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Romans 6

In Romans 6 vs. 12 we are told not

to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. Thewords there imply that we have a choice to letsin have its way or not, it is up to us. Ourenemy, who is out to destroy us, would haveus believe that we are just sinners saved bygrace The truth is wewere sinners and weare saved by grace. We are saved from sin; sinis now dead in our lives. As we read in Ro-mans 6 we either offer ourselves as slaves tosin, which leads to death or we are obedientto God which leads to righteousness (Vs. 16).

Most of us know the story of The

Little Engine That Could, you remember, I

think I can, I think I can, I think I can. Well

there is a lot of truth in that story. If you

think you can, you will, if you think you cant,

you wont. To think that I am just a sinner

is to believe the lie of Satan, and already bedefeated and living out the lie, Sin you will

and sin you must. You are not a sinner, you

were, but now you are saved by grace. You

must believe that Jesus died on the cross to

sanctify you and that you are holy, that sin is

no longer your master and that you can live

an overcoming life in Him. Our old way of

life was crucified with Christ, our old sin self

was done away with; we in Christ are dead to

sin (vs. 6).

But positive thinking will only

carry us so far, we dont just have to think it,

we need to know it, we must have our

thoughts in line with what we know to be

true. As you think is as you are. You are not

beaten, the prize is already won, and while

the war is won, the battle for our souls wages

on. We, each of us, have to decide that I am

dead to sin. Think on it, dwell on it as long

as it takes to internalize this fact, and then

live like it, make it a part of you, take it home

and put it to bed, its a done deal, know it in

your heart. We are no longer dead in sin, but

we are dead to sin and made alive in Christ

Jesus. We are baptized into Christ; vs. 3

starts out with Do you not know; therein

lies the problem, us not knowing the Truth,

that as Christians we, each of us, are Baptized into

Christ. We are immersed, surrounded with, and in

Christ. That is what baptism symbolizes our being

dead to the old ways of life and of our being raised to

new life in Christ.

We must not let/allow sin to reign in our

lives, not just on Sundays or while we are at church

or with other Christians. But also when we are at

work, or with friends, or when we are by ourselves,

that is called integrity. And is not just positive think-

ing, sure positive thinking can get you on track but it

is in and with Christ that temptation can be defeated.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens

me (Philippians 4:13). Every sin can be overcome,

dont allow yourself to submit to any exception be-

cause that exception will become the hole in your

armor.

In Romans 13:14 the Holy Spirit says But

put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provisionfor the flesh, to gratify its desires(ESV). The Am-

plified Bible reads But clothe yourself with the Lord

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and make no provision

for indulging the flesh put a stop to thinking

about your evil cravings of your physical natureto

gratify its desires and lusts (emphasis mine). We

are not to provide for failure in our thinking, we must

provide for victory.

There are very real dangers in pretending

we are winning the battle against sin, when we are

not or in approaching the whole issue from self-

effort, like positive thinking. But these dangers do

not outweigh the problem of mentally providing for

sin in our lives. The thought process of resigning

ourselves to sin, thinking that as long as we are here

in this world, that we will sin, must be broken. The

rationalization that I am only human wont cut it

because it is a lie; you are the temple of the living

God, the Holy Spirit lives in you!

We are, as vs.14 points out, no longer

under the law, but we are under grace. I do not be-

lieve that many Christians really understand that and

many become legalistic in their approach to a life of

holiness and sanctification. The Jewish people under

the law had no choice but to be legalistic if you broke

the law intentionally or not you suffer the conse-

quences, in fact the 4th chapter of Leviticus is dedi-

cated to what to do

when someone

sinned uninten-

tionally.

We are

no longer under

the Law; the Law

is a list of sins, not

sin. John Wesley

said Sin is a will-

ful transgression

of the known will

of God. Cliff

Sanders in his

book, Making

Sense out of Spirituality, says that sin is self-rule, that

Sin is a broken relationship and That Broken relation-

ship is caused by our desire for self-rule It can be un-

derstood as misdirected loveloving some otherthing in place of God or more intensely than

God(Emphasis mine). Sin is rebellion against the rule

of God in our lives, sin is intentional, and it is not a be-

havior problem or a list of bad things people do. Sin is

rejection of the direction and guidance of God and a re-

fusal to be ruled by a personal God who wants none to

perish!

