How far has modern Christianity strayed from the original message of Jesus Christ? (2)

What does Christ mean by this comparison or typology of Himself as the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness when the snake sting was wreaking havoc among the affected Israelites? What do the snake sting and its deathly effects represent? God's word shows us in 1 Corinthians 15:56-57:

“56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The sting of death that is sin does not refer to acts of sin that man produces. The sting represents the sin/old nature in man. Romans 5:19-

“By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.”

Acts of sin are not what makes a person a sinner. Adam's sin took care of that before anyone could commit a single sin act. It’s akin to how a person living with HIV remains a carrier of the virus and can pass the infection to others even though he is not presenting any symptoms.

Just as the Israelites did not manufacture the snake sting that is Sin, man did not manufacture his sin nature by himself. All who are descended from Adam, that's all of mankind, are born with and have this old (sinful) nature by default. Sinners will produce acts of sin, just as the Israelites that were infected with the snake sting produced infection symptoms that lead to death. Remember Christ provided this typology/comparison.

A person can attempt to live his life in a bubble of (self)-righteousness by obeying the Law and not sinning (an effort in futility as the arm of flesh will fail) in order to be whole, but this does not change his “sinner" status. He is like an HIV carrier thinking that he can stop his impending death by trying to cure his immunodeficiency-driven diseases like tuberculosis with his home-made cough medicine. He still has the old/sinful nature that all of mankind inherited from Adam and unless he gets rid of the inherited sin nature, he will produce more sins that lead to death.

Imagine the Israelites trying to rid themselves their snake sting symptoms, rushing off to do burnt offerings, give gifts to God or doing their best to keep the Ten Commandments and the rest of the laws in order to be free from the snake sting and escape its deathly symptoms instead of focusing on the bronze serpent. They would have been distracted from looking at the bronze serpent on the pole (a picture of Christ lifted up for us) with all of their futile efforts and cut off from its saving power, just as churchgoers who focus on trying to be made perfect before God by keeping the law have been cut off from Christ-

"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.

The effects of the snake sting aka sin nature within those who are trying to keep the law in order to make God like or bless them isn't stalled by these futile and useless activities aka law-keeping in order to be godly. Rather, like the snakebite symptoms in the affected Israelites, it gets worse. Death is the result. The letter kills. But this is exactly what many in the church today are doing with that perverted Satan's doctrine that says-

“Yes we are saved by GRACE but we still have to obey the LAW in order to be godly, made whole, escape God's wrath and make it to heaven.”

Law-keeping is anything that one is doing in order to change his sinner status, contribute to Christ's finished work of making the sinner who believes righteous apart from works or in order to "not perish but have everlasting life." Only God can do this and He gave us His own Son for this purpose.

Many churchgoers are being deceived into trying to get rid of the symptoms of the sin nature (acts of sin) by human effort at obedience (keeping the law) and doing works in order to get God to save and thus be made whole or godly like God. This is an effort in futility. It is akin to a person suffering from AIDS ignoring the cure for the virus and thinking that he can get well if he just treats his immunodeficiency-driven tuberculosis and other symptoms. In order for health to return to the body and for the body to function properly and bear good fruit/works, the virus (sting/sin nature) needs to go or else more symptoms will arise and the sick/sinner will ultimately die. Recall 1 Corinthians 15:56 says:

“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”

The law that those with the old nature (refusing Christ as their righteousness) are trying to keep in order to be righteous/free from their symptoms of sin only strengthens the sting/old nature within and causes sins to proliferate. See this in Romans 7:5-

"4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 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."

Beloved of God, by His Grace, let's not be deceived with the same horrid and deathly doctrine that Satan preached to Eve in Eden; that false doctrine which teaches that man can do anything at all by his own power in order to live a godly life or be godly like God by keeping the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil and kills like a certain tree. It seemed good to Eve to eat, just as dependence on human effort for the attainment of godliness seems right to many; but Proverbs 14:12 counsels us-

"There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."

