• About
    • Welcome
    • Prayer Partners
    • Ministry Partners
    • Angel Partners
    • How to Promote
    • Crowdfunding
    • Statement of Faith
    • The Desert Warrior
    • The Temptations of the Cross (A Novel)
    • Jesus was an Alien (and Other Stories of Faith)
  • Desert Warrior
    • Tears of the Desert Warrior – The Absurdity of an Abnormal Existence
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
      • 1. The Secular Problem of Evil
      • 2. The Essence of Religion
      • 3. The Heart of the Human Experience
      • 4. The Moral Interpretation of Religion
      • 5. Finding Life in the Face of Death
      • 6. Reality, Language and Meaning
      • 7. The Myth of Human Morality
      • 8. The Dangers of the Divine Ethic
      • 9. The Religious Problem of Evil
      • Conclusion
    • Whispers of the Desert Warrior – Evidence of the God who is There
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
      • 1. The God Who is There
      • 2. The Breath of Life
      • 3. Pride and Prejudice
      • 4. The Divine Perspective
      • 5. Return to Babel
      • Conclusion
    • God of the Desert Warrior – Evil and the Goodness of God
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Desert Warrior – Finding Strength in Difficult Times
      • Series Introduction
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Way of a Desert Warrior – How the Desert can give you Courage
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Heart of a Desert Warrior – How Reality can set you Free
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Life of a Desert Warrior – How a Conversation can Change your Life
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
  • Family Secrets
    • Family Secrets – Chapter One
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Two
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Three
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Four
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Five
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Six
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Seven
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Eight
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Nine
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Ten
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Eleven
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Twelve
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Thirteen
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Fourteen
  • Jesus was an Alien
    • Preface
    • Created For His Pleasure
    • 1. Charles Benton. Neighbor.
    • 2. The Wedding
    • 3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
    • 4. Truth in Flip Flops
    • 5. Jesus was an Alien
    • 6. Lucifer at the Cross
    • 7. The Way of the Desert Warrior
    • 8. The Anointing
    • 9. The Tower of Babel
    • 10. The Eight Year Old Evangelist
    • 11. Dr. House. Brilliant. Idiot.
    • 12. The Old Lady and the Giant
    • Return of the Prodigal
  • Seeking Jerusalem
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 1 to 10
      • Day 1 – The Plan
      • Day 2 – The Confession
      • Day 3 – The Rebuke
      • Day 4 – The Denial
      • Day 5 – The Judgment
      • Day 6 – The Power and The Glory
      • Day 7 – Holiness
      • Day 8 – The Cost (1)
      • Day 9 – The Cost (2)
      • Day 10 – Transfiguration
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 11 to 20
      • Day 11 – Desert Warriors
      • Day 12 – Revealing the Glory
      • Day 13 – Maturity
      • Day 14 – Spiritual Conversations
      • Day 15 – Hard Questions
      • Day 16 – The Weakness
      • Day 18 – Your Life Ministry
      • Day 19 – The Gift of Significance
      • Day 20 – Joshua
      • Day 17 – Spiritual Warfare
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 21 to 30
      • Day 21 – True Confessions
      • Day 22 – The Courage of Confession
      • Day 23 – Brokenness
      • Day 24 – The Culture of Grace
      • Day 25 – FaithWalk
      • Day 26 – Dr. House. Brilliant. Idiot.
