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What Is The Source Of A Believer?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: Law of Moses October 9, 2017

I see many believers today and pulpits teaching that we are still to be under the Ten Commandments. That we should be obeying them and that God did not ‘do away with them’ when Christ came. From the perspective that the Ten Commandments are God’s absolute truth and are Holy, they are correct but they are missing the point. The Law is dead to the Christian because it is all about how the source has changed. The source for what? For our justification and Salvation and for our righteousness. What do I mean by that? Let’s look at a few Scriptures and then you will see it more clearly:

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under THE CURSE: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that NO MAN IS JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW in the sight of God, it is evident: for, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. AND THE LAW IS NOT OF FAITH: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, being made a curse FOR US: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:10-13 KJV)

In this passage of Scripture we see that there has been a change when the New Covenant came into effect. The just (believers) are to now live by faith with the Holy Spirit indwelling as our source. Jesus Christ is now become our source and God lives within us now as the comforter and Holy Spirit. The Law and Ten Commandments are not to be our source anymore. Our source is God within us! Faith and trust in Him that is indwelling us.

In Romans 7 we are told by Apostle Paul that,

“…ye also are become DEAD TO THE LAW BY THE BODY OF CHRIST; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, WHICH WERE BY THE LAW, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. BUT NOW WE ARE DELIVERED FROM THE LAW, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in NEWNESS OF SPIRIT, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

We are dead to the Law of Moses which had 613 man made laws plus the Ten Commandments given directly by God. We were DELIVERED FROM THE LAW. There has been a change! After receiving Christ as our Savior in belief of the atonement for sins He provided on the cross, we now have the spirit of God dwelling within us. The Holy Spirit within has now become our source and replaced the Law of Moses.

It is all about the source; a person is either following the Ten Commandments or He is following the spirit.

But does that mean it is okay to lie, murder, covet? Does that mean we do not have to follow the morals of the Ten Commandments? Not at all. So what does this mean? Let’s think about this logically a moment. Let’s compare what life is like using these two different, yet connected sources.

⇒ Life Under The Law As Our Source

Living under the Ten Commandments and all the Law of Moses as our source is like us trying our best in our own ability to keep every commandment without fail. So if we are coveting, in self righteous efforts, we keep saying to our self, “Stop coveting. Stop coveting. Stop coveting. Stop coveting!” Yet when we do that, we find ourselves in the same situation as Paul in Romans 7… we keep coveting! It is like a kid who sees a sign on a lawn that reads.. “Do not step on the grass or else!” What does the kid do huh? Stomps around on the grass. (Okay maybe not all kids but you get my point.)

Following the Law as our source will not make you stop disobeying. It also will not forgive the sin you have committed. Romans 5:20 shows us that “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.” Because the Ten Commandments were given, humankind now sees just how sinful we are. And not only that, it increases our sin. Why? Because we have a sinful nature within us and it is bent toward sinning.

We see in Galatians that some crept in with false teaching that once saved by Grace through Christ, we still have to be following the Law and Ten Commandments. And what did Paul say about believing and living this way? He said it is a VERY SEVERE OFFENSE!

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, LET HIM BE ACCURSED.” (Galatians 2:6-8 KJV)

⇒ Life With The Holy Spirit Within As Our Source

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE.” (Romans 6:14 KJV)

If we walk in the spirit we avoid the sins of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16). God resides within the believer and so if we find ourselves having trouble with the sin of coveting for example, we need to go to our new source, the Holy Spirit within us. We acknowledge (confess) and thank God for forgiving all my sinful ways and we pray to God knowing that without Christ as our source, we cannot bear good fruit (John 15) in self righteous efforts. We pray to God that we are having a problem with coveting. You want to stop but you cannot do this on your own. “God, please renew my mind on this and help me to stop coveting.” Do you think that is a prayer that God will not honor? Yes it is!

The more we renew our mind by the Word of God and with the help of the Holy Spirit within us to guide us and help us we will eventually come to the place where coveting ends in your life. This is following our new source within, our comforter, the Holy Spirit of God. And His guiding and help will follow the Ten Commandments because they are absolute truth and are Holy and right. Plus, Christ fulfilled them!

You see, Christ fulfilled the Law and now God resides within you as the Holy Spirit. Will the Holy Spirit as the source want you to murder, or lie, or covet? No. The Holy Spirit is Christ in you. Christ follows the Ten Commandments perfectly. Apostle Paul puts it this way, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10 KJV). This righteousness is not our self righteousness. It is the righteousness we now have because Christ is indwelling us as the Holy Spirit. Having accepted the Free gift of eternal life and forgiveness of our sins through belief on Christ crucified as our sacrificial substitute without our own efforts (John 3:18, Ephesians 2:8-9), we are set free from the punishment of our sins. We now have a newly created spirit within us.

So when you hear that believers are ‘Dead To The Law’, it does not mean the Ten Commandments are not Holy and just and good. It means we are no longer using the Law as our source. Instead believers are to follow the Holy Spirit as our source.

Stop trying to follow the Old Covenant Law of Moses as the source in your life. Start using the Holy Spirit and Christ within you as the source. Abide by Christ and His words (John 15). By doing so, your mind inwardly will be lsowly renwed to the truth and your outward life will start to change as you are slowly but surely transformed into the very image of Christ. And you will find that your life is more in line with the Holy and moral aspects of the Ten Commandments in an increasing basis.

Matthew 6: 14-16: Will We Lose Salvation If We Fail To Forgive A Person?

Don Gerrity Matthew, Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: Difficult Passages October 8, 2017

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15 KJV)

Jesus said this right after teaching the Jewish people how they should be praying when they pray to God. It is part of what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer. To ask forgiveness for sins we did to others as we forgive those who sinned against us. The concept of this is right obviously.

However, in the passage quoted above in verses 14 and 15, this is a strong statement. In fact, reading this is completely opposing to the Gospel of Grace Apostle Paul taught and so some are using these verses to show that in order to be saved we need to do more than just believe on Christ in faith and that we need to ACT and DO GOOD in order to be saved. After all, this verse is very clear is it not? If we do not forgive others than God will not forgive us. He will revoke our forgiveness and without our forgiveness, we cannot be saved.

The problem with that idea about these verses is that it is completely opposing to the New Testament Grace of God that saves us. Apostle Paul never did teach anything like this. Salvation is not about self righteous efforts nor good works. We are saved ONLY because Jesus died on that cross and paid for the sins of the whole world. It was NOT a partial payment! When Jesus paid for the sins of the world He cried out on the cross “It is FINISHED!”. And if you look at the Greek that was penned it literally means, PAID IN FULL!

Thinking about this and being Logical and Scriptural; if we failed to forgive something a person did, that sin would also have been paid for by Christ on that cross. In fact, when we look at the New Testament and New Covenant Grace of God regarding forgiveness we find that forgiving is something we should do because God has ALREADY forgiven us. It is written in the PAST tense because all our sins were 100% forgiven on the cross by Jesus. We WERE totally forgiven the very moment that we believed on Christ alone to save us. (John 3:18)

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake HATH forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32 KJV)

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ FORGAVE you, so also do ye.” (Colossians 3:13 KJV)

Is there a contradiction here then? Was Paul wrong?

Paul was not wrong at all. Again context is very important. We need to understand that for many of Jesus’ statements to the Jewish people during His ministry on Earth He was addressing those who are living under the Old Covenant and Law of Moses. And that, many believed that a person can only be justified by God in a works based method and Law keeping of the ‘letter of the Law’. They thought that they could be forgiven their sins by Law keeping but they failed to see the heart of the Law of Moses and Ten Commandments. Yes, the Ten Commandments are God’s absolute truth and they are Holy Laws to follow but these Laws will not MAKE a person Holy. What they do is show a person just how sinful they really are. It is impossible for people to obey the Law of Moses without failing. Thinking so is the sin of pride and we all know that is the sin Lucifer first had when he rebelled and became Satan, our adversary.

We see time and again, that Jesus is driving this home to the Jewish people living their lives under the Law of Moses to save them. He was burying them in their own wrong belief to bring them back to God. Many times Jesus goes to the utmost extreme and even expanding on just how impossible it is to be forgiven by obeying the Law perfectly. Here are just some examples that Jesus said just one chapter earlier:

“And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:30 KJV)

“Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5: 21-22 KJV)

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5: 27-28 KJV)

Cut off your hands?! If you hate someone it is the same as murdering them? Looking at someone with sexual lust is the same as the physical act of adultery? Remember the rich man who asked how can he go to Heaven? Jesus quoted to this guy the Ten commandment and the rich young man said that he had kept them all! REALLY?? Oh no he did not! This is very extreme PRIDE to claim such a thing. So what did Jesus say to him? He went to the extreme telling him to sell ALL THAT HE HAS (all the wealth) and to come and follow Christ. Even the disciples were shocked and asked Jesus ‘who then can be saved?’

You can see that even with all the extreme rules and regulations and laws in the Law of Moses, these seem to be more extreme yet! You see many times Jesus is basically trying to bury the Jewish people of the day in the Law. He is trying to break them and have them realize the Law cannot save them. They need to come to an end of themselves in thinking they need to work their way our of their sin debts. And instead come to the conclusion that they simply cannot save themselves! Instead they need to cry out to God in acknowledgement of this and ask for mercy.

Using proper context we are now getting to the truth of Matthew 6:14-15. Under the New Testament and New Covenant Grace we are told that we should forgive others as Christ forgave us. Absolutely. But to say here, in the age of the Grace of God AS BELIEVERS, that if we fail to forgive then God will revoke His forgiveness and we lose Salvation is just not Biblical at all.

If you believed on Christ alone to save you by the only atonement for sins He provided on the cross, as God in the flesh, then ALL your sins (past/present/future) were 100% paid and you were 100% forgiven and God MADE you into the very righteousness of God, in Christ. It is by FAITH ALONE in the work of Christ crucified that saves us because the wages of sin is not ‘doing good works’. No. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Just as Apostle Paul felt the struggle between our newly created spirit that never sins (it is the seed of God) and our still existing sin nature flesh seen in Romans 7,

“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, IT IS NO MORE I THAT DO IT, BUT SIN THAT DWELLETH IN ME.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after THE INWARD MAN:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into CAPTIVITY to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall DELIVER ME from the body of this death?

I thank God THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:19-25 KJV)

Now understanding this proper context, when you see Jesus state some very extreme things to people regarding their trying to keep the Law of Moses for forgiveness of their sins to gain entry to Heaven you now know why. He was stating such things to people not yet under the New Covenant because Jesus had not yet died on that cross. Jesus was simply trying to show the Jewish people just how impossible it really is to be saved by good deeds, good works, and religious rituals. Doing so is simply futile. This completely agrees with Apostle Paul teachings.

