The Spirit of Sonship— Part 4

So you want to know what things displease God? They are the same things that displease Christ. Christ wasn't pleased with the ways of religious people who thought they were good or had the might to keep even a tittle of the law in order to transform themselves from sinner to "godly." He was not pleased with the ways of those who put up barriers of rules and regulations (the Law) to accomplish or things to do before one could receive His freely-given healing and every other blessing.

In fact, the only place in the gospels where "angry" is used to describe how Jesus felt (Mark 3:1-6) references the leader of a synagogue who was indignant because Jesus healed a woman without her fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law by her own strength. That woman's pastor was angry because Christ healed her when she was on the wrong side of the law aka despite her sin! 

To put things in perspective, imagine your pastor telling you that you are neither qualified to receive Christ's healing and provision nor to "come boldly to the throne of Grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" because you are still struggling with certain sins, addictions, imperfection, zero fasting and an entirely blank tithe card- the very things that God sent His own Son to save us from and the reason why Christ gave His life for you and I—

“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." Titus 2:14.

To digress a bit, please tithing is not wrong: why would I see investing my own Father’s business — my business — as wrong? Some people’s tithes and offering made it possible for me to hear via TV broadcast the Good News about Jesus Christ that I am sharing. The problem is when I start to think that my investment which I would not even have but for being His child is what makes my Father love and bless me, or prevents Him from letting wild animals maul me to death; or keeps me on as a shareholder on the board of my Father’s business. In Christ, we do not give to get; we get to give. But I digress. 

In essence, let us beware of those ones who tell us that our ability to live the abundant life that God gives us freely in Christ is hinged on our useless efforts at being on the right side of God's law! Beloved, beware of such preachers. These ones always have a “but” to add to God’s word, e.g. —

“Yes we are saved by Grace BUT that does not negate the fact that we still have to do our best to be good/wise/smart/have business acumen/whatever.”

That is the definition of Pride according to the example of Adam and Eve who depended on the knowledge of good and evil (Law) and not the Tree of Life (Christ Himself who is The Grace of God and The Truth) in their attempt to develop godly traits aka “be like God.” What they teach is akin to telling a formerly hungry person that cannot produce a thing by himself and whose Supply is now utterly Christ :

"Yes Christ has fed and continues to feed you to overflowing with His bread and wine. He continues to oil your skin with His oil. BUT that does not negate the fact that we still have to do our best to look for food, be free from hunger and prevent ourselves from having dry skin."

How can one be united with Christ or have the mind of Christ and not have all of these things and much more? Christ gave His life for us SO THAT we might have and be able to do these things! Beloved, Christ found you like the lost sheep and is offering: 

"Let Me carry you all the way home on My shoulders where you get to go further and faster in my strength, My helpless sheep."

Beware of preachers who want to claim credit for finding all or some their way home by their human strength/the flesh which is pretty much useless and even got them lost in the first place: the arm of flesh will fail. The spirit of the antichrist is not necessarily anti-God. 

For all of their religious piety, obedience and enforcement of the Law of Moses which none can match today, the Pharisees were antichrist. Little wonder Christ referred to them as “Brood of vipers” and “Satan is your father.” Jesus Christ the Tree of Life was right there with them to save them from their sins, make them godly (be like God) and grant them eternal life as a gift of grace (unmerited favour,) but they wanted to share the limelight and felt that they could earn all or some of the glory, so that they could maintain their high esteem in society and boast in their self-produced righteousnesses— just like many church leaders who follow their doctrine while rejecting Grace and try to blind the flock to Grace. 

Refusing God’s way of making us righteous (by faith in Christ) which is written for us in Romans 10, they choose to cling to doing righteous deeds in order to be righteous aka doing what the law commands in their bid to be good/godly aka “be like God,”— the same deceit that Satan the original viper/serpent sold to Eve in Eden. Beloved, if any is on this ground, NOW is the day of salvation. Never trust yourself. Trust Christ.

In essence, let us beware of such who claim to be in the Spirit but are walking in the flesh aka trusting in human effort to achieve anything much less right-standing with God. To digress a bit, Satan and his “pastor” agents have been quite successful in redefining the meaning of “fleshly” or “carnally-minded” or “walking in the flesh.” For many, “flesh” or “carnal” connotes thoughts of people wallowing in sins usually of a sexual nature. 

Not so according to the Bible.

“Flesh” or “carnal” is translated from the Greek word “Sarx.” It denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God. According to Helps Word Studies—

“4561 sarks properly, flesh ("carnal"), merely of human origin or empowerment. 

