Tag Archives: sin

Civil War

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CIVIL WAR

“As it is, it is no longer I myself but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Romans 7:17-20.

Spoken like a true Hebrew!

Every year, during Elul, the last month of the Hebrew calendar, prior to the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah) which preceded the most holy day of the year, (Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement), a trumpet was blown daily as a reminder to every Jew to prepare for Yom Kippur. This was the day when God judged and forgave all sin for another year.

Preparation consisted of three things, teshuvah, tephillah and tsidaqah – repentance, prayer and works of righteousness. However, repentance was not about turning away from sin but returning to the person God created them to be. Prayer was not about petitioning God but about turning towards Him and learning to think like Him. Works of righteousness were not about doing things for less fortunate people even though they were undeserving, but about being merciful and generous to others because God had shown mercy to them.

Paul recognised that sin was an invader, illegally occupying the person God had created him to be. This was not as God intended. He had been taken over from conception by a squatter who had no right to be there but whom he had no power to evict. He differentiated between his true self and the sin that ruled his life. He was not making excuses for his behaviour or trying to evade responsibility for his choices, but rather recognising that God was not responsible for what he was because sin was not in His blueprint for man.

God is good (functional) and everything He made, including man, was good (functional), working together in perfect harmony with His nature and with one another. The entire universe was created to be a unit. It would remain that way as long as human beings, who were to rule the earth, chose to live in harmony with God’s will.

When man chose to disobey God and set up his own rules, he and the whole universe became dysfunctional. He has repudiated God’s right to tell him how to live by giving his allegiance to a usurper, and paid the price God had warned him about – death. He was still man, made in God’s image with the potential to be one with God, but now his bent was towards rebellion. There was a foreigner in charge and he was obligated to obey Satan because he had seized control.

Paul recognised that his sinful nature was dysfunctional, incapable of obeying God and doing the right thing. There was civil war in his inner being. He longed to be obedient to his Creator, but he had no power to change his nature which was under the influence of the enemy and driven by enmity towards God.

He was trapped in this inward conflict with no hope of ever getting out of it by his own efforts. The problem was that, legally he in the dock, judged guilty, living in shame and fear and awaiting sentence on the Day of Judgment. By his own sinful life, he proved that he was in cahoots with the usurper and rightfully declared guilty.

What a terrible plight he was in. He knew he was condemned yet, at the same time, he yearned to be free to worship God and follow His ways. He was inside his prison cell peering wistfully through the bars at the beautiful world outside, with no way to get out and enjoy the freedom that should have been his.

What was he to do? He needed someone to step in and rescue him.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Addicted To Righteousness

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ADDICTED TO RIGHTEOUSNESS! 

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Romans 6:15-18.

Another irrational argument! The first one – the more I sin, the more God’s grace is revealed! What a terrible misunderstanding! That one doesn’t hold water because I died with Christ when He died on the cross – symbolised by my baptism. Death set me free from sin to live a new life. It is up to me to live as though I were dead, and risen to a life without the ravages of sin.

The second one – shall I keep on sinning because I am no longer under the law? Since God’s grace has replaced the law, can I going on living any way I please because God’s grace has made provision for my sin and He will keep on forgiving me? Another terrible misunderstanding! To continue to live in sin isn’t just about doing what I like when I like; it’s about being the slave of the one I serve.

When I serve sin, I am enslaved by it; my old selfish nature dictates what I do and, unfortunately, the consequences are part of the deal. Death! Sin is like a habit-forming drug. The more I sin, the more I want to sin, and the less able I am to resist gratifying the demands of my sinful nature. The more I fulfil my own lusts, the less appetite I have to love and obey God. My appetite is formed by whatever I eat.

Have you ever seen a child who feeds on junk food have an appetite for vegetables! Of course not. His appetite is developed by what he eats. The same applies in the spiritual realm. If I continually feed my spirit on “junk food”, activities that gratify my selfish and fleshly appetites, I will lose my appetite for God.

God’s grace has freed me from slavery to sin. I am no longer under obligation to do what my old master demands because I have died to it and am alive to my new Master, Jesus Christ. He has provided forgiveness for living to please myself; He broke the power my old nature had over me and set me back on the path that leads to wholeness and eternal life.

“But,” you ask, “what’s all the fuss about sinning or not sinning anyway? Why can’t I keep living as I like because Jesus has provided forgiveness, and I will go to heaven when I die?” You don’t understand. God created man in His own image to resemble Him in His character and to be one with Him, in harmony with what He thinks and what He desires. It was in that state of perfection that man was fully human.

