ALL INCLUDED

In the November 30th local newspaper there is an interesting story about a Nova Scotia man being sentenced for the murder of his wife. What is interesting about the story is what led him to eventually murder his wife.

I am going to copy and paste a few things here and at the bottom I will give you the web address so you can read the full story if you wish. I find it disturbing that what some of these televangelists preach and teach could lead to such a terrible tragedy. It’s no wonder it is hard to talk to people about the things of God when all they have seen is these fakes on TV constantly begging for money so they can fill their bank accounts. Some would say calling them fakes may be a bit harsh but I think I am being nice by using the word fakes. These guys are not preaching the Gospel of Grace and Peace and are false prophets. What else can you call someone who is preaching/teaching falsely?

I realize this is a bit different than what I normally post on this blog but I was really disturbed when I read this article this morning. I am sure you will be too when you read the full story. Anyway, here are some of the quotes from the newspaper article.

Lawrence MacLean, 43, apologized Wednesday for killing his wife, Delores MacLean, 42, after a night of heavy drinking on Sept. 10, 2004. They were arguing over their finances and the dedicated stay-at-home mother’s growing obsession with religion. It was only after two psychiatrists interviewed Mr. MacLean last year and this year that he admitted he had “punched her in the throat or something” after finding out she had spent nearly $300 on plastic miracle bracelets and prayer towels from American televangelists.

Comment from the judge during sentencing after having read this woman’s diary: “I also read the solicitations from those holy men, those television evangelists, and I can tell you that they are about as unsavoury and despicable as one can imagine. In a situation where people are looking for help in their lives, seeking help, their responses involved constant and consistent requests for money.”

Read the full story here: http://www.herald.ns.ca/Front/544092.html

The beginning of Romans Chapter 7 has been preached throughout the years as being instructions concerning marriage and divorce between a man and a woman. I know that is still used today to condemn anyone that is divorced from their spouses and are told they are now living in sin when they are married to someone else.

Is this really what these scriptures are saying? Is it instruction on what happens when people divorce and re marry? No, these verses are talking about law and grace and have nothing to do with divorce and re marriage.

We have seen in Romans 6 that Paul is talking about the law being dead and us being freed from that law. Is he still talking about the same thing in chapter 7? Absolutely, because the subject of these chapters have not changed. Would it not be strange that in the middle of a teaching about law and freedom from sin that Paul would suddenly insert 3 verses to give instruction and guidance about divorce and remarriage? You could almost picture Paul saying “oh, I forgot to tell you about what happens if you divorce and remarry and here are three verses to explain it to you. OK now that I have told you that, lets get back to the subject at hand”.

We can all agree that does not make any sense and of course that is not what Paul was saying. Whether it makes sense or not, that is what the vast majority of the churches out there will tell you it is what Paul did. This chapter (7) has to be looked at in context with what the book of Romans teaches, and then it becomes very clear that the subject has not changed and those three verses have nothing to do with divorce and remarriage.

He is not trying to show the consequences of divorce but he is simply trying to show another picture of Jesus Christ as compared to the law and its rules. What these verses are saying is what the law says and not what the Gospel says. The Gospel says you are righteous and holy and does not say you are an adulterer or an adulteress because you have gone through a divorce.

The beginning of verse 4 tells us why the previous verses were written. Wherefore, my brethren……The “wherefore” that is there is the beginning of the explanation of what the first three verses were talking about. This law was not written to govern divorce. It was written to reveal Christ to us. Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Are you dead to the law because you have done so good? No, it is very clear you are dead to the law through the body of Christ that you should be married to another.

Who is this “other” that it is talking about? It is talking about Jesus Christ and that is Whom you are married to now. Your first husband which was the law, is now dead and buried. Your new husband was raised from the dead and because of that you can bring forth fruit unto God. What fruit is it talking about? The fruit that comes out of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is holiness and righteousness. Under your first husband you could not bring forth these fruits and according to verse 5 the only fruit you could bring forth when you were married to your fist husband (law) were fruit unto death.

Are you holy and righteous because of what you have done? No, you are holy and righteous because you are married to another. You have become dead to the law (your first husband) because your first husband was nailed to the cross with Jesus and the husband you are now married to was raised from the dead. You are married to another through the resurrection and that is why it can bring fruit unto God which is Jesus’ own righteousness.

Jesus said that the law and the prophets were given to reveal Him. He told them to go back and study these laws because they had missed the point. Jesus said “these laws that are written, these are they that speak of me”. These laws were never written to control a person’s life but they were written to speak about Jesus Christ.

