Most people calling themselves Christians today have a belief that the hope we have in Christ is the hope of getting to heaven some day. Even though heaven is a place we look forward to, that should not be our hope as Christians. So what is our hope and what is the promise of God?
Today MOST churched people's hopes are to get to heaven. This is not what our main hope should be or what we should strive for. If our main hopes and striving are to get to heaven then we are only trying to save ourselves from hell.
The scriptures say the deposit of the "Holy Spirit" into us is the GUARANTEE of our heavenly inheritance. This is true.
Eph 1:13-14 - In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. NKJV
2 Cor 1:21-22 - Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. NKJV
So once we are totally filled with the Holy Spirit (the promise), then we are guaranteed heaven as long as we don't willfully sin after that point. So the hope we need to go for is the promise that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit AFTER we have come to a point of total obedience (out of love for Him). Once we have the fullness of the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Truth) in us, we no longer have a hope of being in His eternal kingdom, because we are already in His eternal kingdom. There is not a hope of heaven anymore, it is a for sure thing as long as we don't reject His Holy Spirit by willfully sinning against Him. If we willfully sin after being totally filled with the Holy Spirit (the promise), then we have committed the unforgivable sin. Let me explain this with scriptures.
After we have done the will of God we receive the promise (the Holy Spirit).
Heb 10:36 - For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the PROMISE NKJV
Abraham's offspring are the people that have received the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Rom 9:8 - In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. NIV
God pours out the Holy Spirit into all that have been obedient to the will of God. Then they are the sons of God and exalted to the right hand of God. A son of God is exalted to His right hand when that person has shown himself worthy of the Holy Spirit's filling. This needs to happen in our physical lifetime.
Acts 2:33 - Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the PROMISE of the Holy Spirit , He poured out this which you now see and hear. NKJV
God saves us from the power of our sinful nature to enable us to become the sons of God by eventually receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit after we have done His will.
Gal 3:14 - He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. NIV
Only if we are totally devoted to Christ are we considered Abraham's seed and enjoy in the promised Holy Spirit.
Gal 3:29 - If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. NIV
Life in Christ is the Holy Spirit in a person. Holy Spirit = Life in Christ.
2 Tim 1:1 - ...according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, ... NIV
Once anyone has been fully filled with the Holy Spirit and has become a son of God, then they have been enlightened and have experienced God's eternal kingdom and the powers of that eternal kingdom. If they ever decide to fall away by willfully sinning against the Holy Spirit that is within them, then they are judged unworthy of the Holy Spirit and God's Holy Spirit is taken away from them forever.
Heb 6:4-6 - For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the HEAVENLY gift, and have become partakers of the HOLY SPIRIT, and have tasted the good word of God and the POWERS of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. NKJV
Now one important thing to remember when understanding these scriptures, when a person comes to the saving grace of God and says that first sinners prayer, they don’t receive the Holy Spirit at that time unless they were able to die to all their selfishness at that time. They receive Jesus as their High Priest, but for most people today, they don’t receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit until they die to all their selfishness and be obedient and do the will of God. It is through the power of God’s grace working through Jesus Christ being their High Priest that they have the power to overcome all sin, but they have to make the choice to die to every sinful thing in them. God will not make anyone die to their own selfish nature, but He gives you the power to do so if that is a person’s earnest desire.
When a person receives the Holy Spirit, they receive the knowledge of the truth. The truth is written on their hearts. God's very Word is written on and in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. So, after this happening, if they ever willfully go against that truth that has filled their heart, they will be doomed to an eternal fiery judgment.
Heb 10:26-29 - For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? NKJV
If we keep and stay within God's promise (the Holy Spirit) we are assured a new heaven and a new earth full of righteousness.
2 Peter 3:13 - But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. NIV
For the people, the true sons of God, the ones that have been filled with the Holy Spirit, that have partaken in the heavenly gifts and powers of the heavens (the powers to come), they are already in His eternal kingdom. The only difference that happens after physical death for a true son of God is that they don't have to live in both a righteous and un-righteous world any longer. They will live only in a pure, holy, and righteous world for eternity. Before a true son of God physically dies, they are already living a pure, holy, and righteous life already, but having to endure an un-righteous world until they physically die.
So I say all this to indicate that our salvation has to happen in our physical lifetime (before physical death). When someone says "Completed salvation is not until we reached the other side into heaven", this is an incorrect statement. This is what people want to believe and backs up MOST people's beliefs that we can never be perfect, pure, holy, and/or righteous this side of heaven, which a lie of the devil.
A true son of God has already been judged and found worthy to receive God’s promise of the Holy Spirit, because they have sacrificed all to Him. Once having received the Holy Spirit, we are then worthy to enter and be in God's eternal kingdom. It is the Holy Spirit of Christ that is the key to God’s eternal kingdom. All true sons of God have been judged in this life already and will never be judged again unless they commit the un-forgivable sin of rejecting the Holy Spirit that had totally filled their heart.
If anyone is judged by God after their physical death - it is too late for them. They are destined for the eternal fire.
May God’s truth encourage you to finish the race,
Michael W Reid
Showing posts with label holy spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holy spirit. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Born Again verses Entire Sanctification
John Wesley’s definition of Entire Sanctification:
“being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin.” ….. “entire sanctification perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service”
Born Again defined by God’s Word:
2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! NIV
1 John 3:9 - Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. NKJV
1 John 5:4 - For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. NKJV
1 John 5:18 - We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. NKJV
It is not a decision of ours to be born again – it is God’s decision on whether we are born of His Holy Spirit. Being born of God is of the Spirit and not of flesh.
John 3:5-7 - Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ’You must be born again’”. NIV
When we are born again, it is a baptizing action taken by the Holy Spirit to cleanse us and make us a new creation.
Titus 3:5 - He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit NIV
Acts 11:16 - Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit . NIV
So how does God determine when He will baptize us of the Holy Spirit?
Acts 5:32 - We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. NIV
So do you see any differences between being “born again” and “entire sanctification”?
Below is John Wesley’s answer to explaining the process of Sanctification:
Sanctification: Initial, Progressive, Entire
236. We believe that sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by which the child of God is separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love God with all the heart and to walk in all His holy commandments blameless. Sanctification is initiated at the moment of justification and regeneration. From that moment there is a gradual or progressive sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in a more perfect obedience to God. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification which is wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin. The crisis of entire sanctification perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service. It is followed by lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences itself by loving obedience to God's revealed will.
The above doctrine I agree with since it states that sanctification starts at the time of justification. “Sanctification is initiated at the moment of justification and regeneration.” Did you also notice that the Wesleyan doctrine put “Justification” and “Regeneration” together? We are sanctified through a process of regenerating our desires to match God’s desires – usually one desire at a time. By this regeneration of our desires – we end up growing more and more in love with God as we are sanctified by the power of His Grace. Sanctification/regeneration are initiated at the point of justification, but as the next sentences points out – regeneration continues to the point of the “crisis of entire sanctification”. “From that moment there is a gradual or progressive sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in a more perfect obedience to God. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification It is at this crisis point that a person has to decide to make that big jump of faith and believe with a belief that brings forth an action of intense searching to loose self and find God. A person jumps by faith with both feet into God’s hands – instead of having one foot in the world and one foot in God’s kingdom. Entire sanctification - which is wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ”. So what is “wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ” – the next part of the sentence explains what is wrought – “being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin.” It is at this point and only at this point that the Biblical definition of “being born again” is made true in a believer’s heart and soul. Like I have tried to emphasize – it is God’s agape love living in a born again believer that purifies and perfects the heart of the born again believer – “crisis of entire sanctification perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service.” Did you notice that it is at this time and after that point that the born again believer is now empowered to go into effective service? After this filling of the Holy Spirit, a life of holiness continues because of the pure love that God has placed in the born again believer’s heart – “It is followed by lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences itself by loving obedience to God's revealed will.”
So to conclude this comparison between the term “entire sanctification” and “born again”, we must conclude that they mean the same thing, but with different names.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
“being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin.” ….. “entire sanctification perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service”
Born Again defined by God’s Word:
2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! NIV
1 John 3:9 - Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. NKJV
1 John 5:4 - For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. NKJV
1 John 5:18 - We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. NKJV
It is not a decision of ours to be born again – it is God’s decision on whether we are born of His Holy Spirit. Being born of God is of the Spirit and not of flesh.
John 3:5-7 - Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ’You must be born again’”. NIV
When we are born again, it is a baptizing action taken by the Holy Spirit to cleanse us and make us a new creation.
Titus 3:5 - He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit NIV
Acts 11:16 - Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit . NIV
So how does God determine when He will baptize us of the Holy Spirit?
Acts 5:32 - We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. NIV
So do you see any differences between being “born again” and “entire sanctification”?
Below is John Wesley’s answer to explaining the process of Sanctification:
Sanctification: Initial, Progressive, Entire
236. We believe that sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by which the child of God is separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love God with all the heart and to walk in all His holy commandments blameless. Sanctification is initiated at the moment of justification and regeneration. From that moment there is a gradual or progressive sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in a more perfect obedience to God. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification which is wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin. The crisis of entire sanctification perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service. It is followed by lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences itself by loving obedience to God's revealed will.
The above doctrine I agree with since it states that sanctification starts at the time of justification. “Sanctification is initiated at the moment of justification and regeneration.” Did you also notice that the Wesleyan doctrine put “Justification” and “Regeneration” together? We are sanctified through a process of regenerating our desires to match God’s desires – usually one desire at a time. By this regeneration of our desires – we end up growing more and more in love with God as we are sanctified by the power of His Grace. Sanctification/regeneration are initiated at the point of justification, but as the next sentences points out – regeneration continues to the point of the “crisis of entire sanctification”. “From that moment there is a gradual or progressive sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in a more perfect obedience to God. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification It is at this crisis point that a person has to decide to make that big jump of faith and believe with a belief that brings forth an action of intense searching to loose self and find God. A person jumps by faith with both feet into God’s hands – instead of having one foot in the world and one foot in God’s kingdom. Entire sanctification - which is wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ”. So what is “wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ” – the next part of the sentence explains what is wrought – “being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin.” It is at this point and only at this point that the Biblical definition of “being born again” is made true in a believer’s heart and soul. Like I have tried to emphasize – it is God’s agape love living in a born again believer that purifies and perfects the heart of the born again believer – “crisis of entire sanctification perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service.” Did you notice that it is at this time and after that point that the born again believer is now empowered to go into effective service? After this filling of the Holy Spirit, a life of holiness continues because of the pure love that God has placed in the born again believer’s heart – “It is followed by lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences itself by loving obedience to God's revealed will.”
So to conclude this comparison between the term “entire sanctification” and “born again”, we must conclude that they mean the same thing, but with different names.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Spirit of God - Part 2
This message is a continuation of “The Spirit of God – Part 1” message. If you haven’t read part #1 of this message, please go back and read part #1 before continuing on with this part #2 message on the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God is spiritual, but we are placed in a physical body with a spiritual heart and soul. To understand God, we need to get out of the physical box of understanding when it comes to spiritual things and rely on believing and understanding with our heart and spirit – because God is Spirit. Let us go back and look a little closer at the hierarchy structure of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God
The Father – The head of God’s Spirit
* Pure agape love, pure righteousness, pure faithfulness, and pure grace and mercy.
The Son – A perfect replica of the Father. The perfect seed of the Father
The Life = Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that brings spiritual life into our spiritual deadened heart and souls. Life in Christ is when we receive the Holy Spirit and He seals us for an eternity with Him in heaven
The Truth = The Spirit of Grace – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to believers to enable them to know the truth, have faith in the truth, understand the truth, and be empowered by the truth. Having belief in the truth of God and His Son is what brings us to a full relationship with God and His Son.
* A Revelation of God’s Love
The Way = The Spirit of Righteousness – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to people to enable people to honor God and live a righteous life. (The power to complete this righteousness comes from the Spirit of Grace)
____________________________________________
In John 14:6, Jesus says - John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
In the above verse and the simplified “Spirit of God” hierarchy table above we can start to see the reason why Jesus ordered His words the way He did in John 14:6. “The Way” is first requirement, “The Truth” is second, and “The Life” is third.
We must first turn from our sinful ways and turn toward God to live the way of righteousness that God requires of us. The “Way” to the Father and the Son is living a life of righteousness. Abraham was credited with righteousness because he believed in God, and Abraham’s walk in life reflected the way of God. This was by the Sprit of righteousness that was available during the Old Testament times.
Gen 15:6 - Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness
So we see that most of the Spirit of righteousness was available in the Old Testament, but the Spirit of Grace that brings forth the truth into a believer’s heart was not yet released.
“The Truth” is the second requirement that we must receive from God to come to the Father. “The Truth” is brought about into a believer’s heart and soul by the Spirit of Grace. The Spirit of Grace was the missing puzzle piece needed for anyone to be able to live a life of righteousness that was acceptable in the sight of God. This is why the Israelites could see that God’s laws were good, but they did not possess the power within themselves to perform the laws of God. They could see that the laws of God were good, because they had the Spirit of righteousness available to them, but they could not do the laws of God, because the Spirit of Grace was not yet made available to them. The Spirit of Grace is the power behind the sanctification of our souls. It is the Spirit of Grace that enables us to see the truth of God and then the same Spirit of Grace that also gives us the power to turn from our sins and live righteously before our God. How is this power of Grace worked out in our lives? It is by the Spirit of Grace changing and remolding our heart’s desires. When we are truly sorrowful of our sins and we repent of our sins, it is the Spirit of Grace that changes our desires to not want to do that sin any longer. It is this change of the heart that God does through His grace that transforms us into a person more like Him as the process of sanctification continues on. What also happens at the same time in our sanctification process is the transformation from loving our own self to loving God. As we grow in love with God more and more, we end up wanting to please God more and more. This part of God’s Spirit (the Spirit of Grace – The Truth) was missing in the Old Testament people (except for a few chosen people) and this is why the Jews could not live righteously even though they knew they should live righteously. The desires of the heart and the love for their own selves were not replaced or transformed into Godly desires and a true love for God and others – so they were blind to the real truth (which is pure love) and tried to live by rules instead of love.
