Articles and Sermons :: Sinning Christians?????????????

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1 Sinning Christians?????????????, on: 2008/1/11 16:57 Sooner or later, we have to face it that we have to get into some things here and we have to get on with God. So, thatâ s part of what I d like to bring home tonight, by pointing you to the verse that describes the normal Christian life. It s I John 3:9, No one born of God commits sin. God is so good He doesnâ t get caught up in a lot of qualifications. He just brings the truth home to us. No one born of God commits sin. I think really our own conscience is a test whether that speaks to us or not. Some of us here feel thatâ s all right, I agree with that. Amen. That s because our conscience is right with God in regard to that. Some of us think, wait a minute, thatâ s a bit hard. I think if you feel that, you maybe ought to be more honest before God because, the normal Christian life is that any of us who are born of God, we donâ t commit sin. You remember, sin is described, it might be good to look at it lest Satan bring us into false condemnation, sin is described in James 4:17, "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. So, thatâ s what God s Word describes as sin. The philosophers may say that sin is any lack of conformity to absolute perfection whether a person knows it or not. God does not define sin that way. God defines sin as conscious, knowing, disobedience to what you know God wants you to do. Now, I think we get into real trouble here tonight if we go on past this sentence without being real about our own lives. So, I do think thatâ s why many of us get into confusion. We go on after this point and we refuse to be real. Now, I would question each one of us and myself included. Let us plant ourselves against this object of Word of God and, let us ask ourselves, are any of us here who say we are born of God, are we committing sin? That is, are we doing something that we know is wrong? We should be real, you see. I think thatâ s where we get into difficulties and thatâ s where all the confusion lies, is in your mind. Do you remember that Jesus said, anybody who does what I say will know the doctrine and will know that what I say is true. Now, the opposite of that is equally true. If you donâ t do what Jesus says, youâ ll be confused about the doctrine. Just letâ s set ourselves, each one of us, against God s Word. Do you say that you are born of God? Now, if you do, then you donâ t commit sin. That is, you donâ t do things that you know are wrong. All of us might not have been challenged to have quiet times. I understand that. In that case, youâ re not responsible for that. Now, if God has spoken to you about a quiet time, a prayer time each day, do you carry that out? Why I am laying all this on you is not to beat you to death. this dear Word has kept me from insanity. It will keep us all from insanity if we face it and believe it. Really. So, please donâ t go all mushy on me and then say, oh, no, youâ re condemning me. I m not condemning you. I m saying to you weâ re walking in dangerous grounds in these days. We re walking in confusing and deceptive spiritual atmospheres and I am pleading with you to align your life with God s Word. Do you do things that you know are wrong? If you do, youâ re not experiencing the normal life of a child of God and you ought to be concerned, Loved Ones. Nobody born of God commits sin. Now, if you say to me, well, do you mean donâ t have my quiet time once or twice? No, I m sure God doesnâ t mean that. But, would you miss your quiet time more often than youâ d hit it? Well, if you do, then youâ re learning and teaching yourself to despise that part of God s Word. You lose all sense of God s presence in your life, you will. For some strange reason I feel I should stay on that for a moment. Do you see that nobody born of God commits sin. Take that at its lowest level. Let s say, commit sin habitually. It doesnâ t mean that. It doesnâ t say that. But, letâ s say commit sin habitually. Now, presumably we wouldnâ t say sin habitually is twice a day. We probably wouldnâ t even say itâ s three times in a week. We might say, well, does not commit sin maybe what - three times or four times in a month. Now, do you do that? Do you do that? I would press you a little here. You remember, I John 3, says this is how you know the children of God and can distinguish them from the children of the devil. So, before we start extending that habitual sin too far, letâ s realize that there are many loved ones who arenâ t Christians at all who live very good lives. So, letâ s at least keep our habitual sinning above the level of the normal child of the devil and, remember, they arenâ t committing adultery every day and they arenâ t murdering every day and they arenâ t telling lies every day. Indeed, if you and I look at the loved ones that we work with, we know many dear people who arenâ t Christians and who are very kind and very honest. So, I would just press all of us again. Would you first of all be real about your outward sins? That s what that verse is concerned about. No one born of God commits (and the emphasis is "poeo", itâ s the Greek word that become poet, you remember, you make or do something, poeo), nobody does sin. No one born of God does Page 1/23

