enslavement to Satan, and sin.  His message only has something to say to those who are lost, sick, and unrighteous and see their need for a Physician to heal them.  Sin is a virus that must be healed and we cannot approach God while affected--He must cleanse us or He will have no part of us.  He saves us despite ourselves and our own efforts, for there is no pre-salvation work we can achieve or preparation we can make to qualify for grace--that's why it's grace and not merit-based.  In fact, the only qualification for salvation is to realize our need and bankruptcy in God's tribune.  Jesus is on a rescue mission and meets us in our deepest need--the effects of sin.

Sin is both alienating and enslaving, it estranges and separates us from others and God.  Jesus is the Great Reconciler and has done something about the sin question on the cross by shedding blood.  Yes, He owns us because He purchased us with His very own blood was shed voluntarily on our behalf.  Our greatest need was to be forgiven and made righteous, both accomplished at the cross.  We are forgiven for our sins (what we've done or called being justified) and delivered from what we are (sanctification or from our sin nature).  The cross is a great rescue operation!    "If our greatest problem had been ignorance God would've sent an educator, or if it had been technology, He would've sent a scientist, but our greatest need was the restoration of our relationship with Him" (source unknown). 

That's what salvation is: the healing of our relationship with God and getting back into fellowship with Him, for sin precludes and prevents that.  We were in no position to save ourselves or salvage our souls, in fact, we needed divine intervention to meet our needs and do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves.  Jesus raised the bar on love and sacrifice, giving His all for us and pouring out His compassion on the cross when He was suffering the most--the ultimate sacrifice.

He thought of us to the very end and would rather die than live without us!  His love is unconditional and sacrificial and cost something!  We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving!  In the final analysis, Jesus knew what His mission was--to do the Father's will and be subordinate to it in all things (that was His mission statement or motto of life--to do God's will!), which would bring about the salvation of His sheep, by laying down His life, for whom He shed His blood and poured out His very life.    Soli Deo Gloria!

A Sense Of Oughtness

"Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good"  (Rom. 12:9, NIV).
"Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good"  (Romans 12:21, ESV). 




We are all born with an innate conscience capable of discerning right from wrong and applying abstract laws and rules to specific and concrete situations.  Romans 2:15 says our conscience either excuses or accuses us:  We all know God's law (natural law) but we flaunt it!  Knowing better we still do wrong:  "I know the better things and I approve them, and I follow the worst" (Ovid, Roman poet). Paul said, "...Who will deliver me from the body of this death?"(Rom. 7:24).   "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing"  (Rom. 7:10, ESV).  None of us satisfies or fulfills our own expectations and standards--we all stand self-condemned.  There are as many systems of ethics as there are worldviews, but basically, the Christian one assumes man is not basically good, but inherently evil and needs revelation and salvation from God to be convicted of right and wrong.



There is no such thing as perfectionism, or reaching a state of sinless perfection (cf. Prov. 20:9; Ps. 119:96). We all do things that we should've known better not to do!  The law of Moses was given to convict us and show we cannot meet God's standards of righteousness, not to be a code of conduct to live by and earn salvation by merit.  The requisite for salvation is to realize you cannot save yourself by good behavior and you need a Savior because of your sin, that you have fallen short of God's glory and standard.




Ethics with a capital E is nebulous for those who deny God--they dodge the no-absolute-truth thesis: "The absurd is, sin without God," said Albert Camus.  Dostoevsky said that without God all things are permissible!  Immanuel Kant said that God is necessary for ethics to be possible.  The Nazis justified themselves socially and didn't think we had the right to try them for war crimes, but the allies appealed to "natural law."  In academia, they teach you that ethics is about the good press (spin) and not getting caught!   Social studies and psychology teach you to have good reasons for what you do and to have responsible decision making, as you make your own choices in life.