      • Day 27 – Healing Power
      • Day 29 – Spiritual Unity
      • Day 28 – Spiritual Trust
      • Day 30 – The Anointing
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 31 to 40
      • Day 31 – The Sanctification Gap
      • Day 32 – The Sweet Spot
      • Day 33 – Hosea and Gomer
      • Day 34 – The Wedding
      • Day 35 – The Delivery
      • Day 36 – The Struggle
      • Day 37 – The Helper
      • Day 38 – The Secret
      • Day 39 – Messianic Prophesy
      • Day 40 – The Gathering Darkness
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 41 to 50
      • Day 41 – Dark Night of the Soul
      • Day 42 – The Divine Irony
      • Day 43 – Truth on Trial
      • Day 44 – The Descent into Hell
      • Day 45 – Death Comes in Darkness
      • Day 46 – The Divine Sting
      • Day 47 – Divine Visitation
      • Day 48 – The Kingdom Come
      • Day 49 – Transformation
      • Day 50 – The Road to Jerusalem
  • Temptations
    • Prologue
    • 1. Death of a Warrior
    • 2. The Old Man in the Temple
    • 3. Memories from the Past
    • 4. Battle Over Jerusalem
    • 5. Passover in the Holy City
    • 6. The Shedding of Blood
    • 7.Messianic Prophecy
    • 8. Ten Divine Words
    • 9. The Days of Artistry
    • 10. Breaking the Alliance
    • 11. The Covenant of Promise
    • 12. Birth Pangs
    • 13. Temptation in the Desert
    • 14. Prophet, Priest, and King
    • 15. Mobilizing the Forces
    • 16. The Gathering Darkness
    • 17. The Dark Night of the Soul
    • 18. The Divine Irony
    • 19. Truth on Trial
    • 20. The Descent into Hell
    • 21. Death Comes in Darkness
    • 22. The Divine Sting
    • 23. Divine Visitations
    • 24. Thy Kingdom Come
    • 25. Transformation
    • Epilogue
  • The Roman Road
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 1-10
      • Day 1 – All Roads Lead to Rome
      • Day 2 – “Let me Introduce myself….”
      • Day 3 – “….and my Ministry”
      • Day 4 – The Fight with Peter
      • Day 5 – Getting our Hearts in the Right Place
      • Day 6 – Getting our Heads on Straight
      • Day 7 – ……and the Demons tremble.
      • Day 8 – The Five Pillars of Evangelism
      • Day 9 – Truth in Flip Flops
      • Day 10 – A Conversation with Jesus
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 11-20
      • Day 11 – Jesus Was An Alien
      • Day 12 – Don’t Kill the Messenger
      • Day 13 – The Holy Hiatus
      • Day 14 – The Dilemma of Love
      • Day 15 – The Enigma of Evil
      • Day 16 – Dr. House. Brilliant. Idiot.
      • Day 17 – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
      • Day 18 – No Wonder God is Upset
      • Day 19 – Suppressing the Truth
      • Day 20 – A Law Unto Themselves
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 21-30
      • Day 21 – Intelligent Design for Stupid Fools
      • Day 22 – Evil is it’s Own Punishment
      • Day 23 – The Revelation of Wrath
      • Day 24 – But for the Grace of God
      • Day 25 – I’m A Good Guy
      • Day 26 – The Sin of Jonah
      • Day 27 – Reality is the Ultimate Judge
      • Day 28 – Obedience is the Ultimate Goal
      • Day 29 – The Heart is the Ultimate Standard
      • Day 30 – Blasphemer or True Heart
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 31-40
      • Day 31 – Sin Addiction
      • Day 32 – Friendship with God
      • Day 33 – Breaking the Alliance
      • Day 34 – Religious Virtues
      • Day 35 – Spiritual Warfare
      • Day 36 – The Path
      • Day 37 – The Holy Guarantee
      • Day 38 – Charlie Benton. Neighbor.
      • Day 39 – The Sacred Moment
      • Day 40 – The Nature of Our Struggle
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 41-50
      • Day 41 – The Quality of Our Struggle
      • Day 42 – Walking In The Spirit
      • Day 43 – More Than Conquerors
      • Day 44 – Living Sacrifices
      • Day 45 – Love Must Be Sincere
      • Day 46 – The Secret
      • Day 47 – Resurrection Maturity
      • Day 48 – Kingdom Evangelism
      • Day 49 – Seeking Jerusalem
      • Day 50 – Walking with Purpose