Here in the Age of God’s Grace, and living under the New Covenant, we should be so thankful! Knowing we are saved by such an amazing act of grace through Christ who died in such a horrible way, shedding His blood so that we could be saved from the captivity of our sins which we could never pay back is such an amazing act of God! It is from this ‘saved by the Grace of God alone’ perspective that we move to forgive others, just as Christ has already forgiven us.

What Is The Purpose Of Putting On The Whole Armour Of God In Ephesians 6?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living August 1, 2017

“Finally, my brethren, be strong IN THE LORD, and in the power of HIS MIGHT. Put on the WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD, that ye may be able to STAND AGAINST THE WILES of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to WITHSTAND IN THE EVIL DAY, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the FIERY DARTS of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
(Ephesians 6: 10-14 KJV)

In Ephesians 6, Paul is teaching the Ephesians, and also all believers today, a few things. A few VERY IMPORTANT things!

There Is A Real Devil And His Fallen Angels.

We tend to think that people we vote into office, or politicians, or even dictators, are the rulers of this world we live in. However, the Bible clearly states that ‘flesh and blood’ (humans) are not the real rulers and that it is the hidden principalities in high places directing the whole show. Satan is a real being and the Bible says he and his fallen angels are the real ‘rulers of this world’ and have been given a certain amount of influence and power in the ruling of this world we live in. There are many names describing this angel in the Bible. Some of the names are Satan, the devil, the adversary, the ruler of this present world, son of the morning, Abaddon (means the destroyer), the accuser, angel of light, the anointed Cherub, the beast, the dragon, the son of perdition, the tempter, the king of Tyre, the Antichrist, the god of this age, deceiver, the father of lies, Beelzebub, the prince of the power of the air and many more. Satan is a very REAL being and he hates us humans! Yes, God ultimately is in full control but Satan has been allowed a certain amount of power to run the world as we know it today. Satan’s rule will not be forever though and it is soon coming to a close.

Satan Wants To Blind Humans From The Only Way To Be Saved.

Satan has one main purpose since he turned against God, and in pride sought to become as God. Many do not know but the Bible tells us that Satan was once the closest angel to the throne of God! In Ezekiel 28:14, Lucifer is described as “…the anointed cherub who covers;…”. We also find in this passage that he was guardian of the very throne of God where it states, “…I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.”

No other created being was given the intelligence that God gave Lucifer. The very name of this Cherub angel is ‘Lucifer’ which means the “shining one” or “son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12 ). The Bible tells us that Lucifer was a very beautiful angel and was wise as well, (Ezekiel 28:12). In fact, he was a well respected angel as one of the top angels in the entire angelic creation. But all of that was going to change and in his own beauty he allowed the sin of PRIDE to overcome him.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isaiah 14:12-14 KJV)

Since his fall from Lucifer to Satan (which means our advisory) Satan now has one task and he has been scheming and working his evil ways towards this very goal. What is the goal of Satan? To stop the Gospel of Jesus Christ from reaching the hearts of humankind!

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV)

This is the whole goal of Satan and he using many ‘wiles’ and schemes to deceive unbelievers into not finding the truth of the Gospel of Christ in which people may be saved. And basically, Satan does this through getting people involved and thinking about ANYTHING other than their Salvation. Because as we see in John 3:18,

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18 KJV)

Without accepting the free gift of Salvation from our sin debts against God we stand ALREADY CONDEMNED and headed for the same judgement against Satan himself; the lake of fire and hell for eternity, because our sin debt has not been paid for by Christ when we do not believe in the only atonement for our sins against God; Jesus the Christ, God in the flesh, taking the punishment for our sins on the cross. So all the devil is doing is deceiving and keeping people too busy to see the Gospel. He is blinding unbelievers.

Satan Deceives Unbelievers And Attacks Believers!

Therefore, if Satan’s main goal is to blind men from knowing the truth of Salvation by the Gospel of Christ, who do you think he is mainly focused on attacking? Unbelievers who are already blinded to the truth? Or believers who are telling others the truth of Salvation? Right! BELIEVERS are the main focus of his ‘wiles’ and ‘attacks’ because as Paul wrote,

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
(Romans 10:17 KJV)

Satan deceives the unbelievers and attacks, and tries to deceive believers, on all fronts to prevent people from hearing the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto Salvation.

In Ephesians 6, BELIEVERS are told by Paul to put on the whole armour of God so that we could STAND against the WILES of the devil. The Greek in which the New Testament was penned for the word ‘wiles’ is the Greek word ‘methodeia’ and it’s meaning is ‘to lie in wait, cunning arts, deceit, craft, trickery’. Satan uses many methods to DECEIVE people. Satan has been ruling this world system we live in for thousands and thousands of years now. He has observed every human nature that there is. He has developed many many schemes and evil plans for the one main goal he is working to achieve; spiritual blindness of people from the one way to be set free and saved for eternity and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

What Is The Purpose Of The Armour Of God?

This may seem an easy question to answer but do you answer this question correctly? You see, there are many pulpits and TV evangelists that are teaching the answer to this question FALSELY! Be sure you use the Word of God in context to base your answer on this question.

Ephesians 6 reads, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the FIERY DARTS of the wicked.”

Because of this one line of Ephesians 6, many pulpits and Bible teachers have taught that this is all about being able to withstand the troubles of life that the devil throws at believers and that it is all about living a good and happy life of ease since God loves us. Is this true though? Or is that another lie of the devil to deceive believers and prevent them from telling others the message of the Gospel of Christ? I can tell you that this is NOT what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 6!

Think about it a moment. This is called the ARMOUR of God. If a soldier puts on his helmet and his rifle and grenades and army boots, why is he doing that? Is it to go live a life of ease? NO! It means he is preparing for a battle! He is preparing for all out war and he is fighting not just for himself. He is ultimately fighting for a purpose of his leader and for the love of others in his Country. Please get this folks. Paul wants you protected because as Christian believers in the Gospel of Grace, he knows that the devil and his fallen angels are going to attack you in many ways (fiery darts) to prevent you from sharing the Gospel to others. The answer to why we put on the full armour of God is NOT so that we can live a life of ease without troubles but so that we can STAND AGAINST the fiery darts of the devil and so we can boldly proclaim to others how to be saved from our sins.

Have you ever wondered why many believers, who are truly saved and truly love and truly want others to know the truth of Salvation, still freeze in fear in telling others the Gospel? It is FEAR! We see in the Bible that there is The Fear of God that leads to all understanding but that is a fear in respect of who God is and helps a person recognize God and how great He is for saving us through Christ crucified. But the other fear in the Bible is about fear verses love. And what does the Bible say about this fear?

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18 KJV)

“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15 KJV)

This is where the devil attacks believers. We should be using our FAITH in love which is the opposite of the fear the devil tries to instill in us over many issues of life. And especially when it comes to sharing the Gospel with others. Satan knows this! Now the devil cannot read your mind to instill this fear but he can influence how you think others will react or give you questions about doing so such as, ‘what if I fail to bring them to Christ?’

Remember that even Paul had this same fear! You ask, “Paul had fear to share the Gospel?” Yes he did! Keep reading in Ephesians 6 and you will see that Paul writes,

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that UTTERENCE may be GIVEN UNTO ME, that I may open my mouth BOLDLY, to MAKE KNOWN the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK.” (Ephesians 6:19-20 KJV)

Do you see it now? Paul is asking for prayers from believers to give him boldness to preach the Gospel of Grace because he had fear in doing so. Because he did not believe? NO! Because he knew full well there would be opposition and persecution from unbelievers who will not believe the truth of God and in that day the opposition could be grave. Paul was beaten, stoned, jailed and the list goes on and on. He had fear just as you and I do for sharing the Gospel. But in love we need to press forth because the souls of humankind are hanging in the balance.

Put On The Whole Armour Of God So that….

You are not deceived by the devil, even from pulpits and others who claim to be believers but base Salvation on their works and religious rituals which is a lie straight from the devil. Salvation and justification with God are not by our own efforts in self righteousness. Salvation is a FREE GIFT from God which we can never deserve or merit. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)
That you may STAND AGAINST the schemes of the devil and his fallen angels. Read the Word of God! It is the only truth we have in this world friend! And this world system is soon going to be replaced by Christ Himself ruling and reigning on the Earth! If you know the truth from the Word of God, the KJV Bible, it empowers us to recognize what the devil is trying to do. And as we read the words of Jesus and abide in them (John 15) we quicken the work of the Holy Spirit to RENEW OUR MINDS to God’s world view (John 17). We change from the inside and conform more and more into the very image of God within us as believers. And then this moves outwardly into good works God has set before us and to help others come to Christ for the FREE GIFT of Salvation.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 KJV)

1 John 1: Is Walking In The Light Something We DO? Or Is It About God’s Grace and Our Fellowship With the Lord?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: Grace Of God July 20, 2017

What Is Being Addressed In 1 John 1 By Proper Context?

It is important to understand that the context of John’s letter is to thwart a heresy that false teachers were trying to get true believers to accept. This heresy is called –Gnosticism–. This is THE SIN that John is referring too in his letter. Those believing this heresy. John is not talking about all sins.
Gnosticism in incompatible with Biblical Christianity because Gnostics do not believe that a person can be born again IN THE SPIRIT through belief in Christ. They deny that we are saved because Christ died in our place and took on the punishment for our sins but instead rely on extra Biblical ‘secret knowledge’ they say has been imparted to them as if they are special somehow. This was a big heresy in the early church and is being shown as false.

The Gnostic’s teachings were causing fear in some of the believers and had them questioning their faith on Christ alone for Salvation. John is exposing this false heresy to believers who he is addressing.
The Gnostics denied the deity of Jesus as God. They denied that His death on the cross was the remedy for all of our sins. John wasn’t saying that Christians don’t sin; he was saying that those who adhered to the specific sin of Gnosticism were not saved. He was stating that no born again believer could accept Gnosticism, and no one who accepted Gnosticism could be born again in the Spirit. The Gnostics teaching are wrong right to the very core of the Gospel truth about salvation.

It is important to understand that John wrote his letters TO SAVED BELIEVERS. He is addressing people who are ALREADY born again in the Spirit by belief on Christ (John 3) and who are eternally saved through belief on Christ. The key to understanding this passage of Scripture is in the understanding what it means to ‘walk in the light’ and ‘walk in the darkness’. John is giving a comparison here to be sure that the one reading the letter is confident that they are truly saved in opposition to what the Gnostic false teaching was. He uses the contrast of ‘dark verse light’ to achieve this. Let’s move forward in the verses in 1 John.