In antiquity, might made right and there was no universal ethic, and that is why Pilate asked, "What is truth?"  Jesus claimed to be the epitome or embodiment of truth and also the way and the life to live. Postmodernists dodge the ethics issue, by saying there is no absolute truth and it is a nebulous thing to have one standard for everyone, as it evolves with society and situation (ethics).  In other words, ethics are only relative!  Today most students judge the usefulness of an idea, by its consequences or results, not its truth value--is it practical?   Christians are urged to "overcome evil with good," and as the summation of ethics:  "Follow Me [Christ]!" We are held to a higher standard and are the witness of Christ in the world as lights in the darkness and salt to preserve it and add flavor.

Christianity is not a list of dos and don'ts, nor a system of ethics; it's a living relationship of knowing a personal God.  Ethics is the application of right doctrine and living it out by faith as our duty to God and man (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV, which says:  "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.").  The faith you have is the faith you show!  The law is written in all men:  "The work of the law written in their heart, their conscience"  (cf. Romans 2:15).  People try to make up their own voluntary initiatives or codes of conduct to live by, but they are always ones they think they have kept or can.  Christian ethics is based upon the exemplary, unequaled personality of Christ as the one to emulate, and He has no flaws--what a standard!



We all need a moral compass, and Humanists insist that they can have ethics without God, but Humanism is precisely that: Being as good as possible without God--which is a definition of evil. New age people will tell you to listen to the inner voice and to be in touch with yourself, and tolerance is the key, so don't be judgmental; if it feels like the truth to you, it is!  the codes of conduct range from the Golden Rule (cf. Matt. 7:12), to the Brazen Rule of reciprocity or tit for tat, to the Silver Rule of not treating others the way you don't want to be treated--a negative Golden Rule, to the Iron Rule of treating others as a bully, where might makes right, and the survival of the fittest or social Darwinism is the rule.  Most nonbelievers design their own ethics and don't adhere to an absolute standard of morality.  Something they can comply with to their standards.



In the final analysis, the only true morality or ethics is when the motive, as well as the end result or goal, is pure and good: the means to the ends must be right, because the means do not justify the ends; and utilitarianism, or the greatest good for the greatest number, is another evil that has justified the murder of millions in communist countries.  The premise that secular worldviews have is that man is basically good and can redeem himself, or lift himself up by his own bootstraps.  Soli Deo Gloria!

We Have A Dark Side

Mark Twain is quoted by Charles R. Swindoll as saying that we are all like a moon that has a dark side no one sees. This is true. We all have "feet of clay" and are vulnerable to sin because of our very nature. We cannot clean up our act before we can come to Jesus; we must come as we are, but we cannot stay that way.

We must see how bad we are before we can become good. It's not how bad we are, but how bad off we are. It is like the distance of a deaf man to a symphony or a blind man to the Mona Lisa. We cannot bridge the gap. Jesus sees through the veneer and we cannot fool him.

Humanists think mankind is basically good, but we an inherently bad. You must realize that we are not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners. It is our constituted nature to sin. We can deal with sins in the plural, but our problem is sin in the singular--our old sin nature inherited from Adam. This is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man.

The totality of our nature is permeated with sin and our image of God is marred and defaced morally. "No one knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good," says C. S. Lewis as in a catch-22. The paradox is that we must see our bankruptcy--the truly bad person thinks he is all right! And Lewis adds, "We must realize how bad we are before we can be good." The way up, by paradox, is down.

We are sinful in toto and in solidarity with Adam completely. Someone has said, "We cannot escape our birthright." We cannot ingratiate ourselves with God, because we "have feet of clay." That means we have hidden vulnerabilities. We are permeated with sin through and through--there is no vestige of righteousness.

R. C. Sproul writes of a man who never lost his faith in the basic goodness of man despite being held captive in Iraq--this is sheer ignorance! Compared to Saddam Hussein the run-of-the-mill sinner looks like a saint; however, he is just as bad off from God's viewpoint and they both must come to Jesus the same way in childlike repentance and faith. Soli Deo Gloria!