“The Life” is the third requirement that is needed to come to the Father. Just like Grace, “The Life”=receiving the Holy Spirit - is a gift of God, Even though “The Life” is a gift of God, it is only given to souls that have met the requirements of the first two – which is living a righteous life by being empowered by God’s Grace which is received by faith. You might ask why such a restriction. It is because, when you receive the Holy Spirit (The Life), you then have full access to the Son and the Father and His kingdom. It is also because we must be cleansed of all unrighteousness before we acquire this privileged access. Only totally cleansed and pure things and souls are allowed to enter the Father’s kingdom, so our hearts and souls must be made pure through and through in order to enter the Father’s kingdom. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes to a believer when God sees that a person loves Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. This love for God will be shown by their righteous living that they acquired through Grace by faith in God. When the Holy Spirit comes into a person as a gift, they are totally washed of any selfish sinful nature and given a heart only filled with God’s desires. After they have this new selfless heart, they have only the desires to please and serve God. God then empowers those born again believers for His service with certain gifts that will promote His kingdom and glorify Himself through those believers. These gifts that God gives are not for the benefit of the one that received them; they are for the benefit of others and to glorify God. I am one of those souls in the kingdom of God and loving every minute of it. My mind can hardly think of anything else but pleasing, glorifying, worshiping, and serving Him. For any that have not experienced God in this way, you can search for the Son of God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – and then you will find Him.
Let us stop believing and acting like the people in the Old Testament and realize we have God’s grace to empower us to reach and serve the Father before we die. Let us humble ourselves before our God, which will enable God to raise us up in His grace to make us a holy and righteous people where we are found worthy to receive His Son (the Holy Spirit). God is a gracious and loving God and wants all to be blessed. God has done everything possible to make these blessings happen. The only things getting in the way of making these blessings a reality - is our own human reasoning, unbelief, pride, and selfishness. God is no longer limiting his grace like He did in the Old Testament. Let us stop limiting what God wants to do and have total faith in His Word.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
The Spirit of God is spiritual, but we are placed in a physical body with a spiritual heart and soul. To understand God, we need to get out of the physical box of understanding when it comes to spiritual things and rely on believing and understanding with our heart and spirit – because God is Spirit. Let us go back and look a little closer at the hierarchy structure of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God
The Father – The head of God’s Spirit
* Pure agape love, pure righteousness, pure faithfulness, and pure grace and mercy.
The Son – A perfect replica of the Father. The perfect seed of the Father
The Life = Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that brings spiritual life into our spiritual deadened heart and souls. Life in Christ is when we receive the Holy Spirit and He seals us for an eternity with Him in heaven
The Truth = The Spirit of Grace – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to believers to enable them to know the truth, have faith in the truth, understand the truth, and be empowered by the truth. Having belief in the truth of God and His Son is what brings us to a full relationship with God and His Son.
* A Revelation of God’s Love
The Way = The Spirit of Righteousness – A subset of the Spirit of God
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to people to enable people to honor God and live a righteous life. (The power to complete this righteousness comes from the Spirit of Grace)
____________________________________________
In John 14:6, Jesus says - John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
In the above verse and the simplified “Spirit of God” hierarchy table above we can start to see the reason why Jesus ordered His words the way He did in John 14:6. “The Way” is first requirement, “The Truth” is second, and “The Life” is third.
We must first turn from our sinful ways and turn toward God to live the way of righteousness that God requires of us. The “Way” to the Father and the Son is living a life of righteousness. Abraham was credited with righteousness because he believed in God, and Abraham’s walk in life reflected the way of God. This was by the Sprit of righteousness that was available during the Old Testament times.
Gen 15:6 - Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness
So we see that most of the Spirit of righteousness was available in the Old Testament, but the Spirit of Grace that brings forth the truth into a believer’s heart was not yet released.
“The Truth” is the second requirement that we must receive from God to come to the Father. “The Truth” is brought about into a believer’s heart and soul by the Spirit of Grace. The Spirit of Grace was the missing puzzle piece needed for anyone to be able to live a life of righteousness that was acceptable in the sight of God. This is why the Israelites could see that God’s laws were good, but they did not possess the power within themselves to perform the laws of God. They could see that the laws of God were good, because they had the Spirit of righteousness available to them, but they could not do the laws of God, because the Spirit of Grace was not yet made available to them. The Spirit of Grace is the power behind the sanctification of our souls. It is the Spirit of Grace that enables us to see the truth of God and then the same Spirit of Grace that also gives us the power to turn from our sins and live righteously before our God. How is this power of Grace worked out in our lives? It is by the Spirit of Grace changing and remolding our heart’s desires. When we are truly sorrowful of our sins and we repent of our sins, it is the Spirit of Grace that changes our desires to not want to do that sin any longer. It is this change of the heart that God does through His grace that transforms us into a person more like Him as the process of sanctification continues on. What also happens at the same time in our sanctification process is the transformation from loving our own self to loving God. As we grow in love with God more and more, we end up wanting to please God more and more. This part of God’s Spirit (the Spirit of Grace – The Truth) was missing in the Old Testament people (except for a few chosen people) and this is why the Jews could not live righteously even though they knew they should live righteously. The desires of the heart and the love for their own selves were not replaced or transformed into Godly desires and a true love for God and others – so they were blind to the real truth (which is pure love) and tried to live by rules instead of love.
“The Life” is the third requirement that is needed to come to the Father. Just like Grace, “The Life”=receiving the Holy Spirit - is a gift of God, Even though “The Life” is a gift of God, it is only given to souls that have met the requirements of the first two – which is living a righteous life by being empowered by God’s Grace which is received by faith. You might ask why such a restriction. It is because, when you receive the Holy Spirit (The Life), you then have full access to the Son and the Father and His kingdom. It is also because we must be cleansed of all unrighteousness before we acquire this privileged access. Only totally cleansed and pure things and souls are allowed to enter the Father’s kingdom, so our hearts and souls must be made pure through and through in order to enter the Father’s kingdom. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes to a believer when God sees that a person loves Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. This love for God will be shown by their righteous living that they acquired through Grace by faith in God. When the Holy Spirit comes into a person as a gift, they are totally washed of any selfish sinful nature and given a heart only filled with God’s desires. After they have this new selfless heart, they have only the desires to please and serve God. God then empowers those born again believers for His service with certain gifts that will promote His kingdom and glorify Himself through those believers. These gifts that God gives are not for the benefit of the one that received them; they are for the benefit of others and to glorify God. I am one of those souls in the kingdom of God and loving every minute of it. My mind can hardly think of anything else but pleasing, glorifying, worshiping, and serving Him. For any that have not experienced God in this way, you can search for the Son of God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – and then you will find Him.
Let us stop believing and acting like the people in the Old Testament and realize we have God’s grace to empower us to reach and serve the Father before we die. Let us humble ourselves before our God, which will enable God to raise us up in His grace to make us a holy and righteous people where we are found worthy to receive His Son (the Holy Spirit). God is a gracious and loving God and wants all to be blessed. God has done everything possible to make these blessings happen. The only things getting in the way of making these blessings a reality - is our own human reasoning, unbelief, pride, and selfishness. God is no longer limiting his grace like He did in the Old Testament. Let us stop limiting what God wants to do and have total faith in His Word.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Spirit of God - Part 1
The Spirit of God can be very hard to comprehend. We know that the Spirit of God contains the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the Son, and the Spirit of Holy Spirit, but even though they are listed as separate Sprits, they are really all of one Sprit and come out of one Spirit – the Spirit of God. There are also other spiritual qualities or sub functions of God Spirit that are released to us as a subset of God’s Spirit. There is the Spirit of Righteousness and the Spirit of Grace. Below you find a simplified table representing the hierarchy of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God
The Spirit of God
The Father – The head of God’s Spirit
* Pure agape love, pure righteousness, pure faithfulness, and pure grace and mercy.
The Son – A perfect replica of the Father. The perfect seed of the Father
* The fullness of Christ - being the Son of God, has all the same qualities of His Father.
* The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that is sent into the sons of God to change their hearts and empower them for service. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit that totally cleanses a person of the sinful nature and gives the sons of God a new heart and the result becomes a person born again and totally Christ like.
* The Holy Spirit is under the Son because He is the Spirit of the Son
* The Holy Spirit is the power that accomplishes everything the Father or the Son speaks
The Spirit of Grace – A subset of the Spirit of God – not a different Spirit
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to believers to enable them to become the sons of God.
* Was made available to all people after Jesus was crucified on the Cross.
* The nature and characteristics are – the power of the Word, the knowledge of inheritance, the power of faithfulness, the power of justification, a knowing that the Word is true, the working out of God’s truth, honesty and straightforwardness, the power to circumcise the heart of man, the power to fully sanctify, gives the believer the wisdom and the understanding to serve God with love, fear and honor, brings eternal praise for God into our hearts.
The Spirit of Righteousness– A subset of the Spirit of God – not a different Spirit
* A subset of the Spirit of God released to people to enable people to honor God and live a righteous life with the limited faith released to them before the cross.
* Was available before the cross.
* The nature and characteristics are – praising God, realizing the greatness of God, seeking God diligently, repenting of evil ways, honoring God, recognizing the gloriousness of God, being gracious to others, having mercy to others, and eternal righteousness through the limited faith that was released before the cross – example: Abraham.
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Using the spiritual table listed out previously, we now can try to understand what is contained within the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God contains the full nature, characteristics, and power of God. The Spirit of the Father is the hierarchy head of the Spirit of God and contains all that is underneath Him in the hierarchy of the Spirit of God, while all the other Spirits only contain what is in them selves and what is underneath them in the hierarchy of God’s Spirit. For example: The Father contains the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Grace, and the Spirit of Righteousness. But the Son doesn’t have that which is only contained in the Father, but includes all that is in Him self and underneath Him including the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Righteousness. We know there are some things that are or have been reserved by the Father and only for the Father.
Acts 1:7 - And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
But we have to remember that Christ is the Son of the Father and that the Son retains the Spiritual Seed of the Father forever and ever. So this is why Jesus said that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. This is also why Jesus could say that if you have seen me, then you have seen the Father. Also since the Son is contained within and under the Father, the Son cannot exist without the Father and likewise the Father cannot exist without the Son since what makes up the Son is also part of the makes up of the Father. For one to exist – they both must exist.
We can also now understand that the Spirit of Grace (a subset of the Spirit of God) doesn’t contain the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, but does contain the characteristics of itself and the Spirit of Righteousness (also a subset of the Spirit of God). The Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Righteousness are what God uses to sanctify us and to bring us to the Father and the Son.
The Spiritual table also can be used to understand the steps that are needed to take to become a believer and eventually become born again of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit will lead us into the Spirit of Righteousness and lead us down the path of repentance and at the same time have us be justified through the Spirit of Grace that He provided by Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. It is the Spirit of Righteousness and the power of the Spirit of Grace that enables us to become the sons of God. To become the sons of God we must die to all of our sinful/selfish nature. It is the power of the Spirit of Grace that enables us to do this even though we don’t have the full power of the Holy Spirit within us yet. That is why the Bible says we are saved through Grace by faith. We must become the sons of God first before we can receive the Holy Spirit. We must show we have become the sons of God and our total love for God by our total repentance and total sacrifice of ourselves to God.
Matt 5:43-45 - You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
Luke 6:35 - But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.
If God becomes our Father by us becoming His sons through the power of the Spirit of Grace that He has supplied to us, than we can ask Him for His Holy Spirit – which is the Spirit of His Son.
Luke 11:13b - how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Before we can receive Christ’s Spirit we must be prepared by the Spirit of Righteousness and the Spirit of Grace. We must be prepared, tested and found worthy of this great gift. This great gift of the Holy Spirit (Christ’s very nature) can only be given to the ones that have been proven to be the sons of God.
John 14:23-24 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 14:15-17 - If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit).
Acts 5:32 - We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
Matt 7:21-22 - Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matt 12:50 - For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
The Holy Spirit will testify of itself and of Jesus Christ when you have received Him.
John 14:20-21 - On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
John 15:26-27 - When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
John 16:12-15 - I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
1 Cor 6:17 - But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
When we have been united with Jesus Christ – we become one spirit with Him and reign along with Him to manage and promote His kingdom. This is why the scriptures say we are seated with Him in heaven. We are not seated beside Him – we are seated in Him, because we are now one in Spirit with Him.
Eph 2:6 - And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
All this is to say – God has reserved a wonderful full life in Him and for an eternity for anyone that gives up his/her own life in trade for a life with and in Him.
God’s servant and yours,
Michael Reid
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Having God’s Heart – What Is It Like? - Part 2
When I share these messages, about how God does truly free us from our sinful nature, most of the responses from people are - it is not possible and that as long as we live we are going to sin. Most people believe that we will always have some sinful nature in us as long as we are living in this body of flesh. This is sad, because it is their very lack of belief that keeps them from receiving this gift of God. So I realized that people need to hear this from other people other than myself, in the hopes that they will understand that – it is not just what God has done in me, but in many other people as well.
Here is one of those other true believers trying to get this same message out.
Obeying God Is No Burden
Here is one of those other true believers trying to get this same message out.
Obeying God Is No Burden
John, the beloved apostle, wrote, "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous [burdensome]" (1 John 5:3).
Some would beg to differ. They find God's commands inconvenient, if not a real pain. Every device has been tried to explain how one can be a Christian without literally obeying God's Word.
Why do some find God's commands such a burden? And why do others, like John, find obeying God to be no burden at all? Love makes all the difference. "And, this is love, that we walk after his commandments." Obeying God has practical results, in faithful love in a marriage, helping those in need, and Christian generosity and honesty.
It's a virtuous cycle: Love produces obedience, and obedience produces even greater love. Too many experience, instead, a vicious cycle of disobedience which leaves them guilty and certainly not loving God, but resenting both Him and His commands.
It's a most unsatisfying cycle, but one that God, by His grace, will help us break. The Bible teaches that God's grace both makes us righteous, and enables us to live right (see Romans 6:16-23).
God invites you to experience His grace. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come" (Revelation 22:17). God commands all men everywhere to repent of their sin and believe on His Son (Acts 17:30). When we do that, He does three things for us: Forgives past sin (Romans: 3:25), gives a new nature that doesn't want to sin (2 Peter 1:4), and delivers from the tyranny of sin (Romans 6:14). Those so converted both want to, and are able to, obey and serve Him faithfully until death.
And that is why they love God. Nothing can produce real love for God like experiencing His power to overcome the sin that enslaved us. It is then that we, like John, find His commandment no burden.
So don't let anyone tell you that it is impossible to obey the Bible or that it requires some marathon self-discipline. It only requires that we surrender to God in repentance. Ask anyone who has experienced His grace. He'll tell you that God's commands are no longer a burden.
Written by Dallas Witmer
I hope now that some of you that didn’t believe in total freedom from sin will now ask – how do I get there? It is through faith in God’s Word and being obedient to that Word even if you don’t understand it yet.
