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authority, discerning the spirits, fellowship, following Jesus, God's wrath, heart, intellect, knowledge, Matthew Henry, sin, spiritual power, wisdom
“Walking in the Light as He is in the Light”
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)
At first, a special thanks to Anna Waldherr whose last comment on my latest post inspired me to deepen the issue of “sin” in a whole article. Those who read my blogs might know that I rarely focus on sin because many Christians rather need to hear about the grace and unconditional love of God in their lives. However, today you will read about something that has been bothering me lately. As wonderful as it is to speak and share about the love of God, there are times when we need to examine our lives as well.
The apostle Paul asks,
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom 6:1-3 KJV)
Here is an exposition on the above-mentioned verses by Matthew Henry on Romans 6.
6:1,2 The apostle is very full in pressing the necessity of holiness. He does not explain away the free grace of the gospel, but he shows that connexion between justification and holiness are inseparable. Let the thought be abhorred, of continuing in sin that grace may abound. True believers are dead to sin, therefore they ought not to follow it. No man can at the same time be both dead and alive. He is a fool who, desiring to be dead unto sin, thinks he may live in it.
Romans 6:2
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:3
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
6:3-10 Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because derived from our first father Adam, is crucified with Christ, in every true believer, by the grace derived from the cross. It is weakened and in a dying state, though it yet struggles for life, and even for victory. But the whole body of sin, whatever is not according to the holy law of God, must be done away, so that the believer may no more be the slave of sin, but live to God, and find happiness in his service.
These lines could be a comfort for those who are struggling with dying to self and an exhortation for those who have been deceived and were tempted to believe that the grace of God makes obedience toward Christ dispensable. Basically, we are not judged by what we know about God and Scripture, but up to what extent our heart is found willing to submit to Christ’s lordship over our whole life. If there is only one area in our life of which we feel it has not yet been surrendered to God and we refused to do so because we somehow felt that His will to see a pure heart in us would finally mean to put away such sin, we should seek the Lord in prayer about it.
I do know that we have a wonderful and gracious God who does not point sinners to their sins before they have come to know Him personally. Although in every human being a conscience from God can be found that no man is able to extinguish (see Rom 2, esp. verse 15), God is the One who chastens His children if they claim to be Christians while still living in sin. As for a stronger exhortation on this very issue, see my older article that deals with our proper position before God and other people (cf. https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/seeking-the-approval-of-christ-only/).
If you find yourself entangled in meeting other “Christians” of who you know that they keep living in sin, do not wonder if God does not approve and takes away some of His blessings in your life in order to wake you up. So, just in case you suddenly realize that some things in your life did not turn out the way they should have and that you have had so many difficulties that cannot be put away by any of your own efforts, please, ask the Lord about it. If you eventually realize that men who still think that darkness is light have more influence on you than Christ and His both loving and disciplining Spirit has, please, RUN!
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor 6:14-18 ESV)
Brothers and sisters, I know from my own experience that our God who is love has to be feared as well. Only a few people know the fear of God and how awesome it is to experience the presence of the Holy God. Once we have received the fear of God in our hearts, we will rejoice in this particular spirit just as Jesus did as He walked the earth. We read,
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. (Is 11:2-4 ESV)
One of the reasons why we then might rejoice is that we perceive that the fear of God kills the will to sin inside us. Below I share with you a confirmation about what I have just said. It is an extrabiblical source of which I quote here, but if we have ears to hear Him, we will find God talking to us everywhere. However, discerning the spirits is always crucial so that we won’t get confused when we are confronted with a blend of truth and lies, whether in what we read or what we hear every day.
1:25 The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord: and the branches thereof are longlived.
1:26 In the treasures of wisdom is understanding, and religiousness of knowledge: but to sinners wisdom is an abomination.
1:27 The fear of the Lord driveth out sin:
1:28 For he that is without fear, cannot be justified: for the wrath of his high spirits is his ruin.
