TESTIMONY!

A LIVING TESTIMONY, A EXPERIENCE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING, A MIRACLE OF DIVINE GRACE AND MERCY!

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A Testimony! A CHANGED LIFE!

When I was a young person in my teens (late), I had no thoughts or concerns at all about God! I was just caught up in daily living, normal things that take place in most all teenagers of that day. (1950’s)! Joining the USAF at 18 started an adventure for me since I had never been out of the area where I grew up and never had left the State at all.
I will have to say I did go to Sunday School, as it was called back then, from time to time, not regularly, but some off and on from early childhood. I am sure I heard the Gospel but had no idea what it was all about, until I was about 12 and thought I grasped some of it but was not sure and later just left it all on the table so to speak. However, I did make a profession of faith and certainly was emotionally and very aware of my need of the Savior Jesus Christ. I was immersed in a lake after that profession and was a active member of the Keystone Heights Baptist Church in Keystone Heights, Florida.

Having joined the Military, getting away from my parents and their control and then having the Military controlling me in terms of what to do etc., but yet, having more allowances to do things that I would not have chosen to do while at my home, I got involved in many affairs which were not wise to be involved in at all. Engaged in what the peer group was engaged in at that time, which was sinful acts for sure.

That, however, thank God, did not last too long, in fact, after about 1-year things changed. Not due to my own making, or purpose, but rather, because God came to me and changed me. His goodness was running after me. The hound of Heaven found me.

I was going through some deep troubles emotionally and did not know why! After about 2 weeks of that, one evening I fell on my knees and cried out to God to forgive me and help me, and at the same time I was having a vision of a “person hanging on a cross and the person looked terrible, not a joyful scene, a person who looked beaten and bruised and was just hanging there.

Suddenly, I knew it was Jesus Christ the Lord, and I trusted in Him because of this revelation to my innermost heart and soul He forgave me of my sins and set me on a different road and journey of life.

Besides the Bible which I read as much as possible per day after being off duty, I also read as my first novel the book called Ben Hur.

I began to read the scriptures, and I had no minister nor any Church nor any mentor at the time. It was just God and Christ and the Holy Spirit with His word that directed me and my thoughts and gave me direction. It was not long that I considered that God was calling me into service for Him, that is to preach and teach the word of God to others. That I began to do and began to prepare for my future education and college etc.! Looking forward to getting out of service and going to school was now my objective and God allowed me to do just that.

As I read the scriptures, I began to understand that Christ came into my innermost heart and being along with the Holy Ghost and our Father. I knew I was saved, and sought His word daily, praying, of course, not really knowing much of what to say to Him but knowing He was with me, and I had joy in my soul. I laid aside, because He delivered me from many personal sinful activities, certain popular sins of the day and also my language cleaned up quickly. My speech changed. My desires to engage in holy affairs; Church attendance, reading the word, laying aside many things that I considered were worldly and not good for me to engage in, such as drinking alcoholic beverages, even spending a lot of time reading the Comics in the Newspapers was something I had to lay down, because I had previously made that my habit to do every Weekend in the Sunday papers. For me at least, that was a waste of time now!

Colossians 2: 9-10 was what had taken place: “In Christ ALL the fulness of the Deity Lives in bodily form, and In Christ YOU have been brought to FULLNESS. He is the head over every power and authority” This matter of fullness means we are NOT missing any part of the person of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit. In Christ we have what we need for LIFE and godliness – 2 Peter 1:3. That is, In Christ we find everything we need for normal, everyday life. God knows the resources needed for life here on this earth, and it’s all included in the life we possess through Christ Jesus. 2 Peter 1:3 reads, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life throughout knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”

So, it is more than just a ticket to heaven, it has to do with our daily living, i.e., every moment of everyday living! I think many misinterpret all of this. At no time are we told to live an upright life IN ORDER to GARNER a more righteous standing or to collect Prizes in heaven! Quite the opposite!! We are urged to grasp an important spiritual truth: when we come to Jesus Christ, as He has called and we responded to Him, we RECEIVE LIFE Everlasting, that is forever! Through our experience, we express our faith and trust in Him alone and we find total Fulfillment!! A spiritual union has taken place. It is, Christ in us, the hope of glory and the ONE who is working in and through us and we too move in the Spirit and work out our own salvation with fear and trembling knowing that it is God working in us both to will and do of His good pleasure!! Both of us work, but HE is the major One doing the work enabling us to do our part!
This is how it is now in my life and all Christians lives, or how it should be!! This is the will of God for us all:
……that none of us should perish but all of us believe (trust, confide in and rely upon) God alone – 1 Timothy 2: 4; 2 Peter 3:92………. that salvation has come to both Jews and Gentiles – Ephesians 1:5-2:223. …………that we present our bodies to Him every day and night – Romans 12:1-24…………. that we bear much fruit – John 15:8; Colossians 1: 9-125. ……….that we pray throughout our lives – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-186. ………….that “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, ………..that you abstain from sexual immorality.

God’s will is essentially, that Jesus Christ lives IN US, and expresses Himself Through us, as we are Transparent before Him. We certainly can allow our fallen flesh to disobey God, but in doing so, we feel and sense it right away and ask God to help us be delivered from the power of the flesh and sin as we seek to worship and walk with Him in the Spirit each day. We have now a new identity, we are saints, we are priests unto God, we are the bride of Christ, we are pure, holy, sanctified and are new creatures in Christ Jesus! Let us walk like it, talk like it, think like it, engage in life affairs like it! May others see Jesus in us! Christ Jesus the Lord Changes Everything! Amen!

CONFESSION! WHAT ABOUT IT? IF ALL OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN-DO WE STILL NEED TO CONFESS?

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One of the most used and misused verses in the Bible is found in 1 John 1:9. It reads: “If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness!

Let’s clear the air right away on one issue that is very easy to deal with and that is relating to the matter of being ‘born again’, the event when we were ‘birthed’ into the kingdom of God! When God calls us, draws us to Himself, He miraculously performs spiritual surgery on the sinner by bringing them to LIFE (Spiritual) from their Dead Status existing due to Sin!

When God does the work of bringing one to the Light (Jesus), He then gives them certain desires and gifts or abilities to engage in such matters as Faith, Conviction of sin, Confession of sin, repentance (turning from sin), and a desire to call upon the Lord and submit to Him totally! All of this happens at once, it is a transformation – from death unto life – spiritually and Eternal Everlasting Life with all of one’s sin(s) forgiven and never held against the person ever again, and God sees the new creation He made as Holy, Pure and Perfect IN Christ Jesus and because of HIM, they are now God’s children, and sons and daughters of God!

Now having stated that, where does this verse fit in we find in 1 John. It APPEARS there is a disconnect here concerning especially the fact ALL of our sins and God’s forgiveness was and is a Once-For-All- Forgiveness which took place at the cross for ALL of those whom He saves.

Most will agree of course that God through Jesus forgave us of all of our sins, but later on they will find that they are believing and exercising a belief system which teaches that Confession is needed all the time in order to CAUSE God to engage in this forgiveness you need again and again and again. The problem is both statements cannot be true, one has to go! Either we have been forgiven, or there is a Condition set up for us to be forgiven – that is – something we now have to do frequently. So, they use 1 John 1:9 as if it is a type of a bar of holy soap to maintain daily fellowship with God! And if one doesn’t then they are lost, or God is no longer with them.

Dr. A. Farley stated this: “…. the development of the use of terms such as judicial, patriarchal, and forensic are words used and they dance around the reality of once-for-all-forgiveness and push the idea of a two-tiered forgiveness system in which eternally God is satisfied, but Right Now, we somehow maintain our own daily cleansing through a confessional ritual.” I would add, more like the Roman Catholic system of Mass and Last Rites. Of course, we realize, if we sin against a brother or sister of anyone else of the human race, we are to ask them to forgive us! However, with God, we admit we have failed Him and that engaging in this sin which He has already forgiven by His work on the Cross, we ask Him to give us more grace to overcome the weakness of our fallen flesh and our person choice of allowing such to take place. But always remembering the Gospel is a 24/7 matter with us. We are Always forgiven every second of our life after being born again. We are IN Christ Jesus as forgiven, a new creation and a saint who is pure and holy and sacred in His sight. This humanly speaking seems to us strange but that is the way The Word presents all of this and so I believe it.

The following Epistles in the Bible knows nothing about such an IF clause existing; Galatians, Ephesians, Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians surely missed it if it is true!

I would ask this please; if crying, weeping, calling out to God through ongoing confession of sins for forgiveness (after being born again), exists would you not think God would have shown it to us through the writings of Peter and Paul? Did God make an error and leave it out? Well, no He didn’t!!

As I had stated earlier in one of my articles John was addressing that Jesus was really a human being in a real human body which the Gnostic heretics who had wormed their way into the local congregation did not believe and also, they did not believe they were sinners.

John in 1 John 1:9, was revealing to us and to the heretics and the local congregation of that day, words which proved Jesus was a REAL human without sin by speaking here of things like they had heard Him speak, saw Him, Looked at Him, Touched Him and Interacted with Him! He really was a human being and was also God!

The point in all of this is, we enter into the understanding of reality, and that is, we are a forgiven people, regardless of how we feel about it, God said it. If we realize this, we can go forward in faith without all of the uncertainties, guilt and lack of assurance knowing we are free indeed!

When we sin against our fellow human beings, we feel we are out of fellowship or that our relationship with them is not good, until we apologize, and are forgiven, or restored to our former status.

But Scripture never describes fellowship with God in this way or manner. For a person is either in fellowship with God and is saved, forgiven and born again, or he or she is out of fellowship with God and lost! Not once is there a moving “in and out of fellowship” spoken of in the Epistles due to our performance.

Certainly, we mature spiritually in our journey through life as God’s children, and when we sin various consequences hit us. The laws of our earthly communities and nation come into play, and because of such, all types of things can take place due to our choices. But none of that makes us fall out of fellowship with God. That is stable and sure and certain! When we Sin, HE is always there to help us learn from our mistakes, by His discipline and various methods of allowing the results of sin to take place.

Listen to Dr. A. Farley’s statement: “If we buy the lie that God sits in a swivel chair, ready to rotate His face away from us when we sin, then we proclaim a God of conditional Love and Conditional Fellowship. But this is to ignore the work of Jesus, who on the cross credit out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46. Jesus was out of fellowship with His Father so we would never be (out of fellowship).”

Also, we recognize that sorrow is normal when we do wrong and IS expected in our lives! Anyone that is not sorry they have committed a sin, I would think needs to “examine their life and to see if they really are in the faith.” Notice 2 Corinthians 7:10 – When we sin, we are not living out as we should what God has prescribed AS best in us during our time here. We will not be contented.

Someone may bring up the Lords Model Prayer which states, “Forgive us our sins….” – Luke 11:4. Let’s note the context, its content, and THE intended audience! Jesus is warning His followers to avoid meaningless repetition of lengthy prayers. In Matthew 6:7, He says babblers are not heard because of their many words. So many today use so much repetition and do not even realize what they are praying for really. Just words they have heard over and over again.

Jesus is letting His audience know that to ask God to forgive them ONLY TO THE SAME DEGREE that they have forgiven others. Note this; If you and I only want the SAME response from God to be just like ours is to one another, we are really bad off in our understanding. We wish God’s forgiveness to be greater and altogether holy and more just than the one we may grant to another. We can ask forgiveness but we not really mean it like the One we ask God for!