Context In 1 John Is Refuting The Gnostics False Teaching And The Truth In Opposition About FELLOWSHIP

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have FELLOWSHIP WITH US: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL” (1 John 1:3-4 KJV)

John wants to settle any confusion about the false heresy of the Gnostics and the truth of the Gospel in opposition so that they may not have any fearful questioning in their hearts about the true Gospel. So that their joy may be full. This is the goal of John’s letter. The Gnostics had come in and joined the believing community but they were not believers. They were there to refute the truth about salvation in Christ. John is giving the born again a teaching to encourage them so that their joy may be full. The true Gospel of our salvation ,is what produces such joy and also keeps our faith stable to stand against the enemy lies.

“If we say that we have not sinned, WE MAKE HIM A LIAR, and his word IS NOT IN US.” (1 John 1:10 KJV)

Pretty clear right? We need to remain humble and know the truth. The truth is, we all still have sin. Maybe not ‘really bad ones’, but sin none the less. That is why we needed Christ and His atonement for our sins. No one can save themselves by works and deeds.

“If we say that we have FELLOWSHIP with him, and WALK IN DARKNESS, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we WALK IN THE LIGHT, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7 KJV)

John tells us right there that he is not talking about salvation in these following verses, but FELLOWSHIP AFTER our salvation. At the same time, the Gnostics where in community fellowship with other believers but in deceptiveness. So John is talking about both; (i.) The Fellowship of a believer to the Lord. (ii.) a person walking in darkness that was never born again by belief on Christ.

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5 KJV)

First, the Gnostics were spreading lies and stating the opposite to the believing community. And John is going to end any confusions! So many people ignore verse 5 and the context is lost. THAT GOD IS LIGHT and IN HIM is no darkness. Not that the saved cannot walk in darkness and light. Of course, it is better to walk in the truth of God’s light in our life! A believer is eternally saved the moment they believe on Christ (John 3:14-18, 36, John 6:37-40, Eph. 1:13-14, Colossians 2 etc. ). After we are saved, we still have free will to walk in the light of God or do wrong. Of course, we are to strive to do right and avoid sin, absolutely. Sin has consequences in this life and loss of eternal rewards at the judgement seat of Christ. Again, John’s writing in 1 John is about FELLOWSHIP after being saved – not mainly about salvation by John’s own writing in the chapter.

Verse By Verse To See Proper Context

Let’s now look at the passage in whole to see the truth about fellowship, as a born again saved believer, with our Lord an dhow John at the same time is refuting the Gnostics false teachings.

“5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. “

Verse 5: God is LIGHT and God has no darkness in Him. God is perfect. Jesus is God and is perfect. All light. No darkness. Jesus is who we should be imitating in our daily walk in life as believers. Doing so gives strong fellowship with our Lord. We are not to walk in darkness by following any others teaching falsely, who are denying the deity of Christ as the Gnostics were.

“6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”

Verse 6: Here John teaches about a believer’s fellowship to the Lord and also refutes any in the community of believers, who are not even in the light. Claiming that you are close to God in fellowship, but then living outwardly in darkness all the time is not good fellowship. It is also not true salvation for some who associate with born again believers but are not really saved and born again. Churches today are filled with such people. They are living in darkness thinking they are saved but they are not. Judas Iscariot is a good example. He lived with Christ during His Earthly ministry to Israel but was never a true believer. In the end, he betrayed Jesus. Here John is explaining both situations about FELLOWSHIP.

A saved person who is walking in darkness needs to restore fellowship with the Lord and ‘walk in the light’. As believers, we are to walk in the light, that is to walk by what Jesus said. We should have good works in love for others. Not that these works saves us. No. We are saved by belief on Christ alone; it is HIS finished work, not ours that saves us.

An unsaved person needs salvation before fellowship will even matter. Jesus warned about this in Matthew 7:15-23 as well. Having ‘many wonderful works’ does not save anyone. Being born again does (John 3:5-18, John 6:37-40). They are walking in darkness because they are not even born again, nor saved. Again, it is not by their works determining salvation. It is by accepting or rejected Christ.

“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 Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Verse 7: John then shows a true believer that is born again, walking in proper fellowship. This should be our goal as believers. He writes that confessing our sins ‘cleasnses us from ‘unrighteousness’. So that means a born again believer still has sins to contend with doesn’t it? Right there refutes any person who says they never sinned since their conversion. They are making Jesus as a liar and are also deceivig themselves. They are walking in darkness and are far from fellowship with the Lord; they may even not be saved. As a born again believer, Christ removed all our sins and we are now complete in Him in The Spirit (Colossians 2), and were MADE BY GOD the righteousness of God, in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17-21). Not that WE MAKE OURSELVES righteous. We need to follow The Lord as believers and this produces a very close fellowship and relationship with the Lord.

In the Greek this was originally written, the tense for the word ‘cleanseth’ is a present and continuous action. Once a person accepts the FREE GIFT of Salvation through Christ’s shed blood on the cross, the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on and keeps on cleansing you from every sin! Just like an ocean’s waves on a beach, the Grace of God keeps rolling in to cover all and any sin committed in the life of a believer. Amen!

“8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Verse 8: In 1 John 1:8, John reminds us that we’re all sinners – even as born again believers! Be humble and not boastful over your ‘many good works’ (Matthew 7:15-23, Eph. 2:8-9, Gal. 3, 5:4-5). John is refuting the false Gnostic teachings. As a believer, we will still sin and stumble. Our mind has not yet been made perfect (1 Cor. 15:50). That is why one day we need a bodily resurrection. Only our Spirit has been MADE perfect (2 Cor. 5:21, Colossians 2:10) . The devil and his angels, they are working and scheming against believers (Eph. 6) and sometimes, as a believer, we just ‘blow it’. Acknowledge this. God is certainly NOT SURPRISED! As a believer, I may stumble and fall in sin. Yet, Jesus foreknew about that sin and still died on that cross for us! (Romans 5:8) In fact, later in 1 John 2, John writes that Jesusu paid for all sins of the whole world. Not just believer’s sins (1 John 2:2). Again, context matters. We cannot be SINLESS until our bodily resurrection when our minds will be like Christ’s mind; perfected for ever. But acknowledging our sins and confessing them to God, motivates us to sin less.

“9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:9-10 KJV)

Verse 9 & 10: In 1 John 1:9-10, John tells us how sinners can remain in fellowship with the Lord. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The indwelling Holy Spirit works to restore you to proper fellowship with the Lord. When we fall into a sin as a believer, confess it to the Lord (He knows about it anyway! He knew you would do it, BEFORE you did it!) Acknowledge your sin to God. Thank Jesus that He already paid fro that sin on the cross for you (1 John 2:2).

Do not run away from God in guilt. Know that that sin was paid in full by Christ. Feel the remorse! But run TO GOD. That is a very health thing to do. Ask Jesus to help you overcome that temptation next time. Think God will not answer that prayer? Yes He Will! It is called truth and growth in faith. Move forward knowing Jesus already paid for that sin you committed (1 John 2:2). This is faith. That is walking in the light as well. It is building a stronger bond relationship between you and your heavenly Father. It is true fellowship with the Lord who wants to help you. He loves you more than you can imagine.

The Gnostics taught that no one has sinned and no one needs to believe in the Christ. They completely denied the deity of Christ. John refutes their false teaching and states clearly that ALL HAVE SIN – even born again believers. If a person does not acknowledge this, then they are not only walking in darkness; they are walking in the boastful sin of pride. Pride is the sin Lucifer (who was the closest to God’s throne in heaven, the top angel) when he wanted to be as God in boastfulness. It is the sin that started this whole mess humankind is in. We need to be HUMBLE before God. All glory to Christ crucified, died and risen (1 Cor. 15:1-4)! It is HIS work to be boastful about – not ours (Eph. 2:8-9). That is true faith. That produces great gratitude in the love and what God has freely given to us! Eternal life. His love for us is what motivates us to help others come to the knowledge of the truth and hopefully to believe and be saved.

“…freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8 KJV)

In the Greek this was originally written, the tense for the word ‘cleanseth’ is a present and continuous action. Once a person accepts the FREE GIFT of Salvation through Christ’s shed blood on the cross, the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on and keeps on cleansing you from every sin! Just like an ocean’s waves on a beach, the Grace of God keeps rolling in to cover all and any sin committed in the life of a believer.
By the continuous waves of God’s Grace, born again believers are always in God’s light in regards to salvation. But to remain in close relationship with God, and to live a life for Him and His Kingdom, walking in darkness is in opposition. It causes a drift and a distance which we want to avoid. Why?

“So that your joy may be full!”

We still have sin after Salvation but they were already penalty paid by the power of Jesus’ shed blood. Until we are resurrected with new immortal bodies, without this disease we have called sin and The Flesh, sin will happen in a believers life; though our Newly Created Spirit wars against the Flesh (Romans 7). These two conflicting beliefs IN THE MIND exist within every believer. Renewing these old Spirit thoughts by God’s truth in the Word is the goal (Romans 12, John 17:17). The holy Spirit is within a believer orchestrating this renewal.

Do not misunderstand me. The struggle against sin for a believer is VERY REAL. The Apostle Paul struggled greatly with the fight against the Flesh in Romans 7. Although our sins after Salvation do not separate us from the family of God, sin will affect our fellowship with our God as our Father. That is what John is talking about in 1 John. Thankfully, loss of Salvation and being kicked out of the family of God is not found in the Scriptures. Jesus already paid for all sins of the whole world and anyone who believes this, has had all sins ‘paid in full’ by Christ. He became sin for us and imputed His righteousness to us (2 Cor. 5:21).

When I tell you it affects our fellowship with God, that does not mean God turns away from us when we sin and turns back to us when we repent and change our mind about a sin. No God is within us always. Jesus said that he would never leave us nor forsake us. We are His for ever. It does affects our fellowship because WE FEEL GUILTY and may not turn to God in this guilt. We should do the opposite though and run to God when we sin and confess it and ask Him for help. That is a prayer He will answer!

As an analogy, a son or daughter, leaves home for drugs and partying. This greatly grieves their father. They are still his kids and he loves them move than anything. Didi they stop being the father’s son or daughter? No. But fellowship has been broken. If the son or daughter comes back home and confesses how wrong they were, will the father forgiven them? Well, yes, with great joy! We see this also in the Parable of the Prodigal Son Jesus taught right. Salvation and fellowship are NOT the same thing is my point. By salvation we are born again in unity into the family of God and we become His children. That is when fellowship comes into play. We want a good relationship with God. He has so much love for us!