It was through disobedience that the fall of man came about and it is only through obedience to God’s commandments that you will be allowed to be rejoined with Him. We show God that we love Him by obeying Him and it is through this obedience that comes out of loving God that we are found worthy to receive His Holy Spirit. It is at this time – when we receive His Holy Spirit, are we born again and become one in Spirit with God. God has made the Holy Spirit available to all who truly believe because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross.
With the non-converted spirit of man it is impossible to be without sin, but with a born again person, all things are possible because it is Christ living in us that does every good work.
I want to draw this letter to a close by showing that God’s Word strongly indicates that obeying His commandments are not burdensome, but are an automatic result of being a born again believer.
Matt 11:28-30 - Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Rom 8:9-10 - You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit), he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Rom 8:5 - Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Eph 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Eph 6:6b - but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
Heb 13:21 - equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
God’s servant and yours,
Mike Reid
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Having God’s Heart – What Is It Like? - Part 1
When we become a true believer, we get a new heart from God. But what does that feel like – to be given a new heart – a heart that you weren’t physically born with, but given to you by God Himself. Well, I can’t answer all the thoughts that might come up with this topic - since a Godly heart is as diversified as God’s love itself, but I will cover some important aspects that are always weighing on my heart (God’s heart).
We need to first realize that when God replaces your fleshly heart with a Godly heart, all your desires are turned upside down and inside out. The Godly heart He gives you is His heart and will replace all your selfish desires with righteous and holy desires. The replacement of our heart is what changes everything. This new heart sets us apart as His children from the rest of the world. This new and everlasting heart is what changes us completely by changing our every desire to love God and others. This new heart drives out all selfishness - because true love conquers all selfishness and evil.
Since our desires of our heart is what drives every aspect of our soul – then with this new heart from God, every action that comes forth out of us will be holy and righteous. This is where the Bible comes true when it says that anyone born of God will not sin and cannot sin. Most professing Christians indicate very strongly that living a holy and righteous life is not possible, but what I want to tell everybody from experience - that living a holy and righteous life is the easier part of being a born again believer. I agree that getting to the point of receiving this pure Godly heart might be a very tough road, but after receiving this new heart from God, your main desires are to live a holy and righteous life for God. At the same time when you receive God’s new heart – you are actually receiving the Holy Spirit to live with you. God sending His Holy Spirit to live in me and giving me a new heart has made me be reborn and alive in Him. His Spirit and mine have become one. The reason I won’t sin is because I am actually offending myself now when I sin. All sin now offends me also, because I am one in Spirit with God. What offends God also offends me.
So if living a righteous and holy life is the easier part of being a born again believer, what is the harder part? The harder part is the love I now have for all my fellow man. You see when you receive God’s heart you don’t only receive the love you need to fill you up, but also an overflowing love for others. Because my selfishness is gone, I now love others as God loves His creation. So how is loving others the harder part you might ask? It is out of this love for others and knowing that most are headed for an eternity in hell. Because God’s heart breaks for all the souls rejecting Him, I also have a breaking heart. His love for others and my love for others are the same since we have become one. This love for others actually becomes the driving force behind spreading the full Gospel. At the time I became truly born again – I had to also become a disciple. I no longer have the choice to believe in the lies that most of the world believes - because the Word of God has been written on and into my heart. Knowing the truth of God’s Word is truly a freeing experience but also a captivating hurt for the rest of humanity.
God’s servant and yours,
Mike Reid
We need to first realize that when God replaces your fleshly heart with a Godly heart, all your desires are turned upside down and inside out. The Godly heart He gives you is His heart and will replace all your selfish desires with righteous and holy desires. The replacement of our heart is what changes everything. This new heart sets us apart as His children from the rest of the world. This new and everlasting heart is what changes us completely by changing our every desire to love God and others. This new heart drives out all selfishness - because true love conquers all selfishness and evil.
Since our desires of our heart is what drives every aspect of our soul – then with this new heart from God, every action that comes forth out of us will be holy and righteous. This is where the Bible comes true when it says that anyone born of God will not sin and cannot sin. Most professing Christians indicate very strongly that living a holy and righteous life is not possible, but what I want to tell everybody from experience - that living a holy and righteous life is the easier part of being a born again believer. I agree that getting to the point of receiving this pure Godly heart might be a very tough road, but after receiving this new heart from God, your main desires are to live a holy and righteous life for God. At the same time when you receive God’s new heart – you are actually receiving the Holy Spirit to live with you. God sending His Holy Spirit to live in me and giving me a new heart has made me be reborn and alive in Him. His Spirit and mine have become one. The reason I won’t sin is because I am actually offending myself now when I sin. All sin now offends me also, because I am one in Spirit with God. What offends God also offends me.
So if living a righteous and holy life is the easier part of being a born again believer, what is the harder part? The harder part is the love I now have for all my fellow man. You see when you receive God’s heart you don’t only receive the love you need to fill you up, but also an overflowing love for others. Because my selfishness is gone, I now love others as God loves His creation. So how is loving others the harder part you might ask? It is out of this love for others and knowing that most are headed for an eternity in hell. Because God’s heart breaks for all the souls rejecting Him, I also have a breaking heart. His love for others and my love for others are the same since we have become one. This love for others actually becomes the driving force behind spreading the full Gospel. At the time I became truly born again – I had to also become a disciple. I no longer have the choice to believe in the lies that most of the world believes - because the Word of God has been written on and into my heart. Knowing the truth of God’s Word is truly a freeing experience but also a captivating hurt for the rest of humanity.
God’s servant and yours,
Mike Reid
Friday, May 2, 2008
God Will Not Be Mocked – Message 2
Gal 6:7 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
Like in all the messages in this series, I will start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. So what does God have left to work with when it comes to reaching these lost souls – only FEAR. We must all come to the knowledge that God is God and we are not.
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
I am calling to all people who are not already living by the Holy Spirit and by God’s precepts of love to come to a realization of who God really is and fear Him. For out of that fear of the true God and the realization of the damnation that He will cast you into - that you might come to Jesus Christ and be saved. But the fools that think they are wise and don’t need to be corrected by God will be cast into eternal suffering. It is not too late as long as you’re still breathing and you have come to the knowledge that you are spiritually bankrupt without God’s Holy Spirit in you. We have to realize that we don’t have anything in us that God would want in heaven, unless we have His Holy Spirit living already inside us. The only value we have, when it comes to being worthy of inheriting His eternal life with Him, is God Himself, living within us. His Spirit inside us is what is worth eternally keeping. We are not born with anything that would please God eternally. It is only His Spirit that is within us that pleases Him.
We must also come to an understanding that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not just for the asking. We can start down salvation’s path by confession and repentance, but the receiving of the Holy Spirit is reserved for the ones that have proven themselves faithful by dying to every sinful/selfish thing in them. The Holy Spirit cannot come in and fill a person until that heart and soul has previously been emptied. Before we receive the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit is the one that comes along side our heart and soul to help us be cleansed of our selfish ways, but His Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us and give us a new heart until the previous process has been completed. This gets us to the next subject of this message and that is - what is this life all about.
This life is not about God blessing us so we can live a happy life. God is not our sugar daddy that just gives us everything we want – the devil does that for us. It is not about seeing how successful we can become in the world’s eye or how much money we make or have - this is what the devil helps us believe so that we never come to the knowledge that we need God. It is not even about seeing how good of a person we can be – God is the only one that is good and if we have any true goodness, it is only a byproduct of God’s Spirit living inside us. So what is this life really all about then?
Life on this earth is all about God testing and purifying us and then glorifying Him – not glorifying ourselves. God needs to test our heart and souls before He will let us inherit His eternal life. But some of you might say - how can this be? This sounds like God looks at our works. If you are thinking this, you are half way right. God does look at works, but is not our works He looks at. It is His works He is doing through us or trying to do through us. If we have belief and faith in God, than there will be works that come out of that faith, but if we don’t have real faith, there will be no works. This is why God says:
James 2:26 - For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Every good thing we do or will do comes from God. When we first believe in God, that belief is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we put our faith in God’s Son Jesus Christ, that faith is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we repent from selfishness and turn to God, that power to repent is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we have hope for what God has promised, that hope is given to us through faith that God’s Spirit gives to us if we are open to it. When we are found faithful and worthy by all of God’s grace working in us, God’s Spirit then sends His Holy Spirit into us to live with us as one.
John 14:15-17 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (the Holy Spirit), that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:23-24 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Before being filled with His Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit works at bringing us to salvation, but it is only upon this filling of the Holy Spirit that we can say that we have become one with God.
Phil 2:1-2 - If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
John 14:20 - On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are saved onto heaven just because God’s Spirit is drawing you or working in your life. God must first work in you in order for you to be brought to salvation. When you have received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will attest to you that you are saved because you will know God intimately. You will know the nature of God and you will also notice that the Holy Spirit has taken control of your nature. You will be a slave to God’s will and you will love every minute with the Father in heaven because you will be sharing in His love, holiness, and righteousness. You will know that Christ is in you and you are in Christ and you are in the Father, because He is in you. Just like Jesus Christ is in the Father, you will know you are also in Christ which is in the Father. You will know that you have become one in Spirit with the Father and the Son. You will not hesitate to be called a brother with Jesus Christ, because Christ’s Spirit is in you and you are a son of the Father just like Christ is the Son of the Father.
I say all this to let people know that most people, including most believers are being fooled by the devil out of their salvation. God has called me to prophesy the truth to who ever will listen. Through the Holy Spirit that lives inside me and is now part of me, God has made known the very nature of Him self to me and I need to let everybody know that even though most people are being deceived – God is not being fooled. God wants to have His creation open their eyes, read His Word, and be lead by His Spirit to true salvation. Don’t go to other Christian books. None of these other Christian books have the full truth – they are partial truths. Everybody is set free by the truth, the whole truth. A partial truth is always deceiving. Read only the Bible for the full truth. Every Christian writer must have the whole Bible to back up what he/she is writing. So get to know the Word of God first before studying anyone else’s books.
God wants to let everybody in the United States know that – God has left us no excuse to not be saved, other than our choice of unwillingness. God has already given the Way, Truth, and Life to make this possible for anyone who believes. There will be a few (small percentage) that are saved. Are you willing to be one of the few?
Like in all the messages in this series, I will start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. So what does God have left to work with when it comes to reaching these lost souls – only FEAR. We must all come to the knowledge that God is God and we are not.
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
I am calling to all people who are not already living by the Holy Spirit and by God’s precepts of love to come to a realization of who God really is and fear Him. For out of that fear of the true God and the realization of the damnation that He will cast you into - that you might come to Jesus Christ and be saved. But the fools that think they are wise and don’t need to be corrected by God will be cast into eternal suffering. It is not too late as long as you’re still breathing and you have come to the knowledge that you are spiritually bankrupt without God’s Holy Spirit in you. We have to realize that we don’t have anything in us that God would want in heaven, unless we have His Holy Spirit living already inside us. The only value we have, when it comes to being worthy of inheriting His eternal life with Him, is God Himself, living within us. His Spirit inside us is what is worth eternally keeping. We are not born with anything that would please God eternally. It is only His Spirit that is within us that pleases Him.
We must also come to an understanding that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not just for the asking. We can start down salvation’s path by confession and repentance, but the receiving of the Holy Spirit is reserved for the ones that have proven themselves faithful by dying to every sinful/selfish thing in them. The Holy Spirit cannot come in and fill a person until that heart and soul has previously been emptied. Before we receive the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit is the one that comes along side our heart and soul to help us be cleansed of our selfish ways, but His Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us and give us a new heart until the previous process has been completed. This gets us to the next subject of this message and that is - what is this life all about.
This life is not about God blessing us so we can live a happy life. God is not our sugar daddy that just gives us everything we want – the devil does that for us. It is not about seeing how successful we can become in the world’s eye or how much money we make or have - this is what the devil helps us believe so that we never come to the knowledge that we need God. It is not even about seeing how good of a person we can be – God is the only one that is good and if we have any true goodness, it is only a byproduct of God’s Spirit living inside us. So what is this life really all about then?
Life on this earth is all about God testing and purifying us and then glorifying Him – not glorifying ourselves. God needs to test our heart and souls before He will let us inherit His eternal life. But some of you might say - how can this be? This sounds like God looks at our works. If you are thinking this, you are half way right. God does look at works, but is not our works He looks at. It is His works He is doing through us or trying to do through us. If we have belief and faith in God, than there will be works that come out of that faith, but if we don’t have real faith, there will be no works. This is why God says:
James 2:26 - For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Every good thing we do or will do comes from God. When we first believe in God, that belief is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we put our faith in God’s Son Jesus Christ, that faith is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we repent from selfishness and turn to God, that power to repent is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we have hope for what God has promised, that hope is given to us through faith that God’s Spirit gives to us if we are open to it. When we are found faithful and worthy by all of God’s grace working in us, God’s Spirit then sends His Holy Spirit into us to live with us as one.
John 14:15-17 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (the Holy Spirit), that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:23-24 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Before being filled with His Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit works at bringing us to salvation, but it is only upon this filling of the Holy Spirit that we can say that we have become one with God.
Phil 2:1-2 - If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
John 14:20 - On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are saved onto heaven just because God’s Spirit is drawing you or working in your life. God must first work in you in order for you to be brought to salvation. When you have received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will attest to you that you are saved because you will know God intimately. You will know the nature of God and you will also notice that the Holy Spirit has taken control of your nature. You will be a slave to God’s will and you will love every minute with the Father in heaven because you will be sharing in His love, holiness, and righteousness. You will know that Christ is in you and you are in Christ and you are in the Father, because He is in you. Just like Jesus Christ is in the Father, you will know you are also in Christ which is in the Father. You will know that you have become one in Spirit with the Father and the Son. You will not hesitate to be called a brother with Jesus Christ, because Christ’s Spirit is in you and you are a son of the Father just like Christ is the Son of the Father.
I say all this to let people know that most people, including most believers are being fooled by the devil out of their salvation. God has called me to prophesy the truth to who ever will listen. Through the Holy Spirit that lives inside me and is now part of me, God has made known the very nature of Him self to me and I need to let everybody know that even though most people are being deceived – God is not being fooled. God wants to have His creation open their eyes, read His Word, and be lead by His Spirit to true salvation. Don’t go to other Christian books. None of these other Christian books have the full truth – they are partial truths. Everybody is set free by the truth, the whole truth. A partial truth is always deceiving. Read only the Bible for the full truth. Every Christian writer must have the whole Bible to back up what he/she is writing. So get to know the Word of God first before studying anyone else’s books.
