Why Should
YOU Repent ?For centuries, evangelists have shouted "REPENT !"From John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and the early apostles; from Luther to Billy Sunday –the cry has been REPENT! But repent of what? How? What does it mean to repent? Why should you be concerned about repenting? Does it make any difference if you don't?
By Garner Ted Armstrong [printer-friendly] [pdf format]
"I’m going to ask you to come forward!" said
the evangelist, nearing the end of an articulate, impassioned address. The
huge crowd remained silent as a mighty choir began to sing "Just As I Am."
"I'm going to ask you to come down here and stand before the
stage and join with me and all these others in private prayer. . ." said the
evangelist, with just a hint of a quaver in his voice. "From all over this
vast auditorium…" he said, with wide-flung hands gesturing to the farthest
balcony. "You fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers ...everyone ... get
up out of your seats and join these others . . ."
The trickle of people beginning to flow down the aisles grew
noticeably. Were some of them planted?
Were some strategically placed, to provide impetus to others,
bashful and unsure, afraid to be first? For whatever reason, a handful
becomes a few dozen, and finally several hundred.
You've all seen it before: the huge throngs in great indoor
auditoriums or outdoor bowls and stadiums; the moving, intense sermon about
Jesus and the need to repent and receive Him as personal Savior; and then
the altar call, the invitation to come forward.
"Just now ... won't you come?" he says, voice breaking
just a little.
No doubt the vast majority of those who gather before
evangelists after an emotional sermon are very sincere. The sermon makes
them yearn for forgiveness, a way to shed guilt and nagging conscience, a
way out of their miseries and troubles.
In recent years there has been a noticeable surge in
charismatic movements; tens of thousands seem bent on returning to what is
commonly called "that old-time religion" or "good, old-fashioned preaching."
Psychologists and sociologists point out that soaring social
problems and increasing interest in religion go hand in hand. Runaway
inflation, joblessness, personal health problems, feelings of insecurity
about the future—these tend to create a need in people for spiritual and
emotional anchors. In a chaotic, material world, many people seek inner
spiritual peace.
Perhaps many such people find such peace: a new lease on
life, the courage to go on with their lives and seek solutions when they
were near despair, near quitting entirely. Documented cases of religious
experiences preventing suicides are not uncommon.
But did they repent?
Jesus Christ preached repentance. "From that time Jesus began to
preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 4:17). Matthew says His message was the gospel of the Kingdom, and
His appeal to the people was to repent. "And Jesus went about all
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among
the people" (Matthew 4:23).
Mark says, "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came
into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and
believe the gospel!" (Mark 1:14, 15).
He said, ". . . Except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish" (Luke 13:3-5).
But what did He mean? What does it mean to "repent"?
The New World Dictionary says "repent" means "to feel
sorry or self-reproachful for what one has done or failed to do; be
conscience-stricken or contrite ... to feel such regret or dissatisfaction
over some past action, intention, etc., as to change one's mind about ... to
feel so contrite over one’s sins as to change or decide to change one's
ways; be penitent ... to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite, over [an
error, sin, etc.] ... to feel such regret or dissatisfaction over it as to
change one's mind about.
The real key to the meaning of "repent" is almost buried in
this description. Can you find it? The entire description is true, of
course. However, there is a vitally important Bible definition for true
repentance that is often ignored or overlooked by even the most sincerely
contrite persons.
That missing key is not understood by millions of professing
Christians, including countless persons who believe they have repented!
Paul explained part of it when he wrote the Corinthian church
following a particularly embarrassing case of incest within the
congregation. He said, "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that
ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly
manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow
Worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the
sorrow of the world worketh death"' (2 Corinthians 7:9, 10).
What Is "the Sorrow of the World"?
How many times have you been "sorry"?
Probably, you might confess, nowhere near often enough. The
simple words "I'm sorry" seem to be extremely difficult to utter for
prideful, carnal human beings. From the time we are children, we learn of
the rough-and-tumble, dog-eat-dog competitive world where even little
children can turn on their own kind, suffering with handicaps or physical
deformities, and attack them mercilessly.
As we grow, and as we learn self-reliance to greater or
lesser degrees, we develop individuality. We call it "personality." But,
along with our awareness of our own selves—our discovery of who, and what,
we are-come a considerable number of subconscious defense mechanisms.
The most sophisticated "DEW"-line early-warning radar
network, constantly monitoring the horizons to detect any Soviet missile
launch, cannot compare with our automatic defense mechanisms against shame,
embarrassment, reproach and attacks against our ego.
Suggest we are in error, or that we have somehow failed, or
that we are inadequate, and we become instantly defensive, perhaps irritated
and even angry. It is a rare person who takes criticism easily-- and it is
far more common place to see us humans bridling at critical remarks So, as
we live this life, we generally develop elaborate defenses against
criticisms; we tend to argue, wheedle, whine, reason, dodge here and there,
seek sympathy from others and talk our way around any possible blows to our
own ego—we usually hate to admit it when we are wrong.
Therefore, saying "I'm sorry"—and really meaning it—is
something rare for most humans.
The prideful refusal to say the simple words "I'm sorry" has
caused many a marriage to flounder, destroyed many a friendship and wrecked
partnerships and other business relationships.
On the other hand, when a person is truly contrite—truly and
sincerely abashed and ashamed over his conduct and sincerely and humbly says
"I'm sorry" to another human being—is this repentance?
Not according to the Bible, it isn't!
Think about it. Being sincerely contrite—even blending that
contrition with a humble and heartfelt display of honest emotion, as in
marriage when one partner might say, with genuine tears of remorse, "I'm
sorry! Please forgive me!"—it's good to be sorry, good to say so if you mean
it, and when it's necessary. But being sorry does not mean one has
repented!
Behaviorists have observed it is the child who gets caught who
cries the loudest. Criminals, caught in the midst of crime, have been known
to become terribly remorseful, only to return to the same kind of crime—If
they are released with mild (if any) punishment. You see, much of that kind
of sorrow is that of a person who feels sorry for himself!
A contrite partner in marriage can say "I'm sorry!" with genuine
tears when a good deal of the emotion being felt is directed toward the
self, feeling self-pity at having to be forced to go through the
humiliating and degrading experience of lowering oneself in one's own
estimation by groveling, as it were, in apology. But being sorry because the
other was hurt, being sorrowful in a completely outgoing
emotion directed away from the self and toward the other
person, is not quite so common.
A child may gleefully commit the same act—whether abusing a
younger brother or sister, stealing change from Mom's purse or lying—so long
as he continues to get away with it. Caught, and threatened with punishment
of some sort, the child may ring the rafters with protests of "I'm sorry,
Mom—I'll never do it again!"
How like children we are.
Living our daily lives without taking God into consideration,
we tend to drift through life with a feeling of permanency, of
invulnerability and of complete self dependence. Suddenly hurt, shocked,
frightened or injured, and we find ourselves calling out for help—even
calling to God Himself! Usually, depending on the seriousness of the
situation, people will cry out to God in times of extreme fear—times of
terrible emotional trauma—and they will put their whole hearts in it,
sometimes crying out to God aloud and without any formal introductions
whatever!
Safely through the crisis—living a normal daily life
again—and the same person may never bother to pray or to thank God for daily
blessings.
It's all part of this thing we call "human nature." We are
by nature hostile to the idea that we are wrong. With our
thick-skinned conscience and thin-skinned ego, we face the world
truculently, daring others to disagree with us, to find fault with what we
say and do, or to criticize us.
But, when we find the emotion (even selfishly) to "be
sorry" now and then, we may think we were repentant when we were only
experiencing the "sorrow of the world that worketh death."
What Is Man?
Just what are we? Are we a cosmic accident,
the result of aeons of gradual change? Did we begin from a chance strike of
lightning in an ancient soup of methane and ammonia? Did we come from
"cracks in rocks" or from "brown scum" or "green slime"? (All very
"scientific" proposals for the origin of life, by the way.)
God's Word shows we were created by a divine act! That
can be proved by the laws of the physical sciences themselves; proved
that creation demands a great Creator; that laws demand a Law Giver; that
life demands a Life Giver, and so on.
God's Word reveals what man is!
God said to our first parent, Adam, "Dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return!" (Genesis 3:19). Does this sound like an ancient
"Bible" statement? It is also clinically, technically, scientifically
accurate. We are composed of the elements of this earth; we are
sustained by imbibing those minerals and elements of the soil beneath us, by
breathing the air surrounding us and drinking the water God created. When we
die, we once again return to those elements, wasting away into soil again,
or "dust."
As a physical, fleshly, temporal human being, we are quite
similar to animals. God's Word says, "For that which befalleth the sons of
men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so
dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no
preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are
of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20).
