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Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:12,13) |
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"Let not sin govern your mortal body." If people would pay attention to this one sentence my job would be finished. I could go off the Internet to the applause of the churches and get rid of a lot of work for several people. |
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This is the answer to the whole Evangelical mess! We have thirty-seven reasons why this verse doesn't mean what it says. |
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Nobody's perfect. I'm saved by grace and not by works. Christ has done it all. Christ will do it in me. Christ lived a righteous life and I am righteous by identification with Him. God sees me only through Christ. When I fornicate God sees the holiness of Christ. Anything I try to do will sully the perfect work of Christ. The purpose of the commandments is to show us our need of a Savior. Nobody, especially God, expects us to keep them. |
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The commandments can't be kept. They are so heavenly we would have to go to Heaven in order to keep them. We are in a dispensation of grace and so we don't have to do what God said. The commandments apply to the Jews. The Gentiles go to Heaven by grace. |
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Once I "make a decision for Christ" I can swear, fornicate, lie, or do anything else I want because I am eternally secure in Christ. I have been accepted in the beloved. |
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My Pastor says I have eternal life by unmerited favor, so see there I don't have to quit drinking beer and watching the Super Bowl. Anyway, he sets up a television in the lobby so we can watch the Super Bowl and he wears a football helmet while he preaches. |
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I am not a legalist or a Pharisee. Divine grace is an abstraction that has nothing to do with human behavior. No one who has made a "decision for Christ" will hear anything bad at the Judgment Seat of Christ. I am going up in the rapture at any moment so I don't have to keep Christ's commandments. Everything Christ said before He was crucified applies only to the Jews of His day (including the bit about being born again?). Paul preached grace which means we don't have to do what Christ said. The Great Commission is to go into all the world and tell people they don't have to keep God's commandments. The Book of Hebrews was written to Jews so Gentiles don't have to do what it says. The Book of Galatians was written to Gentiles so Jews don't have to do what it says. The Gospel of Mark was written by three different people and so we don't have to do what it says. |
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No one can understand the Book of Revelation so we don't have to do what it says. You had to do what God said under the old covenant but you don't have to do what God said under the new covenant. God loves us so much He doesn't want us to be sad and so we don't have to keep His commandments. We will have ten thousand years to praise God for His grace, meaning He brought us to Paradise even though we disobeyed His commandments throughout our lifetime, never took up our cross, and never followed Jesus. |
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Can't you get it straight, Thompson? We are saved by grace grace! Can't you get it through your head? You don't have to obey God! Nobody obeys God. Are you trying to be different? |
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I can understand what you are saying, but it doesn't agree with the New Testament. I was told by the Navigators when I was saved that I was supposed to do what the Bible said. I even heard Daws preach over on Oahu during World War Two and he said we are supposed to memorize the Bible and do what it says. |
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How come it's all changed? How come you don't have to do what the Bible says any more? I don't get it. Did I miss something along the way? |
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To be continued. |
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Mortify [put to death] therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence [evil desires], and covetousness [greed], which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5) |
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I forgot the rest of the reasons why we can ignore the commandments found in the New Testament. Maybe some of you can E-mail to me other reasons that prove Romans 6:12,13 does not mean what it states. |
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Do not let sin govern your body. How do I do that? By reading the New Testament, finding out what sin is, and praying to God for help. God gave you His Spirit to help you do His will, not so you can play Charismatic games. |
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God is interested in righteous behavior. Don't let sin rule in your body. Do not obey its lusts. Why not? Because you have entered a covenant by water baptism in which you vowed to put your body on the cross and to walk in newness of life with Christ. |
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There are eight sins that belong in the Lake of Fire: cowardice, unbelief, abominable behavior, murder, immorality, dabbling in the occult, idolatry, and lying. God is going to help you to get these out of your personality. Go to war against them. Don't let them rule you. |
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Ask God to deliver you from cowardice and expect to receive courage. Ask God to deliver you from unbelief and expect to receive faith. Ask God to deliver you from abominable behavior and expect to receive a desire to do good. Ask God to deliver you from anger and rage and expect to receive a peaceful spirit. Ask God to deliver you from all forms of moral filthiness and expect to receive a clean, holy mind and heart. Ask God to deliver you from all forms of witchcraft and expect to receive a clear relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask God to deliver you from all forms of lying and believe that God will give you a spirit of truth and honesty in every situation. |
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Ask! Ask! Ask! Ask! Keep on asking! Fight for what you want! Press the battle every day! Don't quit. Look for Christ and you will find Him. Keep on knocking and the doors will open. |
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Don't yield to unrighteousness. Ask for help from the elders of your church. Ask your husband or wife for help. Fight! Pray! Do not yield one inch! |
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Yield yourself to God as a person who has risen from the dead. Make your body serve God. Threaten it! Tell your body if it doesn't get out of the sack and pray it won't get breakfast. |
