The Apostle Paul exhorted the church at Corinth with this greeting, "to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:" (1Cor1:2). And yet when we read the rest of his letter, we find that there were loads of issues in that church. They were arguing on who was the better leader - Paul or Apollos; some were bringing lawsuits against other brothers in the Lord and there was even a case of a brother sleeping with his father's wife (stepmother).
Now, in such a situation, I would have begun the letter by coming straight to the point and reprimanding the lot; but now Paul. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he exhorted them to their rightful position as called to be saints and sanctified by the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we know our rightful place, the squabbling and bitter rivalry will end. When we truly realized that our sanctification had nothing to do with what we have done or who we are on our own merits but that it had everything to do with the shed Blood of our Lord on the Cross, we will want to go out there and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, set our lives right.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-7 how, knowing who we really are - redeemed and washed in the precious Blood of our Savior - we would not want to go out there and sin so that grace may abound more. No, I am not saying that we will not sin but I am saying that even when we have sinned, we know we have been forgiven and therefore not have to feel condemned. The devil simply loves to leave us wallowing in our sins and the longer we linger there the less likely we would turn back to our Lord and be reconciled to Him.
So the solution for us in our daily lives is to daily recognize that we are the sanctified of the Lord and face the challenges of the day with thoughts of His redemptive power in our lives and then even when we have failed, to continue to hold fast to the fact of our sainthood in Christ.
someone wrote this:
ReplyDeletei am not sure whether others can take your penalty for the sins that you have committed even that someone is the son of god. i don't even know why such a judgment can be permitted considering, no court on earth will ever allow it.
but such is the gospel we never questioned.
but does it contravene jesus mission if the atonement story was different from what was conceived centuries ago by scholars?
not at all. we need to understand the parables of jesus in much bigger perspective than your petty sins!
(the reply to above was that god's judiciary system is unlike man)
followed by the reply below:
Mat 5:17 Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to FULFILL.
Lev 24:17 And he that smiteth any man mortally shall surely be put to death.
Lev 24:18 And he that smiteth a beast mortally shall make it good, life for life.
Lev 24:19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him:
Lev 24:20 breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be rendered unto him.
Lev 24:21 And he that killeth a beast shall make it good: and he that killeth a man shall be put to death.
Lev 24:22 Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the sojourner, as for the home-born: for I am Jehovah your God.
If you break the law, you pay the price. If you commit the crime, you serve the time. It is fair.
All mortal laws can be traced to the laws of moses. God CANNOT/CANNOT/CANNOT contradicts Himself and will have someone serve your crime or lawlessness other than yourself.
Having said that, the error is in the interpretation of the cross of Christ and the true gospel does not in anyway diminish its efficacy. The cross is very relevant today!
If you get the cross wrong, everything goes wrong.
You need to be born again to SEE the Kingdom of God.
Lastly, in the words of Jesus to blind leaders: Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him TWOFOLD more a son of hell than yourselves.
my take is that the church is full of double talk to the point that it becomes deaf and blind - hypocritical and full of itching ears
I like the doctrine of grace. Basically, when a christian rapes another christian daughter, he shouldn't feel guilt nor condemnation because, jesus has died and paid the penalty for his lawlessness----past, present and future sins. Hallelujah!Praise the Lord!
ReplyDeleteThe christian whose daughter has been rape by another christian then proceed to report the matter to the police. The police arrests the rapist. The sinner turns up in court and the judge sentenced him 10 years in jail and caning. As he walked the judicial hall of shame, he was reminded repeatedly by the holy spirit in him not to feel guilt nor condemnation because, Christ has borne all his sins..past, present and future. His mind is in absolute focus on Jesus blood despite strangers hurling verbal abuses at him. Christ is his righteousness. God is grace and grace is God. He is blessed forever because of the finish work of Christ. Though the court of justice may CONDEMN and imprison, my abba father does not condemn me and since no one is greater, wiser, more perfect than God, they all must be wrong.
Hallelujah! He is like the proverbial monkey who see no wrong, hear no wrong and speak no wrong because ...there is now no condemnation in christ!!
The story ends with...released from prison, he being without guilt and condemnation and in love with Christ, repeats his lawlesssness.
Goodnews is that..no more rape but murder?
you didnt end your beautiful story with the two christians embracing each other in the love of Christ whilst the daughter watches in tears of....joy? the joy of the holy spirit?