But, while the physical, chemical existence of man and
animals is quite similar, there is a vast difference between the mind of
man, and the brain and instinct of animals.
Man was made only a little lower than spirit life! "But one
in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of
him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little
lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst
set him over the works of thy hands (Hebrews 2:6-8).
When Adam looked around himself in the garden, he saw only
plant and animal life—nothing, no one his equal. When Eve was formed, Adam
said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be
called Woman [Ishah], because she was taken out of Man [Ish]"
(Genesis 2:23, 24).
Notice that, although the Bible says Adam was surrounded by
living creatures (nephesh) of every kind, "for Adam there was not
found an help meet [fitting for, or ‘answering to’] for him" (Genesis 2:20).
With the creation of Eve, Adam now had an equal
partner—another human being, created on a plane far above animal life
and only "a little lower" than angel life!
Was Adam's Nature Changed?
From the moment of his creation, Adam was
human and he possessed human nature. What was that nature before
the original sin, and was it changed after Adam sinned?
Adam was human, possessed human nature from the time of
breathing the breath of life. Yet he was not possessed of feelings of
hostility toward God, nor of guilt. His relationship with God was almost
like that of a friend. There was complete acceptance and a definite lack of
hostility, or determination to disobey God's first command. "And the Eternal
God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to
keep it. And the Eternal God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:15-17).
When Eve was tempted of Satan, she explained, matter of
factly, the restrictions imposed on them of God without rancor. "Now the
serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Eternal God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat
of every tree of the garden?
"And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit
of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die" (Genesis 3:1-3).
Paul explained, "For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression" (1 Timothy 2:13, 14).
Deceived people can be quite sincere—just sincerely wrong.
Eve allowed her natural physical and emotional appetites (which are
vanity, jealousy, lust and greed) to overcome her timidity, and became
deceived.
A vast change came over mankind from the moment of this
original sin! Notice what happened to Adam and Eve, "And when the woman saw
[she looked, with the eye, and began to lust after the fruit, broke the
Tenth Commandment, against coveting] that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one
wise [vanity entered in; the desire for superior 'knowledge' and the subtle
suggestion that God had been keeping knowledge and information from them had
been lodged in her mind by Satan's lie], she took [stealing, as well as
breaking the Fifth Commandment, by dishonoring their only Parent] of the
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he
did eat" (Genesis 3:6).
Suddenly a great change came over Adam and Eve!
They had been "neutral" toward God; they had no special
enmity or resistance to His commands within themselves concerning the one
tree whose fruit they should not eat. They were sharing the world's "biggest
bedroom" as husband and wife, totally alone, with no human beings anywhere
else in the whole universe, and were completely unashamed—having no sex
"hang-ups," psychoses, neuroses, fixations, stigmas, fears or
embarrassments. Suddenly ". . . the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked: they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons" (Genesis 3:7).
Now their sexuality was something of which they were
ashamed. A change came over their minds. They had been in
close personal proximity to Satan the devil. They had listened to
Satan, and Eve had been deceived. By following his wife's example,
however, Adam was in the greater transgression, for he should have
recognized Satan's lying subtlety, called upon God to rebuke Satan,
resisted the devil's suggestions and ordered his wife never to listen to
him again!
Instead, he docily followed his wife's lead into original
sin, the breaking of God's laws! (1 John 3:4).
By admitting Satan's thoughts, his ideas and suggestions, his
wily method of reasoning, into their minds they fell under his evil
influence! Here was the most powerful spirit being, apart from God (Elohim)
and the other two archangels, Gabriel and Michael, with his evil,
electrifying, magnetic, powerful, persuasive and subtle personality,
actually getting Eve to think his thoughts, listen to his
arguments!
By admitting a little of Satan's thoughts into her
mind, she became deceived, confused. Prior to listening to the devil,
Eve's mind was clear—clean—unhindered by shame and guilt, uncluttered by
doubts or confusion. She knew her husband was right; she knew God was right.
Now, after listening to the devil, she was no longer sure. His arguments
seemed logical, attractive, reasonable. She thought about it. She
entertained the idea of taking the fruit. She looked at it. While
looking at it, she thought about it some more. Without her actually
realizing it, she was now allowing her emotions to become involved.
Not only was her stomach and her physical appetite
involved, so was her desire for "knowledge" that Satan had subtly suggested
God was "keeping from her." A blow to her womanly pride, her ego, had been
struck!
Surely she was "just as good" as Adam. Did God tell Adam
things He was keeping from Eve? Did God know "better" than that which He had
told them, ". . . In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die
. . ."?
Eve had human nature from the moment of her creation, from
the moment of her first breath and mental awareness! Because human nature is
composed of vanity, jealousy, lust and greed—as well as the desire to "be
good" (without the overriding compulsion to do good!)—Satan was able to
appeal to a dormant, as yet unused part of Eve's nature!
She was carnal—physically and fleshly minded. Still, she
looked upon God as her friend, had not been really angry at God, or
resentful toward Him, of and by herself.
But now Satan began to strike a responsive chord deep within
Eve's nature. Now that side of Eve's basic humanity, the side of latent,
undeveloped, unused "hostility" toward God—not being subject to God's
laws—began to respond to Satan's careful coaching!
Once her mind began probing the depths of lust and of mild
agreement with the devil that perhaps God had been a little unjust in
keeping desired knowledge from her, Eve began exercising a portion of her
nature. The natural trends were already there deep within her being, but
they had not yet been used.
Remember, God "breathed the breath of life" into Adam's
nostrils! God Himself, manifesting Himself as a human being, drew into His
own lungs the air of this physical earth and breathed that same air,
from His own lungs, right into the lungs of Adam!
Anyone who claims a part of an alleged "spirit" of Satan
could somehow have been involved in this process is treading on dangerous
ground indeed!
Satan was not a part of Adam's and Eve's nature; he was a
separate creature, standing there clearly visible and only able through his
powerful influence to put thoughts into our first parents' minds!
Satan had said, "God knows more than that. . ." "He knows
better . . ." And then he had told the first lie and began one of the
greatest false doctrines and deceptions ever foisted off on an unsuspecting,
deceived world: that man will not "surely die," but that we are an "immortal
soul" locked inside a physical body; that we do not die—only "our
body" does; but we continue on, and merely transfer to another place!
As Eve's mind followed the devil's reasoning, it became
changed.
Adam's mind became changed.
Now they hid from God when He called. "And they heard the
voice of the Eternal God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and
Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Eternal God
amongst the trees of the garden. And the Eternal God called unto Adam, and
said unto him, Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:8, 9).
Why were they afraid? Because they felt guilty and
because they were now conscious of shame. Now what had previously
been perfectly natural, wholesome, healthy and good was filthy, sullied,
ugly and evil! Where innocence and a completely willing, "neutral" attitude
toward God had been was now fear—coupled with resentment and accusation!
Notice! "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I
was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he [God] said, Who
told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I
commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" (Genesis 3:10, 11).
God knew instantly that a dramatic change had come over Adam.
Where Adam had welcomed God's presence—accepted it automatically, as
if a close friend and companion—where Adam had never questioned God's
decisions or His commands, now he was afraid.
What is fear? It is a complex emotion, sometimes mixed with
hatred, suspicion, doubt, anxiety and deep feelings of self-preservation and
protection. There "is no fear in love," however (1 John 4:18), so Adam and
Eve clearly did not love God any more! Was there not a little tacitly
demonstrated accusation? Were they not apprehensive that God would harshly
punish them, like a young child found with his hand in the proverbial cookie
jar?
Notice that when they were confronted with their sin they
tried to dodge responsibility, tried to shift the blame elsewhere!
"And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat" (Genesis 3:12).
Here is human nature as we know it in action! Adam is
obliquely implying the fault is God's, since the woman was given him
by God! He said, "The woman whom thou [God!] gavest to be with me. .
."
Adam is afraid. He is ashamed of his sex. He willingly
places the blame both on God and on his wife!
God turns to Eve. "And the Eternal God said unto the woman,
What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled
me, and I did eat" (Genesis 3:13).
Eve also tried to shift the blame. She said "the serpent" did
it!
Here was a vast change in the behavior of our first
two parents. Where they had been "neutral" toward God, without fear,
without apprehension or anxiety, not fearing His wrath, welcoming His talks
and instruction to them—where they had been completely unaware of any shame
concerning their naked bodies—now they were desperately conscious of the
need to cover up their sexuality and to hide from God!
Not only did the very nature of man change dramatically upon
allowing Satan's mind to influence them, but God changed a portion of
creation itself!
"And the Eternal God said unto the serpent, Because
thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast
of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the
days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel [reference is made to Christ here, 'her seed,'
meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, later to be born of the virgin Mary, who
would 'bruise thy'(Satan's)'head,' and the death of Christ in the bruising
of 'his heel']. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy
desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam
he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of
it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis
3:14-19).
