Our view of sin must be changed to walk in all of God's promises

Paul Washer HeartCry Presentation Clip


I think in the church today, we have a real problem in how we have come to view sin in our lives. We most often view sin as specific acts against right and good, acts of wrong, acts of evil. When we get saved, we think of God as forgiving us of these acts of wrong, whatever they may be. Most of us were not bank robbers, or pedophiles, or rapists, murderers, etc., we were just average people who may have had lust issues, or anger problems or were jealous, or who drank a little, or who occasionally misstated things on tax returns, LOL. Right? Unfortunately, that is not what the word of God teaches us about the nature of man.

When Adam and Eve fell by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was that disobedience of theirs not just a small (relatively speaking) sin as we view sin? It was just disobedience, an act we have done 1000 times over, correct? Yet the punishment that God meted out was pain, labor by the sweat of our brows our entire lives, banishment from the kingdom where were would be kept by God and enjoying the pleasures of the garden of Eden, and more importantly, the presence of God, and ultimately death. Was God overreacting?

We judge this sin as small, like most of ours. In that small act of disobedience, God, who sees far more clearly than our limited minds can, saw it differently. He knew clearly that hidden in that fruit we ate was the seed of rebellion, the seed of independence from God with the idea that we by ourselves could discern right and wrong, good and evil. The fruit of that tree indeed made us think we are gods, able to make our own decisions, run our own lives.

Yet what did the fruit yield up to mankind? It planted a seed in the heart of all men...ALL men... a seed of rebellion to the authority and protection and love of God and from that one act of disobedience, all the murder, wars, starvation, child abuse, pain, tears, loneliness, suicides, depression, hatred, sexual sins sprang forth. From that one "innocent" act.

What we fail to understand is that when we are saved, we are asked to fully 100% bow the knee to God and submit ourselves to him as total authority over our lives. We give up all rights to ourselves. We are His. When the Bible says we become God's servants, that word actually means slave. We look at that and recoil, as the rebellion in our hearts screams out, I will not be slave to any! I will run my own life. I will do it MY way, thank you. I can be a "good" Christian and still do it my way. I can if I try hard enough.

No, you can't, nor can I , nor can anyone born of a woman, for the seed from that tree passed down to us. We all, in our walk with Christ must indeed come to a point like the prodigal son, who told the father after being fully broken of His rebellion, "It is better to be a servant (slave) to my Father than to do things my way, for the end of my way is death and tears and sadness." It is when he "came to himself" as it is described in the parable of the prodigal son, that he finally gained the full approval of God and began to enjoy the fruits of sonship.

If we could but have the veil pulled back just a little and see what God offers us if we will fully submit to him...lock, stock, and barrel. Everything. it is a radical move that results in radical Christianity, joyful Christianity, a place of safety, a place of true rest, offering the walk that most of us have sought our entire walks, but have never found up till now.

It is only when a man breaks inside and acknowledges, not that he is a sinner, but that he indeed is SIN, depraved and rebellious to the authority of God, that God not only is willing to forgive, but to give all of us new natures a nature like that of Adam and Eve before the fall.

Let us remember there is none good save God. None. All have gone out of the way. All still have the fruit of that rebellion to God in their hearts, doing it their way.

God sees that rebellion and hates it for it has caused all the pain and heartache in humankind's history.This is why Jesus came, to set us free from our "me" nature, our flesh as it is called in Romans.

Sadly, many Christians do not see the depth of their sinful nature. They confess individual acts of sin, but their fallen nature is not confessed or submitted to God to kill. Therefore, their entire lives remain a fountain of sin that cannot be stopped up, and that is a shame, when God has offered us total freedom from our old selves. We simply do not see the need for it, as we are still running our own lives.

What is truly the saddest about this blindness to the depths of our depravity as long as we stay in the lower nature, as "carnal" Christians, is that Jesus made an amazing statement.

"He who is forgiven much, loves much."

As long as we see ourselves as "good" people and when we slip up we confess the individual sin away, we never come to the conclusion that our nature is totally depraved, and therefore we cannot be filled with the full love of God and cannot love much.

As long as we continue to run our own show as owners of our own selves, whether we want to admit it or not, our core flesh remains in rebellion to the authority of God, who has purchased us and who owns us. The result is that we play into satan's hands, perhaps saved, but totally unable to be truly fruitful in our knowledge of Him. Like the prodigal, how many end up living their Christian walks out in the hog trough, even though we are sons....sons of God!