We understand grace as Gods unmerited

favor, we are under grace, nothing we earned, nothing we

deserve, it is His gift to us. For by grace you have been

saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is

the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8 ESV).

Under grace we are only held accountable for

what we know, Romans 4:5 tells us that sin is not taken

into account where there is no law, if you have no conceptof having done wrong then there is no sin. That is Gods

grace. As Gods child, in Christ, we are in a relationship

with our Savior, God, and King. His presence in our lives

both assures us of His grace and empowers us to live a life

of Holiness and sanctification. We are made holy and

perfected as we choose to follow the will and ways of God

receiving strength to overcome as we build our relation-

ship through prayer and obedience to His Word.

You are not just a sinner; you are a Christian who can!

Think it, know it, live it!

Volume 2, Issue 8

August 2012

Thetruthin

An Invading Kingdom(Part 2)

2

Does Everyone Go To

Heaven?

4

Holiness and Mediation 5

The Call to Holiness 6

Inside this issue:

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Websters Dictionary defines culture

as, the social and religious structures

and intellectual and artistic manifesta-

tions that characterize a society. Every

society in all of history has had some

type of a culture that defines it. This

culture is indicative of their art and mu-

sic and the ways the people interact with

one another.

The pervading culture of our

day is considered post-modern. It is

characterized by a distrust in many

things that were considered truth in

previous generations. It holds to the

belief that truth is different for each

person based on their specific circum-

stances and experiences. Whatever

feels good, do it, is the mentality of our

modern world and we have even seen

this philosophy creep into the church at

times. This is a change from the culture

of the Enlightenment culture of the

late 17th and early 18th centuries. The

culture of that day taught that science

and fact could eventually explain every-

thing that we see in the world around

us.Even in cultures that hold to a

strong believe whether it be in objec-

tive fact or relativism there always

seems to run some type of counter-

culture within the larger society. A cer-

tain element of people are always willing

to go against the popular culture of the

time and live in a different way. Really,

this is what Jesus was calling His people

to do when He came onto the scene

2,000 years ago. The Sermon on the

Mount in Matthew chapters 5 through 7is the manifesto of this type of counter-

culture that goes against the values and

norms of the society in which the people

lived. This is the definition of what it

means to be called out of the world,

and the beatitudes listed in the first 12

verses define the character that God

calls His people to display as they jour-

ney through this life. William

ing place for the Spirit of God.

These consuming qualities of the

kingdom are not something we struggle

through this life to attain. They are a char-

acter that is placed in our heart as we sur-

render to God. His Spirit will instill these

values in us and allow us the blessing of

God as we submit to the rule of this in-

vading kingdom. We so often try to attain

these traits through dogged determination,

and when that happens we miss the bless-

ing of seeing God transform us through His

work in our hearts. Leonard Ravenhill once

wrote, God does not want a partnership,

He wants ownership.

There is no guarantee that Godwill give us all the things we want, but

Scripture promises us that He will bless us

with the character we need. God will bless

us and work in us to the extent that we are

willing to submit to Him. The only ques-

tion is, how submissive are we willing

to be? Francis Chan pointed out in his

book,Forgotten God, If all you want

is a little Jesus to "spiritualize" your

life, a little extra God to keep you out

of hell, you are missing out on the full-

ness of life you were created for.

There can be little doubt that the kingdomGod promised us is a spiritual kingdom. It

affects our hearts and our minds more than

it will affect most of our pocketbooks and

bank accounts. God wants to rule over our

souls, not simply our possessions though

that will be the result as our souls are

placed in submission to Him.

These Traits Should Be Displayed By

All Christians

The beatitudes are looked at

many times as a list of traits from which we

choose. We pick a couple that we feel suit

us best and dont spend much time think-

ing about the rest. When we view these

commands this way we could not be more

inaccurate in our assessment. It is an as-

sault on the nature of the kingdom and the

reign of Christ to convince ourselves that

we can pick and choose what Scripture we

will follow and what we will not. The king-

dom is not about following as many of

Gods commands as possible, or even doing

P a g e 2

Greathouse, in his book, Wholeness In

Christ, tells us, "It is not too much toclaim that the Sermon on the Mount is

the essence of the Christian life." Look

at the characteristics of these traits that

define life in Gods kingdom.