Where Adam had but to harvest every sort of succulent fruit
and nut from the trees all about him, God now said he would only eat by the
dint of hardscrabble labor, fighting the elements and nature itself, seeing
weeds, thorns and thistles spring up in his fields, working with sweat
dripping from his brow to survive.
The traditional view of the Garden of Eden is that man "fell"
from a completely sinless condition into original sin, and that Adam's sin
is imputed to every human being automatically.
But man didn't "fall"; he was pushed. Few understand that God
created Adam with human nature, which is a mixture of both the
capacity for good and the capacity for evil. Adam had at work in his very
nature the human appetites, the capacity for sin. Before he gave in
to those temptations and exercised his innate, latent capacity for
sin, he was not directly hostile toward God. He was not "afraid" of God. He
was not ashamed of his own physical person.
Yet, after giving his wife the reins of their marriage, after
listening to Satan's lying suggestions, Adam changed! Notice carefully.
Satan the devil was right there, in person, in the Garden of
Eden, just as he has been personally involved in major events in history
affecting God's purpose and plan.
He was present at the birth of Christ, trying to destroy
Jesus as a baby through Herod. He was present at the beginning of Christ's
ministry (Matthew 4), trying to tempt Jesus to give in to Satan and obey
him. He personally entered Judas Iscariot and succeeded in betraying
Jesus to His death.
Satan has no counterpart of the Holy Spirit of God; Satan is
not "omnipresent," or "everywhere present," at once. He has countless
demons (Revelation 12:4; Ezekiel 28:16, 17). Though he is called "the prince
of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2) and "the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience," the Bible describes Satan as
personally present in heaven at the trial of Job. Notice it: "Now there
was a day when the sons of God [angels are meant here] came to present
themselves before the Eternal, and Satan came also among them. And the
Eternal said to Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Eternal,
and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down
in it" (Job 1: 6, 7).
Notice Satan described himself as being just as limited in
ability to "project" himself beyond his own immediate environment as any
human being. He was in heaven, though the Bible reveals he spends most of
his time on this earth. He described himself as having been "to and fro," or
from one place to another place, in the earth and "walking up and
down in it." This proves Satan is not "omnipresent," not able to project
himself throughout the whole world all at once, not possessive of a
"counterpart" of God's Holy Spirit so that he might be all-pervasive,
present everywhere at the same time.
Notice that, after the conversation about Job was finished,
"Satan went forth from the presence of the Eternal" (Job 1: 12).
Some have come to believe that human nature includes
Satan's nature, that, at the moment of a tiny baby taking his very first
breath of air, he imbibes a portion of "Satan's mind" or is somehow
afflicted with a satanic attitude and spirit. This reasoning is based upon
the description of Satan as the "prince of the power of the air."
Such reasoning is false.
Neither of the other two archangels, Michael and Gabriel, is
said to be "omnipresent." Each appears in a distinct place at a distinct
time. Never does God's Word indicate that Michael or Gabriel is able to
project his "spirit" or his "nature" or attitude beyond himself in an all
pervasive, omnipresent sense. Satan, as the former archangel "Lucifer"
(meaning "shining star of the dawn"or "light bringer"), would not have
suddenly been given near godlike powers, vastly above his former powers, as
a result of rebellion toward God and being cast down to this earth with
those angels who followed him.
Make no mistake! Satan the devil is an evil genius, a
tremendously powerful, magnetic, wily, subtle, convincing spirit being who
can exert almost irresistible force of persuasion, of deception and
temptation upon human beings.
But Satan cannot be everywhere present! He cannot "impart" a
portion of his "nature" into your precious children's minds! He can
influence; he can whisper in our ears; he can even attack human beings (as
he did Job, when God allowed it) by using the elements of this earth
(Job was smitten with boils, and Satan caused a tornado to collapse his
house). But his main method of deceiving human beings is by using his demons
(countless millions) and by his own personal influence on powerful human
leaders and their advisers from time to time.
One cannot prove, for example, that Satan the devil
entered personally into Adolf Hitler. However, the combination of satanic
genius, the brutality and total disregard for human life, the egomaniacal
desire for rulership and power, the false vision of becoming like a
"Messiah," promising the world a "thousand-year Reich" (like the Millennium;
Revelation 4:4), would lead one to suspect that
Satan entered Hitler personally.
Satan is a fallen angel, albeit an archangel. Note that angels
may appear, and when they do they appear as men, in most cases
occupying a specific place at a specific time. (Study Genesis 19.)
Satan has so powerfully influenced leaders over such a vast
span of history that this whole civilization is spoken of as "Satan's
kingdoms" (Matthew 4:8-10), and he is called "the god of this world" (2
Corinthians 4:4).
By influencing financiers, musicians, artists, military
leaders, dictators, religious leaders—those in key positions responsible for
setting the trends in socioeconomic conditions and who establish cultural
and religious traditions—Satan has contrived to make it appear that
he is virtually all-pervasive.
Not so.
There is no such thing as a counterpart to God's power
to become all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing and everywhere-present, or
"omnipresent"! Those are attributes that belong to God exclusively!
Therefore, while human nature may be powerfully influenced
by Satan and his demons, and while Satan is called the "prince of the
power of the air," he does not, through some alleged "counterpart" of God's
Spirit, actually help form and compose "human nature" in human
beings!
When each tiny, helpless child is born, he is completely
sinless. He is incapable of sin! When he breathes air, that is all
(except for possible man-made pollutants, of course) he breathes! He does
not "breathe in" a portion of the nature of Satan!
Gradually, because God has constructed human nature with the
five senses, with the fleshly appetites of those senses, a growing
child can come to express some of the "fruits of the flesh," meaning anger,
resentment, jealousy, desire, greed and lust. But that same child can also
express the very warmest signs of deep love, joy, happiness, enthusiasm and
appreciation.
Growing up in a world that is totally deceived (Revelation
12:9), and becoming that sum total of every experience, teaching, influence
and thought that makes up his collection of knowledge, that same child
becomes another carnal, natural, physical, fleshly human being—imbued with
human (not satanic!) nature!
The Word of God explains what human nature really is!
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind [notice 'carnal' means
completely fleshly, not allowing for any 'spiritual' content!] is
enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be!" (Romans 8:6, 7).
That was the way Adam was! He had not yet sinned when Eve was
listening to Satan's clever lies. But the capacity was there, and he was
"not subject"—not in subjection—to God's laws!
God had given Adam a command!
Adam was ordered to obey that command! But even God's laws
are not "preventive legislation"! The Ten Commandments do not prevent sin,
simply because human nature includes free moral agency! God's laws
tell us what is sin; they describe what we should do and
what we should not do.
God has decreed it is then up to us, with our human nature
and our ability to make a free, uninhibited or nonrestrained choice!
Once Eve, being deceived, plunged right ahead in direct
disobedience to God, and once Adam, following along after his wife,
participated in that disobedience, they exercised their right of free moral
agency—they sinned!
Satan was not "inside of them" when they sinned! No,
he was standing there beside them! Satan did not enter Eve or Adam.
He merely talked to them, reasoned with them, influenced Eve to perform a
wholly voluntary act.
Suddenly the awareness of sin and the terrible
feelings of guilt struck them! They had the capacity for good, and
they had the capacity for evil! They chose the evil, and now their minds
were sullied! >From being totally conscience-free, they were now
conscience-stricken! From having no guilt, they now felt guilty!
It was not their basic nature that suddenly changed; it was
that they had exercised a latent, dormant, not-yet used part of that
nature!
Had they kept that part of their nature in subjection,
they would not have sinned! But they were powerless to do so, really. God
explains that when He says of the ancient Israelites, "O that there were
such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments
always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!"
(Deuteronomy 5:29).
Here, God is speaking of the basic nature of man. He shows
there is not the kind of "heart" (volition, will, purpose, attitude and
intent of mind) in mankind that willingly submits to God's laws.
The Hostile Side of Man's Nature
Since human nature is "not subject" to the
laws of God, and it cannot be because it lacks a spiritual dimension which
would lead toward such subjection, the basic nature of man is "lawless."
Remember again the foundational scripture concerning this
lawless nature of man. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for
it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be!" (Romans 8:7).
Millions of carnal-minded people are professing Christians.
Those same millions of people would feel terribly insulted
if they were told they remained "hostile" toward God! They would become
angry and upset if a minister told them they were filled with animosity
toward God, that they were not in subjection and obedience to His will in
their lives!
After all, they might argue, do they not believe in
God? Do they not worship God and worship Jesus Christ, and
believe on His name?