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People who train horses will tell you the horse will govern you if you let it. You have to let the horse know you mean business and you are the boss. You have to do this when you are teaching school children, that is, if you want a happy, peaceful class. |
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You have to do this with your body. |
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Did you ever notice some people and their dogs? The dog rules the house. They can't even get the dog to keep from sleeping on the couch. They don't realize it but the dog has made them part of his den. |
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You can't rule your dog and you expect to govern nations with a rod of iron? |
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Rule your body! Paul says, "I beat my body down and bring it under subjection. If I don't I may end up in the dump." |
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You or I may end up in the dump if we don't gain control over our flesh! |
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If there were no other verses in the Bible Romans 6:12,13 would assure us that after we declare ourselves crucified with Jesus Christ and raised from the dead in concert with Him we are supposed to refuse to permit our sinful nature to govern our behavior. |
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I feel certain there are thousands of Bible scholars who preach Romans Six the way it's written. But since I have never heard any I am exerting myself in this manner just in case . . . |
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For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14) |
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We are speaking here of the Law of Moses. As Paul carefully pointed out in the seventh chapter of the Book of Romans, the Law brought sin to life in him. It put him under condemnation and offered no power to release him from the bondage of sin. |
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For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:5,6) |
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The sin that dwells in our flesh works together with the Law of Moses to bring us down to spiritual death, to separation from fellowship with God. |
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Now we are free from the Law of Moses. We are without condemnation while we follow the Spirit of God in putting to death the deeds of our flesh. |
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We rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We are circumcised in heart by putting away the old nature. No person is acceptable to God until he or she has been circumcised by putting away the old man with his deeds. |
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While we were under the Law of Moses we were governed by sin. Sin had dominion over us. |
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Now we are no longer under the Law of Moses. We are under another law, a law that has the power to set us free from the power of sin. In the meanwhile the blood of Jesus keeps us without condemnation. |
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The law under which Christians serve is termed "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." |
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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) |
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How does the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death? |
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It sets us free from condemnation through the blood of the cross so we may approach God with a glad heart and a clear conscience. |
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It sets us free by enabling us to put to death the deeds of our body. |
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It sets us free by furnishing wisdom and power to keep God's commandments. |
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It sets us free by means of the gifts and ministries that the Spirit gives. |
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It sets us free by the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. |
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It sets us free by strengthening us in prayer and encouraging us along the way. |
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These are some of the ways in which the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death. |
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Are we free, under grace, to continue in sin? God forbid. This would be to frustrate all that God intends under the new covenant. |
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What freedom has the Spirit brought to us? The freedom to walk in righteousness and holiness before the Lord all the days of our life. |
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That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. (Luke 1:74,75) |
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What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:15,16) |
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This is basically the same question Paul asked in the beginning of the chapter so it must have been an issue in his day. People simply could not understand why, if they were free from the Law of Moses, they could not just go out and sin. |
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We are told that the doctrine of antinomianism goes way back in Church history. It is very much alive today! The doctrine of antinomianism emphasizes that the Gospel frees us from required obedience to any law. Apparently there was confusion from the beginning over how a Christian is to react to the urges to sin. |
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The distinction is subtle but not impossible to understand. We are not under the Law of Moses. We are under an infinitely more demanding law. But we have infinitely more grace to keep the new law, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. |
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If our righteous behavior does not exceed that of the Pharisees we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. |
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Do you want to be great in the Kingdom of God? Then keep Christ's commandments and teach others to do so. |
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Do you want to be least in the Kingdom of God? Break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so. |
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Hey friend, antinomianism is the most destructive heresy of our day! Don't participate in it if you want to have a place in the Kingdom of God. |
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No, being under grace does not mean we are at liberty to sin. It is true rather that the grace of God in Jesus Christ is bringing forth a new righteous creation in us, a genuine inwrought righteousness impossible to achieve under the Law of Moses. |