2 sin. That is, you can do sin by an act or by a thought or by a word. Now, nobody born of God disobeys God knowingly in act, thought or word. Now, do you do that? Now, thereâ s no difficulty, you see, with the emergency because, you remember, thatâ s taken care of in I John, if you like to look at it. God is fair to us. He knows that we are not perfect beings and we have minds that wander, we have emotions that are easily moved at times, we have bodies that are weak and we are in a world that is infested with evil spirits so He knows that we are not absolutely perfect in mind and emotions and body. So, He provides for that, I John 2:1, "My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin." If thatâ s the normal life of a child of God. "But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." So, if you sin in an emergency, Jesus has died for us and God will look upon Him and will forgive us because of Jesus blood. But, you do see that it says, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin but, if anyone does sin. I want you always to fill your car up with gas but, if by chance, you run out, then I have an arrangement for you. That doesnâ t mean that you run out every day, saying, well, he has an emergency arrangement. In other words, that is an emergency arrangement. God s norm for us is that we will not sin. So, I am asking you to examine your own life and me to examine my life. Sin is disobedience to God s law. Some of God s laws, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not commit adultery, and, of course, along with that, if you look unto a woman to lust after her in your heart, youâ ve committed adultery. Then, thou shalt not steal, even if itâ s a personâ s reputation, thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. You wonâ t tell untrue things about another person. Thou shalt not swear. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain. Now, knowing the commandments and knowing what is right, do you commit sin in your life? Then, I would say if you can see some area of your life where youâ ve just slipped into lower gear, then I would suggest to you that you deal with God tonight about that. Really. Because you canâ t go anywhere in regard to a holy and clean heart unless you first clean up your own life. If you say to me, but, Brother, I thought God would do that. No, God put into your spirit the Spirit of His Son and yet you desire to be like Him and He expects you to exercise your will to make your life conform to His image. At least, outwardly. Will you deal with that? If you donâ t deal with that, anything more that we talk of tonight is just like a tale told by an idiot. You know, it makes no sense and youâ re going to get nowhere. You re just going to swallow a whole lot of doctrine and itâ s going to give you indigestion and you, yourself, are going to fall back. If you are born of God, are you doing the things that you know are right. Now, if thereâ s anybody here who has stolen something or has been dishonest with somebody, boy, you should repent of that and repentance is telling Jesus that you apologize to Him for the pain that youâ ve given Him and you make restitution to the person or apology to the person. It would be good, you know, to clear up your life and, of course, what I m encouraging you to see is this cleans up, this cleans away all the darkness and all the confusion. There s so much confusion about today because weâ re not taking sin seriously. We re not seeing that sin is hateful and blinding and deceiving and sin is the thing that sent Jesus to the Cross and sin is the thing that has brought smears upon God s name and sin is what destroys people and destroys our God. Sin is straight from the pit of Hell and, whenever you touch sin, youâ re touching something that is alien to you, that you were not made for, that was not made part of you. The Bible always says, put the unclean thing far from you. Put it far from you as if you picked up dirt from the ground and just start dusting it off your hands. Get it away from you. That applies, you see. Satan deceives you. He says, whatâ s missing Bible study for one morning? What s big about that? Except that you miss it the next morning and then you hit it the third morning and then you miss it again the fourth. Until you have nothing that resembles any friendship at all. Because if you treated a friend like that, there would be no friendship. That s what it means. I would encourage you to do what I had to do years ago and what I have to do now, line my life up with God s Word and change my way of going, change my actions, change my words, change my thoughts. I think there are too many of us saying, oh, yeah, I know gossip is wrong, yes, I know, I know. Yes, yes, we shouldnâ t gossip, ha, ha. That s it. Well, we laugh our way to Hell, you know. We will because gossip is a nail in Jesus hands and itâ s a nail in the casket of your own spiritual life, then, itâ s a nail in some other dear heart. Unless you and I get serious about our outward sins, we have no hope of coming into this experience that we call holiness apart or sanctification. No hope. First of all, you have to clean up your outward life. Do you know that this is what destroys a church? You understand that this is the way churches die? I donâ t know if youâ re aware of that. I mean most churches are dying, arenâ t they? I mean, theyâ re just keeping going by the present excitement. But, really, theyâ re all going one way and theyâ re going one way because the preacher is preaching to them obedience and how God hates sin Sunday after Sunday and most of us are indulging in sin because we all say, Christians are not perfect, just forgiven. With that great half truth, we are throwing away a pearl. We re throwing away salvation because weâ re not driving ourselves into the arms of God. We re sliding down a slippery slope of a sinning life. Now, there is no such thing as a sinning Christian life. There isnâ t. Brothers and Sisters, if you say to me, but, Brother, most Christians are sinning. That s right. You can see the Page 2/23