Notice Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us our trespasses, AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN OUR Debtors.” What He is saying is God, examine my life and my track record as a Forgiver, then give me the SAME TYPE and AMOUNT of forgiveness that I have given to others.” Remember, also HE was under the Old Covenant Law and under the Law! NO one could expect the same level of Forgiveness that we as New Covenant people have toward each other and toward God! If a person operates under a Conditional Religious system, they can only Receive what they Earn or Give to others.

Remember no O.T. Covenant person would ever be able to measure up to the Law’s demands. The ONLY One’s saved under the O.T. Covenant were those who had Faith in the coming Messiah and the promised Savior! That is why Pharisee’s and Sadducees were not saved. It takes the Blood of Christ to provide the righteousness of God’s Law to be imputed to the individual person. Man, just could not get right with God practicing the Law by such works, which they could never actually be absolutely perfect in such an endeavor.

CLEANSED, REMOVED, FORGOTTEN, FORGIVEN! ARE OUR SIN(S) REALLY GONE AND FORGIVEN?

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ARE OUR SIN(S) REALLY GONE, FORGIVEN, AND FORGOTTEN BY GOD?

Under the Old Covenant days when John the Baptist was sent to Israel to announce the coming of the Promised Messiah notice what John said when he saw Jesus: “Look, the Lamb of God, who TAKES AWAY the sin of the world (those of course who are called and chosen)!” – John 1:29

Even Peter speaks about how we are to depend upon and trust in the ONETIME Sacrifice as the means to LIFELONG forgiveness without any strings attached. Notice: 1 Peter 3:18 – “Christ died for sins ONE FOR ALL, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

The Old Covenant Priests never could say their sin(s) were totally forever removed by the sacrifices of a animal. It just did not happen. They had to keep sacrificing animals each year of their life on earth. But with Jesus ONE TIME sacrifice guilt, condemnation, wrath, forgiveness, deliverance from sins power took place! The NEW PERSON is really FREE. This revolutionizes our perspective on how we really stand before God today and I mean 24/7 throughout our entire life on earth and into the presence of God when we pass away! The blood of Jesus’ atonement did that for us! I really worked! God is and was satisfied both now and in eternity.

I can hear voices saying now after reading these words a usage of terms like Positional truth, and heavenly bookkeeping and cleansed in God’s eyes only etc.! But then we claim that Christ’s death does NOT translate into “once for all” forgiveness in the here and now which is really what God has stated about us and sin.

Some exhort a believer to do something, such as, asking for forgiveness, to impel God so that He will ACTUALLY forgive and cleanse them. This then will satisfy them, for there is nothing like a daily list of sins to pore over and over again to relieve us from our guilt. They say things like we ned to “keep short accounts” of our sins and ask God to forgive and cleanse us in order to “make it real in our own experiences,” but didn’t God say that ONLY ONE THING — Blood –brought forgiveness and cleansing?” WE somehow think that the new birth only brings results for when we get to heaven, not really down here. WE must do something, some work, where we can initiate through remembering, confessing, asking, pleading, with tears and great sorrow claiming that forgiveness which God had stated was DONE ONCE and was Finished on the Cross for us. The deal is we think we have to do this work and it is our responsibility to make the Cross carry real benefits into the present moment and time.

By developing this approach, we fail to recognize that the cross of Jesus Christ is a Historical even, a One-time Event. Its effects are completed no matter whether what we may believe and claim. We must realize we cannot initiate Forgiveness, because we are not able to do that. Only the Blood of Jesus can bring forgiveness and God does that when we get Saved and that is it! Our activities of remembering, confessing, asking, claiming, does not cause More blood to be shed, for it was already done and it was over! Now we know Jesus is interceding for us 24/7 but it is based on the One Time Act of His on the Cross. There are no Masses nor are there any Last Rites, etc., to be done. So, the facts are: (1) We accept as fact the complete, unconditional forgiveness that God purchased when He crushed His Son on the cross at crucifixion, or (2) create some type of system we design on our own to Feel better about our sins and our guilt.

So, what are we saying and thinking about the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross when we insist that something further be done to “activate” it? In essence, we are insulting the work of Calvary, we are valuing the Son’s sacrifice even less than the people of the Old Testament days valued their animal sacrifices. We are really no better than the Roman Catholics in their crucifixion of Jesus at the Mass every time they do their Mass. That is what they are doing killing Christ all over again. Why? Because they do not consider the Cross sufficient in terms of a ONE TIME even and Work! They reject the word of God. Are we not doing something like when we begin screaming, crying, and praying for God to “forgiven us for our sins and wash us in His blood, etc.?

I know what is being thought when I reveal this. Folks are thinking about the sin(s) they have committed since being saved and it makes them feel guilty, makes them feel something is wrong, makes them feel like they are vile, wicked, evil, and not really right with God, etc.! So, they go through the process of what they did when they were saved or born again! I will argue the problem is if we follow this line of reasoning, we are saying very loudly we do not recognize who we really are. What our identity really is IN CHRIST JESUS! We become so focused on our struggles and failures that we cannot believe God wants us to look elsewhere. We become convinced that our Sins are different somehow—–that somehow God hasn’t forgotten them and asked us to move on. As we wallow around in all of our failures, we miss the privilege of celebrating. We miss the reason for the great party we should be having! We should be focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ rather than on our failures and sins. Fixing our eyes on Jesus is the answer as we remember HE has paid for our sin(s) and He holds them no longer against us. Yes, we seek to move on and overcome the weakness of our flesh which has sin operating in it, and we do see many victories as we do such throughout our life now, but we are NOT to allow Satan or our own self which is a New Person to fall back into the state of mind and heart that we are Lost again, out of Fellowship with God now, or lost our identity as forgiven totally delivered people in our New Self and New Life in Christ. WE live in a fallen body with Sin but we are not the ones doing the evil as Paul said, but Sin is doing the evil now and we ask God to help us deal with our body of weakness where sin dwells, but the forgiveness and pardon and His goodness and righteousness in us, is what we really are!

Are we consumed with our sins when God says HE remembers them no more? Are we willing to agree that the focus is No longer on our failures? Will we please the Father through obsession with the Son? He finished the work and that is where our eyes and heart should be? LOOK UP!

The book of Hebrews makes a lot to do with all of this this!! In our new identity and our new birth, we need to listen to the Lord as He gave us these words in Hebrews!

Hebrews 9:25-26 – “Nor did HE enter heaven to offer Himself AGAIN and AGAIN, the way the high priest enters the Most-High Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But HE has appeared ONCE For ALL at the culmination of the ages to do away with Sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Notice THE POINTS, Never AGAIN AND AGAIN, AND ALSO Once FOR ALL TO DO WHAT?

Our thoughts should be like this:

1. Only blood brings forgiveness!
2. Jesus’ blood will never be shed again!
3. Therefore, God is Satisfied!
4. And We enjoy Lifelong and Eternal cleansing!

Think of this example: What if a saved born-again Jew would think this; “I believe that Jesus died for my sins, but just in case I will continue to participate in the animal sacrifices.” Actually, some did just that in the beginnings of the New Covenant days. This would be publicly disgracing Jesus Christ, since they were working to make more added on to the work of Christ which was ONE time Only Sacrifice. How does our doubting about the once-for-all sacrifice manifest itself? We do not express our doubt through temple ceremonies or through animal sacrifices on our lawns! We employ more subtle means of insulting God! Rather than publicly disgracing Him, we Privately disgrace Him in our thoughts and belief operations.

I think the writer of Hebrews, Paul the Apostle, would confront us about this. He would accuse us of doing exactly what the recipients of his letter were doing and he would say when we invent nonbiblical terminology and propose that we are forgiven from God’s vantage point but not Actually forgiven without a “method” of renewed repentance and confession when it has already been taken care of at the Cross. We would be insulting the Spirit of Grace. The point is that ONE Who would take away (NOT JUST COVER) the sin of the world has done just that! We recognize that if and when we do allow sin to operate in the flesh, we are not to endorse such as being o.k.! We realize it takes place and we also recognize that we are NOT to think that sin(s) is placing us back into a same position we were before we were born again! We realize those are already forgiven, we openly agree with God that sin has acted out in our body of the flesh and it was sin that did the sinning and not our New Born Holy Person and New Self, and we can certainly ask our Lord to help us through the Spirit to slay this monster and the Rebuke the Devil and the demons which may have been involved or to ask our Lord to give us strength during the temptations that come our way and teach us how to “run” to Him more strongly and help us fight the monster that is still within the flesh. A lot of difference in our words and belief system now that we see the truth and how things are in reality.

I also know that Paul through the Spirit of God, taught us that all of our activities of life will be brought before the Lord when we meet Him and they will be judged in the sense of whether they were done in the Spirit or done in the Flesh and those will be burned up if they are of the flesh! But the good deeds will be rewarded. But remember that those sin(s) are not being referred to by God as deserving punishment upon us at all. We will not be judged in that sense ever! He obliterated our deserved punishment for sins and TOOK AWAY those sins from such wrath and condemnation.

Yet, we find ourselves buying the idea that we will be judged for our sins when Jesus returns. How could we be judged for our sins if He has taken them away? How could we be punished for our sins when He remembers them no longer as acts due punishment and wrath and condemnation? And really only worthy punishment for sins is death, and death is precisely what Jesus experienced on our behalf so we would not die! Notice the following verses of scriptures:

Hebrews 9:28 – “Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, WILL appear a second time for salvation WITHOUT REFERENCE to sin, to those who eagerly await Him!”

1 John 2:2 – “He is the One who Turns Aside God’s wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours, but also the sins of the whole world (meaning of course the whole world of redeemed and born-again peoples)!

As someone has said, “if we miss the message of the gospel, it holds no power to alter natural mind-sets that control us. Partial forgiveness provides partial relief from guilt but breeds an unhealthy fear of judgment. Real forgiveness means that the sin issue is OVER. Real forgiveness means that there is no present or future punishment for sins. Jesus’ death satisfied God forever. And there is nothing about us that will ever anger him again: “When HE had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” – John 19:30 (A. Farley)!

Listen as you read, think about it! When we were born again, we were actually placed in Christ and our sins which in our case were past, present at the time, and any that we may commit in the future were forgiven and the issue is over! Seated with Christ now we can relax! He assures us that the sin matter is over. No other ACT on our part will make a change. Notice Hebrews 10:14 – “By ONE OFFERING (Jesus) has perfect for ALL TIME those who are sanctified.” No one can get around this fact!! Are you willing to be like the Lord Jesus Christ and forget your sins! Are you willing to agree with God that you are a forgiven person absolutely for now and forever? Semone has stated, you are as much “born again” now as you will ever be, except for the translation of the body being made perfect. You just can’t be MORE born again! I think anything short of what I have spoken is just not faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus!

Real Forgiveness has been accomplished. Freedom from guilt is our daily privilege in Christ. What if you asked your wife several times a day “Honey will you marry me?” She would think you are off your rocker! She can get out the marriage certificate and show you the facts of the past!

Have you thought about or tried to look up in the New Covenant Epistles that Urge Christians or Born-Again people, to ask God for forgiveness since they have been saved? I think you will come up with Zero times! You will not find a single epistle that suggest that we ask God for forgiveness. 1 John is calling lost Gnostic sinners to repent not a Christian. The Christian there is identified as those who recognized when they got saved, they were sinners and repented of same.