The moment the first pair broke their union with the Father through disobedience, they lost their connection with their source of life; they died spiritually, and began to die physically. What killed them? Sin. Sin dehumanised them. They were no longer fully human. We think that being human is being subject to weakness. “After all,” we argue, “I’m only human.” No, you are human only when you have been restored to fellowship with God and are being renewed in knowledge after the image of your Creator.

God cannot die because He cannot sin. The grave could not hold Jesus because He was God’s sinless lamb. God sacrificed His sinless Son not only to provide forgiveness but to restore our union with Him so that we can become fully human again. Why would we want to keep on sinning when sin will kill us all over again?

Instead of seeing God’s forgiveness as something that deprives us of the “pleasures” of sin, we need to view it as a lifeline that rescues us from the jaws of death and an open door to the true pleasures of living in His presence and being made fully human again. As we eat the bread of His Word instead of the junk food of sinful indulgence, our appetite for God and His ways will increase. Then, Paul says, we will be “slaves” to righteousness, addicted to doing what pleases our Father.

That’s an addiction I want to have. Don’t you?

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

A Plan Gone Awry

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A PLAN GONE AWRY

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned – to be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one who is to come.” Romans 5:12-14.

The Bible is an amazing book! Here is Paul, explaining something that happened some four thousand plus years before, and it all makes sense.

The evolutionists tell us that the universe came into being through a big bang. Eventually, over billions of years, life forms evolved and became what they are today. From the beginning, it seems, death was a part of life, but there is no explanation as to why creatures die, and how the earth and everything in it can be evolving upwards and at the same time running down. There is incontrovertible evidence that the earth is slowly deteriorating and cannot last forever, just as stars eventually burn out.

On the other hand, the Bible tells us exactly what happened and why, and what will happen in the end. The universe did not just “happen” – it had a Designer, a Creator and a purpose. God was both Designer and Creator, and His purpose was to create something that would show off His glory and give Him pleasure. How else could the universe function as a unit, be interdependent and be so majestic and splendid that man cannot fathom the depths of its wonders?

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will (for your pleasure) they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11.

But why is there death and decay in the world? Something must have happened to upset God’s plan and throw the entire universe off track. Once again the Bible gives us a sensible explanation. God created human beings in His image to live in harmony with Him, but He also gave them a dangerous gift – the right and freedom to make choices which could lead them off in the wrong direction.

There was already an enemy living on earth – to which he and his followers were banished because they had rebelled against God and tried to take over. God deliberately planned to put man in the middle of enemy territory, to see whether he would love and obey Him in spite of the enemy’s attempts to lure him away.

Why did He do that? He wanted human beings to choose Him in the face of testing, because only then could He prove to the rebel spirits that He was worthy to be loved and trusted. He gave them one test – leave that one tree alone; the fruit of all the other trees are freely available for you to enjoy. God said, ‘You can have them all, except one.’ The enemy said, ‘Why is God so mean to you? Why can’t you have that one as well?’ and they fell for it!

God said, ‘Death!’ The enemy said, ‘God is lying. No death.’ Who was telling the truth? And so sin death came into the world through one man’s disobedience and death through sin, just as God had warned. Although death came through Adam because of his disobedience to one law, the extent of human rebellion was revealed through the whole law given to His people through Moses at Mount Sinai.

God’s law, which was intended to show them how to live God’s way in order to enjoy His favour and blessing, became the reason for judgment because it showed them just how far they were from loving and trusting Him. Adam set the ball rolling and everyone, including those whom God had set apart to be His own people, followed suit. Man’s nature had been so corrupted that it was impossible for him to live in union with God as He intended from the beginning.

Not only human beings, but also the entire universe was corrupted because God had created it to function as a unit, man and all of creation joined together. The creatures turned on each other, killing or being killed, as we see it today. Without God’s intervention, it could only go one way, to ultimate destruction.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

He Will Convince

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HE WILL CONVINCE 

“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment; about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment because the prince of this world is judged.'” John 16:7-11 NIV.

“…Good that I am going away?” How could it be good for the disciples that Jesus was leaving them? When someone dear and close leaves through relocation or death, there is a sense of loss and abandonment that no other person can fill. The passage of time may ease the pain but the emptiness the person leaves does not go away.

What was Jesus talking about? An Advocate, a Helper, another person just like Him who was being sent to fill the gap He was leaving? How could that be? Could anyone replace Him in their lives and in their affection?

