If churches were originally intended to be spiritual hospitals for the sick (sinners) to be cured, what happened? Why isn't anyone being cure of sin (being healed of sin) in the churches of today? Why do people become permanent patients (stay sick)?
Sin increases because something else is being passed off as the message of Christ in many places of worship. Rather than being taught to receive God's abundance of Grace and His freely-given gift of righteousness to us in Christ — our "birthright" and victory over bitterness, trouble, defilement, sexual immorality and profanity --some churchgoers are being led to look to themselves (human effort aka arm of flesh) for the attainment righteousness/godliness that Christ died for us to freely have. This is the same seemingly good but in reality, deathly thing to do that Satan preached to Eve in Eden: trying to be sins-free aka godly like God by human effort. The result is the same now as it was when this seemingly good but false doctrine was first believed: sin has dominion and death reigns. In God's Wisdom, this seemingly good but deathly doctrine of dependence on the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience and producing good works) for the attainment of godliness is the way that seems right to a man but at its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12.)
Hebrews 12:14-17 says:
"14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears."
Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. But in order to be holy, we need to look carefully "lest anyone fall short of the grace of God" according to verse 15 above. If one falls short of the grace of God, roots of bitterness spring up and cause trouble (so one cannot pursue peace with all people) and many become defiled. According to verse 16, if one falls short of the grace of God, fornication and profanity thrive (so one cannot live a holy life.)
These are two rampant problems within the church today, even among leaders: bitterness that causes schisms (divisions within the church and leaders breaking off in anger to form their own congregation as a result of bitterness and perceived slights, etc) and sexual immorality in all of its forms, including addiction to pornography. From these, we see that the worst thing that can happen to a believer in Christ is to fall short of God's grace.
But how does one fall short of God's grace?
Many among us are being deceived into believing that committing acts of sin is what causes a believer to fall short of God's grace. We think bitterness, sexual immorality and profanity in the church is a result of not trying hard enough to obey the Law. But this is not so! According to Galatians 5:4, keeping the law (including the Ten Commandments) in order to get right with God is how to fall short of God's grace-
"4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."
Examine God's word. Sin does not cause one to fall short of God's grace. Sin causes one to fall short of God's glory, this according to Romans 3:23-24-
“23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Strongs Exhaustive Concordance defines “glory" as God's good opinion or estimation.
Apart from God's Grace which restores the sinful man who believes to glory before God, all fall short of His glory, even if a person seem to be constantly smelling of roses. The one who thinks he is or can be good of himself is like Peter before he denied Christ. Such exalt themselves against the knowledge of God which says “There is none righteous, no, not one” in the same Romans 3 and have no idea that the reason why they are not wallowing in heinous sins and seem to be doing a good job of keeping the law is because God is shielding them from the vagaries of Time and Chance as well as Satan's sifting.
God's Grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) is what restores us to God's glory. Yet many church leaders say that Grace is tantamount to telling people that they are free to wallow in sin. Such promote Satan's deathly doctrine of trying to achieve victory over sin/ungodliness by human effort. Beloved of God, let's take our blessed brains to church:
God's “grace" is His undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour towards man. Grace restores the sinner who believes into God's glory (good opinion) and Grace keeps the sinner who believes there. Grace cannot work where there is no sin to save man from. All have sinned so there is nothing like a person who does not sin. Those sins that false preachers tout as the cause of a fall from Grace, they are a prerequisite for restoration of the sinner who believes to God's glory through His Grace. Beloved of God, God's Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:
"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."
Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."
Also, Matthew 1:21 tells us the purpose for which Christ the Word who is Grace-personified became flesh:
"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
How can we continue to live in sin when we utterly depend on Christ whose job description is "Saviour from sins" for salvation from those same sins? But antichrist pastors claim that Christ cannot save you from your sins and preach that you can save yourself with your puny arm of flesh that God's word says will fail! Such only display their unbelief in Christ's salvation power while showing their utter cluelessness about the power of God's saving Grace who transforms even the vilest offender who believes to godliness. Such antichrist pastors prey on man's tendency to look for the (human) logic in the message of the saving Grace of God whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than man's. But man's logic cannot comprehend God's Grace- 1 Corinthians 1:18-
“18 For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God.”
Beloved of God, trust in the word of God whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than man's. Sin cannot but increase in congregations where churchgoers think that their ability to “not perish but have everlasting life" depends on even a smidgen of human effort (trying to be good in order to notch up points of righteousness before God) and not totally on God's Grace who is Saviour from sins. See Romans 5:20-
“The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more.”
What is being peddled from many pulpits is not the gospel of Christ but a part-Law and part-Grace horrid mixture that is representative of the “neither cold nor hot" that Christ speaks of in Revelation 3. The law is righteous, unbending and gives no consideration to backstories such as “I used profanity because I was in pain.” God does not have any of those ungodly traits. He is Perfection. The slightest deviation from the law by those who are trying to be godly by their human effort (aka law-keeping) is ungodliness, but many preachers present ungodliness in the light of “big” sins such as murder and adultery. The law is being watered down to a standard where people think that it is “keepable” and Grace cannot intervene to save those who trust in themselves to obey the law-
“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace.” Galatians 5:4.
