Sin Will Never Be Reformed
Some do not believe in the fact of Satan and sin; in the fact that all are sinners, and that sin and sinners are at enmity with God. They think that everything wrong or bad is just some form of underdevelopment or misunderstanding, that can all be overcome through some form of assistance and development. They understand not that sin will not quit until it has finished with the destruction of sinners, James 1:15.
Thus, there are those who down the accounts found in the Old Testament Bible, where God’s chosen people warred against and destroyed others. They equal this to barbarianism, that these people were not kindred with Christianity. They hold both Israel’s past and present struggles with her enemies against her.
God never used His people, individually or as a nation, to destroy innocent peoples or societies. But rather, in the course of events, as the affairs of nations go, God used Israel’s wars to overthrow the wicked. God used His individuals to overthrow that, which if left and not overthrown, would be for the ruin of souls, as they would exert their godlessness upon all whom they controlled. When God sent the flood in Noah’s day, it was to destroy societies who were fit for nothing except to raise up people in hardness against God, unto their eternal destruction in hell.
Sin will not cease to be sin if it is shown kindness. Rather, sin is at enmity with God and all that is of God. Sin will not stop until it has devoured that which is right and good. See Proverbs 4:14-16, Isaiah 26:10, 1 Peter 5:8.
Sin is the power of Satan, who is the avowed enemy of God, who will never be reformed and who is reserved by God unto eternal destruction in the lake of fire. Sin was the unrelenting enemy of Christ while He was here on Earth. Sin is opposed to everything and everyone that is right with God.
There was nothing but good and good people in the Garden of Eden. But sin did not respect this, nor would it co-exist with it. Rather, Satan and sin worked to overthrow and bring death in Eden.
The first murder committed was not due to any bad circumstances or abuse, but was due to the hatred of sin against that which was of God. In Genesis 4, Cain killed Abel because Abel’s works were righteous and Cain’s were not, 1 John 3:12. The enmity of sin respects no relationship and no union. This is why God warns His people about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Satan will use these relationships to defeat God’s children!
Sin is what’s responsible for all wrongs, abuses, destructions, etc., see Matthew 15:19. There is not way to change the nature or intent of sin. There is only One who can save man from perishing in sin, JESUS CHRIST! The only way to put a stop to sin is to destroy it, and that is what God alone can and will do, to Satan and his angels and all who have not been delivered from sin by the Lord Jesus Christ.
SHARING
Letter From A Mother To A Daughter
“My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”…Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep. When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl? When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way…remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day…the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I am going through. If I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant. Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you. And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked. When those days come, don’t feel sad…just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared. With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you…my darling daughter.”
SHARINGLaw & Grace
“For by the law is the knowledge of sin” Romans 3:20
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24
God’s law convicts the sinner of his guilt, and thus his or her need of salvation by grace. It is not possible to understand the need for grace without the conviction of sin and the condemnation thereof. To just apply the law without the availability of salvation by grace, would leave one hopelessly lost.
Matthew 9:12 – “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” It is only when people realize that they have a problem, does the solution for the problem become meaningful. Romans 5:20 – “Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Where the law has not entered, then the offence of sin is not comprehended for conviction unto repentance, and thus the provision of grace is not fully realized.
The Holy Spirit uses the law of God to convict the sinner of his or her sin unto a godly sorrow over sin, because by the law is the knowledge of sin. Only when one is convicted by the Holy Spirit using the law to reveal one’s sin condition and sin, will this godly sorrow be present to work repentance unto salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
BEWARE! of that which claims to champion grace, while denying the law on every turn, saying it has no place since we are under grace. Thus, there is a refusal on the part of some to teach and proclaim the principles of the law as being the true doctrine on sin and righteousness.