I pray God's mercy rain on all. In ourselves, in our lower natures, We ALL have fallen short of the mark, and will continue to until we figure out how to get fully free of the fleshly nature.

How desperately this new nature is needed in these last days for us to find the power and strength to truly serve him. It is available...we simply need to see our desperate need for it. Until we stop seeing ourselves as "good" people, "good" sinners saved by grace, and realize that as long as we do not fully submit ourselves back under the authority of Christ, we will walk carnal and defeated lives.

He owns us, brothers and sisters and wants only to do us good, giving us joy, peace, power, safety. His perfect will for us is not to be feared!

Let us grab hold fully again of a God who can truly set us free as He promises, free from sin, free from the world, free from the power of the devil, free from failure and defeat, free to abide in Him all day, every day! He has called us to put on our cast off by faith our old nature, and reckon it dead and by faith, put on our new nature, a nature that walks the Christian walk as an easy yoke, where He promises to "cause us" to walk in His statutes.. Shall we disappoint Him?

As A Man Thinketh in His Heart....

In attempting to truly apprehend the amazing promises God has made to you, one of the clearest lessons as to the "HOW" of all this is found in the wisdom of Proverbs 23:7 where it is explained that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

How important we understand the truth of the proverb! How many of the promises are directly related to who we believe we really are inside.

So, who exactly are we? Are we, as satan would have us accept as true, simply "sinners saved by grace"? Are we "only human", allowing ourselves much latitude in our conduct because of our excuse of weakness due to our fleshly nature?

No, my friend, here we must be really careful and not ignorant of satan's devices. Here is where he trips us up, and keeps us playing his game, on his playing field of the flesh. If he succeeds here, he will have his way with us, no matter how hard we may resist.

So who are we, we who have accepted the Lord and been washed by His blood? What do the scriptures say? Paul addressed the church of Corinth and told them exactly who they were in Christ. After describing the works of our old nature, he plainly tells them:

"...and such were some of you. But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

1 Cornithians 6:11

Notice the power of Paul's words, driving home the point of who were are in Christ. The past is gone. We were dead in our sins, captive to our fleshly nature. No more. Our testimony is now present tense of who we are NOW. We are washed. We are sanctified. We are justified. We are new creations in Christ. We are NOW light in the Lord.

Yet one would argue, but how can this be and sin still dominate you at every turn? Because this truth has not been mixed with faith, and as a result, we who have been set free still labor for the hard taskmaster instead of enjoying the glorious libery of the children of God.

This is a great example of how the promises of God work in us, becoming stepping stones to the partaking of Christs very nature. Believe that you receive it, and you shall have it. Is this not God's way of faith?

Do I stretch this verse to mean something it was not meant to mean? Are there other scriptures that tell us the same thing? Yes, indeed there are. Listen closely to Paul's words to the Colossians church:

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God"

Colossians 3:1-3

Notice how two distinct times, Paul drives us back to the truth of who we are. We are risen with Him. We are dead, and our life is hid with Him. It is these truths and these truths alone, that can enable us to stand against the allure of the world and all its trappings and firmly resist satans manifold temptations. If we believe we are still worldly by nature, weak in our flesh, simply "trying our best to obey", our experience will be Romans 7 and the failure of wanting to do right but doing wrong and wanting not to fall to worldliness, but falling anyway.

How important it is to believe in our hearts what God has said about us! Do not judge by outer appearances. Do not examine yourself for weaknesses and sins for by doing so, you already have accepted the lies of your enemy. We are told to examine ourselves in the scriptures, but for what? One thing and one alone.

"Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith."

2 Corinthians 13:5

If you fall while holding onto this newly found weapon that finally succeeds in shutting the mouth of the accuser of the brethren, do not examine yourself for the weakness in you that allowed it to happen. It happened for one reason and one reason only. Wavering faith! Get up, dust yourself off, and simply repent of the unbelief, the doubting of the truth that God has made you new, that old things are passed away. Stand again, grab hold firmly onto the truth of the promises of God and again, "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free!. And if you fall again...and again? It makes no matter. Determine in your heart that the promises are true. Determine in your heart that there is but one way to please God and that is by believing in those promises. If you fall fifty times, get up fifty times and believe the good news, for if you fall back into self effort and doubt, , you will be again entangled in the law and self effort, and in the end, you will indeed be "only human" for as we have seen today...