Satan knows this. He knows that the road to hell is paved with good intentions- which is the best that man has to offer, just like Peter when he swore to not deny Christ but fell flat on his face three times when it came to the time to activate his useless strength. Satan knows something that many churchgoers are yet to realise: that there is absolutely no good in man of himself. Peter realised this after he fell. Also, God's word tells us through the experience of Paul in Romans 7:18-

"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."

But Satan preys on man's Pride in the arm of flesh that will fail and deceives man into doing the seemingly good thing of trying to be godly like God by his non-existent will-power as Eve tried to do. So, exalting himself against the knowledge of God, man says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I have some good in me and enough will-power to keep the Law and live a godly life."

Reminds one of Peter believing that Jesus was wrong concerning the issue of his then upcoming denials.

Satan knows too well man's desire to be godly so he and his pastors do their best to keep the flock focused on doing the seemingly good thing of trying to be righteous like God by obeying the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil and which kills like the tree of the same name. But this way kills. It is not God's way. God's way of making us righteous like Himself is only through the obedience of Christ. His righteousness is a gift and it is free for all who believe.

Beloved of God, Christ had no sins of His own. His blood was shed to make us righteous in God's sight. He suffered and died to rid us of the sting of death which is the sinful nature that causes man to produce acts of sin. Colossians 2:11 says of His finished work-

“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature."

And He didn't just stop there as antichrist pastors who say "So because of Grace we can sin" love to imply. Never. In Christ, we now have the "righteousness nature" of God Himself-

“By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19.

Beloved of God, see how God sees all who believe the above truth in Romans 5:9-

"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."

But the one with the sin/"old nature" is not a "new creation" in Christ. He does not believe that He has been made righteous through Christ's blood so he still depends on his useless arm of flesh-driven works to contribute something to his salvation. He does not believe Christ's word e.g. that "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law..." so he is still running from one "power must change hands" deliverance service to another looking for deliverance from the curse that Christ hung on the curse to redeem us from. Beloved of God, let's not be found here. Keeping your focus on what you can do by your own power to save yourself from sin or get God to bless will only cause more snakebite symptoms aka acts of sin to flourish! Only believe. Christ has won it all for us.

All we need to do to enjoy God's saving grace is to be in Christ in a total trust fall- entirely helpless and empty of our baggage of laws kept, fasts undertaken, holy ghost conferences/power must change hands conferences attended and things we feel should make Him bless- just like all who freely received from Him when He walked the earth as Man. He came for the entirely helpless. Romans 5:6 says of our Saviour Jesus Christ-

"For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate His love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.”

Beloved of God, notice that Christ came to save those who are "ENTIRELY entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves." Those who depended on their will-power at obeying the law in order to be godly like the religious, law-hugging but antichrist Pharisees are deceiving themselves; like Peter who thought he could be good but realised his foolishness of putting confidence in self. Proverbs 28:26 counsels us:

"A man is a fool to trust himself! But those who use God’s wisdom are safe."

Those who think they are good, can keep even a jot of the law, are not that bad and need less saving than "core sinners" cannot enjoy the salvation of Christ who is our Wisdom from God. He is Saviour to the uttermost.

This is the message of Christ - Righteousness by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. None of self; all of Christ. This is why we sing "Tis no longer I that liveth but Christ that liveth in me."

The Israelites that had been bitten by snakes only had to look at the bronze serpent on the pole - for us, Christ lifted up to free us from the power, pleasure and penalty of sin, grant us everlasting righteousness apart from our puny attempts at keeping the Law, cause us to bear much fruit and give us eternal life - every blessing in John 3:16. All of these have nothing to do with our puny attempts at keeping the law or sowing seeds, just as the Israelites only had to look at the bronze serpent in order to be completely whole. Believing this way is seeing Christ lifted up. When your believing is right - looking solely unto Jesus and not depending on what you can do by your own might to get rid of the snake sting (sin nature) and its symptoms that kill (acts of sin that lead to death,) right living will follow, just as life was given to the affected Israelites.

