Day: March 5, 2018

Lyndia Tate

Lyndia Tate
No Condemnation! Romans is a massive
epistle and a definite gift from God to His
people. There are very few theological issues
left untouched in this letter. The most
important theme of the book is Paul’s
unfolding of our salvation in Christ. Paul not
only explains our need for Christ’s imputed
righteousness because of our sinfulness, but
he also explains how salvation comes to us.
The final chapters provide useful application
for the lives of individual believers and the
church as a whole. I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God
unto salvation for everyone who believes
(Rom. 1:16). There is no respect of persons
with God. As many as have sinned without
the law shall also perish without the law: and
as many as have sinned in the law shall be
judged by the law; for not the hearers of the
law but the doers of the law shall be justified
(2:11-13). By the deeds of the law shall no
flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. Now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the Law and prophets; even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of
Christ Jesus unto all them that believe: for
there is no difference: For all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God
(3:20-23). The promise that he should be the
heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to
his seed, through the law, but through the
righteousness of faith (4:13). It (faith) was
imputed to him (Abraham) for righteousness.
Now it was not written for his sake alone,
that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to
whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on
him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead; Who was delivered for our offenses,
and was raised again for our justification
(4:22-25). O wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind I myself (his new
nature) serve the law of God; but with the
flesh (the old man) the law of sin. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of
the Spirit has made me free from the law of
sin and death (7:24-25; 8:1-2). Peace, joy,
and love all the way home my believing
friends, Randy.