ReplyDeletethe use of condemnation and guilt for social education is what you paid to read in the papers each day. some of these stories to condemn 'sins' are written by christians. isn't it hypocritical to condemn others in your job and then preaches no condemnation at the same time?
imagine, no condemnation. no criticism. no fury towards injustices because, all sins have been paid in full by christ death on the cross. all sins have been wiped out by the blood of christ. anyone accuses you or condemns you must be of the devil. anyone speaks against the gospel of grace must be of the devil. no wonder these christians are stone faced when criticized.
chinese has a saying...'kill people eyes never blink' and can still smile and praise god.
one blogger wrote:
Do you believe that you stand righteous before God because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross? By His one sacrifice on the cross we have been made holy you know? (Heb 10:10) In fact our righteous is God's own righteous! (2 Cor 5:21) You can't get more righteous than that! :-)
When God looks at you, He does not make a list and check it twice, going to find out if you are naughty or nice. In fact, He does NOT REMEMBER ANY of THEM!
"AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE." (Heb 10:17 NASB)
Hallelujah!!
So my friends, do not think that because you blew it yesterday, you do not deserve to ask God to help you in your need today. Repent (ie change your mind & turn to back to God), thank Him for the forgiveness already bought for you by the blood of Christ on the cross and confess that you are the righteousness of God in Christ!
So have faith. Have faith not in your own strength to perform for His blessings but have faith in the blood of Christ, that one perfect sacrifice that cleansed you from all your sins (past, present and future), made you holy and clothed you with God's righteousness, and qualified you for all the promises of God in Christ!
if god doesnt remember past, PRESENT and FUTURE sins against you, neither should our government because...who is greater huh?
ok...wow ! I just came across this blog randomly by surfing the net in the middle of the night wanting to read about spiritual warfare. And for some reason I came across those 3 comments, and I REALLY NEED TO REPLY TO THEM.
ReplyDeleteFirst: I don't pretend to have all the answers, and I am not a theologian but after all...Jesus did say that the secrets of the kingdom of God were revealed to the children and hidden from those who are wise in their own eyes.
Second: I am not here to condemn nor judge you.
Third: I guess you REALLY must have had a good reason to write whatever you wrote, believe me or not, but I feel God's love for you. Don't ask me why...I just bumped into this page by coincidence, and I do think it is not really a coincidence but God.
Fourth: The reason I say I feel God's love for you, and I do...is because I can sense you have been through a lot of pain because you or your family have been hurt by someone who called themselves a christian. This made you bitter, hurt and angry at christians who are fake and now you attack anyone who preaches about unconditional grace and love, you basically put everyone in the same basket as soon as they use the words "grace" and "no condemnation".
Fifth: Here is what I feel the Lord is saying to you, and I hope it helps...please receive it because it comes from a place of love and not condemnation:
"Indeed I am a righteous God. I sent my Son to die on the cross and remove the sins of humanity, yes, even that of a rapist...however, the rapist you have depicted in your illustration does not seem like someone who would have qualified to receive my forgiveness...why ? because I don't think this rapist was a christian at all. YES, positionally Christ died for ALL...but still we have to ACCEPT the work on the cross, believe, confess and TRULY REPENT.
You see, my child, true repentance will cleanse a person from sin so that they will never again want to go back to that sin but will have a disgust for it, whoever calls himself a christian and rapes someone is truly not a christian. Do not even insult the name "christian" by saying that a rapist could be a christian. There are some serious consequences for sin. My Word says the wages of sin is death.
Some christians do struggle, yes...some with adultery, others with pornography, alcohol, addicitons and yet others with anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, lack of love etc. There are several categories of sin. I say several bc I categorize sin according to the harm it does to oneself or others...
YES SIN IS SIN and all SIN deserves punishment and death but some sin hurt other people more than other sins.
For someone to rape another human being is one of the MOST degrading and digusting act someone could do to another. Unlike lying. If a christian lies to another christian than it will not do as much damage than rape would to a person. Rape is SERIOUS and damages a person to the core of their emotions, subconscious, bodies and will.
But the person you talked about IS NOT A CHRISTIAN...because you said after they were released they went and comitted the same sin of rape again. And supposedly they repeated the same sin because I, the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, forgave them... and took the condemnation away from their heart ?
This is absolutely nonsense and perverts my gospel and my very nature.
FIRST of all, my beloved child, yes I AM forgiving and I do extend grace, and a clear conscience but only to those who truly repent...for this "christian" rapist to have qualified to receive a clear conscience and MY GRACE, he would have had to TRULY REPENT to me. And for an act as disgusting as rape (rape makes me cry and deeply wounds my heart of loving Father), TRUE REPENTANCE would have meant GOING INDEED IN JAIL (true repentance makes restitution...if someone steals they should make restitution...if someone kills yes they should serve time in jail bc they must submit to authority), asking forgiveness to the family and truly showing BROKENESS over one's sin.