Cut of from God's saving Grace who saves from sins, sin increases in the lives of those who depend even on a smidgen of their ability to keep the law in their bid to be godly/righteous. See Romans 5:20-
“The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more.”
But Grace -Christ Himself -stamps out sin with a force that is infinitely beyond that of extinguishing a lit matchstick with all of the water in the Atlantic ocean. Peter is a fine example for this truth. He trusted in his ability to not deny Christ, even boasted that he would follow Christ to prison and to death. But always, the arm of flesh (confidence in human effort at obedience) will fail. Beloved, let's not follow the example of Judas who committed a similar sin of betraying Jesus but looked to himself for restoratiob into God's good graces. Judas' attempt at righting himself before God (law-keeping) provides a picture of how the letter (law), wielded by Satan, kills-
Beloved of God, HaSatan is literally “prosecutor at law" in Hebrew. The law is the only weapon in Satan's arsenal. Upon being accused by Satan the accuser/prosecutor based on what it says, the law condemns all who try to keep it in a bid to get God the Righteous Judge to acquit them. Such who do reject Christ as their Advocate and their Righteousness. Such reject the Witness of the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 10:17 which tells us that because of the shed blood of Christ, God does not remember the sins and lawless deeds of all who believe in Jesus.
Notice the judicial terms: Righteous Judge. Advocate. Witness. Law. Acquit. Condemn. Judgment. Accuser/prosecutor. As it is in any earthly court of law, judgment (death preceded by its symptoms of earthly ills such as depression and stupid mistakes) follow those who depend on their human/arm of flesh-driven ability to curb sins and good works for acquital. No matter how sinless your life seems to be, all have sinned. And the wages of sin is death. One's standing must be “None of Self(righteousness.) All of Christ(righteousness)” in order for one to be acquitted by God the Righteous Judge,
"26...for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."
Spiritual warfare is a battle to stand firmly in the truth of righteousness by faith when Satan comes accusing so as to sic on us the burden of guilt and condemnation that Christ suffered and died to remove from us. The court of law or battleground is the mind where we analyse imaginations and thoughts; where we cast down imaginations, pull down strongholds (according to Strong's: those things in which human confidence is reposed;) and bring every thought into captivity. Often, these accusations that try to make us label ourselves “Guilty" come from behind church pulpits. We overcome by “… bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" aka Romans 5:19-
“By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.”
Before Satan can kill and destroy, he has to first steal the word of faith that says we who believe in Jesus are righteous by faith and not because of anything we did or didn't do. God the Righteous Judge Himself says of we who believe on His Son- Jesus Christ our Advocate and Bearer of sins: Romans 8:33-
“Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be His? God Himself is the Judge who has issued His final verdict over them—“Not guilty!””
But many churchgoers are being led to rely on their human/arm of flesh-driven works of righteousness, attempts and resolutions towards not committing sin (like Peter) and restitutional efforts at making things right with God after sinning (like Judas) to get them somewhere with God or give them a “Not guilty" verdict. This self(righteousness) is why many, even non-believers are depressed and suicidal as Judas was. But Peter was humbled to see the futility of trusting in the arm of flesh (human effort) by his experience; he looked to Grace (unmerited favour) was restored by Grace (Christ Himself) for exploits.
Antichrist pastors exploit man's logical reasoning which sees trying to overcome sin and its deathly effects or making things up to God by human effort/arm of flesh (aka law-keeping) as the right thing to do- but in God's wisdom, this is how sin increases, hence the increase in sins and the lack of good works among many who profess Christ. Such pastors promote dependence on human effort for the attainment of godliness, just as Satan did with Eve. But the word of God whose ways and thoughts are higher than man's says differently. God's word says in Christ, we who believe get to live in triumph over sin and death through our wonderful Saviour who was born to save the world from sin and death:
"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.
Recall Hebrews 12 above: 14 "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
Believer, when one tries to obey the law in order to be godly, he falls short of God's grace. The result: bitterness, fornication and profanity bloom. See this reflected in Romans 7:5-
"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."
The one with the old nature is not a new creation. He is trying to obey the law in order to be righteous but all who are "a new creation" have God's GIFT of everlasting righteousness in Christ. The law that many are trying to obey in order to be godly arouses evil desires...
Rather than address the root problem by teaching True Grace that restores the flock to Grace by Whom we get to live in triumph over sin and death, the flock is told that the way to avoid bitterness and sexual immorality in the church is more obedience to the law in order to be godly!....so sin has dominion:
"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14.