The verses in Romans 7 were given so that people could see they were made free from the first covenant and the husband they used to have was now dead. It was to make clear to them that when He died the law died and when He raised from the dead, they could see they were now free to be married to another.

Continued tomorrow.

In John 5:45 Jesus is talking to His disciples and He told them they were being accused by the one whom they were trusting. He told them He would not accuse them but there was one that was accusing them and that was Moses.

Now Moses was not there at the time but what was He referring to when He said Moses accused them? By saying that He was saying that living under law (Moses) would bring nothing but accusations because that is what they were trusting in.

Jesus does not accuse anyone of anything but convinces people they are righteous, holy and perfect in the sight of God. The law has been nailed to the tree because it became flesh but if you still want to live under its rules and regulations, it will accuse you. The reason being that not one person can keep the whole law which is what is required if you are going to keep one. If you are successful in keeping one it will not be long before the other laws will accuse you of not keeping them.

Verse 46 says that they did not even believe Moses (law) because if they did they would have seen he was talking about Jesus. In Galatians it says that the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ but they didn’t even believe that because that is what Moses was trying to point out to them. And because they didn’t believe Moses Jesus told them it was the reason they didn’t believe what He said.

If you are still trying to be righteous by the works that you do or by keeping some law then Moses accuses you as well. It is not Jesus that accuses you but it is the very law you are trying so hard to keep. If you are stuck in religion the Truth of the Gospel is not good news to you. It is rather a stumbling block because if you still see it from a law point of view, then you are constantly under accusation. You are dead to ever having to be judged by the law. You are dead to its accusations if you are understanding that you have the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus.

The freedom of the Gospel is knowing that Jesus is your righteousness and there is noting you can add to or take away from it. It is a completed work done on our behalf apart from our belief and even apart from our free will. If you are under any kind of accusation or condemnation, it is not the work of the Holy Spirit but is Moses that accuses you. It is the law you are trying to keep that accuses you. It is not the devil giving you a hard time like I am sure we have all heard in the past. The Holy Spirit convinces (convicts) of righteousness and convinces you that judgment is past. Moses accuses you of your faults and short comings and it is because you are trying to work to get God’s favor. It is called self righteousness and is as filthy rags in God’s sight.

We have heard many times I am sure that when you sin after you have become a believer in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit will convict you of that sin. If you do something wrong then it is widely said that you will get conviction. This is taken from John Chapter 16 verses 7 to 11.

As I have mentioned many times in these posts, this is just another example of scriptures being told to us they mean one thing when they actually mean another thing. It’s time to turn some of these Bible verses right side up and get their true meaning. The word sin in this case is a noun and it is not talking about actions and deeds the same as it is throughout Romans.

Jesus says after He has departed He will send the Comforter and He lists three things that the Comforter will do after Jesus is gone. He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Let’s look at all three of these and see what the Jesus was saying here.

Verse 9…of sin, because they believed not on me. The Holy Spirit is not here to reveal fault. So what does it mean He will reprove the world of sin? The word reprove properly translated means convince (convict). The Bible is clear that Jesus did not come to reveal anyone’s faults. We also know that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit agree as they are one. So if Jesus was not here to reveal faults and the Holy Spirit is here doing just that, they would be in disagreement. If Jesus made us righteous and the Father sees us as holy and blameless in His sight and the Holy Spirit is here pointing out faults, how can we say they agree? It looks like we would have a disagreement going on here. There is something wrong with that picture. If the Holy Spirit sees fault and Father and Jesus don’t, who is He going to report to? :–))

So what is being said in verse 9? Who does it say the Holy Spirit will convince of sin? Those who do not believe in Him whom God has sent. If you believe that Jesus is the Saviour of the world and that He has brought us this incredible righteousness, then you do not qualify for convincing (conviction) of sin. The ones that qualify for this are the ones who have not believed. When you bear in mind that sin here is a noun and it is talking about unbelief being the transgression of Adam, then you can understand what He means by convincing of sin because of their unbelief. If you believe, you cannot be convinced of unbelief (sin).

In verse 10 He says “of righteousness. The reason He says of righteousness because He says He is going to His Father. Ephesians will tell you what happened when Jesus went to the Father. He raised you up and made you to sit in the Heavenlies with Christ Jesus. This is what He means by the convincing of righteousness. It is because we know what He came to do and when we know He is gone back to the Father we are convinced of His righteousness being ours.