Prone To Wander

"Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, Your sins have been your downfall! ... 'I will heal their waywardness [backsliding] and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them" (Hosea 14:1,4, NIV). 
"Backsliders get what they deserve..." (Prov. 14:14, NLT).  
"Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself..." (Isa. 45:15, NIV).  
"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night...[?]'" (Job 35:10, NIV).
"... God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart" (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV).  

Robert Robinson wrote the famous hymn  "Come Thou Fount" to show his struggle with the faith and how God got him through the hard times. Everyone is subject to backsliding, depression, and wandering from the faith because this is the natural inclination of our sin nature.  Robinson was indeed a man of struggles and hardship and suffered melancholy, known today as depression.  In fact, in his later years, he would've given anything to feel like he did at twenty-two writing that hymn.  It would seem it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The feelings come and go like a yo-yo and a weather-vane in a storm, but our faith must endure.  We must learn Reality 101 that we also must not depend upon feelings as a measure of our faith, but obedience.  Sooner or later, we must face the reality of the test of our faith.

We may wonder about the whereabouts of God as Job did ("If only I knew where to find him..." in Job 23:3, NIV) and if He is meeting His end of the deal and if we do really have faith after all.  The fact is, is that the same trials make some bitter, and some better.  We ought to rejoice in our sufferings (cf. Rom. 5:3) and that we are considered worthy to suffer for His name's sake.  There may be times when there seems no hope like Job experienced, or one may be at the end of one's rope and their hope has perished like Jeremiah's.  But we must learn to acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of the storm and if He got us to it, He'll get us through it!  We don't have to wonder where God is, but where our faith is!  God can calm all the storms of life and every stormy relationship or stressful event.  We hang in there like Job in Job 14:14, NIV:  "...All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come."

We must feel the pain to be able to relate and to and comfort others in their afflictions (cf. 2 Cor. 1:10)!  That's one reason Jesus felt our pains and was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief"--to identify with us.  Even believers may wonder periodically if God is really there, and if He is aware of our situation.  But no problem is too trivial or too big for our God to be able to take care of.  But note that God didn't explain Himself to Job and doesn't need to explain Himself to us--He's too profound!  We all have a cross to bear, a crucible that comes with the territory--no cross means no crown!  It is adversity that builds character and if we had no problems our faith could never be tested--and it's more precious than silver and gold.  So, when your storm comes, learn to seek God and His presence and the comfort of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Jesus isn't asking anything of us He didn't go through Himself (He didn't exempt Himself from predicaments, adversities, and exigencies) but He was honest enough to warn us to count the cost.  No one gets through life trouble free or without any stress or trials; we need it to grow by them though.  We must not question where God is, but ask ourselves:  Where isn't God?  And we must celebrate the fact that the battle is the Lord's, and we are fighting from victory, not for victory.  This is where we find out if we have the right stuff to be disciples and what we are made of.  We cannot skate through life problem-free!  Let's echo Alfred, Lord Tennyson's words:  "I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar."   In the meantime, we are to go over to the other side with Jesus at the helm and simply live a life following Him in obedience to prove our faith and love. 

Note that God is not playing cosmic hide-and-seek and He is not MIA or missing-in-action!  Next time, don't wonder about God, but where you are!  The late Francis Schaeffer said, "He is there and He is not silent."    St. Augustine of Hippo said, "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you."  Pascal, in the same vein, talked of a "God-shaped blank" or vacuum only God can fill!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Trouble In Paradise

Paradise (as it's called in the Septuagint)  means "pleasure," and the word is from the Persian for Eden. There is lots of trouble in Hawaii, also called Paradise, but this was indeed a perfect environment with no pitfalls, drawbacks, or downside. Everything a man could want was there--even the perfect job--horticulture at the time the first profession.  Even his marriage was made in heaven and Eve was designed to be a perfect helpmate and partner.

