Continuing Pastor Kyle message: Another highest blessing from God is forgiveness. God’s grace (His unmerited favor to give us what we do not deserve) the minute that we repent and become followers of Jesus Christ, by the blessed Redeemers wounds we are healed, and by our Savior’s finished work on the Cross we are set free; forgiven once and for all. But, God goes one step further in that when we fall in sin after saved, we still have to pay the natural earthly consequences of those sins, even though Christ paid for them on the Cross for the eternal spiritual consequence. Hate sin for what it is: wrong in the eyes of the Lord and wicked and shameful rebellion against His holy Word, Will and Way. The Christian is still tempted by the sinful desires of the flesh even after accepting Christ and as the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7:15-20, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
Then the Apostle Paul explains why in Galatians 5:16-17 saying, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” The Born-again Christian may fall into the pigpen of sin, but like the Prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32, but they stand back upright with God, get out of the pigsty of sin and repentantly go back to the Father, leaving the filthy sin behind and reorienting their life’s alignment with God’s Word, Will and Way by walking in thought, word and deed with the Spirit. By the grace of God, Christ paying for our sins shouldn’t make you feel guiltless for committing sin. We were design and created by God for righteousness and holiness, not sinfulness.
The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 6:1-15, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
In John 8:31-35 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free ... I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.” The Apostle Paul explains in plain language for us to understand in Romans 6:19, “I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” Sanctification is defined as: The act of consecrating or of setting apart for a sacred purpose; The act of making holy. Growing and maturing into the likeness of Christ in righteous living. In an evangelical sense, the act of God's grace by which the affections of men and women are purified or alienated from sin and the God-rejecting world, and exalted to a supreme love to God. Hate sin; love God.
Another highest blessing from God is provision. One of the names for God is Jehovah-jireh, meaning “the Lord will provide”. Providence in theology is defined as: the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars. A belief in divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is often understood God himself. As a part of provision God says “I want you to put Me first”.
Another highest blessing from God is in love and belonging. The Apostle John tells us in John 1:12-13 ‘to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name — who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].” True believing Christians are children belonging to the Father in the family of God through the love of God that saved and sanctified them into the body of Believers (the church) with Christ as their head. Do you understand that? In Matthew 16:15-18 the Lord Jesus asked His Disciples, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock [the profession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God], I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The body of believing brothers and sisters in Christ, as children of God, are the church, loving and belonging to their heavenly Father in the Kingdom of God. Does that make sense? This is all glorious news and why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is called “Good News”! Halleluiah! Praise be to God!
In Christ, Brian
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