But how could the person in your example exhude the behaviour of a true repentance since they were not even a christian in the first place ? Have you not read in my word that not all who call me "Lord, Lord" will make it to heaven ? Don't think that just because someone calls themselves a christian or goes to church or are baptized in water that they indeed are born again or a christian. NOW, could this person have been "truly" born-again and still commit rape out of weakness or some mental problem ? NO. because this type of sin falls under the worse type of sin categories and NO born again christian can fall under that type of sin category which completely disregards another human being's right to LIFE (abortion, murder, torture, molestation etc). WHY ? Because my Word says that if someone is a christian they have received NEW LIFE within them and are a new creation. This would, in turn, give them GREAT RESPECT for my creation especially for the sacredness and beauty that is the gift of LIFE. Yes, this is from me, God. No "christian" can kill, rape, abort, murder, torture or anything of that sort.
Yes, christians still struggle with their souls, minds and emotions even after being born again...however that sin category that blatantly disregards respect for life is a sign the person never got truly born again, and your use of the word "christian" to refer to such a person is just an insult. How will the world react if they would read this, my child ? Would this glorify and honor me ? Wouldn't they scorn my cross ? Wouldn't they say: "Look, someone went to rape another human being after experiencing grace".
Other sin categories that my children commit are mainly because of an unrenewed mind and hurst that are undealt with, however they do not stem from intense, blatant hatred for life.
EVEN NON-BELIEVERS understand this, and HAVE A NATURAL CONSCIENCE that feels disgust and anger at rape, murder and such sin categories.
HOWEVER non-believers do not react in such a way when faced with sins such as "fornication", "lying","smoking", "dancing for the devil", "getting drunk"... ETC.
As a matter of fact, 99% of non-believers would say that those things are " completely normal" or "okay at times".
However, I detest those sins as much as I hate murder and rape.
BUT the sins that are tolerated by the world ARE NOT the results if an intense hatred for life and wanting to destroy another human being, they are sins that are committed out of living in the flesh, being blinded by the god of this age, and having a worldy mindset.
Having a worldly mindset will not lead someone to kill. You know why people kill? Do you think killing is natural ? No it is not, NOT EVEN FOR UNBELIEVERS.
People who kill are therefore demon-possessed and certainly not christians. If someone is a christian he is possessed by Christ's spirit and certainly not a demon. People who are demon-possessed HAVE NO CONSCIENCE because they are possessed. Only my Spirit can come in and break the barriers so their soul will be free. That is not to say that they should not take responsibility for their actions. YES...they should go to jail. Of course they should.
With abortion, a lot of people don't see it as "murder" because they think the fetus is not alive when killed. But if people understood that life starts at conception, they WOULD ALSO FROWN AND FIND ABORTION DISGUSTING.
And many many unbelievers DO FIND ABORTION REPULSIVE. The people who fight to make it legal and who practice it are people who are demon-possessed and do not respect life. they put their own reasoning ahead of life. But they are still responsible and will be accountable to me the righteous judge.
This rapist man you talked about never experienced grace nor my true, pure, divine love.
You see, if they were not a christian, and would have become one after the rape for instance...and they would have truly repented... they WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE RAPE AGAIN. True repentance changes the heart. And how is true repentance obtained ? WITH MY GRACE. LOVE. TOTAL ACCEPTANCE. Just the fact that the "rapist" did it again PROVES that he NEVER EVER experienced my grace, love and forgiveness in the first place. Maybe what He felt was his own pity ? CERTAINLY not my grace. FOR MY GRACE IS SO POWERFUL AND CHANGE HEARTS AND LIVES. IT CHANGES HUMAN BEINGS in the core of their beings.
My servant Andrew never intended for the topic of sanctification he started to include demon-possessed rapists who aren't christians to come and degrade the work of the cross and the beauty of my grace.
Yes, there are some preachers who go too far with the preaching of grace....but wait a second, you can never go too far with the preaching of grace ! What you think is "grace" that some preachers preach is in fact not grace but it is "self". You cannot preach TRUE grace and omit preaching on true repentance and conviction of sin. But too many of my children confuse "condemnation" for "conviction of sin". YES...
Yes if a christian sins, they will feel guilt and possibly condemnation and that is good. But TOO MANY OF MY CHILDREN, when they feel guilt and condemnation do not have the maturity to come to me and get cleansed...so they RUN AWAY FROM ME. That is why I convict people of sin instead of condemn them, because you see my ultimate goal is to SAVE AND SET FREE. Not send people to hell.
