HOW DOES THE BELIEVER SIN?
HIS has been a bone of contention in the Theological world. You see, man is a spirit being. He is in the same class with God. He was created in the image and likeness of God. He had to be in order to become a partaker of the Divine Nature. When he sinned, he became a partaker of Satan's nature, selfishness. Can you imagine the world free from selfishness? Can you imagine an eternity with people who have no selfish impulses? Man was like that before the Fall. The part of man that is recreated in his spirit. God imparts to our spirit His own nature, Eternal Life. The law that governs the New Creation man is love. God has shed that love abroad in our hearts. The Holy Spirit imparts to us that love nature so that our spirit becomes the fountain of love just as our senses are the fountain of knowledge.
The ultimate of the New Creation, yes, of Redemption, is fellowship. Man was created for fellowship with God. God was love-hungry, His heart craved love, so this spirit man came into being. God gave him a physical body so that he could live on the earth.
His body is the home of his spirit and of his five senses. It is through his senses that his brain receives all of its impulses. The senses give birth to all of the knowledge that natural man has. Let us look at man from another angle for just a moment. When man is recreated he comes into relationship with God. With that relationship comes fellowship.
The world is dominated by Satan, and we come into contact with it through our senses.
When man is Born Again, his spirit is recreated, but his mind is still dominated and ruled and receives all of its impulses from the senses. There is only one law that governs the New Creation, and that is love. We are to love "even as He loved us." For me to break the law means that I step out of the realm of love into the realm of the senses. Sin, then, is living in the realm of the senses and leaving the realm of love. When I step out of love, I step into selfishness. There are only two great forces in the world today; they are love and selfishness.
Every sin that a believer commits begins in selfishness. Selfishness may lead him into a host of different kinds of sin, but there is only one basic sin, and that is selfishness.
Someone has said that the "I, my, me and mine" are the four highways into the realm of broken fellowship. Sin then, for the believer, is reverting to the practices of the former life. It is a denial of the dominion of love. It is seeking to find satisfaction in the realm of selfishness. Selfishness causes all of the misery and heartache in our homes. The cure for broken fellowship is the study of the Word and the practice of the Word, the living of the Word, and the "doing of the Word."
If one is occupied in leading men to Christ, he will not sin. if he is occupied seeking to build someone up in the faith life, in helping someone, and bearing someone else's burdens, he will not sin. There is no sin in love. The sin is stepping out of love. Sin is never attractive when we have a deep rich fellowship with the Father. When fellowship is at floodtide, sin has no seductive power over us. Sin is breaking fellowship with love, leaving the spirit realm for the sense realm. Sin is letting the desires of the senses rule, letting the senses gain control. When the senses run riot, God is forgotten. The New Creation man is to practice love and develop his spirit so that it becomes a master over his senses.
I wonder if you have ever thought that a man could become a spiritual athlete, and develop his love and fellowship with the lather until he becomes so strong that Satan and all his hosts cannot touch him. Those martyrs must have been spiritual athletes as they faced year after year of torture, and still held true to their faith in God. Eph. 6:10-18, "Finally be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might (or power)." That could read, "be strong in His love and in the power of Ills grace. Be mighty in the deeds of love. Be a real Samson in the love realm. You see, the strength of God is love; the wisdom of God is love; and the beauty of God is love.
A strong healthy body is a beautiful body. By the same token, a strong healthy love walk makes a beautiful life. A literal translation of Eph. 6:10-18 gives us, "Finally, be strong in the Lord, be made powerful, and in the strength of His might put on the whole armour of God (or the whole armour of love) that you may be able to stand against the warring arrows of the devil." The only shield that the believer needs is love for his Master, and his desire to minister to others. We can conquer the adversary with our love life. "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the powers. against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
If you will notice carefully, everyone of these battalions of the enemy are working against love. They are working against the mighty force that has ever been with us.
"God so loved that He gave . . . "For it is love that is at work within us." "Greater is love that is in yon than he that is in the world." "Wherefore take up the whole armour of love."
Do love deeds, think love thoughts, and then you will be able to stand in the evil day because you are standing in love. "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness." Righteousness means here the ability to stand in the presence of the Father or of Satan without any fear or sense of inferiority. You can stand in the presence of the Father as a beloved son. You can face the hosts of darkness without any sense of fear. You are the righteousness of God in Him.
"Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Love is a peace maker. When it says that the "peace of God which passeth all understanding shall fill your hearts and minds," it means that love has gained such an ascendancy that doubt and fear have been driven out and love has taken the stronghold and is protecting it.
"And taking up the shield of faith wherewith you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy." Faith is a child of love. Hatred has no faith. Love is the faith builder and the faith giver. God is love, and God is a faith God. You are a partaker of the faith nature, of the Faith God. At the New Birth every man is given a measure of faith.
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." That is not only the sword of the Holy Spirit which he uses through the lips of faith, but it is also the sword of our recreated spirits. You see, your recreated spirit is the one that uses the Word, and that Word is always soaked in love so that it is never given in bitterness, but comes pouring out of a heart of love. You meet the needs of the people around you. You are standing before a large audience . . . there are many unsaved and many out of fellowship, and you are going to open the Word to them now . .. that Word comes from your lips drenched with the love of the Master. No human being has a shield that can protect them from words burning with love.
The tongues of fire in that upper room . . . that was the flame of love. That was love that had set the Words on fire. Man cannot resist the Word of love. The weapons described in Ephesians that we have been studying, are love's weapons for the army of God.
You remember that Jesus told the disciples that they were to tarry until they were endued with power from on High. They were to tarry until they were endued with Love's ability to reach the hearts of selfish men. It was God's ability let loose in them. Remember that sin is walking in selfishness. The moment that a believer steps out of love, he breaks fellowship, and steps into darkness and sin. The believer who sins is one who has stepped out of love.
We have tried to build faith in the Believer by condemning their wrong doings, and by preaching sin and condemnation. No one ever gets faith that way. Anyone can
see that this destroys what little faith one has. All prayer for faith is nothing but unbelief. Unbelief grows out of a sense of unworthiness. Now, what shall we do about it?
In the first place one must know clearly what he is in Christ. As a New Creation he has passed from death unto life. He now has Eternal Life, he is a son of God, an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. This gives him legal grounds for a perfect fellowship with the Father. This fellowship is based on the fact that this New Creation has become the Righteousness of God in Christ. There is note no condemnation. He stands complete in Christ.
THE HIDDEN MAN, BY E.W KENYON
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HIS has been a bone of contention in the Theological world. You see, man is a spirit being. He is in the same class with God. He was created in the image and likeness of God. He had to be in order to become a partaker of the Divine Nature. When he sinned, he became a partaker of Satan's nature, selfishness. Can you imagine the world free from selfishness? Can you imagine an eternity with people who have no selfish impulses? Man was like that before the Fall. The part of man that is recreated in his spirit. God imparts to our spirit His own nature, Eternal Life. The law that governs the New Creation man is love. God has shed that love abroad in our hearts. The Holy Spirit imparts to us that love nature so that our spirit becomes the fountain of love just as our senses are the fountain of knowledge.
The ultimate of the New Creation, yes, of Redemption, is fellowship. Man was created for fellowship with God. God was love-hungry, His heart craved love, so this spirit man came into being. God gave him a physical body so that he could live on the earth.
His body is the home of his spirit and of his five senses. It is through his senses that his brain receives all of its impulses. The senses give birth to all of the knowledge that natural man has. Let us look at man from another angle for just a moment. When man is recreated he comes into relationship with God. With that relationship comes fellowship.
The world is dominated by Satan, and we come into contact with it through our senses.
When man is Born Again, his spirit is recreated, but his mind is still dominated and ruled and receives all of its impulses from the senses. There is only one law that governs the New Creation, and that is love. We are to love "even as He loved us." For me to break the law means that I step out of the realm of love into the realm of the senses. Sin, then, is living in the realm of the senses and leaving the realm of love. When I step out of love, I step into selfishness. There are only two great forces in the world today; they are love and selfishness.
Every sin that a believer commits begins in selfishness. Selfishness may lead him into a host of different kinds of sin, but there is only one basic sin, and that is selfishness.
Someone has said that the "I, my, me and mine" are the four highways into the realm of broken fellowship. Sin then, for the believer, is reverting to the practices of the former life. It is a denial of the dominion of love. It is seeking to find satisfaction in the realm of selfishness. Selfishness causes all of the misery and heartache in our homes. The cure for broken fellowship is the study of the Word and the practice of the Word, the living of the Word, and the "doing of the Word."