Desert Warrior Ministries

~ A Burden of Glory

Desert Warrior Ministries

Tag Archives: Ephesians 2:8

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 25 “Evidence of Life”

31 Sunday May 2020

Posted by Bert Amsing in 3. Steps To Maturity, Seeking Jerusalem

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

1 Peter 2:9, 2 Corinthians 13:5, assurance of faith, C.S. Lewis, conviction of sin, Discipleship, Easter, Ephesians 2:8, evidence of life, Galatians 5:6, Hebrews 11:6, Isaiah 6:5, James 2:19, James 2:26, Jeremiah 17:9, John 16:8, John 8:44, Lenten Season, ministry of the Holy Spirit, Revelations 3:16, Romans 10:9, Romans 1:18, sanctification

THE WAY OF THE CROSSThe Way of the Cross – Lenten Season 2018

“…those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory”  (Romans 8:14-17 NIV).

“Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 5:5 NIV).

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith: test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13: 5 NIV).

“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.  And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9 NIV).

Evidence of Life (3)

“Before I listen to your demands, I want evidence of life,” I said.

They had my little girl and the FBI were calling the shots.  I was just scared to death.  It seemed a bit aggressive on my part to demand anything from these people and the silence on the other end of the phone was deafening.

“Daddy?”  A thin, fearful voice threw the question at me with the force of a hurricane.

She was alive.  My knees quivered and I had to grab the desk for support.

“Yes, mi amor.  I’m here.”  I said shakily.  “I’m coming….”

A rough voice intervened.  “That’s enough.  I just texted you our demands.  You have four hours to comply or you can say goodbye permanently.”  The phone went dead.

But my little girl was alive and that’s all that mattered.  I had evidence of life and it made all the difference in the world.  The rest wasn’t important.


Yes, it’s a little bit of fiction just to get a point across.  Evidence of life is important for Christians, especially if you were once dead and now you are alive in Christ.  We need some proof, some evidence that it is really true.

After all, the world (and our churches) are full of people who think that they are Christians when it is evident that they are not.  Are they blind?  Or perhaps simply ignorant of what it means to be a Christian, a disciple, a follower of Christ?  Maybe.  No doubt there are some Satanic strategies involved here.  No doubt the worldliness of the western church in general keeps people in the dark.  No doubt our own flesh, which rebels against the things of God, keeps us in our sin and misery.  No doubt at all.

But we have a responsibility as well.  In our preaching.  In our spiritual discussions.  In our discipleship.  Willful blindness is self-defeating and true blindness must be overcome.

On the one hand, Paul tells us that we have “received the Spirit of Sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (vs. 15b,16).

On the other hand, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 that all of us should “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith: test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?”

So, if we are truly Christians, we have the Spirit of God within us.  It is a seal, a guarantee of our eternal hope.  But, at the same time, we need to examine ourselves to check whether or not “Christ Jesus is in you.”   You can’t just assume it.  You need “evidence of life.”

Sadly, Paul doesn’t give us a list of things we can use as a standard test for the spiritual life.  Nor does he explain in any significant detail what he means when he says that the Spirit “testifies with our spirit” that we are God’s children.

Most people just interpret this to mean that the evidence is purely subjective.  It is a “feeling” in my heart (or my gut) that I am a Christian.  After all, it is a question of faith not works and I believe in the promise that if I confess that I am a Christian then I am a Christian and I can trust God to fulfill His promise to me and save me from eternal damnation when the time comes.

It is a question of faith in the promises of God, they say.  Well, that sounds right.  It sounds biblical.  It even sounds spiritual.  But I am still full of doubts.  Forgive me.

The reason for those doubts is that those people, by and large, are worldly “Christians” who are “living in the flesh” quite comfortably and justify it with their general morality.  They aren’t bad people but they aren’t on fire for God either.  I’m scared that God may keep another promise of His to “spit you out of my mouth” (Revelations 3:16b NIV).

