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 - Endorsed - Indifferent - Contested
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| The Nashville Statement
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Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...
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Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich
His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole
[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train
This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos
Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead
There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe
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| Jeremiah 7:8-10 |
I was struck by these verses the other day, and considered strongly writing a post on the subject found therein, but put it off for other things. It struck me as significant therefore when my pastor preached from this very text this past Sunday.
Here is the text (ESV):
"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'—only to go on doing all these abominations?
In the context, God is speaking to the people of Judah who, even though they have stopped following God in their hearts, never the less continue to perform all the religious duties associated with Judaism.
Sound doctrine is always best, but it in the hands of the unregenerate, it can give false hope; that is, those who call themselves Christians, but have never actually been reconciled to God by a repentant faith, will (for instance) use the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints to bolster them in their unbelief. They will tell themselves that it is okay that they sin and what not, because - hey - they're saved and going to heaven ... right? The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints provides the downhearted, but truly regenerate believer, strength to obey the Lord, as he will not look to his own feelings as the measure of his justification, but rest his hope continually and consistently on the finished work of our Lord at Calvary, and in the trustworthiness of our Lord's promise to those who truly repent in faith. But in the hands of a false convert, the idea of an ultra-secure salvation becomes a cloak for liberty.
It is all nice and good to have assurance that one's salvation is eternally secure, as long as one is actually justified - but to have that assurance when one is deceived by a false faith will only make a false faith more deadly.
When a modern Christian reads (therefore) a text like Jeremiah 7, I wonder about those who think nothing of the passage as they pass over it. Here is God calling Judah a bunch of murderers, adulterers, liars, and thieves. We read that and go, "Yeah, dumb old Judah! Why won't they get it?" rather than hear God's word as a living challenge to the remnants, large or small, of our own passing, besetting decay.
That is, I worry about any Christian who reads such a passage without a fearful, trembling reflection upon their own walk. When I read that I quake at my own sin because, while I believe in the perseverance of the saints, I do not for one moment tell myself that --because-- I am a Christian I do not have to worry about God's harsh words directed at my sin. Instead, because I am a Christian, I regard God's words as though they were directed at me, and I examine myself under the naked light of God's righteousness.
I read that passage and I don't muse about what a mess Judah was making of the old covenant. I read it and ask myself whether the slackness in my employment isn't a form of stealing? I ask myself about those things that persist in my life - things that I continue to give my energy and time to - are these not idols? When I think of any person who hates our Lord, is not my first impulse to desire that God would deliver them over to His wrath rather than to His mercy? Isn't this a form of hatred? Isn't hatred as the sin of murder? Is God always my first love in everything I do? If He is not, am I not committing spiritual "adultery" in my heart the moment I put any other thing before my relationship with God? When I consider such things I find myself trembling before God's word; not that I worry that my profession is false, but that I see in the reflection of God's word who I truly am, and worse, who I continue to be. I see therefore that unless God continues the work He has begun in me I am without hope in the world. Why I am like that? Here is the thought that came to mind: You have not because you ask not, or you ask in a way that would require God to bolster your flesh.
I am convinced from scripture that, because I am His child, God will refine me. I reason that in order for sanctification to happen to me as a believer, there must be something of rebellion in me - that is, there must be something in me that actually needs sanctifying! I also know that my sanctification will not happen spontaneously through passive indifference. When scripture says to work out your own salvation - it is talking about salvation from sin - Jesus came to save His people from their sin (c.f. Matthew 1:21) - Paul explains that we are to work out this same salvation with fear and trembling knowing that as we do so it is actually God who is working the desire to do his good pleasure into us, and more - even giving us the ability to do it. Every believer who sits like a bump on a log and waits for God to eliminate the sin in his or her life demonstrates a dangerous lack of understanding.
It works this way: We are motivated to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts (to use the words of James) by a God given desire to live a life that is pleasing to Him. If we act on the desire that God gives - the desire to draw near to him through pursuing holiness, we are given grace to do so when we seek to do so with a singleness of heart. If we attempt to draw near to God in some half hearted way, we shouldn't expect grace, and frankly, whatever me managed to muster up usually won't suffice, leaving us pretty much where we started.