Let's notice a Bible example of those who had accepted Jesus
Christ, who had come to believe on Him! Turn to John's lengthy eighth
chapter and read how Jesus was reasoning with the Jews in the temple. He had
said, "….When ye have lifted up the Son of man [referring to His
crucifixion], then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of
myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that
sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those
things that please him" (John 8:28, 29).
Only moments earlier, these religiously inclined people were
loudly arguing with Christ. But now notice what happened! "As he spake these
words, many believed on him!" (John 8:31).
Now they were convinced. Now they believed!
"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-33).
What was this? Jesus was now implying they did not know
the truth.
That hurt. That cut against the grain, ruffled their religious
feathers and made them angry. Remember, these are people who believed
on Jesus!
"They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in
bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin ... I know that ye are
Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place
in you" (John 8:33-37).
Notice that these Jews "believed on" Jesus, but they did not
believe what He said; they rejected His teaching, His message! His word
did not find any place to take root within them!
A little later Jesus showed they were seeking to put Him to
death! "But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth,
which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your
father!" (John 8:40). This time Jesus referred to "their father" in oblique
reference to Satan the devil!
Notice now the hostility, the anger, the livid wrath
and hatred expressed by these Jews who "believe on" Jesus (but
did not believe what He said)!
"We be not born of fornication!" they spat (verse 41).
Read the remainder of this remarkable chapter! By the time
the conversation was finished, these people, who had moments before
"believed on" Jesus, flew into a maniacal frenzy and stooped to pick up
stones from the temple area and kill Jesus on the spot!
Now turn to James 2:19. "Thou believest that there is one God
[or that God is One]; thou doest well; the demons also believe, and
tremble!"
What? Demons "believe"? Of course they do. More—they
know. Demons are fallen angels who followed Lucifer in his rebellion. They
are spirit beings who were present during the creation of Adam and
Eve. As spirit creatures, having the ability to transport themselves without
regard to physical barriers, they have complete knowledge of the truth about
God's family; about Jesus being the Christ, and the very Son of God.
They know He died for the sins of mankind; know He was dead and
buried and that He rose again!
In short, demons know and believe every essential
doctrine and truth that some churches claim is necessary for salvation! They
are not "Christian" because of that belief, nor are they headed toward God's
Kingdom! No, they "believe," but they tremble—because, knowing God's great
plan, they know it is only a matter of time until they will be consigned to
"outer darkness" forever!
Is "belief" enough to ensure you are a Christian? Absolutely
not! Satan believes. His demons believe. The Jews "believed on" Jesus, but
they were totally hostile toward God, not subject to His laws. And, deep
down, they hated Jesus Christ!
But aren't loving expressions of adoration and worship
toward Jesus Christ proof that a person is not "hostile" toward God?
Notice, "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me
with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain
they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men!"
(Matthew 15:7-9).
Why do you not hear that scripture preached?
Jesus warned, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them
by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit ... Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them.
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven! Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out demons?
and in thy name done many wonderful works?
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:15-23).
What a statement!
Jesus Christ says those who call Him "Lord" are not doing
enough to receive the Kingdom! He plainly says it is possible to worship—to
adulate, love, adore, admire and deeply respect Him—and yet do it all in
vain!
But why? How?
Because Jesus says their works, their lives—the way
they live—constitute "iniquity"! Iniquity means sin, lawlessness!
Those who do the will of God, those who do not work
"lawlessness" but who are willing to believe, not only "on" Jesus but
believe Jesus—believe what He said will be known of Him—will not be
worshiping Jesus Christ completely in vain!
Notice carefully, then, that your Bible proves there are many
who believe on Jesus Christ (including demons!) and who worship
Christ—and who are doing it all in vain!
Why?
Because they are not "subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be!" They are still carnal-minded; they have not yet repented!
We saw the dictionary definition of "repent." Did you notice the
"key" that was practically buried in the lengthy description? It was
this: ". . . to feel so contrite over one's sins as to change or
decide to change one's ways . . ."
To be deeply and profoundly sorry, shaken up, devastated,
hurt, ashamed, revolted, disgusted over one's sins—that is repentance!
But what constitutes sin?
What Is Sin?
Few professing Christians are taught from the
pulpits what sin really is. They are taught it is something that is
"displeasing to God," or "living a life that is apart from God," or some
other equally vague and nebulous descriptions.
Many are led to believe "sin" is an almost endless list of
"taboos" and can include drinking, card-playing, dancing, certain kinds of
music, books and magazines, pictures, sex, smoking, short skirts, long
sideburns, sleeping in church, golf on Sunday, cussing, spitting, cheating,
lying, honky-tonking, getting fat, eating meats, marrying, divorcing,
speaking to a disfellowshipped person and an almost exhaustive, talmudic
encyclopedic list of human deeds, lusts and actions.
To some, singing in church is a sin. To others, singing is
mandatory and pleasing to God, but not to the accompaniment of musical
instruments. To some, drinking hard liquor is a sin, but a little wine now
and then is not—and wine may be taken on the Passover (Lord's Supper), or on
any other occasion.
Millions believe it is wrong to commit certain acts defined
in the Ten Commandments but do not believe that to break any one of those
Ten Commandments is a sin, punishable by death, unless it is
repented of!
Especially the fourth one! Millions of believing, professing,
churchgoing "Christian" people cheerfully break God's Holy Sabbath Day every
single week. They have been deceived into believing God somehow allowed the
day into which He put His very presence (and the God of the Old Testament
is the same personality of the Godhead who became Jesus Christ of the
New Testament; read John 1 and Hebrews 1) to be changed, altered, so that
"Christians" now observe "Sunday" as if in commemoration of the resurrection
of Christ.
Not so. History proves otherwise. Bible proofs abound from
proving the Ten Commandments were in force before Moses, to proving
how Jesus came to magnify the law, and make it even more binding, to proving
Christ is "Lord of the Sabbath day" (Mark 2:28) to proving God's Sabbaths
will be enforced during the Millennium!
Still, those millions of people who "believe on" Jesus (just
as the Jews did of John 8) can become emotional, can become angry
and hostile when anyone suggests their Sunday tradition might
be in error!
As Jesus said, "But in vain do they worship me—teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men!" (Matthew 15:9). There is a
Bible definition for sin! It is found in 1 John 3:4. "Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression
of the law!"
The only law described here in John's writings is the Ten
Commandments! Notice!
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his
commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments,
is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:3, 4).
"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep
his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (1
John 3:22).
When a young man asked Jesus, "Good Master, what good thing
shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Jesus answered him, If thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments!" (Matthew 19:16,17).
He then went on to define which commandments, describing the
only law known commonly by such term in the Bible, the Ten Commandments
given by God through Moses! He summarized the last six after mentioning
murder, adultery, theft, bearing false witness and honoring one's parents by
saying, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself "
The Ten Commandments define sin. They tell us what sin
is by specifying various categories of human action (or inaction).
Jesus magnified those commandments, made them infinitely more binding
on us in His famous "Sermon on the Mount."
Notice this! "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or
the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled.
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least
commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in
the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the
same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:17-19).
Notice that Jesus urged men to both "do" and teach others to
"do," even those commandments men considered to be "the least"!
Next He said, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of
the judgment: But I say unto you That whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say
to his brother, Raca ['vain fellow'], shall be in danger of the council: but
whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of Gehennah fire!"
(Matthew 5:21, 22).
What a vast difference! According to the "letter" of the Ten
Commandments, one would be subject to the death penalty for actually
murdering another human being. Now, Jesus described various degrees of
danger if one spoke contemptuously of his fellowman! Why? Because
such sentiments come from the heart, out of an attitude, and
Jesus is here making the Ten Commandments infinitely more binding upon
Christians by showing how they apply spiritually.
Notice another example. "Ye have heard that it was said by them
of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:27, 28).
Does this "do away" with the Ten Commandments, as some claim?
Obviously not. It does the exact opposite: reconfirming,
reestablishing and making infinitely more binding; applicable to the
spiritual intent of the mind, rather than the physical act! Jesus said, ". .
. Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart;
and they defile the man.
"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These
are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth
not a man" (Matthew 15:18-20).
Where the Ten Commandments had been administered in the
letter, a man was not actually guilty of sin, punishable by death, until
the murder had been committed; now a man was guilty of sin, punishable by
death, for hating his fellow human being in his heart! Where formerly it
required the physical act to constitute sin, now Jesus explained the
thought constituted sin!
The Ten Commandments point out what sin is. Paul said,
". . . I had not known sin [that is, what sin is], but by [through]
the law: for I had not known lust, except the law [the Ten Commandments] had
said, Thou shalt not covet" (Romans 7:7).
Just previously Paul had said, "For the wages of sin [the
breaking of the Ten Commandments] is death; but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 6:23).