That kind of complacency is everywhere condemned in the Scriptures (in the Old Testament and the New Testament alike).  It simply is not what God is looking for.  God is creating a certain type of person and that “type” is not lethargic, complacent and lukewarm about the things of God.  He (or she) is on fire for God and is focused on the things of God.  They are a breed apart, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood” (I Peter 2:9) who have a significant part to play in the redemptive emergency that marks this stage of history.

So a “feeling” in my gut (even if you call it “faith”) is not going to cut it.  We need “evidence of life.”  James points out that “faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26b NIV).  So evidence is essential.  That much is clear.

But then people fall into the other trap of thinking that the evidence of our faith is our deeds.  Again, that sounds right.  It sounds biblical.  But, again, it misses the mark.

Lots of people in our church are moral, upstanding church-goers who help the poor, put money in the offering plate and are involved in various social concerns.  Isn’t that evidence enough?  Sadly, no.

Lots of other people in the world, both secular and religious, do good deeds.  Many people are charitable.  Many people help the poor, run foundations, join the Peace Corps, spend a gap year in Thailand working with people entangled in sexual slavery or work with Doctors Without Borders in a refugee camp somewhere.  They are good people and there are many Christians among them but, the fact remains, that good deeds, in and by themselves, are not sufficient evidence for the presence of the Holy Spirit within.

Still, we can’t dismiss these “inklings” or “breadcrumbs” entirely.  Paul tells us that we should have a “faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6b NIV).  No doubt.

But making sure that our “inner assurance” is truly “faith” and that our “outward expression” is truly love and that our love is rooted in our faith, well, that is the thing that matters “and the only thing that counts” (Galatians 5:6a NIV).

And that will take a bit more examination, I think.

Since we know that the “heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV) and that Satan is a deceiver and “the father of lies” (John 8:44 NIV), we need to be careful to do this right.  Our eternal salvation depends on it.  After all, when we confessed with our mouth that “Jesus is Lord” and believed with our heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9), the problem was not our mouth but our heart.

How do we know that our confession was sincere and real?  How do we know that we have received the Holy Spirit?

Forget about speaking in tongues.  Yes, tongues have a place but not as evidence of your salvation.  Many eastern religions, as well as cults, practice “tongue speaking” and the idea that it is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence is not theologically sound.  That simply isn’t going to be enough.

Neither can you depend on the rest of the spiritual gifts that Paul talks about in the life of a believer since they can be (and often have been) counterfeited successfully (at least to the human eye).

The fruit of the Spirit gets closer to the truth of the matter, but since things like patience, joy, long-suffering and the like have been almost entirely understood in worldly terms rather than in spiritual terms, that is also not a clear source of security or assurance of salvation.

What then?  How can we take Paul’s advice seriously and “examine ourselves.”  I certainly don’t want to fail the test.  And that’s the rub, isn’t it.

The ones who are most eager to examine themselves, the ones most interested in “passing” the test are hardly the ones who should be worried.  That concern is, in itself, evidence of the Holy Spirit.  Those who are in the flesh are at odds with the things of God.  The very ones that need it the most are probably not even reading this blog.  Go figure.

But still, if we understand what the evidence of the Holy Spirit is in our lives, we can certainly minister that truth in the lives of others and that is reason enough to examine ourselves.

Let me suggest three evidences of the Holy Spirit in the life of a true believer.

These three evidences are not necessarily all of what is available but it will get us started thinking in the right direction. And it isn’t only about one or two of them, but all of them working together in concert in the life of a believer. Part of it is about spiritual maturity, therefore they become progressively more pronounced. All of them have to do with the cross and therefore they are immediately present and available. 

First of all, let’s talk about faith.  I’m not going to give you a whole theological treatise on the nature and role of faith in the believer’s life.  I just want to give you some indicators and cautions to keep you on the right road.

