Christian Living
Being Righteous vs. Unrighteous
Righteousness in the Greek concordance declares that God sees His born again children as justified = (blameless), innocent = (free from evil), and holy = (set apart from the world and us having the freedom to walk in God’s presence at all times with out being ashamed of them self and feeling guilty.
Unrighteousness is when we try to live by any standard that takes God’s living presence out of the equation of life and we try to measure up in some way to gain God’s acceptance and come up with a plan to make heaven our home by trying to be good deed doers.
Having an un-righteous mentality is a person not trusting in Jesus finished work at the cross and what causes us to live as slaves to a sinful life style of abusing our self. There is pleasure in living in one’s sins of abuse for a season. All people were made by God to be edified and looking for satisfaction in their life. Because of this fact, unsaved people are looking for love in all the wrong places. Raptures of sinful behavior last for only a short season because; they never are totally fulfilling and they need to be experimented and experimented with to get a greater high for fulfillment of self abuse.
This becomes bondage in ones life and can only be broken by the Righteous Spirit of God through the Holy Spirit working with in us by the power of God’s grace. No good deeds, acts of penance, ritualistic rites or any other concocted ideas made up by mankind can cause us to walk any closer to God and be delivered from an unrighteous sin mentality.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 Solomon declares the seasons of life that all mankind has to deal with. He states. “To every thing there is a season and a purpose that must be submitted to heavens control and final authority. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pick what was planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to throw stones and a time to gather them; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time for tearing and a time for sewing; a time to speak and a time to be silent; a time to love and a time to hate; a time of war and a time of peace.
What reward is there for the person that is doing all this fatiguing work or going constantly through these seasons? I have seen the painful labor, concern and effort, which God has given to, the (sons of men) keeping him busy with all his duties or earthy chores. God has made everything beautiful in its time; He also has planted eternity in men’s heart and mind. God has planted a divinely sense of purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God can satisfy, yet no man in his own understanding will be able to figure out what God had in mind from His first thought until His plans will be completed.”
We must be able to relate with these seasons and we must put them under the rule of heaven because only God can nourish and protected us so we can become more like Him. It is our relationship with the Holy Spirit that causes this to happen. Whether a person is born again or not, he will experience all these growing seasons and emotions stated in these eleven verses.
These seasons are not too be judged by us as being good or bad or are we to think that they are only peculiar or different from others and that God causes these seasons to discipline us to conform to His ways by fear or force. These seasons are the normal development and evolution of humanity. These seasons become fatiguing in our lives when we try to cope with them with an unrighteous spirit by dealing with them in our own planning and strength.
Most of the preaching that I have heard over the years is a connotation of these seasons in our lives being judged as being wrong. Sin consciousness or the troubling guilt of being aware of sin in our life was planned by God to bring us to the end of one self and cast our care on Him. By us experiencing the guilt and shame that infects man’s soul; it was God’s plan of making man uneasy and recognizing that they needed a savior to deliver them from this life style. The majority of born again believers who have been taught the horrors of sin and the judgment of it by God will have a hard time realizing what Paul the Apostle meant when he stated this in Romans 5:19.
“By one man (Adam) and his disobedient act many were made sinners or became un-righteous. However, Jesus one act of obedience of dying on a cross made many righteous. God gave the Ten Commandments to (Moses) so that man could have a greater understanding and have no doubt of their disobedience by knowing that they were breaking His commandments. Therefore, sin brings death (an eternity in hell to the unsaved. However, the saved living by the grace of God brings eternal life through the righteousness of Jesus Christ that lives with in them.”
We are to lift up the Lord (Jesus Christ) in all Christian settings and daily in our conversations with the saved and un-saved. When God’s children do not know what their righteous position represents in Christ and how to flow in it, they portray death to the un-saved and saved alike. To the unsaved a death of eternal life in hell and to the believer a spiritual disconnect to a vital empowered life in the Spirit World of God’s kingdom. This kingdom was born in us the day we accepted Christ in our lives.
If you have become born again; God already sees you Justified = (blameless, absolved from all sin past, present and future). Innocent = (free from evil by being naive as a trusting child and having the capability to no longer have a condescending attitude of judging ourselves and others.) Holy = (set apart from the world and able to walk in God’s presence with boldness.)
