My Answer is ... August 7, 2010

Q: THINK ABOUT THIS: Have you ever been writing on a piece of paper and messed up? If so you would take your “eraser” and erase what you “messed" up on..That is what Jesus did for you when you “messed” up; ERASED ALL YOUR SINS ONCE AND FOR ALL.

A: Do we believe our sins are "erased, once and for all" and "all gone"? Do you still ask God to forgive you when you sin? Do you believe God's forgiveness is conditional on you first forgiving others? Will you be answering the "altar call" this weekend to "rededicate" yourself to God? Do you have an appointment with the priest to enter the confession booth? Do you believe the "Lord's Prayer" and 1 John 1:9 are for believers? If any or all of these things are still a part of your life then you don't believe God has erased all your sins or that they are all gone. Until we understand the forgiveness issue we will struggle to grow in our relationship with Jesus or truly understand His love for us. How can we when we believe our sins separate us from Him? My prayer is that all the saints do what I did and do a thorough study on New Covenant forgiveness. Do a study on the "once and for all's". Study the following passages; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, Hebrews 10:17-18, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 3:13, Romans 4:8, Hebrews 9:12, Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 2:13, Romans 5:11, Colossians 1:19-22, Colossians 1:13-14, Hebrews 1:3, 1 John 2:1-2, 1 John 3:5, John 1:29, 1 John 2:12, Acts 10:43, 1 Peter 3:18, Acts 26:17b-18 and John 19:30.

If you believe your sins still need to be forgiven you will never rest or be at peace with your God. And how do you approach God, to find grace and mercy in your time of need (Hebrews 4:16), if your sins still come between you and Him? How can we say we have eternal life if our sins, which took away God's life from Adam in the Garden, are still an issue? As long as you are not settled with the forgiveness issue there will always be that "scab" for Satan to pick at in order to keep you questioning God's love and forgiveness of you. There will always be that thing you did that keeps you up at night because you don't believe Jesus died for it. You will always be focused on your sins and those of others and not on Jesus. You will struggle to love others as Christ loved the Church because you won't feel He loves you because of your sins. The next time you sin, don't ask God to forgive you. Rather, just say "Thank you, Lord." Thank you because your sin is so terrible that it deserved the death of God as payment. A life only Jesus was qualified to give. The wages of sin is death, it is not an apology, a confession or any other bloodless sacrifice that God doesn't accept and no longer requires. Remember, Christ "was sacrificed once to TAKE AWAY the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, NOT TO BEAR SIN, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9:28)." Jesus can't come back to get you if your sins are still needing to be dealt with. He already bore your sin, stop bearing it yourself. It is ALL GONE and ERASED. Be blessed.

Q: Why is it important to "protect" your "thought" life?

A: We have to be careful when answering a question like this. When we automatically accept the premise that we must "protect" our thought life we are putting ourselves at risk of getting our minds off the Lord and onto our flesh. "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires (Rom 8:5)." When we are determined to "protect" our thought life we are setting our minds on the flesh. This is because in order to "protect" our thoughts we have to find ways to do that. That is a subtle lure into legalism and works. Why? Because we end up having to ask questions like,"Can I watch this?" "Is it okay to read this?" "Should I be listening to this?" and so on. Where does it end? After we focus on our thoughts, why not our eyes, our mouths, our ears, etc. "Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (Col 2:23)." None of our attempts will work. No matter how hard you try there will always be some thought to put out your mind. That is why Paul said to "put no confidence in the flesh (Phil 3:3)" and Jesus said, "The spirit is willing, but the body is weak (Mark 14:38)."

What I suggest a person focus on is the motivation behind why they are setting their thoughts on things that they believe they should "protect" their mind against. Usually, it is because of two things. One, they believe that they are commanded to stop sinning. And two, they are trying to please God. Both are incorrect motivations. We are already pleasing to God because of our faith in Jesus Christ and God isn't counting our sins against us. When you believe God requires you to get your flesh under control (i.e. thought life) you will only end up increasing the sin in your life in the long run. That is because you will come to a point where you will tire of the endless struggle against your flesh and thus turn to sin in order to find relief. Knowing that you're at peace with God "will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7)." Your thoughts are "protected" because of the peace of God not your efforts to "protect" them. Knowing you're at peace with God leads you to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable ... (Phil 4:8)" because your thoughts are on Jesus and who you are in Him. If you want to "protect" your thoughts, protect them from being deceived into focusing on your flesh and your behavior. When God is leading you from within, as you respond to His love for you, your thoughts and behavior will be consistent with your identity in Christ. Be blessed.

Q: What is the true meaning of "humility"?

A: We see the meaning of humility in Jesus Christ. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross (Phil 2:5-8)." Humility is seen in the fact that Jesus, although He was God, "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped." That is the exact opposite of what we see in Christianity today. We live in a time where people are teaching that "equality with God IS something to be grasped." That only leads to (religious) pride, which is the exact opposite of humility. There are those that think Christians can live sinless lives, make themselves holy, be more "Christlike" in their behavior and so on. Well, who was it that lived a sinless life? Jesus. Who was and is the personification of holiness? Jesus. And you cannot be more Christlike than Jesus, who is Christ. Normally, this type of error is said to be achieved through a lifestyle of obedience and repentance. If one just identifies what is good, obeys it, and what is evil, repents of it, they can live the Christian life. That is oldest lie in the Bible.