Rhonda Ballance

Rhonda Ballance
Special Report: The ‘Defeated’ Christian
Jack Kinsella
You’ve all seen him. The defeated Christian.
The guy who tries and tries, but after being
saved for thirty years, he still hasn’t quit
smoking. Instead, he hides his cigarettes
before coming to church and won’t get too
close when shaking your hand for fear you’ll
smell the smoke on him.
Or the Christian who you know is saved, but
he just can’t quite give up the bottle. Or the
Christian who got saved, but doesn’t go to
church, because he just doesn’t think he fits
in with the rest of the crowd?
Or won’t go because he thinks that
everybody at church is a big hypocrite? That
defeated Christian who knows that even
though he is saved, it just didn’t seem to
‘take’ like it seemed to with everybody else,
so he’d just as soon not be reminded of it all
the time by being around those to whom it
did.
Especially since, if he were to mention it,
somebody would point out it was either
because of some unconfessed sin, or maybe
he just wasn’t all that sincere when he first
accepted Christ.
Why is it that some Christians get saved, and
immediately become a new creature, where
others get saved, and look remarkably like
the old one?
Don’t tell me you don’t know somebody like
that. Maybe you even ARE somebody like
that. And it’s hard . . . so hard to keep trying
and trying when it seems to come so easy to
everybody else. It’s enough to make anybody
give up.
I’m going to leave the usual beaten path,
now, to address an issue that comes up fairly
regularly in our forums. Those of you who
have no besetting sin, no secret sin in your
heart that only you and God (and the enemy)
know of, go make yourself a nice cup of
coffee. The rest isn’t for you.
Now, for the honest readers . . . Why does
God deliver some people from booze,
cigarettes, pot . . . fill in your besetting sin
here _______?
The answer? I don’t know. Disappointed?
Don’t be. Sometimes He just doesn’t. It
doesn’t mean you aren’t a Christian. It
doesn’t mean you aren’t saved. It doesn’t
mean God has abandoned you. It only means
you feel defeated. You still have that sin.
Now, how come you feel defeated? Is it your
weakness? God’s? Haven’t you been to Him
with this? How come its still an issue in your
life? You KNOW God is real, so . . what’s
WRONG WITH YOU?
Nothing.
Welcome to the Church of the Walking
Wounded. That’s why so many people find
fellowship on the internet they don’t find in
church. No guilt. Nobody can see you
sneaking that cigarette or that beer.
You come looking for God, and looking for
that forgiveness you keep hearing about, but
never find in church.
Instead, you learn that if you smoke, (or
whatever) you are defiling the temple of the
Holy Spirit and you must give that up first to
find fellowship. Except you have been trying
for years and just can’t quite make it.
You sit there in the pew, thinking about the
cigarette you are going to have on the way
home, and you feel ashamed, guilty. Why
even go back to church? You hypocrite!
You are taught that God forgave you at the
Cross, but now you are on your own. All
these sins you now know about yourself are
left for you to deal with on your own. Only
NOW you know what they are.
So every time you sneak that cigarette, you
feel guilty. “Fred got saved and within a
week, he cut out smoking, he cut out drinking
and he cut out cursing.”
(You think to yourself, “Sure. And for
entertainment, Fred is now cutting out paper
dolls in the Happy Home,” – but then there
you go – you sinned again!)
Sin is the disease of the human race. No
human being is exempt from it. The Apostle
Paul, speaking of sin, said, “This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy
1:15)
Creative hyperbole? Or do you believe every
Word of God is true?
The Apostle Paul was, according to God’s
Word, chief among sinners. He must have
had a difficult time being chief among
sinners and chief among the Apostles, but
that’s what the Bible says.
It must have bothered him, like it bothers you.
(Those not getting coffee right now) Knowing
what is right, but succumbing to temptation
to do the wrong thing. Over and over.
This is a very difficult subject – I am
approaching it with much fear and
trepidation. There will immediately be those
who will jump on me for preaching a license
to sin. I am not.
Before you jump on me, read it again first,
please. I am quoting the Apostle Paul, not my
opinion.
Paul writes, “For we know that the law is
spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For
that which I do I allow not: for what I would,
that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. Now
then it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me.” (Romans 7:14-15,17)
Maybe Paul isn’t speaking to you, but he is
playing MY theme song. “For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man: But I see
another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members.” (Romans 7:22,23)
Does this sound to you like a guy who was
having an easy time of it? Why didn’t he just
do what the pastor tells you? “Just take it to
the Lord and He’ll take care of it.”
Ever do that and then He didn’t? So you
found some good reason why not, or instead
just figured you weren’t worthy? Or maybe
that He cared more about Fred the King of
the Paper Dolls?
Paul wrote of, “a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure.” (2
Corinthians 12:7) Now, I’ve heard this verse
exegeted many times.
To listen to the theories, Paul must have
fallen into a thorn BUSH. I’ve heard Paul had
a speech impediment, that it was his failing
eyesight, that he was unattractive to look at,
even one argument that he had halitosis!
What does the Bible say Paul’s thorn in the
flesh was? Everybody looks for something
specific to make sense of the verse. They are
looking for some physical flaw that Paul
thought would hamper his effectiveness for
God. In so doing, they miss the forest for the
trees.
The Apostle Paul, the ‘chief among sinners,
specifically said that his thorn was a
‘messenger from Satan sent to ‘buffet’ him.
Paul’s thorn was his SIN which kept him
from being ‘exalted above all measure.’ “For
this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it
might depart from me.” (2 Corinthians 12:8)
Stay with me here and see the picture. Here’s
poor Paul, knowing the task the Lord has set
before him, knowing that he is ‘chief among
sinners’ and knowing his weakness for
whatever that sin might have been.
So he takes it to Jesus, (just like you did)
sincerely expecting Him to handle it for him,
just like the pastor told you He would for you.
“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient
for thee: for My strength is made perfect in
weakness.” (v.9)
The Bible says that we are sold unto sin.
That it is our natural state. That the most
unnatural thing a man could do is NOT sin.
You are saved, you believe, yet you wrestle
with your besetting sins.
Every time you whip one down, a new one
crops up that you have to deal with. It’s a
never-ending battle and you are losing. How
can this be?
How can you be sincere, be sincerely saved,
and still battle with sins that don’t seem to
bother other Christians?
There is only one logical answer. It is so
simple you are going to immediately say, “I
knew that.” But you probably really didn’t.
Jesus did it all. Really. ALL. The most simple
of principles, yet most preaching is based on
the deception that He didn’t. Instead, most
are taught in principle, that Jesus got the ball
rolling at the Cross, but now that you are
saved, whether or not you fail or succeed in
beating back your sin nature is up to you.
Therefore, when constantly confronted with
your sin and how bad it is, it is much easier
to give up and not go face the weekly
confrontation. You believe you are defeated.
Rather than being free, you are in bondage to
your guilt. How many people do you know
who went to the altar call on Sunday who
weren’t guilt-ridden by Wednesday?
Salvation is either a gift of grace through
faith or it is a product of faith plus good
works.
Moses had faith and good works. So did
Abraham. So did David. But without the
Savior, they would be dead in their sins.
The bondage of sin to a Christian is the
weight of the guilt of that sin that keeps him
from seeking God’s face. Jesus set us free
from the bondage of sin. Is this a license to
sin? As Paul said, “God forbid.”
“All things”, Paul said, “are lawful for me, but
all things are not expedient: all things are
lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (1
Corinthians 10:23) Interesting word,
‘expedient.’ It means, “Appropriate to a
purpose.”
The reality is, we are humans. Even after we
become new creatures in Christ, we co
inhabit the castle of flesh with the old man.
You will have your battles, but your defeat
only comes when you give up. Following
Paul’s lamentations about his struggle with
the flesh and the duality of man, Paul writes,
beginning with Romans 8:1, “There is
therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
This verse also tends to get spiritualized out
of context. I’ve heard it argued that if you
sin, then you are walking after the flesh,
rather than after the Spirit.
I put it to you: Did you ever, since you were
saved, commit a sin and not care, not feel
any responsibility before God? Well, then,
Who are you walking after? The irresponsible
flesh? Or the living Spirit?
It isn’t sin that defeats the Christian.
It isn’t that you still haven’t quit smoking, or
whatever else it might be that you think is
defeating you. Sin is what humans do.
Forgive is what God does.
It is GUILT that keeps you defeated, and
keeps you from the Throne. It keeps you from
telling people about Jesus. It keeps you
beaten down.
It is incumbent upon a Christian to try and
live a more Christ-like life, but the dichotomy
is that the Bible says it is impossible.
Even those of you now scandalized and
convinced I am preaching libertine
Christianity KNOW that you still have a sin
problem. Whether it’s a big sin, a little sin, a
habitual sin or an occasional sin, its still sin.
Even as we sin, (and Scripture says we ALL
do) we hate it, as Paul did. But we sin. As
Paul did. Read Romans 7 again.
If we COULD live a sin-free life, then why was
a Savior necessary? And what was Paul
rambling on about when he talked about the
‘good that he would’ and so forth?
If there were a formula that involved
accepting Christ and THEN living a sinless
life, then why did He need to go to the Cross
at all?
Why not just make the revised Ten
Commandments read, ‘Accept Christ and
don’t sin” and THEN you can go to heaven?
The answer is obvious. Nobody would be
there.
We are living in the last days. There is no
time to bandage the walking wounded, the
battle has been joined. Every soldier is
desperately needed on the line.
A soldier on the line does his best, and that
is all anyone can ask. Especially the One
Who really KNOWS that you are doing the
best you can.
And He not only understands, He made you
to a specific purpose, which is why all things
were lawful to Paul, but not all things were
expedient.
What may appear as defeat to you from your
vantage point in the action may actually be a
tactical victory somewhere else up the line.
Only our General knows, and He says, ‘Trust
Me’.
Take heart! Don’t let the fact you are a sinner
steal your victory. The only prerequisite for
being a Christian is that you must be a
sinner first. God has a plan for your life, and
He has somebody for you to talk to.
That appointment is so important to God that
He has arranged your whole life until now —
just so you would be available to keep it
when that appointment comes due.
Will you be there to keep it? Or will you be
licking your wounds in defeat off in a corner
somewhere? We’re running out of time, and
the enemy’s sole focus for your life is to keep
you defeated and ineffective as the hours tick
down to the Final Confrontation.
“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient
for thee: for My strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians
(12:9)
The rest of you can come back from the
kitchen now.
Excerpted from the Omega Letter Daily
Christian Intelligence Digest Vol: 21 Issue: 14