It seems to me that there are two levels of faith that you need to be aware of – faith in the existence of God and believing faith in the death and resurrection of Christ on your behalf.  They are both “faith” but they have a distinctive focus and purpose.  The distinction between them is vital to our Christian faith.

On the one hand, Paul tells us that unbelievers know “instinctively” that God exists.  Paul says that they “suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them…for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:18b,19,20 NIV).  That suppression of the truth is necessary if you want to live a wicked and godless lifestyle.  So long as God is withholding his immediate and permanent justice on our actions and misdeeds and lack of love, we have the freedom to suppress the uncomfortable truth that we live in a just universe and that one day we will be held to account for our actions.  It all makes sense (at least from the believer’s point of view).  So far so good.

But then there is a change.

In the book of Hebrews, the author tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).

What just happened?  We went from suppressing the truth to seeking God.  Something happened.  What happened was FAITH.  And that faith was a gift from God in the first place but acted on by us in the second place.  It is interactive.  It is a relationship.  Initiated by God and responded to by us.  It is a mystery as well as an ever-present reality.

Paul tells us that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9 NIV).  It is a gift.  You didn’t have to grit your teeth and make a decision to believe.  You didn’t have to exercise will power or mind control or succumb to outside influences to believe.  You just did – believe, that is.  It was just there.

Like love, I suppose.  When I met my wife, before she was my wife, she struck me as an intelligent and beautiful woman whom I wanted to know.  I began “seeking” a relationship with her and, low and behold, one day I realized that I was in love.  It was there.  I did not create it.  I didn’t invent it.  I just discovered it’s presence and had to respond to it with a commitment to the relationship that already existed.

That may not be a perfect analogy but it is probably the best one we’ve got.  It will do nicely.  Faith is discovered not invented.  It is a gift, not a work.  And that makes all the difference in the world.  After all, it is a relationship not a job and, like all relationships, it is about the person, not just the benefits.

The thing to remember, and this is essential, is that believing that God exists is not enough.  It is part of the equation, no doubt.  It’s hard to have a relationship with a virtual (or pretend) girlfriend.  Yes, you need to believe that God exists (as well as your girlfriend or boyfriend) and I suppose that puts you one step closer to the truth but it isn’t enough.  “Even the demons believe….” says James,  “and shudder” (James 2:19 NIV).

This is the demonic deception that has gripped so much of Western Christianity, that believing in the existence of God, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, believing in the truth that Jesus rose from the dead means that you are a believer.  Far from it.  There is more to it.

There is a “seeking” after God that is the necessary counterpart to believing in the existence of God or in the truth of Scripture.  That proactive desire to seek a relationship with this God that you believe in, sets you apart from the demons.  It is an attitude that springs from faith, not just a faith that something is true but a faith in someone who is there and who will “reward those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6b NIV).

There it is in black and white.  Faith that something is true is not true faith.  Faith in the God who is there is a relational faith that will be rewarded.  The first is demonic and the second angelic.  The first is a plague in our society (and churches), the second is the secret to a true confession of faith.

That is the first and foremost evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.  The gift of “seeking” faith which is the stirring up of the Spirit out of the spiritual darkness of wickedness and godlessness.  Truth is relational not merely informational.  The informational, historical truth acts as a necessary context for any relationship but it is not the relationship itself.  It doesn’t work with your girlfriend (or wife/husband) and it won’t work with God.  After all, He is the one who judges men’s hearts and He is the one you have to convince that you are sincere in your faith when you make your confession.

True “seeking” faith is the first evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit and entire books are written on the subject, but let’s go on to the second evidence – the conviction of sin.

Now don’t go asking me whether faith is first or the conviction of sin is first.  I believe that they necessarily go hand in hand.  As you discover the initial stirrings of the Spirit in your heart and you believe in the existence of God and start to earnestly seek Him, you have a hope for a reward, or benefit.