Being completely whole like the Israelites that looked to the bronze serpent were made to be entails having good works to show for our faith in Christ. The one who has no works to show for his faith is incomplete. Being in Christ without having good works to show for it is as impossible as being submerged in water without getting wet. It has got nothing to do with human striving. Christ does it all. In Him, we get to bear "much fruit" because we are a part of the Vine. It's a given for all who totally trust in Christ and are not trying to keep the law or deceive themselves with their useless works done to get right with God and so have been cut off from Christ-

"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.

The more one tries to do things by human effort (aka obey the Law) in order to be godly and saved in the name of trying to fulfil "faith without works is dead" by human effort, the more sins will multiply — same way the Israelites would have died if they had opted to run around looking for how to be free from the snake sting (sin nature) and its symptoms (acts of sin and their consequences) that lead to death, giving the venom time to spread and wreak havoc.

Beloved of God, no matter how much an AIDS patient does the work of trying to rid himself of his immunodeficiency-driven tuberculosis and other diseases, he will only get worse. No matter how much he tries to produce good fruit from his body, his fruit/work remains tainted and unacceptable. All that needs to bring out the worst is losing access to his viral load-suppressing medication. Likewise the sinner who thinks curbing sins by will-power (arm of flesh) is the answer. The arm of flesh will fail and when it does - when circumstances become unfavourable as they did with Peter - those suppressed sins will burst forth in a volcanic eruption of sinful deeds that lead to death.

Unless the virus (sin nature) is excised, more symptoms (sins) will crop up. Christ has rid all who truly believe of this sin nature, all who utterly depend on Him for Righteousness and Strength. Colossians 2:11 says of His finished work-

“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature."

But what about the issue of sins? Does this mean that we can continue to wallow sins as antichrist pastors who deride God's saving Grace as being insufficient for our salvation imply? Never! Beloved of God, God's marvelous 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- "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

How can one be immersed in the Medicine that will make him well and still continue to be sick? How can one have Christ as Saviour from sins and continue to produce sins? How could the Israelites that were infected with the sting of death have continued to produce snakebite symptoms and be lacking in wholeness when their entire focus was on Christ and not what they could do to save themselves? Those antichrist pastors who say things like-

"So because we are righteous in Christ we can continue to sin because we have Grace"-

-these ones only expose their cluelessness about or unbelief in the message of Christ and His power to utterly save the sinner who believes from sin and its deathly effects. Such trust in their arm of flesh (human effort) and distrust the power of Christ to transform even the vilest offender to godliness. The spirit of the antichrist is not necessarily anti-God. It is anti-Christ aka seeking to replace the finished work of Christ in making the helpless sinner who believes godly/righteous with human effort at attaining godliness- the same doctrine that Satan preached to Eve in Eden.

We who believe are saved from the issue of sins the same way that the woman with the issue of blood was saved from her issue- stopping our silly efforts to save ourselves and putting utter trust/faith in Christ.

Beloved, hear the message of Christ: we are saved from sin and death the same way as were the Israelites that looked to the bronze serpent for salvation from the sting of death (sin) and its deathly effects (acts of sin that lead to death.) Christ Himself shows us this in John 3. All those futile efforts running around looking for salvation by human effort as some "pastors" teach will only strengthen the hold of sin in a person's life. When your believing is right, the sins will disappear by the power of Christ in you. Right living and an abundance of works of faith will follow.

There might still be symptoms of of snakebite (acts of sin) present after we are saved but with the "sin nature" removed and replaced with God's "righteousness nature," our path can only get brighter and brighter like the morning sun.

In Christ, God sees us as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins." Antichrist pastors describe this truth (God’s word!) as blasphemy and license to sin. But the word of God whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than man’s says this truth is how we get to live in triumph over the sting of death that is sin and its deathly effects aka acts of sin that lead to death. See this in 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.