As believers we are all on a journey and we all have struggles in life and battles with the schemes and temptation of evil in the world (Eph. 6). The struggle is real but we must believe in faith as the Apostle Paul wrote,

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence MIGHT ABOUND. But where sin abounded, GRACE DID MUCH MORE abound:” (Romans 5:20 KJV)

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV)

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2 KJV)

Do Believers Need To Keep The Ten Commandments / Law of Moses To Remain Righteous?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: Law of Moses February 11, 2017

If you accepted the free gift of Salvation then you are not under the Law of Moses. You are under grace.

The Law is a yoke no one can bear nor keep.

“Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?“
(Acts 15:10 KJV)

The Law shows us we have sin just like a mirror shows us we have grease on our face. But The Law cannot justify a person. It just shows a person that they have more sin against God’s standard of Holiness than they think.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20 KJV)

For a believer to use the Law to be righteous with God makes their faith of no effect. Faith in Christ saves, not works. This is at the core of the Gospel. If we believe The Law can justify, that means believing that faith is not needed.

“For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:” (Romans 4:14 KJV)

Paul goes one extra leap to this in the very next verse. Before The Law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments came, there was no transgression. But once The Law came, everyone has no excuse because they see what God calls sin and that is breaking The Law of Moses. Following The Law is only going to bring wrath on a person because their sins remain.

“Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.” (Romans 4:15 KJV)

Paul continues in Romans 5 and shows the extreme truth of Law following for righteousness. God gave The Law to do something that would shock many believers, even today, who add Law following as a requirement of Salvation. Paul writes that the purpose of the law was to increase sin.

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” (Romans 5:20 KJV)

Thank God that God’s grace much more abounds over our sins as believers! Because of God’s great love and grace bestowed on all who believe on Christ alone for righteousness (John 3), a born again believer is no longer held under the Law. Why? Because Jesus paid for all the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). A born again believer has been delivered from wrath under The Law.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)

“For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:5-6 KJV)

The Law, which only brings death through the fact that we all break it; no matter how hard we try. Trying to follow the Law to be, or remain in, righteous standing before our Holy God will only make us SIN MORE; not less.

“Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become EXCEEDING sinful.” (Romans 7:13 KJV)

In Paul’s writings he is abundantly clear on this. If we, as believers, try to make or keep ourselves righteous with God , in our own efforts of self righteousness, we will not only fail; it will make us to sin more! Apostle Paul put it this way,

“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”
(1 Corinthians 15:56 KJV)

How many times have you heard this in church pulpits? Most mainstream Christian church pulpits are actually condemning their own members and using fear that if they do not keep the Ten Commandments, that they will lose salvation even. It is very wrong. Following the Law to keep ourselves righteous with God will cause us to sin more! That is why Jesus came and paid for all sin; to break that yoke of bondage from the Jews living under the Law, which no one can keep perfectly. And God requires perfection to be righteous.

Paul continues in 2 Corinthians and states that The Law is a ministry of death (2 Corinthians 3:7) and a ministry of condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:7). And Paul was not only talking about the 613 Levitical ceremonial Laws, he mentions the Law ‘written on stones’ and that includes the Ten Commandments as well then! Paul even wrote that “For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.” (2 Corinthians 3:11)

Paul wrote to the Galatians because there were Judiazers who were being found in the church, teaching falsely that believing on Christ alone for righteousness was not enough and that they needed to add work of The Law of Moses to remain saved. Paul had some very stern words for these fellas, these Judiazers, that they should be accursed, even repeating it (Galatians 1:8-9). In his rebuking of their false teachings Paul makes these statements about adding ANYTHING to the finished work of Christ on the cross, atoning for the sins of the world and rising from the dead.

Following The Law will justify no one. (Galatians 2:16)
Born again believers are DEAD to The Law. (Galatians 2:19)
The Law and Faith have nothing to do with each other. A stunning truth we need to grasp. (Galatians 3:11-12)
The Law was a curse. A curse that Christ redeemed us from on that cross 2000 years ago. (Galatians 3:13)

Paul wrote to those Galatians who were bought with a high price by Christ on the cross were being completely FOOLISH! This false belief of adding The Law or good works as a requirement of salvation cuts to the very core of the Gospel. It is nothing more than BOASTING is self righteousness.

“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Galatians 3: 1-6 KJV)

Jesus said that The Law would stand forever and it does. It is God’s absolute truth and what is required to be righteous with God; utter perfection. But it is also something that no one can keep without fault and James tells us that,

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10 KJV)

Writing to his beloved Timothy, who he looked at as a son (though not Paul’s son), Paul wrote,

“But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,” (1 Timothy 1:8-9 KJV)

Who is a righteous man if no one is able to keep all The Law? It is only the person who believes on Christ and HIS once for all blood atoning sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10) for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). By Paul’s own writing n Ephesians 2, a person is not righteous by their works but by faith, belief on Christ’s atonement on the cross and His rising from the dead proving He is God.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

The writer of Hebrews tells us straight up that The Law of Moses was only a foreshadowing of what the Messiah would do when He came (Hebrews 10:1). And Jesus is the Messiah that was foretold to Israel in the Old Testament times who would come and be the FINAL once for all blood atoning sacrifice. The Jews needed to shed the blood of innocent, blemish free animals, to cover the sins, each year after year as a temporary covering of the peoples sins, until the Messiah and Christ would come and pay the final price. They BELIEVED in this and that is what saved them. The blood sacrifices did not save anyone. It was their belief on Christ; it is just that for them He had not yet come and for us today, He came and fulfilled this 2000 years ago. The perspectives are different but the Gospel is the same in both dispensations of time.

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.” (Hebrews 10:1-6 KJV)

So you see, belief in God’s grace through Christ crucified, died and risen is the only way to be perfected and righteous. It is not by Law following before or after our moment of belief on Christ, the moment of our eternal salvation, that makes a person righteous enough to go to Heaven. Heaven is a perfect place. There is NO SIN there. Jesus paid the full penalty for all sins of the whole world as a gift to be accepted or rejected, BUT NEVER EARNED. Stop believing our good works, no never sinning is required to be righteous with God. We are only righteous by imputation OF GOD through what Christ did on the cross for us.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 KJV)

Christ paid it all for us in great love. The greatest love in all of human history! That is why the Gospel is good news!

–

What Is The Will Of God For My Life?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living August 18, 2016

“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that YE BELIEVE on him whom he hath sent.” (John 6:28-29 KJV)

The question of God’s will for our lives as believers is one that many ask and wonder about. We wonder if we are doing the will of God and performing as He wishes. We wonder and pray to God asking things such as:

God should I marry this person? Is it your will?
What college do you want me to attend? Which one is your will?
Should I take this job or the other one? Which is your will?

The list of questions goes on and on. However, is the Will Of God something elusive or hard to understand? We need to turn to the Word Of God to find out what the will of God actually is and we need to understand about the Sovereignty of God in our everyday lives with the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

In John 6 Jesus was asked very directly about the Will Of God for our lives and His answer has a simplicity and beauty to it. “This is the work of God, that YE BELIEVE on him whom he hath sent.” Jesus continues in John 6 and says this as to be very clear and to the point for us:

“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, AND BELIEVETH ON HIM, may HAVE EVERLASTING :LIFE: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

We can see clearly here two points from Jesus. The first point is that God’s ultimate will every person in the world is to believe on Christ for Salvation from our sins by belief and faith that Jesus Christ is who He said He is throughout His ministry; God in the flesh. And that He lived a sinless life and died on the cross willingly to pay the penalty for our sins. We can also see here the Sovereignty Of God where Jesus states “ that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing”. Were you and I given to Christ back in the time of Jesus’ Earthly ministry? We were not but this speaks of the truth that God foreknew every person that would accept the free gift of Salvation through faith in Christ from the very foundation of the world. Even before you or I were born! God is the great I AM THAT I AM, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having PREDESTINATED us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of HIS GRACE, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:3-6 KJV)

God’s Will Is Not An Elusive Thing

God’s will is not such an elusive thing as we may think. It is not meant to be something kept in secret from us. By the Word Of God we are shown the Will Of God and even by the words of Jesus Himself.

Accept Christ Who Is God’s Grace Gift For Our Salvation.

Salvation is Grace ALONE, through FAITH alone in the atonement provided by the Son Of God, Jesus Christ on the cross alone. Jesus tells us the will of God directly Himself! The disciples ask him directly what is the will of God for us. Jesus is thorough in His answer but He never says it is by our deeds nor works! It is BELIEF by faith alone in Jesus Christ!

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
(1 Timothy 2:3-4 KJV)

“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, “This is the work of God, that YE BELIEVE on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I AM the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that BELIEVETH on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, AND BELIEVETH ON HIM, may HAVE EVERLASTING life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:29-40 KJV)

“For by GRACE are ye saved THROUGH FAITH; and that NOT of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

Be Thankful And Humble, Wise And Filled With The Spirit, Living In A Holy Pleasing Manner To God

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:” (Luke 6:37 KJV)

Do not judge others as if they are more a sinner than you after your Salvation. Please brothers and sisters in Christ, know this; God hates a haughty spirit. God hates the sin of pride.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 KJV)

Avoid wrongdoing and instead be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit who works and guides you in your life and by The Word Of God.

“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” (Ephesians 5:17-20 KJV)

It is the Will Of God that we live Holy lives and pressing forth to do what is right and in a forgiving manner. See how Christ lived and what He did in circumstances in the Bible, and do the same in how we treat others.

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 KJV)

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” (Colossians 3:13 KJV)

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32 KJV)

“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4 KJV)

Abide In Christ And His Word

Abide in Christ and His words by reading the Bible for the renewing of your mind from the worlds view (the lie) to God’s view (the truth) so that your inner being is so changed that God’s good works flow outward into your life because you believe right. God then places desires in you to accomplish good works he has prepared for you to do FROM Salvation and renewal (not good works for Salvation).

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (John 15:5-8 KJV)

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. SANCTIFY THEM THROUGH THY TRUTH: THY WORD IS TRUTH. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (John 17:15-19 KJV)

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall MAKE YOU free.” (John 8:31-32 KJV)

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:13-17 KJV )

Love God. Treat Others In Love.

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV)

“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. “ (Luke 6:31 KJV)

“But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” (Luke 6:35 KJV)

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” (1 Corithians 13:4-8 KJV) Note: Charity means love.