If I am only in the relationship with my wife for the benefits of intimacy, respect and care and my focus is on myself, I have not yet discovered true love.  True love is about the other.  It is about what the other desires, needs, or expects from the relationship.  The beauty of love is that it is a mutually sustaining enterprise.  I love her and am concerned about her needs and she loves me and is concerned about my needs.  It seldom works that effectively but that is the idea.  Sometimes we almost get there for a while or, at least, in part but we know that that is what we must strive for.

With God it is the same but much more difficult.  Although the husband-wife relationship is used by God in the Bible as the closest analogy to our relationship with Him, it is more complex yet since God is also our Creator and Lord and our relationship necessarily has a strong and essential aspect of authority involved in it.

Still, without getting too deep into the details, the truth still stands that there are natural and unnatural (or selfish) benefits one can get from any relationship.  Although love in marriage makes some sense to us, with God it is often difficult to get past the benefits stage.  To some extent that is to be expected.  As C.S. Lewis would say, there are natural benefits that come to you if you are a husband or wife or if you are a child of God.  Those are not necessarily things you should focus on all the time but they are a natural consequence of the relationship.  God wants to reward those who “seek Him.”  Seeking Him must be our focus.  The rewards come from the relationship not the other way around.

Point being that if we did not believe that God wants to be gracious to us, that He wants to save us from our sin, that He is turning his face toward us in peace, it would be difficult to bear up under the divine scrutiny.  For that is what the conviction of sin is all about.  The divine scrutiny.  God turning His face toward us and telling us what He sees.  The Bible is God’s anthropology.

The girl that you are interested in, turns towards you and gives you the once over.  She sizes you up.  She makes a judgment about your suitability as a friend, a lover, a partner.  It may not be a divine scrutiny but even that is painful to bear.  How many of us have avoided that moment with every fiber in our beings.  Think of teenagers at a school dance who are faced with walking the floor of shame back to the rest of the boys after a girl has declined his offer to dance.  Ouch.  That hurts.

The conviction of sin can come softly in small doses or with the wallop of a galloping horse.  It depends.  The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will “convict the world of guilt in regards to sin” (John 16:8 NIV).

Just imagine.  You hear about this God that your friend believes in and you can see the changes in his life.  Hope flares in your own heart that maybe there is something real there that can help you with your problems as well.  You discover that you believe that God exists and you start to earnestly seek Him.  You go to a church service with your friend and, at first, you are taken aback by the sheer strangeness of all the things that are happening around you.  The songs are upbeat and interesting.  That’s good.  The people seem to really get into it and, apparently believe that they are singing to someone located somewhere above the Pastor’s head.  As one friend of mine asked me once, “who are the people waving at?”

But then comes the sermon.  The suppression of the truth has subsided somewhat and your heart is open to hearing the gospel.  Something sparks within your heart a desire to read the Word of God, to understand what this is all about, to learn more about this strange God that seems to be real and can make a difference in people’s lives.  There is hope of a reward or benefit but there is also a seeking after the God who rewards.

Then, as you study the scriptures and listen to the preaching of the Word of God, you are struck with the ferocity of the twin truths of the holiness of God and the utter sinfulness of your life.

For the first time in your life, as you read the Word of God, you begin to experience the divine scrutiny and it is terribly painful.  Not only do you recognize that God is holy (a religious term that you are just becoming acquainted with) but, on a more practical level, that God is completely and entirely a God of love and that you are not. 

Your love for yourself, for others, for God is pale and insipid in comparison with the love of God, who was willing to die for his enemies, for you, in order to save you even though he had to submit himself to abuse and mockery and death at the hands of the very ones He was trying to save.

What wonderous love is this, O my soul, O my soul.  And at the same time, “Woe to me, for I am a man of unclean lips….and I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5 NIV).

I’m probably not explaining it very well but let me try again.  Here goes.

When we experience the divine scrutiny, we become aware of how God looks at us, how we measure up to His expectations. We begin to understand the divine anthropology that the Word of God shows us, a mirror in which we can see our true selves.