Speaking analogously, Paul said, "But sin, taking occasion by
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the
law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy,
and the commandment holy, and just, and good!' (Romans 7:8-12).
A paraphrase is necessary to understand this analogous
passage.
Paul was saying, "Sin, which dwells in my human nature, as
the law describes, was working every kind of evil in me. For, when I didn't
know anything about the law, what sin is, I was living normally,
without any knowledge that I was sinning—the sin within me was dead, and I
didn't recognize it. But, when the knowledge of the Commandments came to
mind, sin became instantly, painfully alive, and my life was forfeit.
Because sin, as the law explains it, deceived me, and through the penalty of
the law it cost me my life—because death is the penalty for sin. Now that I
am dead, so far as the law is concerned, because Christ died for
me, I must confess that the law of God is holy, and just, and good."
That is the way millions of professing Christians are!
They are blissfully unaware of the sin that lives
within them; their leaders speak "smooth things" (Isaiah 30:9, 10) and the
people themselves are deceived. Remember, deceived people are very
likely "sincere," they don't know they are obliged to keep the
Ten Commandments in the spiritual intent of the law, and what they "don't
know" they "don't know that they don't know," to coin a phrase. They are
completely ignorant of the sin that lives within them, as Paul explained.
Notice what Paul further said, "For we know that the law is
spiritual [as we saw Jesus magnify its intent and make it far more
binding upon us]: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I
allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
"If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto
the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me.
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no
good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is
good I find not.
"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I
would not, that I do" (Romans 7:14-19).
What an eloquent explanation of human nature at work in our
bodies!
Paul acknowledges that God's law is spiritual.
First, what is the difference between something that is
"physical" and something "spiritual"? People speak of "physical laws" and
usually mean some law or principle having to do with the known laws of
physics and chemistry—laws affecting our health—or laws legislated by man
for the purpose of regulating society.
But are the "laws of physics" (i.e., gravity, inertia,
properties of minerals and chemicals, etc.) really "physical"? No, they are
not. They are absolutes. The laws governing our physical universe are
immutable, implacable, unchangeable; they are stated principles concerning
the way things are.
When Paul acknowledges God's law is "spiritual," he shows it
is unchangeable, immutable; that it is absolute.
Jesus said, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth
pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till
all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18). Jesus showed God's law will survive
long after the world has perished, that not a comma or the crossing of a "t"
will be changed!
Can anyone doubt that God's Word—yes, the New
Testament—upholds, magnifies and commands obedience to the Ten Commandments?
Let's paraphrase the remainder of Paul's statement and
understand it. Paul admitted, "I am still fleshly minded, subject to the
tugs and pulls of my nature, capable of sinning. The things I find myself
doing I wish I wouldn't do. The things I want to do I seem unable to do, but
the evil that I don't want to do, I seem to find myself doing!"
Continuing, Paul said (paraphrased), "Now, when I find myself
doing things I really wish I weren't doing, it isn't really me; the
way I really am, and want to be, that is doing it—it is the sin that seems
to dwell inside of me.
"I find there is a law of some sort at work, that—when I
really want to do good—there is evil present inside of me that prevents it.
"Because, you see, I truly delight in the law of God, when I
think about the way I really want to be, the way I really feel about God and
His laws, but I see this other law at work in my body as if in conflict
against the law of my mind, bringing me into a kind of slavish obedience to
this law of sin that lives in my body.
"What a wretched person I really am! Who can deliver me from
this conflicting life that can only lead to death, of and by myself'.? I
thank God that it can be done through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, then, with
my innermost being I serve the law of God, but this fleshly body betrays me
now and then and I find it serving the law of sin!" (Romans 7:21-25).
Isn't that the way you feel much of the time?
Aren't there countless Christian people who feel the same
way? We want to "be good," but we find it so hard to continually "do good!"
We slip and slop around; we procrastinate, vacillate and hedge. We make
false starts and don't finish what we have begun. We resolve and days
later fail to carry through. We make promises to ourselves, and to God, and
then break them.
Thank God He has given us the example of one of the most
tireless laborers for Him, a great apostle of Jesus Christ: Paul. Paul was
human and weak, just like we are! He wanted salvation, wanted to
continually remain in a repentant attitude, but he found himself slipping
back into sinful attitudes and habits. It was necessary for Paul to go to
God for forgiveness on a daily basis. Can we do any less?
Sin is the breaking of God's Ten Commandments as they are
magnified and made more binding by the teachings and the life's
example of Jesus Christ, who "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
Therefore, sin may include some of the things listed earlier,
and sin most certainly is displeasing to God, and is living a life that is
separate from God, but sin is, specifically, breaking any one of the
points of the Ten Commandments as they are magnified and made more binding
in the spirit!
To break God's Sabbath Day is a sin. Millions are
deceived, thinking God's Sabbath is done away—so their conscience may remain
free while they are nevertheless under the condemnation of God's law and
under the penalty of sin!
Can People Sin with a Free Conscience?
Notice again how God's Word explains
ignorance is no excuse!
"For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died!" (Romans 7:9).
Paul says he was living happily enough, blissfully unaware
of points of God's law he should have been obeying; "alive without the
law," or alive without the conscious knowledge he should be obeying
that law.
But when "the commandment came"—that is, when God's laws were
finally impressed on his conscience, when he came into the full realization
he had been breaking those laws--"sin revived," was suddenly
obvious to him, leaped to life in his mind, soiled his conscience, made
him aware that he was sinning, and Paul "died."
How did he "die"? Listen. "For I through the law am dead
to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:19, 20).
The law demanded Paul's death (Romans 6:23). To commit sin,
even in ignorance, brings the death penalty, according to God's law.
But Jesus Christ was sent to suffer and die in our stead, to accept
upon Himself the penalty, the consequences of our sins!
By accepting, in brokenhearted humility and thanksgiving, in
deep and abiding repentance, the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ in his
place, the apostle Paul was "crucified with Christ"; the law was
satisfied—he was considered "dead" according to the law and the case
closed—yet he still lived; but he lived by the faith of Christ!
God says, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him!" (Romans
5:8, 9).
But sinners, as Paul explained, might not know they
are sinners!
Most are deceived (Revelation 12:9). They do not know that
they are sinning! Their consciences remain relatively untroubled, but their
lives are forfeit, their fate sealed, unless they repent!
Paul explains further: "For when the Gentiles [the nations],
which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of
the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and
their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another…"
(Romans 2:14, 15).
There are many nations and many religions which recognize
various points of God's spiritual law.
Even in Islam it is against the law to commit murder, to bear
false witness, to steal or commit adultery. Under strict Islamic code, stern
and swift punishment is meted out, not unlike the punishments for sin during
the Mosaic period. Westerners may be revolted upon seeing a flyblown,
grotesquely swollen, rotting hand hanging from a hook outside a bakery in an
Arabic country. It is said there are very few Arabs who have no hands.
Perhaps such stern "justice," though seemingly barbaric to our Western
minds, keeps such countries relatively crime-free.
It is said one may walk the darkened streets of Cairo, Egypt,
with its teeming millions, and be safer than in the towns of the United
States.
In such countries there are concepts of right and wrong,
concepts of religion, of good and evil and of conscience. Paul shows their
"thoughts" either accuse or excuse one another, quite apart from any action
or input from God.
Their conscience may be perfectly clear as they practice
their religion, and yet they may be sinning in God's sight and under
condemnation.
To most of us, our way of life is "right." Very few people
can stand the nagging voice of conscience for very long. We need to be
comfortable with ourselves.
So, if we find a certain problem in our lives causing us
conscience pangs, we usually find some new avenues of thought which can
"excuse" us our problems, find a way to assuage that nagging conscience and
quiet the pangs of doubt, find a way to coexist with this painful problem of
life.
Even a completely foolish man justifies all his actions. "The
way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto
counsel is wise" (Proverbs 12:15). Such a person may play the games of
quieting his own conscience, but God says he needs the input from outside
sources, counsel" and knowledge from outside himself.
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). Most of us do that
which is "right" in our eyes. We need to live with our consciences, so, like
the Gentile nations that live in complete ignorance of God's laws, we either
"accuse" ourselves or "excuse" ourselves. We accuse ourselves when our
consciences give us trouble, grow irritated and disgusted with our lives and
strive to find ways to change.
Those who come forward following a moving sermon are "good"
people who are striving (at some cost to dignity and self-esteem) to change
their lives. They mean it. They are certainly sincere. They have been
convicted of wrongdoing in some form or another and have found their
consciences have really been awakened to a need to change!
But have they been convicted of sin?
The answer is a resounding no—if that minister did not explain
deeply and fully what sin is and if that person did not understand
that he has been breaking the spiritual intent of the Ten Commandments
of God and is now brokenheartedly resolving not to sin any more!