Pray To God. Talk With Him. He Is Listening!

Above these main points of the Will Of God for our lives we should pray and talk to God in and for every circumstance in life. Remember the Holy Spirit of God resides very close to you! He is indwelling you! He is right here with you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year! When you are awake and when you are sleeping. The love of God is with you always!

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 KJV)

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: “ (1John 5:14 KJV)

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; “ (Ephesians 6:18 KJV)

“Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.” (Jeremiah 29:12 KJV)

Do We Sanctify Ourselves or Does The Holy Spirit Sanctify Us?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: Holy Spirit August 10, 2016

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

SANCTIFY THEM THROUGH THY TRUTH: THY WORD IS TRUTH.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (John 17:15-19 KJV)

When a person believes Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who was with God before the foundation of the world, and that He as God became human for the purpose of paying the penalty for OUR sins, and rose from the dead, that person IS MADE the very righteousness of God, in Christ.

“Being then MADE FREE from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Romans 6:18 KJV)

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might BE MADE the righteousness of God in him.” ( 2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV)

Such a believer has become one with Christ, who is one with the Father. And so that person has been made one with the Father as well. This is a truth that many believers fail to grasp because after our moment of Salvation in Christ, we still have our mortal flesh and sin nature. We are not yet complete in Christ from our mortal perspective. And we will not be until our bodily Resurrection when the sin nature in us will be removed.

However, to God, He foreknew every person that would accept His unmerited Free GIFT of Salvation from before the foundation of the Earth. When Moses asked God at the burning bush what name of God to tell Pharaoh sent him, the reply was “I AM THAT I AM”.

This is significant! Our God lives in the forever present. By that, I mean that God sees our past, present and future all at the same time. Hard for us to comprehend because we are living within this thing God created called time. God knew before he created you and me, who would accept Christ and who would reject Christ. The Bible says there is ‘The Wicked’ and ‘The Righteous’. To us living in time, we all start out in the ‘wicked’ group from the age of accountability. And “whosoever” accepts Christ, God predestined to conform to His image (Ephesians 1) and become the Righteousness of God, IN CHRIST. To God, we are already in Heaven and the New Jerusalem with Him because God exists in all times. He is the great “I AM”. The ONE and ONLY.

Hard for us to grasp right? So when you fail, when you fall into sin, when you stumble, remember that NOTHING you do takes God by surprise. He has it all worked out before you were even born.

“And we know that ALL THINGS work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)

Knowing this to be true is a real wake up call. We are to God already completely righteous. Because we Christians are so good? No. It is because what Christ did on the cross when He shed His blood for the remission of our sins (Matthew 26:28). When a person accepts the Gift of Salvation the Holy Spirit indwells the person. He then starts to guide and teach and sanctify the person (John 14:26).

Do We Sanctify Ourselves or Does The Holy Spirit Sanctify Us?

In John 17:17, Jesus answers this question.

“Sanctify Them Through Thy Truth: Thy Word Is Truth.”

Before Jesus became human His name was The Word. (John 1) Jesus Christ is not only the truth, He is the way and the life!

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6 KJV)

Jesus Christ is the only way back to a proper relationship with God. Such a relationship requires a perfectly Holy Righteousness but we have sins committed standing in the way of this. That is why The Word (Christ) became human, never sinned, and shed His blood for the remission of our sins. Believing in the atonement for our sins through the Passion of Christ, God made us the Holy Righteousness of God, in Him.

What Is Our Part Though?

Again, what should we do as believers? First, thank God for such an amazing gift! Second, read the Bible because it is God’s Word and the absolute truth. The more you read the Bible and the words of Jesus the more you are helping the Holy Spirit renew your mind. You will see the truth and be set free from the guilt of your sins and set free from the punishment of your sins. You will look at things from God’s viewpoint and not the world’s viewpoint and that will empower you to accomplish the good works of God through you.

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall MAKE YOU free.” (John 8:31-32 KJV)

Notice the word ‘make’. The Bible does not ever say it is our efforts making us saved and righteous before God. And it is not our own efforts that sanctify us completely. Only the Holy Spirit renews our minds and changes us from the inner self outwardly. That said, by reading the truth from the word of God we are pressing toward the goal of the Holy Spirit. It says over and over again what Jesus said in John 8. It is God alone that MAKES US positionally righteous and justified. It is never our works accomplishing this. It is our belief in Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! (John 1:29)

Writing to even the the carnal believers in Corinthians Paul makes this statement,

“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” ( 2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV)

And we see in Titus,

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” ( Titus 3:5-7 KJV)

Paul also makes it clear that we should do our part in this renewing of our mind. How a person thinks and believes about the world will determine their actions in the world. A person’s viewpoint is an important key factor in how a person lives. We all begin with the world’s viewpoint. And who is controlling the world’s viewpoint of truth? The Bible says it is our adversary, Satan.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12 KJV)

In Ephesians 6, Paul continues and is telling us to put on the whole armour of God and it is all about knowing the truth in the Bible and allowing this to transform us. And that means we should be studying the word of God to know the truth. Knowing the truths in the Bible will also protect us from our adversary!

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:13-17 KJV )

We have our part to do in the Holy Spirit’s work of renewing our mind to God’s view point and truth.

You still have free choice after the moment of your Salvation to walk by the Spirit in truth (by God’s word) or to walk by the flesh in carnality as the Corinthians were doing. Are you still saved either way after Salvation? Yes. Paul called the Corinthians believers. Does that mean there are no consequences for sin and we can just keep sinning and ignoring God’s word without consequences? No!

We have our part to do and why would we not want to know the truth from God’s word? Jesus redeemed us with His shed blood and has given us all things. Christ says in John 15 to abide in Him and His words and Christ will abide in us.

Do not just listen to Pastors or Priests. Do not just read my articles or e-books and believe. No.. start reading your Bible after your moment of Salvation, having received this most amazing GIFT from God. The Holy Spirit within a believer will Sanctify you and guide and teach you the truth.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 KJV)

When that happens over time, you will be changed and conformed more and more into the image of Christ. God will place desires in you to accomplish good works He has prepared for you to perform.

Start reading the amazing truth in God’s word; The Bible.

Is Just Believing That Jesus Existed and Is The son Of God Enough To Save A Person?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: Salvation, Q&A: Uncategorized List July 4, 2016February 18, 2022

It is true that the doctrine of justification that Paul and James taught are very clear that Salvation is not of works. That is a person’s justification and being made righteous is NOT something a person can accomplish trough their own efforts nor good works. No one is justified by following the Ten Commandments nor by just being a ‘good person’ in comparison to other people.

The ONLY way a person is justified and made righteous enough to be able to enter Heaven is to be 100% PERFECT as Jesus is perfect. Can you do that? No, you cannot! Not by your own effort. We are all SINFUL except Jesus who was born of a Virgin and is the Son Of God. Jesus who was God in the flesh.

Who then can be saved? How can we be allowed to enter Heaven for all eternity? Jesus said,

“… Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26 KJV)

You see, Jesus paid a ransom for our Salvation. We all owe a HUGE enormous debt of sin against God. When you understand that God NEVER CHANGES things become clearer.

“For I am the Lord, I change not…”
(Malachi 3:6 KJV)

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”
(Hebrews 13:8 KJV)

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
(James 1:17 KJV)

It is important to know the attributes of God. God is 100% perfectly Holy and 100% Just and He must punish sin. And the wages of sin are death; that is eternal death in a place of torment. But God is also 100% Merciful so He sent His only begotten Son as a human. Jesus is the ‘God-Man’. He was sent in human form so that He could take the punishment for the sins of the whole world. On the cross, Jesus Christ (God in human flesh) took upon Himself the punishment that we deserved even though He NEVER sinned. Not even once. This was a satisfactory punishment for our sins. Jesus took our place and our sins were nailed to that cross. When we believe this, we are at that very moment forgiven all our sins (past/present/future) and MADE RIGHTEOUS and are saved for all eternity and we can never lose our Salvation. He sealed us with the Holy Spirit indwelling within us as a new created being.

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-16 KJV)

At the moment of belief in the atonement Christ provided on the cross, we were changed positionally. Positionally we are now 100% righteous before God because all the sins we committed, or will commit after Salvation, were all penalty paid on the cross in Jesus. And now this is what God says about those who believe on the atonement of sins through what Christ did on the cross,

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12 KJV)

That is the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We are saved 100% by the GRACE of God. Salvation is NOT based on our good works in ANY MANNER, neither before or after Salvation. Paul repeatedly wrote to not mix The Law (10 Commandments) with Grace. It is a false Gospel. There are many Scriptures from Paul that make this very clear.

ISN’T THAT EASY BELIEVISM LIKE JAMES 2: 18-19?

“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:18-19 KJV)

The answer is no it is not easy believism. In verses 18-19, James makes a different point. James likely knows there are some in this crowd of believers that may not have real faith IN CHRIST and so he makes a point to them as well. He addresses those who are not saved but think it is their works that save them. What James is saying is that there are different kinds of faith. But there is only one saving faith. There are those who profess that they believe in Jesus and that believe in God. They have faith that God exists. But will that alone save a person from their sin debt against God?

James is not saying that it is the works that save a person. He is talking about the evidence of a truly saved person. You know a person can go to church daily and talk the talk. They can quote doctrine and Scriptures. They have ‘head knowledge’. It is good to have head knowledge but you need more than that to save you. Having head knowledge about Scriptures is not the same as repentance and asking God to forgive you for all your sins because Christ died for you. If a person believes with head knowledge only and thinks they can just keep on living how ever they want, and still be saved, they would be wrong. That is the wrong kind of faith. That is faith only ‘intellectually’. Such faith is DEAD. It is useless for the total life long list of sins committed and useless for remission of a person’s sins.

James makes a strong point that even Satan and his fallen angels.. they have faith that God exists. They know that Jesus is the Son Of God right? The demons Jesus cast out acknowledged Christ as Lord, but are those fallen angels saved or damned to hell? Do you think Satan knows what the Bible says? Yes, he does. And he takes it all as true by faith and what is he doing? He is using it to kill us by jamming the Law down our throats to make us feel guilty before God after Salvation. He is constantly accusing us of our sins before God (Revelation 12:10). Just believing and just knowing the facts with head knowledge DOES NOT SAVE A PERSON.

What kinds of works are the fallen angels doing do you think? The Bible says EVIL WORKS. And so James is saying that ‘I will show you my faith BY my works’ . A true believer, in faith, should have some evidence in Godly works, good works. Evidence that they are actually saved. Not that the works are what saves them. Notice James did not say that ‘my works are required to be saved‘. James says that ‘I will show you my faith BY my works‘. James is talking about good works of God as evidence of Salvation. The evidence is produced by the Holy Spirit within a believer. That is an important distinction to make.