The serpent said to Eve, "You will not surely die ... For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gen 3:5)." There it is. You will be like God through the knowledge of good and evil. Translation, you will be like Jesus through obedience and repentance. Religious pride is what you see when someone believes they have found a way to be obedient to God. This is a person that has not only accepted the lie, but does not feel they are in need of God's grace and mercy. Why do you need God's grace and mercy when you can "be like God" yourself? "That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6)." You cannot be merciful and graceful to those around you when you don't believe you need it from God. You cannot share that which you have not received. "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.. (Rom 12:3)." Religious pride makes one think more highly of themselves than they ought. And it makes that person act as though they are in your life to show you how to be like them. This only repels people who no longer want to be around you or the God you claim to represent. "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men (Titus 3:1-2)." Jesus was humble towards all men. We can only be humble towards all men when we understand what He has done for us. Be blessed.

Q: "Fear" of the Lord and "Fear", What is the "difference"?

A: The obvious answer is the fear of the Lord is awe, admiration and respect for God while the other form of fear is one of worry and anxiety. However, I want to talk about the "fear" of the Lord many Christians are facing today. They are literally afraid of Him. Recently, a lady who identified herself as "Grace" (not her real name) told a group of friends and me about the fear she was living in. She didn't use her real name because she was scared her husband and their church would find out that she was reaching out to strangers because she was so bound up by the teaching she was under. This type of teaching can best be described as one that teaches that the Christian life is one of "stop sinning, through a lifestyle of obedience and repentance, in order to be blessed by God because you love Him." Her example may be extreme, but I know of many Christians who have lost the joy of their salvation because they are trying to do the impossible; live the Christian life. Their life is one completely focused on their flesh and a system of bondage that contains an ever increasing list of behaviors they must adhere to. Now, those that teach this will not come right out and say they are teaching a form of law because they know that it will be rebelled against. No, they cloak it in spiritual sounding language like "What Would Jesus Do?", "A Purpose Driven Life" or "Progressive Sanctification." All of it is designed to modify your behavior in an effort to control you.

And when you realize that you are never going to reach the goal of these teachings the condemnation starts. You will be told you have "unconfessed sin" in your life, "lost fellowship" with God or you have "lost your salvation." But, all you have to do is keep repenting, rededicating yourself and everything will eventually work out. When you know it won't and you suffer in silence. You end up "fearing" the Lord because you know you will never live up to His standards. Well, I am here to tell you that you are exactly right! You never will live up to His standards. And praise God you recognize it. That is why Jesus lived the life you and I cannot live. And through faith in Him, everything we are taught to do in the energy of our own flesh has already been accomplished by Him. As a Christian, you must understand that God is completely satisfied with you and loves you. That because of Jesus you are forgiven by God, in fellowship with God, have eternal life from God, are sanctified, justified, righteous, holy, blameless, complete, totally blessed, made at peace with God and seated in the heavenlies. My prayer is that all the Saints of God will ask the Lord to teach them afresh. Ask Him to strip away all the bad teaching we have placed our faith in. Lead us into Your truth regardless of where it leads. Let us understand how much You love us so that we will recognize the truth that "perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18)." Thank You, Jesus.

Q: The bible says, he who is not "born" again will not see the kingdom of God..what does that mean?

A: To be born again means that you have had the life of God, originally lost when Adam sinned, restored to you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When God created Adam He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Gen 2:7)." God then gave Adam a warning. He said, "you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die (Gen 2:17)." Adam did eat from the tree and he died. The death he experienced was a spiritual death. The life God breathed into Him was removed and Adam was dead to God. Adam didn't die physically. That would not occur for another 930 years. But, before Adam sinned He did not have any children. Therefore, the children he had, and subsequently all mankind, were born spiritually dead to God as well. Adam was "created" spiritually alive in God's image (Gen 1:27), but all mankind was "born" spiritually dead in the image of Adam (Gen 5:3). God, in His love, wanted to once again indwell man the way He did with Adam. However, before He could do that He had to first deal with the sin that caused Him to remove His life from Adam. And because the wages of sin is death, and no man had a life to give that would be sufficient to pay for our sins, God did it Himself.

Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, was the only man "born" with a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for our sins. The death of Jesus Christ took away the sins of the world for all eternity. Now, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is able to offer His life as a free gift to anyone who accepts Jesus by faith. "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life (Rom 5:10)!" And because of the eternal consequences of the cross, there is now no sin that can ever cause God's life to be removed from us again. That is why the life we have is an eternal life. A life that will carry us through this life and on into eternity even after we physically die. That is why Jesus said, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him (John 3:36)." Those who reject God's free gift of eternal life have no alternative, but to remain separated from God for eternity. They aren't separated from God because of their sins because those have been forgiven. They are separated from God because they are spiritually dead to Him in Adam. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Cor 15:22)." The Gospel is sin, death, forgiveness and life. Christians are born once, physically, and born again, spiritually, through faith in Jesus Christ. Be blessed.