Verse 11 says “of judgment”. The Holy Spirit is not here to tell you about a judgment to come. He is here telling you that judgment has passed. This was done at the cross of Jesus Christ.

If you are under the law you are going to hear a voice convincing you of your faults and failures. If you are under grace you will hear the Holy Spirit pointing out to you that you are righteous and holy. God is not pointing out your faults. The Holy Spirit will continually try and convince you that you are righteous and holy and also that judgment has passed. He will try and convince you that you are living in unbelief (sin) as it is made clear in verse 9.

Romans 6:23 says the wages (penalty) of sin is death. Whose death is this talking about? It is talking about the death of Jesus Christ. In that He died He died unto sin once (v10). The wages have been paid for sin which was death. I know we have all been told that if we sin it will kill us.

Well keep in mind that this “sin” is not our actions and deeds we have to understand who paid the price for Adam’s offense. Jesus paid the penalty totally and fully on our behalf. This is not directed to us at all. It is a revelation of how Jesus paid for the sin of the whole world.

The last part of the verse says “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. After He had paid the penalty for sin through His death He rose again so we have eternal life. When this Gospel of Grace and Peace begins to make its way into your heart and soul you will not be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine that comes around. It is something that will firmly establish you in His grace, knowing it has nothing to do with your belief or will.

It will make you free to be who you really are. Your true identity is based on what Jesus did and not on what you do or have done in the past. You will see that Jesus paid the full price (wages) for the sin (Adams’ offense) of the whole world. Why for the whole world if it was Adam’s offense? Because as by one man sin entered into the world and that sin was passed on to all. In this same manner (likewise) righteousness was passed on to the entire world through the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

Is there something for us to pay when it comes to “the wages of sin” as mentioned in this verse? No, the full price was paid by Jesus at the cross. That’s why He could say “it is finished”. His mission on earth was finished and He had fulfilled everything He had come to do. He paid the full price (wages) on our behalf. Because He paid that price we now have God’s gift, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:19 says as you have yielded your members to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield ye your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Paul was speaking to them here after the manner of men because of the infirmity (weakness, frailty, feebleness) of their flesh.

They were obviously like most of us still are and somewhat weak when it comes to understanding this awesome Gospel. The weakness that we have in our flesh becomes very apparent in most of us at times I am sure.

Verse 20 says you were, not are, the servants of sin. You were free from righteousness. There is no mixture here at all. You are either in sin (operating in under Adam’s unbelief) or you are in righteousness. You cannot be in righteousness and be in sin at the same time. What he is saying is that when you were under the law you were a servant of sin but now the law has been crucified (it became flesh) and you are no longer under the law therefore you are under righteousness. Under the law they were completely free from righteousness. There is no way they were or could become righteous under the law.

Verse 21 he asks them what fruit they had in those things. The things he is talking about the things they used to do under the law to try and become righteous. He further tells them they are now ashamed of what they did under the law to obtain favor with God. The answer of course to the question of what fruit they had in those things is none. The only thing it caused them was shame when they saw they were trying to obtain something that was impossible to obtain. Righteousness is not obtained by our works. Going back under Adams condition of sin under law is called living in sin.

This is not sex, drugs and rock and roll like some say. It is not your actions and deeds. It is actually your “good works” that you are trying to gain favor with God by doing. You mean I can be living in sin by doing good? Yes, if those good works are something you are doing to gain God’s favor and obtain righteousness. That is living in unbelief because you are trying to become something you already are which is what Adam did in the beginning. Remember the tree in the garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Not just the evil tree but it included knowledge of good as well.

Verse 22 that now that they have been freed from sin, keeping in mind the “noun” meaning of sin, they have become servants of God and the end of that fruit is everlasting life. This everlasting life doesn’t come through your actions and deeds. It comes through the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus that was freely given to every person on earth. You have become a slave of righteousness. You have been captured by God and made a prisoner of righteousness.

Romans 6:15 says What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? God forbid. This is the one place in Romans that the word sin is a verb and is talking about going about and doing wrong. It is the only place in Romans where the word sin is a verb with all the other 44 places it is found being a noun.