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

I

The Promises- Not Automatic

One thing I have learned about the many promises of God is that they are not automatic. If you are a Christian, it does not mean that what God promises you is yours. Oh, in theory, yes, but in practical, everyday, live-it-out Christianity, the promises of God are to be apprehended by His people. Why is this? Why does God not just dump the full benefits of walking in Him on our heads so that we immediately walk in all His goodness and strength?

The reason is simple. God dwells in our hearts by faith. In His wisdom, He has thus ordained that the promises of God are to be obtained by the same faith, and each promise is like a step on a stairway to having the fullness of God dwell in our hearts. God wants us to GROW in faith, for it is only as our faith becomes strong that we can stand and not be moved by this world. It is only by faith that we can overcome the wicked one. This is what God meant when he said through Paul to grow from faith...to faith.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

Hebrews 11:13

Hebrews 11 is one of the greatest chapters in all the Bible. It is the faith chapter. In it, God gives us examples down thru history of those that pleased God....by faith! What is amazing about them and the faith they had in God, was that they had no Bible to lean on, and the promises were known to be for a far off time, ans that in their lives, they would not see the benefits. Yet they still clung to the promises God has...clung to them! How it puts me to shame for the walk in my life, ignoring the promises, or finding other things to infatuate me rather than doing what these saints of old did, for in their walks, by embracing the promises by faith, they pleased God.

Is that not the ultimate purpose of our lives on earth, to learn how to please our master? Was this not the walk Jesus showed us, always doing that which was pleasing to the Father? Let us therefore learn from these old saints and the faith they had to hold onto the promises of God. Saints, the promises were to US! We are the beneficiaries of the promises that the saints of old only dreamed of. And how was it they pleased God so? What set them apart?

1. "...having seen them..." Beloved, the first thing we must do is see them, to make ourselves aware of the mighty things our God has indeed promised us. We will not find them out watching TV, or shopping at the mall, or reading a romance novel. They are hidden in His word, and if we are to ever make true progress in God, partaking in the divine nature, the first thing we must do is set our affections on things above.

2. ....were persuaded of them..." How important is it to not just see the promises, for as we have seen, what good does it do us to see them if we do not figure out how to walk in them? We must be persuaded of them. We must set our hearts before God and seach them out in plain sight of our Father so that we can see the tremendous need for the promises of God. How often we get satisfied with our walks, and yet come short of the glory of God! We must, by our need, and our hunger to please God, be persuaded that our God, who cannot lie, has given us these amazing promises to walk out...in this life.

3. "and embraced them..." Now it must become personal. It does us no good to simply believe. We are told that the devils believe! We must believe for us! We must grab hold of the promises of God with the full realization, that as a son of God, walking in the promises of God is our birthright. Let us draw near unto the Father, and embrace the promises as ours, because of the tremendous need for them in our hearts, in our walks.

4. "...and confessed that..." This last point is so critical to our everyday walk. The saints of old could only confess one thing, that they were strangers and pilgrims in this life. Oh, how we need to learn this secret again! But unlike them, who simply saw the promises afar off on the horizon, we, brothers and sisters, are the heirs of those precious promises. How much do we need to learn, that you can see them, be persuaded of them, embraced them, and yet if, at this last step you falter, all will be in vain. We must confess them as ours... There is but one way to advance in the kingdom. Everything must be appropriated by faith. From our initial forgiveness and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord, to overcoming the wicked one in the end, and everything in between, until it becomes MY promise, personally given to me by God Himself, it lies dormant still.

"and the overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony."

Revelation 19

As we begin unfolding the promises of God, finding out the amazing things He has told us that we simply, up till now, have been ignorant of, let us not forget to follow through with our search for His nature imprinted on our souls. Let us boldly declare that all that he has is OURS- our birthright, and it is God's please to give it to those who will believe for them.

His Promises are MY promises because I am His child.

They are deserved, not because of my actions, but because of my birthright.

Free Indeed!

Good morning, guys. I am going to start with an amazing promise that Jesus Himself spoke to us.