To walk in the awareness of this state; a Christian must hunger and thirst after God so that the Holy Spirit can constantly reinforce our permanent connection and favor that God wants to lavish on us in our heart and soul in spite of the fact that; we have oppressive faults that we are all dealing with. Oppressive faults are not sins but areas where we are not yet sure of our total acceptance by God and it is the Holy Ghost’s responsibility to strengthen those areas in our thinking that are still weak and where the devil is trying to invade our life with his influences. God gave us life by putting His Spirit in us; so we could rule and reign with Him now and for eternity.
When God’s Righteous Spirit is not operating in our mind and heart the alternative is an un-righteous spirit at work. There is no middle ground. The word unrighteousness in the Hebrew is aven: It means to exert one self in vanity, wickedness, idol worship, being incurable, being fatherless and things brought to nothing. Who in their right mind would want to intentionally walk in any of these conditions? I have come to the conclusion from scripture that; the devil has put a malaise over the minds of people to have them doubt the love that God has for His creation.
The word for unrighteousness in the Greek means; a person being unjust, heathenistic, and judgmental and having a fear of punishment. A person doesn’t have to plan to do evil to break the laws of God and man to be in this condition of being un-righteousness. A heathen’s attitude is one who remains firm in their opinion of a lower form of religion. He thinks in terms of judging, inflicting punishment, and getting even on himself and in turn on others. Have you ever functioned with this spirit trying to control you?
Isaiah the Prophet in Isaiah 55:7 tells us. “Let the unrighteous forsake his thoughts.” Scripture also tells us. “As a man thinks in his own heart; this is what he will act out in his life.” When one operates in un-righteousness, they cause a disturbance in the Spiritual World, are violent and actively go around frustrating the peace and grace of God to not have rule and reign over their life and they are not able to receive God’s unmerited favor from having its full play in their life.
In Romans 1:18 Paul tells us, “God’s anger and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wrong thinking (repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative.” Wickedness in one’s life represents an indifferent attitude toward Godly ways and a person is not hot or cold in their Christian walk but lukewarm. People who live like this have no intense passion for God because; they feel that they have arrived at some semblance of spiritual maturity and have become un-teachable or don’t need any more Godly wisdom.
They have not been taught or are not seeking first the kingdom of God and operating in His Righteous Spirit.
The key here is to seek first God’s righteousness and this will allow His Spirit to have full play in our life. God calls us to run to Him and let the Holy Spirit give us a word of wisdom to deliver us from this condition. A perfect example of false interpretations of scripture that keeps people from understanding God’s perfect love and patience in maturing is found in Revelations 3:15-20.
John the Apostle wrote a letter and gave a word from the Lord to the church at Laodicea. He writes, “I know your record of works and know what you are doing; you are neither hot nor cold, it’s my desire that you be either hot or cold! So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I’ll spew you out of my mouth! For you say, I am rich and have prospered and grown wealthy and I am in need of nothing.
With this attitude, don’t you realize that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked? Therefore I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be truly wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen and eye salve to put on your eyes that you may see. Those who I love, I tell their faults to and convince and reprove and instruct them. So be enthusiastic and have a passion to talk to me and follow my advice at all times. Allow me to change your mind and attitude. I stand at your hearts door and knock asking permission to come in and have a very real relationship with you.”
One of the most devastating and false interpretations of scripture that I have ever heard is this interpretation of these verses that says, because these people had this condition of being lukewarm, they made God sick to His stomach and He was going to vomit them out of His mouth. It’s these kinds of false conditional love themes that keep Christians not totally sure of how much forgiveness they can receive from the Lord and this type teaching brings death in their connection to experiencing the love of God.
There is a terrible need in the body of Christ to unlearn some of these false teachings and come to the truth of God’s word, so people can be set free to explore a real relationship with Him and become independently dependent thinkers of God by rightly interpreting the Holy Spirit’s voice. Let’s rightly interpret what God meant, by vomiting us out of His mouth.