These Are Spiritual Qualities

For the kingdom of God is not a

matter of eating and drinking but of right-

eousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spir-

it (Romans 14:17). This idea went complete-

ly against what the people of Israel expected

in the days of Jesus. It goes against whatmany are expecting today. People have long

sought a deliverer who would set up a politi-

cal kingdom in this world and overcome

those who have persecuted and imprisoned

Gods people for almost all of their history.

When Jesus came into the world we were

indeed invaded by a kingdom, but it was not

the long expected kingdom. It was a kingdom

that turned the values of the world upside

down. The things that man pursued were

considered of little value in this counter-

culture established by Jesus Christ.

Man looks for riches and posses-

sions and Jesus came to turn the focus from

those things and back to the God who will

provide all that we really need. God has tak-

en the prideful, self-centered heart and

turned it back to Him, and His will through

the power and the blood of Jesus Christ. He

turned the unapologetic sinfulness of the

human heart to mourning for those around

us who are lost and dying with each passing

day. He turned our human ideas and desires

into a meekness in our soul that will listen

and submit to the Holy Spirit. Are hunger

and thirst are no longer for the evil that the

world offers us and that so often consumesus. We now hunger and thirst for the very

character of God Himself righteousness.

And Jesus promised that we would be blessed

for these very things. As the holy character of

God begins to define our lives we find that we

are more fulfilled that we have ever been by

any of the temporal things of the world.

When man looked for a political kingdom to

be set up by a revolutionary Jesus brought

what we really need: a sacrifice that would

purify our spirit and make us a proper dwell-

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which it works. So if God is blessing

us it means that we are being changed

and fulfilled. We are being given the

joy of the Lord. We no longer need to

search the world for something that

will fulfill or complete us, Gods bless-

ing and love are at work in our livesand we are fulfilled by His love dis-

played through Christ in us. As the

kingdom invades this world this cul-

ture will change our lives.

These Are Not Natural Tenden-

cies

We must remember as we

seek to see this culture work in our

lives that there is little we can do to

create it ourselves. God is our King,and He will establish the culture that

He desires among His people. These

characteristics listed in the Beatitudes

are produced by the Holy Spirit work-

ing in a submissive heart. We may

look at some people around us and

believe they are poor in spirit or

meek, but these traits appear only on

the surface to be the character taught

by Jesus. They can never all come

together in a single life apart from the

work of the Spirit. These traits areGod overcoming what is natural to the

world, and since they are opposite of

what is natural they can never be pro-

duced by man no matter how deter-

mined he may be.

While we may be left power-

less to effect change in the heart, God

can humble the proudest hearts, and

make the most wicked of men thirst

for righteousness. We are born with

the tendency to do what makes us feel

good, and our culture promotes this

idea. It is natural for us to look at the

things around us and let our circum-

stances dictate the culture we create in

our homes and lives. God has provid-

ed a culture for us that transcends all

the cares of this physical world. He

has invaded this earth with a culture

that turns our attention from the

things we cant control anyway back to

a God who loves us enough to provide

the best I can. The fact is, our best will

never be good enough.

The kingdom is an issue of right-

eousness that comes from a heart turned

toward God. The culture of the kingdom

will never be the result of our half-hearted

attempts to fulfill our obligation to God.

This counter-culture is brought into beingas the gospel of Jesus Christ transforms our