God wants to let everybody in the United States know that – God has left us no excuse to not be saved, other than our choice of unwillingness. God has already given the Way, Truth, and Life to make this possible for anyone who believes. There will be a few (small percentage) that are saved. Are you willing to be one of the few?
Your servant in Christ – Michael Reid
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Does Your Church Give A Message Of Life Or Death
Does your church preach and teach that all your sins can be conquered through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, or does your church preach and teach that we will never be free from the bondage of our sins.
The message of life - When we are truly set free from our sinful nature and are given Jesus’ nature, we will no longer have a nature to sin and won’t. This is what being born again means – we are born again into Jesus’ nature and accepted into God’s eternal righteous kingdom. We are able to enter God’s kingdom because we are not just washed on the outside with Jesus’ righteousness, but when born again we are also cleansed spiritually and given a new heart filled with only God’s love, which is God’s nature. When born again we are given a pure heart and made righteous through and through by Jesus’ Spirit which lives inside us. This is what Jesus meant by having life. Anything short of this results in eternal death and separation from God in hell because only pure hearts and pure righteousness enter His eternal kingdom. Does your church teach this message of life?
The message of death - Many are teaching that we can never be free from our bondage of sin and will always sin as long as we live on this earth. If this is the case, why did Jesus even come? If we still have to stay in bondage to our sin, then we are no better off then the Jews before Jesus came and died on the cross. If there is no power in Jesus’ Spirit that comes into us when we are born again, why would God even bother to send the Holy Spirit if it had no power to conquer all sin in our life? Since we can’t enter God’s eternal heavenly kingdom unless we are spotless of any sinful nature, what is the sanctification by the Spirit all for if we will never be made spotless with out any sin? Some people believe we are made perfect after we die; there is nothing in the Bible that supports this. We are only given new spiritual shells for our soul to be in. If our soul is still sinful, even if we get a new spiritual body our sinful soul makes the whole spiritual soul and body unclean and sinful. The only reason this theology exists is because people want to believe it. It is not biblical and has been reasoned out by man to allow people to keep on sinning and also think they are saved unto eternal life. This theology is of the devil and the results are no re-born experience for who ever believes it. Anyone not born of God will not have eternal life. Does your church teach this message of death?
Michael Reid
The message of life - When we are truly set free from our sinful nature and are given Jesus’ nature, we will no longer have a nature to sin and won’t. This is what being born again means – we are born again into Jesus’ nature and accepted into God’s eternal righteous kingdom. We are able to enter God’s kingdom because we are not just washed on the outside with Jesus’ righteousness, but when born again we are also cleansed spiritually and given a new heart filled with only God’s love, which is God’s nature. When born again we are given a pure heart and made righteous through and through by Jesus’ Spirit which lives inside us. This is what Jesus meant by having life. Anything short of this results in eternal death and separation from God in hell because only pure hearts and pure righteousness enter His eternal kingdom. Does your church teach this message of life?
The message of death - Many are teaching that we can never be free from our bondage of sin and will always sin as long as we live on this earth. If this is the case, why did Jesus even come? If we still have to stay in bondage to our sin, then we are no better off then the Jews before Jesus came and died on the cross. If there is no power in Jesus’ Spirit that comes into us when we are born again, why would God even bother to send the Holy Spirit if it had no power to conquer all sin in our life? Since we can’t enter God’s eternal heavenly kingdom unless we are spotless of any sinful nature, what is the sanctification by the Spirit all for if we will never be made spotless with out any sin? Some people believe we are made perfect after we die; there is nothing in the Bible that supports this. We are only given new spiritual shells for our soul to be in. If our soul is still sinful, even if we get a new spiritual body our sinful soul makes the whole spiritual soul and body unclean and sinful. The only reason this theology exists is because people want to believe it. It is not biblical and has been reasoned out by man to allow people to keep on sinning and also think they are saved unto eternal life. This theology is of the devil and the results are no re-born experience for who ever believes it. Anyone not born of God will not have eternal life. Does your church teach this message of death?
Michael Reid
Why Did God Have To Send His Spirit
As I start writing this message, I am really looking forward to sharing about this part of God’s plan. The Holy Spirit is the final puzzle piece needed to activate God’s plan. The Holy Spirit’s power in our lives is the only way to Jesus and the only way to stay in Jesus. Ever since the fall of man, God wanted to be reunited with His beloved creation, but He had to wait for His perfect timing to enable this reunion. With Adam and Eve, God was in close fellowship with man before the fall, but after the fall, sin entered man and sin had put a barrier between God and man. God refuses to be near sin; so in essence, the sin is the barrier, not His creation. Now with the work that Christ has done on the cross, we have the ability to become even closer to God than Adam and Eve were. We have the ability to have God live inside us and become part of us. Even Adam and Eve didn’t enjoy this close of a relationship with God. The Lord not only reunited us to Himself, but He also now becomes part of us. But again, this is our choice. God does not force this loving relationship with anyone that wants to stay separated from Him. Looking over this whole process, it makes me wonder if all this was God’s plan all along. We can only look back with amazement and see these wonderful happenings of God. People say hindsight is always 20/20. But God has the ability to see to the end of time with His whole plan worked out from the beginning of time.
We need the Holy Spirit! When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the heavy curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the outer portions of the temple was torn from top to bottom. This represented that God’s old covenant with man was done and the new covenant had started. This represented that now His Spirit was no longer restricted from His creation by any walls or boundaries. His Spirit was now open and available to all people. He would no longer have intercession be made through one human person – the Jewish high priest. He now intercedes for and communicates directly to each believer’s heart through Jesus’ Spirit which is in us and part of us. This is why we call Jesus our high priest forever. Jesus, through the Spirit now intercedes for us to the Father. Under the old covenant, the high priest was trying to commune and intercede with God through physical fleshly means. Now in the new covenant, it is not our sinful fleshly body trying to communicate with God; it is Jesus’ Spirit in us communicating with the Fathers’ Spirit.
Under the new covenant, the cross would have had no value without the sending of the Holy Spirit. The only way the cross works is with the Holy Spirit as part of the plan. We know through God’s word, that He requires full payment for sins, but He also requires for us to be made holy as He is holy. When we are made holy, we become right with Him, we are set apart for God, His work, and His Glory. It is only through God’s Holy Spirit’s power that He glorifies Himself by making us holy and right with Himself. Ever since the creation of the heavens and this world, it has been God’s Spirit that does all the work when anything good happens. When God spoke something into existence, it was through the Spirit that the work was done. Everything good in God’s eyes can only be done through His Spirit. If anything is done through the works of man or any other spirit, it is not considered good, but self serving to the one doing that work. Adam and Eve received the knowledge of good and evil. Even though they had the knowledge of good, Adam and Eve and all their descendants could not do the good without the power of God’s Holy Spirit in them. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel understood that God’s commandments were good, but they had no power to do the good. The self serving spirit inside them only had the power to do the knowledge of evil. To remedy this, God had to send His Spirit into man’s heart before any good could come out of man. So, God sent His Son to the cross to enable the Spirit to come and replace the self serving spirit in each true believer’s heart with His Spirit. God’s word commands all believers to live by the Spirit. Then shouldn’t we concentrate a lot of our energy on understanding the Spirit? Some churches might be unwilling or afraid to try to understand God’s Spirit. Since God’s ways are not man’s ways, some people might think it impossible to understand His Spirit. Other churches might be afraid of getting the understanding of the Holy Spirit wrong, and in turn, commit the one and only unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This hesitation or the limiting of the teaching of the Holy Spirit can be very dangerous to all of the flock of those churches doing this. By limiting the understanding and teaching on the Holy Spirit, this might be doing the very thing these churches are afraid of, and that is rejecting or blaspheming of the Holy Spirit.
What is blaspheming the Holy Spirit? What it mainly comes down to is the putting down of the Holy Spirit by putting yourself or anything else above the Holy Spirit. When we put ourselves above the Holy Spirit and reject His truth and leading, we are rejecting the Holy Spirit and the Spirit being able to work in us, which is really rejecting God. So, in essence, if we reject the Spirit being able to work in us, there is no way we can have eternal life with God, because if we reject being sanctified and made holy by the Spirit, we cannot enter the eternal kingdom of God. In the Bible there are many examples of blasphemy. In most or all of these examples, the person being accused of blasphemy is putting and promoting their own ways, rules, or values above the understood ways, rules, and values of God. This was looked upon as the accused putting themselves above or equal with God. Jesus was accused many times of blasphemy, and if he really wouldn’t have been God, the accusers would have been right about Jesus.
We must strive to know and understand God’s Spirit on an intimate basis. We can understand the Spirit by understanding Jesus and understanding how the Spirit worked in people throughout the New Testament that had faith and trusted in Jesus. Jesus said “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. Jesus also said that He could only do the Father’s will. This is because they are of one Spirit. So if we want to understand the Spirit and what God wants the Spirit to do through us, we must try to understand God’s character by looking and understanding the life of Jesus. The best way to do this is by reading God’s word. We must let God speak to us through His word. God’s word says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God”. When we are a believer and read God’s word, we are communicating directly with God through His Spirit inside us. The only way we can understand God’s word is through His Spirit interpreting it for us. God’s word says “Seek and you shall find”. If we are to be a true believer, this is not an option, but a commandment. We seek, by looking for God’s character and will by praying and searching His word. We find, by His Spirit giving us all the answers by the way of a changed heart and a deeper understanding of Him by the renewing of our minds. God talks to His loved ones by the gentle whispers and thoughts He implants in our minds. As I finished writing this message, I realized it was way too long of a letter. So I had to remove about half of what I wanted to tell you about this glorious gift from God – the Holy Spirit. But the one main thought I want to emphasize is: God is using Jesus’ kingdom on earth to build His eternal kingdom. The people willing to let the Holy Spirit take total control of their lives and be made holy and righteous will inherit eternal life.
With God's love and Spirit, I bring you this message. - Michael Reid
Some scripture verses concerning this message: Matt 25:31-46, John 12:25, Rom 2:7 & 13, Rom 6:22, Gal 6:8, 2 Pet 1:5-11, 1 John 2:24-25, 1 Pet 4:17-19, Gen 3:22, 1 Sam 10:5-6, Neh 9:20, Ps 104:30, Ezek 11:19-21, Ezek 36:27, Joel 2:28:30, Acts 2:14-19, Mic 3:8, Matt 1:18, Matt 4:1, Matt 12:18 & 28, Matt 12:31-32, Matt 26:62-65, Matt 27:51-53, Luke 5:21, Mark 1:8 & 12, Mark 3:28-29, Luke 1:15-17, Luke 2:27, Luke 4:1 & 14, Luke 11:13, Luke 12:12, John 3:5-8 & 34, John 4:23-24, John 6:63-65, John 14:17-21 & 25-26, John 20:22-23, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:4 & 38-39, Acts 7:51, Acts 8:29, Acts 9:17-18 & 31, Acts 10:38, Acts 13:4, Acts 16:6-8, Acts 19:1-7, Acts 20:22-23 & 28-30, Heb 4:14-15, Heb 6:20, Rom 5:5, Rom 7:6, Rom 8:4-17, Rom 8:26-27, Rom 14:17-18, Rom 15:13-16, 1 Cor 1:2, Eph 1:4, Eph 5:3, Col 1:21-23, 1 Thes 4:7-8, Gal 3:14
We need the Holy Spirit! When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the heavy curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the outer portions of the temple was torn from top to bottom. This represented that God’s old covenant with man was done and the new covenant had started. This represented that now His Spirit was no longer restricted from His creation by any walls or boundaries. His Spirit was now open and available to all people. He would no longer have intercession be made through one human person – the Jewish high priest. He now intercedes for and communicates directly to each believer’s heart through Jesus’ Spirit which is in us and part of us. This is why we call Jesus our high priest forever. Jesus, through the Spirit now intercedes for us to the Father. Under the old covenant, the high priest was trying to commune and intercede with God through physical fleshly means. Now in the new covenant, it is not our sinful fleshly body trying to communicate with God; it is Jesus’ Spirit in us communicating with the Fathers’ Spirit.
Under the new covenant, the cross would have had no value without the sending of the Holy Spirit. The only way the cross works is with the Holy Spirit as part of the plan. We know through God’s word, that He requires full payment for sins, but He also requires for us to be made holy as He is holy. When we are made holy, we become right with Him, we are set apart for God, His work, and His Glory. It is only through God’s Holy Spirit’s power that He glorifies Himself by making us holy and right with Himself. Ever since the creation of the heavens and this world, it has been God’s Spirit that does all the work when anything good happens. When God spoke something into existence, it was through the Spirit that the work was done. Everything good in God’s eyes can only be done through His Spirit. If anything is done through the works of man or any other spirit, it is not considered good, but self serving to the one doing that work. Adam and Eve received the knowledge of good and evil. Even though they had the knowledge of good, Adam and Eve and all their descendants could not do the good without the power of God’s Holy Spirit in them. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel understood that God’s commandments were good, but they had no power to do the good. The self serving spirit inside them only had the power to do the knowledge of evil. To remedy this, God had to send His Spirit into man’s heart before any good could come out of man. So, God sent His Son to the cross to enable the Spirit to come and replace the self serving spirit in each true believer’s heart with His Spirit. God’s word commands all believers to live by the Spirit. Then shouldn’t we concentrate a lot of our energy on understanding the Spirit? Some churches might be unwilling or afraid to try to understand God’s Spirit. Since God’s ways are not man’s ways, some people might think it impossible to understand His Spirit. Other churches might be afraid of getting the understanding of the Holy Spirit wrong, and in turn, commit the one and only unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This hesitation or the limiting of the teaching of the Holy Spirit can be very dangerous to all of the flock of those churches doing this. By limiting the understanding and teaching on the Holy Spirit, this might be doing the very thing these churches are afraid of, and that is rejecting or blaspheming of the Holy Spirit.
What is blaspheming the Holy Spirit? What it mainly comes down to is the putting down of the Holy Spirit by putting yourself or anything else above the Holy Spirit. When we put ourselves above the Holy Spirit and reject His truth and leading, we are rejecting the Holy Spirit and the Spirit being able to work in us, which is really rejecting God. So, in essence, if we reject the Spirit being able to work in us, there is no way we can have eternal life with God, because if we reject being sanctified and made holy by the Spirit, we cannot enter the eternal kingdom of God. In the Bible there are many examples of blasphemy. In most or all of these examples, the person being accused of blasphemy is putting and promoting their own ways, rules, or values above the understood ways, rules, and values of God. This was looked upon as the accused putting themselves above or equal with God. Jesus was accused many times of blasphemy, and if he really wouldn’t have been God, the accusers would have been right about Jesus.