I think you could build a case that even in Revelation the local Ecclesia’s (called out body of born-again ones) were not the ones Christ was calling on to repent but those who were involved with Satan and were dead etc. Remember that the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke was mostly majoring on words and events during the Old Covenant days, and even in John’s Gospel you have a lot of Jesus and His ministry during the Old Covenant. One can’t mix Old Covenant teachings with New Covenant teachings for they are different Covenants. We do recognize God tells us to deal with the flesh where sin abides and is a force within this body of ours. For instance, 2 Corinthians 6: 14 through 7:1, speaks a lot about separating from outside of the faith people in terms of yoking up with them like they are family for close friends. God said there can be no fellowship with darkness and we are in the light. In Chapter 7:1 he wrote, “Therefore, since we have these precious promises (God will live with us, walk among us, will be our God, and we will be His people, and He will be a Father to us and we will be His sons and daughters, if we “come out from among them and be separate), dear friends, let us PURIFY ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”. As you see there is this activity as “forgiven, saved saints, that we are to be highly involved in this business of God walking in the Spirit, by purposefully working to keep the flesh and ‘sin’ within it under control. These actions will not and cannot be performed by a religious only prson, but can be done ONLY by saved people who have the Holy Spirit.

Sinners who needed to be saved who need redemption get that message but not Saints! Why are there none in the Epistles? Saints are told to put on things, and put off things, but that is a different matter than Regeneration. So, the reason for no Epistle directions to confess and repent is because the writers penned their words AFTER the death of Jesus. They were fully aware of their forgiveness as an accomplished Fact! ****

***More lessons on confession to others, etc., stay tuned! – Lamar

****The entire article is information I would think, write, and speak from beginning to the end; however, I chose to repeat many ideas exactly like others if you compare likeminded teachers and ministers as we all seek to use English properly and Greek meanings, men and groups such as may exist even among those who oppose what I teach; such as: Dr. A. Farley; The Evangelical fundamental orthodox ministers and people, and other ideas, comparing each with the Scriptures (NIV and NASB Translations and exposing Roman Catholicism heresies and Gnostic heresies)! Also, I have found by listening to Dr. John MacArthur, that he would agree with most of all I have written, for his position is that the dichotomy exists (our new person living in a fallen body which houses sin).

More articles forthcoming on Confessing sin etc.!

WHO AM I? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?

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ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE LOCKED, OR CHAINED IN A STATE OF BEING FROM CONCEPTION, UNTIL THE KEY IS TURNED BY GOD AND SPIRITUAL DELIVERANCE TAKES PLACE MOVING ONE INTO SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH!

This state of being can be changed by God alone and an example of one who calls upon God and Christ Jesus having this take place, is found in Psalm 107:13, “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and HE saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke apart the bonds that held them” See: Ps. 68:6; Acts 12:7; Acts 16:26.

A miracle takes place and one becomes a Saint, a Saved person, and that is spoken of as a new creation, a new birth spiritually speaking. We have God’s Son Jesus and All of His goodness, righteousness, and holiness is transferred to us and we are now new people. We have a new nature, a new life, we exist in Christ having Life Eternal with Him. No longer in darkness, Satan’s bondage and kingdom, nor are we under God’s wrath and condemnation. Set free indeed!

Yet we still find sin existing. What does this then mean?

The innermost part of a human being has been made by God a new person, a new heart, a new nature, a new soul/spirit, and a new identity being IN Christ. But we must remember what God has taught to us in His word. Our bodies have not been changed. They will not be changed until one of these two things happen: the body dies physically and is returned to the dust and ashes of this earth or Christ Jesus comes and translates or resurrects these bodies making them like His human body without sin.

We are taught also, that there is a enemy still living in this body. It is called the Flesh (sarx in Greek) which means Sin (singular)! It is housed in the body and the scripture will use this term Flesh speaking of sin and its fruits etc.! This sin (flesh) has goals and cravings and these are a few things we can identify:

1. The Flesh is a way to THINK!
2. The Flesh is a way to WALK!
3. The Flesh WORKS AGAINST the Spirit
4. The Flesh encourages SELF-EFFORT
5. The Flesh seeks IDENITY AND PURPOSE.
6. We choose to put CONFIDENCE in the Flesh

We must also remember that the flesh is not the OLD SELF! It is something within us but NOT US! The choices we make can either go toward the flesh or toward the Spirit in any given moment. We must remember our new identity. If we choose to walk in in any given moment in the flesh that does not change our Identity for we are Christians and we are IN THE SPIRIT.

When we walk after the flesh, we are not being our true self. If we rely on intellect, strength, or physical appearance to gain purpose and fulfillment, we are walking after the flesh! This goes against our New Nature in Christ. And of course, you will be convicted and even disciplined by the Lord as the Holy Spirit does this work in our very innermost being! Our conscience, our mind and our spirit, realize the wrong and we Confess such and repent when we do that, knowing all along that our sin or sins are forgiven due to the One Time Sacrifice on the Cross as Jesus paid for our sin there and He is the sacrifice and was the sacrifice for all of them past, present and future. No more religious Acts and Rites to be done such as the heretical Mass or Last Rites! They are covered we just agree always with Christ and God about them if we fail and trip up from time to time. If we say we have no sin, then as John states in his 1st Epistle, we lie, and the truth is NOT in us! All Christians confess we are sinners still, but redeemed, forgiven, and made new creations in Christ Jesus. We DO NOT claim we are God, nor do we claim we have been absolutely perfected in our body and its faculties, for that part of us is still dead in its sin!

God has put in our very innermost being His Spirit causing us to want what HE wants and a Desire to be like Him and obey Him to gain fulfillment in this Life with Him and Sin does not satisfy us!

So unfortunately – the flesh isn’t on its own. It has a powerful ally whose agenda is to distract us from walking after the Spirit. Who is this ally? A power at work in us called SIN! Paul the Apostle speaks of this matter in Romans 7. Read the whole chapter and also Romans 8. Here we find Paul saying, that the blame was not to be him, but rather, any wrong doing came from a secondary source called sin that was in his body! SIN LIVED IN PAUL BUT WAS NOT PAUL! This is still with us today if we are truly Saved. Our bodies nor sin did not get saved, WE DID! It may feel like you but it is NOT you! You are saved by Grace through faith and are IN Christ Jesus and are sons and daughters of God and a new creation, perfect in Christ Jesus!

The point is there is a sin principle within the physical body. And this sin principle is aroused when we, whether saved or lost, try to live up to the law or any lawlike standard. Neither our bodies nor our connection to the physical changed at salvation. So, once we are saved, sin is STILL present in our bodies. As we are now dead, we can resist its prodding through the Spirit sin isn’t dead. It is very much alive; Sin is IN US, but it is NO US! The struggle is there!

An excellent example of all of this is Abraham our father of the faith humanly speaking. Yet, in this man dwelled sin. It fleshed it way out on many occasions and two notable ones are when he went against the promise of God regarding the coming Messiah through his seed. He (God) promised Sarah would have a child, but this man Abraham turned over his wife to a King who was going to make her his wife, and Abraham was so fearful and full of unbelief at the moment feeling he may lose his physical life, he did this terrible act. Yet, God threatened the life of King Abimelech with death and his people also, plus God closed the wombs of all the females in the Kings kingdom. So, you know the story, God gave back Sarah to her husband Abraham, and he was given many gifts and sent out on his way, but GOD used him and called him a prophet and he was to pray for the King to be restored also, removing the curse God placed upon him, which Abraham did. Also, notice God said not one word to Abraham about all he had done, but HE called him a Prophet, and He called upon Him to pray for the King, etc.! Showing Grace swallowed up sin, for this man was considered a saint and was saved by God’s grace through faith. His identity was always a man of faith and had eternal life in the messiah to come. GRACE is greater than everything because it is also composed and propagated by God through LOVE!

Thanks be unto God for His abundant grace, turning all things to the good for those who are the called and the ones who Love God!

A NEW BIRTH

Photo by Zaw Win Tun on Pexels.com

Have you ever wished you had been born in some other way, a way that did not have death, pain, suffering, evil, and misery etc.?

Or perhaps that something would happen and you would go through the process of metamorphosis like a caterpillar does as it turns into a Butterfly?

Christians or those who truly know Jesus Christ as Lord and God the Father and the Holy Spirit, are people that have had a miraculous birth, a new birth, a birth that takes place which is NOT like the original and first birth we had, but really a NEW birth moment in time! It was a big change! I mean a miracle type change! Nothing normal or usual about it, for God Himself did the entire work just as He did in getting us into the womb to become a human being, God did another miracle and brought about what is called the New Birth.

It is pretty easy for us to accept the teaching that this world is full of sinners because evil and problems exist everywhere. We even agree we personally are sinners but usually we will think, yes I am a sinner, but not like that one out there that did some terrible deed!

What is so evident is that when it comes to sinning and being a sinner, many will go along with that, but when it comes to a person who has to believe we are 100% righteous by a rebirth that has taken place in us or upon our entire innermost being, we get all agitated and start stuttering and stammering over our words, and even though we admit we have a “new birth that determines our identity” we tend to stay in the ‘old birth’ mode of thinking how that we are still sinners and really not a Saint as the Bible states we are.

We are comfortable with saying we are believers, Christians, followers Jesus, and saved people, and even describe ourselves as sinners saved by grace.

But when we read what the word (the holy scriptures from God), say’s we are Saints (meaning ‘holy one’, or ‘one reserved or set apart for God” seems to be too much and we shy strongly away from such identification! We would not dare say such for fear of being thought of as someone better than someone else!! But these are actually the exact terms God uses to describe those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who are born again. Those who have been regenerated. Those who have the Holy Spirit abiding within them and Christ Jesus abiding with them and in them.

God actually teaches us that we have to take a deeper look at the idea that the birth we had taken place upon being saved, Determines our Identity. Some amazing things are shown about us.

In the USA our birth certificates show to the world that we were actually born on a certain day and time and year here in this country and that our name is showing up on that written birth certificate proving such took place.

Our initial first parent was named Adam! We were of the Adam’s family! Because of our natural birth into his bloodline, we are spiritually dead by birth and by nature to God our Creator. We inherited our fathers’ genes which means we are not in God’s spiritual family from birth, until God does create another New Birth by His Power, creating a new person entirely removing us from the Adam’s family. And due to all of that with Adam, we were spiritually dead at birth, but alive in the body of flesh carrying out our natural desires which is called sinful and living as dead spiritual corpses among others who are spiritually alive and are in Christ or the Family of God the Creator. We can’t and did not and could not make this change ourselves. We had no power to do such! We just existed in that dead spiritual state without God! We could not reform our behavior and no effort of any kind we engaged in would remove us from Adam’s spiritual dead bloodline and place us into the family of God.

At our natural birth we bear Adam’s image not God’s! How many times would one have to sin to become a sinner? Most would say ‘one’! However, in our case and each child from Adam forward the answer is incorrect. Zero times is the correct answer! Why? Because we were conceived with the original sins results in our DNA in the womb. Dead spiritually. But to prove it so, certain fruits or characteristics are identifiable in a baby’s life for instance that reflect they are really more like little demons rather than what they appear to be in their cute and innocent looking state of being. By the way, God can save a baby in the womb and fill him or her with the Holy Spirit if and when He so choses. He did this with John the Baptist! He came out of the womb a saved, born-again new creation made by God! But one man’s sin made us all sinners! Our father Adam did that acting on behalf of all the human race to come from the time all of this began in human history.