God’s love endures forever and it is His nature to continually restore us to a place of wholeness at His side. This battle of wholeness cannot be communicated through themes that God is losing His patience or becoming fed up with His children. When we do this, we stop receiving God’s mercy because; there are conditions being attached to it. This mind set prevents us from having a passion to love God and in turn love others as ourselves.
People who are their own worst enemy are those who cannot love them self.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us. “Jesus is the sole expression of the glory of God. He is the light being and the out raying of the Divine. He is the perfect imprint and the image of God’s nature upholding, maintaining and propelling the universe by His mighty “WORDS” which is His power. When God speaks, things happen. Let us go back and see when God first spoke.
In Genesis it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water and God spoke, “Let there be light and God saw that the light was good and God divided the light from the darkness.” God spoke eight more times, and every time He spoke, there was a created miracle that took place. Out of God’s spirit, out from His inner most being He spewed forth an extension of Him self and created life on the planet. Everywhere God speaks forth and it is received, it brings life. He is the LIFE GIVER.
God doesn’t love us when He has a good day and not love us when He has a bad day. His whole nature and force of life as He exists is His love, patience and grace. God wants to spew forth His wisdom into our thought life and plant His being deeply with in us. When we interpret God’s word and believe that He is fed up with us, it puts a wall of skepticism up that stops God from spewing or speaking forth His life force, which are His words of wisdom into our spirit and changing us to His way of thinking. The simplest example I can give on why God wanted them to be hot or cold is this.
In the physical on a cold day, there is nothing like a nice hot drink to warm you up and on a hot day, there is nothing like a nice ice cold drink to cool you off. We can’t grow spiritually if we are not becoming sensitive in our sensibilities with God’s fellow feelings, so we can give to ourselves and others a hot or cold drink in the spiritual realm as the need prescribes.
By knowing God’s vision and purpose for our lives; we can cultivate His intensions by our spoken words of wisdom given to us by Him; which brings His call on our life to maturity.
Having this type of relationship makes us more secure and hungry in trusting His inner voice and it anchors our soul and drives out the fear of losing God’s affections. We become our own worst enemy, take offense, and get angry because, we have not matured through having living experiences of the love of God. Whether you are in a church setting or going through your daily walk in the world, there is a judgment spirit at work influencing our mind and emotions everywhere we go. It’s sad and dangerous that, we have so much of this type of condemning spirit going on in the born again pulpits of today. Fruit inspectors are everywhere.
The problem that arises in a Christian congregation is that in their outward behavior, whether a person expresses passive or exhilarating emotion this is what’s looked at in many settings to judge whether a person’s love and relationship with the Lord is on track. Being emotional or emotionless has nothing to do with our right standing in our relationship with the Lord. We are not to use this as a standard for our righteousness as an example of growth. Human emotion is not the anointing of God. How can a person express true accelerations and joy in their relationship with the Lord, if they are internally confused and afraid of a God they have been taught is moody and changes his mind on his blessings. Should the show just go on as usual and should we just be all smiles while we are really hurting, confused in our thinking and needing a Godly hug.
David the King danced before the Lord with all his might and took no thought of looking like a fool even when he was rebuked and despised by his wife. He had no doubt of God’s kindness, patience and goodness. We don’t have to get people into a wild frenzy for God to show up. There are places where I have personally witnessed people getting a better work out at church, then at the gym training to stay in shape. Walking with the Lord is not some flesh hype experience of emotional excitement, but His Spirit of Righteousness operating in the power of His love in our thought life with common sense.
11Cor. 3:6 tells us, “God has qualified us, by making us sufficient as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant not a minister of legal codes, but of the Spirit. We as ministers are not to have an attitude of insisting on our own ideas of leaning towards our own understanding of scripture. Therefore, we are to teach how salvation is accomplished which is only through Jesus Christ. For when we live by the code of trying to obey laws; we depart from the relationship that makes us alive through the Holy Spirit.”
In Romans 7:4-6, Paul also tells us. “You have undergone death as far as having to obey the CODE OF THE LAW because; of Christ dying on the cross. In turn, we now belong to Him because He was raised from the dead and now we can bear much fruit for God. Before we became born again, we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives) and our sinful passions were aroused and awakened, because of us knowing we were breaking God’s laws. This is what causes sin to operate in our natural powers, in the sensitive appetites and the will of the flesh and therefore sin showed up in our behavior.