The work of sanctification is a work of whole heartedness, but sadly, the pursuit of religion is something any half hearted believer can master and excel in. That includes such things as "Christian education", teaching, preaching, going to seminary, programs at church, etc. etc. It amazes me, and if you stop and consider it, it will amaze you too, that we are able to do as much as we do -- without any real holiness to speak of.
So when you read a passage like this one in Jeremiah - don't just say, "I am saved, ...what has this text to do with me?!" and move on. Drink it in, and examine your walk. Are you pursuing the holiness without which no one will see the Lord? Are you satisfied in your religion even though deep down you know it is empty? Let's be even more direct: Are you ready for judgment day, or do you think you have some things to make certain of before you die?
It is good and right to have no hope in our flesh, and to place all our hope in the finished work of Christ on calvary - and it is that alone that we rest on when it comes to our justification - but what kind of faith is satisfied with a mere "pass"? Consider the magnitude of slackness heart-hearted and bitterly sinful laziness it takes to willfully coast when you should be pedaling with regards to God's call for personal holiness. How thick must be the callouses on one's heart be to allow one to flippantly set aside the commandments of God (i.e. pursue holiness!) simply because one is certain that Christ's sacrifice covers their sin.
I burn with indignation at the thought of that. I bristle at Christians who scuttle past those words in scripture which, when rightly understood and applied would breath life into their dead bones. No, let me drill down on that so I am understood - I bristle at the bondage that makes that possible. I hate sin, I hate it in my life, and I hate it in your life too. I hate how it enslaves the world, and I especially hate it when Christians writhe and toil under it, trying to free themselves from it's rule, and fail because they're trying to free themselves from it by every other means than what scripture prescribes: faith from a full heart.
Do they never realize that the reason they fail is because they aren't fully committed to success? How many times must they put their hands in the fire before they learn it burns them? They are hungry, and willing to put their hand in the bowl, but then they become too lazy to bring their hand to their mouth in order to feed themselves. They want the crop, but refuse to go and plow, plant, and harvest, and then admire their religion because in it they have a desire that is good, even if they never answer that desire by engaging in the good work God has given them the desire to pursue. Yet, because these things are spiritual, and because ignorance is rampant in the church, many put off the pursuit of holiness because they really do presume that something mystical is supposed to happen so that they don't have to actually pursue holiness, it will just fall out of the sky and land on them one day. Of course, when that fails to happen, instead of adjusting their impotent religion, they surround themselves with people who make them feel at ease in their spiritual failure. Misery loves company after all.
The problem is almost always faith.
Listen, those who come to Christ because they have seen themselves as wretched the sinners they are, who see how they deserve death for their rebellion, and see how the Lord is entirely just in condemning them, and in the silent wake of that truth cry out to God for reconciliation, cry out, I say, to be taken out of their rebellion and put back into a right relationship with God - the kind where you obey God as you ought to - that is, who cry out to God from the well of their own brokenness not holding their hearts aloof from God, but presenting them to God as His to direct, own, and command - that is, they cry out to God in full repentance; these continue to pursue God because they haven't yet attained their goal - to be with God.
Yet those who come to Christ to escape their own damnation, whose interest is driven entirely by their own desire for self preservation - the very moment they are convinced that they are saved from hell - they believe themselves to have attained all that they came to Christ to secure, and once they have it, they care little for all the frills. Why pursue holiness, if you already have what you came to Christ to get - a ticket out of hell? They don't love God, they would be just as satisfied to live forever in their earthly flesh as is, and have there be no God at all.
Here then is a good, diagnostic question: Why did I become a Christian? Was it to escape hell, or was it to be reconciled to God? What is my desire? Do I desire God for God's sake, or do I desire God because I reason that is a better fate for me than hell? Is my desire for God nothing more than a selfish desire to avoid a miserable afterlife, or is it a desire to be loved by, and received into the family of, God?