lives. It reveals the love of God to us in a

way that changes our motives and our de-

sires. It turns us from our determination to

accumulate the things of the world and

focuses our attention toward the God who

created us, who pursued us, saved us, and

sanctifies us. This is why the members of

Gods kingdom look different from the

people of the world. God did not simply

want to choose a few people who would

acknowledge Him, He desires fellowship

with those who have been changed and

transformed by His love.Too often we forget about the

Scriptural command to be transformed

(Romans 12:2). We want the benefits of

Gods kingdom but refuse to become a part

of the culture. The kingdom is something

we acknowledge from a distance but never

really experience. A.W. Tozer commented

on this situation, "If the gospel does not

change a man, transform him and take

the evil out of him, then he does not

have the gospel in power. The gospel

is a transforming power; otherwise

you have a name to live and you aredead." Scripture teaches that if we are

truly to be a part of Gods kingdom we

will be changed by this culture. The

Apostle Paul told the Corinthian

church, Therefore, if anyone is in

Christ, he is a new creation. The old

has passed away; behold the new has

come (2 Corinthians 5:17).And to

the Galatian church he said, For nei-

ther circumcision counts for anything,

nor uncircumcision, but a NEW CRE-

ATION (Galatians 5:16).In our efforts to be blessed we

often forget that the idea of blessing

necessitates some type of a change in

our lives. To be blessed is to be

changed, fulfilled, and brought into

the joy of God. To be blessed is to be

one on whom Gods blessing has been

placed. The verb bless is a transitive

verb in the English language. That

means it has a changing effect on that

for all our needs and care for all of our

hurts and difficulties. As our culture

becomes one of faith we begin to see

God work in ways we never would have

believed possible. It is the kingdom

culture that shows us the fullness of the

supernatural power of God working

among His people as they serve Him.

The blessings we receive from living

these traits is that we see God move in

ways that others will never experi-

enced. Through this we are blessed.

We so often convince our-

selves that God demands a change be-

cause He wants to deprive us of some-

thing. Nothing could be further from

the truth. God calls us out of the cul-

ture of the world to a counter-culture

where we can clearly see His power and

grace on display through His people.

We become vessels that carry this cul-

ture into the work place, or school, or

to our families as Gods kingdom in-

vades this world. Gods will is always

to bless us, and as His culture is firmly

established in our homes and in our

relationships we will see His work in

ways that we never imagined possible.

The blessing we experience is

based on the establishment of a coun-

ter-culture created by God. As we live

in this culture of submissiveness Gods

work will be done. How willing are we

to live in such a culture of dependence

on God? Will we allow the Beatitudes

taught by Christ to begin to work in our

lives?

"To each of these saying be-

longs the message: the old aeon is

passing away. Through the proclama-

tion of the gospel and through disciple-

ship you are transferred into the new

aeon of God. Do we live in such a

transformed culture? When you gohome what will the culture be in your

household? What will it be in your

social gatherings and work places?

Jesus established a counter-culture

when He invaded this world with Gods

Kingdom. This culture is alive and well

within the lives of Gods servants to-

day. It this the culture in which you

live?

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Ask this question of George Bush,

Barak Obama, and Oprah Winfrey, the

answer is a simple YES! According to these

prominent leaders, all paths and religions

lead to heaven. Oprah suggested that God

does not truly require you to accept His Son

in order to gain salvation. Where do we

stand on this topic? Where should we

stand?

Based on any funeral we attend,everyone seems to get to go to Heaven.

Right? Everyone is in a better place once

they leave this life and move on to the next.

The best thing to do at this point is to look

at what the bible says and not leave things

up in the air. The questions about Heaven,

or Hell, are too vital to leave up to our emo-

tions and assumptions. We need answers!

And thankfully, Our God gives us those

answers.

Dont get me wrong, I would love

for everyone one to get to Heaven. We dont

want anyone going to hell, right? It would

be wonderful for all people to reach the endand somehow get a second chance after

death.Does the bible say that all will be

saved in the end?

Lets look at universalism for a

second. Universalism is the belief that God

not only wants everyone to be saved, but

that all will be saved. Rob Bell, one of the

most well-known Universalists of our day,

suggests that every single person will even-

tually embrace Jesus. If not in this life, they

will embrace him in the next. There are two

big categories of Universalists. The non-

Christian group is called Pluralists. They

believe that Jesus is only one of many ave-

nues to salvation and eternal life. Bush,

Obama, and Winfrey fall under this catego-

ry. Christianity, in other words, is one of

many religions God uses to save people.

This idea bleeds into a tragic misconception

that God is present in all religions, like

Hinduism, Islam, and others. Then, there

are the Christian Universalists. They know

that Jesus is the only way to salvation, but

Here are verses to reflect on:

Jesus is the Only Way to Salvation

John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, I am the

way, and the truth, and the life. No one

comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 4:12 - And there is salvation in no one

else, for there is no other name under heav-

en given among men by which we must be

saved.

John 1:12 - but to all who did receive him,

who believed in his name, he gave the right

to become children of God.

Romans 10:13 - For everyone who calls on

the name of the Lord will be saved.