“But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” (James 2:20-22 KJV)

Here again, if we were to stop reading James 2 at this verse it seems like the meaning is that it is the works that save. But remember James is addressing SAVED/REDEEMED BELIEVERS. That is not what James is saying. He is again talking about the faith that is head knowledge only. He is bring up Abraham who is known as ‘the Father of our faith’ right? If we continue to the very next verse we see,

“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (James 2:23-24 KJV)

Abraham was not justified and saved by the act of the works. It was his FAITH in what God had previously PROMISED HIM that pushed him forward to do the works that God commanded. But God worked on Abraham’s faith for a LONG time before God tested his faith in telling him to sacrifice his only son. Abraham learned what the true God was like and his character. He is a good God amen? A perfectly righteous God. A perfectly JUST God! God had made a promise that “for in Isaac your seed shall be called “ (Genesis 21:12). Long before this when God called Abraham to leave for a new land God made promises to Abraham and BY HIS WORKS we can see the evidence that HE BELIEVED them in the proper saving faith,

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
( Genesis 12:1-3 KJV)

How are all the families of the Earth today blessed because of these promises of God to Abraham and the faith that Abraham had to do what God told him to do? God is promising Abraham that through his seed and blood line he would make a nation which we know today as the nation of Israel. And how do we know that Israel has blessed all the families of the earth? Because of the one that came out of the bloodline of Israel, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world.

In Genesis we see what Abraham says when he decides on going to the place God told him to go to Sacrifice his son Issac,

“And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I AND THE LAD will go yonder and worship, and COME AGAIN TO YOU.” (Genesis 22:5 KJV)

What stands out in this verse? It is one VERY important phrase and it is ‘I and the Lad’. You see God had taught Abraham who He really is. Abraham had complete trust in God to always be good and do the just thing. He learned that God is faithful. He did have a son as promised by God, even though his wife Sarah was in her older years, her baron years. It was not as Abraham expected the promise to be fulfilled by God, but it was fulfilled. It increased his faith in God.

Abraham tells his young helpers that we will come back to you. He did not say ‘I will come back to you’. Abraham is showing his faith! That is his complete faith that God would never allow him to actually murder his son unrighteously. And even if he did, he knew that God would have to raise him from the dead because God had already promised Abraham that it is through Issac’s bloodline, ‘I will make you a great nation’. Later we see Issac asking his father Abraham,

“…Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:6-8 KJV)

Again we see Abraham exercising his full faith and assurance that God would provide a Lamb in place of his son for the sacrifice. Abraham knew this must be a test of his faith and trust in God. God has never shown him to be like this.

So was it Abraham’s works that saved him? Or the belief in God’s promises in faith? It was HIS FAITH and the works of carrying out what God said to do was the evidence of his true faith. This is what James is talking about. It is that evidence should exist in those that have saving faith. But not that the evidence is what saves you. We should be walking by the spirit, not the flesh.

Why Does It Seem That Unbelievers And Sinners Have Good Luck While Many Christians Struggle?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living May 15, 2016February 18, 2022

“But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.” (Psalm 73:2-5 KJV)

Have you ever noticed how the ‘wicked’ and as yet ‘unredeemed’ people of the world tend to have some pretty amazing luck? How many times have you heard a believer ask “I am redeemed through Christ and I try to do good works for the Lord, but why is it I keep having major problems while I see so many wicked evil people doing so well?” It sure does seem that way at times, doesn’t it? This world is being ruled to a certain extent by Satan until Christ’s returns and bounds him for 1000 years. Anything that goes against the world system, or the worlds way, is going against the wind and it causes turbulence.

God loves people unconditionally right? Does he not love a person that is yet, unredeemed and who has not accepted Christ? The Bible is clear that God loves everyone, sinners included, unconditionally. And you know what? If a person is not recognizing their sinfulness and is asking God for mercy, saying to God “I WILL pay you back”, that person is trying to buy their way to freedom from their sin debt. That will NOT save that person. However, does God have the right to help them from their financial situation in compassion? Look at this Scripture,

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 43-48 KJV)

These are the very words of Jesus instructing us how to behave and live for God. This is how our attitude should be. He tells us here that God loves the unredeemed too and He sends good things to both the wicked and the good. Jesus is telling us plainly that this is how we should be treating others, both believers and non believers, after our Salvation. Where would we be without the forgiveness that God obtained for us through Jesus Christ? We would be hell bound for eternity my friend. Thank God for His forgiveness, now go and forgive others and God will highly respect that as He works through you to a lost world.

You have trouble while the wicked seem not to have troubles? Understand that God has given you ALL THINGS through Christ. You are Heaven bound forever. But what of the wicked and unredeemed? They may be having it good now but it is fleeting. Be encouraged because Christ said ,

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 KJV).

The word ‘tribulation’ used here in the original Greek is the word ‘thlipsis’ which has a meaning of ‘pressure (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that “hems someone in”; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined, a feeling of no way to escape” .

With the Holy Spirit residing withing us we are bound to go against the grain of the world system as it is today because it is an ungodly world system right now. And it will continue to be until Jesus returns to Earth to rule and reign. As believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit guides us and renews our minds over time and we start to see things through God’s eyes and not the worlds eyes. We need to have a heart for the lost. Do you not remember that you were once lost too?

One side of the coin is that the wicked prosper because God is good to the unbeliever and the believer. The other side of the coin at work is Satan and his fallen angels. The Bible calls Satan ‘the ruler of this world’ (John 12:31) And Satan is perfectly fine with a person that either rejects God altogether, or a person that bases his status with God on their own self effort and good works. Satan love sit when people do all kinds of ‘religious things’ and ‘rituals’ and ‘penance for sins’. He loves it when people compare themselves with others as a standard of righteousness instead of comparing against the true standard, our Holy God. He loves it because these people are having the same sin that Satan has; the sin of pride. It is all about self effort and self righteousness. If you think about it a moment; will Satan and his fallen angels work to continue them in prosperity and keep their mind off God, or give them troubles in life?

You see, it is a funny thing about life troubles. Many times it is only in these life troubles that people tend to cry out to God for help. We realize the trouble is way out of our control. When we are at the very bottom , there is only ONE way to look and that is UP! Up to God for help. Satan does not want people turning to God or thinking that maybe there is a God who will help me, who loves me. So, as ruler of this world Satan and his fallen angels may be assisting these people in being successful in the worldly and unGodly system, in which we live. And this being the case, if you are having troubles in life that just seem to gnaw at you and you are fighting one battle and then into another. You need to know where it is coming from. It is like Jesus says,

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 KJV)

Rejoice when you are being persecuted and people say all kinds of evil things about you? When they gossip about you and falsely accuse you? Why rejoice in that? Because God has given you ALL THINGS.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 KJV)

At the Rapture you will be as Jesus is! Immortal. Blessed for ever. The wicked do not have this long term blessed hope. All they have is FEAR in what is coming for them. But believers in Christ do! Jesus says to be exceedingly GLAD! GREAT is your reward in heaven!

This world and world system is fleeting. Most people have a life span of maybe 90 years? Most only around 70-80 years. What is that amount of time verses forever and ever and ever in the presence of God, with no more fleshly sinful mind in people? Where everything is a pure blessing. Where there will be no more tears even? At the moment of a persons Salvation our inner nature became a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) A heaven bound creation. We are just waiting for our bodies to be changed and then ZAP!.. we are in the presence of Jesus forever in immortality.

MYTH: The Re-Filling Of The Holy Spirit

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: MYTHS April 21, 2016February 18, 2022

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HATH blessed us with all spiritual blessings in HEAVENLY PLACES in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him BEFORE the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein HE HATH MADE US accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:3-6 KJV)

Take a close look at what is being said in this Scripture and it will surely bless you greatly and make you love God even more than you may already do. It is not saying anything about what we humans have done to make ourselves Holy and accepted by God as a son or daughter in Heavenly places. Instead it is saying that it is all, 100% the work of God to save us and keep us.

There is no condemnation being taught here by the Holy Spirit within a believer. It says it is Jesus Christ who has BLESSED US with EVERY spiritual gift and that these are already in the Heavenly places. That we are ALREADY Holy and WITHOUT BLAME before God in Heaven . That God already MADE US acceptable in the Beloved of God, that is within the family of God forever.

The question comes to mind, ‘How is that possible? I am still here in Earth and I am not in heaven in my new resurrected body. Well again the answer to that is also found in the above Scripture where it states, ” just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”. We humans have a limited view because we are here stuck in time and space. From our viewpoint we are here traveling through time in a forward motion and all these things promised by God for the believer are all ‘in the future’ for us. But here we see that from the very beginning, when God created the Earth, from BEFORE God created the Earth, the animals, plants and human beings. Before Christ went and nailed our sins on the cross even.

From way back then, God who is outside time and space sees everything as ‘NOW’. God says He declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He foreknew EVERYTHING that will ever happen as if it already happened. He foreknew who would accept Christ’s atonement for their sins from before time started. And so He also foreknew and predestined those that will accept Christ who at the very moment of their repentance and in their belief of their eternal Salvation would be saved, and sealed them with the Holy Spirit of God and placed them in Heaven with Him at the appointed time of the Rapture. God sees us as who we will be after the Rapture. He seen us from the very beginning of the Universe as those who we will be in Heaven, Holy, Righteous and redeemed! God is a spirit and He is outside of time because He created time! He is everywhere at all times and that includes our future. That is why God told Moses His name was “I am that I am”. God is the great I AM. God is already there in Heaven with us believers, in our future! It is amazing to think about the truth like this. It gives me a great hope and expectation. How about you?

We Have ALL Of The Holy Spirit From The Moment of Our Salvation

Believers have ALL of the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within them. Christ has truly given us ‘all things’.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 KJV)

Believers in the redemption through Christ’s atonement for sins on the cross are, from the very moment of their Salvation, both filled with the Holy Spirit and also sealed in Salvation.

“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Corinthians 1:20-22 KJV)

The Holy Spirit now forever resides with the believer and is our earnest (earnest: in Greek means ‘guaranteed down payment’) that we are forever to be with God in Heaven. The believer is a newly created being in the Spirit – never to lose their eternal righteousness of God, in Christ. Jesus describes this relationship of the believer with God like this,

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:” (John 17:20-22 KJV)

Oh my, what a promise! It is hard for us to believe in our fleshy bodies just how much God has given us through Christ! How deep and great is the unconditional love of God towards us? Absolutely AMAZING!
But What About The Sins Of The Flesh That We Commit After Our Salvation? Does That Disqualify Us From Our Eternal Security In Christ?