They have been convicted of wrongdoing, not of sin, in
its entirety. They have become sorrowful over sinning in some way but have
not been awakened (as was Paul) to the whole picture of sin: what it is and
what it is not, how to repent of it and how to avoid it in the future.
After such an experience, many people find new ways to
"excuse" themselves where they were previously "accusing" themselves. Now
they are able to pick up the pieces of their lives and go on again.
Too many tens of thousands of people have equated the
quieting of their consciences with repentance! There is a vast
difference!
One of the bloodiest books in the Bible is the book of
Judges. During this period of time the people of Israel fought one war after
another; there was every conceivable personal, social, national problem. The
summation at the end of the book shows that all this was caused by
people doing what their consciences told them was right!
By doing what seemed "right" to them, they suffered every
conceivable evil effect: crime, famine, wars, an incredible amount of human
suffering spanning a large portion of Israelitish history. No doubt many of
them managed to assuage their consciences; they were "doing what was
right" the way it appeared to them. But they were committing sins, the
underlying cause for all the suffering they experienced!
The answer is that people most certainly can, and do, sin
with a free conscience. Human conscience is no guide as to what constitutes
sin! Sin is defined by God's Ten Commandments, not by human sociocultural,
ethnic, religious and philosophical views!
Your conscience may not bother you when you are living
contrary to God's laws in some important point, just as Paul said, "For I
was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived,
and I died."
He lived without the awareness of sin; his conscience didn't
bother him until that point in his life when God made him aware of
his sins. Then he repented; he accepted Christ's shed blood to atone
for his sins and was baptized as a symbol of the death, burial and
resurrection, not only of Jesus Christ, but also of Paul himself.
That's why he said, "I died." So far as the law is concerned,
the penalty had been exacted. The law was satisfied. Paul's life was
forfeit, but Christ had given His life instead!
Millions of sincere, churchgoing, professing Christian people
today are actually living in sins of which they are completely
ignorant! Their consciences are free; they don't know they are
sinning. But they are!
Are We Truly Free?
The Jews became angry with Jesus when He
suggested that whoever commits sin becomes the "servant" of sin, is
enslaved, and in bondage to his own appetites. They hotly retorted that they
were never in bondage to anyone!
We like to believe we are truly in command of our own
fate—the captain over our own lives and destinies—but we are not.
As creatures of habit, we become very susceptible to the
physical appetites. Millions of us are "hooked" on various of the
comparatively (!) harmless varieties of stimulants, depressants, and
perception-altering substances that we imbibe on a daily basis. Whether
coffee or alcohol, cigarettes or snuff, or just a desire for sweets,
starches and sugars in our diet, most of us are slavishly obedient to our
habits.
This is not a booklet on alcoholism—the subject is vast
enough to deserve a whole book—but the incredible hold of alcohol on
millions of human beings is one of the most massive physical, economic,
social and spiritual problems of our time. Broken homes, shattered bodies
and grotesquely borne injuries, job loss, absenteeism, child abuse, wife
beating, murder—the monstrous toll of human suffering lying directly at the
door of this slavish habit that holds millions captive is incalculable.
Strangely, there are countless "problem drinkers" who kid
themselves they can quit any time they care to. They continually promise
themselves they will cut down, taper off and bring their drinking under
control.
Many people wrestle with this problem all their lives,
consuming prodigious quantities of liquor, wine and/or beer—playing the game
of pretending they are not really in slavish subjection to
their addictive habit, pretending they are the masters of themselves—and,
just to prove it now and then, giving it up for short periods of time.
They manage to live with their consciences, perhaps even
justifying their groveling, servile obedience to their appetites and
physical senses, by claiming biblical authority for what they do and kidding
themselves they are keeping their habit "under control." They tell
themselves (and others) that they are only "moderate" drinkers.
I knew of an example where the man was consuming at least one
quart of wine each day, from time to time laced with various cocktails at
lunch and dinner, and glasses of champagne. However, when lecturing others
on their drinking habits, which he darkly warned might be carried to excess
in some cases, he would cite how he drank beer. He claimed he bought one of
the tiny, six-ounce aluminum cans of Coors and in the most elaborate fashion
explained how he would drink only half of that tiny can and promptly
pour the remainder down the sink! This example he urged on his followers,
always careful not to mention the fact that, while he might have been
telling the truth about how much beer he had consumed on that day, he
concealed his own total intake of alcohol.
Such are the games people play when they desperately strive
to quiet their consciences to sin!
It is not the purpose of this booklet to explain all the
scriptures on whether drinking in real moderation is or is not a sin. The
point is that the example I cite came from a person who did believe drinking
in moderation was allowed in the Bible, but who was rarely moderate in his
own drinking. But he kept his conscience quiet.
It is difficult to convince the confirmed smoker that he is
slavish, servile, groveling, obedient to a physical, lustful appetite
of the flesh!
They make it seem so stylish, so universally accepted!
Advertising a smelly, burning weed beside fresh, bubbling, sky-blue mountain
streams, showing happy skiers puffing away on their favorite cheroot that is
very likely called by the deceptive name "Fresh Air" or "Springtime" or
other such appellative.
Yet it has been proved over and over again that smoking
causes cancer. Not only is it a smelly, dirty habit that enslaves a
person—makes a full-grown man get down on his knees and practically grovel
in slavish obedience to his own appetites—but it is terribly dangerous to
your health!
Millions of "Christian" people smoke, including ministers and
priests. Are they sinning?
The Scriptures plainly say they are. While smoking is not
mentioned by name, the principle of defiling one's body, shortening your
life and playing a form of "Russian roulette" with cancer, while becoming
repugnant and offensive to nonsmokers, is clearly condemned by the Word of
God.
But there are hundreds of more subtle forms of sin that are
waging continual battle in the physical minds and bodies of professing
Christian people!
Hatred, racism, anger, greed, avarice, cunning, lying,
cheating, stealing—a mammoth number of unchristian attitudes—are harbored
within the hearts of countless people who believe they are "Christian." Some
of the most glaring ironies can be found in Catholics and Protestants
shooting, knifing, bludgeoning and bombing each other to bits in Northern
Ireland. They both believe in Jesus, they say. They both believe in "turning
the other cheek," then. Really?
Too many Christian-professing people believe God's law
constitutes bondage! To them freedom is freedom from the law, not freedom
within the law.
What is "freedom"?
Perhaps a loose definition, as it applies to our Western
democracies, might read, "Freedom is the inviolable right to do whatever you
want to do as proscribed by the law, so long as it does not interfere with
that same right granted to others." There are many definitions which could
suffice as well, but within this extremely brief framework is a great
principle.
Living in a free country is only possible by a system of
government which can continue to guarantee those freedoms. Our government,
divided into the executive, judiciary and legislative bodies, is constituted
according to the founding documents of the United States, called the
"Declaration of Independence," the "Bill of Rights" and the "Constitution."
The legislative body of government adds amendments to the
Constitution from time to time, and such amendments become law.
When you break the law, you are subject to a penalty.
Without digressing into the tragedy of the overcrowded,
understaffed, beleaguered system of criminal justice and the many abuses,
such as "revolving-door" punishment, suffice it to say that, ideally, when
you run a stop sign and are caught, you pay a fine. Steal and you pay a fine
or go to jail. Murder and your life may be forfeit.
Thus, in many ways our modern system of law is not unlike the
ancient system of law under Moses. Simply stated, if you violate the terms
and conditions of those documents guaranteeing you your freedom, you may
lose that freedom.
You are free, so long as you continue to obey the laws of
the free land in which you live!
God's laws are the same!
You are truly free only when you live within
God's laws, because you are then free from sin! Sin enslaves you,
captures you, holds you captive and in bondage!
Notice what God's Word says, "Know ye not, that to whom ye
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin [the breaking of God's Ten Commandments] unto death [the
wages of sin), or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16).
When you "obey" the lusts and physical senses of your
body, and indulge in acts or habits which injure and pollute that body, you
are becoming a slave to the passions and appetites of your flesh! You
are most certainly not free! You are a slave!
When you break those slavish habits through the power of
God's Holy Spirit—when you repent of sins and call upon Jesus Christ to
forgive those sins—you become free from sin!
Notice further, "But God be thanked, that ye were the
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye
became the servants of righteousness!" (Romans 6:17, 18).
Most have it backwards!
Does Grace Give You Permission
to Break the Law?
Millions of professing, churchgoing
"Christian" people have believed they are under "grace" when they are
forgiven, and, to them, that means they do not have to obey God's laws!
Paul responds, "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? ... Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin ... Knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion
over him ... Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof!"
(Romans 6:1- 12).