However, now we are released from this type of mentality of trying in our own strength to obey God’s Law and we are to not have any intercourse with it because, we have died with Christ at the cross where before this took place, we were held a captive to this type of mentality. So now we serve not under (obedience to) the old code of written regulations, but (under obedience to the promptings of the Spirit in a newness of life.
When a Christian tries to go back and live under regulated rules to feel secure; they fall back from receiving God’s favor that they do not have to earn. When this spirit is in operation in their mind and heart; they are never set free from the guilt and shame operating in their make up and they have no boldness to approach God’s presence.
In Romans 6:13-18 Paul continues to say, “ Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourself to any one to do his will, you become a slave to obey him, whether becoming a slave to sin which leads to death or becoming obedient to righteousness, which makes us recognize the high esteem God’s has for us. Thank God, though once you were slaves of sin, you have now become obedient with all of your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed.
Therefore, since you have been set free from sin, you have become the servant of righteousness and will know make you able to conform to God’s divine will in thought, purpose and action. Therefore, don’t let yourselves be used for any un-righteous purposes, but surrender yourselves to God, as those that have been raised from the dead with Christ and present yourself to God by knowing your righteous position in him.”
All unrighteous thinking in our mind is contrary to God’s laws of the kingdom. The first law that God gave to man was in the Garden of Eden when He told Adam, “he could eat from all of the trees in the garden except of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
When Adam and Eve ate they were contaminated with un-righteous thinking and for the first time they became aware that they broke a law of God. God never planned for mankind to live with the guilt of them knowing they broke one of His laws. This is what contaminated them to focus their attention on their shortcomings and faults, which caused their shame nature, to dominate their lives. Prior to this; their focus was on a relationship with God Period.
In James chapter 4, he gives a dialogue of a mentality that causes this to happen when he says. “There is only one who is the law giver and judge. He is the one that has the power over life and death and able to save or destroy. Anybody else has no right to judge himself or his neighbor. So come to realize that, when you say today or tomorrow we will go here and there, do business, and make money. This is not God’s way because, we know the least thing about what is going to happen tomorrow or what the nature of our life is all about.
Don’t you realize that your life is nothing but a puff of smoke, a mist that is visible for only a while and then disappears into thin air? You ought to be saying, if the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that thing. However, what you are doing is boasting falsely and you have become presumptuous and self conceited. So any person who becomes self sufficient and judges himself and believes that he is breaking one of God’s law, to him he suffers the consequences of sin.”
A person who judges him self may love the Lord with all of their heart however, in their desire to walk in obedience to God’s commands, they have the idea that, they have to pull themselves up by their own boot straps and work harder at trying to be obedient. Their understanding of God‘s laws have been so engrafted into their heart and mind that; their awareness of being a law breaker DOMINATES THEIR THINKING.
This type of bondage is intensified in their lives when they sit under denominational teachings that constantly talks about people’s shortcomings and shame based nature that Jesus died for at the cross. This mentality that is defined as being un-righteous verses righteous thinking is found in 1John 3:1-4.
John says, “See what an incredible quality of love the Father has given us that we should be permitted to be named, called and counted as being a child of God. The reason that the world does not recognize us is because; they do not recognize him. Beloved we are even here and now God’s children; yet it is not clear to us what we are becoming however, when the Lord comes, we will be like him and see Him as He really is. Anyone who has this hope resting on Him (is living in his purification as he is ALREADY BEEN PURIFIED at the cross.) Whoever commits sin breaks the law: for sin is the breaking of laws.”
When a child of God does not realize THEIR SPOTLESSNESS in Christ after their born again experience; they can not live with a internal peace and rest and they stay in bondage to fear, agitating passions and moral conflicts because; their security is in the regimented life observances of church assembly and doctrines of what they consider to be the norms of Christian acceptances which is them focusing on cleaning up their act and doing good deeds.
Paul tells us in Romans 6:14. “Sin can not have any more dominion over you for; we are to no longer live under the reasoning of breaking laws because; we have become born again and we are to live under grace= (God’s divine favor that is unearned) We must get a spiritual understanding of this deep in our heart if; we want to sense the strength of God holding us and having our name tattooed in the palm of his hand.