No Second Chances After Death

Luke 13: 22-30 - The Narrow Door

Matthew 25:1-13 - Parable of the Ten Vir-

gins

Church, we must be careful and

diligent in reading scripture. I have seen so

much confusion as a result of ignorance of

Gods truths that he has already providedfor us. It is important for us to draw near to

God and let him teach us. He calls us to

pray for the lost because He knows there is

not a second chance after death. We need

to be urgent, for you do not know what

tomorrow will bring (James 4:14).

P a g e 4

God will end up saving everyone through

Christ. They do hold fast to the biblical

teaching that salvation comes by grace

through faith, but they believe that people

will have a second chance after death to be

saved.

How do they get this idea? Look

at Philippians 2:9-11. It appears to be exact-

ly what they believe. Every knee will bow

in amazement of Jesus Christ in their pres-

ence. Not much farther in this book,though, there are verses that will quickly

correct the misconception. God is not pro-

moting a universal salvation. He means

that there will come a day when Christ re-

turns that everyone will acknowledge this

and will no long be able to deny it. Though

it appears that all will bow in acknowledge-

ment, scripture never indicates that there

are second chances after death.

Jesus loved teaching though par-

ables, and he provides a parable dealing

with this very issue. Matthew 25 begins

with a story of ten virgins waiting on the

bridegroom, just as we wait for the return

of Jesus, the Bridegroom. Five wise ones,

who made the effort to fill their lamps with

oil to burn, represent those who choose to

accept the Holy Spirit in their heart. But

those who were foolish neglect the oil, like

many in the world who do not take the Holy

Spirit in. Do the foolish get a second

chance? Do they eventually get to go into

the feast? No, Jesus is very clear that wast-

ed opportunities will not be rewarded with

grace after the time He comes. This para-

ble also makes clear that only by the guid-

ance and leadership of bridegroom will anyof the virgins be welcomed into the feast.

You see that even the wise had to wait for

the groom to be allowed in. Jesus, our

bridegroom, is that much more necessary

for our salvation and entrance into eternal

life. Oprah says that Jesus does not have to

be the only way, and we can find salvation

within ourselves.

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priest representing God came near to sanc-tify and bless the people. The priest was theforeshadow of Jesus Christ and the won-drous way that God's holiness would bemanifest to mankind. The worshipper with-out the priest would have his penitence, hisfaith, his love, his obedience, his very con-secration to God all imperfect.

God provided through the holi-ness of the priest the covering for sin andthe unholiness of holy things, and the

"HOLY CROWN" was God's pledge that theholiness of the High priest rendered theworshipper acceptable.

Secondly the priests were repre-senting man to God. In other words they

were standing in the gap, so to speak, forman to be able to approach God. The priest

was the very nearest that the Israelitescould come to God. On the Day of Atone-ment, once a year, the High Priest couldenter the Most Holy Place. It was proof ofhow unholy man was and how unfit toabide in God's presence. Conscious of per-sonal unholiness, the worshiper wouldrejoice in a Mediator, someone that wasable to bring them near to God. The priest

was the one to fill the gap.

Todays Mediator is Jesus Christ; He is theonly mediator the Scripture says we need:

The law is only a shadow of the goodthings that are coming--not the realitiesthemselves. For this reason it can never, bythe same sacrifices repeated endlessly yearafter year, make perfect those who drawnear to worship. If it could, would they nothave stopped being offered? For the wor-shipers would have been cleansed once forall, and would no longer have felt guilty

for their sins. But those sacrifices are anannual reminder of sins, because it is im-

possible for the blood of bulls and goats totake away sins (Heb. 10:1-4 NIV).

Unlike the other high priests, he does notneed to offer sacrifices day after day, firstfor his own sins, and then for the sins of thepeople. He sacrificed for their sins once forall when he offered himself (Heb. 7:27NIV).

"Make a plate of pure gold and engrave onit as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. Fas-ten a blue cord to it to attach it to the tur-

ban; it is to be on the front of the turban. Itwill be on Aaron's forehead, and he will

bear the guilt involved in the sacred giftsthe Israelites consecrate, whatever their

gifts may be. It will be on Aaron's foreheadcontinually so that they will be acceptable

to the LORD (Exod. 28:36-38 NIV).

There is significance in the Leviti-cal priesthood, the duties of the priests andtheir dress. The 28th chapter of Exodus isdealing with the priestly garments. Thereason for the garments is "to give honorand dignity" to God (28:2).