Verse 16 continues on by saying and asking “don’t you know”. In this verse the word sin is no longer a verb but a noun and it is not talking about actions and deeds. It is asking if you are going to continue in Adams offense and transgression and unbelief that lead to death or are you going to follow after the second Adam and His righteousness that leads to life? Remember it is not your actions that lead to death. It is the offense of one man Adam that leads to death. Keeping this in focus now, is it your obedience that leads you to righteousness? It is saying that obedience leads to righteousness but it is not our obedience. As by one man’s disobedience (Adam) sin was passed on to all men and as with the obedience of one man (Jesus) righteousness was passed on to all men as well. Neither one is talking about your actions but the actions and obedience of the first and second Adam. Your obedience can never make you righteous. It is talking to yielding to the obedience of Jesus Christ that leads to righteousness.

Verse 17 says but God be thanked, that you were (past tense) the servants of sin, when you were under the law and at that time you were serving sin. You were serving the condition of sin by yielding yourself to the law. But God be thanked that you have obeyed or believed from the heart (not obeyed by your actions and deeds) that form of doctrine whereto you were delivered. The conclusion of what this is talking about is found in verse 18…being then made free from sin (you were made free…you did not free yourself) you became servants of righteousness.

What a huge transformation this is. Under the first Adam you were slaves to sin, even if you did everything right, but now you are slaves to righteousness. The word slave means being a prisoner to something and being into something you cannot escape from. Under the first Adam you were a slave to sin whether you were obeying the law or not obeying the law. The law was the prison guard that held you captive. You could not get out of that prison by yourself regardless of how hard you tried. It was not your actions and deeds that held you there in the sin of the first Adam, it was the law.

Romans 6:13 says we are not to yield our members as instruments (literally weapons) of unrighteousness unto sin. How do we yield our members?

That is done by falling back under the law because where there is no law there is no sin and there is no transgression. The last part of that verse says we are to yield ourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Yield yourself to faith and not to law because the law is not of faith. Verse 14 continues on by saying that sin will not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace. Is it saying it is because you will never do anything wrong ever again? No, it is saying sin will not have dominion over you because you are no longer under law.

The whole concept previous to chapter 6 and all the way through chapter six has been the issue of being in sin. What puts you in sin? Actions and deeds? No, the thing that puts you in sin is being under the law. Look at verse 14 again….sin will NOT have dominion over you because you are not under law but under grace. Romans 5:21 tells us that sin hath reigned unto death. It is dead and it has no more reign. The last part of verse 21 says that grace now reigns for all eternity. It is not talking about any actions or deeds that are going to bring life to you. It is talking about the prescription for life itself. It is the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that brings grace and life living in your conscious mind. Through knowing this you are able to reckon yourself indeed to be dead unto sin and alive unto God.

How dead to sin is Jesus? I think we would all agree He is totally and fully dead to sin. Likewise that is also how dead we are to sin. Stop looking at actions and deeds that you or anyone else does as sin because that is not the context of these chapters. I am not saying there are not many things in people’s lives that need to be changed. I think that goes without saying. Don’t approach your behavior from the position of sin consciousness but approach it from the position of righteousness consciousness. This is not challenging whether anyone does right or wrong. The challenge is how you view it. Are you viewing your behavior as a sinner or are you viewing it from a position of righteousness? If you view yourself as having the righteousness of God in operation in your life and that no sin will ever be held against you, you can then begin to see the grace that was so freely given to all mankind.

I was talking to Marco my friend over coffee a few days ago and he brought up something interesting which I agree with. He said the problem lies with us not knowing our identity. If you do not know your identity in Christ then you will continue looking at your actions and deeds as if that is what the Bible calls sin. We have seen, and in my opinion proven that sin is not actions and deeds. If you look at yourself in your true identity, then you will see yourself as righteous and holy and perfect in God’s sight. When you see this you will begin a quality of life based on God’s righteousness and not your own self righteousness. You will see that your life is not based on the law and the sin of the first Adam. Look at Jesus’ standing on all these issues, and likewise look at yourself the same way.

Romans 6:10 says that in that He died He died unto sin once. How many times did He need to die for sin to be destroyed? Once.

Always keep in mind what has been said that sin is. If you look at any of this through your “old eyes” that sin is your actions and deeds, then you will have a problem understanding this. If you understand this through the proper understanding of what sin is, then you will see how much clearer it gets. Paul is telling them there is an issue that we must resolve when it comes to sin. When the word sin is looked at as being actions and deeds that we do then we look at the external actions of people and conclude they are living in sin. To see this in its proper light, it is vitally important to see what sin isn’t.