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When we Christians yield ourselves to lust, anger, gossiping, slandering, covetousness, filthy speech, drunkenness, we are the slaves of these things. |
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When we Christians yield ourselves to moral purity, a peaceful and loving attitude, a prayerful attitude toward others, generosity, constructive speech, self-control, we are the slaves of these attitudes. |
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To yield ourselves as slaves to sin brings us down to spiritual death. Christian, living in sin will kill your spiritual life! |
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To yield ourselves as slaves to obedience to the commandments of Christ and His Apostles brings us to righteousness. Righteousness results in eternal life. Eternal life and righteousness go together in the Scripture. |
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Ungodly behavior never leads to eternal life whether or not you have "made a decision for Christ." Whatever you sow you are going to reap, to a certain extent in the present world and to the fullest extent in the day of resurrection. |
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If you want to have fellowship with God, come out from the ungodly influences of the world, with the Spirit's help. Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Live a perfectly holy life in the fear of God. |
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Speaking to Christians: |
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Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (II Corinthians 6:17) |
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But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. (Romans 6:17) |
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We probably are repeating ourselves and may for the next fifteen years because it will take that long to explain the transition from the Law of Moses to Christ. |
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When we receive Christ (not "make a decision for Christ" this is not a scriptural expression and is part of the "ticket to Heaven" model) we are forgiven all our sins. We now are fully justified in the Presence of God. |
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What do we do next? |
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We obey from the heart the form of doctrine that was delivered to us (see verse above), the commandments given by Christ in Person and by Christ through His Apostles. |
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We were "the slaves of sin." But now we have obeyed Christ and His Apostles. Evidently Christ and His Apostles told us how to avoid sin. |
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Now, does this mean that the New Testament is a set of rules and regulations similar to the Law of Moses? |
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No, it does not mean this. |
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Does it mean if we read the commandments of Christ and His Apostles we are saved by believing them or identifying with them as being truth. |
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No, it does not mean this. |
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Well then, what does it mean? |
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It means the commandments are to serve as guidelines for our conduct. |
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The commandments given by Christ and His Apostles are not, as in the case of the Law of Moses, specific injunctions and prohibitions we are to follow to the letter. |
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The new covenant is not one of the letter. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life. |
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We are to read the New Testament (and the Old Testament from time to time) each day. The New Testament is a guide to our daily walk and especially a mirror that shows us where we are dirty. |
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We must meditate in the Scriptures and obey them from the heart. |
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Let us take four examples to show how the doctrine of Christ and His Apostles differs from the Law of Moses. |
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And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:29) |
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If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Under the Law of Moses we would have had to do that literally. Under the new covenant we do not ignore what God has said. Rather we gain an understanding that if our eye causes us to sin we stand in danger of Hell. Let us choose to come to Christ for deliverance from the lust of the eyes rather than being forced by the Word of God to dig out our eye and hurl it from us. (Still better than being cast into Hell!) |
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Do you see that we do not ignore the words of God and go blithely on our way prattling about being "saved by grace?" Rather we attend seriously to what Christ has spoken and go to Him for help not just for forgiveness but for help in avoiding being led into sin by what we look at. |
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So much for pornography. Pastors and members of their congregations are not to be looking at pornography. If you are a Christian you are to have nothing to do with pornography. To look at it is sin. Don't permit your eyes to lead you into sin! |
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To be continued. |
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If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15) |
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Christ gave us many commandments. If we love Him we will keep those commandments. If we do not love Him we will not keep His commandments. |
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We may say we love Jesus. But the only way we can be certain we love Jesus is by the keeping of His commandments. "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" |
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Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. (Luke 6:22,23) |
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Christ commands us to leap for joy when people hate us and separate us from their company for the sake of His name. |
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Are we supposed to do this? Yes! |
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"Brother Thompson I am old and my leaping days are over." Then tear yourself away from the television and leap in your heart when mean people talk about you and keep away from you because you love Jesus. You are not to seek revenge or dwell in bitterness and hatred when people hate and reject you because of Jesus. To do so is sin. |
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Under the Law of Moses you would have had to jump about, arthritis or no arthritis. |
