If people's thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. Rom 8:6
Your heart is a fertile greenhouse ready to produce good fruit. Your mind is the doorway to your heart—the strategic place where you determine which seeds are sown and which seeds are discarded. The Holy Spirit is ready to help you manage and filter the thoughts that try to enter. He can help you guard your heart. He stands with you on the threshold. A thought approaches, a questionable thought. Do you throw open the door and let it enter? Of course not. You "fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ" (2Co 10:5 PHILLIPS). You don't leave the door unguarded. You stand equipped with handcuffs and leg irons, ready to capture any thought not fit to enter. Just Like Jesus (Max Lucado) You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" John 8:32.
How many professing Christians truly understand Jesus' words here? Better yet, how many of those individuals believe His words? When Jesus spoke to the Pharisees He explained many things, but most of them were not able to understand because they did not truly know God. He told those Pharisees that sinners are slaves to sin. Yet if the Son were to make them free they would be free indeed. Because the Pharisees didn't believe that Jesus was their Messiah they didn't understand His words. You and I do believe Jesus is our Messiah, so we should not only understand His words we should believe them. The Son has set us free from the slavery of sin. Why then are so many professing Christians so incredibly oppressed with the guilt of sin? The answer lies in the truth. If we don't believe God's truth then the Son cannot set us free from the bondage of sin. We are all sinners and deserving of eternal punishment. Deserving is one thing, but actually being subjected to that punishment will never become a reality for those of us who are born again. Why is that truth so hard to grasp? There is no punishment or judgement awaiting the righteous children of God. What is waiting is an eternity with Jesus our Lord; that fact alone needs to be acknowledged by every born again believer in Christ for what it is - pure joy. Joy is of the Lord and that joy is uncontaminated, spotless, perfect, and it is ours. The fact is, erroneous beliefs due to Bible verses being taken out of context or verses which have been misinterpreted have become so commonplace that many Christians now believe they can lose what God has given them and that their sins will keep them out of Heaven. The following is a good example of a verse commonly misinterpreted. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement:" Hebrews 9:27. Many Christians see this verse as proof that we, the children of God, must stand before Him to be judged, and that judgement is not going to be pretty. Not so. Judgement is reserved for the damned not the justified righteous in Christ. Yes, every man is appointed to die once. This includes those who are taken in the Rapture. Those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the born again, have already died once. We've died to our old self and have been reborn. We cannot and will not die again; from the time we become a child of God we are eternally alive. These bodies we currently occupy will perish or they will be changed in the twinkling of an eye into our glorified eternal bodies, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:" 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. The Christ rejecters of this world are the only ones who need concern themselves with God's coming judgement.Hebrews 9:27 tells us that everyone dies once and then are judged, but the very next verse says "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Hebrews 9:28. This verse explains that Christ's sacrifice was a once for all time historical event. There is no more sacrifice for sin. All those who have looked to Jesus Christ for salvation will be recognised as His. Sin will never again be associated with those who are truly Christ's redeemed.There is a lot of misunderstanding about sin and how sin is associated with the children of God. Are we justified/saved? Yes. Do we still sin? Yes. There seems to be a paradox in those two questions, especially considering the answers are both in the affirmative. But there really isn't any paradox. God justified us the very instant we first believed in His only begotten Son. We are now the "just", we now live our lives by faith, at least we should. We have been set free from the bondage of sin - free indeed. "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ...now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Romans 6:18, 22. Now that we are free from the bondage of sin, our lives should produce, as the Holy Spirit directs, much fruit. I can't say it enough or make it plainer, the truly born again will never be held accountable for sin. Even though we occasionally stumble and commit sins, God has justified us and we are now His righteous children who He sees as sinless.Therefore the judgement spoken of in Hebrews 9:27 is a judgement awaiting all those who have rejected God's free gift of salvation. There is no judgement for the children of God now that we have been set free from the bondage of sin. Another misinterpretation of scripture lies in the following verse. "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10. This "judgement seat of Christ" is somewhat of a misnomer. Our English word "judgement" needs to be qualified when we look at the Greek word from which it is translated. The Greek word is "Bema", which means seat or throne. Christ is not going to be judging us (His Bride) in terms of punishment. His "Bema" seat will be a place in Heaven where He will be handing out rewards to all the faithful, which are those who followed the instructions of the Holy Spirit in producing fruit unto holiness. It's sort of like an awards ceremony after the Olympics. These rewards will be given to all those who performed Holy Spirit inspired "good" works, but keep in mind that our works have nothing to do with our Salvation. Salvation/justification was fully accomplished in our lives when we first believed. The reference to "bad" in that verse is in reference to those who, even though they are saved/justified, will not receive any rewards at all because their works were not good, but rather done with selfish motives - not Holy Spirit inspired.There are many truly born again Christians out there who are continually beating themselves up because they stumble (sin) now and then. If I've heard the words once I've heard them a hundred times "I think I may have committed the unpardonable sin". Let me just say right at the get go that committing an unpardonable sin is quite impossible for anyone born again. Even the lost and perishing of this world are not condemned because of sin but because of their rejection of Christ. Jesus Christ's death on that cross was the payment for the sin of the world. If we truly believe He did what the Bible says He did, how then can there still be an unforgivable or unpardonable sin floating around? As God Almighty, wouldn't Jesus have known whether or not He'd overlooked one?"