Romans chapter 5 reveals that one man’s sin brought the following effects:

1. Sin entered the world – verse 12
2. Many or all died – 15
3. Condemnation came on All people – verse 18
4. The many were made sinners – 19.

So, our spiritual status came from OUR linage In Adam, and NOT from what we do as individuals. If we realize this that it is all ABOUT BIRTH AND NOT BEHAVIOR, IS A VERY BIG REVELATION FOR IT BRINGS NEW MEANING TO THE TERM ‘BORN AGAIN.’

Jesus our Lord told Nicodemus that every human being’s real need is to be born a second time. He was not urging Nicodemus to turn over a new leaf. Or to try harder, or to polish up his lifestyle. No not at all! He was really speaking about a matter of the condition of our innermost being, namely needing a new birth entirely. A absolute change into a new person! Christianity is NOT a Behavior Modification program even though it seems a lot of Churches engage in such trivia and waste of time programs dressed up in a religious garb. But rather Jesus our Lord revealed that God’s Plan is to actually exchange our nature for a new completely new – nature. A new identity. Not the same person we were! Totally new! If we are in Adam at birth, we must be IN SOMEONE else if there is a real change occurring. And there is: “As in “Adam ALL die, so IN Christ all (who trust, rely upon, embrace, and have faith in Christ), will be made alive” – 1 Corinthians 15:22.

We are not told to adopt and know all types of theology and doctrinal issues at the point of this miracle. This is a matter of spiritual surgery, the other will come later. We are actually brought out of the lifeline of Adam and transferred into the lifeline of Jesus Christ the Lord and God’s family. Our DNA changed we have a new spirit, a new soul and a new heart. We are NO LONGER in the Flesh! We are in the Spirit. We now have all kinds of changes taking place, who we really are, what we are designed to do and be and more about our innermost personhood. WE ARE NOW SAINTS! YES, WE ARE NOW SAINTS AND WE DO NOT WIAT TO BECOME SAINTS, WE ARE SAINTS NOW! GOD SEES US IN CHRIST JESUS REGARDLESS OF OUR FALLEN SINFUL NATURE CALLED THE FLESH! OUR NEW PERSONHOOD LIVES IN A FALLEN BODY. THIS EXISTS UNTIL WE DIE AND GO TO HEAVEN OR WHEN JESUS COMES BACK FOR, HE WILL IMMEDIATELY CHANGE THIS BODY INTO A SPIRITUAL BODY LIKE HIS ON HIS ARRIVAL. BOTTOM LINE: We are delivered! We are saved! We are born again! We are new people! We are priests! We are the children of God! We are the sons of God! We are citizens of heaven now! We are seated with Christ at the Throne Room of God! We are perfect! We are holy! We are sanctified! We are going to be glorified! We are adopted into God’s family! We are NO longer classified as: Sinners, Condemned, under Wrath, ones having the Anger of God upon them ones, wicked, nor are we adulterers, perverts, idolators, lost, children of Satan, living in the kingdom of darkness, thieves, liars, homosexuals, murderers, covetous, slanderers, gossipers, haters of others, etc.! Why? “God said, SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU; BUT YOU WERE WASHED, BUT YOU WERE SANCTIFIED, BUT YOU WERE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND IN THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.” – 1 CORINTHIANS 6:11.

Notice the past tense active tense of those words! Do you believe and trust in what God says about your identity in Christ NOW or do you believe your own mind, or Satan’s false lies thrown your way? Or are you deceived and do not have the Holy Spirit and Christ dwelling in you now? Only you and God can know that, but this article speaks of the reality of things concerning a True Saint of God living in this world today! His Spirit bears witness with our spirit we are the children of God! Also, we have the fruit of the Spirit working in us as spoken of in Galatians 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control; against such things there IS NO LAW”. These dominate our life now. The flesh may gain control and we fail or sin but those words describing the Spirit’s work going on in our life is always there and we are HIS, for nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus, absolutely NOTHING! AMEN!

A COVENANT ISN’T IN FORCE UNTIL THE ‘WILL’ OR ‘COVENANT’ IS RELEASED TO OPERATE UPON THE DEATH OF THE ONE WHO WROTE THE COVENANT OR WILL!

2021 – A THESIS WRITTEN AND PLACED ON THE DOOR OF CHRISTIANITY (WITTENBERG OF TODAY)! MAY IT BRING REFORMATION.

Spiritual food for Spiritual development and maturity in the faith is the aim of my writings on these subjects from Scripture!

Most all Christians know the following, especially those who are considered believers, that the Scriptures are the Divine Inspired words from God to us, and what it states about Jesus Christ the Lord.

So, assuming this, we know that the Bible is clear on the following:

1. Jesus stated we must be born again!

2. He stated also throughout the Gospels and Epistles a person must be Regenerated (brought to life spiritually from the dead state he or she was in with Satan and Darkness.

3. He states either directly in the Gospels or in the Epistles through His Apostles that we have been Delivered, from: Sin, Death, Satan, Demons, Darkness, the Law, and are now IN Christ, and God the Father dwells in us as well! We are in Hm and we have the Holy Spirit (God) in us and we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus now! We are not in bondage to sin anymore.

We are no longer under the Wrath and Condemnation of God and saved from hell and the Lake of Fire. We are considered adopted into the family of God and our destination is heaven not hell. It also teaches us that HE will not allow us to fall and be under the curse again but rather keeps us from falling and will present us faultless before His very presence and Throne. Check out all of this in the N.T. and O.T. readings. There are all clearly revealed.

Now since those are things that took place, that means this;

1. John states in 1 John’s Epistle Chapter 3, we as Saints cannot sin now for His seed is in us.

2. Paul states in Romans 7 that he, and any saved person is included! This means we do not sin, but sin is doing the sinning in our body and not Paul for he loves God and loves the law of God, but sin is actively creating wrong doings in the human body and fleshes it way out in conduct. So, it is impossible for us to ever sin again, that is, the Newborn or New Birthed Ones, who have been regenerated (brought to Spiritual Life in Christ) and All of our sins have been forgiven forever (Justification by Faith in Christ Alone)! I am speaking of the “born again” new creation part of our being which lives in a sinful body, and has sin dwelling in it, and its fleshly carnal desires still operate, but through the Holy Spirit can be controlled, but also, the sin can still function from time to time in us.

If we could sin (as new birthed children of God), then even God would sin because we are Totally IN HIM NOW not just when we pass away bodily, but right now our innermost being is IN CHRIST and God dwells within us and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. It is impossible for us to sin. Since God can’t and won’t allow SIN to rule or reign in our new personhood, we are always looked upon by the Triune God as Perfect and totally Sanctified in His presence and Holy and Righteous because it is HIS Character traits that HE put us in!!! So, what is this matter then of personal sin(s) we commit every day.

In fact, I would say that most all of us who know God through Christ sin in some fashion every day. Can you really say or think that you have the ability or power to live 24 hours 7 days a week and NOT engage in some type of Sin? Remember the very things you may not be thinking of right now can be sinful acts or activities going on in your life. Did you really Pray today, Read and Meditate on His Word today, have all pure thoughts and ideas totally, not eat too much, went overboard in your activities of life wearing yourself out and harming your body?

My point is this; In our new perfectly created by God’s grace, New Divine Nature which is in us, and our location being IN HIM NOW and having HIS Holy Spirit dwelling in us Now, we (or that part of us called the New Creation) never can sin and never will sin for it is Impossible due to who we are now. This duality, or separation exists in this human body.

As a type, when we were born into this world as a baby, we had Adams Nature totally. No chance of not being one of Adam’s babies for sin came in the blood line from our First Father!

Next, we are NOW in the 2nd Adam (Christ Jesus the Lord), and HIS pure blood, HIS holy righteousness lived out through His entire life on planet earth as a Human 100% without sin, is now who we are. We are HIS child and His children do not sin and cannot sin because of Who we are now! We are partakers of the Divine Nature due to the New Birth! So, what about our daily sin(s)? The body of ours with SIN dwelling in it, is called the Flesh! That part of us has NOT been regenerated, has not been Resurrected, has NOT been changed one bit and is still captivated and controlled by the factor called Sin that dwells there. It always seeks to be used by Satan, the world and our own fallen body of fleshly carnal desires still residing in this body we have.

We have a entire New innermost being called the Heart, the soul, the spirit, and a new nature (divine). This exists at the same time our body does with its sin. The outward temptations that come, seeks to stir up SIN (singular) in such a manner that it wants to create sinful activities by way of the desires of our human nature still existing in the body.

So, we have a natural human desire to eat. But outside influences and even our sinful flesh wants to eat too much and so the temptation comes and that we do, meaning the desire overwhelms the WILL of our human nature and we eat too much and thus the fruit comes forth as sinful fruit = eating too much!

But if we are real born again Christians and Saints, we are to through the Holy Spirit and the word of God, seek to control this activity by looking for a way of escape from the temptation before it becomes sin, but if we don’t, we fall into this sinful act and thus we have sinned. But it was NOT our new person sinning but sin in the body which sinned. In that sense one may say well it was me, and that is correct in the sense of the fallen state portion of your being which has NOT been redeemed and changed.

Note the Apostle Paul in Romans 7. God is using all of this to help us work on sanctification of the sinful body (flesh) all of our earthly lifetime until we depart from it. So, we seek to slay, or kill the sinful lustful activities which seek to arise and create such a malady in our activities of life. We fail many times but conquer many times. It is going to be this way till we pass away. Now, the term Practice just means that in a 24/7 day we do not continually practice any type of sinful act all of that period of time regularly and through the years. Yet, we do in some sense have sin going on personally and failing more than we think during any given day or night period.

Since our Inner New Person is always perfect, we need not seek to do what Roman Catholics do and that is to have a Mass all the time recreating the Death of Christ Jesus. That is wrong. Christ said He paid the price due for our sins (all of them which may happen in our lifetime) are not remembered by God anymore or no more. But these failures we recognize, and we do not hide them from God at all but bring them openly up in our prayer time and admit the flesh failed Him but thank Him those sins He paid for, and we are so thankful for His grace and mercy they are paid for by Him and His blood which was shed.

Of course, if we allow our carnal natural sinful flesh to operate and sin against another person, we ask them to forgive us. But God, whom we sin against, has forgiven all of our sins already, so we thank Him for that Grace and Mercy but ask Him to help us through His Spirit to control the flesh more throughout our lifetime here. We also must be a person who Hates sin, doesn’t want to sin and desires to be free from it all because our conscience lets us know this right quickly. If this isn’t the truth I have shown, then we have a very convoluted written scripture and mixed-up ideas and things are just not right.

Confusion exists, but God said He was not the author of Confusion. So, I contend that the Bible is clear on this for any other idea is Not Biblical, Not Theological sound, not even reflective of purity and Certainly presents God in a bad light as if He did not do what He has said He did, to everyone who is born again. And we know God does not lie and He keeps His word. So, we are “new people 100% and not half sinners and half saints, but 100% saints and 100% sin abiding in the flesh sinners. Remember Jesus was both God and Man. 100% man without sin and 100% God without sin. We too, as born-again new nature and new creations are 100% in Christ pure and holy and 100% a sinner in the body of the flesh at the same time. (But separated)

A last thought on this can be considered from Romans 8 the Entire Chapter and I would suggest you read those words entirely thinking closely about them and meditating on them. This is the real answer to the matter from the Holy Spirit through Paul to us. The bottom line is that a person must have the new birth spiritually existing and from that we are In Christ Jesus spiritually, and we have the Holy Spirit existing in us right now also, and we are in the Father also for we are His children. If that is so we (the new person) walks in the Spirit, but the old man or old fleshly way of life is now dead and sin even though it exists in the body of flesh is NOT the controlling matter in our lives anymore.