The garments are: A breastplate,an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turbanand a sash. They were to use gold, blue,purple, scarlet yarn, and fine linen (Ex.28:5). Verses 36-38 deal specifically withthe turban. The KJV uses the words mitreand the definition is, a tiara, that is, offi-cial turban (of a king or high priest): - dia-dem, mitre. The Scripture says they were

to engrave on a plate of pure gold "HOLYTO THE LORD." They were to attach itwith blue cord and the engraved plate wasto rest on Aaron's forehead.

Adam Clarke says, in relation to verse 36,

Holiness to the Lord - This we may consid-er as the grand badge of the sacerdotaloffice. The priest was to minister in holythings. He was the representative of a holyGod. He was to offer sacrifices to makeatonement for and to put away Sin. He wasto teach the people the way of righteous-ness and true holiness. As mediator,he was to obtain for them those Divineinfluences by which they should be madeholy, and be prepared to dwell with holyspirits in the kingdom of glory. In the sac-erdotal office he was the type of that holyand just One who, in the fullness of time,

was to come and put away sin by the sacri-fice of himself.

The priests then, had a dual ca-pacity; first, they were representing God toman in that the priest was the embodimentof divine holiness in human form. The

He did not enter by means of the blood ofgoats and calves; but he entered the MostHoly Place once for all by his own blood,having obtained eternal redemption (Heb.9:12 NIV).

For Christ died for sins once for all, therighteous for the unrighteous, to bring youto God. He was put to death in the body butmade alive by the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18 NIV).

Through Christ we are made holy, thereforewe are brought near to God.

And by that will, [will of the New Covenant]we have been made holy through the sacri-fice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all(Heb. 10:10 NIV).

Jesus is our intercessor, is at the right handof God and is also interceding for us (Rom8:34 NIV).

We can come boldly to His

throne,Let us then approach the throne ofgrace with confidence, so that we mayreceive mercy and find grace to help us inour time of need (Heb. 4:16 NIV). We neednot ever allow our unworthiness keep usfrom God or keep us from doubt about

what we have in Christ Jesus and what Godhas done for us. God's holiness starts with anew nature when we are born-again.

Do not struggle intellectually withthe holiness that comes from God. Justtrust God and His precious promises! Don'tseek holiness in and of yourself, it onlycomes from God. He is the One who makesus holy. Holiness is a new nature, a newcharacter, a new demeanor, a renewing of

our heart and mind. Bow humbly with anopen heart before God and ask Him to re-

veal to you more and more what it is to beholy in His holiness.

God bless you as you continue the journeyof holiness.

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John was inspired by the Spirit totell us, Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous,as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practiceof sinning is of the devil (1 John 3:7). AdamClarke stated, in his introduction to the bookof 1 John, that John probably intended notmerely to deliver a precept but to oppose thedoctrine of those who asserted that a man,though he sinned, might be righteous in re-spect to his spiritual soul because sin proceed-ed only from the material body. Clarke wenton to explain that verse four, in stating sin islawlessness, John made an assertion opposedto those Gnostics because they virtually de-nied the truth.

The Gnostics rejected the legal com-mandments as parts of the Christian religion

which were not warranted by the authority ofChrist; consequently, they denied that sin wasa transgression of the laws. They regardedsins as diseases; for they believed in a metem-psychosis and imagined that the souls of men

were confined in their present bodies as in aprison and as a punishment for having offend-ed in the region above. "According then to theGnostics passions like anger and hatred weretortures for the soul; they were diseases, butnot punishable transgression of the law(Adam Clarke's Commentary, Vol.6). No

wonder the Spirit inspired John to write,

Everyone who makes a practice of sinningalso practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness(1 John 3:4).

John uses the term light as anequivalent to holiness, God is light, and inHim is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). To

believe one can sin and it will have no affecton the soul, only the body, is a failure to con-sider that the Father created us, and His fullpurpose in sending Jesus. The false idea of theGnostic comes back around in every age in theform of easy believeism that offers salvation

without transformation. Every position peo-ple hold that isnt Biblical has a chain reactionon all their beliefs. 1 John 2:23 states that,No one who denies the Son has the Father.

The Gnostic believed Jesus was only a man, sowhat could they really believe about the Fa-ther? What could a cult who holds that Jesusis only a man believe about God the Father?Jesus said, Whoever sees me sees him whosent me (John 12:45). He used the wordbelieve in the previous verse. If you believeJesus, you will believe the Father, the Soncomes revealing the Father to us in Himself.Many fail to consider the beliefs they hold andhow they affect everything they believe. If you

begin with a false belief about Jesus, theneverything is wrong.