1:29 A patient man shall bear for a time, and afterwards joy shall be restored to him.
(Ecclesiasticus 1:25-29)
Entering the Promised Land 
I’m not sure you’ve ever seen or heard of a man by the name of A W Tozer but his commentary on the cross is compelling and I believe goes along with your post.
http://www.ldolphin.org/oldcross.html
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Yes, Tony, I pointed to him in some writings on here. Thanks for the link, though, this is a really helpful article! By the way, do you remember this comment by you where you posted an excerpt of Tozer’s “The Old Cross And The New”? If you like, see https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/a-peaceful-and-quiet-life-in-christ/comment-page-1/#comment-10282.
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I recall it now. Never can say it too many times. It does bear repeating.
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Of course, it does, Tony. Thank you!
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Wow, Susanne! What you wrote about sin was very timely for me to read. I, by nature, am a carnal man. I have many talents and abilities and in my natural man I know how to “get ‘er done” without relying on God all that often. One thing I have learned by your example is the importance of praying about everything and inviting God into every situation and everything we do, write or say! Don’t you think that this is REALLY what it means to “pray without ceasing”? It is an amazing concept to me invite God into the most mundane things in my life, things that I have done a hundred times before “just fine without Him.” But looking back on many of those things, they did not always happen “without a snag” either. I have been able to put my head down and charge like an old bull, but have you ever seen what happens in a bull fight? The bull eventually loses!
So your wonderful blog article has brought to light in my mind some things about the nature of how sin works in our members and how Satan gets a foothold in us that he might cause a break in our fellowship with our Father and Jesus. Consider Jesus’ warning to Peter,
I was thinking about how we make a place for demons to come in and nest in our branches when we ignore God’s warnings in our hearts, “Don’t go there, Pilgrim!” (going against His nudges), and we go on for one reason or another (fears, lust, pride, greed, anger, etc.). Then once we have continued to walk in this darkness, ignoring Him, we make opportunity for Satan to go before God and say, “See what they are doing? It is unholy and you need to defend your holiness! Let me expose their darkness to the world that others will not follow their example” So, the sifting begins. The next thing that happened to the over confident Peter who said, “Lord, I will never betray you!” is that he denies Christ three times in one evening as Jesus is being tortured and killed! Then the cock crowed from the roof top! Oh, the bitter tears that Peter wept, I am sure for many days after that as he “kicked himself around the block.”
God in His holiness lets Satan tempt us and draw us away from God with our own lusts and then shouts our sins from the housetops and all hell comes rushing in as we are “sifted like wheat.” We can go through so much destruction in our lives and cause it in the lives of others, simply because of our self-reliant pride not being humbled and brought into the Light of Christ, but rather choosing our own darkness because WE get to be “in control” that way and do what WE want. The truth of the matter is that we are being duped into what Satan wants and he came to kill and destroy men’s lives.
I thank God that the story of Peter did not end with the sifting he went through. He was finally “converted” and he went on to strengthen the church and was used mightily by God in the Book of Acts.
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Thank you so much, Michael. Your comment is not only “testimony-like”, it seems to me being another AWV blog post-to-be, perhaps?
I am sure it would turn out an excellent teaching if you published it. Just thinking… 😉
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Great post, Susanne! Loved especially:
>> Basically, we are not judged by what we know about God and Scripture, but up to what extent our heart is found willing to submit to Christ’s lordship over our whole life. <<
So true!
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Glad you liked it, Markus. Thank you!
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That’s the part that struck my heart as well.
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Such coincidence! Thank you, dear Becky! ❤
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I agree with you, Jack. Those bad habits you mentioned in the beginning are certainly not the sins I was thinking of while writing this article. I also know how strange people, including me, would behave in the past in order to be accepted by men/pastors/church leaders etc. pp. And you are right again, it is the heart that matters. All evil is rooted there and both our speaking and outward behavior quasi automatically follow the impulses of the heart.
