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the
body of Christ. Many are claiming and professing to be what
they are not. They are professing Christianity. What
does the word Christian means? It means Christ like,
right!!! When we profess Christianity to the world, we are
saying that we are just like Christ. Friend, are you a
Christian? Are you just like Christ? Think about
it. Consider the character of Christ, the sinless one, then
answer the question. You might have answered yes to the
identity question, but by the end of this study you might have to
admit that you have been perpetrating a fraud all your life.
This study was written to cleanse the doors of perception, to reveal
the true identity of many. It is out of love for you my friends, why I wrote this article. My objective is not to make
you feel bad or hopeless, but to explain how to be victorious.
Deception and a misunderstanding where the word of God is concern
has a eternal cost. If we do not understand who we are, if we
do not accept ourselves for who we truly are, then growth will never
take place. We will never be victorious. Now, let us
look at what the Bible has to say.
1 John 3:8
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
He that commits sins is of the devil, the Bible says. Can we
be in Christ, yet committing sins? Of course not. We
would have to leave Christ and go to the devil to commit sins. At that point
in time, we gave our complete allegiance to the devil.
Remember friend, it is impossible for us to be with Christ and the
devil at the same time. The devil gets us excited with the
things of this world, and some of us willfully leave Christ
thereafter. At that point you are no longer of Christ,
but of the devil. Are you still a Christian at that
point? The leaders of this world are teaching an abiding in
Christ which excuses sin. The theology of the day is, evening
though we are committing sins, we are still in Christ, we are
still like Christ, we are still a Christian. We will be
eternally lost if we accept that teaching.
When we sin, we are of the devil. It is hard for us to digest
because we like to think good of ourselves, so we remain in
denial. Professing to be something that we are not, while we
are sinning. When we are with Christ, when we remain in Him, when
we allow Him to live out His life through us, when we die daily to
self, then we are Christians. That title of Christianity is conditional.
We cannot keep committing acts of sin and claim to be like Christ at
the same time.
1 John 3:5-6
5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
The Bible says, "And in Him is no sin." If we are in
Christ, we cannot sin, for in Christ there is no sin. Why is
that we cannot sin? Because the devil cannot penetrate Christ.
We are hid and protected in Christ. Christ is living out His life through us. The Bible makes it clear by saying,
"Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not." The problem is,
we really do not want to be with Christ, else we would stay with
Him. We can say what we will in an attempt to justify our
unfaithful behavior, but the truth is the truth. We really do
not want to be with Him. We can say that we want to, we might
really want to, but our actions speaks louder than words. When a
husband or wife fools around and sleeps with another, do you really
believe that they really did not want to do it? At that point,
while committing the act, they did. They got excited, they wanted to satisfy
their urge, even though something is telling them not to, they went
ahead and committed adultery anyway. Do not believe that they did not want to, else they would not.
By saying that we did not want does not
determine whether we are going to forgiven. If
Christ is in control of our lives, we will forgive regardless of the
attempts of the offender to justify his or her action. We will
forgive as Christ forgave us.
The Bible likens our relationship with Christ as a marriage.
If a woman has a track record of leaving her husband, would you
consider her a good wife? Of course not!! We would
consider her a problem child. Then why do we classify
ourselves Christians when we sleep around on God. We keep
having these big affairs with the devil. He is the man on the
side. We cannot be trusted.
Jeremiah 3:8
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Israel, the people of God committed adultery against God by looking
to man, by walking away from God, by worshiping other Gods. We
have the experience of our forefathers, yet like Judah, we are
playing the harlot as well. Friend, my intent is not for you
to be sad, but it is to reveal how we can have victory.
Jeremiah 3:1
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
The Bible referred to Israel as a whore as well, for she had many
lovers. The Lord does not like our behavior. The Bible says,
"if any man sin the Lord is willing and able to forgive us of our
sins (1 John 2:1)," but the
Lord does not want a roller coaster relationship with us. The
Lord, through Jeremiah the prophet is telling us how he feels about
our high school relationship, breaking up to make up. He does not
want that for us. He wants us to be faithful. He that is
in Christ, stay in Christ. Who are you, friend? The Lord is
likening those that keep going back and forth as harlots. Paul
says in Galatians 2:21 "I do not frustrate the grace of
God." Likewise we should not frustrate his grace.
Hebrews 6:6
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
When we play the harlot, we put Christ to open shame, and crucify
Him a fresh. The Lord has more respect for the man in the
world who is living wickedly, than for those who are double
minded. If you say you are a Christian, stay a
Christian. But why does the Lord has more respect for the man in
the world, because he is consistent. He is not perpetrating a fraud.
He is faithful to the devil. The devil is not a shame of
him. No, rather, he is proud. He does not run to God,
then returns to the devil. He is not lukewarm. No, he
stays with the devil. He is not professing to be something
that he is not. It is crime to impersonate a police
office. Likewise, it should be a crime to impersonate a
Christian. The Lord would have us to be hot or cold. But
because we are lukewarm, we are distasteful to God - Revelation
3:16. However, God is not like man,
He is willing to take us back, as he did
Israel. What we are, what we see around us, what we
accept as the norm, is our life of sin. I accept that I am a
sinner, but Christ want us to be like Him. It is possible
friends, if we abide in Christ, never to sin again.
Luke 13:4
Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
We tend to think that we are in a better position than the man in
the world. We look at some people with disgust and say,
"How can a person do something like that." We look
at the murderers, the child abusers, the homosexuals, the devil
worshipers and the rapist and wonder what kind of spirit is in
control of them. Friend, the harsh reality is, the same spirit
is with us, if we are lukewarm. You will burn with that rapist if you do
not remain faithful to God on a consistent basis.
We say that others are worshipping other Gods and we wonder how
could they do that. We are quick to call them idolaters.
But are we committing idolatry? Let us look at what
the Lord considers idolatry as well.
Colossians 3:5
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
The Lord really broke it down for us in this passage. This
scripture basically covers every sin. Uncleanness is a blanket
statement. In other words, all uncleanness. Judge
within yourself, friend. Are you committing the act of
fornication? That is idolatry as well. Whatever we allow
to separate us from the love of God, is idolatry. Why, because
we love those things more than God. I hope we are getting a
true sense of who we are.
If we are in Christ, say in Christ, friend. And if we are in
Christ, as the Bible says, we cannot sin. We are not good by
nature and self never gets
better. Self will remain corrupted, retched, naked and
blind. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory. We cannot
live the righteous life on our own. We can only be victorious if we abide in Christ.
The concept that I am good is deceptive and it is keeping us in
sin. We are never good and will never be good until this
corruption shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall
put on immortality. We will be saved because the righteousness
of Christ will cover our sinful humanity, if we choose to remain with
Him on a consistent basis.
Friend, my prayer is for you to understand the message that was
presented, so that we can start experiencing victory by choosing to
stay with Christ on a consistent basis, allowing Him to live out
His sin free life in and through us. Amen
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