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." John 19:30. This statement should give us cause to pause and ponder just what it was that Jesus finished. If you had been there at the foot of that cross, and you spoke Greek, you would have heard Jesus speak the following word "Teleo" and you would have understood that word to mean "It is finished, there's nothing else to be done - I paid it all." Jesus would never be sacrificed again for sins. Why? There's no need. His perfect sinless blood was abundantly sufficient to cover all sin, from the past to the present and all future sins as well. I've said it many times in past commentaries. No one who is currently taking up space in the abode of the damned is there because of the sins they committed while alive on this planet. They are there for one reason. Every single soul in that horrible place is there for eternity because they rejected Jesus Christ. They are Christ rejecters. They made their choice while alive and they are now relegated to spend eternity in the most horrible place ever imagined. Now let's get back to the unpardonable sin. The two verses that are so often misunderstood and taken to mean an unpardonable sin are in Matthew chapter 12. "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come" Matthew 12:31-32. To get the flavor of what has just transpired we must go back a few verses. "But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." Matthew 12:24. The leadership of the Nation of Israel had just determined, and then publicly pronounced, that Jesus Christ was indeed Beelzebub - Satan. The Pharisees had committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by stating that Jesus was Satan. The Holy Spirit always points us to Jesus as God and Savior. Referring to Jesus as Satan was tantamount to calling the Holy Spirit a liar. Therefore in pronouncing that Jesus was Beelzebub, their rejection of Jesus as Messiah became final. Suddenly that generation of Israelites had become a cursed nation. National Israel, by rejecting their Messiah, had committed blasphemy and Jesus - God Almighty - would certainly take action. Jesus pronounced that curse on them. Although the curse was on National Israel, and more specifically that particular generation, it was not on individual Jews. They were still free to choose Jesus, and those who did were given everlasting life. So, today as we look at the concept of an unpardonable sin we can see there is no such thing. God is not about to tell us He paid the full price for all sin and then renege by saying "Oh, well there is that one unpardonable sin that slipped by me and is still lingering out there - be careful". Not a chance, all sin has been covered by the prefect blood of the Lamb.Judgment is in the future of mankind but it only applies to those who reject Christ in this life. The blinders are in place to obscure the truth, but once the Holy Spirit gets through to the stiff-necked of this world the Son can set them free and then they too shall be free indeed. Have you been set free? 1 Chronicles 16:31
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!" - The Lord is in control and you have reason to rejoice. - In fact, He has the final say on all matters. - Never under estimate what He can do. - You can trust Him with your situation, so start rejoicing. PRAYER: Lord, it gives me great confidence to realize again that You reign and as a result I can praise You with expectation. Amen. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Joh 4:24
Don't think you are separated from God, he at the top end of a great ladder, you at the other. Dismiss any thought that God is on Venus while you are on earth. Since God is Spirit (Joh 4:23 ), he is next to you: God himself is our roof. God himself is our wall. And God himself is our foundation. Moses knew this. "LORD," he prayed, "you have been our home since the beginning" (Ps. 90:1). What a powerful thought: God as your home. Your home is the place where you can kick off your shoes and eat pickles and crackers and not worry about what people think when they see you in your bathrobe. Your home is familiar to you. No one has to tell you how to locate your bedroom… God can be equally familiar to you. With time you can learn where to go for nourishment, where to hide for protection, where to turn for guidance. Just as your earthly house is a place of refuge, so God's house is a place of peace. God's house has never been plundered, his walls have never been breached. The Great House of God (Max Lucado) “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.” (Jas 2:23)
His story began with a whisper, some say. One night while he was standing near a grove a mulberry trees with a group of friends, a strange breeze rushed in from nowhere and rustled the leaves a bit. Some say that’s all it was – just a strange wind. But he heard the Voice. The look on his face didn’t go unnoticed by the others, for it seemed as though he had seen a ghost. No, he didn’t see one – he only heard one. And it was a Holy Ghost. The Voice, tender and befriending, called him by name – “Abram.” We know him today as Abraham. And the Voice that spoke to him that night we now know as the God of Abraham. They were friends, and their friendship began when Abraham believed. And what was it exactly that Abraham believed? Simply put, he believed God. Whatever God said to him, no matter how impossible or unlikely it seemed or sounded – Abraham believed that the One who spoke was true, and able to do what He had said. Listen to how Paul puts it in his letter to the Romans: “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, ‘You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!’ Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, ‘It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.’ Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said.” (Rom 4:18-21, The Message). What crazy, insane, impossible, and most unlikely thing has God promised you? And now does it all seem hopeless; certain never to happen? Well, you are on the brink of becoming friends with God! Just believe!! Do you know what it means to truly Forgive? It means "to release from accountability". When you truly forgive someone, you no longer hold them responsible or accountable for their actions. When Jesus Christ forgives you, He no longer holds you accountable for your sin. (I will remember their sins no more. Hebrews 8:12)
Corrie Ten Boom shares this incredible true story in her book, The Hiding Place: It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there -- the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein," he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!" His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself. |
Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
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