There was a real switch and change that took place. Now, we should “feed” the new person we are with every word of God (scripture) and engage in all things we are instructed to engage in found in the Epistles under the New Covenant. If our life and character reflect the same old way of life we had before we say we believed in Jesus, then most likely one is not saved at all. We must have some big difference existing in our life now because we are In Christ and have been made a New Person. Living next door or should I say in close intimate contact almost with sin in the Flesh, sensing its pull, its desires to function along with the desires and push back against sin by the Holy Spirit is what happens now.

But the Spirit filled life we are in is the controller. Self-Control is a aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit. So, if one is always out of control there is a serious problem. Time for each to check up on things from the word of God. God and His word are NOT weak, NOT unable to correct and make things happen powerfully in our lives now if we exercise our faith (given to us by God) on a daily basis. Much prayer, much eating of the word of God spiritually, and much reliance upon the Holy Spirit is now our way of life. Lay aside all evil conduct is the point! Kill it, slay it, crush it, and stand against it in the Name of Jesus Christ and through his Power.

To establish and bring about the ‘bottom line message’ settling all of this is the book of Galatians. Paul is so full of righteous anger, over the people who worked hard to undermine the Grace of God in and through Jesus Christ alone and His work, that he stated quite openly and frankly that ‘anyone, whether a Angel or a Human being preached any other Gospel than the one that is by Grace alone, and not one iota of good works whether physical or mental, existing should be sent to hell for such! I might say this also, if I or any other preacher or minister is not openly hated and denounced by the world system and the religious zealots of this world who endorse ‘good works’ and/or the “Law of Moses” he isn’t preaching the true Gospel.

Romans stated; “Christ is the END OF THE LAW” so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believers.” Romans 10:4. Yet, today, in almost every pulpit existing in the USA we hear the Law preached as a tool or a method of either being saved, or keeping oneself saved, or as a tool to make one sanctified and acceptable before God! Performance ideology is rampant in the messages we hear today from our Evangelical pulpits! It is shouted out loud all the time!

Am I saying like those who attacked Paul were saying, “then let us go on in our sins and worry about it at all” just ask for more Grace and keep on sinning? Not at all! However, as the word teaches we started our journey of eternal Life at the point of being Born again by the Spirit, and the filling of the Holy Spirit, and our Life now is in and through the Spirit, and not in and through the Law. We live in the Spirit and automatically live out the Life of Christ. But also remember, it is the New Person who is living in the Spirit and living out the works of Christ (Loving God and our neighbor) is the fulfilling of the Law as we are In Christ Jesus. The old flesh is still there and it is passing away (really it is already dead spiritually) and will return to dust.

Within it is the evil rotten egg of Sin! It wil still raise its ugly head all the time and seek to do evil in our bodies, and the world, the flesh itself, and the Devil and Demons knows this and they come and incite it by even taking the Law of God from Moses and reminds the Saint of God what God said on the matter of some temptation we are faced with, so that usage of the Law incites sin even more so it gains more power to kill, to bring death, to bring guilt, to bring wrath and condemnation into the mind of a person, etc.!

But that is the battle we are now engaged in to slay such activities before they get a hold of us, to run to Christ and His word and fight the good fight of faith. But NOT for eternal life (for we have it), and NOT for sanctification of the new person (we already have it) but to control and keep in place sin in the body of the flesh where it belongs until it eventually dies out and we leave the body and go to be with Jesus.

So, the point to remember is that Christ put all of this Grace into being and functioning 100% because HE DIED! He had to Die in order that the “will, or the Covenant” could go into effect! It was His death and then His resurrection from the Death that put all of this into the Final Gospel message of Grace operating. The Law is over! Salvation has come! God is glorified and praised! God’s Son rules and reigns now! God through Christ saves NOW! What is out and gone; the Law entirely, works entirely, religion entirely, peoples moral performances entirely (even though in the Spirit good works are accomplished by the Holy Spirit in us and not by us, i.e., not from the flesh and carnal abilities at all. IT IS NEW! THE OLD NEEDS TO BE DROPPED ENTIRELY FROM THE MESSAGE OR IT WILL CORRUPT THE MESSAGE AS PAUL STATED ABOUT CIRCUMCISION. One comes under the Curse of God if he or she endorses and stands up for works either mental or physical – religious or otherwise. Leave the Gospel alone and let it do its work! The Power of God is in the Word of God in the Gospel and its preaching to the sinners of this world and in our living day by day, we live by the Gospel period!

Some feel that if we leave the Law we are somehow not measuring up to what God wants for us. We feel we need the Law! But God through Grace states that is not so. Notice what God says through Paul in Titus 2: 11-13;

“The Grace of God has appeared that Offers Salvation to all people. IT TEACHES US TO SAY, “NO” TO UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY PASSIONS, AND TO live -Self-Controlled, upright and godly lives IN THIS present Age.”

Doesn’t this absolutely clarify what is going on in a Real Truly born again saved child of God? WE are NEVER to use the LAW (and by that all of its aspects whether regarding rituals, and various other activities but also the very MORAL content of the Law which really would be all of it in all of its forms for anything God says to do is MORAL. So, for you and I who are followers of Jesus and are saved, we NEVER take up in our mind any of the 10 words and seek to try and keep them, or if we recently failed, picking up the Law and using it to condemn us and bring more guilt. WE ALL GO TO GRACE ALONE IN CHRIST ALONE FOR THE BLESSINGS HE GRANTS TO US ALONE REGARDING OUR CURRENT FAILURE OR PAST ONES. Please Paul says to the Galatians through that Epistle, don’t do that! Walk in the Spirit, Live in the Spirit, Speak and Rely on the Spirit.

Grace isn’t a Treatment for sin, it is actually the CURE for our Sin! The Law excites our sin and our human efforts. It encourages us to depend on resources OUTSIDE of Christ and the Holy Spirit. But unconditional acceptance deactivates human effort and allows the Holy Spirit to be all that He is and will be through us for the victories. Self-Control has always been a natural attribute of the Holy Spirit given to His people as a gift. The reason HE lives within us is to produce the Self-Control that we are afraid we will not have under Grace!! God told Paul on one occasion “my grace is sufficient for you”

To close this article, remember these words, “It is for FREEDOM that Christ has SET US FREE. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a Yoke of Bondage or Slavery (the Law)!!!

I am speaking in this entire article on things that have to do with the work of God, and it is certainly higher thoughts and understandings that we would have naturally. It is my opinion my thoughts are closer to the truth than what most of the time we hear today from all sources. All of us need to pray and ask God for much spiritual understanding. Amen!

 Lamar16 hours

 Lamar16 hours

IMPORTANT TRUTHS TO PROTECT ONE FROM MISUNDERSTANDING SCRIPTURE!

As a Christian reads and studies the scriptures, there must always be in their minds certain basic criteria or truths that exist which controls the readers understandings, preventing any deviation from what is taking place and what is being taught in the verses (context maintained)!

The pertinent ideas that should be remembered relating to WHO is being spoken to, WHY are these things being spoken, WHAT is going on in terms of the timing of the event(s), and WHEN was it written and bottom line WHAT Is God actually saying.

Not what does it mean to me, but What does He actually say to me and to others who read the Inspired Words from His own powerful Being? It doesn’t matter what I think about it, what matters is what does HE say!!! HE HAS ONE MESSAGE!

Of course, when we hear and understand what He says we believe it absolutely regardless of what we may feel about it!! Many things in the Bible would offend the mind and thoughts of human beings during any time in the history of mankind. But so what? It doesn’t matter if they offend or are out of sync with our human thoughts!

Why? This is our Creator and our God Who is Speaking. If you want to hear GOD speak READ HIS WORD, and if you think you need vocalization sounds READ it out loud and you will hear it out loud. God speaks right now in HIS word. Hebrews chapter 1 states, “He has spoken to us in the last days in and through His Son Jesus Christ, so hear Him!

A case in point is this! The New Testament doesn’t actually begin in Matthew chapter 1, even though it is separated in our Bibles as if it is words under the New Covenant. It is a transitional book, having some doctrine concerning both the Old and New Covenant matters. In fact, the New Covenant (Testament) isn’t controlled by the ink and print of words on a page in the bible called the New Testament, IT (THE NEW COVENANT) BEGINS AT THE POINT IN HISTORY WHEN JESUS CHRIST SHED HIS BLOOD ON THE CROSS, AND THEN ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND ASCENDED BACK INTO HEAVEN WHRE HE CAME FROM! That is when the N.T. begins and the O.T. (Covenant) ceases.

So, the materials you read about and matters you read about in Matthew for instance is during Life on planet earth as Jesus came into this world by way of the physical virgin birth of Mary and began His ministry at around 30 years of age or so, and ALL OF THAT WAS UNDER THE OLD COVENANT OR THE MOSAIC LAW TIMES!

Since that is correct, most of all of the material you will read there relates what should be going on within the nation of Israel as they are to be living under the Mosaic Law Covenant which does NOT apply to us today. However, there will be things in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), which speak of future events that will happen in the New Covenant days, such as the New Birth as He described it to Nicodemus, or perhaps words relating to His coming again in Judgement upon Israel in 70AD, or the Final End Time coming of Christ back to earth etc.! So, our thoughts must be directed to those facts as you read those 3 Gospel books. I did not include John’s Gospel because it is much different in its context than those three books.

The POINT then is the New Covenant did not happen until the Crucified Savior Died and came back to Life! He said, ‘IT IS FINISHED”! All O.T. covenant matters are over with. Even though the Jews kept on doing certain Mosaic laws etc., it was over, and eventually God totally destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD some 60 + years later. The born-again people whether Jews or Gentiles in either period (O.T. or N.T.) are in ONE body, and the Lord Jesus is revealed as the ONE Who is in them and is their REAL GOD and LORD and SAVIOR.

Now we see unity of all peoples regardless of their ethnicity and backgrounds placed into ONE Body called the “Called out ones from sin and Satan’s kingdom” or the ecclesia. We use the term in English Church which is a improper term of Ecclesia. The Greek means called out ones by the new birth really and has nothing to do with denominations, or buildings or signing on the dotted line membership cards, etc., for it is a Spiritual body living on earth and many are already in heaven. We know those on earth only by their testimonies and observation of the fruit produced by them. Physicality issues make NOT a Saint or a real Christian.

As Paul puts it, Jesus was ‘born under the law, to redeem those under the law’ – Galatians 4:4-5! So He lived for 33 years on planet earth while those around Him still operated under the Old and not the New Covenant. Where then should we look for the New? The first effects of the New are evidenced in the book of ACTS at Pentecost insofar as the working out of it all took place in the early days of the N.C.! The Apostles’ Letters to the Saints instruct us about life under the New Covenant! But do not forget, the O.T. should be studied for it tells us so much about so many things, such as our beginnings as a human race, the fall of the first two humans, creation of all things, and much much more of God’s workings with individuals and nations.