Our physical body houses the Holy Spirit. When ever we allow unrighteous thoughts contrary to God’s love for us take control scripture says; we blaspheme the word of God. The real issue we need to guard against is having our house divided between the Holy Spirit trying to get our attention and trying to persuade us on the truth of our permanent security in Christ verses; our mind being bombarded by false doctrines and demonic influences to weaken our resolve to function as God‘s ambassadors on the earth. Let’s look at Hebrews chapter five and six as Paul the Apostle gives an example as to what is going on in most born again assemblies today.
Paul says this to these people in Hebrews 5:7-14. “In the days when Jesus walked the earth, He offered up definite petitions to His Heavenly Father for not only the things that He needed but also for the things that He wanted. He did this with strong crying and tears to Him who could always deliver him from any type of spiritual death. God always heard Him because of the reverential fear and piety (awesome respect) he had towards God.”
Piety means, a person remaining faithful to a parent.
“Jesus ran from the fears of anything that might cause Him from being separated in recognizing the presence of his Heavenly Father in His life. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. Because He completed His race of obedience in life, He became the Author and Source of eternal salvation, but only to those who give serious attention and obey Him. God designated Jesus as the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.”
Concerning this example of Jesus being after the order of Melchizedek, I have much to say to you. However, it will be hard for you to understand because; you have become dull in your (spiritual) hearing and sluggish in achieving spiritual insight. For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others this example, you actually need some one to teach you over again the very first principles of God’s Word. I have to feed you on milk because; you cannot eat solid food.
For every one who continues to feed on milk is obviously unskilled in understanding their righteous position in Christ and (how to conform to His divine will in purpose, thought and action.) For every one that does not understand their righteous position in Christ is a mere infant and not able to talk yet. But solid food is for full-grown men and women whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discern between what is righteous thinking verses un- righteous thinking.”
In order for the body of Christ to run from anything that will separate them from the presence of the Lord, they must be able to discern what it is that they need to be running from. When believers do not understand their inheritance and ambassadorship in the family of God, they do not know how to decree a thing and speak the word of faith and release God to bring it to pass in their life. Scripture tells us “Let those that know their righteousness say so with their words.”
When one does not understand the power they possess after becoming a member of the family, the words they confess can bring either life or death into their arenas of influence.
God tells us that, we have the power to decree a thing. What decrees are coming out of your mouth daily, life or death? If we do not understand this concept of Jesus being compared to the Order of Melchizedak and what Jesus represents in our new life in Christ, we will forever be nourishing our spiritual life on the milk of God’s word rather then the solid food that is needed to mature and grow strong in the Lord.
Paul tells us that “we need to put our childish attitudes away and grow up and get off the milk of God’s word to meatier things.” Let’s now understand this concept so that we don’t stay as babies on the milk of the word.
Melchizedak represents a High Priest of the Old Testament and an initial step that was needed for God’s people to recognize their need for Him. High Priests were the ones that mediated the covenant between God and His people. It was only through them that the people’s sins could be forgiven by God. They were Levitical Priests appointed to regulate laws relating to ritual and moral precepts.
If this system was able to make Gods people pure in heart, why did God the Father have to send Christ to live in Jesus to make a new covenant and became a mediator for the people as the Levitical Priests were at one time? As the Levitical Priests died and new ones took there place, the laws of ritual and moral precepts also changed. For us who have been born again, Jesus is now our living High Priest and what He says never can be changed however; they can be misunderstood by us through faulty teaching.
As the Levitical Priests of the Old Testament offered up unblemished animals for the sins of the people and themselves, Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and rose again from the dead and we need no other offerings or personal sacrifices in our own endeavors. When we function in a mindset of ever focusing on our shortcomings and stay in a sin conscience mentality as they did in the Old Testament waiting for the day that their sins would be atoned for once a year by the slaughtering of animals; one does not understand their righteous position in Christ. This skin pealing is a weight around our neck.
Since Jesus is forever our high Priest; the first plan God had of how our sins were to be forgiven in the Old Testament have been canceled by God because, it was weak, ineffective and useless and it kept people always mindful of their sins daily. When we try to obey laws and moral precepts; this will never make us perfect. However, instead Jesus Righteous Spirit at work in us now makes us able to draw near to God and we are to see ourselves as He sees us as being blameless, innocent and set apart to do His bidding on the earth.