We realize that we have been suppressing the truth with our wickedness and godless lifestyle, acting as if God doesn’t exist or, at least, won’t do anything about it.   That fantasy has been shattered for good.

We now realize that our weak-kneed attempts at love are nothing in comparison with His love for us.  Yes, we have some “vestiges” of love that keeps the world functioning (more or less) but nowhere near “enough” love for our fellow man or woman to solve the world’s problems, much less our own.

We realize that His anger and, yes, even wrath, are rooted in that very same love in the face of our constant violence upon each other.  The contentment of our “marking on a curve” is being shattered by the absolute standard of God’s love as demonstrated for us on the cross.

And there is no going back.  Once we were blind but now we can see.  And we don’t always want to see.  We don’t always want to know.  It is horrible and ugly and our hearts sink within us and we shrink back to hide in the bushes and try to save what little dignity we have left by sewing fig leaves together to cover our shame.

But it is too late for that.  God has turned his face toward us.  We have received the initial gift of faith, we are now in the throes of the conviction of guilt for our sin and loveless lifestyle.  That, right there, is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.  But there is still hope and so we return to the evidence of faith as we continue our journey.

The third evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit is “saving” faith or, perhaps more clearly, “believing” faith.  This is the same faith that we started with.  I don’t want to give it another name.  But it does have a different object, a different focus.

The first steps in “seeking” faith are focused on God and prepare us for his divine scrutiny but now, in the searing and transformation of our consciences, we are like a drowning man who needs immediate help.  We need to be saved.  Now the focus is on the work of Christ on the cross in his death and resurrection as our substitute for sin.

Here “believing” faith is focused on our redemption by the blood of Christ, our justification by faith that takes away our sin and replaces it with the righteousness of Christ, our regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we become a “new creation,” and our sanctification, guaranteed eschatologically and experienced progressively.  Yes, I know.  Lots of big words with little explanation.  We will deal with them all in other posts.  For now, you get the general idea.

What sweet relief!  What blessed peace is mine!  T’was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved, as the old hymn goes.  This is a spiritual experience that is only possible because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.  How distant this is to merely saying “Jesus is Lord” at the front of the church and getting a certificate of membership.

Do you earnestly seek God?  Lots of people believe that God exists.  You will have to do better than that.

Have you experienced the divine scrutiny of God….and trembled?  Most people harden their heart towards any attack on their precious self-esteem.  My preeeccciooousss….

Have you knelt at the foot of the cross in gratefulness for that love that was willing to die on your behalf and accepted it with all your heart.  Most find it difficult to humble themselves and let God be God and we, his children, who obey His will.  That is the trade-off.  We have been bought with a price.  We now belong, body and soul, to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.  Just like we belong to our wives and husbands and children.  It is a relationship after all.

Those are the first three evidences and they are the most important.  Catholic theology talks of the religious virtues of faith, hope and love and tells us that they are given to us at the moment we are regenerated – the moment we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our eternal hope of resurrection.

Here in the first three evidences we have seen the interplay of faith, hope and love, mostly God’s love but also the beginnings of a love for God (or at least a longing for God) in our own hearts.  But don’t be fooled.  This doesn’t come from you, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit which has been working in you and, when you accept Jesus as your substitute, comes to live within you permanently.

It may happen a bit differently than I describe here.  That’s all right.  God, in His infinite wisdom, has a million ways to make it happen but the basics are always the same.  There is a seeking after God.  There is a humbling under the divine scrutiny of God and there is a solution in Christ that can only be accepted by faith.

Remember that it is a relationship and just like any relationship, it is free but it will cost you everything…..and you are happy to pay it.  Having a child is free, but it will cost you everything.   Getting married is free, but it will cost you everything.  But love knows no pain, no cost, no inconvenience.  It is freely paid and freely given.

The same is true for our relationship with God.  That is the next step in the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Discipleship.  Loving obedience.  Following God even to the gates of Hell.

