"Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard." - Proverbs 13:15 KJV
This is so true.
All the modern translations of this verse seem to take away what this verse says in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew it says that the path of the transgressor is washed out like a strong river washing out a road during a storm making it 'hard' or treacherous to pass.
Passion that runs outside it's channel ruins the path.
Good understanding opens the path of favor.
"Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." - 2 Timothy 2:21-26 ESV
Yes. Here we are back at this passage.
Wisdom does not quench our passion. Discouragement can do that. Shame can direct our passions in unhealthy ways but knowledge of the truth harnesses passion so that it is useful. Grace tames the savage beast by restoring the equipment that was lost at the fall. Adam died spiritually but Jesus is the second Adam.
"Thus it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 ESV
Our spirit is quickened by God's Spirit and made alive in a new economy of Grace.
As P Schaller said this weekend in Baltimore. This new man has 'likability' and favor with God. His path is a grace path.
Is your path hard because your passions are not under control. You are not alone and it doesn't have to be that way. Damming up the river doesn't have to be the answer. It also doesn't have to ruin your life in cycles. God has a way for your river to flow that won't make your way treacherous.
It is called grace and it can only be found in Jesus Christ.
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Showing posts with label Sin Cycles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sin Cycles. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Covering Sins And Exposing Evil
I've been thinking a great deal about God covering us and personal accountability. God covers our mistakes because of Christ. Even our intentional transgressions are covered.
God has other plans for ideologies that oppose Him. He deals directly with people who plan or conspire against Him and those He loves.
"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool." - Proverbs 17:9-10 ESV
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 18:15-18 ESV
If God has an issue with us He comes alone first and if we will not listen He uses a representative. He is giving us His formula to apply. We proclaim what has been proclaimed in Heaven.
"If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven." - Numbers 15:27-28 ESV
The nation of Israel had an offering for 'unintentional sins.' Jesus has become our once and for all offering. We transgress in ways we can't imagine but God has covered our sin and cast it into the deepest sea (see Micah 7:19).
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:11-12 ESV
"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." - Psalm 130:3-4 ESV
God has covered sin. Now He wants to break our sin cycles and expose evil plans.
"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out." - Numbers 32:20-23 ESV
"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops." - Luke 12:2-3 ESV
If you look at these passages in context you see that God is speaking about individuals or groups of people that are planning or conspiring something. God delights in covering us but He also is glad to expose evil and it's intentions.
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." - Psalm 51:4-9 ESV
"And a ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone' " - Luke 18:18-19 ESV
Yes. Yes. Yes. I am determined to live a life of transparency before God. Grace makes that easy because I know my performance is not the issue. God's goodness is the issue. Goodness isn't what I bring to the table... humility is all that I have. God forbid that my attitude should echo the attitude of God's enemies by living in a pre-planned cycle.
"For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?...
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death... For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." - Romans 7:22-24, 8:1-2, 5 ESV
No condemnation! Shout that from the rooftops. That statement has the power to break any cycle of sin because of the power of the One who covers in the context of Christ's once and for all offering.
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God has other plans for ideologies that oppose Him. He deals directly with people who plan or conspire against Him and those He loves.
"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool." - Proverbs 17:9-10 ESV
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 18:15-18 ESV
If God has an issue with us He comes alone first and if we will not listen He uses a representative. He is giving us His formula to apply. We proclaim what has been proclaimed in Heaven.
"If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven." - Numbers 15:27-28 ESV
The nation of Israel had an offering for 'unintentional sins.' Jesus has become our once and for all offering. We transgress in ways we can't imagine but God has covered our sin and cast it into the deepest sea (see Micah 7:19).
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:11-12 ESV
"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." - Psalm 130:3-4 ESV
God has covered sin. Now He wants to break our sin cycles and expose evil plans.
"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out." - Numbers 32:20-23 ESV
"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops." - Luke 12:2-3 ESV
If you look at these passages in context you see that God is speaking about individuals or groups of people that are planning or conspiring something. God delights in covering us but He also is glad to expose evil and it's intentions.
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." - Psalm 51:4-9 ESV
"And a ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone' " - Luke 18:18-19 ESV
Yes. Yes. Yes. I am determined to live a life of transparency before God. Grace makes that easy because I know my performance is not the issue. God's goodness is the issue. Goodness isn't what I bring to the table... humility is all that I have. God forbid that my attitude should echo the attitude of God's enemies by living in a pre-planned cycle.