3 effect that theyâ re having on this nation. You can see the effect that theyâ re having on the crime rate which is zilch, nothing. There is no change in the crime rate. There is no great change in the business practices of the nation, in spite of the fact that weâ re apparently in again another boom period for church attendance. There is no such thing as a sinning Christian. There may be a sinning church goer but there cannot be sinning Christians. Why? Because God s Word says it. No one born of God commits sin. What is sin? Sin is knowing what is right to do and failing to do it. It s conscious, knowing, disobedience to God s Word. I remember that was what made me wonder if I would end up in a psych ward. Because I found that there was sin in my life and yet I said I loved Jesus. I could be loving Jesus one moment and sinning the next. That is not possible. One or other is not true. Either youâ re not sinning or youâ re not loving Jesus. No one born of God commits sin and sin is conscious, knowing, disobedience to what you know God wants you to do. Many of us come to a place where we have a life that is outwardly in conformity to God. I would point out that Plato had that and also Socrates. There are many holy men even of other religions that have conformed their outward life to the particular standard of perfection that they believe in. So, I would point out to you that it is possible to do that. Just as itâ s possible to speak in tongues, even if youâ re not a Christian. There are all kinds of ecstatic utterances that come from Buddhists and from Mohammadans. There are all kinds of ecstatic utterances in other religions, just as his father would speak in tongues without being a Christian. So, it is possible to conform your outward life to what you know you ought to do. So, thatâ s the first step. Now, many of us have done that. Many of us here are living in outward conformity to God s law. If we do sin, we know we have an advocate with the Father. If we find ourselves into involuntary sin, we do something, we suddenly realize I did that, that was mad, it hurt God, I m sorry, Lord, I m sorry. There are many of us involve ourselves in involuntary sins. Many of us do things that we find out later are sins. We didnâ t know them. They re unconscious. The Bible provides for that. It s not a mortal sin. It s something that the blood of Jesus covers. Immediately, we realize it, God witnesses in your heart, you are forgiven, my child, I know you didnâ t intend that, and we go on. Many of us have come to that place where we live in outward conformity to God s law but we find within ourselves still a tendency toward sin. That is, we come into certain situations and we know we should not be angry and we do, through the grace that the Holy Spirit gives, we do control our anger. May I point out to you again that there are many non-christians that control their anger. Do you realize that? It s no great thing to control your anger. It s simply that we have been brought up in a generation that has encouraged us to let it all hang out and has encouraged us to think that you canâ t keep it in. Well, you can keep it in and there are millions of us who have kept it in for millions of years. There are plenty of people that keep anger down and so a Christian is in that position. One who is born of God and still needs to have his heart cleansed by faith. He s in that position. He controls the anger but it does rise within him. He knows he shouldnâ t express it and he doesnâ t express it. But, he does it by willpower and yet it is continually a restless, discontenting thing inside him because he finds he seems to have a bent toward sinning. Many of us find that, after weâ re born of God, we find that we want to do what God wants us to do but there is something within us that seems to bend over the other direction. So, all the churches testify that after regeneration there remains within each person inbred sin or original sin. In other words, you sin because youâ re a sinner. You re not a sinner because you sin. You re a sinner and therefore you sin. An apple tree bears apples. Until it becomes an orange tree, it canâ t bear oranges. So, when we sin outwardly as non-christians, we sin outwardly because our whole nature is that of a sinner and that is something that we have inherited from Adam, from our forefathers down through the years. For generations, the human race has lived without God. Ever since Adam decided to live dependent on the world and not on God, he passed on to his children that kind of attitude and they passed it on to their children and they lived without the Holy Spirit and not only did their mind become darkened and their understanding darkened, not only did their conscience become weak and their bodies sick but they themselves developed a whole inbred sin attitude. Sin is living independent of God. So, there developed in our whole race something that the Bible calls our old nature, our old sinful nature. In other words, something that made it natural for us to sin, instead of natural to obey. So, those of us who are born of God, even though we avoid outward sin in act and thought and word, we still find within us a desire and a tendency to depend on people, on things, on circumstances, on the world. So, we find there is a battle that goes on within us and itâ s the battle described in Galatians, you remember, the flesh strives against the spirit. In no way, you know, does the Bible say thatâ s the normal Christian life. In no way does the Bible state thatâ s the way you have to go on through all of your life. Indeed, the Bible states the opposite, that it is possible to live in the spirit and not in the flesh. Page 3/23

4 But, that verse in Galatians simply states a fact, that there is within us the Spirit of Jesus and yet there is this flesh that almost topples towards dependence upon people and dependence on things. It is what the Bible calls our old sinful nature. At times, it is called inbred sin. At times, it is called original sin. It is what old Paul talks about, you remember, if you look at Romans, and heâ s speaking there in Romans 7 as a Jew to Jews. He makes that clear, you remember, at the beginning of Romans 7:1, "Do you not know, Brethren--for I am speaking to those who know the law." So, heâ s speaking to the Jews who, of course, knew that their sins could be forgiven. You remember, thereâ s a Psalm that says, "Blessed is he whose sin is covered, whom the Lord doth not impute inequity." So, the Jew knew that he could have forgiveness of sins. But, do you see how Paul describes the situation of the Jew and itâ s the same as the situation of the Christian who is born of God. Romans 7:15, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." In