We must strive to know and understand God’s Spirit on an intimate basis. We can understand the Spirit by understanding Jesus and understanding how the Spirit worked in people throughout the New Testament that had faith and trusted in Jesus. Jesus said “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. Jesus also said that He could only do the Father’s will. This is because they are of one Spirit. So if we want to understand the Spirit and what God wants the Spirit to do through us, we must try to understand God’s character by looking and understanding the life of Jesus. The best way to do this is by reading God’s word. We must let God speak to us through His word. God’s word says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God”. When we are a believer and read God’s word, we are communicating directly with God through His Spirit inside us. The only way we can understand God’s word is through His Spirit interpreting it for us. God’s word says “Seek and you shall find”. If we are to be a true believer, this is not an option, but a commandment. We seek, by looking for God’s character and will by praying and searching His word. We find, by His Spirit giving us all the answers by the way of a changed heart and a deeper understanding of Him by the renewing of our minds. God talks to His loved ones by the gentle whispers and thoughts He implants in our minds. As I finished writing this message, I realized it was way too long of a letter. So I had to remove about half of what I wanted to tell you about this glorious gift from God – the Holy Spirit. But the one main thought I want to emphasize is: God is using Jesus’ kingdom on earth to build His eternal kingdom. The people willing to let the Holy Spirit take total control of their lives and be made holy and righteous will inherit eternal life.
With God's love and Spirit, I bring you this message. - Michael Reid
Some scripture verses concerning this message: Matt 25:31-46, John 12:25, Rom 2:7 & 13, Rom 6:22, Gal 6:8, 2 Pet 1:5-11, 1 John 2:24-25, 1 Pet 4:17-19, Gen 3:22, 1 Sam 10:5-6, Neh 9:20, Ps 104:30, Ezek 11:19-21, Ezek 36:27, Joel 2:28:30, Acts 2:14-19, Mic 3:8, Matt 1:18, Matt 4:1, Matt 12:18 & 28, Matt 12:31-32, Matt 26:62-65, Matt 27:51-53, Luke 5:21, Mark 1:8 & 12, Mark 3:28-29, Luke 1:15-17, Luke 2:27, Luke 4:1 & 14, Luke 11:13, Luke 12:12, John 3:5-8 & 34, John 4:23-24, John 6:63-65, John 14:17-21 & 25-26, John 20:22-23, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:4 & 38-39, Acts 7:51, Acts 8:29, Acts 9:17-18 & 31, Acts 10:38, Acts 13:4, Acts 16:6-8, Acts 19:1-7, Acts 20:22-23 & 28-30, Heb 4:14-15, Heb 6:20, Rom 5:5, Rom 7:6, Rom 8:4-17, Rom 8:26-27, Rom 14:17-18, Rom 15:13-16, 1 Cor 1:2, Eph 1:4, Eph 5:3, Col 1:21-23, 1 Thes 4:7-8, Gal 3:14
What Does Works Have To Do With It
Up until this point, I have not mentioned much about the act of works in my writings. I didn’t want to give the subject of “works” more emphasis than it should have, since we aren’t saved by works, but by grace. In all of my previous writings I have tried to concentrate on God’s Holy Spirit working in and through us to accomplish all of God’s will that He requires and wants to perform in every individual life. In response to some of my writings, a few people have indicated that I am teaching a salvation based on works, when in reality I have continually communicated that all good works in a believer’s life is done by the Holy Spirit and only by His Spirit.
In this message I will share how we are not saved by works, but by grace alone. Although my goal of this letter is to talk on the subject of works, a person can’t teach on the subject of works fully without discussing grace also. Grace and works are tied together because good works comes out of God’s grace. So to look into this subject thoroughly, we must define what grace and works are, where grace and works originate from, and how grace and works interact with our heart, soul, and body.
Since we are saved by grace and not by works, we should first try to understand grace. Many people have a misunderstanding that God’s grace is limited only to what Jesus did for us on the cross. God’s grace is much more than what happened at the cross. God’s grace also continues its work today after the cross. Even though the grace God performed at the cross is so very important, I want to concentrate on the power of God’s grace that started at the point of Pentecost. Pentecost is when the power of God’s Spirit was opened up to anyone who would believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Anytime we talk of God’s grace, it is referencing some action that God has done or is currently doing, first of all for His glory and then secondly for our benefit. Grace is not just something God did in the past; it is also something He is continuing to do. When God’s Spirit softens a heart of stone to the point of being able to accept Jesus as Lord and savior, this is God’s grace in action. When God’s Spirit continues sanctifying a heart to bring it to a point of making it holy, this is God’s grace in action. When God’s Spirit baptizes a person’s heart and turns it into a heart totally devoted to Him and then puts that heart into service for Him, this is God’s grace in action. When God’s Spirit guides a person in a certain direction or to do something, even if that God directed action is to benefit someone else, it is God’s grace in action. Saving grace is any action on God’s part that He does in us or through us for HIS glory.
So how is God’s grace manifested in us and through us? God’s grace is manifested in us by the softening and perfecting of our heart into a new heart filled with His love. God’s grace is then manifested through us by God’s love flowing out of us in acts of love towards others. These acts of love are God’s grace being manifested in the form of good fruit and good works. These good works will then always glorify God. This love flows from the new heart He has given us. This love will always flow out of us back to God and to others, and is really God’s grace flowing through us to glorify God Himself. So any good works we perform is only by God’s grace and cannot come from our own humanness. Anytime God’s Spirit does any action through us, in us, or for us, it can only be called God’s grace.
Acts 4:33 NIV - With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
Acts 6:8 NIV - Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
Rom 12:6 NIV - We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
1 Cor 15:10 NIV - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
2 Cor 8:7 NIV - But just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
2 Cor 12:9 NIV - But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
Eph 3:7-8 NIV - I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
Eph 4:7-8 NIV - But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
James 4:6 NIV - But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
If we are a Christian living under the New Testament and not under the law, we are relying on all of God’s grace to be eternally saved. God’s grace consists of the grace given to us by the works of Jesus before the cross and on the cross and also the grace that transforms our heart.
There is a real danger with the teaching that all of God’s grace was provided for us with the work done on the cross. There are some who believe and teach that they have little or no responsibility to live holy to be eternally saved because Jesus’ grace on the cross covers all their sins so they don’t have to even try to conform to God’s will and commandments to live holy. If we believe this lie, then in essence this gives people a license to keep on sinning and still believe they are saved. This is a lie devised by the devil to keep us from the truth and a true relationship with God.
Jude 4 NIV - For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Now, that we defined grace, let’s try to define what works is. The definition of works can be said to be any action or bi-product that comes directly from the condition of the heart.
There are good and bad works, or to say it a different way, there is good and bad fruit.
Eccl 8:11 NKJV - Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.2 Tim 4:18 NKJV - And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.Col 1:10 NIV - And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work.
Some examples of what spiritual good and bad fruit can be taken right from scripture.
Gal 5:22-23 NIV - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Gal 5:19-21 NIV - The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
All good works or good fruit originate from God’s love that God’s Spirit has installed within our heart. This love can only produce the fruits of the Spirit (good works). It is impossible to produce bad fruit (bad works or sin) from God’s love. On the other hand, all bad works or bad fruit originate from a sinful nature. A sinful nature can only produce bad fruit (bad works or sin), because the sinful nature only has selfishness and pride within that nature. A heart that is filled with the sinful nature can only love itself or anything that sinful nature thinks benefits itself.
Matt 7:17-18 NIV - Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
So we must understand that good works or good fruit are only from God’s Spirit and bad fruit or bad works are only from the sinful nature. Even though our eternal salvation is not determined by our acts of sin or good works, our works do indicate what kind of heart we have.
Luke 6:45 NIV - The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart , and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
So getting back to the subject of this message, what does works have to do with our salvation? Our works have nothing to do with God’s decision to accept us as sons and daughters or whether we inherit eternal life.
So what about the scriptures that indicate we must do God’s will to enter the kingdom of God?
Matt 7:21 NIV - Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
At first glance this scripture sounds like we must do good works to enter God’s kingdom, but you have to look deeper and understand that Jesus is really talking about a heart issue and is not talking about any works we need to perform out of our own humanness. Jesus is emphasizing that we will be doing God’s will if we are true Christians. Any works that we perform as Christians will be of God’s will since these good works are from God’s grace working within us. Jesus is saying that there will be good works, but not works of our own.
If we have good works (good fruit), we cannot claim these good works as our own since all good works are of God and not by our own accord. When ever we perform good works, it is really God’s Spirit working through us to glorify Himself. Since any good works are of God’s workings and not of ours, they have no value in determining whether we inherit eternal life or not. If we have bad works (sin or bad fruit), we have someone who has already paid the price for these sins if we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But even though Jesus paid for all our sins, Jesus’ payment of sins alone doesn’t guarantee eternal life with Him. We also need God’s grace to transform our hearts from a selfish sinful nature into a selfless loving nature.
So how does God determine whether we inherit eternal life or not? It is by a thorough inspection of our heart. God can always see our entire heart and how pure it is. God’s Word indicates we need to be born again of God’s Spirit. When we are spiritually born again, we are given a new heart, totally purified and absent of any sinful nature.
Heb 10:22 NIV - let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
John 3:3 NIV - In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
Acts 1:24 NIV - Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart.
Matt 5:8 NIV - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
2 Cor 5:17 NIV - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Rom 10:10 NIV - For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
John 3:5 NIV - Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
2 Tim 2:22-23 NIV - Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
What is your treasure? If your treasure is God and serving Him wholeheartedly, then your heart will be pure and totally devoted to Him.
Matt 6:21 NIV - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Every action we do and every word we speak comes directly from the heart. Our heart represents the desires of our soul and these desires are the driving force of the soul. Out of an evil heart come all kinds of evil.
Matt 15:19 NIV - For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. But out of a pure heart comes love and righteousness.
1 Tim 1:5 NIV - The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
2 Tim 2:22 NIV - Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
For any person that will not humble themselves and repent, then it is that hardened heart that will send that person to an eternal hell. Everyone has the free choice to humble themselves before the Lord. If we choose Jesus as the Lord of our lives, then He will transform our hearts. But if our choice is to reject Him by rejecting His grace, then our hearts will not be transformed, but the Lord will have the last word. He owns every one of our souls, whether we accept this fact or not.
Rom 2:5 NIV - But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
Heb 3:12-13 NIV - See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
So does the works we do have any value? Yes, even though works doesn’t have any value in God’s decision on whether we receive eternal life or not, works does have a purpose. First of all, works has great value in that all good works point back to God and glorifies Jesus and our heavenly Father. Secondly, our works are meant to show ourselves and others whether our heart is pure or not. The works that come out of us show the condition of our heart. Our works can be used as a purity gage to show us the purification status of our heart. God intends to bring all believers to the point of having a pure heart and be blameless before Him so we can inherit eternal life. The only thing that will hold us back from receiving a purified heart is our own pride. So we must all humble ourselves before our Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Thirdly, works do make a difference in the amount of rewards or punishment we receive in our eternal destination. If we have a pure heart, then the more we give up or sacrifice for the Lord in this life, the more rewards we will have in heaven. If we don’t end up having a pure heart because we have rejected God’s grace in some way, then the works we do here will have an effect on the amount of punishment we will receive in hell. But I want to emphasize, no one has to go to hell as long as they are willing to totally humble themselves before Jesus and make Him their Lord and Savior.
May the power of God’s grace strengthen you!
Phil 4:23 NIV - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Living only by His grace - Michael Reid
In this message I will share how we are not saved by works, but by grace alone. Although my goal of this letter is to talk on the subject of works, a person can’t teach on the subject of works fully without discussing grace also. Grace and works are tied together because good works comes out of God’s grace. So to look into this subject thoroughly, we must define what grace and works are, where grace and works originate from, and how grace and works interact with our heart, soul, and body.
Since we are saved by grace and not by works, we should first try to understand grace. Many people have a misunderstanding that God’s grace is limited only to what Jesus did for us on the cross. God’s grace is much more than what happened at the cross. God’s grace also continues its work today after the cross. Even though the grace God performed at the cross is so very important, I want to concentrate on the power of God’s grace that started at the point of Pentecost. Pentecost is when the power of God’s Spirit was opened up to anyone who would believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Anytime we talk of God’s grace, it is referencing some action that God has done or is currently doing, first of all for His glory and then secondly for our benefit. Grace is not just something God did in the past; it is also something He is continuing to do. When God’s Spirit softens a heart of stone to the point of being able to accept Jesus as Lord and savior, this is God’s grace in action. When God’s Spirit continues sanctifying a heart to bring it to a point of making it holy, this is God’s grace in action. When God’s Spirit baptizes a person’s heart and turns it into a heart totally devoted to Him and then puts that heart into service for Him, this is God’s grace in action. When God’s Spirit guides a person in a certain direction or to do something, even if that God directed action is to benefit someone else, it is God’s grace in action. Saving grace is any action on God’s part that He does in us or through us for HIS glory.
So how is God’s grace manifested in us and through us? God’s grace is manifested in us by the softening and perfecting of our heart into a new heart filled with His love. God’s grace is then manifested through us by God’s love flowing out of us in acts of love towards others. These acts of love are God’s grace being manifested in the form of good fruit and good works. These good works will then always glorify God. This love flows from the new heart He has given us. This love will always flow out of us back to God and to others, and is really God’s grace flowing through us to glorify God Himself. So any good works we perform is only by God’s grace and cannot come from our own humanness. Anytime God’s Spirit does any action through us, in us, or for us, it can only be called God’s grace.
Acts 4:33 NIV - With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
Acts 6:8 NIV - Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
Rom 12:6 NIV - We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
1 Cor 15:10 NIV - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
2 Cor 8:7 NIV - But just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
2 Cor 12:9 NIV - But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
Eph 3:7-8 NIV - I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
Eph 4:7-8 NIV - But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
James 4:6 NIV - But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
If we are a Christian living under the New Testament and not under the law, we are relying on all of God’s grace to be eternally saved. God’s grace consists of the grace given to us by the works of Jesus before the cross and on the cross and also the grace that transforms our heart.
There is a real danger with the teaching that all of God’s grace was provided for us with the work done on the cross. There are some who believe and teach that they have little or no responsibility to live holy to be eternally saved because Jesus’ grace on the cross covers all their sins so they don’t have to even try to conform to God’s will and commandments to live holy. If we believe this lie, then in essence this gives people a license to keep on sinning and still believe they are saved. This is a lie devised by the devil to keep us from the truth and a true relationship with God.