Also, God does not judge two people the same way, even if they seemingly do the same wrong thing. He looks at the heart, once again, and knows that some people sin because they are bound by fear while others do so intentionally. If we really want to know how God sees (real!) sin in our lives and in those of others, we need to be connected to Him, even 24/7, which is a gift from God.
Thanks for your thoughtful contribution, Jack. Very helpful, I believe.
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Thank you, Susanne, for the wonderful writing. I was especially blessed by your calling attention to the verse Isaiah 11:3. I was made aware that the delighting in the fear of the Lord is a powerful help against sin. Typically, I have rejoiced at that verse because it speaks of Jesus. But today, I saw it as a wonderful grace that God can give to us. Father, I pray that we your people would delight in the fear of the Lord.
I love you, my sister,
Pat Orr
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Mmmhhhh…… ❤
Another lovely comment by you, dear Pat. Thank you so very much! Indeed, it is the sweetness of the Lord’s voice I sense in your response that touches me deep inside my heart.
Yes and amen to your prayer!
I love you, too, my sweet sister,
Your Susanne
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Thank you for your kind mention, Susanne, and for this edifying post. Both you and Michael write in such a scholarly way that I am always impressed. Yet your message is clear and direct, never pompous or sanctimonious. May God continue to inspire and bless you. With love, A. ❤ ❤ ❤
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You’re VERY welcome, dear Anna! 🙂
I feel so honored by your compliments regarding (Michael’s and) my way of writing. Thank you so much for letting us know about your thoughts. It seems to me that if God is our Teacher, everything is possible. We are nothing but His “channels”, so to speak, and we are not aware of what He has been doing in and through us. So, I still wonder about how my mere words affect others at times and I guess it is the same for Michael who will – most certainly – comment later when he is awake again. By the way, looking at the time you posted your response, it seems to me that neither Anna nor Susanne are women who love to go to bed that early. 😉
Much love to you ❤ ❤ ❤
Susanne
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Wow, Anna! Thanks for your kind remarks. It seems to me that without God’s mighty humbling hand on our lives as His kids (“Those whom I love I rebuke and chasten…”), yours, Susanne’s and my blogs would be just another platform for the “pompous and sanctimonious” which are so prevalent on the net. So, knowing that God humbles the proud but gives grace to the humble, it is hard to acknowledge what you wrote without wondering if it opens me up to another trip “to the woodshed” with my heavenly Father. :-p
Susanne, I like what you said about “channels.” Have you ever taken a drink of water out of a plastic garden hose and tasted the chemicals in it released from that plastic as the water flowed through it or drank water from a rusty pipe? We do not enjoy that water as much as if it came right from a cool mountain spring. This reminds me of a scripture that speaks of this problem of pride that has not been dealt with when men settle on their lees…
If God does not upset our comfort zones from time to time and pour us from vessel to vessel, our taste will remain in us, but thank God HE knows what we need so that we come forth as the finest of wines for His service. Being poured by Him from vessel to vessel is much better than Him sending “tilters” and breaking our clay jars.
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Michael, your last Scripture above somehow bridges the gap between this article and my next here https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/confronting-sin-in-the-church-the-body-of-christ/.
I took Luke 20:17-18 as a confirmation from God before publishing. Thank you!
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Great! Glad to be on the same page with you again. 🐻
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As it should be in the Body of Christ. 🐱
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This makes me feel better about the fear of GOD I have had and have. Because some say I should not have fear at all and now I know that is wrong. Thank you for clearing this up for me. Also I have gotten confused by a lot of things lately and do not even know who I should spend time with.
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I think it is never wrong to try to spend time with God. 😉
Having no fear at all means to have no fear of punishment when our love has been perfected (cf. 1 Jn 4:18). But even Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord (Is 11:3) which finally enables us to hate and renounce sin (Prv 8:13).
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