It is a matter of life and death for God’s children that they get a deep spiritual revelation of how God sees them and that it is planted deep with in their subconscious mind and heart if; they are to grow to maturity and do the works of Jesus.
The former successive lines of Levitical Priests were made up of many men because they were prevented by death to continually hold office. However, Jesus holds this office forever because; He is alive and sits at the right hand of God always speaking to God the Father on our behalf. Jesus has no day-to-day necessity as the other high priests had in offering sacrifices of animals for sins because; he has met all the requirements with in Himself once and for all times. The laws of the Ten Commandments that God set down from Moses, was only to make people aware of their weaknesses and human frailties. Now us accepting Jesus completed work at the cross makes us perfect and complete in God’s eyes.
(That’s right; you can and must believe it.)
Let’s not confuse the difference between our position in Christ verses our growing up from childhood to manhood. We are going to have growing pains in the physical and the spiritual worlds. As we grow physically, we need to grow spiritually. When we have mingled seed doctrine of any type that gives the connotation of God loves me and He loves me not, the believer’s Righteous position in Christ is always in question in their mind and heart. This causes double mindedness in the believer; double minded men have a difficult time receiving anything from the Lord.
Let’s now examine what’s going on in many church assemblies today and how the understanding of our position in Christ is not being taught with clarity if at all. If we are going to mature; we need to understand and heed Paul’s words.
He states in Hebrews 6:1-8. “Therefore let us go on and get past the basic facts in the teachings and doctrines of Christ, advancing steadily towards the completeness and perfection that belongs to spiritual maturity. Lets us not again lay the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith which turned you to God, with teachings about purifying the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment and punishment. These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware of long ago.
It is God’s will that you go on to advanced teaching. For it is impossible to restore and bring to repentance those who have been once for all enlightened, who have constantly tasted of the heavenly gift, and have become sharers of the Holy Spirit and have felt how good the Word of God is and the mighty power of the age and world to come. If they then deviate from the faith and turn away from their allegiance; it is impossible to bring them back to repentance, for because for as long as they nail up on the cross the son of God afresh, as far as they are concerned they hold Him up to contempt and shame and public disgrace.
For the soil which has drunk the rain that repeatedly falls upon it, and produces vegetation useful to those for whose benefit it is cultivated, partakes of a blessing from God. However, if the same soil continually bears thorns and thistles, it is considered worthless and near to being burned, cursed, whose end is to be burned.”
Let’s define these doctrines that have to be put away and what Paul was talking about that causes us to deviate from the faith after being enlightened. When we deviate from the faith, it does not mean that we backslide and go to hell after we become born again. When one leaves the doctrines of dead works, we are talking about putting away any self-righteous works on our part of trying to clean up our own act. This is defined as us living in unrighteousness and in dirty filthy rags as far as God is concerned. The unsaved who don’t know God live like this. However, the born again church has to be weaned off this idea. They are still teaching in the majority of born again churches that, we have to help God out so we can earn our salvation and keep it.
Now this idea of the laying on of hands is an Old Testament doctrine. As I have said; the Levitical priesthood would once a year offer up unblemished animals as a sin offering for the people and themselves. By them laying their hands on these animals before they were sacrificed, the sins of the people were transferred on to the animal and their sins would be burnt up. We need to finally be enlightened and understand that it was Jesus sacrifice as He put the sins of the world on His own person once and for all and only He is the mediator between God the Father and mankind and there needs to be no more sacrifices by any body in any form.
This enslavement to denominational involvement and these teachings as far as knowing who your spiritual leaders are and going to them for a word from God has to stop. Yes, we have spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom and an authority type system. However, we are to put no one in a place of judging our hearts and to be worshiped. We can only know who are spiritual leaders are if they are confirming to us the same word we are hearing from the Holy Spirit in our daily walk with Him. Scripture tells us that we need to have no one teach us but the Holy Spirit is our teacher. This issue is in deed at times difficult to discern.