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Maybe if you pray to Jesus you will find yourself leaping around the front room. You may get the holy jumps. Wouldn't that be nice? What a thrill for your visiting nurse. Be careful of hitting the ceiling! |
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And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections [passions] and lusts. (Galatians 5:24) |
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Here the Lord Jesus Christ is talking to us through the Apostle Paul. Christ is telling us that those who belong to Him have crucified their flesh with its passions and lusts. Christ is referring here to spiritual circumcision. |
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How do we respond to this commandment? We take it very seriously and look to the Lord each day, coming before the Mercy Seat in Heaven with complete confidence, knowing that God will help us to crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts. |
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Some Christians go to X-rated movies or watch them at home, smoke cigarettes, swear like a drill sergeant, and drink booze. They are not obeying Galatians 5:24. They can talk about grace all they want to. They can say "to the pure all things are pure" all they want to. They are disobeying Galatians 5:24 and it is sin to disobey the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. |
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You are not building your house on the rock! You are going to face an angry Christ when you die because you are living in disobedience to His commands. |
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The Great Commission is not to tell people they don't have to keep Christ's commands, it is to tell people they have to keep Christ's commands. Right or wrong? |
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Let's get a little clarity here! The churches are in monumental confusion and inconsistency over this issue of the transition from the Law of Moses to Christ and His Kingdom! |
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To be continued. |
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But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. (Romans 6:17) |
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Brother Thompson, you are putting us under condemnation. No I'm not. |
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Do you know the difference between condemnation and conviction? Condemnation occurs when the preacher tells you that you are a rotten sinner and God is angry with you. Then he sends you home to meditate on your failures. |
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Conviction occurs when the preacher hits on some practice of yours that is sin, and then invites you to the altar to confess your sin to Christ and to get forgiveness and cleansing. |
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In both instances, when you are condemned and when you are convicted, you feel uncomfortable. The difference is condemnation leaves you depressed but conviction invites you forward for forgiveness and deliverance. |
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A true minister of God, when he is following the Holy Spirit, will bring people under conviction just about every time he preaches. Then he will show them the way to forgiveness and cleansing. |
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A minister that does not bring his listeners under conviction is like the unrighteous supervisor telling the customers to change their accounts. He is suing for peace with them and will live with them in their cages for eternity. |
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Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. (Ephesians 4:27) |
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Now here is a commandment we can do. We can quit stealing. We can labor with our hands doing what is good. We can give to him who is needy. |
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If we are spiritually bound so it is difficult to quit stealing, we don't want to labor with our hands doing what is good, we have a hard time with being generous, then we need to get help from the elders of the church. If they will pray and ask God He will send deliverance so we can do what the Scripture commands. |
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Jesus requires of us that if someone compels us to go a mile we volunteer to go two. How do we handle this? We pray. As we said before we are not dealing with arbitrary and specific statues like the Law of Moses. What Christ and His Apostles commanded are guidelines that work properly only as we pray and get the mind of the Spirit of God. |
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For example, if we try to obey the Sermon on the Mount in our own wisdom and strength we will find we are developing a hard religious spirit that does not yield the fragrance of Christ. We will be miserable and expect everyone else to be miserable, and become angry when they are experiencing peace and joy and not forcing themselves as we are. |
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The new covenant is one of the Spirit of God. The guidelines are in the New Testament. Each passage is to be taken with utmost seriousness and prayed about. |
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However, the new covenant, as we have stated before, does not consist in our obedience to the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. The new covenant is the forming of Christ in us. This is eternal life and the Kingdom of God. |
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The point is, however, that Christ will never be formed in us except as we obey the Apostles. |
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First, forgiveness. Next, obedience to the doctrine of the Apostles. Next, the forming of Christ in us. These are the three steps that lead us from Moses to Christ. The three steps operate properly only as we take our place with Christ on the cross and are raised together with Him. |
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As long as we count ourselves crucified and resurrected with Christ the Law of Moses has no dominion over us whatever. We now are keeping the eternal moral law of God because it no longer is we who are living but Christ who is living in us, and the atoning blood of Jesus is keeping us from all condemnation. |
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Can you imagine the moral light that would be coming from the Christian churches if all the members were crucified with Christ and were living by His resurrection Life? The secular governments would then have clear moral guidelines because of the witness being borne by God's people. |
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But all our talk about grace, rapture, and Heaven is of little help to mankind. People want to see Jesus. When He is lifted up in the churches all the nations will be drawn to Him. |
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