Love the Lord your God is the first commandment, and I think it is first for a good reason. The bottom line is this: if you find that you are not at war with sin in your life - if you find that you have no loathing of sin, and no desire to fellowship with God - no aching for righteousness, it is no wonder you gloss over the verses that speak directly to you. You are a corpse - and unless the Lord breathes life into you, you will remain so.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Repentance follows.Labels: holiness, repentance |
posted by Daniel @
5:51 AM
7 comment(s)
 
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| Christ's Righteousness vs. Our Righteousness. |
A sinless person could maintain their sinless state through perfect obedience, but a sinner who maintains a sinless state after having sinned is still a sinner.
I used the example of virginity to make the point in a previous post. Abstinence, if practiced by a virgin maintains that virginity, but abstinence practiced after having lost one's virginity does not produce "new" virginity.
It is patently obvious that obedience does not make us blameless - that is, no amount of righteousness can undo even a minuscule but previous indiscretion. Once you sin, that's it - you are no longer righteous, in the sense of being blameless. All your obedience thereafter cannot reproduce that blameless state - you are spoiled, ...unclean - and all your righteous efforts cannot clean you up - they are, for that purpose at least, about as useful for cleaning you up as filthy rags.
With the exception of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, there is no man who has ever walked the earth blameless before God. Given a chance, every last person eventually sins and no sinner is that kind of righteous. No sinner can or will (therefore) ever be reconciled to God by subsequent obedience.
This is where the gospel message is so important, since we cannot, through subsequent obedience, become blameless once blame has been found in us, we cannot be reconciled to God by our own obedience. The way of reconciliation then, is not through personal obedience, but through faith. By faith we enter into a union with Christ, and it is through this union that our sins were presented to God on Calvary, and there Christ died the first death here on earth at the hands of men, and again the second death in our stead, at the hands of God.
We make a distinction here for clarity - God doesn't punish sin, He punishes sinners because of their sin. Through the believer's union with Christ, God punished believers in Christ on Calvary, and when Christ had fully suffered God's spent wrath, He died and so too died every believer in Christ. We were died and were buried with Christ - that is what Paul writes. But because Christ was innocent, God raised Him up after spending all of His wrath. We who were in Christ, united to Him by faith, we had to be raised up with Christ when Christ was raised, for such is the defining nature of our union with Christ. God's wrath being entirely spent, it was just and right for God to raise us up in Christ. Having spent His wrath on us in Christ, God had no reason to punish us further, but He also had no reason to raise us up again to life - the death that we died, we died justly. But Christ, being united with us could not be justly held in the grave, and so for the sake of His righteousness, God had to raise Him, and since we were in Christ, and since our penalty had been received in full - there was nothing stopping God from raising Christ, and us with Him.
So when we talk about justifying righteousness, we are talking about that which obligated God to raise Christ from the dead - a blamelessness that requires our just God to undo the wrongful death of His innocent Christ. We speak of this righteousness as being imputed to us who are in Christ - for it is this same righteousness that merited Christ's resurrection.
We cannot add to this righteousness by acts of personal righteousness, nor can we take away from it by acts of personal disobedience. We are justified by a righteousness that is entirely external to ourselves - a righteousness that is received by and through trusting that God will absolutely save ever sinner who humbles himself in faith before God.
Now, I want to be certain that the nature of our salvation isn't foggy on this point, so I will examine how this wouldn't work with some other sinless sacrifice: Consider a sinless new born babe.
If we could be united by faith to a sinless new born babe, God would be obligated because of our sin, to pour His wrath out on us, and we would die the second death, along with the babe, and God would be obliged by His own righteousness to raise us up again, along with the babe into the same relationship we now stand in - MAKE SURE YOU GET THIS PART - that is, we would be raised sinless but continue in the curse of Adam because the babe, though sinless, has inherited Adam's curse - we would be just as enslaved to sin as ever before, and every last one of us would sin again - because we would be raised right back into the same pit we are presently in.
Christ wasn't just sinless, He was outside of the curse of Adam - the second Adam. What was raised in Christ was raised outside of Adam's curse - our new life is hidden in Christ, incorruptible. If we could find some other innocent sacrifice born of Adam's race, it could only suffice to raise us all back into this corruptible system. Christ, therefore, is the only path for both sinners and sinless babes to be reconciled to God. Sinners need to be reconciled to God on account of their personal sin, and need to be raised up in new life, and sinless babes, although they need no Savior from their own sin, they need to be raised in Christ to be saved from Adam's curse.