If one is occupied in leading men to Christ, he will not sin. if he is occupied seeking to build someone up in the faith life, in helping someone, and bearing someone else's burdens, he will not sin. There is no sin in love. The sin is stepping out of love. Sin is never attractive when we have a deep rich fellowship with the Father. When fellowship is at floodtide, sin has no seductive power over us. Sin is breaking fellowship with love, leaving the spirit realm for the sense realm. Sin is letting the desires of the senses rule, letting the senses gain control. When the senses run riot, God is forgotten. The New Creation man is to practice love and develop his spirit so that it becomes a master over his senses.
I wonder if you have ever thought that a man could become a spiritual athlete, and develop his love and fellowship with the lather until he becomes so strong that Satan and all his hosts cannot touch him. Those martyrs must have been spiritual athletes as they faced year after year of torture, and still held true to their faith in God. Eph. 6:10-18, "Finally be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might (or power)." That could read, "be strong in His love and in the power of Ills grace. Be mighty in the deeds of love. Be a real Samson in the love realm. You see, the strength of God is love; the wisdom of God is love; and the beauty of God is love.
A strong healthy body is a beautiful body. By the same token, a strong healthy love walk makes a beautiful life. A literal translation of Eph. 6:10-18 gives us, "Finally, be strong in the Lord, be made powerful, and in the strength of His might put on the whole armour of God (or the whole armour of love) that you may be able to stand against the warring arrows of the devil." The only shield that the believer needs is love for his Master, and his desire to minister to others. We can conquer the adversary with our love life. "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the powers. against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
If you will notice carefully, everyone of these battalions of the enemy are working against love. They are working against the mighty force that has ever been with us.
"God so loved that He gave . . . "For it is love that is at work within us." "Greater is love that is in yon than he that is in the world." "Wherefore take up the whole armour of love."
Do love deeds, think love thoughts, and then you will be able to stand in the evil day because you are standing in love. "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness." Righteousness means here the ability to stand in the presence of the Father or of Satan without any fear or sense of inferiority. You can stand in the presence of the Father as a beloved son. You can face the hosts of darkness without any sense of fear. You are the righteousness of God in Him.
"Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Love is a peace maker. When it says that the "peace of God which passeth all understanding shall fill your hearts and minds," it means that love has gained such an ascendancy that doubt and fear have been driven out and love has taken the stronghold and is protecting it.
"And taking up the shield of faith wherewith you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy." Faith is a child of love. Hatred has no faith. Love is the faith builder and the faith giver. God is love, and God is a faith God. You are a partaker of the faith nature, of the Faith God. At the New Birth every man is given a measure of faith.
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." That is not only the sword of the Holy Spirit which he uses through the lips of faith, but it is also the sword of our recreated spirits. You see, your recreated spirit is the one that uses the Word, and that Word is always soaked in love so that it is never given in bitterness, but comes pouring out of a heart of love. You meet the needs of the people around you. You are standing before a large audience . . . there are many unsaved and many out of fellowship, and you are going to open the Word to them now . .. that Word comes from your lips drenched with the love of the Master. No human being has a shield that can protect them from words burning with love.
The tongues of fire in that upper room . . . that was the flame of love. That was love that had set the Words on fire. Man cannot resist the Word of love. The weapons described in Ephesians that we have been studying, are love's weapons for the army of God.
You remember that Jesus told the disciples that they were to tarry until they were endued with power from on High. They were to tarry until they were endued with Love's ability to reach the hearts of selfish men. It was God's ability let loose in them. Remember that sin is walking in selfishness. The moment that a believer steps out of love, he breaks fellowship, and steps into darkness and sin. The believer who sins is one who has stepped out of love.
We have tried to build faith in the Believer by condemning their wrong doings, and by preaching sin and condemnation. No one ever gets faith that way. Anyone can
see that this destroys what little faith one has. All prayer for faith is nothing but unbelief. Unbelief grows out of a sense of unworthiness. Now, what shall we do about it?
In the first place one must know clearly what he is in Christ. As a New Creation he has passed from death unto life. He now has Eternal Life, he is a son of God, an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. This gives him legal grounds for a perfect fellowship with the Father. This fellowship is based on the fact that this New Creation has become the Righteousness of God in Christ. There is note no condemnation. He stands complete in Christ.
THE HIDDEN MAN, BY E.W KENYON
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