other words, there comes a time in all our lives when we are clear we want to do God s will. We want to obey Him. Now, we better watch. Some of us think weâ re at that stage and thatâ s why we have real trouble coming into a clean heart or into sanctification because we think we do that. We look at that and we say, thatâ s right, boy, I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate. Now, Paul really meant that. Some of us think we mean it. Some of us say, oh, yes, I really want to be patient. I really want to be like Jesus. I really want to be like Him, to be meek, and to accept punishment and let people insult me. I really want to be like that and we donâ t really want to be like that. That s what takes some of us a little time in coming into full consecration. Paul is saying that a person who is going on after God is in that position. I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So, then, it is no longer I that do it but sin which dwells within me. You see, itâ s sin in the singular and sin in the singular is this inbred sin, this original sin, this old man, this old self, this old sinful nature and it is the sin in the singular that produces sins in the plural. What God deals with as usually at the beginning, He deals with us over our sins, our acts and thoughts and words, and then gradually He reveals, but do you see thereâ s something still inside you that has a bent to do those things again. So, gradually, many of us become aware that there is something in us that is preventing us doing what we honestly want to do. You remember, He goes on and says in verse 18, "For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh." He doesnâ t refer there as other parts of the Bible do when they talk about flesh to the body, to the physical body. He s talking about the part of us that wants to depend on what comes through the body, for our security, instead of what comes from God. So, He says, "Nothing good that is in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me." So, many of us have found ourselves in that position, that this thing is greater than us. That thereâ s something in us that will not let us do what God wants. Paul goes a little further because he knows that that power of sin or of living independent of God can never be eliminated from the world until Jesus comes. See, it canâ t. That part of sin is in the world until Jesus comes. It is. There will always be that forceful power of life that operates independent of God. That s the life, you know, that tries to make people satisfied with the drug exhilaration instead of the exhilaration of the Holy Spirit. It s the deception that tries to make people satisfied with the love of friends without going through to the only love that is finally reliable, the love of God. That power will always be in the world and Paul knows that. You canâ t eliminate sin from the world. The power of sin will always be there but Paul shows that there is something that is allowing that power to influence him the way it does. You see in verse 21, "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members." Now, he says, when he talks about law, he is not talking about something that is handed down by the courts. He s talking about law in the sense of a natural law. The law of gravity. It s a way of describing something that keeps on happening. He says, I see in my members, in my body, in my mind, in my emotions, in my whole personality, I see another thing that keeps on operating in a certain way and it brings me under the power of this sin. Do you see Paul is beginning to get at the truth that we mentioned at the beginning? That our personality has a way of working that is not fitted for obedience to God. He brings it to a head, you remember, in verse 24. "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" That s how he describes it. He describes the old nature that cannot obey God as a body of death and in another place, you remember, as a body of sin because itâ s a body that is used by sin. He s referring, when he refers to members, you know, itâ s not just our hand or our leg. He s referring to every part of our personalities. In other words, Paul says, I canâ t do what I want because this nature is not fitted for it and it makes me subject to the law of sin. Page 4/23

5 In other words, what we find ourselves with after weâ re born of God is an old personality nature that is not fitted to obey God. So, the Spirit of Jesus moves within us and makes us want to do something and the whole nature that we have is falling the other way. That s why you feel youâ re lifting the whole world on your shoulders at times in order to obey God. You feel youâ re lifting a whole nature that isnâ t fitted for obedience and you are. You re lifting a whole nature that has developed over the years and that you have inherited from Adam and you can never change that nature. You can never change that nature. It doesnâ t matter how many books you read about positive thinking or about modifying your temperament. You are involved in something that is supernaturally powerful and you cannot change it. That s why so many of us have such frustration when we try to change our personality. The glory is that God changed it in His Son Jesus. That s the meaning of Calvary. That s what God refers to when He talks about our old man. He says our old man was crucified with Christ so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin. God has done that and it is the glory of every man or woman that has been used mightily by God, it is the glory of each one of them that they have, after conversion, after the new birth, entered into an experience of that by faith because, what Jesus has done for us, we can experience here in this world. That s the key to the victorious life. That our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ. Brothers and Sisters, if you say to me, donâ t so many churches teach that youâ ll have that old nature with you until the grave? Yes, they do. And, itâ s not true. It s