Grace is a quality of the character of God, not the "state"
of being a Christian. The clever catch-phrase" law or grace" has
confused countless persons into believing the two are at opposite extremes;
that one is either "under the law" (made to appear "legalistic,"
"repressive," harsh, unreasonable, "Old Covenant," "Jewish" and as if one is
trying to work for salvation by earning it through repugnant physical deeds)
or "under grace," meaning not obliged to keep God's law.
But such plays on words will not nullify the plain statements
of Scripture! Look again at what Paul said! He asked, "Shall we continue in
sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid!" That means, clearly, that we are not to continue
breaking the Ten Commandments, continue doing the very things that took
Christ's life, in order that we may bask in God's forgiveness!
Once we have been forgiven of breaking the laws of
God, we are then expected to quit doing that for which we needed
forgiveness, to quit sinning, quit breaking the laws!
Paul said, Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are
not under the law, but under grace." Now the law no longer claims your life;
you are out from under the penalties of the law—no longer under the threat
of death, the punishment for having broken the law.
Because some might have misunderstood this statement, might
have interpreted it to mean not being "under the law" meant free to ignore
the law, free to break the law, free to go back into sin, Paul
continued, "What then? Shall we sin [break God's Ten Commandments]
because we are not 'under the law' but 'under grace'? God forbid!"
When we repent and are forgiven for having lived in our sins,
we are expected to come out of those sins, to forsake them and to
live a life of overcoming our sinful natures!
Notice, "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life!"
(Romans 5:8-10).
If Christians understood this simple scripture, countless
millions of them would know far more than they presently do about
justification, about reconciliation to God and about salvation! They would
know salvation is not a completed, past action by "receiving Christ,"
by confessing that He is the Christ, but that it is a present,
day-to-day, ongoing process of living a godly, Christian life, with Jesus
Christ as a living, acting, interceding High Priest in heaven—that a
Christian must live a life of daily overcoming and will be saved
through the living Christ!
Read those verses again and understand!
God shows how much He loves you and me by sending Christ to
die for us "while we were yet sinners"! Read the "favorite verse" of many
Christian-professing people again, John 3:16. God loved this world of
sinning human beings enough to allow the greatest risk ever taken to occur:
to allow His own Son, the "Logos" (John 1:1), the
"Spokesman" or Executive Member of the Godhead, to "empty
Himself" (Philippians 2:5, 6), become a human being (Hebrews 2:14), with the
possibility of sinning, and overcome the temptations of the
physical flesh (Hebrews 4:15, 16), living a perfect life (Hebrews
5:9) and then dying for the sins of all mankind!
What took Christ's life?
Our sins!
And what is sin? It is the breaking of God's Ten Commandments!
(1 John 3:4). When God forgives you for past acts of disobedience to
His laws, He obliterates your guilty past and He now expects you to
remain free from sin, to quit sinning!
You are now said to be "justified" (past guilt removed!) and
reconciled to God. Now you live under the merciful pardon, the grace,
of God. Does that mean you are now free to go back into a life of
disobedience to God, breaking the Ten Commandments?
Because you are under "grace," do you now have permission to
break the law with impugnity? You have seen the answer from the holy Word of
God time and time again! Paul says, "God forbid!"
Your sins and mine cost Christ His life!
When you accept His shed blood in your stead, you are
repenting of sin! Now you must quit sinning, with the help of
God's Holy Spirit, and begin living a life of overcoming the physical
pulls and tugs of human nature.
Repentance: the Starting Point
Jesus said, "Repent ye, and believe
the Gospel!" John the Baptist shouted, "Repent!" Peter, on the day of
Pentecost, said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit!" (Acts 2:38). Later he said, "Repent ye
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts
3:19).
To repent means to be deeply sorry for having sinned. It
means coming to a sincere, honest, deeply felt remorse over having broken
God's laws—all of them—totally bereft of any feelings of self-pity;
brokenhearted remorse over what we have done and what we have been;
what we are!
Along with being deeply sorry to the point of real emotion
expressed toward God for our past sins, it means fervent resolve that, with
God's help, we will quit sinning!
Real repentance takes knowledge and deep
understanding mixed with emotion!
It is not an embarrassed, selfish feeling of the "sorrow of
the world" which is mixed with feelings of self-pity, but a full, sincere,
completely honest understanding of how wrong we have been, how far afield
from God's perfect will in our lives, what a sinner we have been!
The only way a person can really repent is to understand
these major points:
First: What sin is; that it is the breaking of
God's Ten Commandments in any of the broadest possible applications, as
Jesus Christ defined by His life's example and by His teachings, notably the
Sermon on the Mount.
Second: To understand that we have been sinners,
that we were living arrogantly, pridefully, willfully contrary to
those laws and the teachings of Christ:
Third: To understand that our own personal rejection
of God and His Son Jesus Christ, the way of life They have willed for
us, was what took Christ’s life. We need to know He died for us
personally!
Fourth: To see ourselves for the first time as God
sees us: selfish, prideful, innately rebellious toward God and
resisting the suggestion that we may have been wrong. We must come to be
disgusted with the self, to say with Job, "I abhor myself," and with Paul,
"O wretched man that I am!" and mean it!
Fifth: We must sincerely cry out for God's
forgiveness that He will remove that burden of guilt we have been
carrying.
Sixth: We must be baptized (Acts 2:38; Romans
6) as a symbol of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and as a
symbol of the death and burial of the "old man," the person we were
in the past.
Seventh: We must receive the "laying on of hands" by
the direct representatives of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38; 8:17) for the
receiving of the Holy Spirit, and then know and have the faith to
believe we have been forgiven and that God will now empower us to
live a life of daily overcoming. We must understand we are no longer
"our own person," but belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20; 7:23).
Millions of sincerely contrite persons have come forward to
the emotional cries of an evangelist who did not understand these seven
vital points!
They were sincere. They may have changed their lives in some
important ways. Those changes could have been for the good. But if their
sorrow was only the "sorrow of the world," and if their understanding
did not include the entire biblical truth about repentance, and if they were
not willing to be baptized and receive God's Holy Spirit exactly as your
Bible requires, then they did not really repent!
Repentance—a Great Change
Peter said, "Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19).
To be converted is to be changed.
Paul wrote, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed [completely changed, converted] by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1, 2).
When one repents, is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit of
God, a profound change comes over one's whole character and
personality. Let's notice one of the most outstanding biblical examples,
that of Saul of Tarsus.
While a murderous mob stoned Stephen to death (Acts, seventh
chapter), a young man named "Saul of Tarsus" stood by and watched with
complete approval! ". . . And stoned him [Stephen]: and the witnesses laid
down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul" (Acts 7:58).
"And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time
there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem . .
." (Acts 8:1).
Saul of Tarsus was a freeborn Roman citizen, but a
Benjaminite, brought up in the strictest sect of the Pharisees, and educated
under one of the most famous of all teachers of rabbinical law, Gamaliel.
Some scholars take his statement about "giving his voice" against Christians
as implying he was a member of the Sanhedrin.
Saul was vehemently determined to stamp out the new
"religion" based on the belief that Jesus had died for our sins, been buried
and was now alive. He hated that concept, and he diligently sought to
stamp it out!
"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of
him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way [notice Christianity is called a way of life!], whether they
were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem" (Acts 9:1, 2.
Saul was filled with hatred toward this rabble, these
so-called "Christians," as they would soon be called. He obtained official,
written permission to arrest them and bring them in irons to Jerusalem for
trial.
Later he was to admit, "I verily thought with myself, that I
ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which
thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in
prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were
put to death, I gave my voice against them" (Acts 26:9, 10).
The Greek word used for "voice" in this case is psephos,
which means "a pebble (as worn smooth by handling), i.e., by
implication of use as a counter, or ballot; a vote, stone,
voice."
In dozens of other cases, the Greek for "voice" is phone,
which means "to tone, or articulate; saying or language, noise, sound, or
voice."
The text should read, "I gave my vote against them!" This
seems adequate proof that Paul had a "stone" to cast, as if in balloting or
voting, and was therefore a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin.
Paul, in his defense before Agrippa, began acknowledging his
wrath against Christians, trying to show Agrippa that he, too, had
entertained the same notions that drove the Jews and that Agrippa felt. He
said, "And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to
blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them
even unto strange cities" (Acts 26:11).
Think what this means. Saul of Tarsus had a lot to repent of!
He had not only stood by at Stephen's death, and watched the brutal murder
of a converted, Christlike human being; he had obtained documents (like
warrants) from the priests, and had entered synagogues all over Syria and
Palestine, and, finding those who dared to confess the name of Christ, had
them arrested and dragged out on the spot.
