Gideon Posted June 7, 2018 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 14 Topic Count: 79 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,177 Content Per Day: 0.31 Reputation: 826 Days Won: 1 Joined: 10/04/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted June 7, 2018 When Jesus talked about freedom in John 8, his audience was offended. They were not slaves! But it did not deter Jesus and the point He was trying to get across to them..... and to us if we have ears to hear and hearts that will receive it. Jesus continued. “He that commits sin is a slave to it.” They did not like that answer even more. What He was saying was beyond belief. How dare He?! And what was it that so offended them? Simply this. If we are still choosing to disobey Him, we are not free. We are still slaves to sin. We want to believe that somehow we can be both free indeed and still continue to commit willful sins, as long, of course, as they are “little” ones, socially acceptable ones, right? We want to put a grade on our sins. Sort of like the Catholics. Venial sins. Mortal sins. Big sins. Little sins. And we believe that our sanctification starts with the biggest one, and He helps us scrub that one clean. Then onto the next. And the next. Outside in, just like the Pharisees. The problem is, we never get to the root of our problem.... our old nature. We think our job is to pluck the bad fruit off as it appears. It is not. Our job is to lay the ax of faith to the root of our tree and reckon our old nature dead. Until we do that, it will be a never-ending and unwinnable battle with sin. Many today who are called by His name have no real fear of sin. Sin has not become yet exceedingly sinful to them. And why is that freedom Christ promised us important? Because sin hardens our hearts. It puts a crust over our faith. It fouls our conscience. And if our hearts condemn us, no matter what our doctrine is, a hardened heart cannot believe it will receive from God. Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, so a sullied conscience forces us out of the Holiest of All and back to the outer courts. Oh, we may be saved, but we are not safe. Some will argue that they are no doing “bad” sins. And therein lies a huge part of the problem. Our “nice” sins, what God calls “the little foxes”, are seen to be unavoidable, part of our fallen nature, our humanness, that will not be fixed until we die. But even if they are socially acceptable.......jealousy, pride, lust, envy, impatience, judging others as not as good or as smart as we are......they are still silken cords tied firmly around our ankles. We do not fret, for rhey are not really uncomfortable, the fit is not tight, but for those seeking freedom..... walking in the freedom Jesus promised each one of us, what He called FREE INDEED, we find an undeniable truth. Silkned cords keep us from freedom just as surely as chains of iron. ALL sin put our Lord on the cross. Even the little ones we think are not so bad. All sins keep us from abiding in Him by faith. Why? Because sin is a faith destroyer. Yes, it is wonderful that we are no longer committing the biggies.... adultery, theft and the like. But God has a walk for us that is far better than simply avoiding the ion chain sins. Heck, nice people in the world do that. He has a walk for us where we can abide in Him all day, every day, without sin ruining our fellowship. But here is the catch. In order to walk in this land of promise, abiding in Him, what God calls “the highway of holiness” we have to admit that we need to be set free from the power of darkness, all of it, and hate our captivity. Whether it be silken cords or chains of iron, sin is our mortal enemy and God has declared His will for us is to walk holy and without blame before Him in love. Is such a walk even possible? Praise God, yes! And it is that truth that He is even now awakening us to in these last days. We have limited the Holy One with our unbelief. But in these last days, we are about to rediscover the promises of God, and learn that it is by our believing His promises, that He will actually keep us from falling and ‘cause us’to will and to do of His good pleasure, that we are finally set free to soar like eagles and to walk as overcomers of the world, the flesh and the devil . May we all come back to Him with a hunger for more.... more love, more peace, more yieldedness to let His Spirit rule over us in every facet of our lives. Let us not rest content to simply have our doctrines correct. Let us give the Lord no rest until He blesses us with His very nature, where the fruits of the Spirit reveal to the world that Christ is real and wants to bless them even as He has done for us. Where do we start? We start by admitting our lack of freedom and confessing that this is not God’s will for us. Let us cry out to Him to see sin as He sees it. Let us seek for the faith to truly believe that the old us, the one we have been trying to change, to ‘improve’, is truly dead and died long, long ago. Let us, by faith, clothe ourselves with our new natures, natures that want to bey, that CAN obey, natures that are full of spiritual buds, ready to swell and grow into spiritual fruits. If we will but tell Him we want that, even if at present we do not see how it is possible, our God will move mountains to see that our mustard seed sized faith will grow into spiritual oaks, blessing others, as we walk in the full joy of our salvation and the freedom Jesus died to give to to each one of us. He will not fail us, of that we can be assured! Blessings to all, Gideon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frienduff thaylorde Posted June 7, 2018 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 17 Topic Count: 18 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 13,256 Content Per Day: 5.34 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 62 Joined: 07/07/2017 Status: Offline Birthday: 03/25/1972 Share Posted June 7, 2018 And unbelief will kill a walk . If we cannot believe and take HIM at HIS WORD and KNOW that in CHRIST ALL THINGS are possible to He or she who believes . The absolute worst nightmare I see, is seeing folks chained in bondage and shouting as though they free. Free, FROM WHAT . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frienduff thaylorde Posted June 7, 2018 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 17 Topic Count: 18 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 13,256 Content Per Day: 5.34 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 62 Joined: 07/07/2017 Status: Offline Birthday: 03/25/1972 Share Posted June 7, 2018 JESUS WORD cannot be broken . IF HE said a man who serves , commits sin is SLAVE TO IT . IT cannot be changed . HE IS . IF JESUS said to those WHO believed in HIM , IF you continue In ME , the TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. then that cannot be denied either . We are the slaves to whom we serve . Whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto Righteousness . Its getting late and so many will not make it and will fall for the strong all incuslive false love , false unity mindset . All we can do is warn and exhort . BE YE HOLY FOR HE IS HOLY . and do all to correct any in error an POINT to the ONE who IN HIM , all things are possible to whoever believes . NOW FORWARD MARCH . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not me Posted June 8, 2018 Group: Royal Member Followers: 14 Topic Count: 512 Topics Per Day: 0.23 Content Count: 3,189 Content Per Day: 1.44 Reputation: 3,351 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/06/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted June 8, 2018 (edited) @Gideon Glad to see you posting again. There’s a lot of good truths here for those that are hungry. The truth that you started off with, “he that sins is a slave of sin. This is the reason that Christ died. To set us free, in the here and now from the old creation. But it is the faith of the heart, that receives the things of God, not the faith of the head, or a mire appreciation of the words of scripture. For scripture says “with the heart man believes”. This is why the words “walking in newness of life” are such a mystery. Believers have tried and tried. They have tightened their will power screw down and try to force themselves to believe. Though they are well meaning they have yet to see that all self effort has to be done away with. But be of good cheer all believers that are struggling, for the more you struggle the closer you are to the end of self. For the newness of life starts at the end of self. For the ending of self means the only thing you have left is the faith of the heart and a simple crying out to God. Than the scripture; “with the heart man believes” takes on a whole new meaning and you walk in newness of life. When the Lord was dealing with me about the truth “he that sins is a slave of sin”. He also revealed because this is true. The opposite would also have to be true. Which would be “ in righteousness is freedom to be found”. Which is why it says in scripture “for freedom did Christ set us free”. For God would have His children walk in pure freedom. Which would be walking in pure righteousness. Much love in Christ, Not me Edited June 12, 2018 by Not me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brakelite Posted June 12, 2018 Group: Senior Member Followers: 8 Topic Count: 23 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 977 Content Per Day: 0.21 Reputation: 641 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/15/2011 Status: Offline Share Posted June 12, 2018 The Jews not slaves? Rather ironic really considering their entire nation was occupied by a foreign power. Just as we are before we lay hold of that old rugged cross and believe the promises by which we can be partakers of the divine nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon Posted June 12, 2018 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 14 Topic Count: 79 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,177 Content Per Day: 0.31 Reputation: 826 Days Won: 1 Joined: 10/04/2013 Status: Offline Author Share Posted June 12, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, brakelite said: The Jews not slaves? Rather ironic really considering their entire nation was occupied by a foreign power. Just as we are before we lay hold of that old rugged cross and believe the promises by which we can be partakers of the divine nature. Agree completely. Some will read what you say and agree, however, and not understand that just because one may not feel like a slave, seeing their sins may be small and thus sort of insignificant, they are still not able to abide in Christ as He longs for them to do, fellowship so close it almost defies our imagination. Jesus said that servants do have access to the master’s house, but do not have the proviledge of living in that house. Listen, all who hunger for more. God has designed a salvation that not only grants us forgiveness if ( not when) we slip, He has ordained that we walk in full freedom from sin’s power. Our minds reel. Our hearts sink. We do not see this as possible, for we do not yet understand the truth of receiving new natures by faith, natures that CAN obey simply because our glorious God causes us to do so by indeelling us. Oh, all who are born again have them, but they remain as presents unwrapped..... at least till now. Praise God that in the last days, days now beginning, His people will awaken to the truth of who they are and what their full birthright entails. It is the FREE INDEED that our saviour promised us. Blessings my Kiwi brother Gids Edited June 12, 2018 by Gideon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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