not true. The Bible says plainly in Romans 6:6, our old man, our old self, was crucified with Christ. Paul says plainly in Romans 6, you remember, "He who has died is freed from sin." He says plainly in other verses, "I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me." He says in Romans 6:1, shall we continue in sin? Then, he says, "By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" In other words, his whole message is, it is possible not only to live in outward obedience to God s law in act and word and thought but it is possible also to be delivered from this bent to sinning. George Muller. I think most of us know of and he writes like this in his diary, "I was converted in November 1825, but I only came into the full surrender of heart four years later in The love of money was gone. The love of place was gone. The love of position was gone. The love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him. I wanted nothing else. By the grace of God this has remained and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God. This change was so great that it was like a second conversion." George Fox, who founded, you remember, the Quakers. "I knew Jesus and he was very precious to my soul but I found something in me that would not keep patient and kind." I found something in me that would not keep patient and kind. I did what I could to keep it down but it was there. I besought Jesus to do something for me and when I gave Him my will, He came into my heart and cast out all that would not be sweet, all that would not be kind, all that would not be patient, and then He shut the door." Now, the history of God s children is scattered with testimonies like that. Of men and women who are the same as ourselves. Who found that we were born of God. For a while fiddled around with that outward sin and thatâ s why I shared that with you tonight. First of all, you have to get rid of that. First of all, you have to do what you know is right. You have the power to do that. It s only Satan through our educational system and through our books that suggests that we canâ t do what we know is right. You can. You have power over your outward body. Hand rise. Rise. Drop. Drop. That s right. You can do it. You can do it. Even with the cigarettes, even with the sex. You have power over your body and you know you have. You know that a man who has just managed to rush out of a fire, immediately when he falls to the ground, worn out and exhausted, immediately he hears that his little child is, he has energy from nowhere to get back into those flames to sav e the child. We know when weâ re up against it, we have found that we can will ourselves to do what we ought to do out wardly. Now, thatâ s the first step but many of us have found many men and women have been like us and have come i nto outward conformity to God s law and have still found that they have a bent to sinning within. They do not do outwar d sin but they feel it within. They are not angry outwardly but they feel anger. They are not irritable to the other person. T hey clamp up their mouths and they are patient but they feel their irritability. They do not commit adultery and they reject the thought when it comes but they feel a bent towards it. They eventually come to that place that George Muller came t o. He said, "There came a day when I, George Mueller, died to self and died to sin." Page 5/23

6 The answer is that God has done it in Jesus and we receive it by faith. You cannot destroy that evil nature and you cann ot strangle it. It is done in a moment by God, through the Holy Spirit. He manifests in you what He did in Jesus, His Son. What have you to do? It s plain. It s in Romans, if you look at it. It s in Romans 6. It s so simple but it takes all you have. First of all the fact is stated in Romans 6:6. This is a fact. We know that our old self, our old nature, our old man, o ur old sinful nature, was crucified with Him so that the sinful body or the body of sin, the whole personality that is used to sin might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin for he who has died, is freed from sin. Then, he says, So in the light of that, just says, you were told that Jesus had borne your sins on Calvary and had brought you forgivene ss. You were to believe that. So, in verse 11, "You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." You must believe that. You must have faith. Then, in verse 13, thatâ s the trust, you see, and then the obey is in verse 13, "Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who hav e been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments of righteousness." That s it. Verse 11 and v erse 13. Believe it. Reckon it. Reckon that your old nature is crucified and from then on yield your whole personality to G odâ s Holy Spirit. That s it, but it is by faith. John Wessley said that it was a great day when he discovered that holiness was entered into by faith and not by works. That s it, Loved Ones. You enter into the destruction of the old sinful nature by faith and it can be yours this night. That  s why all these men and women testify that it was done in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, because whatever is r eceived by faith can be done in a moment because itâ s done by God. What is needed is a hunger and a thirst that will n ot give up until God does it in you. So, each one of us, you know, need to deal with God and I ll tell you what I ve seen in us when we come to this point because you know I ve been off and on preaching this for 20 years, I think, now, well, 15 years. What happens when w e come to this point is you forget that thereâ s only one can bring you through to this and it is not Ernest O Neill. It is no t a man. A man cannot bring you through to this any more than a man brought you to know that you were forgiven by Go d. Only God himself can do this. But, He can do it, Loved Ones. It is possible to be freed from our evil, sinful nature so th at we not only obey outwardly but we rejoice to obey in our hearts. Now, I encourage