Thus even innocent, sinless babes need Christ - not for their personal sins, for they are not condemned on this account - but they need to be saved out of Adam's race - to be saved out of Adam's curse -and while scripture is very clear that we are saved from -sin- by faith, it doesn't give instruction about how we are saved from Adam's curse. Speculate as you will, but I believe innocent children are saved from Adam's curse, not by faith, since no newborn can exercise faith, but rather by grace. I base that upon the scriptures which suggest that God calls the children to Himself, ...period.
But all this sort of righteousness is what we would call imputed. You do not have it because of your obedience, nor do you lose it because of disobedience. You have it solely and only because you have been united to Christ by grace through faith.
Yet scripture speaks often of personal righteousness. Do we imagine, for a moment that well over 50 references to "the righteous" in the book of proverbs are referring to perfectly sinless people who by their own obedience have maintained a state of blamelessness from birth? No, of course not! We mean people who are practicing obedience, or said another way, we mean those who are humble and contrite before their God.
A lot of bad theology flows from an unwillingness, or an inability to make a clear distinction between the righteousness that justifies, and the righteousness that flows from personal obedience.
There are people who join themselves to the idea of Christianity, not because they see themselves as sinners, or recognize the irreconcilable position they are in or tremble under the full knowledge that their condemnation is just and that they deserve hell for their continuing rebellion - they don't see Christianity as restoring them back into a right relationship with God through the sacrificial efforts of Christ, received by faith, rather they regard God as a cosmic killjoy who is going to send them to hell if they don't join the right team - and so, because they love themselves, they join themselves to the Christian religion. The moment they consider their eternity secure, they pretty much have everything they came for, because they did not come to Christ for reconciliation - they are just jumping through hoops to try and avoid hell.
But scripture says that Christ came to save us from sin, not hell. It is certainly true that in being saved from sin, we will be saved from hell -but there is a difference between coming to Christ as a get out of hell ticket, and coming to Christ to be reconciled to God, and saved from our sin.
I mention this because the next, natural question is, if we are eternally secure by Christ's righteousness, and if our own righteous obedience cannot add to that, and if our disobedience cannot take away from that... why bother being obedient at all?
I say, this is the natural question because it is the question the natural (as opposed to the Spiritual) man would ask. Why should I obey? What's the point? Does it make any difference?
The answer is, of course it makes a HUGE difference, but first and foremost we need to understand that such a notion has many facets.
Consider the fact that the moment one is genuinely saved, the Holy Spirit begins to indwell that person. The Holy Spirit immediately begins a very real, very experiential ministry in the life of every genuine believer. They begin to repent because the Holy Spirit begins to minister in their life. Anyone who doesn't experience the promised ministry of the Holy Spirit does not have the Holy Spirit in Him, and is therefore not born again. They may think themselves to be genuine, but they aren't. It is not our place to decide who is genuine and who isn't. We cannot look into the hearts of men - even God's angels are not fit for such a discerning ministry - as scripture tells us. So don't bother. If you think some one's faith is bunk, check your own spirit - God doesn't call us to bunkify one another, He calls us excommunicate believers who fail to evidence the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives by refusing to acknowledge and repent of sin. It may be that a genuine believer needs to be cast out of fellowship and handed over to Satan in order to learn repentance - so even excommunicating a professing believer doesn't "prove" their faith is false - all it proves is that they are unfit for fellowship.
I mention this because one facet of our obedience is clearly the fact that the Holy Spirit is at work inclining our hearts to obedience.
But there is more to this than just new inclinations. Scripture speaks of practical righteousness as a means to contentment, fulfillment, joy, peace... to put it in a nutshell - the way of righteousness is life more abundant. In other words, even a godless man, or someone from a false religion who obeys the commandments God gives His children - even such a one as this will reap a much better physical life than the one who pursues pleasures for pleasure's sake. There are very few people on their death bed lamenting the fact that they didn't drive the fanciest cars, or have the biggest houses. In fact, people tend to get very wise as death encroaches upon them - they see clearly, many for the first time, just how empty (the "preacher" would call it "vain") so many of our carnal pursuits are. They never bring joy, they merely bring temporal pleasure or ease by which we are momentarily numbed against a persistent emptiness.