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:9 KJV)

That is pretty clear right? Believers are no longer in the Flesh but in the spirit. That is the Holy Spirit now dwells within us and we are now IN CHRIST. We are a newly created spirit being at our very core.

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17 KJV)

The debt of sins has been paid for in Christ on the cross. God is no longer mad about our sins. God is completely satisfied with the penalty for our sins when He placed it on Christ and nailed Christ to the cross, as our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).

What is the result of the New Covenant in Christ? Accepting the forgiveness of our sins through Christ and after the Holy Spirit dwells inside a believer. But what about their sins committed after the moment of Salvation? They too were all paid in Christ on the cross. Remember that when Christ died on the cross for you, all your sins were in the future tense, you were not even born yet right?

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 KJV)

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:13-14 KJV)

ALL means ALL. EVERY means EVERY. Right? God knew every sin we would commit in our entire life, BEFORE He even created us right? All of a believers sins are 100% completely forgiven in the New Covenant through Christ Jesus. But how does our sinning affect God after our moment of Salvation? What is God’s view of our sinning in the flesh afterwards?

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:12-13 KJV)

I can hear some of you already.. ‘Wait just a minute here, Christians still sin. Doesn’t that mean we still have the old fleshly sin nature within? Don’t we still have a ‘sin nature’ within us? We have the Holy Spirit but we also have the Flesh and we still sin?’

Yes, we still do sin but that is because we do not yet have our new bodies that are not corrupt in the flesh. We still have the flesh, our bodies and our mind. But our REAL being since the moment of our Salvation is not the fleshy body, it is the inward Spirit. We were made a NEW CREATION from that moment. And the Bible is clear that in the Spirit we have been MADE Holy, Righteous and redeemed by and through Christ.

Some get confused by what I am trying to convey because many teachers (I once did too) are calling the flesh as a ‘sin spirit nature’ within us, as if it were a second nature to the new creation in the spirit. There is not two Spirit natures in a believer. One sinful and the other perfect. It is not two Spirits warring against each other that Paul spoke about in Romans 7. That is, our ONE true self in the spirit is not TWO opposites. Our inner man is now the Newly Created Spirit. It is the ‘New Us’. But if that is the case, why do we still have urges to sin? That is the bodily FLESH nature which has not been changed yet. We need to understand this properly or all kinds of teaching can be off and not correct. It is the FLESH nature that sins, not the newly created Spirit of God within you.

That is why the Rapture to come is needed. In the Spirit we are already with God. He and Christ are one and we are one with Christ and so are now one with God. But we cannot be with God in our fleshly sinful bodies in Heaven.

When a believer dies he is immediately in the presence of the Lord. Is their body? NO. In the our spirit, YES! Our fleshly part stays behind at our death. Our inner spirit being has been recreated and is without sin and able to go to Heaven, a perfect place without sin. But our flesh and body has not yet been recreated and that needs to happen before we can enter God’s eternal Kingdom in a physical form.

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-53 KJV)

Paul made it very clear to the Corinthians, and you and me, that our Spirit has been made new and is righteous in the God’s eyes. That is why when we die our Spirit goes to be with the Lord. It is Holy, Righteous and Redeemed because it is IN CHRIST.

Our fleshly bodies however is another matter. When we die our fleshy body goes in the ground, 6 feet under actually. It remains here on this sin filled Earth. That is what Paul is saying when He writes, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”

The Bible makes it clear that Gods goal is not to keep us in our spirit for all Eternity. Heaven is not some spirit realm where we will reside forever. We do not become angels when we die neither!
That is NOT what the Bible teaches! Just the opposite. Jesus said He is going to prepare a PLACE for us. A place with REAL 3D dimensions. 1500L x 1500W x 1500H miles! A real physical place in the universe. (see my other article on the New Jerusalem here)

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare A PLACE for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2-3 KJV)

At the Rapture event Jesus comes back to Earth in the clouds and the spirits of dead Christians are coming with Him. Their PHYSICAL BODIES will be resurrected into NEW IMMORTAL and incorruptible physical bodies. Bodies without the fleshly sin nature we now have. Bodies that will be just like Jesus’ body! Imagine that! wow!

After our Salvation and acceptance of the atonement of Christ for our sins we can choose to walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh. To be truthful, we usually are doing one or the other depending on life circumstances because we have to make decisions in life as it goes right? We still have the SIN NATURE in the FLESH and it has a bent towards sinning. There is a struggle ongoing between walking in The Spirit or walking in The Flesh. The struggle does not have to do with us losing our Salvation. That was accomplished and we were sealed with the Holy Spirit at our moment of Salvation. Your Salvation cannot be lost. But there are consequences for when we are tempted and then DECIDE to walk in the flesh and sin. We still have free will after Salvation.

This following verse of Scripture makes it clearer that it is The Flesh that causes us to sin, not our newly created Spirit, that is already with God. I have some comments in brackets that are mine to help you see it more clear. They expand based on what is trying to be conveyed with understanding about the Two Natures of the believer that Apostle Paul taught in Romans 7. The comments are my own thoughts on this, yet Let the Scriptures be the truth. I am just trying to get you to see what I have been writing about. But once you start looking at other Scriptures it just becomes clearer and clearer.

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle (Comment: our flesh body is our Spirit’s tent [a tabernacle is a tent], a temporary place our spirit resides.) were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (Comment: this is the newly created Spirit of God within us from the moment of Salvation. Not created by human means in reproduction. Because the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us, we also are already eternal in the heavens.)

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. (Comment: if we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, through Salvation in Christ) For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (Comment: Not because we want to die physically. But that, we want our body to be made whole with the Spirit of God, without the sinful desires of The Flesh body. We have the Spirit but we want our body to match up to the Spirit and be perfect as Jesus is perfect.)

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. (Comment: God wants us to have a physical body to inhabit the New Jerusalem and the New Earth but it needs to be without the fleshly sinful desires. He will create this for us in our future and God has prepared us for that by giving us the Spirit dwelling within each believer as a guarantee that He will accomplish this at the appointed time of the Rapture! And God’s timing is perfect.)

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (Comment: Our body is physically not present with the Lord in Heaven like our new Spirit is. Yet we are confident that God will make that possible for us because we have the down payment, the Holy Spirit of God living within us.)

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (Comment: We walk by the Spirit of God in faith, believing not by what we see we are doing in the physical flesh which is sinful desires but by the promise of God.)

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (Comment: We want to get rid of this body that sins and has this bet toward sinning. The struggle is very hard. One day we will be bodily resurrected just as Christ was. Yet if we die we have faith in God’s promise that we will be united with a new glorified body at the appointed time of the Rapture.)”
(2 Corinthians 5:5-8 KJV)

God’s ultimate goal is for us to be both Spirit and Physical body in the universe God created, both completely sanctified and Holy enough to be with God for all eternity in the New Jerusalem (Heaven), a perfect place with perfect people, where there is no sin. So from now until the Rapture and our bodily resurrection to an immortal body, Christ through the Holy Spirit within us is sanctifying us and renewing our mind to see things from God’s world view and not from the current world view. Until one day, ZAP!.. we have new bodies without the fleshly sinful nature. Then we will be as Christ is. Physical body yet Spirit; complete finally. It is all God’s work in us. Such a promise! Such a hope! A hope that makes anything negative that we go through in life, completely PALE in comparison.

“Jesus tells the Apostles and to each of us plainly and truthfully, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 KJV)

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)

The Holy Spirit Continually Sanctifies Us Until The Rapture

From the very moment of a person’s Salvation, the Holy Spirit within a believer now starts the process of sanctification and the renewing of our mind. The Holy Spirit starts from within the heart of a person, from within our newly created Spirit that is already completely filled and sealed as Perfectly Holy. And the Holy Spirit starts the renewing in our minds. You see our Spirit is newly created already. Our body will also be recreated at the Rapture and then we will be complete in who God has made us. In the meantime, our fleshly body and mind have not yet totally caught up to our new Spirit.

Paul describes that there is something in us that wars with our newly created Spirit in Christ. And that is called The Flesh. But is it us who are sinning? Is it our newly created Spiritual being, the real us, who does the sinning now? It is such an important Scripture that shows us that what I am saying here is correct. We are perfect in the Spirit from the very moment of Salvation. Our Newly Created Spirit never sins. It is The Flesh that is warring against our true being, in the Spirit. Our flesh tempts us to sin and has a bent toward sinning still.

“Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

or I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
(Romans 7:13-24 KJV)

Paul is telling us it is The Flesh sinning and not the new real you in The Spirit. If you are saved and have the Holy Spirit within, you hate it when you sin. You feel guilty after you sin because the Spirit of God dwells within you and you are one with Him.
In fact, we are sinning when God is standing right there within us. We know it is wrong. We try to fight it but there are times when we just decide wrongly to sin. Then after, we feel like we are HELPLESS and awful to do such a thing when God is dwelling within us right? It’s a horrible feeling isn’t it? You feel full of shame, weak, helpless even. You feel as Paul, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this BODY OF DEATH.’!

What is God’s thought of this though?

King David puts it this way,

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. ” (Psalm 103:11-14 KJV)

Nothing takes God by surprise folks. NOTHING. He knows the end from the very beginning. He is the great I AM who is present everywhere, in every time and in every place! (Isaiah 46:10, Matthew 9:4, Psalms 44:21, Psalms 139:7-10, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Proverbs 15:3, Joshua 1:9) He knows our frame, that is God knows what we are like. Frail. Unable to save ourselves from our sins in The Flesh. He knew when you would sin before you ever were born. That is why from the beginning He appointed Jesus to die on the cross for us and to forgive us all our sins, ‘As far as the East is from the West’! Thank God that His unconditional love is so far above what we think and feel, even in what little faith we have.

You see unbelievers love to sin, it is just doing what The Flesh demands. Sinning is it’s very nature. You cannot make a dog act like a cat right? It is just not in their nature. And unbelievers do not have a conscience about their sins committed. They are not worried about their sins before a Holy God, as they do not believe in the God of the Bible. Is that not the way we believers once were? Do whatever makes you happy right? Today we live, tomorrow we die. If it feels good just go for it right? God never really was in the picture for us right? And non believers will continue living in their sins unless they are first confronted in the belief that God exists.