This "obey the law in order to be godly" false doctrine is the order of the day in many places of worship today. This is why the proliferation of churches has not translated into character and right living by even many pastors. The doctrine that many believe is "Keep the Law in order to be righteous before God and make it in life"; it is of Satan and is designed to cut one off from Christ and make one fall short of the grace of God. You see, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says of God:
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Christ died to make us righteous. All of our own righteousnesses are like "a menstrual rag" according to Isaiah 64:6. God loves us so much and doesn't want us to perish so He gave His own Son for us; our sins for His righteousness. This righteousness is a gift and cannot be sullied or removed by whatever we do or don't do. With it comes Christ's gift of no condemnation by which we go and sin no more. You will NOT continue to sin. It's not by works or self effort! This is the logic of heaven. It is Good News to the helpless sinner but blasphemy and foolishness to those who trust in their arm of flesh-driven works of righteousness to notch up points with God-
"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18.
For a believer in Christ to still depend on the Ten Commandments for his right-standing with and ability to receive from God is to say that Jesus didn't do a good enough work on the cross in making him righteous, so he has to do some of his own to 'complete' Christ's finished work. It is to be "neither hot nor cold." Romans 5:17 says:
"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
God's “gift of righteousness" is our birthright as children of God, born anew and of the Spirit. Esau sold his birthright. Trying to obey the law in order to attain the same righteousness that Christ died that we might have is to reject one's birthright as a born-again Christian. Many do this in order to satisfy their pride and pat themselves on the back for doing works that Isaiah calls "a menstrual rag."
You can be sure that within the church, the only opposition to God's Grace (Christ Himself) is from people who think that they have the might to live a godly life (be like God) by their human strength aka arm of flesh.
The one who is trying to obey the law to get right with God has sold his birthright (God's abundance of grace and His gift of Righteousness through Christ,) just as Esau did. There is no way to inherit the blessing of Abraham (be an heir of the world) outside Grace. The blessing does not come through obeying the law but through the righteousness of faith (the law is not of faith.) See Romans 4-
13 "For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,"
No place for repentance without our birthright in Christ, no matter how diligently one seeks it. There is no holiness here. Only rejection. Plus consider what is written of Esau in Hebrews 12:17-
“17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears."
Repentance” above is not that breast-beating kind that Judas had which led him to try to get back into God’s good graces by his human effort/arm of flesh at doing what the law commands. “Repentance” is translated from the Greek word “metanoia” meaning “change of mind.” The New American Bible (Revised Edition) says:
In essence, Esau could not change Isaac’s mind about the blessing. It was too late.
Believers, why clean yourself with filthy rags (works of the Law) when Christ has already washed you clean with His blood, making you right with God? Romans 5:9 says of Him:
"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."
Determination and self-will (trying to obey the law) cannot help you pursue peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. People have been trying and failing to keep the Law since the Law was given at Mt. Sinai! Even the holiest church daddy in the world sins and according to James 2:10, breaking one law makes one guilty of all: without God's gift of righteousness in Christ, the "holiest" church daddy and the murderous rapist armed robber are in the same boat of unrighteousness and condemned to face the full wrath of God the Righteous Judge whose righteousness demands that even the tiniest sin be punished to the uttermost.
Remember, when one is under the law, he is cut off from Christ so there is nothing like salvation from sins (so sins flourish) or repentance here, no matter how one beats their breast in regret! Law and grace don't mix. Only in the Beloved are we accepted; only the righteousness that comes by "One Man’s obedience" is acceptable to God.
You cannot stop watching porn, losing your temper, being impatient, cussing at other drivers on the road, lying, fornicating, stealing and stop sinning in general by making up your mind to stop. It may look as you are not doing too badly at obeying the law and suppressing sinful urges by yourself right now but the arm of flesh will fail and when it does, those sinful urges will explode in a volcanic eruption of sinful deeds that lead to death (Romans 7:5.) Just ask Peter who denied our Saviour three times after boasting that he would not!
One might see temporary results from deploying human effort to get victory over sin, an Ishmael born but not of God's will, a glory that is fading away; but when a big enough trial comes, the arm of flesh will fail. The reason why we are not committing particular sins is because we have not been tempted beyond what we can bear in those areas. The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them and that they can obey the law.
For we who are in Christ, this is how we overcome trials and temptations:
""So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall." We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously." 1 Corinthians 10:13.
We all need Someone to bring us out of trials and temptations. To save us from our sins. That Someone is Jesus. Like Peter, God keeps many from the vagaries of Time and Chance and Satan's sifting so many boast and even levy others with demands that they would not be able to carry if they had the same trial. No sin is beneath anybody. All human effort at trying to live above sin or to be godly will fail. We overcome only by utter dependence on God's Grace. So beloved of God, by His Grace, stop trusting in yourself; receive your birthright in Christ (His gift of righteousnes) that is brought to us through God's abundance of Grace and live in triumph over sin and death through the One, Jesus Christ. See Romans 5:16-17-
"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
Right believing always produces right living.
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