We could say that the reason we should obey is simply because God's way is the best way for us. That is, we recognize by faith that nothing we can come up with is going to be better for us that what God has come up with. We obey because we trust God's way as much as we trust God.
Again, we could say that the reason we should obey is because without personal holiness (obedience) we cannot have fellowship with God in the here and now. The Christian who disobeys God isn't going to make God hate Him or turn away from him, but in the same token the Christian who turns (momentarily) away from obeying God is going to be like the prodigal son wallowing in the pig's mire - spiritually starving and struggling, and miserable on that account. Who will ascend God's holy hill? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Obedience serves, amongst other things, to bring us into closer fellowship with God.
Likewise our faith and maturity grows as we obey the will of God. Drawing near to God allows God to draw near to you. For those who have learned this first hand, it is sweeter than any pleasure the world has to offer.
Thus our obedience does not maintain or produce a justified state - it doesn't get us out of hell, nor can it keep us from hell. Our righteousness serves no one more than it serves ourselves. God doesn't gain anything from our righteousness - in fact He gives to us when we are righteous. God doesn't lose anything when we are disobedient, except the opportunity to bless us. If we practice righteousness, therefore, it is either because we have learned the joy of the Lord (that's the right reason) or because we are trying to merit something (that's the wrong reason).
We should be encouraging one another daily to pursue the peace, joy, and fellowship that comes through righteousness, rather than telling people to buckle up and obey because that's what Christian's do. Fear will make a man obey in the moment, but love will make a man a willing, life long slave. Pursue love.Labels: holiness, righteousness |
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posted by Daniel @
10:02 AM
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| The Heart of Unrepentance.. |
At the core of the unpenitent heart is this one thought - "I will not have you to rule over me!"
Consider the believer who comes to know that looking at pornography feeds his lust and is a wicked offense against God. He sees this because [1] his conscience is informed by the word of God, and [2] because the indwelling Holy Spirit convicts him of sin. Notwithstanding, since he was addicted to porn prior to his salvation, the addiction continues after his salvation - only he feels very, very, bad about it.
Now let us say that this man one day, driven by remorse over his sin, determines that he will no longer look at porn, and from that day on he removes everything in his life that would trigger the temptation - the computer is cleaned of all bad images, the internet is either disconnected or he puts his computer into a public room in the house and makes sure that he is never alone there - he even begins to guard his own thoughts so that whenever a lustful though enters his mind he forces himself to think of something else until the temptation goes away.
Many would say that this man has repented.
He has certainly put himself on morally higher ground. He has recognized his sin, and responded to it by producing in himself morally superior habits. Some understand repentance as being an entirely practical exercise - you simply stop your bad habits, and replace them with better habits and voila! you have repented.
But in Acts 20:21 we read that Paul preached "repentance towards God".
I point out that phrase because it helps us to make a distinction between turning to God and suppressing a sinful habit. A man can suppress a sinful habit without ever turning to God in doing so. He can be motivated by a desire not to offend God, and begin a regimented attack on all the sin in his life, and do so without ever surrendering to God. In fact, he does that -get this now- instead of surrendering to God. He is willing to give up some sin for a season, but he is not willing to surrender Himself to God.
There is no victory over sin in a heart that obeys that spirit of rebellion (small "s") that scripture calls the "old man".
It is entirely possible and I suspect even common for Christians to deal with sin not according to the gospel of grace, that is, not by surrendering themselves to God, but rather by staunching the outward expression of sin as much as is humanly possible without surrendering to God.
Don't think for one second that doing what is right equates to repentance. Repentance produces what is right, but doing what is right does not produce repentance. I have used this illustration before, but it fits here. The young girl who is told to sit and defiantly refuses until threatened then begrudgingly plops herself down in a show of outward obedience betrays her heart when in open rebellion she remarks - "I may be sitting on my bottom, but I am standing in my heart!" - that "heart" illustrates what obedience without surrender looks like - it is not repentance, it is a rebellious servility that was coerced by fear of retribution.