Jude 4 NIV - For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Now, that we defined grace, let’s try to define what works is. The definition of works can be said to be any action or bi-product that comes directly from the condition of the heart.
There are good and bad works, or to say it a different way, there is good and bad fruit.
Eccl 8:11 NKJV - Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.2 Tim 4:18 NKJV - And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.Col 1:10 NIV - And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work.
Some examples of what spiritual good and bad fruit can be taken right from scripture.
Gal 5:22-23 NIV - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Gal 5:19-21 NIV - The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
All good works or good fruit originate from God’s love that God’s Spirit has installed within our heart. This love can only produce the fruits of the Spirit (good works). It is impossible to produce bad fruit (bad works or sin) from God’s love. On the other hand, all bad works or bad fruit originate from a sinful nature. A sinful nature can only produce bad fruit (bad works or sin), because the sinful nature only has selfishness and pride within that nature. A heart that is filled with the sinful nature can only love itself or anything that sinful nature thinks benefits itself.
Matt 7:17-18 NIV - Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
So we must understand that good works or good fruit are only from God’s Spirit and bad fruit or bad works are only from the sinful nature. Even though our eternal salvation is not determined by our acts of sin or good works, our works do indicate what kind of heart we have.
Luke 6:45 NIV - The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart , and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
So getting back to the subject of this message, what does works have to do with our salvation? Our works have nothing to do with God’s decision to accept us as sons and daughters or whether we inherit eternal life.
So what about the scriptures that indicate we must do God’s will to enter the kingdom of God?
Matt 7:21 NIV - Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
At first glance this scripture sounds like we must do good works to enter God’s kingdom, but you have to look deeper and understand that Jesus is really talking about a heart issue and is not talking about any works we need to perform out of our own humanness. Jesus is emphasizing that we will be doing God’s will if we are true Christians. Any works that we perform as Christians will be of God’s will since these good works are from God’s grace working within us. Jesus is saying that there will be good works, but not works of our own.
If we have good works (good fruit), we cannot claim these good works as our own since all good works are of God and not by our own accord. When ever we perform good works, it is really God’s Spirit working through us to glorify Himself. Since any good works are of God’s workings and not of ours, they have no value in determining whether we inherit eternal life or not. If we have bad works (sin or bad fruit), we have someone who has already paid the price for these sins if we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But even though Jesus paid for all our sins, Jesus’ payment of sins alone doesn’t guarantee eternal life with Him. We also need God’s grace to transform our hearts from a selfish sinful nature into a selfless loving nature.
So how does God determine whether we inherit eternal life or not? It is by a thorough inspection of our heart. God can always see our entire heart and how pure it is. God’s Word indicates we need to be born again of God’s Spirit. When we are spiritually born again, we are given a new heart, totally purified and absent of any sinful nature.
Heb 10:22 NIV - let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
John 3:3 NIV - In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
Acts 1:24 NIV - Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart.
Matt 5:8 NIV - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
2 Cor 5:17 NIV - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Rom 10:10 NIV - For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
John 3:5 NIV - Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
2 Tim 2:22-23 NIV - Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
What is your treasure? If your treasure is God and serving Him wholeheartedly, then your heart will be pure and totally devoted to Him.
Matt 6:21 NIV - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Every action we do and every word we speak comes directly from the heart. Our heart represents the desires of our soul and these desires are the driving force of the soul. Out of an evil heart come all kinds of evil.
Matt 15:19 NIV - For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. But out of a pure heart comes love and righteousness.
1 Tim 1:5 NIV - The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
2 Tim 2:22 NIV - Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
For any person that will not humble themselves and repent, then it is that hardened heart that will send that person to an eternal hell. Everyone has the free choice to humble themselves before the Lord. If we choose Jesus as the Lord of our lives, then He will transform our hearts. But if our choice is to reject Him by rejecting His grace, then our hearts will not be transformed, but the Lord will have the last word. He owns every one of our souls, whether we accept this fact or not.
Rom 2:5 NIV - But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
Heb 3:12-13 NIV - See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
So does the works we do have any value? Yes, even though works doesn’t have any value in God’s decision on whether we receive eternal life or not, works does have a purpose. First of all, works has great value in that all good works point back to God and glorifies Jesus and our heavenly Father. Secondly, our works are meant to show ourselves and others whether our heart is pure or not. The works that come out of us show the condition of our heart. Our works can be used as a purity gage to show us the purification status of our heart. God intends to bring all believers to the point of having a pure heart and be blameless before Him so we can inherit eternal life. The only thing that will hold us back from receiving a purified heart is our own pride. So we must all humble ourselves before our Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Thirdly, works do make a difference in the amount of rewards or punishment we receive in our eternal destination. If we have a pure heart, then the more we give up or sacrifice for the Lord in this life, the more rewards we will have in heaven. If we don’t end up having a pure heart because we have rejected God’s grace in some way, then the works we do here will have an effect on the amount of punishment we will receive in hell. But I want to emphasize, no one has to go to hell as long as they are willing to totally humble themselves before Jesus and make Him their Lord and Savior.
May the power of God’s grace strengthen you!
Phil 4:23 NIV - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Living only by His grace - Michael Reid
What Happened At The Cross
To value Christ’s crucifixion, we must understand we were all destined for a terrifying eternity in hell without it. How bad would this be? I want you to imagine being burned at the stake eternally, never being burned up, never losing consciousness, not being able to die, and the fire never being quenched. If you can imagine this – you might be able to understand what hell is like. With all the persecution that happened to Jesus, and Him being crucified on the cross instead of us, we now have a choice that we didn’t have before the Cross. Now we have a choice to have eternity in heaven with God or an eternity in hell with the devil and his demons.
God requires righteousness and full payment of sins to have eternal life with God. He requires us to be made holy as He is holy and righteous as He is righteous. This is not something we have the power to do; God must do this sanctifying work through His Holy Spirit. To make this happen, we must give up and let Jesus take our life. We have to die to ourselves. When we trust in Jesus and die to our selfish sinful nature and when we repent of our sins, He is just and will forgive us our sins.
What sins were paid for at the cross? When Christ was crucified, He paid for all of humanities sins, (past, present, and future), except one. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit was the one sin He would not pay for. I will cover this unforgivable sin topic in my next message. All sins can be broken down into three main groups, original sin, our personal past sins, and our personal present or active sins.
The fact that all sins are paid for does not mean that everybody’s sins have been forgiven. Forgiveness of our personal sins is conditional on our personal repentance. Payment and forgiveness for the original sin of Adam has been made complete through the cross. But we are all still responsible for our individual personal sins against God through our choice to repent and be obedient or not. Whenever God forgives us for any sin, the payment and judgment for that sin has already been made and paid for us through Jesus Christ at the cross. Rejoice that we don’t have to make payment for our sins. We couldn’t pay for our sins even if we wanted to – Christ had to do this for us.
Forgiveness comes through our willingness to be made righteous. Opposite to popular belief, we do not receive forgiveness just through the asking of forgiveness from God. We can ask God for forgiveness, but if the asking isn’t accompanied by repentance, the asking is not sincere. It is through our turning away from the ungodly to His godliness that we receive forgiveness from God. We must be willing to become righteous through the sanctifying work of His Spirit. We must be willing to become holy as God is holy. We must be willing to be sanctified to God. When we are sanctified, we are set apart for God. When we are set apart for God, we are set apart from the world and all its evil desires. Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve did not need to be sanctified, they were righteous already. They were right with God and needed no forgiveness. After the fall of man, humanity no longer had righteousness with God. If we are unwilling to let His Spirit totally transform our heart, soul, and mind, there will be no righteousness and there will be no place for us in heaven. Heaven (eternal life with God), is reserved only for the ones that have been made righteous.
The main reason Jesus went to the cross was to restore righteousness to whoever would be willing. Again the popular belief is that Jesus did everything necessary at the cross, so we don’t need to do anything. The truth is Jesus did everything we could not do for ourselves. The payment for our sins was an act that had to be done by God in order to restore the relationship to His creation. What was done on the cross by Jesus opened the door for the Holy Spirit to come. It is thru His Holy Spirit living in us that we are able to have this restored relationship to God. Enabling the Holy Spirit to come to us is the main reason Jesus went to the cross. God’s word says “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. “ (Gal 3:14 NIV)
With God’s Holy Spirit, we now have an awesome power within us to become righteous. We are called and are able to conquer and put to death all of our sinful nature within our heart, soul, and mind. This is why God was willing to send His only begotten son as a sacrifice, so we could once again have the choice and ability to have that true loving relationship God desires with us. Once again I have to emphasize, love has to be a choice. Just like Adam and Eve had the choice to show their love through obedience, now through the cross, all people once again have the choice to love God thru their voluntary obedience. The good news is that the Spirit does all the work to change our hearts, so we want to be obedient children, if we are willing to change.
How is our relationship different from Adam and Eve’s relationship with God? We have to remember, before the original sin, man had not fallen from God’s righteousness, but now we are born into a fallen state of righteousness. I want to help you understand this fallen state of man with a word picture. I want you to picture, in the beginning, Adam and Eve on top of a glorious mountain, having a close communion with God. When they ate of the forbidden fruit, they fell in a freefall down this big mountain. When they got to the bottom, they had no way to get back up since the walls of the mountain were too steep for any human to climb. This is the current state of where all humanity is at without the power of the cross and the Holy Spirit. This is where the power of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit comes in. We still cannot climb up this mountain by ourselves to get to a right relationship with God. We have to let the Holy Spirit enable us to climb this mountain. This is where our faith comes into the picture. Through our faith in God, we have to believe in what we cannot see. We have to believe in a spiritual climbing ladder. We need a spiritual ladder because the mountain is a spiritual mountain. God’s Spirit from within us will prompt us to put our foot upon a ladder that we cannot see. If we have enough faith, we will put our foot out into space and believe we will not fall because we have faith that there will be a spiritual ladder rung there to support us. After each step we take in faith on this spiritual ladder, that previous step enables us to take the next step higher and closer to our living Father on top of this glorious spiritual mountain. Each climbing step taken in faith will allow you to be closer to God and see His true glory and as a result, your face and life will glow with His radiance through His love flowing through you. For some, if your faith is strong enough, you can take God’s spiritual elevator up this great mountain.
I want to encourage everyone, to grab hold of the faith that is available to each and every one of us through God’s Spirit and start climbing or to continue climbing the spiritual sanctification path God has for you. I know God’s path is not easy, but with God’s help through His Spirit, the burden of following His path becomes light and even joyous.
With God's love and Spirit, I bring you this message. May God bless you! - Michael W. Reid
Some scripture verses concerning this message: Mt 13:47-50, Mt 10:38, Mt 16:24-25, Lk 9:23, Mt 25:34-46, Mt 18:21-35, Gal 3:13-14, Rom 3:21-26, Eph 5:3-7, Heb 10:14, 1Jn 2:2, Mt 26:28, Mk 1:4, Acts 2:38, Heb 9:22, Mt 6:12&14-15, Mt 11:25, Lk 6:37, Lk 17:3, Lk 13:3-5, Acts 3:19, Acts 8:20-23, Acts 26:20, Rev 2:5, Rev 2:21-22, Rev 3:3, Rev 3:19-22, Mt 12:31-32, John 3:5-6, John 4:23-24, John 14:26, Rom 7:6, Rom 8:2-17, Rom 8:26-27, Rom 14:17, Rom 15:16, 1Cor 2:9-15, Gal 5:16-25, Gal 6:8, 1Tim 4:1, 1Pet 4:17-19
God requires righteousness and full payment of sins to have eternal life with God. He requires us to be made holy as He is holy and righteous as He is righteous. This is not something we have the power to do; God must do this sanctifying work through His Holy Spirit. To make this happen, we must give up and let Jesus take our life. We have to die to ourselves. When we trust in Jesus and die to our selfish sinful nature and when we repent of our sins, He is just and will forgive us our sins.
What sins were paid for at the cross? When Christ was crucified, He paid for all of humanities sins, (past, present, and future), except one. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit was the one sin He would not pay for. I will cover this unforgivable sin topic in my next message. All sins can be broken down into three main groups, original sin, our personal past sins, and our personal present or active sins.
The fact that all sins are paid for does not mean that everybody’s sins have been forgiven. Forgiveness of our personal sins is conditional on our personal repentance. Payment and forgiveness for the original sin of Adam has been made complete through the cross. But we are all still responsible for our individual personal sins against God through our choice to repent and be obedient or not. Whenever God forgives us for any sin, the payment and judgment for that sin has already been made and paid for us through Jesus Christ at the cross. Rejoice that we don’t have to make payment for our sins. We couldn’t pay for our sins even if we wanted to – Christ had to do this for us.
Forgiveness comes through our willingness to be made righteous. Opposite to popular belief, we do not receive forgiveness just through the asking of forgiveness from God. We can ask God for forgiveness, but if the asking isn’t accompanied by repentance, the asking is not sincere. It is through our turning away from the ungodly to His godliness that we receive forgiveness from God. We must be willing to become righteous through the sanctifying work of His Spirit. We must be willing to become holy as God is holy. We must be willing to be sanctified to God. When we are sanctified, we are set apart for God. When we are set apart for God, we are set apart from the world and all its evil desires. Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve did not need to be sanctified, they were righteous already. They were right with God and needed no forgiveness. After the fall of man, humanity no longer had righteousness with God. If we are unwilling to let His Spirit totally transform our heart, soul, and mind, there will be no righteousness and there will be no place for us in heaven. Heaven (eternal life with God), is reserved only for the ones that have been made righteous.
The main reason Jesus went to the cross was to restore righteousness to whoever would be willing. Again the popular belief is that Jesus did everything necessary at the cross, so we don’t need to do anything. The truth is Jesus did everything we could not do for ourselves. The payment for our sins was an act that had to be done by God in order to restore the relationship to His creation. What was done on the cross by Jesus opened the door for the Holy Spirit to come. It is thru His Holy Spirit living in us that we are able to have this restored relationship to God. Enabling the Holy Spirit to come to us is the main reason Jesus went to the cross. God’s word says “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. “ (Gal 3:14 NIV)
With God’s Holy Spirit, we now have an awesome power within us to become righteous. We are called and are able to conquer and put to death all of our sinful nature within our heart, soul, and mind. This is why God was willing to send His only begotten son as a sacrifice, so we could once again have the choice and ability to have that true loving relationship God desires with us. Once again I have to emphasize, love has to be a choice. Just like Adam and Eve had the choice to show their love through obedience, now through the cross, all people once again have the choice to love God thru their voluntary obedience. The good news is that the Spirit does all the work to change our hearts, so we want to be obedient children, if we are willing to change.