"For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?...
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death... For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." - Romans 7:22-24, 8:1-2, 5 ESV
No condemnation! Shout that from the rooftops. That statement has the power to break any cycle of sin because of the power of the One who covers in the context of Christ's once and for all offering.
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Thursday, January 9, 2014
Leaving The Cycle Behind
Sin cycles... who doesn't have them or hasn't had them at some time in the past? I am not writing this to make anyone introspective... so please don't be. Understand with me that this is a common condition to all of mankind. Sin has no power over them that believe.
"Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." - Romans 6:13-14 ESV
Samson's account is an instructive one. He had spiritual power manifested as physical strength. One day he lost that power.
"She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson!'
And he awoke from his sleep and said, 'I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.'
But he did not know that the LORD had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison." - Judges 16:19-21 ESV
Did he sin one time too many? Will we? That question is just part of the cycle.
Yes, God convicts us of anything that lacks faith but He never holds the fear of judgement over the head of the believer. It id finished! Sin is paid for... period.
The cycle of sin is actually perpetuated by a fear of loss. Licence is granted by self to function in autonomy and the Sin / Guilt / Self Justification cycle continues.
Victory is linked to our calling and not to our performance. That is what Samson lost hold of that caused him to lose his power. He forgot God, lost a sense of His presence and the place he had in God's plan. He lost sight of who he was and it took him losing his eyes to give him vision again.
Will your sin find you out? It will. Can the cycle be short circuited? Let us go back to the context of the orginal verse.
"So Moses said to them, 'If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the LORD for the war, and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him and the land is subdued before the LORD; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT.' " - Numbers 32:20-23 ESV
If they left their calling the consequences would become evident in time.
"Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;" - 2 Peter 1:10 NKJV
We have a High, Holy and Heavenly calling. We are called to God. To be with Him and function in the freedom of walking with Him in his cause and to function in gifts given to be used for God's purposes. God will then meet our needs in various ways as we move forward.
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." - Ephesians 6:11-16 KJV
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" - 1 John 2:1 KJV
Instead of falling asleep on Delilah's knees let's don the armor and join the ranks of the Spirit led. As we function in our calling with our feet shod with the gospel of peace the cycles will fall away with nothing to support them. When we fail we confess it and leave it behind us. Failure is not our identity. Heaven calls us by another victorious name and sends us. Let's answer the call.
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"Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." - Romans 6:13-14 ESV
Samson's account is an instructive one. He had spiritual power manifested as physical strength. One day he lost that power.
"She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson!'
And he awoke from his sleep and said, 'I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.'
But he did not know that the LORD had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison." - Judges 16:19-21 ESV
Did he sin one time too many? Will we? That question is just part of the cycle.
Yes, God convicts us of anything that lacks faith but He never holds the fear of judgement over the head of the believer. It id finished! Sin is paid for... period.
The cycle of sin is actually perpetuated by a fear of loss. Licence is granted by self to function in autonomy and the Sin / Guilt / Self Justification cycle continues.
Victory is linked to our calling and not to our performance. That is what Samson lost hold of that caused him to lose his power. He forgot God, lost a sense of His presence and the place he had in God's plan. He lost sight of who he was and it took him losing his eyes to give him vision again.
Will your sin find you out? It will. Can the cycle be short circuited? Let us go back to the context of the orginal verse.
"So Moses said to them, 'If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the LORD for the war, and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him and the land is subdued before the LORD; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT.' " - Numbers 32:20-23 ESV
If they left their calling the consequences would become evident in time.
"Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;" - 2 Peter 1:10 NKJV
We have a High, Holy and Heavenly calling. We are called to God. To be with Him and function in the freedom of walking with Him in his cause and to function in gifts given to be used for God's purposes. God will then meet our needs in various ways as we move forward.
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." - Ephesians 6:11-16 KJV
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" - 1 John 2:1 KJV
Instead of falling asleep on Delilah's knees let's don the armor and join the ranks of the Spirit led. As we function in our calling with our feet shod with the gospel of peace the cycles will fall away with nothing to support them. When we fail we confess it and leave it behind us. Failure is not our identity. Heaven calls us by another victorious name and sends us. Let's answer the call.
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