Can a person really seek and obtain forgiveness and salvation if they are not convicted by the law of the knowledge of sin? Can a person really understand grace without first realizing what grace is the remedy for? Will grace abound where there is no understanding or knowledge of sin abounding? To preach grace without preaching the law is to omit what will bring the sinner to real repentance unto salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can realize no more of grace than we realize our sin condition.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7
SHARINGEcumenicalism Abounds
Before Christ’s ascension, He commissioned the New Testament Church to preach the gospel, baptize the converts, and teach them to observe all things that He had commanded, Matthew 28:18-20. No other license is needed, nor does this regular work of the church depend on other things to be its cause or catalyst.
The magical combination of power to reach lost sinners has always been: “the preaching of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:21) and “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). In Luke 16, the rich man who died and in hell lift up his eyes, cried that if one went back from the dead, his brothers would repent. But the answer was, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Multitudes of decisions, made in every religion, are made due to fear, emotional upsets, human persuasions, passions, coercions, etc., but the facts are that human awakenings, reformations, passions, intentions and commitments are not the same thing as a conversion wrought due to the sowing of the incorruptible seed (God’s Word) and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Paul stated that he had planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).
God’s people are commanded to pray without ceasing. Without prayer, there is no effective watch against temptation, and no real connection with the Lord’s leadership and power. Jesus taught that prayer is not a matter of an outward display, but an effectual, fervent communication on the individual’s part with God.
God commands the Body of Christ, i.e., the local church, to be doctrinally pure and sound. We are to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered. We are to speak and stand for sound doctrine. We are to remain separate from everything not according to the true doctrines of the scripture. We are commanded to try the spirits whether they are of God or man (1 John 4:1) and to prove that which is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with that which is not (Ephesians 5:10-17). We are to reprove doctrinal instability (Titus 1:9), rebuke those things that are not upright according to the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:14), and come out from among that which is false, that we be not a partaker of their sins (Revelation 18:4).
Yet today, when the religious initiatives of men are put forth, by even those known to espouse false doctrine, if you don’t join up with their initiatives, recommend their productions, and laud the positive aspects of their works, the ecumenical spirits accuse you of missing the boat. As a preacher of the 1950’s said, “They tell me that I missed the boat, but I wasn’t looking to get on board.”
“By their fruits ye shall know them.” If the movies and ecumenical services had any real gospel impact, the first people being converted from error unto the truth, would be the makers and producers themselves. But that’s not happening! Rather, they are just being strengthened in their own religious error, while turning the sentiments of people against those who join not in with their religious errors! BE NOT DECEIVED!
SHARINGRepentance, Confession, Forsaking, Forgiveness, Cleansing
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
Confess: to admit or acknowledge one’s sins; to own up to one’s guilt.
Confession necessarily involves repentance of sins committed. It is having a godly sorrow over having sinned against God. By this broken and contrite spirit, the heart, mind and conscience is restored with God: “For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:11
The grounds upon which one is forgiven and cleansed is the propitiation power of the blood of Jesus, that has made the atonement for all sin: “He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2). “…the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
As we confess ours sins, “he is faithful and just to forgive us ours sins” (1 John 1:9). He is faithful to His promise to forgive. He forgives due to His righteousness, for it would be unjust to punish sin a second time, since the penalty of the believers’ sins have already been paid for on Calvary’s cross.
Where there is true repentance and confession and forgiveness, there will also be cleansing. The same blood that has the atoning power, also has the cleansing power: “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). As Priest, He has atoned for the penalty of all sin; as an advocate, He restores the soul. Sin interrupts our communion with God; the advocate restores it. The ability of His power to do these things is guaranteed by the righteousness of His person and the value of His propitiation, and these are unchangeable.
Before Peter sinned, Christ prayed for him; when he sinned, He looked on him; and when he repented, He restored him–so effectively that Peter was able to strengthen his brother Apostles. When Christ forgave the woman taken in adultery in John 8:11 – “And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.” The fruit of repentance, confession, forsaking, forgiveness, cleansing, is to NOT go out and continue to practice that same sin.
SHARING
