Every time we sin
Jacob
covenant. But it was not so 'free' for the Saviour, because He had to
suffer and die in order to gain this privilege for us. We tend to
assume that we can bank on forgiveness when we sin, and as a result
become careless with sin. But sin is a costly affair, for God and for
us. Let us take a look at what happens when we sin, so that we can
learn to be more cautious towards sin.
1. Every time we sin, we grieve God's heart which bled to save us from
our sins. He has given us a new birth so that we will not let sin have
dominion over us (Ro.6:13,14), and so that we can, in a progressive
manner, stop sinning (1Jn.3:9). Yes, God will certainly forgive us our
sins when we confess them (1Jn.1:9), but surely it grieves Him if He
sees us going on giving in to sin (Ge.6:6;Is.63:10;Ep.4:30).
2. Whenever we sin, it disgraces God because we are His children. Even
when no one elses sees us sin, we must not forget that Satan is
eagerly watching us to see when we fall so that he can accuse God
about us (Zec.3:1). What disgrace we cause to our Father by the way we
choose the pleasures of sin instead of His good pleasure!
3. It breaks our fellowship with God (Is.59:1,2). Yes, we can get back
to Him in repentance, confess our sins and be restored. But a break
does happen and it causes us suffering. It looks to us as if He is
hiding His face from us, even though it is we who have chosen that
reaping by our sowing (Ga.6:7).
4. It confuses our mind. When we sin, guilt comes in, and like Adam
and Eve we feel like hiding from God. We lose our confidence before
God and before people. Even though we know we can be forgiven when we
confess our sin, it can be quite difficult to regain the sense of
boldness we had earlier.
5. It distorts God's plan for us. God can cause even our failures to
work for our good, by teaching us more of humility and leaning on Him
(Ro.8:28). But our fall does damage our witness, ministry, and
effectiveness to a little or greater extent.
6. There is a struggle back towards God. It is easy to break
fellowship with God, but not so with gaining it back. God may resort
to chastening at times (He.12:6), and the consequences of our sinful
action may take long to get over. Certain consequences may not be
reversible too.
7. Relationships with others may get affected. Adam and Eve became
self-conscious and somewhat closed towards each other. We may put on
masks in front of others and hypocrisy and pretence may come in.
We don't think of these things when we are tempted. What we see before
our eyes at that time is only the pleasure or the immediate advantage
that our sin might bring us. That is the deceitfulness of sin (He.
3:13). But knowing this truth can set us free (Jn.8:32). Knowing the
truth is not just by hearing it, but by assimilating it by meditating
over it till our thought patterns themselves are changed. God
transforms us by renewing our mind.
Mathew Enoch Mount
When people use their hands in order to make efforts to be saved
through constructing something to be worshipped or revered, then those
people are constructing a false God. When people use their minds to
construct something to be worshipped or revered, then those people are
also constructing a false God. When people use wishful thinking to
attempt to will themselves into the kingdom of heaven and into God’s
heart, then they are perhaps having a relationship with a very
desirable idea that does not exist in reality in any other way other
than being an idea (in other words for example the reality of Martians
may be limited to the idea of Martians).
I do not find faith to be the same as wishful thinking. I do not find
personal choice to be our lord and Savior that grants us salvation if
we made the correct decision. The danger of free will to choose or
accept God is that it can make God and others that would serve God
into puppets that Satan could manipulate because evangelists trying to
sell Christ to demons would find their work to try to get the demons
to accept Christ to be a hard sell that compromises much in order for
the demons to make that choice when none of them are going to be saved
anyway (for example openly homosexual churches that center around
engaging in the sin). When Christ was tempted by Satan for example,
Christ was not in the business of trying to get Satan to accept him
and to make that choice but instead Satan was trying to make deals
with Christ for Christ to accept Satan.
When Christ was doing his early ministry, he was not trying to get
people to accept him as he drove people away, told people not to tell
others who he was, and said the most contrary things to being
popular. If the disciples had all followed the model of Jesus Christ
earthly ministry, then they would not have promoted salvation through
choosing Christ. Overall, most everyone would like to sell something
worth nothing for a high price, but no one would want to sell
something worth everything for nothing.
My point is that we should not try to get people to choose Christ, but
instead we should proclaim the gospel and then collect those into
God’s service that respond in faith to the gospel. Christ purchased
us with his blood and in one way or another makes us part of his
family, but that is a choice that is made to buy us that does not
entire into our decision making. If Christ has purchased us with his
blood, then in one way or another he will transform us into his
servants and reward us with faith to believe in him so that we will in
the end share in the inheritance of a son.
