Perfection?

[larryt]

I believe we can get to a point where sin has no more hold on us. No more point of contact for the god of this world. I see the question becomes at this point: What happens then?

LT

[BobTriez]

By the way I can remember a question I asked you directly in the OSAS thread that you never did answer.

There are 2 reasons Larry,

1.) That thread is locked ( and has been )

2.) I never allow thoughts, feelings, beliefs, etc. to bleed over from one thread to another. Each topic is it's own and deserves it's own attention without any outside influence.

And for what it's worth, I think I did answer it - you just didn't like my answer

[His son]

Quote:

1. Is it the pursuit that God is looking for? Because doesn't He already know we are going to fail?If you mean stumble along the way I agree. In the end we are going to succeed. He is going to accomplish everything He promised. To conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. Is effort on our part something that is necessary? I think so.

We all need to replace this kind of confession that says we will fail with these Scriptures.

Prov 23:6-7

6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Deut 18:13

13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

Ps 101:6

6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

Matt 5:48

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Eph 4:13,24

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 1:21-23,27-28

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

2 Tim 3:17

17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

(KJV)

Based on these Scriptures, and there are many more which address this issue we need to change our thinking on what God can do in us, if we make the right choices.

[Born2BFree]

Text:

John3:16,4:24,6:44... 1. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

2. No man can come unto Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him: and I will raise him up a the last day.

3. God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

__________________________________________________________________

Thoughts on Repentance:

by: Born2BFree (AKA: GWA)

It is the Spirit of God that draws a man to repent. "No man cometh to God but first the spirit of God draws (entreats) him." The will to repent is a precious gift from God and evidence of the influence of His Holy Spirit in a life. Blessed is the man whose Will is to repent (turn away from) of sin. God has provided a way into His presence and a way to be sustained (to walk and live) in His Presence. All forms of sin are variations of denial of the promise of God that God makes it possible for a man/woman to become more than just an animal. Saten told Eve she was other than what God had made her. God had made Eve a living soul in the image (pure) image of God. Saten beguiled her by drawing her attention to the shape of the image (her body) of God... at variance to the Spirit of God that lived in it. Because she turned away from the Spirit to view the flesh, her understanding of the purpose of the flesh was corrupted. Saten distorted her Vision of the Truth. This denied her the entrance to the perfection of Eden which was her original condition as ordained by God. Saten uses influences to distort our vision of Jesus. The blessing of God is then blocked by our unbelief... in all of its variations (specific sins). Worship is what its all about: Proper Worship...that is, worship that is acceptable to God. Forms alone are inadequate. Without the right Spirit in the form, it becomes an idol. Pure worship acceptable to God is attitude/conduct that is OBEDIENT to the Word of God. God wants our entire attention. He is disinterested in our actions alone...He wants our heart as well. However, this is not an easy proposition to fill. Humans are frail in every way...particulary in the scope of their committments. God knows that we are dust. He understands. He also took a form like unto our form and was tempted in every way such as is COMMON to man... I love God for this splendid and wonderful gesture of LOVE for us. He does Love YOU, you know? Really, He does.

In spite of all the sin, God still loves us... This is a marvelous and wonderful mystery: God's Love.

Only God knows the heart of a person to understand its sincerity. Saten will point you to the long list of your past failed attempts to overcome a habit. God only knows of the one you present to Him NOW. He does not recall what was placed under His blood yesterday. All He acknowledges is our most recent error. He does not audit our entire life... because everything else is under His shed blood. It cannot be recalled by God because it is cast into the sea of forgetfulness.

The Bible doesn't tell us that we must be 'sincere' on a scale of zero to whatever in order to qualify for forgiveness. Jesus is already WILLING to forgive us. The conditions presented in scripture are clear: "If you will acknowledge your sins, God is faithful to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness." We confess with our mouth and we believe with our HEART.

God forgives and then forgets. We accept forgiveness, but it is our memory that draws us again to the tree where our old nature hangs. We are cozened by Saten into identifying with that DEAD thing in our OLD nature... and we fall into a repeat practice. Jesus understands the proclivity to fail... having been a man himself, he must have experienced 'failure' of some kind. As a carpenter, he learned from error and trial. He progressed in knowledge and skill. The Bible tells us he also learned obedience through the things he SUFFERED (endured). Self discipline is a learned response: it

[Born2BFree]

Does God expect us to be sinless? When He says, "Be holy as I am holy"..what does that mean? When Jesus told the sinful woman "Go and sin no more" ...did He really expect her to never sin again?

Does God expect us to be sinless? When He says, "Be holy as I am holy"..what does that mean? When Jesus told the sinful woman "Go and sin no more" ...did He really expect her to never sin again?

____________________________________________________________________

Only God is sinless. He prepared a position/place in himself where the Christian may stand under His blood and receive the benifit of His righteousness.

The remark by God: "Be holy as I am holy..." is not a petition made of man. If it were it would appear pointless for man cannot make himself 'holy' as God. Man cannot even 'know' himself so as to produce of himself a righteous standard of judgement. This statement is of the kind that was spoken in the beginning when God spoke....and the world came into existence. God "pronounced" a creative command upon those He foreknew when he looked at them and said: "Be holy as I am holy..." God produced a special exigency appropriate for the need of mankind.

The woman was compelled by Jesus to consider the 'proof' provided by her faith...which was well received by God... and to cease from her doubts, but continue to believe. The comment about 'sin' he was encouraging her not to be 'faithless' after than, but to continue in the confidence she had just received.

Please glance at the post above "Thoughts on Repentance"...

God Bless you, Tess.

[larryt]

Example of "perfection?"

Job 1:1

[Born2BFree]

Job was PERFECT in his SUBMISSION to the will of God in his life.

He never challenged God about the correctness of his treatment.

He looked for the presence of God in his circumstances and ALWAYS

spoke the TRUTH.

[Kabowd]

I'm pretty sure I was taught that "perfect" didn't mean "without sin or error" but it meant "complete".... but I could be wrong.

[Kabowd]

I'm sick right now, so my thoughts are kind of blurred..but this is what I'm thinking: God's desire is to see us pursue Him and His glory, yet He knows that we will often fail at doing this. So, when we stumble..this is when He moves to cover those things and the blood of Christ is applied to our "imperfections". This wasn't intended to be another OSAS thread (and i don't want it to head that way necessarily)...but in thinking about all this, it has sort of solidified in my mind that my faults/sins do not condemn me once they are covered by His blood.

[eric]

Tess, Sorry to hear that you are sick right now and I hope you make a quick recovery. However I would remind you that this thread is not about condemnation, as there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. This thread is about perfection, which we all strive for, but will never attain, whilst we are in our earthly bodies. This is of course IMO. Even calling a brother a fool or saying he hates his brother is tantamount to calling him a murderer according to the word. (or along those lines), But we will be perfect and we will be holy when we are given our new bodies clothed in robes washed white by the blood of the Lamb. Anyway I've been wrong before and I'm only speaking for myself.

cheers,

eric.