[4561 /sárks ("flesh") is not always evil in Scripture… is generally negative, referring to making decisions (actions) according to self – i.e. done apart from faith (independent from God's inworking). Thus what is "of the flesh(carnal)" is by definition displeasing to the Lord – even things that seem "respectable!" 

In short, flesh generally relates to unaided human effort, i.e. decisions (actions) that originate from self or are empowered by self. This is carnal ("of the flesh") and proceeds out of the untouched(unchanged) part of us – i.e. what is not transformed by God.”

In essence, whatever righteous deed done in order to obtain favour from God or be seen as “trying my best” in His sight, it originates from the flesh aka self-effort or human effort and it is sin— even if it seems righteous and respectable. Isaiah 64:6 describes such righteous acts of men which some present to God as why He should bless, save and deliver thus—

“We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight." Isaiah 64:6.

See what God's word says about the non-existent good and useless will-power that some rely on for their “but at least we still have to try” works in Romans 7:18, a truth that Paul experienced:

“For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But Satan appeals to Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience or achieving good) that will fail and causes man to think:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can produce good, keep the law and resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power. I can and I must do works to be godly aka "be like God" or (as it was with Judas) to prove to God that I am truly sorry for my sins and can make amends.”

Beloved, our Spirit is born-again but the flesh is not. The flesh/human effort principle is with us until we receive our new bodies at the Rapture. It is that part of man that desires to be recognized for fasting for 70 days to break curse that Christ hung on the cross to redeem us from and longs to take credit/glory for achieving good. In Christ, we know that of ourselves, we can do nothing, not even breathe. But the one with “the flesh” mindset does not realize yet that it is because of God’s mercy that he has not devolved into utter rottenness. He thinks he is or can be good by himself when Christ says—

“There is none good but God.” 

Anything done apart from the Spirit (whatever man can take credit for and lifts up as why God did anything for him,) it is walking in the flesh (unaided human effort) and in the flesh dwells no good thing. All it can produce is dead works. If one can boast about the good that he did and expects God to bless him based on his human striving at being good (like God) or obedient, he is merely offering a pride-filled, disgusting and abominable sacrifice— a dead work. Beloved, it is impossible for us to deceive ourselves in this matter of dead works—

if we knew and believed that it is Christ in us doing our good works and godly living and not our own might and power, it would be difficult for us to credit God’s freely-given provisions (including redemption from sins and godly living) for us in Christ to useless human effort or arm of flesh-driven self-determination and discipline, or useless works of the law such as our own obedience or 70 days fasts. We would find it difficult to demand or point accusing fingers at others who are still struggling with sin or threaten them with God’s wrath if they don't change. Rather, we would agree with Christ who says—

“There is none good but God."

We would see that the good that we do and our being kept from sins is by God's grace (unmerited favour) alone. When we see people committing heinous sins and are lacking in good works, we would know that the reality for us is—

“There I go but for the Grace of God."

As Peter saw after his denials and Job with his calamities, we would see how helpless man is to overcome sins, prosper and produce even an atom of good by himself; and like Moses who pointed the suffering Israelites to the bronze serpent, we point ourselves and everyone else to Christ who saves from sins and transforms the sinner who truly believes to live right and to bear much fruit, as it is written of Him in Titus 2:14--

"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."

Beloved, how weak we all are of ourselves. But we who believe follow the One whose strength is made perfect in weakness. Our weakness. We need Him today as much as we did when He found us. As much as the vilest offender. The less we are of ourselves, the more He is to us. 

Beloved of God, those sins, imperfections and issues of life that you struggle with and which Pharisee-type leaders describe as disqualifications from entering into God’s goodness and your utter helplessness to save yourself from them, those are the exact qualifications that God requires to save you. It is His goodness that leads to repentance, not threats of wrath and devourers. 

Like the woman with the issue of blood who was bogged down by works of the law like 70 days fast and stuff which her law-keeping religious leaders’ prescribed for her to do in her own might in order to be made whole, but received her salvation when she abandoned such dead works and put her trust in Christ alone, come to Christ with your own issues of sins and ungodlinesses e.g lack, unemployment, laziness, homelessness, overeating, depression, etc (all are ungodly as these traits cannot be found with God.) He will save you from your sins, cleanse you, make you His own and make you committed to doing good works- FREELY and without terms and conditions. So ask, beloved. He wants to hear it from you. 

Even now, ask our Father in heaven to open your eyes to see, know and believe GRACE- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. As He did the prodigal son who deserved nothing but death, He is running towards you and eager to enfold you in His embrace of True Grace. 

None of us have arrived yet, but—  “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭‬‬

God bless us all believers in Christ and keep us in His unending Grace. When your believing is right, right living will follow.