We should not ever attempt personally or use others materials which MIX Old with the New. We end up with a contradicatory Covenant of our own invention. People are caught up in this today all over the planet. It has infected all of the Evangelical Churches to some extent, and has really cause a lot of serious confusion and problems for the saints in the body of Christ, in terms of assurance, guilt, what sin is and what salvation is all about. A very mixed bag exists out there and it is very difficult now to say to anyone here is a local congregation and ministry that is right on target about the O.T. and the N.T.! Very difficult because there are NOT many out there! But there are some, and we can’t ever send anyone to a Denominational group or some who say they re not denominational but yet they are for they have sister type groups on the same page so to speak. But I can give someone my recommendations if needed when someone asks.

The New we find our standing as holy children of God! The first (Old) covenant was set aside because it made NO ONE perfect. It was a performance system, and No one could perform in a way that met its standards! All failed! Now that is obsolete. It is set aside due to our inability to cooperate with it! Listen to Hebrews 8:13 – “By calling this Covenant “new” God has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and outdated WILL SOON disappear.” and Hebrews 7:18-19, “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better Hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.”

Now HERE is the BIG picture: “There is ONLY ONE way to get close to God now——–through the New Covenant. Any other way is a counterfeit that is invariably rooted in ill-conceived parallels with human relationships and driven by moment to moment feelings.! That will not work and will always fail. Using the Law unlawfully will create DEATH. So, come to Christ Alone, by Faith alone, for His glory alone, and by the word of God alone for Salvation and Sanctification. No works involved by man, but only the work of God in our hearts as HE works 24/7 our lives! Amen!

WHAT STARTED ALL OF THE MESS WE ARE IN TODAY AND WHAT WILL GET US OUT OF IT?

RELIGION IS THE PROBLEM! IT IS ROTTEN! Disclaimer: By religion I do include the outward visible congregations of Christianity, because sometimes we find lost individuals engaged or sometimes Christians get involved many times with the matter of religion which is not what Christianity is about. Religion is what human beings put together and do, not what Christ has ordained and how we are to worship Him and the Godhead.

The story began in the Garden of Eden after God created Adam and Eve! Genesis 3:6. She (Eve) took a bite of the fruit of a tree which had been forbidden by God for her and Adam. The Tree was called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

It is so important to remember that Eve, when approached by Satan who was indwelling the Serpent, was not hearing or listening for God but hearing some points in Satan’s words which were truly correct, so she pushed the evil part aside and perverted the correct part of the thoughts she heard in her mind, that is, looking for more good things.

Satan knew exactly how to get her involved and do a wrong thing. He stayed away from the evil and pushed the good, at least what Eve thought would be good, but she was wrong in her evaluation although she surely meant well. She wanted to be like this Good God that she knew and worshipped. She wanted to enhance her status before Him and thus Satan put the LIE into her ear for consideration that it would really be a very good thing to do what he suggested.

Adam took the bait also when Eve offered it to him, and he ate. He didn’t even question one thing! He was totally enamored by Eve. They both were pursuing a Form of Religion or a form of Godliness. They wanted to be like this great good God and just like Him. Sounds good right? I mean isn’t that what we preach every day to the people and all religions have some aspects of that type of thought. I can be like God, so I need to do this, but it all goes haywire from there on out as mankind tries to do such! In fact, they became stupid! God calls sin stupid, and He calls humanity stupid.

But God never did not teach that this was the way to go for humanity, to take upon itself the burden of developing and following a code of ethics. Yet, we must insist that God designed all of this to take place, that is, the allowance of evil to come about to bring about the greatest Good an Attribute of God which He wanted to display through the Son of God, Jesus the Lord! As we follow the meta-narrative to the Cross work of Christ and all it speaks of, we find Good triumphant and evil squashed. The beginning words of the Bible are absolutely necessary to believe and trust in or one will not make it. “In the beginning God created….” All of this book is about God, about His Son Jesus Christ and as we go forward from Genesis 1 we get closer, and closer, to Christ Jesus.

Choosing ‘human effort’ still plagues us today even in evangelical protestant churches who say they preach Grace, but I am sorry to say it has polluted Grace due to an emphasis of pragmatism and man’s ability to perform. I am taking a course now on Church leadership. However, this well known local Church which publishes this material tends to push pragmatic, world developed systems of thought which the world developed, and it is certain teamwork for sure, but my point is, God has His own way and His own Teamwork system developed well in the Scriptures. We do not need to push the worlds views and adapt to the theories of what works from the world system, but rather, get our ‘word on the matter directly from God, and teach it and the world needs to follow us, not we the world. The world system is not a Biblical world view. Even though we may see similarities or things that may not be actually evil in their way of operations, we still need to be faithful to the word of God on all issues we are involved in. In other words, we do not “ape” or “copy” the world, the world should copy us and our way of life in Christ should attract the lost, and we may say to them, “well, God has taught this already thousands of years ago, look here it is in the Bible. Remember a little leaven leavens the whole loaf.

We have NOT been called to a Performance mode of life, but rather, a Personal Relationship established IN Christ and Through Christ making us have ALL of His performance as the God/Man imputed or placed on our entire personhood! This change makes acceptable to Him now, instead of rebels and sinners who could NOT in any shape or form measure up to the good works and perform good religious deeds through human effort, etc.! They forsook God’s way and OPTED for MORALITY, the self-improvement type! Their own system of right and wrong and that was a Fatal mistake. Still is!!

So what was their motive really? I think it was for a right reason. They wanted to be “right” and do “right”. They wanted to ‘know’ right from wrong so they could choose right and avoid wrong on their own level. Confidence in God’s way was forsaken by them. They didn’t really know anything about evil, but they really already knew a lot about God for God Himself was the optimum of Good. So, the original sin was not Adam and Eve’s thumbing their noses at the goodness of God, but rather, itwas their wanting to be the author and controller of their own system of right and wrong so they could make SURE they did what was right and avoid the wrong. We too, can fall into this system of thought easily. We find ourselves pursuing the knowledge of good instead of listening to our innermost yearning for a INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST AND OUR GOD! That inadaquency we feel can’t be stopped by approaching God via the performance and morality (Law) method of conduct at all, but rather it will be made worse than ever if one does so. And that is what is basically wrong with modern day Christianity as well of course world religions. The SAD thing is that the Evangelical Churches have the Word right before them on this matter yet they are blinded many times in their approaches to what must be followed as the Word of Grace teaches us and add to God’s word on the matter making them more like Moral Deists or the Pharisees of old.

What some folks feel that Christianity is a Behavioral Modification movement program, the Eden message really unveils that the behavioral modification program and view is the CAUSE OF Spiritual Death! That is why those who are preaching the Mosaic Law today as a object to be used in order to get saved by obeying it (rather than seeing it as the word to show we are dead and in need of a Savior and that Savior is NOT ourselves), along with also the Mosaic Law (all of it) is not to be used to grow into maturity either in Christ as we go forward in faith. It is ALL of Grace through Faith and HE is the AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF THAT FAITH AND THAT MEANS THE BEGINNER OF IT AND THE IN BETWEEN ONE WHO KEEPS US IN IT AND BRINGS US TO THE FINAL END OF IT ALL – ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN WITH CHRIST JESUS.

Today we have a multitude of morally acceptable behavior modification movements both religious and non religious if that were the answer but they fail miserably. They just do not work and never will. What they may do is make some really worse than they were and that is become self deceived and hypocrits! The word of God teaches us humanity’s main problem is NOT what we are doing but rather, it is our LACK OF LIFE itself as we live it out either right or wrong due to either being dead spiritually or being alive spiritually. Paul the Apostle states what we are really like very well:

“Just as sin entered the world through one man, and Death Through Sin, and in this way DEATH came upon All people, because all have sinned…..” Romans 5:12 and Ephesians 2:1, “As for you, you WERE DEAD in your transgressions and sins.”

Eve was drawn toward a food to eat! She and people today like her who are NOT saved, are drawn also to a Diet for the Dead!! You think about it for a moment. If you are having a problem and actually die from that health matter, and someone comes along and sees you laying there dead, they don’t’ pull out a Diet Food book and see what they can push into your and stomach in order to bring you back to life. No amount of food will resuscitation like that will work. That person needs LIFE and only LIFE can be brought to him or her by God and not by man or morals or any other diet of religion.

Note what God says will bring about life!

Colossians 2:13 – When you WERE dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature (flesh) God MADE you Alive.” Ephesians 3:4-5 – “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy MADE US ALIVE WITH Christ EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN TRANSGRESSIONS – IT IS BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED”.

God alone knew what we needed and He did it! Not through Law but by Love and Grace and Mercy grated via Faith and Repentance given by Him also. What had brought DEATH was this, “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring Life actually brought Death.” Romans 2:10 It never brings salvation and never brings holiness and sanctification to humans ONLY Christ and HIS Holiness and Righteousness given to us making us right with God works!

Having stated all of this let us not forget this! God loves His people, whom He died for and rose from the dead for granting unto them eventually during their earthly journey the new birth by His Amazing Grace and Mercy! He will not forsake us, He will keep His promises to the “called out body of Christ which is the true Israel of God”, and will come back to earth one day resurrecting the saints bodies who had died before and translates living and breathing saints on earth catching them up into His presence with the others in the skies above and keeps on coming down to earth with them to immediatrely by HIS powerful word burn up the entire globe and planet making it also brand new as He takes them down to this planet earth and sets up His everlasting non ending kingdom in which He is on the Throne, He is the Temple of God with His body of Christ which is called His bride and His temple, and as we live with Him on earth, He will bring down the City of the Living God New Jerusalem and we will live in this HEAVEN on earth forever with Him. Heaven is where Jeus and our God is and so Heaven will be on planet earth forever!! See and read Peters two Epistles and check out Peter’s statements on His next coming! Amen!

LESSON 1: ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE GOSPEL AND THE CHANGES IT MAKES IN A BELIEVER!

Many Christians will walk and live in Old Covenant bondage. Regarding the Law as a Divine Ordinance for our way of life and its directions, they consider their lives prepared and fitted by conversion to take up the fulfillment of the Law as a natural duty. – Andrew Murry written during his lifetime – 1828-1917.

To many people in this world they think of Christianity like this since that is what they observe in so called Christians;

They think “why should I want to subject myself to something that appears to be making so many people miserable?” They think Christianity is more like Cancer than a Cure! Simply because that is what many people portray as what Christianity produces by their own lifestyles and mannerism etc.!

Well, it is easy to find out why so called Christians are appearing miserable to others. Think of this; There are over 600 commandments in all consisting of 250 actions on the Jewish to-do list, and 350 items and actions to abstain from also. Then violations of the Law such as idolatry, sexual sins, etc., and punishable by death! Well, with Israel none of this was able to be carried out by the Jews for they failed all the time and were miserable. So too, it is for so called Christians today who try to use the Law of God and Christ to obtain salvation or to be better or more sanctified. Why? Because the LAW was to only show how bad off we were so we would cry out for a Savior, it was never designed to be kept, it has now power to do so at all. We need a Savior, one who can really save us and deliver us from Sin! That is what the Gospel does and means. We NEVER are instructed to go the Law for either salvation or sanctification. God and Christ becomes our performer and He transfers to us His own works and His own righteousness and covers our sins and frees us from such sin. True freedom comes by and through GRACE – the unmerited favor of God to lost sinners!

1. What if we could do away with ALL of the religious guilt and live our lives in delight and joyful attitudes?
2. What if we could really enjoy a intimacy and relationship with God so much we really know He is with us right now?
3. What if we could just live our life just being ourselves and express Christ Jesus as Lord during it all?
4. All of this would mean the religious stuff would end, we would not have to every day analyze ourselves and measure our spiritually all the time as if we were some unsafe, insecure and potentially lost person with no assurance!!!