The servants that had been given talents before the master went away
had already been servants before they had been distributed a measure
of faith that constituted a spiritual gift or a talent. The faith
that the servants had was charity (love) from God that they invested.
The one that did not invest at all even what he thought that he had
was taken from him as if to indicate that he really did not have a
talent because he never once used it, and this shows us how the wicked
store up wealth for the righteous.
Sin is caused by the absence of God, and this is noted because God
went away and then sin entered into the garden and then God came back
and said, "how do you know that you are naked" as if to imply that he
was not around when Adam and Eve had sinned. When Christ was being
crucified, the most dedicated disciples denounced him despite any
prior choice not to do so, despite the best efforts they had, and
despite any free will that they had. Not only that but also Christ
told Peter that Peter would deny him three times despite Peter’s
choice in the matter at that time, and Christ told Judas to go and do
what it is that he was going to do and to do it quickly as if to
indicate that he was not going to persuade anyone to change their ways
but instead was for people doing whatever they already would do.
The fact however that Saint Peter and Saint Paul had been persuasive
tells us that they wanted to convince people, but than again neither
one was God in the flesh. When God thus uses imperfect things, than
those people may do thing imperfectly. Overall, my conclusion is that
the state of being still and knowing that he is the lord is a way that
God works through us to do his will without us having to chase our
tails or chase after the wind, and this process develops a person
spiritually through communion with God.
Consider the following text, "…you may participate in the divine
nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness;
and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to
godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For
if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep
you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is
nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed
from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to
make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you
will never fall" 2 Peter 1:4-10 (NIV) Overall, when we are being
still and knowing that he is the lord and thus having communion with
God we at some time should make every effort to posses the qualities
that keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are having communion with the lord by being still and knowing
that he is the lord, then we may receive faith (or a talent as a
measure of faith) that we bring into our ‘little worship’ and start
developing until we have something that ends with love when fully
developed. If however we invest the talent that God gave us only in
ourselves without any expectation of return, then we would be worse
perhaps than the person that hid his talent into the ground. Overall,
my point in saying these things is that intercession is the greatest
purpose for our lives, and when intercession is made, then we develop
the kingdom of God around us and this develops both the presence of
God around us and like Job it develops a hedge around us (this becomes
our eternal dwelling).
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com
Jacob
I am not sure why you have written all this in response to my post. I
don't agree when you say we shouldn't persuade people to make the
right choices. If you were right, then there would be no need for any
exhortations, warnings, or corrections from any part of the Bible
including from Jesus. Maybe you don't mean that.
Jacob
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Mathew Enoch Mount
I find that God does not need to do anything that he does, but instead
God does what he does because he wants to work. No one will ever fire
God and since God already has everything that he wants in himself thus
he need not toil to gain anything. The choices that God expresses and
the way that God works inform us about his will. Overall, you might
disagree with me, but I find that we are created things and no created
thing could ever make a choice that God is not working through that
thing to make (unless he is absent in decision making as is the case
of sin).
Even if God is absent from decision making, then he still has perfect
foreknowledge of decisions made in his absence. In this way the plan
of God and the foreknowledge of God are identical because if they had
been different, then our choices would override God’s plan. If any
choice that we make would ever override God’s plan, then God is not
God. Overall, to say that God chooses not to plan everything on the
other hand would suggest that God also chooses not to foresee the
future.
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com
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Peter VanGee
Hello,
I find that God does not need to do anything that he does, but instead
God does what he does because he wants to work. No one will ever fire
God and since God already has everything that he wants in himself thus
he need not toil to gain anything. The choices that God expresses and
the way that God works inform us about his will. Overall, you might
disagree with me, but I find that we are created things and no created
thing could ever make a choice that God is not working through that
thing to make (unless he is absent in decision making as is the case
of sin).
Even if God is absent from decision making, then he still has perfect
foreknowledge of decisions made in his absence. In this way the plan
of God and the foreknowledge of God are identical because if they had
been different, then our choices would override God’s plan. If any
choice that we make would ever override God’s plan, then God is not
God. Overall, to say that God chooses not to plan everything on the
other hand would suggest that God also chooses not to foresee the
future.
Know the Lord
Mathew Enoch Mount
Like I have said before, the fact that Christ would hold myself back
from perfect knowledge in order to make decisions by wisdom would mean
that in a since he would ‘never know’ certain people.
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com
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