Streams in the Desert – March 5 2018Mar 05

Streams in the Desert – March 5

2018Mar 05

For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end (Heb 3:14).

It is the last step that wins; and there is no place in the pilgrim’s progress where so many dangers lurk as the region that lies hard by the portals of the Celestial City. It was there that Doubting Castle stood. It was there that the enchanted ground lured the tired traveler to fatal slumber. It is whenHeaven’s heights are full in view that hell’s gate is most persistent and full of deadly peril. “Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” “So run, that ye may obtain.”

In the bitter waves of woe
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow
From the desolate shores of doubt,
Where the anchors that faith has cast
Are dragging in the gale,
I am quietly holding fast
To the things that cannot fail.

And fierce though the fiends may fight,
And long though the angels hide,
I know that truth and right
Have the universe on their side;
And that somewhere beyond the stars
Is a love that is better than fate.
When the night unlocks her bars
I shall see Him—and I will wait.
—Washington Gladden

The problem of getting great things from God is being able to hold on for the last half hour.
—Selected

Oswald Chambers

Is He Really My Lord?By Oswald Chambers

…so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus… —Acts 20:24

Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced came from doing what the Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful to it— to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus sent you to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear Him say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). We each have to find a niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive a ministry from the Lord. To do this we must have close fellowship with Jesus and must know Him as more than our personal Savior. And we must be willing to experience the full impact of Acts 9:16 — “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

“Do you love Me?” Then, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:17). He is not offering us a choice of how we can serve Him; He is asking for absolute loyalty to His commission, a faithfulness to what we discern when we are in the closest possible fellowship with God. If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is not the same as the call— the need is the opportunity to exercise the call. The call is to be faithful to the ministry you received when you were in true fellowship with Him. This does not imply that there is a whole series of differing ministries marked out for you. It does mean that you must be sensitive to what God has called you to do, and this may sometimes require ignoring demands for service in other areas.

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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God.Biblical Ethics, 125 R

Bill Marshall

Bill Marshall
Once the storm is over, you won’t
remember how you made it through, how
you managed to survive. You won’t even be
sure, whether the storm is really over. But
one thing is certain. When you come out of
the storm, you won’t be the same person
who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all
about.
“For this light momentary affliction is
preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison,”
2 Corinthians 4:17