Do not misunderstand me. Believing that God exists alone will not save a person from their sins. Even the devil and his fallen angels believe there is a God – yet they tremble (James 2:19) at that fact because soon their sentence of an eternity in hell will soon come to be their reality.

But believing God exists is a step in the right direction to the possibility of being confronted with the truth. If they can stop comparing their goodness against other sinners and instead start comparing their so called goodness with the Holy Perfect God of the universe, there is a chance they will cry out to Him for mercy through Christ. They may drop their pride and instead be humble before God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10). The Holy Spirit works externally for a person to give everyone the opportunity to choose. He confronts them with the utter impossibility to remove our sins against a Holy God through our own self righteous deeds. The Ten Commandments accomplished that for all us believers right?

We Do Not Need To Be Constantly Refilled With The Holy Spirit

What is all the teachings by some preachers and some denominations and religious groups that we must continually be refilled with the Holy Spirit then? Does the Holy Spirit run out and a person needs to be refilled again and again. Is the Holy Spirit dwelling in a believer like gasoline a car…that slowly gets used until we reach the point that the car starts reminding you that you are low on fuel. Better get refilled or the car will die on the roadside? Does that seem like a reality when God is indwelling us already? What is God, a tank to fill? No! The Holy Spirit within us is the fullest tank that keeps on producing! It is NEVER running on empty.

If the Holy Spirit is within you then YOU already have ALL of the Spirit of God dwelling within you. All the fullness of God. You even have ALL the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21 ), who lives within every believer. Believers do not need to be refilled constantly. We do not build up so many sins and then need a refill of the Holy Spirit to clean us again. We are ALREADY FULLY CLEANED in the Spirit, in our true being.

But we will run into what I call a dry spell of walking in The Spirit because The Flesh is still here and NONE of us can be completely sin free after our Salvation. NONE! At those times we need refreshing by the Holy Spirit to renew our mind about our sin and to help us get back to walking in The Spirit. The more we walk in The Spirit, the less we will sin. (Galatians 5:16)

Doesn’t the Bible Say Not To Grieve The Spirit?

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
(Ephesians 4:30 KJV)

Notice the words ‘YE ARE SEALED’. It was a past event and you ARE SEALED forever. Your Salvation cannot be lost. Jesus paid it all my friends! What is meant by ‘grieving’ the Holy Spirit then? Does this mean when we sin that God will get angry with us? Is that what this means? Does it mean that if you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you (which means you are in God’s eyes, Holy, Righteous and redeemed) that God will condemn you now because once again you failed and sinned in The Flesh? It does not make much sense given the truth of the Scriptures shown does it?

To God, the real you is the Spirit. In your spirit being you are in Christ. You are ONE with Christ and without penalty for sin. God already knew beforehand what sins you would commit. And He nailed them ALL to the cross in Jesus. So your sins are already done with and put away from God (Hebrews 9 & 10). Jesus took that punishment. You will never be condemned for the sins Christ already took the punishment for. NEVER! Christ’s sacrifice was 100% sufficient to God the Father for your redemption.
How Is The Holy Spirit Grieved When We Fail, And Sin?

Let’s use an analogy to see the truth. Before I was a father to my daughters, I did not understand this. But now I do! I get it! Here is me to my daughter, “Listen, do NOT run on ice. If you do you are going to get hurt physically and it will affect you badly.” So what happens when I get a call from the school that she hurt her ankle running on the ice in the playground? Am I ready to yell at her and disown her forever? Or am I firstly concerned for her as my daughter who I love? Do I feel grieved that she did not listen and she got hurt? Yes of course. I did warn her! Does that mean that I am going to disown her and kick her out of the family? Of course not.

Did she disobey me and cause this ankle issue? Yes she did. She has the consequence of the action to deal with (pain, healing time, loss of school studies, more time in school to catch up.) And what do I do? I try to help her in her healing and at the same time, she sees the consequence and hopefully learns from the experience.

God is not looking for robots. He gives us FREE WILL. In our fleshly bodies, we are going to be tempted. We can overcome the temptations but we will sometimes blow it. When we do it grieves the Holy Spirit. Of course it does! And the more a believer knows the Holy Spirit is within dwelling, that is He is right there while you are blowing it watching.. we do feel guilty afterwards right? God is not “out there somewhere”. He is ‘Emmanuel’ GOD WITHIN YOU and you cannot get much closer than that! Feeling guilty about a sin you commit is a sure way to know that the Holy Spirit is correcting you and disciplining you. It is not to condemn you of your sin as some are teaching these days. NO, it is out of love for you. When you blow it,

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John 2:1 KJV)

What If A Person Continues To Repeat A Sin?

As a believer, do you still have a body? The sinful flesh? Yes, you do! Should we try to resist sinning? Absolutely! In no way am I saying that because we are forgiven we should just go and sin all we want. Absolutely not! If the Holy Spirit is within you He will correct you when you sin. If you are living in a continuous sin and not feeling any guilt about it when you know it is a sin, you need to question if you actually are saved. The Holy Spirit always helps to recognize and correct sins in a believer. It is part of the process of Him sanctifying you and renewing your mind. He will keep renewing your mind in the process of sanctification. But know this; this process of sanctification takes time, a lifetime. Resisting sin is a good thing. It is you trying to keep in line with what the Holy Spirit wants you to do (walking by The Spirit), as He is sanctifying you. Over time, the Holy Spirit renews your mind and as that happens, you will find that you stop repeating certain sins, or out right stopping them.

” What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
(Romans 6:1-14 KJV)

Paul is not saying that we lose our salvation if we sin. What he is saying is that Christ has redeemed us from our sins. He has made us DEAD to the Law. Now the Holy Spirit resides within us to help us renew our mind to the truth. Should we just continue going in the opposite direction to the sanctification process the Holy Spirit is working in us? That sure is the HARD way right? Do not look at not sinning as a requirement under the Law that we need to obey or we will lose our Salvation. Believers have been made DEAD to the Law. That is works did not save you right? Neither do they now to keep you saved! You are under grace and forgiveness. Instead we are no longer under the law as a means to be forgiven. We are already forgiven IN CHRIST right?

However, we should be working towards and willingly giving over sin temptation to the Holy Spirit and acknowledge it is wrong. It is good to pray to the Holy Spirit and ask for help in resisting. Asking for help to renew your mind over this temptation that you are struggling with. That is working with he Holy Spirit! God will help you! Even right when you are about to sin. And even pray about it after you already gave into it. It is not that you are asking God to forgive you – He ALREADY did that in Christ! It is that you ask God flat out in honesty, confessing your sin.. I blew it again. Please help me to stop this. Help renew my mind on this.

What should we do when tempted and we feel like ‘Uh oh.. this is a tough one to resist!’ One thing you can do in certain situations is to do as Joseph in Egypt as a slave when tempted to commit adultery with his master’s wife enticed him. He flat out RAN AWAY! Yes get yourself out of that situation and FAST! And of course, do not get yourself into situations where you know there will be a temptation that you have had difficulty.

Does that mean you will never sin again?
Does that mean it is possible to never sin again after Salvation?

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10 KJV)

If I can be truthful in anything it is this.. you are going to blow it! You are still going to struggle with sinning after your Salvation. You are still in your fleshly sinful body just as I am. Anyone that says they have no sin after Salvation, they just cannot get around this one. They are actually calling Jesus a liar! All while they are flat out lying about this. Fighting sin is a daily struggle in this world. One of the greatest writers in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, struggled with sin. (Romans 7) So will we. However, it is a worthy struggle. Resist hard. Use your faith. Use the Word of God to renew your mind to the truth. Stand firm knowing what Christ did for us! Now I say that as one who also blows it! But I keep trying. Not to remain saved.. but because it is just right isn’t it?

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John 2:1 KJV)

The Bible is clear that God disciplines those He loves. He will discipline believers as His children because He loves us and wants to build up our faith in Him, learn that consequences are real and that we should not do that again. But rest in faith that what God says is true in the Bible. Rest on His promise of eternal life and that you cannot lose your Salvation. Your new immortal body will come soon enough and this life we live in The Sinful Flesh body will be less than a second of time in light of us living all eternity with Christ and our fellow Saints.

In Salvation, you always have the Full Holy Spirit with you, from the day of your Salvation and for all eternity.

Want to help the Holy Spirit?

Fill yourself with the Word Of God! Read the Bible. Abide in Christ and His words (John 15). Decide to walk in The Spirit as much as possible to avoid the sins of The Flesh. And know this: when you blow it, and sin (and you WILL!) know God is there ready to give you a hand up to overcome the sin. Be HONEST with God.. He knows you better than you know yourself and He INDWELLS you as a believer to help change you and renew your mind from the inner man of the Spirit of God, which works outwardly into your life in good works God has prepared for you.

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Q&A: Christian Living

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We Have ALL Of The Holy Spirit From The Moment of Our Salvation

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Does that mean you will never sin again?
Does that mean it is possible to never sin again after Salvation?

Want to help the Holy Spirit?

Is there a contradiction here then? Was Paul wrong?

There Is A Real Devil And His Fallen Angels.

Satan Wants To Blind Humans From The Only Way To Be Saved.

Satan Deceives Unbelievers And Attacks Believers!

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Put On The Whole Armour Of God So that….

What Is Being Addressed In 1 John 1 By Proper Context?

Context In 1 John Is Refuting The Gnostics False Teaching And The Truth In Opposition About FELLOWSHIP

Verse By Verse To See Proper Context

Related Articles:

God’s Will Is Not An Elusive Thing

Accept Christ Who Is God’s Grace Gift For Our Salvation.

Be Thankful And Humble, Wise And Filled With The Spirit, Living In A Holy Pleasing Manner To God

Abide In Christ And His Word

Love God. Treat Others In Love.

Pray To God. Talk With Him. He Is Listening!

Do We Sanctify Ourselves or Does The Holy Spirit Sanctify Us?

What Is Our Part Though?

We have our part to do in the Holy Spirit’s work of renewing our mind to God’s view point and truth.

ISN’T THAT EASY BELIEVISM LIKE JAMES 2: 18-19?

We Have ALL Of The Holy Spirit From The Moment of Our Salvation

The Holy Spirit Continually Sanctifies Us Until The Rapture

What is God’s thought of this though?

We Do Not Need To Be Constantly Refilled With The Holy Spirit

Doesn’t the Bible Say Not To Grieve The Spirit?

What If A Person Continues To Repeat A Sin?

Does that mean you will never sin again? Does that mean it is possible to never sin again after Salvation?

Want to help the Holy Spirit?

Does that mean you will never sin again?
Does that mean it is possible to never sin again after Salvation?