The believer who puts away the porn because way down deep inside he is secretly afraid that by viewing porn he is proving that he was never saved in the first place - and so in order to be free from the fear of damnation he puts aways sin, but does so without really surrendering himself to God - this one hasn't repented, he is doing penance because deep down he is convinced that doing so will appease God. He is catastrophically wrong.
Any "righteousness" that springs from a heart that is motivated to appease God in order to secure for themselves God's favor or pardon - such a "righteousness" is not righteous at all, it is in fact unclean. Such a righteousness is polluted by the flesh, it is counterfeit, an external facade - it is, in biblical terms "=the= world religion" it is Babylon, it is attempting to be like God (righteous) without surrendering to God. It is in no way harmonious with the gospel of grace, but has at its core a concealed, "dressed up as righteousness" rebellion against God.
I repeat - genuine surrender produces genuine repentance and not vice versa. The problem with sin is not the sin, it is the self that is unwilling to surrender to God. The sin is just the outflowing of that rebellion. The real culprit is the old man - and that is why Christ took the old man to the cross with Him - to render him powerless - a reality that while true immediately of every believer, is only experienced when the believer is surrendered, that is, when the believer is "in Christ".
When scripture instructs the believer to walk by the Spirit as the means by which we overcome the lusts of the flesh it isn't some empty slogan - it is life from death. You can battle with sin until the cows come home and you will never get on top of it if you don't surrender yourself to God.
If you are a genuine Christian you know what genuine surrender looks like because that is how you became a Christian - you surrendered yourself to God.
But if you find that sin is your master, then know this: at some point you stopped surrendering - and it was at that point that sin got a foot hold in you again.
What are you to do? Stop trying to perfect yourself in the flesh Christian! Do it spiritually, do it the way you received Christ - by surrendering to him the whole of you. Surrender again, surrender continually - give your very life and all that is in it to God - a living sacrifice - stop cherishing that secret rebellion in your heart! it is killing you, do you understand this? It is killing you, killing your time, killing your inheritance, killing you!
The part of you that wants to rebel was (past tense) crucified in Christ in order that you may now (present tense) no longer obey it. It will call the same old shots, tempt the same old temptations, but only when you are not surrendered to God will these be any problem for you. Being in Christ is being surrendered. Being in the Spirit is being surrendered. Being surrendered is being willing in every moment to do what God asks because God asks. It is the opposite of rebellion - a slippery thing to describe, but easy enough to know, for we know it both by its absence, and by a conscience that knows it is utterly right with God.
I am convinced of these things. Are you?
If these things seem strange to you, talk them out with someone who has been in Christ for a long time - study scripture, see if these things are so. It is not noble to accept these things because some guy on the internet wrote them. Nor is it noble to reject these things because some guy on the internet says they are so. What -is- noble is to examine scripture and see if what I am saying is found there or not. We need to understand repentance if we are going to avoid wasting days, weeks, and years pretending to repent but never overcoming sin's power in our life.Labels: holiness, Instruction, repentance, sanctification, sin, Theology, union with christ, victory |
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posted by Daniel @
9:54 AM
15 comment(s)
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| Don't Hate Your Sins... |
Hate that thing that is producing them - the "you" that was crucified with Christ; you "old man".
Seriously, the "you" that was crucified with Christ has done nothing -(and will continue to do nothing)- but produce death in you every single time you obey him. You see, that old man is a treasonous rebel who utterly hates God. He hates obeying God, he hates being told what to do. His mission statement is, "I shall not have you to rule over me!" - and it was he whom God dragged out and put to death in Christ. He is dead in the same sense as you are eternally alive. You haven't entered into what you are going to be yet, but one day your flesh will be redeemed and you will be changed in the twinkling of an eye - the day star will dawn in your heart, and you will forever be in your new, glorified body. You "own" that life, it is your inheritance, and it is coming to you one day if indeed the Spirit of Christ dwells in you. But in the same way that you now possess this life, so too you possess the death of the old man. Though he has been slain in Christ, yet he lives in the here and now, just as though you received eternal life, yet in the here and now you continue to live on in condemned flesh. The reality of the old man's death is just as real as the reality of your eternal life.