People that do not know the Holy Spirit’s voice are sheep being led to be slaughtered and this takes place because; they have no deep root of the word of God in them. It is only those who are becoming strong in the word that will be able to overcome the devils devices. If you do not have a work ethic of presenting your body as a living sacrifice and are renewing your mind daily, it is only because, you do not meditate on the word day and night and are truly seeking God’s righteousness. This causes you to never get off the milk of the word and you will a baby all of our life. There is nothing more crippling that can happen to a born again believer than, to stay a child all of their life and never function as a grown son and daughter in God’s kingdom doing the works of Jesus in the earth.
I know many people who are very educated and learned people who with all their knowledge and understanding they have never gone to God’s school of the scriptures and to this day after years they are still on the milk of the word. This should not be so. We were raised to a new life and can walk in heavenly places with Christ Jesus now and there is no eternal judgment and punishment for us because, we are his children and He loves us with out any conditions. This should be all basic stuff if you have been saved for a number of years and unless you get this forever settled; your foundation in Christ will never be established. As long as we have backsliding and going to hell interpretations from scripture and we do not understand That God not only loves us but he likes us with out us measuring up to conditions, you can not go on to maturity as Paul describes.
Now we come to the part that has been totally misunderstood from when ever. The reason why a person cannot be restored is because, their childish milk thinking understanding has them always looking under their white robe of righteousness that God put on them. They live with a shame spirit of never being good enough to walk with God behind the veil in his Holy Courts because; they live in a sin conscience mentality focusing on their behavior rather than their righteousness that God imputed to them.
This word imputed is the living entity of the life of Christ Himself that He gave us the day we were ushered forever into His kingdom
This lack of understanding causes you to live with an unworthiness and self-loathing. These feelings can be repressed for years because of sitting under false teachings going on with in the Christian community and it keeps you looking at your self with spots and wrinkles. This is what happens when; we are not being discipled and continue to live with un-righteous thinking. When one sits under teachings that we were sinners saved by grace which is true however; they are not being taught that they are now no longer sinners because of becoming a new creation in Christ and have become His saints, this causes the reality of their newness to never take hold and they stay as babies and never truly know how to enter God’s courts with praise and thanksgiving to be knighted by their Heavenly Father.
GOD CANNOT KNIGHT CHILDREN STILL IN THEIR DIAPERS.
We were sinners who were saved by God’s grace because; God’s bestowed His unmerited favor upon us. Being God’s saints was God’s plan from the beginning and it is time for us to put away our childish thinking and know for sure that; God sees us as being pure and spotless in His sight because; he sees Christ in us.
This verse continues to say; we have now been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, became sharers in the Holy Spirit, felt how good the word of God is and the mighty power of the world to come. I would suggest if you have never had a witness of this, I would question my salvation. True fellowship and living with passion after God daily, has us continually experiencing these five witnesses and confirms to us our sainthood in Him. When one deviates from this life style in your thinking; you cannot be restored again.
God says, “I saved you and you cannot be resaved that only happens once and it is a permanent miracle and you are always going to be my children. If you deviate from the faith and do not stay true to your relationship with me by seeking my friendship, my sacrifice on the cross stays true for you and my love never changes. I stay true and my love covers you while you are harming yourself in your endeavor in looking for love in all the wrong places.” This only takes place because; a person lives by the mind set of judging their behavior and using that as a standard for living rather then understanding their righteous pure state that God says they are in.
It is a hard thing to realize that when the body of Christ stays on the milk of the word and never matures, God says that; His body is a shame and a disgrace to the world. It is obvious that the world has no awe and fearful respect for the body of Christ. When we stay a baby in our thinking, we can not show the love of God to a sick and dying world through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The last part of these verses tells us; the Spirit of God’s love constantly wants to rain on us and produce in us His works with abundant life. If it is not being taught properly, the results will be worthless endeavors that will have no eternal purposes in God’s kingdom. In turn, these works will be burnt up and the only thing left standing will be God’s perfect will that was accomplished in our lives. We said that; only the solid foundation that is built by the Apostles and Prophets with Christ being the chief cornerstone has to be laid and then we can go on to teach mature doctrines of kingdom living.