But things didn't go as planned, even as it seemed God had planned.  Adam was meant to live forever and to eat of the tree of life, but he ate of the wrong tree, the one that was off-limits. Why he hadn't yet eaten of the tree of life is a mystery.  Evil and trouble had already made their debut in heaven as Satan was kicked out and cast down to earth for his sin of pride and rebellion with his legions of demons or minions.  God had made one simple test to see whether Adam would want to obey Him or Satan.  Adam had no inclination to evil, and wasn't prone to disobey--he had the ultimate free will--(he was free to sin and free not to sin; he had both capabilities) and there was nothing internal or external compelling him to sin--he simply chose to, uninfluenced by an outside force. Actually, it seems he took of the forbidden fruit because his wife had and he was on her side!  But by his one simple act of rebellion, the human race was all reckoned to be in sin (called original sin).  Eve had listened to Satan unwittingly and ignorantly, even innocently, but Adam listened to his wife and knew what he was doing in a better light.  He chose willingly to be a partner in crime!

Eve was the one to watch!  She was obviously naive enough not to know that serpents don't have the power of speech and also that she had power and authority over all creatures.  But she was curious enough to talk to a serpent.  Curiosity can lead to sin!  The first act of defiance against God was a prototype sin in manifold ways--we all confirm and verify this sin in ourselves to show we would've done likewise.  We all display solidarity in Adam.  It is said that Adam and Eve spurned God's grace, contradicted His truth, violated His law, rejected His authority, disputed His wisdom, repudiated His justice, and resisted His grace--that just about covers a rebellion against the complete nature of God--the prototype sin.  The proverbial apple or forbidden fruit was the entree into the ways of the world and to find one's own wisdom, discernment, pleasure, truth, and will.

Satan had said that they would be "as gods" (knowing good and evil) and this was a way to be independent of Him--she might have doubted God's goodness or suspected He was holding out on her. Not that this knowledge was necessarily bad, but it wasn't in God's timing for them to know it yet--perhaps later.  It is true that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil gave them cognizance of what evil was--they already had experienced God's goodness but now they questioned it--doubt entered the equation.  Now they knew evil first hand!   Eve also displayed "bad purpose" to know good and evil, legally showing corrupt intention and desiring to be equal with God and independent. 

We also see good in comparison to evil.  Evil is the distortion of good and they knew good but now they knew evil and its consequences--shame and guilt, resulting in embarrassment and sinful self-consciousness.  In other words, good must first exist for there to be evil--it's not independent of the good and couldn't exist on its own without there being a good to pervert or imitate.  We only see evil in light of good.  Now they reasoned they could be good without God and make a name for themselves, I suspect. Adam followed suit and decided to take his chances with his helpmate and partner and partner in crime in partaking of the "forbidden fruit."

But what happened after the fact is the rest of the story.  Adam and Eve displayed "consciousness or cognizance of guilt" (legally showing culpability).  They were indeed responsible for what they had done but they immediately pointed their fingers at someone else and played the old blame game.  This culminated in Operation Fig Leaf, the first religion of good works to try to gain the approbation of God and make oneself righteous and acceptable apart from grace and mercy.  They didn't realize that God only made one simple command or rule, not a suggestion!  It wasn't just good advice!  They couldn't keep one simple rule!

Noteworthy is the fact that they didn't even ask for forgiveness, showing more guilt!  Maybe they felt too guilty to seek forgiveness like Judas, not thinking it was forgivable.   An insult to God's nature of goodness!  They must not have known God very well not to know He is one of grace and mercy; however, God was merciful and delayed his death sentence by nearly 1000 years.  But they had experienced the death of being separated from God's fellowship and communion. But note that they didn't even apologize or say they were sorry!  But they apparently did have a guilt complex though and tried to hide their shame by putting on aprons made of fig leaves, noticing their nakedness made them feel vulnerable and exposed their feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.

And it's a wonder that they had only one simple rule to obey and blew it!  And yet they did it in a perfect environment to prove to us we cannot blame our sin on our upbringing or background. We must trust God's wisdom in knowing what we are capable of knowing for our own good, perhaps God would've revealed the difference between good and evil after Adam and Eve had matured in their evening walks with the Lord.  Sin is universal:  we are born into it, we choose it, and it's our nature known as the old man Adam.  But worst of all is that we all confirm Adam's sin by duplicating its acts in other manifestations and following suit showing solidarity and the universality of sin.  Thank goodness, God made for them coverings of skin to hide their shame and show forgiveness and reconciliation.         Soli Deo Gloria!