How is our relationship different from Adam and Eve’s relationship with God? We have to remember, before the original sin, man had not fallen from God’s righteousness, but now we are born into a fallen state of righteousness. I want to help you understand this fallen state of man with a word picture. I want you to picture, in the beginning, Adam and Eve on top of a glorious mountain, having a close communion with God. When they ate of the forbidden fruit, they fell in a freefall down this big mountain. When they got to the bottom, they had no way to get back up since the walls of the mountain were too steep for any human to climb. This is the current state of where all humanity is at without the power of the cross and the Holy Spirit. This is where the power of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit comes in. We still cannot climb up this mountain by ourselves to get to a right relationship with God. We have to let the Holy Spirit enable us to climb this mountain. This is where our faith comes into the picture. Through our faith in God, we have to believe in what we cannot see. We have to believe in a spiritual climbing ladder. We need a spiritual ladder because the mountain is a spiritual mountain. God’s Spirit from within us will prompt us to put our foot upon a ladder that we cannot see. If we have enough faith, we will put our foot out into space and believe we will not fall because we have faith that there will be a spiritual ladder rung there to support us. After each step we take in faith on this spiritual ladder, that previous step enables us to take the next step higher and closer to our living Father on top of this glorious spiritual mountain. Each climbing step taken in faith will allow you to be closer to God and see His true glory and as a result, your face and life will glow with His radiance through His love flowing through you. For some, if your faith is strong enough, you can take God’s spiritual elevator up this great mountain.
I want to encourage everyone, to grab hold of the faith that is available to each and every one of us through God’s Spirit and start climbing or to continue climbing the spiritual sanctification path God has for you. I know God’s path is not easy, but with God’s help through His Spirit, the burden of following His path becomes light and even joyous.
With God's love and Spirit, I bring you this message. May God bless you! - Michael W. Reid
Some scripture verses concerning this message: Mt 13:47-50, Mt 10:38, Mt 16:24-25, Lk 9:23, Mt 25:34-46, Mt 18:21-35, Gal 3:13-14, Rom 3:21-26, Eph 5:3-7, Heb 10:14, 1Jn 2:2, Mt 26:28, Mk 1:4, Acts 2:38, Heb 9:22, Mt 6:12&14-15, Mt 11:25, Lk 6:37, Lk 17:3, Lk 13:3-5, Acts 3:19, Acts 8:20-23, Acts 26:20, Rev 2:5, Rev 2:21-22, Rev 3:3, Rev 3:19-22, Mt 12:31-32, John 3:5-6, John 4:23-24, John 14:26, Rom 7:6, Rom 8:2-17, Rom 8:26-27, Rom 14:17, Rom 15:16, 1Cor 2:9-15, Gal 5:16-25, Gal 6:8, 1Tim 4:1, 1Pet 4:17-19
Some of the areas where the US churches are failing
We have lightened up, or sugar coated the gospel to say, all you need to have eternal life is to accept Jesus as your personal savior. We need to emphasize that we need to make Him our Lord and Savior. The Lord part comes before and is more important then the savior part. We can’t have the salvation part without making Him our Lord first. When we make Jesus our Lord, we have to live a life of a humble servant, ready to do what ever glorifies our master. This includes dying to all our selfish desires and living only to please our God. Now I understand that we will fail at this, but this is a heart issue. Our heart must be totally submissive to His Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit will enable us to be submissive with increasing measure as long as we have a repenting heart. It is really God glorifying Himself through us.
We have to emphasize more on the Holy Spirits power. We are powerless to do any good without relying on the Spirit to do all of the good works through us. Many people’s spiritual walk gets stuck in a quagmire because they haven’t been taught about the awesome power within every born again believer – the Holy Spirit. There are also a lot of people restricting or rejecting the Spirit, because they really don’t want to give up certain parts of their life. These people need help from the Word, the Spirit, and church leaders to help bring this unwillingness to die to the flesh out in the open. The Bible commands that we must live by the Spirit - God’s Spirit within us. If we rely on ourselves we will fail, if we rely on His Spirit we will triumph over all.
The church needs to help point out all the devils deceptions that are working to keep us away from God. One of these big deceptions is money; the Word says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Many people in most churches are caught up in this trap. The fact is that many churches are teaching their flock that this is one of the major ways God blesses you. Having enough money to sustain you and your family is a blessing, having more than enough money can easily turn into a trap of the devil, where we rely on ourselves and our money instead of God.
There is another deception working behind the scenes. It is that we have to wait for Christ’s kingdom to come before we can obtain the perfection of the heart that God is looking for each believer to have. We have to fight off this belief. Jesus’ kingdom is here now and has been ever since Christ returned to His apostles after His resurrection. We have the full cleansing and sanctifying power of God’s Spirit now. We do not have to wait!
Another lie some churches are teaching is – Jesus did it all at the cross. Jesus only did what God had to and only God could do. He would not do what we had to do. What we have to do is, make a choice to love Him voluntarily and accept Jesus whole heartedly as Lord. To accept Jesus as Lord might sound easy, but for humanity it is the hardest thing to do, because of our pride. We want to stay lord of our own life.A deception of what it takes to be a true believer ( Christian ) has been watered down also, As I mentioned above, we must accept Jesus as our Lord. When we sincerely accept Jesus as Lord, we whole heartedly have to give ourselves as a living sacrifice. God demands this to be a whole heart decision, not a partial heart decision. If we are truly trusting in Jesus completely, then in time the Spirit will bring to realization through sanctification what has all ready happened within our heart. But if we keep on restricting the Spirit to the point of rejecting His Spirit’s leading in any aspects of our life, that previous decision was not whole hearted. If this falling away of the faith happens, they were never a true believer or Christian, so they never had the promise of eternal salvation. A person never can lose eternal salvation if the person never had it in the first place.
Even though righteousness from works is not taught from the pulpit, many people try to act like Christians instead of actually being Christians or relying on the Spirit in them. They hear from the pulpit and teachers that if we are Christians we should have certain qualities of love and act a certain way, which is correct, but then they try to do these works on their own. We have to help people understand good works is just a byproduct of God’s Spirit being inside a person and working through a person. Many churched people are trying to do on their own what the Spirit should be doing. I can tell you from experience, if a person has the Spirit in them and they are letting God’s Spirit work in them, they will automatically be doing works by loving people through the gifts given to them. If the Spirit is the one doing the work, that work being done will be a joy to do, it will not be any hardship to the person. When the Spirit has taken over a person’s heart, that person’s desires are all about what is best for the other person. We no longer are interested on what we can get out of a situation or person; we have all we need in the Spirit. In fact we end up having so much love from the Spirit; it wells up in us and overflows to others. If a person is doing good works, but is not enjoying doing it, it is important for that person to go to God and look at why they don’t feel like doing that good work. It might not be the Spirit doing it. They might need more of a renewing heart instead of trying to keep doing the work.
Hell must be emphasized more than it is. Hell cannot be just explained as being separated from God. As good as Heaven is, the opposite is true for hell. Hell is so bad our human minds cannot fathom it. There needs to be a healthy fear of what awaits us if we don’t have Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We also must keep explaining how bad hell is to motivate Christians to go out and witness to unbelievers. If we have the heart of God and truly understand hell and that all unbelievers are going there, we will be motivated to bring people to Christ out of love for them. This is the same love Christ showed and we are called to show.
The Bible indicates very strongly that if we have a repentive heart for our sin(s) we are forgiven for our personal sins. But if we don’t have a repentive heart of our sin(s), we are not forgiven for our personal sins. Forgiveness of personal sins is not just for the asking, there must be a repenting heart to go along with the asking.
Praying for our churches,
Michael Reid
We have to emphasize more on the Holy Spirits power. We are powerless to do any good without relying on the Spirit to do all of the good works through us. Many people’s spiritual walk gets stuck in a quagmire because they haven’t been taught about the awesome power within every born again believer – the Holy Spirit. There are also a lot of people restricting or rejecting the Spirit, because they really don’t want to give up certain parts of their life. These people need help from the Word, the Spirit, and church leaders to help bring this unwillingness to die to the flesh out in the open. The Bible commands that we must live by the Spirit - God’s Spirit within us. If we rely on ourselves we will fail, if we rely on His Spirit we will triumph over all.
The church needs to help point out all the devils deceptions that are working to keep us away from God. One of these big deceptions is money; the Word says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Many people in most churches are caught up in this trap. The fact is that many churches are teaching their flock that this is one of the major ways God blesses you. Having enough money to sustain you and your family is a blessing, having more than enough money can easily turn into a trap of the devil, where we rely on ourselves and our money instead of God.
There is another deception working behind the scenes. It is that we have to wait for Christ’s kingdom to come before we can obtain the perfection of the heart that God is looking for each believer to have. We have to fight off this belief. Jesus’ kingdom is here now and has been ever since Christ returned to His apostles after His resurrection. We have the full cleansing and sanctifying power of God’s Spirit now. We do not have to wait!
Another lie some churches are teaching is – Jesus did it all at the cross. Jesus only did what God had to and only God could do. He would not do what we had to do. What we have to do is, make a choice to love Him voluntarily and accept Jesus whole heartedly as Lord. To accept Jesus as Lord might sound easy, but for humanity it is the hardest thing to do, because of our pride. We want to stay lord of our own life.A deception of what it takes to be a true believer ( Christian ) has been watered down also, As I mentioned above, we must accept Jesus as our Lord. When we sincerely accept Jesus as Lord, we whole heartedly have to give ourselves as a living sacrifice. God demands this to be a whole heart decision, not a partial heart decision. If we are truly trusting in Jesus completely, then in time the Spirit will bring to realization through sanctification what has all ready happened within our heart. But if we keep on restricting the Spirit to the point of rejecting His Spirit’s leading in any aspects of our life, that previous decision was not whole hearted. If this falling away of the faith happens, they were never a true believer or Christian, so they never had the promise of eternal salvation. A person never can lose eternal salvation if the person never had it in the first place.
Even though righteousness from works is not taught from the pulpit, many people try to act like Christians instead of actually being Christians or relying on the Spirit in them. They hear from the pulpit and teachers that if we are Christians we should have certain qualities of love and act a certain way, which is correct, but then they try to do these works on their own. We have to help people understand good works is just a byproduct of God’s Spirit being inside a person and working through a person. Many churched people are trying to do on their own what the Spirit should be doing. I can tell you from experience, if a person has the Spirit in them and they are letting God’s Spirit work in them, they will automatically be doing works by loving people through the gifts given to them. If the Spirit is the one doing the work, that work being done will be a joy to do, it will not be any hardship to the person. When the Spirit has taken over a person’s heart, that person’s desires are all about what is best for the other person. We no longer are interested on what we can get out of a situation or person; we have all we need in the Spirit. In fact we end up having so much love from the Spirit; it wells up in us and overflows to others. If a person is doing good works, but is not enjoying doing it, it is important for that person to go to God and look at why they don’t feel like doing that good work. It might not be the Spirit doing it. They might need more of a renewing heart instead of trying to keep doing the work.
Hell must be emphasized more than it is. Hell cannot be just explained as being separated from God. As good as Heaven is, the opposite is true for hell. Hell is so bad our human minds cannot fathom it. There needs to be a healthy fear of what awaits us if we don’t have Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We also must keep explaining how bad hell is to motivate Christians to go out and witness to unbelievers. If we have the heart of God and truly understand hell and that all unbelievers are going there, we will be motivated to bring people to Christ out of love for them. This is the same love Christ showed and we are called to show.
The Bible indicates very strongly that if we have a repentive heart for our sin(s) we are forgiven for our personal sins. But if we don’t have a repentive heart of our sin(s), we are not forgiven for our personal sins. Forgiveness of personal sins is not just for the asking, there must be a repenting heart to go along with the asking.
Praying for our churches,
Michael Reid
Romans 7 – So misunderstood
I was not planning on writing a message on the interpretation of Romans 7 until I realized that the misunderstanding of this passage was deceiving many away from God's truth. This scripture is so misunderstood by most churches.
There is an epidemic of misunderstanding of what a true Christian is and everybody with this misunderstanding seems to keep pointing to Romans 7 for their justification for this misunderstanding.
The misunderstanding originates from Romans 7:14-20.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Most have misunderstood this verse because Apostle Paul seems to be writing this about himself. Since Paul is a born again Christian at the time he wrote this, people assume this is what a Christian is like.
If people fully understand the rest of the New Testament, they would quickly see these verses could not even be remotely considered to be representing what a true Christian is. To say a born again Christian is still controlled by his sinful nature is an oxy-moron. The phrases “born again Christian” and “controlled by sinful nature” cannot exist in the same person. Either you are still controlled in part or in full by your sinful nature or you are a born again Christian where the sinful nature has no control over you.
To start understanding this scripture we must understand whether this person Paul is talking about is born again or not. One of the key verses that indicates this is not a Christian is in Romans 7:14.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin..
When we are a Christian we are filled with God’s Spirit which has transformed our heart into a heart of love. Romans 7:14-20 is indicating a person’s life without the Holy Spirit in it. Without the Spirit in us, we have no hope of conquering sin on our own and we are still a slave to sin.
Apostle Paul is actually talking theoretically about any person, including himself, and how we are powerless with just our own human capabilities to get rid of sin. We learned throughout the Old Testament that we cannot obey God’s commandments on our own without the Holy Spirit’s power in us. This is what Paul is stressing in his letter. He is helping them understand what all of Israel already new before Christ came to die on the cross for us. The Jews knew the law was good but they were not capable of fulfilling the law.
Ever since the time when Adam ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, we have had the knowledge of good and evil in us. Remember it was the knowledge of good and evil, not just evil. The big problem ever since the original sin is not that we can’t know what is good, it is that we could not do any of the good we had knowledge of without the power of God in us. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 7:15-16.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
Paul goes on to say that it is the sin, or evil, living in this person doing the sin since this person is still under the law. It is evident that this person does not have the Holy Spirit living in him. Paul concludes in Romans 7:17-18 that the only thing living in this person is the sinful nature.
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
Now to keep this passage in context, let’s go back to the passages before Romans 7:14-20 to Romans 7:1.
Do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to men who know the law — that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
We see here that Paul is addressing people that know the Jewish law and emphasize that all men are under the control of the law until they die. Another words, we have to die to be free from the law. To illustrate his point Paul uses marriage as an example in Romans 7:2-3.