You seem to confuse "conviction of sin" for a "soft" version of having a deep and clear understanding that one's sin is GRAVE, BAD, AWEFUL and BROKE MY LAWS. Well NOT SO ! True conviction of sin is nothing that is "soft" but it CUTS THE HEART and EXPOSES SIN BOLDLY but you see, once the person feels this gripping conviction, they will automatically feel so horrible and burdened. And then looking to ME and MY CROSS will make them understand that I TOOK THE PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR SIN...YES ALL OF IT...and that is my grace...they DID NOT deserve it. Now that is a TRUE experience...and it is REAL, FEARFUL, POWERFUL and STRONG.
Someone who has TRULY experienced this kind of conviction will tell you that it ALLOWED THEM TO SEE THEIR SINFUL CONDITION MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN CONDEMNATION AND GUILT EVER WOULD.
Your conscience tells you something isn't right. HOWEVER what grace does IS it doesn't leave you in the same condition. MY LOVE will erase all the guilt, shame if one truly repents. Conviction of sin kicks in.
TRUE GRACE will always prevail and change someone.
Because you see, a lot of people will want to repent just to get rid of the annoying feeling of "guilt" thry have, come on...no one likes to feel guilty. But do they TRULY understand that their sin is indeed very ugly and BROKE MY HEART? Sometimes not really.
So YES, I do use guilt and condemnation as a tool for people to stay away from sin, especially when that sin could have horrible consequences for the person or another person BUT MY PERFECT WILL IS TO USE CONVICTION OF SIN. GO READ THE BOOK OF JOHN. IT talks about my Spirit convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
My servant Andrew has not sinned in what he said. he talked aout TRUE grace and not some doctrine pretending to preach on grace but really preaching on "self".
My servant Andrew talked about the average christian as well, the average "good" christian who has a good heart and seeks the Lord. For those kinds of christians, who truly desire to do well but sometimes fail...YES there is ABSOLUTELY NO CONDEMNATION FOR THEM.
Andrew did not touch on the subject of fake christian rapists who have no conscience and are full of demons who desire to destroy human life and dignity.
For those types of people, they indeed HAVE NEVER EVER FELT GRACE NOR COULD THEY. BUT IF THEY DID, I WOULD FORGIVE THEM AND I WOULD TRANSFORM THEM AND GIVE THEM A BRAND NEW HEART AND THEY COULD START A NEW LIFE. Why, you don't think my blood is powerful enough to cleanse the sin of rape ? Me cleansing the sin of rape, would this make me say "rape is ok, just do it and I will forgive you?"
ABSOLUTELY NOT
You see, when someone experiences true forgiveness from rape, and there are many of my children in this case...they will tell you HOW GRATEFUL they are to me, Jesus, for forgiving them when they didnt deserve it. FORGIVENESS AND GRACE ARE STRENGTHS AND NOT WEAKNESSES as your comment assumes. People who have been forgiven of such horrible crimes are usually people who become very broken and very humble and will help countless people come to Christ bc they are in SUCH AWE of my amazing love and grace...hmmm let's see here...wasn't the apostle Paul a murderer ? YES. and yet I saved him and I called him...and hmm let's see he wrote most books in the New Testament. Now...after Paul converted, did you see him killing other people again ? NO.. why ? bc his conversion was REAL and that is why HE TALKED ABOUT GRACE IN SUCH A PROFOUND WAY...bc he experienced it.
Again, the rapist illustrated in your example HAS NEVER EXPERIENCED MY TRUE GRACE, LOVE AND FORGIVENESS like the apostle Paul (who was a murderer) did. DO NOT INSULT WHAT I DID ON THE CROSS.
>>>>I think the real problem is, my child, that you hold on to bitterness because of something some so-called christian has done to you. And your bitterness attacks anything that has to do with forgiveness and grace because you yourself cannot extend it to the person who hurt you.
Know that I understand your pain and that I really want to heal your pain and that I extend my TRUE grace to you right now. But you must fogive. If I could forgive the people who crucified me on the cross, so can you forgive those who hurt you, yes it is horrible and hurtful and very very hard but ask me and I will give you the strength to forgive because ultimately, forgiving is a proof THAT YOU LOVE ME. I said that whoever loves me will obey my commands, and one of my commands is to FORGIVE. forgiveness will help you live a peaceful and happy life. The person who hurt you has already done enough damage, dont let them destroy your peace of heart and happiness inside. Unforgiveness blocks my presence and blessings in your life. But I do not undermine AT ALL what people do to hurt others. I am the roghteous Judge and I do vindicate. If they dont repent in this life, yes they will be judged if not in this life, in the after-life. I take sins VERY seriously.
FORGIVENESS DOESNT MEAN I TAKE SINS LIGHTLTY.
My child I ask that you now repent for taking my grace lightly and for not living in the freedom that I died to give you,
LOVE.
Your Father God.
So...