you to seek this and to expect it every moment, to expect it every moment, and to yearn for it and to h ave no truck with irritability in your heart. Let s declare war against sin in this body. Let s declare war against sin. Let s say, "I m mad as hell and I m not going to put up with it any longer." Like that dear guy says in the movie. Say that. Do not put up with it. Refuse to put up with sin in your life. Say to Satan, youâ ve had your day with me. You ve had en ough fun. No more. I am going to obey my God outwardly which is a reasonable thing for Him to expect. I am going to o bey Him in act and thought and word and I am going to seek for a cleansed heart and deliverance from this sinful nature because Jesus has wrought it for me on Calvary and I know He has wrought it for me so that I ll experience it. If you have set about it that way, and youâ ll determine not to make due with less, God will answer you. He will. If you wil l take Jacob s attitude and say I will not let you go unless you bless me, He will do it. If you say to me, what about all th e people that are clinging onto my coattails and saying, well, do you believe that? Forget them. Forget them. You wonâ t get anywhere if you listen to them. Forget them. Let them go. Let them do what they want to do. But, if God s Word con vinces you, and I encourage you to read it, you know, read I John 3, read Romans 6, read Romans 8, and see that it is God s normal will for us that we would be free from outward and inward sin. Whosoever is born of God does not commi t sin. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness. Why should we put up with this critic ism and this anger and this irritability and this dirt and this uncleanness when God did not intend us for it? If you say, oh, Brother, you brought me under condemnation. Well, condemnation is only for those who wonâ t change. Conviction is for those who will change. So, if you want to be like your Father, sure, youâ ll feel conviction. If you say to me, do you think it will drive me crazy. Yeah, probably it will. Yeah. Only, before youâ re through, youâ ll be pretty sick o f yourself. You will because itâ s the most precious thing God has to give and He gives it only to, you remember, "only t o those who seek Him with all their heart." I pray, you know, that some of you will begin to seek Him like this and seek Hi m night and day until you come into holiness of heart and then, of course, it is true, holiness of life. Could I say again, ha lf of all the souls outside this auditorium, I know them, and they are desperate to see a holy people, both our children an d our peers, are dying to see some men and women who will live what they preach. If they could only see that, theyâ d b elieve the Gospel. I pray, that thereâ ll be some giants here who will go on through whatever the cost. Let us pray. Dear Father, we sense a little of how sin smells in Your nostrils and has caused blood to flow in Your own Son and has Page 6/23

7 broken up the family of God and has created a monster of Satan and a dark and lonely state of Hell. Lord, we sense so me of the horror of it and, Lord, we would put it far from us this very night and we would cease to be deceived by Satan t hat itâ s just a little bit of Bible study or a prayer weâ ve missed. Just a little bit of a lie we told. Just a little bit of money t hat we took. Lord, we would turn from it now and have nothing to do with the unclean thing. Lord, it will strangle us if we continue. Lord, we would put sin far from us and we would commit ourselves to walking in outward conformity to Your la w and Your will in act and thought and word. Now, Lord, this sinful nature, this heavy inbred sin that lies on our hearts an d makes us bend towards disobeying you. Lord, we know that you have made provision for it on Calvary. Lord, we ask Y ou to begin to bring us into this. Lord, we do not know even how to pray but, Lord, we would begin by asking You to sho w us where that sinful nature is in us. Lord, show us if thereâ s any part of it that we really want and bring us, by Your o wn law, and by your willing love, bring us to the place where we are ready to have done with it and hate it as much as Y ou do. Then, Lord, we know that when we truly want to do what You want us to do, youâ ll make our natures fit to do it b y making real in us the destruction of that old nature that was crucified in Christ and giving us that new nature that was r aised in Him on Resurrection Day. Lord, thank you. We give ourselves to You for this purpose in these coming days to s eek You with all our hearts. Re: Sinning Christians????????????? - posted by hburrell, on: 2008/1/11 17:24 Before I respond to this, I have to admit that I did not read this entirely. I simply do not have time. It is too long. However, what I did read I believe I can answer with this passage of scripture: 1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Chri st his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1Jo 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1Jo 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Please notice the use of the word "we" and "us". 