Well there is a way to do that and it is free and without price, you can’t buy it! There is a way. It is the NEW way! It is what God really intended all along for the dedicated and miserable people throughout history. And this New ay is the New Covenant Gospel which brings this when properly understood and embraced. God has prepared a much better life than even the believers of the Old Covenant had. Notice the following:

Hebrews 11:39-40 – “These (Old Testament saints) were all commended for their faith, yet NONE of them Received what had been promised. God had planned SOMETHING BETTER FOR US so that together with us would they be made PERFECT”. It has everything to do with the New Covenant cut by Christ Jesus on the Cross.

This New Covenant has a Priest. He is not one like the Old Covenant of LAW people had. He is not from the Aronic Priesthood at all. That is OVER God said and a New Priest has come to town! His name is Jesus and He is under the order of Melchezadek. A Priest that lives forever and never dies and is not involved with the Mosaic law which passed away and is no longer involved in the life of a Christian believer. It was for lost sinners only and now we are saved from the Law and from Sin! Christ paid the price ONCE and for all and eternally lives to be our eternal Priest! No more masses, no more last rites, no more rule of Law bringing condemantion. He paid it all and we go FREE!!

What law did God put on our hearts now under the new covenant? It was spoken of as God’s LawS plural not singular Mosaic law. These laws are called the Royal Law” in James 2:8. The Law that brings freedom – James 1:25; 2:12 and Jesus’ commands 1 John 3:24. God’s commandments are to LOVE Him and to Love each other – Mark 12:30-31. They are not burdensome. If the Mosaic laws were written on our heart today, imagine the consequences! The dietary restrictions, the wardrobe regulations, and hundreds of other rules overhwelming us just as they did the Jews with all of the Moral restrictions and demands. THE NEW IS DIFFERENT AND SIMPLE! SO REMEMBER THIS:

1 TIMOTHY 1: 8-11 – We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the Law is made NOT for righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious…..And it is for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.”

So what purpose was it for? Exclusively for unbelievers and not for saints and saved people. Today, God recognizes two types of people; Believers and Unbelievers. In the Old Covenant days He recognized only Jews and Gentiles. The law was for Jews but today the New Covenant speaks to Believers and the LAW speaks to Unbelievers which we once were.

Here is the final word to all of us today on the Law, so listen or read carefully: ROMANS 3: 19-20 — “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it says TO THOSE WHO ARE UNDER THE LAW, so that every Mouth may be Silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore NO ONE will be declared righteous IN HIS SIGHT BY OBSERVING THE LAW; RATHER, THROUGH THE LAW WE BECOME CONSCIOUS OF SIN.”

Listen to this, we are told as believers NOW to Shut up about this law for it is NOT on our plate and it is over with! We are FREE from the Law with all that Freedom gives us under GRACE! So go and dance, laugh, and delight yourselves in Jesus Christ and walk in the Holy Spirit praising God forever!! YOU are truly FREE!! The book of Romans, Galatians and many other epistles tells us clearly that the Law will only bring guilt, condemnation and even more sinful acts out of a human life when it is used and depended upon! Sin uses it like that SO STOP IT! LIVE IN FREEDOM AND WORSHIP CHRIST JESUS IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH!

Today I listened to up and coming popular minister downplay and speak against the word of God as I have shared it to you in this article concerning Grace and Salvation. He insisted that the Moral Law (Which really is the Mosaic Law that Paul is speaking about so much, and even more than the 10 Commandments for all things are moral if God states them as a Law which would certainly include the ceremonial aspects of the Law. He tried to claim this was not so but it is. Nothing God says is immoral or neutral, if He speaks it is Law anyway. To go on though, He stated we are to use the moral law as he understands it to live out our sanctification works daily and not to toss out the Law! He also disclaimed he was a legalist even though he made us fall under the moral law to accomplish our salvation and sanctification. Listen, Paul ends the case so listen to Him and God who gave Him these words:

Galatians 2:15 – “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles, Know that a person is

NOT justified by the works of the Law, but by Faith (alone) in Jesus Christ…….because by the works of the law NO ONE will be justified.”

Just read again Galatians and Romans and you will find that we DIED to this Law of Moses and are now under Grace and the New Covenant Lass (Plural) of Christ which is a totally different thing.

Of course we read all of the words of God given by Paul and Peter and Jude etc., speaking of how we are to live out our Lives in this world IN THE SPIRIT OF COURSE BUT NOT BY THE POWER OF THE LAW OR WORKS, BUT BY FAITH. OUR WALK REFLECTS OF COURSE THE LIFE OF JESUS AND HIS WAY WHICH IS RIGHTEOUS. It is very evident that we are NOW righteous and we in our New Person or New Nature do not commit Sin but Sin in the flesh is still there and it works evil and sin until we leave the body and pass away, but our New person isn’t contaminating the Holy Spirit and God. Yes, we can grieve the Holy Spirit by paying attention the SIN in the body and carry out its desire, but that doesn’t change us into lost, or sinful beings when we are now Saints. We do not bounce back and forth at all. The gentlemen I spoke of (Mike) just doesn’t get all of the former words I have given in this article at all. He doesn’t really know WHO he is in Christ yet, but if he is saved and I can’t be 100% sure, but I think he may be but just unlearned in the Words which he looks at and reads every day. It is so scary to read the word of God and not understand it at all. Pray God will show him and all of us what this is all about. Eternity and Life is at stake!

So, I will use a little more street talk English in order to help get the entire scenario concerning eternal life. First, God calls His elect, chosen ones by the word of God the Gospel preached using various means preaching the primary means, but He uses also various other means to draw or call one of His elect such as ‘words to direct a person to read the scripture”, or actual visions within ones mind and heart enabling one to want to bow their knees to God and call upon Him to forgiven their sins and trust in Christ Jesus and His sacrifice for sin(s)! In some way or means God gets His elect to respond to His call to perform the miracle of the New Birth or Born Again experience. NONE of this is due to a persons personal works or abilities to make it happen. God is the First cause and Only Cause of all of this happening. We never do good works, never perform any spiritual activities mentally or physically that would make this happen. We DO NOT use the Mosaic Law commonly thought of as the 10 Commandments to gain any favor with God for salvation NOR for sanctification and growth later in our spiritual walk with Christ Jesus. Being IN CHRIST demands that the Spirit of God is there causing us to want to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling BECAUSE IT IS GOD WORKING IN US BOTH TO DO AND TO WILL OF HIS GOOD PLEASURE. HE PROVIDES US SPIRITUAL MEANS TO ENABLE US TO HAVE FAITH, REPENTANCE, UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL TRUTH, AND THE ABILITY TO KNOW WHO JESUS CHRIST REALLY IS ETC.! THE LAW WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO MAKE ONE SAVED OR TO ENABLE ONE TO BE RIGHTEOUS AT ALL. ITS ONLY DESIGN AND PURPOSE WAS TO SHOW HUMANS THEY CAN’T DO IT, THEY REALLY ARE UNABLE TO SEE ANYTHING THROUGH IT EXCEPT THAT THEY ARE LOST, WICKED SINNERS WHO HAVE BROKEN ALL OF GOD’S LAWS AND ARE UNDER CONDEMNATION AND WRATH AND NEED A SAVIOUR. THAT IS WHERE THE LAW SITS PERIOD! THESE MINISTERS AND WRITERS WHO KEEP PUSHING THE LAW OF GOD ON US NOW AFTER GOD HAS SAVED US (FOR THE LAW DOES BRING OUT WE ARE SINNERS AT FIRST CALL OF GOD) BUT WHEN THE NEW BIRTH COMES ABOUT WE DIE TO THE LAW AND NEVER USE IT AGAIN. WE ARE DELIVERED FROM ITS PURPOSE AND DESIGN. NOW WE LIVE IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST AND GOD AND WALK IN THE SPIRIT AND ARE NEW BORN CREATURES CALLED SAINTS NOT SINNERS. ALL SIN HAS BEEN FORGIVEN AND FORGOTTEN BY GOD! ALL OF THEM! PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. HOWEVER, IN OUR 24/7 LIFE WE HAVE A ENEMY LIVING WITHIN OUR FLESH WHICH HAS NOT BEEN REMOVED AND THE FLESH HAS NOT BEEN REGENERATED OR MADE ALIVE UNTO GOD FOR ONE MOMENT. THAT COMES LATER AFTER THE FLESH (BODY) DIES AND GOES BACK TO DUST AND THEN RESURRECTED WHEN CHRIST COMES BACK. SO WHILE LIVING IN THE MIDST OF THIS FLESH (SIN) IN THE BODY, WE FIGHT AGAINST ITS DESIRES TO SIN! BEING IN CHRIST WITH HIM THERE ENABLING US TO STAND AGAINST THIS ENEMY, WE LOSE SOME BATTLES AND WIN SOME BATTLES. BUT THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING SAVED, CONTINUING IN SALVATION OR BEING MADE HOLY. THAT IS ALREADY DONE! WE ARE HOLY, PRIEST’S, A NEW CREATION OR PERSON, AND ARE IN CHRIST AND GOD FOR THEY LIVE IN US 24/7! GOD LOOKS UPON US NOW IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST ALONE AND WHAT HE DID FOR US IN HIS LIFE ON EARTH OBEYING THE LAW, AND WHAT HE DID ON THE CROSS PAYING FOR OUR SINS DELIVERING US FROM SUCH SIN AND EVIL AND NOW WE ARE REALLY A DUALITY, A PERISHING BODY CALLED THE FLESH WHERE SIN DWELLS, AND A ETERNAL LIFE PRSON WHO IS A NEW PERSON WITH A NEW NATURE CALLED A SAINT, OR CHILD OF GOD AND IN HIS FOREVER FAMILY! That is about all I can say on it now. That is the truth. Anything less or more outside of those great truths is heresy! I could speak more of what took place in the Regeneration, new birth, atonement, reconciliation and other matters that salvation brings but my blog will go over all of those to some extent ! Check it out! GraceWorxs.com!

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THE PURE AND UNDEFILED GOSPEL QUIZ!

A quiz would be appropriate now! Answer each question with either Yes or No!

Christians should ask God to forgive and cleanse them when they sin?

Please notice I am not addressing a lost person, I am addressing a saved, born again person who is a new person! We who are born again must remember that keeping 1 percent or 99 percent of the LAW is one and the same. Point: If you were able to keep most of the Law, you struggle with one besetting sin, the point is that whether we obey none of the Law or most of the law, we are still UNDER ITS CURSE. You break one iota of the Law you are cursed! You are lost without Christ and in need of a Savior. The Law was not designed to save us but to show us that we really are sinners and need a Savior. See Galatians 3:10.

The commandments are not intended to supervise Christians. They do not curb sinful desires for one moment. In fact, as we find out the Law is used by Sin to cause MORE sinning. Notice:

Romans 7:5, “While we WERE in the flesh, the Sinful Pleasures (passions), which WERE aroused by the Law, WERE at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for Death!” Romans 7:8 – “But SIN, seizing the Opportunity afforded by the Commandment, PRODUCED IN ME every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, Sin was Dead.”

So based on that living a life controlled by the Ten Commandments RESULT in a ungodly life not a godly life. The facts are, if we live under the Law, SIN WILL dominate your life. If we live FREE from the Law (under Grace), sin WILL not overpower us. LISTEN carefully to what GOD says in Romans 6:14 – “SIN SHALL NO LONGER BE YOUR MASTER, BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE.”