At that moment a plan, put in place before the foundation of the world, was being played out in history, which involved all three persons of the Trinity. In perfect unity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit had their part to play in the unfolding drama of redemption. It was the Father’s role to set up the intricate details of the plan, the Son’s to carry it out and the Holy Spirit’s to administer the benefits of redemption in the lives of those who believe.

If Jesus did not leave and make way for the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, His work on the cross would remain theory and there would be no one to release the power for it to become reality in anyone. Therefore Jesus had to say, ‘It is good that I am going away…’ After the cross there was nothing more for Him to do on earth. He had other roles to fulfil from the realm of heaven. He would return to the Father to take up His role as Mediator at the right hand of God (1 Timothy 2:5). He must reign until He had put all His enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).

From the moment of His advent on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would be in the world and live in the believer. Jesus took the opportunity in the final hours before His death to explain the place the Holy Spirit would have in their lives and in the world after He had gone.

1. He has an important task in the unbelieving world — to convince the world of sin and to point people to the only one who has removed sin and opened the way for reconciliation with the Father. It is never the Holy Spirit’s nature or task to accuse. Conviction is not about accusation — it is about revelation –opening up the mind and conscience of the unbeliever to his state before God and convincing him that Jesus Christ is God’s solution to the alienation sin has brought about between man and God.

2. To the believer, the Holy Spirit is the Paracletos — the one called alongside to lift the tottering child of God when he is weighed down by burdens or smarting from the devil’s accusations. Once again, it is not the Holy Spirit’s nature to accuse. He convinces the mind and heart of God’s people that we are righteous, not sinners, so that we can become what we already are. There is no motivation to change in accusation or condemnation.

“…There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because, through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:1 NIV.

In God’s eyes we have no past — all our sin has been forgiven, past, present and future and we are free to become what we already are — beloved sons and daughters of the Father.

3. The Holy Spirit has only one word for “the prince of this world,” judgment! It is the only word he ever hears and the only word he can pass on to us — hence he is the accuser, but his accusation only reflects back on him, not on us because we are the righteousness of God in Christ.

How important that we identify the internal voices we hear and respond in the appropriate way. The accuser resist by submitting to God (James 4:7); the Holy Spirit respond by submitting to Him. He is urging you on to become what you are, righteous, beloved children of God.

The Sounds Of Silence

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THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE 

“‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.’

“The Jews answered Him, ‘Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?’

“‘I am not possessed by a demon,’ said Jesus, ‘but I honour my Father and you dishonour me. I am not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it and He is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death,'” John 8:46-51 (NIV)

How difficult it must have been for Jesus to have any kind of discussion with these men! Whatever He said to them was another reason for them to hate Him and to either contradict Him or, if they could not get the better of Him, to attack His character.

What Jesus was saying to them was the truth but they did not have a clue about what He was telling them. It was as though He were speaking a foreign language. Although He was speaking in their language, what He was saying was foreign to them because He was speaking of the things of the Spirit and of the realm of God’s kingdom of which they knew nothing.

Why did Jesus even try to speak to them? Why didn’t He just walk away because it was like speaking to a brick wall? We have to understand that He was giving them every opportunity to hear the truth, whether they understood it or not. There was an important reason for doing this.

“‘If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.'” John 12:47, 48 (NIV).

Have you ever wondered why the Apostle Paul had to stand before kings? God told Ananias, after Paul’s conversion outside Damascus, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel…'” Acts 9:15 (NIV). Paul proclaimed God’s Word to the Roman governors Festus and Felix and to King Agrippa when he was on trial in Caesarea, and finally to Nero in Rome although none of them believed in Jesus.

It was their reaction to the Word that judged them. Jesus gave the Pharisees every opportunity to respond to His words in faith but they refused and brought the guilt of their sin down on their own heads.

Although Jesus’ words may seem outrageous at times (who would have the audacity to say. “…whoever obeys my word will never see death”?), we have to read them against the backdrop of who spoke them and what evidence He gave that He had the authority to speak like that?

Had they come from any other person, we could dismiss them as the ravings of a madman (which the Pharisees did!). But they could not answer His challenge, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?”  Instead they side-stepped His question by accusing Him of being demon-possessed.

But every truth He told them and every offer He made to rescue them from their self-destruction and bring them back into fellowship with the Father was met with rejection and abuse, and served to drive them deeper into their own guilt and condemnation. When they stand before the bar on Judgment Day, the Word will be their judge as it will be the judge of every person who has heard the word and refused to obey.

But what of those who have never heard Jesus’ word? There is another word which every human being has the opportunity to hear: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — His eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 (NIV).

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4a (NIV).

Have you listened to His voice?