The powerful alternative to thehuman condition is, of course, Holiness.Sin is facing away from God, not towardsHim, and sins are acts of disobedience tothe will of God. Holiness is in a personalrelationship with God!

Sin is a huge issue when it comesto our relationship with God. Dr. KennethJones stated, We Wesleyans, then, do not

wish to use the word 'sin' for anything butwhat the Bible implies is sin. It is the willfulalienation of the self from God, and sins arethose actions performed because of thisalienation (P. 131, Theology of Holiness andLove, Jones).

Going back to John and his letterpenned as the Holy Spirit led him in ad-dressing the Gnostic heresy, we must againconsider the words of chapter two, verseone, My little children, I am writing thesethings to you so that you may not sin. Andif any one sins, we have an Advocate withthe Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.The Word of God confronts our beliefs.Here we are confronted with the question,Do you really believe this is the Word ofGod? The ideas that are out there aboutthe Bible today can turn people away fromGod as they doubt it is His Word to us.Some accept it as good moral teaching and

that is all, but the Bible has more to sayabout itself than that. The Bible tells usthat it is the very word of God. When theOld Testament prophet spoke, he declaredthis is the Word of the Lord. The New Tes-tament comes to us telling us that all scrip-ture is God Breathed, inspired and trust-

worthy for life and salvation.

So when 1 John 2:1 tells us thatthis is written so that you dont sin, we thenare confronted with this question, are wereceiving this as from God speaking intoour lives, telling us we need not sin? The

verse confirms everything we have found inScripture concerning sin and points to aplace we can live free from sin.

The Spirit of God declared thisplace that all can stand in apart from sin,and initially to the Gnostics who had a dis-torted view of the Lord and faith. The callis the same to those first generation Gnos-tics and to everyone today, My little chil-dren, I am writing these things to you sothat you may not sin!" Not only is it possi-

ble but its the will of God for us even todayin the twenty first century. The call to Holi-ness is to all of us today!

P a g e 6

There was more than one form ofGnosticism. The Cerinthains believed Jesus

was a mere man and the Docetes contendedhim to be a spirit phantom. What we believeis, of course, rooted in the heart. Jesus said,For from within, out of the heart of man,come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, de-ceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolish-ness. All these evil things come from within,and they defile a person (Mark 7:21-23). Wecannot escape the truth that what we believehas a total impact on us and it comes fromthe heart. What we believe and what wehave experienced are important in our walk

as believers. The heart has tendencies to-ward sin and without redemption our heartshave to be filled with many wrong beliefs. R.R. Byrum points out many places the Bibleteaches the depravity of the human heart.Jesus clearly recognized this truth of deprav-ity though He doesnt mention the term inthe passage we just quoted from Mark (P.334, Byrums Theology). Byrum went on tostate how the Bible affirms that both Jew andGentile are sinful naturally and need theSpecial grace of God.

Remembering the original intent of1 John to refute Gnostic heresy, it becomesimportant that we understand our passage.Chapter two, verse one of 1 John, we read

My little children, I am writing these thingsto you so that you may not sin. These littlechildren are a different group of people thanreferred to in chapter one. R. R. Byrumstates that the reference to little children is

born again Christians while the group ofchapter one are all mankind (Byrum P. 428).That means that God, through the Holy Spir-it, is calling His People to holiness that isattainable and livable.

Sin is powerful in the capacity tohold people captive in its bondage. Jesussaid, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone whocommits sin is a slave to sin (John 8:34).The sinner is a slave to sin because of thedepravity the sin works in the heart or per-sonality of the sinner (P. 137, Jones Theologyof Holiness and Love). Involvement in sinonly deepens the very hold of sin on us. Butall have this innate proneness to sin knownas depravity. Not only does the sin affect thesinner, but the sin of Adam had an effect onall the human race since he was the first manand we are all descended from him. John

Wesley spoke of the effect of the original sinof Adam, "That this is imputed to all men , Iallow; yea, that by reason there of the wholecreation groaneth and traveileth is pain to-gether until now.

T h e t r u t h i n

7/31/2019 Truth HD August 2012

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