Principles, rules, and standards — no matter how “Christian” we believe they are —- are poor substitutes for a Life animated by God Himself. NOTICE Colossians 2: 20-25 which states that rules and their lack of value for Christians is exposed:

“Since YOU DIED with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, WHY, as though you still belonged to the world, do you SUBMIT to its Rules: “Do not handle, do not taste, and Do not touch!” These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have An Appearance of Wisdom, with their Self-imposed Worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the Body, but they LACK ANY VALUE IN RESTRAINING SENSUAL INDULGENCE.”

He (Paul) is speaking about our approach to life AFTER we DIED with Christ. How will true worship take place now? What brings about REAL humility? What brings actual Victory over Sin in our Lives? Rules and regulations are not the way to go. Paul is compelling the Galatians that is not the way to go, notice this: Galatians 3: 2-3 – “I would Like to learn just one thing from you: Did you RECEIVE the SPIRIT by observing the LAW, or by Believing (trusting, confiding, relying on, depending on) what you heard? Are you so Foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to Finish by Human effort? (That is keeping the Law or Rules etc.?) Self-improvement by rules and the Law is out. We DIED to the LAW and to Sin! We are IN CHRIST JESUS ALIVE to GOD and CHRIST and DEAD to the world, the flesh and the Devil and the LAW!!!

Isn’t the Presence of the resurrected Christ INSIDE OF YOU ENOUGH?

The Point also is this: If we are IN Christ, Dead to Sin, Alive to God and Christ Jesus, and are Justified by Faith alone, we are under the FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS PAYING FOR OUR SINS AND HE PROMISED TO REMEMBER THEM NO MORE, AND HE IS NOT GOING TO HOLD THOSE AGAINST US ANYMORE AND THAT IS THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE ONES. IT IS NOT JUST THE PAST ONES IN OUR LIFE, BUT THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE ONES ALSO!

So, why are you confessing them to HIM since they are ALL forgiven and we are no longer held under a curse of a law breaker when the LAW we are DEAD to can’t be used against us? You bring up the LAW and it condemns, and guilt and a curse comes upon us! We don’t want that and that is NOT what Salvation brought. One however says, then what do we do if and when we sin and we do sin still as Christians? We listen to Paul when he states in Romans 7: 4-6 and 14-25:

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to DIE to the LAW, through the body of CHRIST, SO THAT you might be joined to another, to HIM who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we WERE IN the Flesh (past tense), the sinful passions which were aroused BY THE LAW, were at work in the members of OUR BODY to bear fruit for death. But NOW we have been RELEASED FROM THE LAW, ((MY NOTE: IF YOU HAVE BEEN RELEASED FROM THE LAW THEN YOU DO NOT BREAK THE LAW AND YOU ARE NOT CONDEMNED OR BROUGHT BACK TO DEATH FOR LAW KILLS AND SLAYS PEOPLE)!…..”HAVING DIED to that by which we WERE bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and NOT in oldness of the Letter (Law)! ….(14-25)…”For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh (SARX in Greek meaning sin (singular that is it abides in his body), sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very THING I HATE. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I AGREE with the Law confessing that the Law is good. So NOW no longer AM I THE ONE DOING IT, BUT SIN WHICH DWELLS IN ME. FOR I KNOW THAT NOTHING GOOD DWELLS IN ME, THAT IS IN MY FLESH; for the willing is present in me, but the DOING of the Good is Not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

But If I am doing the very thing I do not want I AM NO LONGER THE ONE DOING IT, BUT SIN WHICH DWELLS IN ME. I FIND THEN THE PRINCIPLE, THAT EVIL IS PRESENT in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the Law of God in the Inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. WRETCHED man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin. CHAPTER 8: Therefore THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS HAS SET YOU FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND OF DEATH.”

So, when we live out our life and we find we sin, and we do sin in some fashion every day I am sure of that, we do not have to go to God and act like a Roman Mass has to take place crucifying Jesus all over again when HE stated that IT (THE ATONEMENT MADE BY SHEDDING HIS BLOOD) WAS FINISHED WHEN HE HUNG ON THAT CROSS AND DIED. HE DIED ONCE FOR ALL AND NEEDS NOT BE A SACRIFICE AGAIN. IT WAS DONE. WE WERE SET FREE! NO LONGER UNDER A CURSE AND NO LONGER LOOKED UPON BY GOD AS A SINNER BUT RATHER A SAINT AND THE SONS OF GOD.

Now we have a physical body which has NOT been born again or resurrected or translated and SIN (singular) resides in it and it does act out and seeks to get total control 24/7 in your life but that is impossible since we Died to Sin and Died to the Law which is used to slay us and bring death to us. We are NOT dead but Alive and set free now from sin and death and the curse and we no long pray like we are still lost in bondage to Satan people. That is an insult to our Christ and our Savior.

We are Forgiven totally before we even think about it. We can certainly talk to the Lord about His glorious redemption and LIFE in Christ we have now and that our sins have been forgiven and no longer held against us and we can see and should always seek the Power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to be doing its work in our lives 24/7, but realize we are forgiven saints. 1 John in speaking about sin in the 1st epistle he wrote was speaking to LOST Gnostics who had wormed their way into the local Church, and he was exposing in his epistle their ideas that Jesus was not God in the flesh for being in the flesh in their minds was being in Evil and Sin. So, he made sure to remind them that when we were lost, we were sinners and had to confess we were, and they should also, and that Jesus paid the price for our sins, and we are no saints and Cannot Sin any more due to our new nature and status in Christ. Our body has sin still there and it expresses itself and we struggle with it with the Holy Spirit, for sure. But even if we sin it is Already Forgiven for, we confessed it in order to Get Saved in the first place, and so it is ALL forgiven as it takes place even to the very last breath we have in this body. We are FREE in our New Nature. We must realize WHO we really ARE!!! We are FREED, SET FREE, NO LONGER IN BONDAGE, NO longer under the Bondage of SIN, ETC., AND FORGIVEN AND THIS IS SPEAKING ABOUT ME AND YOU AS THE NEWBORN ONES, THE BORN-AGAIN ONES, THE SET FREE ONES, THE NEW NATURE ONES, WITH A NEW HEART, NEW SPIRIT, NEW SOUL, NEW INNER MAN! SO, WE DON’T ACT LIKE LOST SINNERS WHEN WE PRAY AND WE NEED TO RETHINK OUR WORDS TO REFLECT WHO WE ARE!

IMPORTANT INFO TO HELP EXPLAIN HOW WE ARE TO PRAY ABOUT ALL OF THIS!!!

I do not wish to lead one astray on this. This information is mysterious for sure to the natural man’s thoughts etc., but we must realize we can speak to God directly now going to the Throne of Grace in time of need concerning our personal failures, sin(s) and weaknesses, for HE invites us to do that and get help! As we come, we can say Lord, I am sorry for the failure, the sin, the weakness I engaged in today please help me to overcome such. I know you paid for that sin(s), and I know that you have given to us all things necessary in order to live our life in victory and in holiness. So, help me see the flesh (sin) still dwelling in my body be controlled by your Spirit and Word and may I run to you when tempted. I thank you though, you have forgiven these sins as you paid for them on the Cross.

If we harm others and do them wrong, we do ask for their forgiveness directly for such, etc.! But before God, sin(s) are Already forgiven and NEVER being held against us regardless of what it may bring to our bodies which are still fallen. Our new Man is absolutely NEW. God Swallows up our sins with GRACE. Not even sin can thwart God’s Love and Grace!

I know many of you this seems to be radical, but think about it, when God say’s He has delivered you, redeemed you, took away our sins, will not remember them no more, and you have died to Sin, died to the Law (Moral for all is moral if God demands it), and you have these promises that His anger, wrath, condemnation is removed, THEN IT IS REMOVED FOREVER! The Bible states that HE never changes but stays the same and if He promised this took place it took place. So how can we speak against God and His promise and His work? Also, how can we invent theological concepts and words in order to make it become something that it isn’t? Be careful out that folks things are not what they seem to be as orchestrated by the denominations and church groups that exist today! Romanism of the past had nothing on our groups of Evangelicals, we almost outdo them.

As I present this great truth of the Good News, remember that we do have many who teach basically these teachings I have spoken of who realize these things but some whom I admire highly and respect seem to now present it well and may not even recognize it well, so pray for them, and pray for me as I struggle with unpacking the great truths as given to us in the precious word of God. There have been times in world history where the entire Gospel has been corrupted and not spoken correctly by the majority of those who claimed to be Christians. History proves this so let us not think such could not be going on today for the evil one is always at work to do so. But God warns us and instructs us to remain faithful and uphold and lift up His name and His word and rightly divide it regardless who may or may not believe it. We must follow God and Christ and not mankind in general and especially those who proclaim they are Christians but yet are missing some real important aspects of the Gospel. One of the things we do a lot is to read other materials and ideas about things relating to the Bible. That can be good and helpful, but always remember that spoken and written by man is not the inspired word of God. Mine INCLUDED. So, one must check out the actual words and compare them with the Holy Scriptures to see if they are so! Jesus changes things always!

One thought came to me today again, the Bible proclaims that God and Christ NEVER change in their character and nature of being and also in their word which they speak about matters. God changes things and people but He remains the Same always! So, He gives gifts to people when HE so chooses and NEVER has told any preacher or man or woman that HE will NEVER give gifts (special ones also) to anyone anymore! That is a outright false view but it is preached by many of the people I admire in terms of things they preach and say today. But that is one among some other matters they are absolutely wrong on. Sometime I think it is because a great big push back exists due to some denominations and groups along with their ministers are way off base on many major Bible Doctrines and yet they falsely try to make people thing they have special signs and gifts and they do not!! But we can’t stop believing in God and His word because some are lost in the pulpits and some are false prophets etc., only to remember not to listen to them and expose them which is right. But not let the Truth be dropped out of our work and service due to them!! We don’t quit preaching because of false prophets and we don’t deny the word either because some abuse it. One has to have a Clear Word from God that something is true and that word has to be in context and really mean what someone says it means!!

So, let one not think the Old Testament is not to be studied and used in your life as a Christian. For instance think of this – notice how much is revealed to us in the Old Testament:

1. In the O.T. we see God punishing the Israelites for their sins. But in the N.T. we see that God punished Jesus for our sins.
2. In the O.T. we see God withdrawing His presence from His people, but in the N.T. we see that He will NEVER leave us or forsake us.
3. In the O.T. we notice a man after God’s own heart, David, who pleaded with God to not withdraw His Holy Spirit from him, yet in the N.T. we see nothing about such activity taking place in the N.T. saints. He never leaves us!

Life is readically different on this side of the cross. A truth we must recognize as we study the O.T.! We read of dietary restrictions, ceremonial regulations, requirements such as Sabbath keeping and Tithing, yet none of these are demanded of the N.T. saints. But these things gives us a fuller appreciation of what Jesus Accomplished on our behalf! We are No longer under the LAW and remember the LAW speaks of both or all aspects of the Law given by God to Israel. It is a package and can’t be carved up like ministers do today and take some of the Law and make us fall under its domination and toss out the rest. You are either under the total LAW and outside of the Grace of God or you are friend and died to the LAW and are INSIDE of Christ Jesus now, with ALL of His law keeping put down on your account and God sees you as His saved, forgiven, child and sons or daughters. Believe God and not modern day preachers!!!

Lamar Carnes