So that every day that you live, and until your last breath (or until Christ returns; whichever comes first) your old man is going to be there with you. He doesn't get what's coming to him in this life that you are presently living, he gets what is coming to him in eternity - and that is he is put to death in Christ.
Now this death was for a reason, as Romans 6:6 explains - so that we no longer are -his- slave. For the other name he has is "the sin". He is the "part of you" that produces sinful desires in your flesh. He is the part of you that is alien to creation - he is not subject to God's law, and he will never be subject to God's law. You cannot make the old man obedient, he will never stand for it. The bible describes only one way to deal with "the sin" (your old man) that dwells in you - and that is to know that you are no longer his slave but God's slave. To regard this thing in you that prompts you to obey its desires and thereby sin - regard it now, as it is in eternity - a dead, defeated thing that has no authority over you to make you obey it.
If you obey it, it -will- produce death in you, but if instead of regarding this thing as the "real" you, you see it for what it is, your greatest enemy, an enemy so profound and great that Christ was willing to die to free you from it - this thing must be regarded as the enemy that you go into battle with day in and day out - a foe whom you only have power over in the moments that you are entirely and utterly surrendered to God.
The way to deal with this thing is to start to see it for what it is - the thing that is working overtime to drag your to hell. The thing that is trying to destroy you right now - it is your untiring enemy, always working to produce death in you - to separate you from the life of God. That is what this old man is - the part of you that wants autonomy, that wishes you could live forever in your own power and strength, and flushes you with desires that would only be appropriate if you could live forever on your own dime. This is the part of you that is killing you, it has no intellect, only an appetite, and every moment you obey it is swallowed up, never to be repeated - another moment in your life where death reigned, and the life of Christ neglected.
Hating the symptoms of this thing is like hating the baseball bat of the one beating you - it isn't the bat that is doing the beating, it is the one wielding it. Jesus didn't take Satan to the cross and kill him there, because Satan is -not- your biggest enemy - your old man is, and you better stop treading water, because he is eating up your life right now.
How do we deal with this old man? He is a defeated foe, but only in Christ. We must regard as true that he is truly dead in Christ, and that we are truly alive in Christ. Christ has already put him to death on Calvary, your job is to stop taking orders from him - regard him as an utterly defeated foe, defeated expressly for this purpose - that you would be free to take your orders from God.
You who are reading this - who are you obeying in this moment - are you obeying that evil thing that is killing you and hates God, and in doing so swallowing up the most precious gift that God has given you and those around you - the moments that you are on the earth as a Christian? Or are you in the fray - sword out, and with your ear turned to the Captain of your soul. Listen: the Holy Spirit is in you if indeed you are Christ's. You really are dead to this "Sin" fellow, the old man who wants to destroy you - stop obeying him, and instead, letting the truths of Christ produce life in you - trust in them, not in some vague way - but specifically. The violent take the kingdom by force, they are not passive - no one stood on the banks of the Jordon waiting for the Canaanites to fall over dead - they crossed the Jordon on dry ground, and went in fighting because GOD HAD PROMISED THEM EVERY INCH OF LAND THAT THEY WERE WILLING TO TAKE. Force your mind to reject the desires of the old man. That old man is not your master Christian - you are God's slave, obedience to God sanctifies you - it cleans out the old habits, the ruts that you used to fall into - don't let the old man make new ruts - obey God, give God a chance to cleanse you. He --will-- sweep out the house if you let him - but you better let Him fill it, or you will be worse off for it.
Christian - today is the day. Today. Not later, now. Right now. Surrender yourself to your master, make today the day of battle - go into the fray with your mind set on the victory and not on the enemy. Don't go into Canaan as those 10 who came back with a bad report, focused on the enemy - no, focus on Christ - He is a mighty General, he has already given you the victory, he cannot be defeated - if you follow his battle plan you -- will -- be -- victorious - man, go out there and take it - run brother, run sister - don't walk, don't crawl, don't hesitate - get into the fray, and redeem this day, and every day. You are not your own, you are bought with a price - do not shame that purchase another day.
And pray for me. Man, I am preaching to myself.Labels: holiness, sanctification, sin, victory |
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posted by Daniel @
11:27 AM
9 comment(s)
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