Paul the Apostle defines this in 1Cor. 10-15 when he says, “According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another can now build upon it. However, let every one who builds on it be careful how he adds to it, for there is no other foundation that a person can build on except the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now if any man builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw; every man’s work shall be made clear to see and understand for the day of Christ will declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire will critically appraise the character and worth of the work which each person has done. If any man’s work is burnt up under the test, he will suffer the loss of it all losing his reward. However, he himself shall be saved but only as one who has passed through the fire. Do you not understand the whole body of Christ is a temple and God’s Spirit is a permanent dwelling in you to be a home in you both collectively as a church but also individually?”
As long as we have so called leaders teaching that this fire that Paul was talking about was a person backsliding and going to burn in hell, there will be no hope for the born again believer in Christ who believes this. God’s first priority is not about a Christian’s prospering and living by whatever amount of financial income they have the faith to believe for. However, that is what so many born again assemblies focus on as their first priority.
Scripture shows that a majority of the body of Christ is in a state of apostasy which was predicted to happen in these last days. God does not care what type of materials you use to build your life as long as HE is your source. Paul also had a word to the Galatian church because, they were having trouble building on their foundation that Paul had laid with false interpretation of scripture and were leaning toward their own understanding of how to mature.
He tells them in Gal. 7-8 “ Do not be deceived and mislead; God will not allow himself to be sneered at, scorned or mocked by people having mere untruthful declarations by having His precepts set aside. A person inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For what ever a man sows into his life it is that what he will also reap. For if, he sows to his own understanding of God, it will reap decay and ruin. However, if he sows his life in the Holy Spirits counsel, he will reap the reward here and now and the continuance in heaven for eternity.”
It is not God’s intensions here as many believe; to inflict pain on His children. A parent tells his children don’t touch the hot stove or you will be burnt. The child either heeds the parent’s warning or suffers the consequences. God never gets angry with His kids; He just grieves over their ignorance and the loss that they live with by not receiving His love, forgiveness and not participating in their inheritance that He gave them. All of your endeavors to follow Christ in your maturing will be tested by fiery trials of life, which is the way we learn. Yes, some of the wounds that we experience are self-inflicted. I believe more than we want to admit to. The real enemy I have learned is ignorance of God’s ways and we need to be equipped by sound doctrine to handle the warfare of life and become winners as God always intended.
God’s kingdom came into us the day Jesus Christ came into our heart and we became born again. When the born again believer does not function with the mind of Christ with the new nature they received when they were born again from above, they stay in ignorance under a task master spirit of legalistic codes.
One cannot pray them out of this death sin life style as long as they continually put Christ up to contempt and public shame because; they live in a shame of realizing they have done something wrong and do not live in the light and safety of God’s continual forgiving never ending love for them. This is what a sin conscience mentality does to a person. In spite of this condition; Christ’s attitude is that He continually follows through with His original love of dying on the cross so we can become a completed equipped Christian.
The Holy Spirit grieves over us when we punish ourselves like this. The born again believer must decide to come to the end of them self and come to God needy and hungry by allowing the Holy Spirit to show them the difference of how God’s kingdom operates verses their works of trying to straighten up and fly right. Our faults and weaknesses are to be brought to the Lord and this is what causes us to grow strong and straight in his kingdom as we surrender to His leadings. God uses our faults and failures as building blocks into our character which makes us stronger day by day. Most Christians are not aware of this growth pattern.
Forty years ago, a prophetic word came out at a Sunday morning worship service. It set a tone and anchor of my soul all of these years. When I heard it, I thought that the prophesy would take place immediately only to find out it is the work that the Holy Spirit has been doing in the body of Christ then and is more important today then ever. I pray the Lord will make it very real to you.
God said, “My people you have grown over the years but only by the measure of your own understanding. Because of this, you feel ashamed because you know you have done something wrong. Come to me with your hands up raised and I will take the old tight fitting clothes that you are wearing off of you. (You must stop leaning towards your own understanding) When your clothes come off; you will murmur and complain because they have grown into your flesh and some of your flesh will come with them. (Your understanding of my love for you is misconceived.) However, if you are willing, I will put a white robe of Righteousness on you and you will be able to walk in my courts with out shame and with GREAT FREEDOM!”
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