Verse 11 Likewise reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin, but in that He liveth He liveth unto God. This is quite clear we are dead to sin. The word likewise there means “so in like manner” we are to recognize that we are as dead to sin as Jesus is. Jesus died once to sin. We died once to sin as well because we were in Him. Think on the word likewise for a while. Meditate on what it says. It is saying in the same manner as Jesus is dead to sin so are we. And that in the same manner He is dead to sin, which is through crucifixion that is how we are dead to sin also, through His crucifixion (Gal 2:20). We do not die to sin by our own efforts. We do not die to sin by trying not to do this or that.The only thing you can compare now regarding your relationship to sin is to see what relationship Jesus has to sin right now. That has to be the comparison because it says likewise; you are the same as He is with respect to sin.

You cannot compare your relationship to sin through the law. You must compare your relationship to sin through the lordship of Jesus Christ. Through the law you are going to see yourself as a sinner but through grace you are going to have to see your relationship to sin through Jesus’ death burial and resurrection. We cannot view anything except through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. This applies to sin as well as anything else. The likewise in verse 11 does not only refer to the sin question but it also refers to being alive unto God. How alive to God is Jesus Christ? In likewise manner so are you. If you look at the law and it says if you do this or that you are a sinner, then you will see yourself as a sinner. But lets remember the law is dead and the just shall live by faith.

Are you righteous because you follow the law? No, you are righteous because you are in Christ. No law can supersede the incredible power of the righteousness you have freely been given from God through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He completed His plan apart from any of our works or belief. I know it is difficult to see that all this is ours without our belief. Difficult or not, it is a fact that it is apart from our belief. If that was the case, that you had to believe for it to be true, at what point would you know if you have believed enough? No, it is all about Jesus and nothing about us at all when it comes to redemption. Reckon yourself dead because He is dead. Reckon yourself alive because He is alive. Remember the words likewise and together. They really have great significance in our understanding of the cross.

I don’t know if I am explaining this well or not but I know that over the past several days I have begun to see the sin that Romans is talking about in a brand new light. Throughout Romans 5 it was talking about Adam’s transgression that was dealt with and the same continues on in Chapter 6.

The chapters and verses were added there by man and when Paul wrote this he was writing a letter. We tend to stop at the end of one chapter and think that because we have moved on to another chapter the subject has changed. This is not so and it is taking things out of context. Read Romans 5 and 6 keeping in mind that the word sin is talking about Adams condition and not your actions and deeds, and you will see that book in a totally new light.

Romans 6:6 says our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. The condition of sin was destroyed that henceforth you should not serve sin. You should never serve that condition of sin. How do you serve that condition of sin? You serve that condition by constantly trying to resolve the issue of sin between you and God. You go back into serving sin when you try to do anything to gain favor with God or to try and be acceptable in His sight. You do not become a servant to sin by doing wrong. No, you become a servant of sin by going under the law which is the strength of sin.

Verses 4 and 5 plainly say that you are dead because we have been buried with Him. We were baptized into His death. Verse 7 says that if you are dead you are freed from sin. This is again a noun and not a verb. This is not talking about being freed from actions and deeds. If being in Christ means we will never do wrong again then none of us are in Christ. We are freed from being under Adam’s condition that he passed on to all mankind. We are free from living under the unbelief that he passed to all. That condition was crucified with Christ. Our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed. What is the body of sin? The body of sin is the body that was in Adam and his condition. It has been destroyed. We are now in a new body, the body of Christ.

Verse 8 says that if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with Him. How do you live with Him? You don’t live with Him through actions and deeds. You live with Him believing that you have died with Him. If you believe that you died with Him you also have to believe the condition of sin died with Him as well and you have to believe you are living with Him. Nothing survives crucifixion. We were raised together with Him according to Ephesians 2:6. The word together there means “to rouse from death in company with”. Verse 9 says that Jesus was raised from the dead and dies no more. I am sure all of us believe that Jesus will not die anymore. Death has no more dominion over Him. When He rose again He conquered death and it has no more power over Him. Sin has no more dominion over us anymore than it has dominion over Jesus because we were raised together with Him.

I know these truths are not according to the tradition we have learned in the past and it may be foreign to some. However, when this is studied and the proper meanings are attached to it, you can then see how this was a huge part of the redemptive plan of God apart from our involvement on our part in it. Like Kenneth said in one comment, “he didn’t even leave the born again part up to us”. He did that for the entire world as well. He left nothing up to us when it comes to being redeemed. Absolutely nothing.