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
So what Paul is emphasizing here is that we have to die to the law before we can be bound to another, which is Jesus Christ. We die to the law by believing in the perfect body of Jesus Christ dieing on the cross for us. In Romans 7:4-6 Paul explains this for us.
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
If we believe Jesus Christ died for us, then we believe through the cross we also died and are no longer bound to the law and are now under God’s grace and no longer under the control of the sinful nature. We are given a new heart from God which does not have any selfishness or sin in it, but only love for God and love for all of God’s creation. True love cannot contain any selfishness or sin of any kind. Because this new heart that is from God has only love, it cannot willfully sin. Through this new heart we now have control of the body instead of the sinful nature in the body controlling us. Only God can do this and everything is possible with God.
Matthew 19:26 - Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Today Romans 7 is falsely preached from many pulpits with the idea that Christians can’t keep from sinning. This has been another deception from the devil that a lot of people have believed because it supports people believing they are born again when they truly haven’t had a total heart transformation yet. Don’t let yourself be fooled by this lie of the devil. The truth is, when your born again you can, through God’s Spirit’s power in you, conquer all the sins that His word or His Spirit convicts you of.
Remember God’s grace is His Spirit working in and through you – Michael Reid
There is an epidemic of misunderstanding of what a true Christian is and everybody with this misunderstanding seems to keep pointing to Romans 7 for their justification for this misunderstanding.
The misunderstanding originates from Romans 7:14-20.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Most have misunderstood this verse because Apostle Paul seems to be writing this about himself. Since Paul is a born again Christian at the time he wrote this, people assume this is what a Christian is like.
If people fully understand the rest of the New Testament, they would quickly see these verses could not even be remotely considered to be representing what a true Christian is. To say a born again Christian is still controlled by his sinful nature is an oxy-moron. The phrases “born again Christian” and “controlled by sinful nature” cannot exist in the same person. Either you are still controlled in part or in full by your sinful nature or you are a born again Christian where the sinful nature has no control over you.
To start understanding this scripture we must understand whether this person Paul is talking about is born again or not. One of the key verses that indicates this is not a Christian is in Romans 7:14.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin..
When we are a Christian we are filled with God’s Spirit which has transformed our heart into a heart of love. Romans 7:14-20 is indicating a person’s life without the Holy Spirit in it. Without the Spirit in us, we have no hope of conquering sin on our own and we are still a slave to sin.
Apostle Paul is actually talking theoretically about any person, including himself, and how we are powerless with just our own human capabilities to get rid of sin. We learned throughout the Old Testament that we cannot obey God’s commandments on our own without the Holy Spirit’s power in us. This is what Paul is stressing in his letter. He is helping them understand what all of Israel already new before Christ came to die on the cross for us. The Jews knew the law was good but they were not capable of fulfilling the law.
Ever since the time when Adam ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, we have had the knowledge of good and evil in us. Remember it was the knowledge of good and evil, not just evil. The big problem ever since the original sin is not that we can’t know what is good, it is that we could not do any of the good we had knowledge of without the power of God in us. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 7:15-16.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
Paul goes on to say that it is the sin, or evil, living in this person doing the sin since this person is still under the law. It is evident that this person does not have the Holy Spirit living in him. Paul concludes in Romans 7:17-18 that the only thing living in this person is the sinful nature.
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
Now to keep this passage in context, let’s go back to the passages before Romans 7:14-20 to Romans 7:1.
Do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to men who know the law — that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
We see here that Paul is addressing people that know the Jewish law and emphasize that all men are under the control of the law until they die. Another words, we have to die to be free from the law. To illustrate his point Paul uses marriage as an example in Romans 7:2-3.
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
So what Paul is emphasizing here is that we have to die to the law before we can be bound to another, which is Jesus Christ. We die to the law by believing in the perfect body of Jesus Christ dieing on the cross for us. In Romans 7:4-6 Paul explains this for us.
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
If we believe Jesus Christ died for us, then we believe through the cross we also died and are no longer bound to the law and are now under God’s grace and no longer under the control of the sinful nature. We are given a new heart from God which does not have any selfishness or sin in it, but only love for God and love for all of God’s creation. True love cannot contain any selfishness or sin of any kind. Because this new heart that is from God has only love, it cannot willfully sin. Through this new heart we now have control of the body instead of the sinful nature in the body controlling us. Only God can do this and everything is possible with God.
Matthew 19:26 - Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Today Romans 7 is falsely preached from many pulpits with the idea that Christians can’t keep from sinning. This has been another deception from the devil that a lot of people have believed because it supports people believing they are born again when they truly haven’t had a total heart transformation yet. Don’t let yourself be fooled by this lie of the devil. The truth is, when your born again you can, through God’s Spirit’s power in you, conquer all the sins that His word or His Spirit convicts you of.
Remember God’s grace is His Spirit working in and through you – Michael Reid
Our goal is to be Christ like
The Bible says we need to become Christ like.
Rom 8:29 NIV - For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.
How can we become Christ like in every thing we do if we are all sinners. I will try to show you by God’s Word how this is possible through God’s grace filling up and working in your life. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
We can never be Christ because there is only one Christ. We will never be God, with all the infinite knowledge, wisdom, majestic power that God possesses, but from His Spirit we receive everything we need to live a perfected righteous life before God. We don’t need to be Christ to live a perfect Christian life. God sends just the right amount of grace we need to live the life God expects us to live. (This part of grace is the Holy Spirit working in and through us)
When someone has come to the point of being Christ like, it’s because God has filled that person with an extra filling of the His Spirit. It is this extra filling of the Sprit that enables them to ward off any temptation of sinning. This enables the Christian to live a sinless life before God and his fellow man as long as that person stays living by the Sprit. This perfection of our heart has been called “Entire Sanctification”, “Christian Perfection”, and “Victorious Living” depending on the denominational belief.
But, how can we still call ourselves sinners and live a life without sin? It’s because we realize we still live in this fleshly body which will continue to tempt us with selfish and prideful thoughts, but with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in us we can stop any temptation before it manifests into a sin. You can think of this empowerment as the armor of God.
Eph 6:11 NIV - Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Living our life without sinning is not of man’s nature but only of God’s nature in us. Think about this hypothetical example: lets take a man living a sinless life by the power of the Spirit and then if God would decide to take His Spirit away from this righteous man, temptation would easily overtake him and that man would be totally lost and a slave to sin as much as any unbeliever. This is why we have to live by the Spirit and only by the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 NIV - The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
Our fleshly physical body will always be corrupted with the nature of sin and this corrupted body must end in physical death, but the body is only a temporary housing for our spiritual soul. If our spirit and soul has been totally cleansed and sanctified by God’s Spirit, we will have the power to take control over the body even though the body is spiritually dead in Christ.
Rom 8:10 NIV - But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
What enables a person to live a life without sin is a full filling of His Spirit and living continually by the Spirit to persevere to the end. To be truly born again and receive this extra filling of the Holy Spirit, a person must become a true Christian by dedicating all of themselves to God. This extra filling of the Spirit is not the Spirit that comes upon an individual when they first believe (justification); where God’s seed is planted and with the Spirit’s help it grows to a mature plant. This extra filling of the Spirit happens after a person has let God’s Spirit sanctify them into a mature holy plant ready to produce Godly fruit. (I will talk more about this in another message, which is “Becoming a true Christian is a process”.) The Bible says that a person that is still struggling with sin has not yet come to the point of being a total living sacrifice for God. Where that person is not yet willing to spill his/her blood for His Glory.
Heb 12:4-5 NIV - In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV - Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.
Most people have been taught and believe that living a life without sinning is not a possibility in this life. I want to crush that deception and have people’s faith become full so everyone will not be hindered anymore by this lie of the devil. If anyone continues to believe this lie, they might not ever mature to the point of true and total faith in God. Faith in God’s truth is what unlocks the Spirit’s power. When a person does not have enough faith to believe in this “Entire Sanctification” concept, they are really saying they don’t believe in God’s Word or the power of God. The Bible says when a person is truly born again, that person will not sin.
1 John 5:4 NIV - For everyone born of God overcomes the world.
1 John 5:18 NKJV - We know that whoever is born of God does not sin.
1 John 3:9 NKJV - Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
When we are truly born again believers, we will not sin because we no longer will have the desire to sin. The Holy Spirit changes our desires of our heart so our desires are no longer selfish and of worldly intensions, but only desires to love God and others exist in our heart. Selfishness is gone. When the only thing that exists in our heart is God’s love, there is no room left for wanting anything sinful. Because of this total change of desires from evil to good, we are then no longer controlled or slaves to sin, but have become slaves to loving God and others.
Rom 8:9 NIV - You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Rom 6:18 NIV - You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Because we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness, we now have no choice but to live righteous lives. Just as before we were born again, we were slaves to sin, now after being born again we can’t help our selves but to do God’s good work he calls us to.
Rom 6:14 NIV - For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Luke 6:43 NIV - No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
When we are true Christians or born again, we are no longer bound to the old self/sinful nature. We are set free from the power of sin. This is the great news of the gospel. We are finally able to be free from the bondage of sin. By our willingness to be totally devoted in obedience to God by the power of His Spirit, He is then able to nail our old sinful nature to the cross.
John 8:36 NIV - So if the Son sets you free , you will be free indeed.
Rom 6:6-7 NIV - For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Rom 6:11 NIV - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
There are many, many more scriptures encouraging us that living a perfected life is possible in Christ. This life we are currently living on earth is the place God has setup for us to make the choice to follow Him and be sanctified to the point of Christian perfection that He requires to be worthy of His eternal kingdom.
Matt 10:38 NIV - anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
1 Thess 2:11-12 NIV - For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
May God’s grace be with you – Michael Reid
Rom 8:29 NIV - For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.
How can we become Christ like in every thing we do if we are all sinners. I will try to show you by God’s Word how this is possible through God’s grace filling up and working in your life. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
We can never be Christ because there is only one Christ. We will never be God, with all the infinite knowledge, wisdom, majestic power that God possesses, but from His Spirit we receive everything we need to live a perfected righteous life before God. We don’t need to be Christ to live a perfect Christian life. God sends just the right amount of grace we need to live the life God expects us to live. (This part of grace is the Holy Spirit working in and through us)
When someone has come to the point of being Christ like, it’s because God has filled that person with an extra filling of the His Spirit. It is this extra filling of the Sprit that enables them to ward off any temptation of sinning. This enables the Christian to live a sinless life before God and his fellow man as long as that person stays living by the Sprit. This perfection of our heart has been called “Entire Sanctification”, “Christian Perfection”, and “Victorious Living” depending on the denominational belief.
But, how can we still call ourselves sinners and live a life without sin? It’s because we realize we still live in this fleshly body which will continue to tempt us with selfish and prideful thoughts, but with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in us we can stop any temptation before it manifests into a sin. You can think of this empowerment as the armor of God.
Eph 6:11 NIV - Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Living our life without sinning is not of man’s nature but only of God’s nature in us. Think about this hypothetical example: lets take a man living a sinless life by the power of the Spirit and then if God would decide to take His Spirit away from this righteous man, temptation would easily overtake him and that man would be totally lost and a slave to sin as much as any unbeliever. This is why we have to live by the Spirit and only by the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 NIV - The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
Our fleshly physical body will always be corrupted with the nature of sin and this corrupted body must end in physical death, but the body is only a temporary housing for our spiritual soul. If our spirit and soul has been totally cleansed and sanctified by God’s Spirit, we will have the power to take control over the body even though the body is spiritually dead in Christ.
Rom 8:10 NIV - But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
What enables a person to live a life without sin is a full filling of His Spirit and living continually by the Spirit to persevere to the end. To be truly born again and receive this extra filling of the Holy Spirit, a person must become a true Christian by dedicating all of themselves to God. This extra filling of the Spirit is not the Spirit that comes upon an individual when they first believe (justification); where God’s seed is planted and with the Spirit’s help it grows to a mature plant. This extra filling of the Spirit happens after a person has let God’s Spirit sanctify them into a mature holy plant ready to produce Godly fruit. (I will talk more about this in another message, which is “Becoming a true Christian is a process”.) The Bible says that a person that is still struggling with sin has not yet come to the point of being a total living sacrifice for God. Where that person is not yet willing to spill his/her blood for His Glory.
Heb 12:4-5 NIV - In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV - Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.
Most people have been taught and believe that living a life without sinning is not a possibility in this life. I want to crush that deception and have people’s faith become full so everyone will not be hindered anymore by this lie of the devil. If anyone continues to believe this lie, they might not ever mature to the point of true and total faith in God. Faith in God’s truth is what unlocks the Spirit’s power. When a person does not have enough faith to believe in this “Entire Sanctification” concept, they are really saying they don’t believe in God’s Word or the power of God. The Bible says when a person is truly born again, that person will not sin.
1 John 5:4 NIV - For everyone born of God overcomes the world.
1 John 5:18 NKJV - We know that whoever is born of God does not sin.
1 John 3:9 NKJV - Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
When we are truly born again believers, we will not sin because we no longer will have the desire to sin. The Holy Spirit changes our desires of our heart so our desires are no longer selfish and of worldly intensions, but only desires to love God and others exist in our heart. Selfishness is gone. When the only thing that exists in our heart is God’s love, there is no room left for wanting anything sinful. Because of this total change of desires from evil to good, we are then no longer controlled or slaves to sin, but have become slaves to loving God and others.
Rom 8:9 NIV - You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Rom 6:18 NIV - You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Because we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness, we now have no choice but to live righteous lives. Just as before we were born again, we were slaves to sin, now after being born again we can’t help our selves but to do God’s good work he calls us to.
Rom 6:14 NIV - For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Luke 6:43 NIV - No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
When we are true Christians or born again, we are no longer bound to the old self/sinful nature. We are set free from the power of sin. This is the great news of the gospel. We are finally able to be free from the bondage of sin. By our willingness to be totally devoted in obedience to God by the power of His Spirit, He is then able to nail our old sinful nature to the cross.
John 8:36 NIV - So if the Son sets you free , you will be free indeed.
Rom 6:6-7 NIV - For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Rom 6:11 NIV - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
There are many, many more scriptures encouraging us that living a perfected life is possible in Christ. This life we are currently living on earth is the place God has setup for us to make the choice to follow Him and be sanctified to the point of Christian perfection that He requires to be worthy of His eternal kingdom.
Matt 10:38 NIV - anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
1 Thess 2:11-12 NIV - For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
May God’s grace be with you – Michael Reid
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