'Nuff said... Re: Sinning Christians????????????? - posted by sojourner7 (), on: 2008/1/11 17:33 My understanding of sin is that it is a principle within our very nature that is foolish, deceived, and disobedient. It takes the full measure of God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver and free us from sin!! And we must eanestly desire and long to be freed so we can live in righteousness and walk in the will of God!! Re: Sinning Christians?????????????, on: 2008/1/11 17:35 I may be wrong, but I think I have listened to the author of this thread on audio many many times. Hopefully it's not him, and there is two of them. Great message from God's Word Thanks. moe-mac God has done it in Jesus!!!!, on: 2008/1/11 17:46 The answer is that God has done it in Jesus and we receive it by faith. You cannot destroy that evil nature and you cann ot strangle it. It is done in a moment by God, through the Holy Spirit. He manifests in you what He did in Jesus, His Son. What have you to do? It s plain. It s in Romans, if you look at it. It s in Romans 6. It s so simple but it takes all you have. First of all the fact is stated in Romans 6:6. This is a fact. We know that our old self, our old nature, our old man, o ur old sinful nature, was crucified with Him so that the sinful body or the body of sin, the whole personality that is used to sin might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin for he who has died, is freed from sin. Then, he says, So in the light of that, just says, you were told that Jesus had borne your sins on Calvary and had brought you forgivene ss. You were to believe that. So, in verse 11, "You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." You must believe that. You must have faith. Then, in verse 13, thatâ s the trust, you see, and then the obey is in Page 7/23

8 verse 13, "Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who hav e been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments of righteousness." That s it. Verse 11 and v erse 13. Believe it. Reckon it. Reckon that your old nature is crucified and from then on yield your whole personality to G odâ s Holy Spirit. That s it, but it is by faith. John Wessley said that it was a great day when he discovered that holiness was entered into by faith and not by works. That s it. You enter into the destruction of the old sinful nature by faith and it can be yours this night. That s why all th ese men and women testify that it was done in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, because whatever is received by fai th can be done in a moment because itâ s done by God. What is needed is a hunger and a thirst that will not give up unti l God does it in you. So, each one of us, you know, need to deal with God and I ll tell you what I ve seen in us when we come to this point because you know I ve been off and on preaching this for 20 years, I think, now, well, 15 years. What happens when w e come to this point is you forget that thereâ s only one can bring you through to this and it is not Ernest O Neill. It is no t a man. A man cannot bring you through to this any more than a man brought you to know that you were forgiven by Go d. Only God himself can do this. But, He can do it. It is possible to be freed from our evil, sinful nature so that we not onl y obey outwardly but we rejoice to obey in our hea Author, on: 2008/1/12 5:57 This message was given by Ernest O'Neill. I have never made any audio messages. Re: Author, on: 2008/1/12 9:07 In a Christian's life, Paul says, what ever is not of FAITH is sin. So, we also know Paul said, the Law is not of Faith. Love in Christ Katy Re: Sinning Christians????????????? - posted by RobertW (), on: 2008/1/12 10:33 This is a long post, but I reached this point and want to ask if it is really biblical? Quote: What is sin? Sin is knowing what is right to do and failing to do it. It s conscious, knowing, disobedience to God s Word. I remem ber that was what made me wonder if I would end up in a psych ward. Because I found that there was sin in my life and yet I said I loved Jesus. I could be loving Jesus one moment and sinning the next. That is not possible. One or other is not true. Either youâ re not sinning or youâ re not loving Jesus. No one born of God commits sin and sin is conscious, knowing, disobedience to what you know God wants you to do You will recall (and many that hold to the strictist versions of Christian perfection will sigh at this common objection) that Simon Peter was asked 3 times after his fall if He 'loved' (agape) the Lord (John 21). Peter replied that he 'loved' (phileo) the Lord. The Lord did not disagree even though Peter had recently denied Him and cursed with a loud oath (Matt 26:74 ). Certainly Simon Peter was later filled with the Holy Spirit and the love of God was shed abroad in his heart. He was as s piritual as I could ever aspire to be. Much could be said along these lines. Peter arrives at Cornelius' house. He falls into a spell on the roof and begins to receive direct revelation from God conce rning the acceptance of the Gentiles into the Kingdom. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was do ne thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. (Acts 10:15, 16) Page 8/23

9 As if Peter did not want to hearken, this happened 3 times. Understand that prior to the Jews descent into Rabbinic Juda ism they considered an audible voice (presumably from Heaven) to be authortive. This is known among the Jews as a b ath kol. Peter knew this was the LORD talking to him. To which he replied, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. He was given a direct order 3 times by God; What God hath cleansed, that call not thou com mon. Peter then gives a commentary on what his understanding of the vision and bath kol meant: And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (Acts 10:28) The words, "God hath showed me..." are very telling. This was a divine revelation from God that would makes it mark up on his conscience forever. It would be a new understanding of the will of God. It did not come by the words and argumen ts of men; this was a direct revelation from God as powerful as if Christ Himself and in person had told him three times t hese things. For some reason Peter needs a 'full three times' to get the message as he did in John 21. God filled His ne ed- there can be no doubt that Peter got the message. From now on it will be blatant disobedience to do other than what God told him. Perhaps you are already seeing the dangers of asserting that a person cannot be 1) born of God or 2) love God and act ually commit a sin. understand that God told Peter 3 times as he argued with God about the condition of the Gentiles. O bviously Peter did not like God's position on this issue. Many of the believing Jews did not like the position either. Certai nly Peter told them what God said also? Right? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles gra nted repentance unto life. (Acts 11:18) Peter rehearsed the whole matter to the circumcision that had contended with him for going in to eat with the uncircumci sed. But something was amiss here. They glorified the Lord that Gentiles were saved, but did not 'sign on' (apparently) t o the green light to eat with the Gentiles. In other words, the Gentiles may be saved, but we still reserve the right to call t hem "common or unclean" and we will not eat with them. True or false? For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separ ated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. (Galatians 2:12) The motivation for Peter's disobedience here is clear; fear. This was certainly Peter's weakness and he finds himself aga in in contrast to the Lord when challenged by a contrary people. At first he denied Christ and now he denies the truth of what God had specifically told him 3 times. The circumcision obviously did not buy Peter's story of the vision and bath kol. What is tragic, is that their unbelief was r einforced by his compromise. How long until they had all said, "See he had not heard from God- surely if he had he had not treated them common or unclean as God commanded Him." God had spoken personally to him about this. It was not second hand information. It was not a matter of personal conviction. God had spoken. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If th ou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? (Galatians 2:14) Now Paul puts his finger on the issue and the whole lot of their guilt. First, it was not just Peter that had blatantly sinned against God's post Pentecost commandment- it was all. Paul rebukes Peter publicly before all (as was his method) that others also would fear (I tim 5:20). James, Peter and the rest that disobed God ALL fell under this sharp rebuke. Now I will ask if you think this was a one time side slip? If yes, then what are we to make of James and his comrades tha t were obviously in such reputation for disobeying what God had said that Peter feared him when he came. Why rebuke Peter? Because Peter was the person that heard it direct from God and he should have pressed upon the them the truth both in word and in obedience. Now, I do not say these thing but to point out a water tight fact- these men sinned against God and certainly James was Page 9/23

10 in the habit of doing it in this one area. Are we to ascertain that he (they) did not love God or that he was not born again? The fact is they were in disobedience and the remedy was not a challenge of their status before God- but a rebuke (in thi s case publically). There is a deadly mixture of Christian Perfection and "salvation by sanctification" that does little to promote holiness with in the Church. And though the author of these types of works do not come out and expressly say it- the full on implicatio n of what is said is clear. If you are struggling in an 'area' you are not born again and you do not love God. My question i s- how does that jibe with the afore mentioned passages and arguments? Re: - posted by psalm1, on: 2008/1/12 11:22 all I can say is thank you Jesus for your blood. There are days I seem to need it every minute. Yes Lord Jesus thank you. And thank you for my ability to repent. David Free from the Power of Sin., on: 2008/1/12 11:49 This is Chapter 2 from the life that wins by Watchman Nee The Christian Life As Revealed in Scripture Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heaven ly places in Christ. (Eph. 1.3) The Christian's Experience of Defeat When we were first saved our hearts were filled with joy because of the grace of God. We had great hope for our life. W e thought that henceforth we could tread all sins under our feet. We reckoned that from now on we would walk a victorio us path. No temptation could be too great for us to overcome. No problem could be too difficult for us to solve. Our futur e was full of glorious hope, because at that time we tasted the peace and joy of sins forgiven for the very first time. Our c ommunion with God was effortless and sweet. We were truly full of joy; we felt heaven was very close to us. It seemed t hat nothing was impossible to us. We fully believed that day after day we would live victoriously. Unfortunately, such a beautiful condition does not last long; and this glorious expectation is not fulfilled. The sins which y ou dreamed were already overcome find their way back again. Sins which once could not touch you have now returned. Your old temper, pride and jealousy raise their ugly heads once more. You read God's word much, but you get no help. You pray, yet you lose the intimate taste you once enjoyed. Your zeal for the lost also decreases, and your love grows c old. You may be able to deal with some matters, but you find that certain others are beyond your strength. Your daily not e is now defeat, not victory. In fact, in your daily life you experience more defeats than victories. You sense your great la ck. As you compare yourself with Paul, John, Peter and those other Christians in the first century, you know how differen t they were from you. You are unable to help other people. You may tell them the stories of your vie' tones, but you dare not tell them the stories of your defeats. You feel your days of victory are short while your days of defeat are long. And c onsequently, you pass your time in sorrow. Such is the experience which many Christians share. When we are saved, we surmise that since our sins are forgiven they will never find us again. We honestly believe that t he joy and peace we now enjoy will remain with us forever. Who would therefore imagine that sin as well as temptation might ever return? Who would ever expect that there might later be more lows than highs? Who would ever dream there might be more sorrows than joys awaiting us sometime down the road? Yet, when temptation, pride, jealousy, ill temper or whatever do come back we will usually do two things: we will either exert our utmost strength to suppress sin, or else Page 10/23