SERMONS - BIBLE TEACHING - SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY - REVELATION
Holy Grace
September 3, 2023
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Some believe in a "grace" in which God would have to deny himself to give that type of grace. It goes something like this: After you "receive" Jesus, you say, "I am saved, and I can keep my old ways. What was a part of me is still a part of me, and I can keep it. Heavy metal music, with its devilish message, is that part of me. Who shall make me give it up?" Will you also say, "Let God give up his holiness before he denies me his grace?" Will you say that? Understand that God cannot deny himself. He cannot give you his grace without also giving you his holiness. His holiness is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ in you, if you are converted and sealed. I say if, because not all who are called shall enter (Matthew 22:14). Do not overcome (2 Peter 2:20) this call by rejecting it, do not be offended by its truths and do not pollute it with the carnal ways of the flesh.
Do not overcome the call:
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Be not offended by the word of God:
… these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
Be not carnally minded:
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rather, be blessed in him, in the Spirit of Christ:
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
And seek after holiness:
but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Again, he (Christ) cannot deny his holiness to give you entry unto salvation. He cannot leave his holiness, not even for you. He died for you, but he cannot deny himself for you. On the cross in the flesh, he suffered for you and was risen with his Spirit and body on high. Hear his voice and follow him (John 10:27). Deny yourself, that "old man" in you, which was and is after the flesh; mortify him (Romans 8:13), and be led by the Holy Spirit after the "new man," after the mind of Christ.
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Young man and woman, you may be standing right before the gate of salvation or even "inside" the gate. Enter! Hear his voice and follow him in.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Leave your bondage - what you call your "boundaries," what you are - outside of the gate and enter the pasture of righteousness, where there is his presence: the presence of the Lord Jesus. That presence, that witness - Christ in you and you in him.
Paul says in Romans 7:25:
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Note the key truth Paul is describing here: there are two entities where he "exists" after his conversion. One he describes as "the mind I myself" (as a "new man" in Christ, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:24) and the other is the flesh (flesh of "old man," natural, carnal). Can you tell which one he (Paul) strongly identifies with? Paul says, "with the mind I myself." His mind, he himself, is after God (… with the mind I myself serve the law of God). But there is another entity, he acknowledges - the flesh. These two, the mind, which is of God and after the Spirit of Christ; and the flesh, are warring one against the other. Which one are you after? The mind of Christ or the deeds of the flesh?
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
I will say no more, but I will let God speak to you through the scriptures. Hear his voice, I pray you.
From Romans 6 (emphasis mine):
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Christ be in you, the hope of glory.
-By Lubomir
Man's Sin and God's Grace
September 10, 2023
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Sin separates men from God because sin is contrary to God's righteousness. He loves his creation (man and woman) but hates the sin they entered in with. They are in sin. Can God take sinners as they are, in their sin - sin still written, not blotted out - to heaven? No, because it is contrary to his holiness, and he cannot deny himself - his holiness. Can he take the sinners, after they die, to purgatory to purge their sin? No, because such a place does not exist, and our God is the God of the living and not of the unrighteous dead in sin. They go to a place where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. Man, while remaining in his sin, cannot enter the kingdom of God. O, man, understand that, I pray you.
Brothers and sisters, we will take a look at some aspects of man's relationship with sin: him in sin, being further from God, and him in the grace of God, being away from sin - freed from sin.
Even though it may seem counterintuitive (I speak as a man), the further we stay from sin, the easier it is to recognize it for what it is when it rears up its ugly head. God says, Be ye holy, for I am holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). The better we know God's commandments, the more "exceeding sinful" sin will appear to us (Romans 7:13).
And further we are from the will of God and not pleasing God, sinful desires are stronger and more "natural" to us. When Cain was full of wrath against his brother, just before he murdered Abel, God told him this:
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
When we don't do well according to the will of God, we invite sin to our door. And when we open the door to let sin in, the desires of sin take hold of us, and we become partakers of that sin; we "rule" over it. Cain didn't just let sin take hold of him; he took hold of the sin. The relationship between the sinner and the sin is one of co-dependence, and only God can separate and deliver the sinner from the sin, from that co-dependence.
If we back up to Genesis 3:16, we see the same wording used to describe the relationship between man and wife in the sin-fallen world: "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."
When someone embraces sin, the relationship between the sinner and his sin is compared in the scripture to the relationship between a man and his wife! Compare again Genesis 3:16 with Genesis 4:7 in the AKJV Bible*:
… and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Genesis 3:16("thy" being the wife)
… And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Genesis 4:7("his" and "him" being the sin)
Sin and wickedness are closely associated with fornication. Wickedness is spiritual fornication.
It is like being with another than God and having another relationship away from God.
What then? Can man resist sin? Can he overcome it by himself, by his will alone, without God? Can he obtain salvation and freedom from sin by his own will? The scriptures teach otherwise. Man cannot give up what is his, even his sins, by himself, apart from God, and thus salvation is of God and not of man's will (John 1:12-13). Man, not by mastering his flesh by his own will, but by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus to save him and to help him, shall overcome his sinfulness in the flesh. By the power of God, he is saved, not by his (man's) will; but by the workings of the Holy Spirit in him, he becomes the changed man. Call upon the name of the Lord, and you shall be saved. The scripture teaches that man cannot even call from his heart upon the Lord Jesus unless inspired by the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 12:3). Salvation is of the Lord! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
To the spirit of the flesh in a man, and under conviction, the law and sin feel overwhelming.