"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

John 8:32


What a word from the mouth of God! He promised to make us free. And yet, how easily we have heard that scripture, over and over, and the meaning of it is lost on us, and does not even get us excited. Some would say..."well, ok. So I am free? I was forgiven and I am free from the consequences of my sins. So many can look at that scripture and see a promise not for this life but for the afterlife, freedom in Heaven. They simply fail to read the rest of the promise...

"They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

John 8:33-35

Stop for a minute. Think. Let the words of this last scripture roll around in your brain until they penetrate your heart. The freedom that Jesus offers us is NOT just freedom from the penalty of our sins when we arrive in Heaven. Jesus is promising us victory over sin itself...now...in this life.

Interesting, huh? Think on that today, and if you find an excitement, even a small gurgle of expectation bubbling inside you, where before there was none, that, friends is the effect of an exceeding great and precious promise. But there are mamy, many more. Stay tuned....
I hope your day is blessed.





Bruce

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my blog. The title should give you some idea of the content. If you are a Christian, you will hopefully be familiar with the words, written by the Apostle Peter:

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature..."

2 Peter 1:4

Here, in this simple verse, is hidden one of the most important truths a Christian can possess, a key to unlocking the shackles of failure, sin and the fleshly carnal nature that seem to enslave the churches today, both corporately and individually. This blog will be controversial. Many will not like the truths it reveals, Many others will scoff or doubt, but I make you a solemn promise, here on the first day of the blog, that if you will press through the crowd of doubters who would attempt to keep you joyless and defeated in your walk with Christ, you will experience a walk you have only dreamed of, a walk of victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.

Even now, I can see the raised eyebrows and doubts creeping in. I am used to it, trust me. LOL. But it makes no matter.... the promises of God are still yea and amen, surer than the sun will rise tomorrow morning. In this blog site, I hope to simply be used of our great God to open up truths in His word that have been hidden from so many eyes, and as you will see, hidden in plain sight!. They do not have to be twisted, nor woven into complicated doctrinal theory. You do not have to be smart, nor religious. As a matter of fact, more often than not, those can often times be more of a hindrance than a benefit.

In EGAPP, We will wade boldly into the promises of God, one by one. His promises are not meant to only be crocheted on pillows, or printed exquisitely on beautiful plaques and sold in Christian bookstores. His promises are given to us to be walked in! One by one, as we dsicover why Peter called them the "exceeding great and precious" promises, a brand new perspective on God and what He offers us freely, will be born.

He has forgiven us, yes, and that is a blessed thing. But how often we have started out our journey full of love ablaze, and after years of serving Him, we find ourselves with not enough heat to even keep ourselves warm, let alone be of any real help to others? Too often.

There is more, dear brother and sister in Christ. Far more! Exceeding great promises. This is our heritage as children of God in this life! Make no mistake, this is not some nice little religious blog, it is a revolution in the making, a radical overthrowing of the enemy of your soul.

Make no mistake. There is a cost here. As the saying goes..."it may be free, but it ain't cheap". But to those of you who are desperate for an answer, hungry for more of Jesus and less of you, you are about to be blessed beyond imagination.

Now how can I make such a bold and almost "arrogant" statement? It is simple. Read the second part of the above scripture....

" ...that through these, you might be partakers of the divine nature....."

If I am honest, I must admit that even I can scarcely take it in. What is the purpose of God giving us the promises? Victory? Yes! Defeating secret sins and lusts that plague our walks? Absolutely! But lest we come short of why we were saved to begin with, why God even called us. the purpose of our salvation is clear...for God to fill us with Himself and fill us FULL.

Welcome again to EGAPP, a blog like no other. In the days and weeks to come, we will not only learn about what God has promised us, but why up till now we have not enjoyed those promises. We will learn how apply them and how to make them the sure mercies of David, eliminating the roller coaster, three steps forward- two steps back walk so many are familiar with. We will explore the new covenant of God, for it indeed IS the covenant of promise, and the old covenant, the law of commandments, and how it has robbed us our our victory up till now.

If you have any comments or questions, I welcome them. As the saying goes, the only bad question is an unanswered one. May God richly bless you and may the results for all here be that we experience what Jesus had in mind when he said we would be FREE INDEED!

Bruce



For questions, simply e-mail me at bgreer2626@yahoo.com