Upsetting The Religious Applecart

"Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them.  Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them"   ( Mark 7:15, NIV). 
"You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act..." (Matt. 7:16, NLT).

Jesus was clearly antiestablishment and countercultural and was determined to overturn the tables on the Pharisees' religious turf.  He managed a revolution of topsy-turvy spirituality.  They had no notion of true spirituality, but only of externalism:  circumcision, tithing, offerings, sacrifices, festivals, Sabbath observance, fasting, handwashing, ceremonial duties, and whatever agreed with the outward show of religious piety but having no inward vitality or reality.  Jesus succeeded in internalizing religion and making it a matter of the heart and sin was on the inside that God could see.  The Pharisees were highly jealous of Jesus and protecting their turf was Job One.  Everyone wants job security, but this was too much for Jesus.  They sensed a threat to their authority and teachings, which Jesus referred to as the leaven of the Pharisees.

The people were burdened by 613 additional (248) commands and (365) prohibitions or laws of their legal system that made the Law of Moses a burden too heavy a yoke to carry.  Even the Sabbath with 39 additional activities regarded as "work" was nothing to look forward to anymore nor enjoy as a day of rest and spiritual renewal.  What really got them uptight and ill at ease was His popularity among the common people who heard him gladly and the miracles He was doing were both undeniable, and they had to come up with some explanation.  Jesus repeatedly made them out to be as fools and an embarrassment to their own cause.  Jesus seemed like a hero and authority the way He threw the moneylenders out of the temple.  They had every reason to fear His authority because He spoke like no man, not by authority, as one of the teachers of the law, (cf. Matt. 7:29), but with authority and they could not resist the Spirit by which He spoke nor answered His questions.

Jesus was against religion as they knew it.  The Pharisees were frauds at worship--just going through the motions with lip service and their hearts being far removed.  He saw the Jewish faith as one of knowing God, not of performance or a list of dos and don'ts.  The Pharisees were white on the outside but inside were as sepulchers.  They would strain a gnat and swallow a camel because they were so worried about the minor details of the Law but missed the main points of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  Religion for them was mere show and Jesus despised it.

One thing that He wouldn't tolerate was duplicity and He saw this in the Pharisees they way they didn't practice what they preached. The religious authorities were never the same after Jesus was through with them and He changed the culture by changing people.  He was the light that shown on every man to see.  No one was unchanged nor the same after an encounter with the Lord.  The religious applecart had become an organization, not an organism, or living community of believers.

The major realignment in religion came as Jesus saw through legalism and hypocrisy and instituted undefiled and pure religion as coming from a sincere heart and motive.  Jesus saw through the veneer and facade!  The people needed to be set free from the burden and yoke of the Pharisees and their take on religion, in fact, most people didn't want to emulate them nor were they jealous, though the Pharisees were respected, Jesus saw their veneer and masquerade that they hid behind.

One sad commentary on the Pharisees was their tendency to exalt themselves and of having an air of superiority.  Jesus countered that the way up is down in God's economy and one must humble oneself first to be exalted in God's eyes.  He warned them that one must become as a child to enter the kingdom of God (cf. Mark 10:15; Matt. 18:3).

The normal Christian life was in contradistinction to the one of the Pharisees.  The Pharisees flaunted their faith and Jesus taught that people should not practice their righteousness before people (cf. Matt. 6:1) but keep their religious duties between them and God and to pray in their closet, inner sanctum, comfort zone, or private space.  The Pharisees were the ultimate goody-goodies who were working for God and kept up all appearance of propriety, but they knew not the Lord in reality.  Christ will say unto them that He never knew them at the Judgment.  But we all have feet of clay (flaws not readily apparent) and must repent of the Pharisee in us.  All our works are worth zilch if we don't love the Lord and do His will--"if I have not love, I am nothing."   Soli Deo Gloria!