But to the Spirit of Christ, which is in the converted man, grace much more abounds (Romans 5:20), and, with repentance, it covers that conviction with forgiveness and peace.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The law is used by the spirit of devil to accuse the brethren of sin (Revelation 12:10); the devil applies it without grace and mercy, without escape. But the grace of God in Christ Jesus frees God's elect from the bondage of sin; thus, the faithfulness of the grace of our Lord is victorious.
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
We love him, because he first loved us.
The fruit of grace is love, and from love again springs grace. Grace for grace.
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Christ be in you, the hope of glory.
-By Lubomir
* Note:
Some of these truths, found in AKJV, are lost in some other bible translations.
Motive, Role and Fruit
September 17, 2023
All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.
Motives - of the Father
Roles - of the Lord Christ Jesus
Fruits - of the Holy Spirit
Brothers and sisters, consider your motive, your role, and your fruit in the things you do and the decisions you make. But let me tell you up front that any guidance you might get here or anywhere else has little weight without your faith in God. The just shall live by faith. Romans 1:17:
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
And also, I will not be telling you what to do and not to do in many divers situations; believe me, I do not wish to run or control your life or even be your personal adviser, your all-knowing AI, which, after giving you a particular answer, you might say, "That was good", and inquire for another and another and another. And of course, there is no way AIs can know the ways we do - not to the depths and heights of things. They can "absorb" the "width" of things and be programmed and learned of them by man, and so as the AI was programmed by man, you may also be programmed by AI. Do not get advice from a soulless thing about your way of life. And l don't mean you cannot ask it how much salt you should use or how many calories you need to burn; well, you get the idea. But they, AIs, do not have their own soul, and as such, they cannot be filled with that knowledge, that wisdom, and that understanding that comes only and directly from God:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
And they, the AIs, cannot reason as we do. So then, let's reason together on the principals as to motive, role, and fruit, and after that, let your conscience (pray not to be seared with a hot iron: 1 Timothy 4:2) help you with life choices you make. These choices reside in the field where the will of God the Father operates, where the role of God the Son, Christ, dominates, and where the fruits of the Spirit are harvested. But there is also, in that field, "going to and fro" and "walking up and down" (Job 1:7), the spirit of rebellion. These two, the will of God and the will of rebellion, war against each other. We may not "see" this war with our natural eyes, but through our spiritual lens, given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:13), we can "see" it clearly and discern.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Dive into the word of God, into its waters of true understanding, and you shall "walk on the water", in righteousness, where there is no law (even the law of gravity) against it:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
There, in the word of God and in the teachings of the Holy Spirit, you shall find good motives, as in the Father, good roles, as in Christ, and good fruits, as in the Spirit.
The choices to be made are either in the will of God or in the will of man.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
The will of man may not look selfish to others, but if it is against the will of God, it remains selfish. It cannot be given for a good cause as measured by God if it is against the will of God. Consider the abortion clinics, for example. Are they built with good motives for a good cause? They say they are to help women. They say that they are for women's health and their freedom of choice. So their role, on the surface, is as health providers and on the side of women's rights. Ok, so far, so "good". Their motive is "good" and their role is "noble". Right? No! The deeds of their labor - their fruit - is death. This is not acceptable to God.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
But we are after the motives of our Father in heaven, the roles of his Son, who sits at his right hand, and the fruits of the Holy Spirit, who is in us. And all three are complete and perfect in one God. Do not get discouraged that you are not perfect in that pursuit; he shall make you perfect. But you just keep following after him, after the one who called you by your name into everlasting life.
Have patience, and you shall receive (1 Corinthians 3:14). And remember the war, the spiritual war (whose great images thereof are shown in the Old Testament: 2 Samuel 5:24, 2 Kings 6:16-18, Daniel 10:12-14) is still on, even including you:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Christ be in you, the hope of glory.
-By Lubomir
Spiritual Seeing
September 24, 2023
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Brothers and sisters, here, in this verse, Paul is inviting us to look. At what? At the things which are not seen. How is that? He is not inviting us to look at the things of here, on earth, which are seen by man's natural eye, but heavenly things.
Even though we believe without seeing, as our Lord says, "… blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (John 20:29)," we also, after believing, can and do see. And we also looked at that cross, did we not? That cross of mercy and sacrifice. So, after believing, comes seeing. What do we start "seeing?" God's love and God's ways, the spiritual "world" in us and around us, the kingdom of God. We are not blind anymore. We've been healed from spiritual blindness. Because blindness is not of God to the believer but of the god of this world.
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
So again, we look - LOOK - at the things which are not seen by a carnal eye but are seen with a spiritual eye - eternal things, heavenly things, the things of God. That is now ours to see - our place to abide in, our place to rest in, our place to "sit" in.
and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Note that "made us sit" is in the past tense. Made us sit together in heavenly places. He made you sit already! Will you not open your eyes? Awake!
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Brothers and sisters, put on the armor of light. Look at that light. And while you abide there, refresh your soul with that drink from the fountain of life, the word of God.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Christ be in you, the hope of glory.
-By Lubomir