He invariably voted against acquittal when they were
questioned, and helped put many of these poor people to death! He
participated directly in murder! Not only this, but he "compelled them to
blaspheme," and that means torture! By subjecting completely innocent
people—men, women and the aged alike—to unbearable pain, he smirked and
laughed as he caused them to curse the name of Jesus Christ before they
died!
Read the entire ninth chapter of Acts. It is the story of
God's direct intervention in the life of Saul of Tarsus: how he was blinded
and struck down, how he heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me?"
Read how Ananias was told in a vision to lay hands on Saul
for the receiving of God's Holy Spirit! "And Ananias went his way, and
entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the
Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath
sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight [for he had been
supernaturally struck blind!], and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
"And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had
been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was
baptized' (Acts 9:17, 18).
Saul was spiritually blind—and God struck him down and
rendered him physically blind. When it seemed "scales" fell away from
his eyes physically, it also seemed as if scales fell away from his
eyes spiritually. Now he saw clearly. Now he knew Jesus
Christ was alive! No one lives through such a staggering experience
as Saul and remains in doubt!
Notice. "And when he had received meat, he was strengthened.
Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And
straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the
Son of God!" (verses 19 and 20).
Now the name he had hated became the name he loved! Now the
message that had driven him insane with anger—filled his heart with
murder—became the message he loved the most, couldn't wait to preach to
others!
"But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not
this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came
hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief
priests?
"But Saul increased the more in strength, and
confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very
Christ" (Acts 9:21, 22).
What a change! What a complete transformation! Peter had
preached, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted!" When Saul was
struck down, all the hatred, the feelings of permanence, personal
invincibility, ego, vanity, pride, hatred and self-assurance, were
destroyed!
From a pompous, hate-filled little despot—like a dictator who
reveled in his ability to casually take human life with as little
remorse as killing a dog—Saul became a frightened little boy. A vast
blackness enveloped his eyes—he couldn't see! An awesome, powerful,
electrifying voice shouted at him, "SAUL! SAUL!" and he was shocked
into humble obedience.
Gone were all the anger, pride and vanity.
They were replaced with awe, the fear of God and a shocking
realization that these Christians who said Jesus had risen from the dead
were right! It was He, Jesus, talking to Saul!
Instantly he became humble, contrite, deeply sorrowful over
what he had done! While he was blind he had time to see, in his mind's eye,
an endless parade of the screaming, pain-wracked faces of innocent, helpless
human beings he had caused to blaspheme the name of Jesus and to be put to
death!
He came to abhor himself, to hate what he had done! His flesh
crawled with revulsion over the incredible, bestial, hateful
brutality he had committed! He cried out to God with broken heart, with a
feeling of being more worthless than the offscourings of a filthy garbage
can, worth less than dung in the street, worth less than a rotting corpse of
a dead dog. He came to detest what he had done, to hate what he had been,
what he had become!
He knew he deserved to die!
Then, miraculously, he came to know the very Jesus Christ he had
so hated, whose name he had contemptuously used in cursing and foul language
and whose name he had caused those suffering Christians to curse;
that very Jesus Christ, in spite of how wretched and how worthless
and how unfit and contemptible Saul had become—that same Jesus
Christ of Nazareth was willing to forgive even him, Saul!
That realization nearly broke Saul's heart. It overwhelmed
him completely, filled him with an awesome realization of the depths of the
limitless love and mercy of God, that Jesus Christ had, in fact, been
the very Son of that Living God, that Jesus Christ had suffered and died on
the stake for Saul personally.
So, through a direct intervention from God, a prideful,
arrogant, hate-filled Jewish aristocrat, highly educated, vain, imperious,
haughty and egomaniacal, was transformed into a contrite, sorrowful,
repentant, humble man who could look on his own past, on his own self,
with feelings of shame and revulsion.
Saul's name meant "destroyer." Later, as God began using Saul
more and more powerfully, the brethren began referring to him as "Paul,"
which meant "worker," as a laborer for Jesus Christ, a worker for his Lord
and Savior!
Paul was converted.
God used the apostle Paul to enrich the lives of countless
millions—he caused him to produce 14 whole books of the Bible—and the
life-long humility and self-effacing, nonpresumptuous, unassuming character
of Paul shines forth from some of the richest literature of God's Word.
To Paul we owe the entire panorama of the growth of
Christianity in the Gentile world, and through his writings we learn of the
organization and government in the church—all about the spiritual meanings
behind baptism, the real meaning of conversion and the fact that Paul
never forgot how deeply he had needed God's forgiveness, never forgot
he had been purged from his old sins!
Read Acts the 13th chapter for examples of Paul's powerful
ministry.
At the conclusion of a stirring sermon, he said, "Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from
all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts
13:38, 39).
From hating the sound of Jesus' name, Paul came to love Jesus
Christ with all his heart and all his being. He gloried in preaching about
that love and forgiveness he had experienced, showing the reality of
what had happened to him and proclaiming in great power that Jesus Christ
was alive, that He was the Son of God, a living High Priest in heaven to
make daily intercession for us, and that He was to come again in the power
of all the universe to establish His great Kingdom here on this earth!
Paul would say, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). He would
say, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I
determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him
crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much
trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1
Corinthians 2:1-4).
What a change!
There is no richer example of a complete conversion of a
human being from a carnal-minded, sinning rebel to a loving, humble, sincere
Christian minister in all of the Word of God.
Paul repented. He was baptized. He received the
Holy Spirit of God, which changed his carnal nature.
He wrote, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:6-9).
Paul was transformed, changed, converted!
Begotten—Not Yet Born
When one is deeply repentant, is baptized and
receives the Holy Spirit of God through the laying on of hands, that person
is said to be "begotten" of God.
The Bible uses the analogy of human birth to help us humans
understand the vast process of salvation. Jesus told Nicodemus, "Ye must be
born again," and explained that which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is, becomes, Spirit! (For
a complete explanation of this vital subject, write for our free booklet
Was Jesus Born Again?)
Millions of professing Christians have come to call the
experience of "receiving Christ" as Savior being "born again." Countless
churchgoers believe they have already been born again, using the
expression to convey their acceptance of Christ's blood, their belief in
Him.
But only Jesus Christ has been "born again"!
Notice the proof in the pages of your own Bible.
When Jesus was resurrected, He was changed from flesh
to Spirit! He instantly became very God once more and joined
His Father as a member of the Family of God. Christ had been the
"Logos" (Greek, Spokesman), the Executive Member of the Godhead, who
did the creating (John 1: 1-17).
He "counted not equality with God a thing to be grasped at,"
but "emptied himself' and "took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men. . ." (Philippians 2:6, 7, margin). He became human
(Hebrews 2:14-17) and was the "only begotten" of the Father! (John
3:16; Hebrews 11:17).
When Jesus was resurrected, He was said to be "born"
of God by a miraculous change, by a resurrection from the dead! "For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man
in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming" (1 Corinthians 15:22, 23).
Notice the amazing opposites to that which most
Christians believe contained in this scripture. First, God has determined
there is to be an order of entrance into His Kingdom. He says Christ
has the preeminence; He is the firstfruits from the dead. Next, He says it
is only afterward Christians may be inducted into His Kingdom. When?
Is it at the moment they die? No! ". . . Afterward, they that are Christ's
at his coming," and not a moment before! In that moment, they too
will be changed!
"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also
bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [die],
but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trump [afterward, at His coming]: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed!" (1 Corinthians 15:49-52).
We will be born of God, just as Jesus said to
Nicodemus—changed from human flesh into divine Spirit! Jesus is
called the firstborn among many brethren"(Romans 8:29)..
But, when one is converted, he receives but an
"earnest," or "down payment," of God's Holy Spirit. We are still fleshly,
physical, and there is still a carnal nature against which we must battle.
We are "begotten" of God, but not yet born! (Read our complete
booklet Was Jesus Born Again?, which explains thoroughly. It's free
of charge—write for it today.)
What people commonly refer to as a "born again experience"
means they believe they became a Christian; believe they "received Christ"
as their personal Savior. Perhaps they went forward at a revival or
evangelistic campaign. Now, because of the confusion concerning "born
again," millions believe they have already been "born again" when the Bible
says no! The Bible clearly shows Christ is the "firstborn from the
dead" and it is afterward-at his coming—that others can be born of
God like He was!
Presently we are said to be "begotten of God!"
The confusion stems from the single Greek word gennao, which,
unlike our English terminology, connotes the entire birth process from
begettal through birth. If there had been two different Greek words used in
the Bible, such as "begotten" and "born," then most would understand.
But remember, the Bible must interpret the Bible, and no man!
We must not dare to put our ideas, our doctrines and beliefs, into the
Bible; we must tremble before it and seek to drink deeply of its meaning,
getting God's truth out of the Bible, letting the Bible teach