Time (and space) does not permit us to talk about the evidence of true, heartfelt following after God, seeking to please Him, hungering and thirsting to do His will, seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven, rightly recognizing the body and blood of Christ, walking the way of the cross in confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves, radical discipleship, heartfelt engagement in fellowship, worship and prayer and taking on the mind, attitude and priorities of Christ as we suffer together with him for the gospel…..all of these are evidences of the Holy Spirit that the world cannot even process and we rejoice in.

Once you see it, you realize that the evidence of the Holy Spirit is all around you, and in you.  It is not that God has left us without a witness but rather that our ears and eyes need to be opened to see Him in all of creation and recognize His presence in the life of a true believer.

The point is that if you are still blind to the evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life, ask God to open your eyes and unstop your ears so that you can “hear” the testimony of the Spirit in your heart, in the testimony of others and in the Word of God.  Only then will you begin to see the evidence bloom all around you and in you and in your fellow travelers on the road to the celestial city.

The Desert Warrior

Lord, we want to see you.  Open our eyes that we might see and open our ears that we might hear what the Spirit testifies to our spirit.  Turn your divine scrutiny upon us as we seek your face and teach us to cling to the cross as our only comfort in a world in rebellion against you.  Give us eyes to see the evidence of your Spirit working in us and give us the courage to respond in faith, knowing that we are so loved by you that you were willing to die on the cross for us while we were yet sinners.  All I can say is thank you.  In your name I pray.  Amen.

 

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 23 “No Condemnation”

10 Sunday May 2020

Posted by Bert Amsing in 3. Steps To Maturity, Seeking Jerusalem

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Alpha Series, Colossians 1:27, Discipleship, Ephesians 2:14, Ephesians 2:8, Glory of God, holiness, I Corinthians 13:13, living sacrifice, morality, No condemnation, Romans 12:1, Romans 7, Romans 7:24, Romans 8, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:17, sanctification, Suffering, the good fight, the hope of glory, weakness

THE WAY OF THE CROSSThe Way of the Cross – Lenten Season 2018

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  (Romans 7:24,25a NIV)

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1,2 NIV)

No Condemnation (1)

“I believe that God is love and that I am a good guy and it will all work out in the end.”

My friend, John, was talking and he was serious.  He had been a member of our church for years.  He was over 80 years old and still of sound body and mind.  But not of spirit.  I had asked him why he did not leave the Catholic church and become an official member of our church.

“No, no, I can’t leave the Catholic Church.  I would be excommunicated,” he insisted.

We were at one of our ALPHA meetings and John was sitting at the English table by himself.  We were doing bilingual meetings and the leader of that small group was not able to be there that night.  John and I have known each other for years and I sat with him and we had our own private talk.

I was a bit surprised at his attitude to tell you the truth.  You tend to think that people who come to church “religiously” were more or less alright.  But our church was a mismatched bunch of people from every denomination; Protestants, Catholics and even a Greek Orthodox once in a while, not to mention every other denomination from Pentacostal to Baptist to Methodist.  John was no exception and I had to learn not to take anything for granted.

Still, it surprised me a bit.  This attitude.  We were talking about there being “no condemnation” for those who were in Christ and John embraced the idea with vigor.  He didn’t like judgmental people and this approach seemed to fit his beliefs perfectly.  God is love.  I am good.  Everything will be fine.  No condemnation.  Period.

Sadly, that is not the gospel and I tried to explain things to him in more detail.  But it was no good.  This fortress was years in the making and it wasn’t coming down any time soon.  The problem is that there are a lot of people like John in our churches and they would be shocked to hear what I am saying.  They are not all right.  Not in any way, shape or form.  Each and every one of them will be condemned to eternal damnation.

Why?

After all, God is love, you might say.

True.  But we are not good.  And so everything will not be fine.

But don’t you think that John meant that he was good “in Christ”?  As a Christian clothed in the “goodness” of Christ?

I wish.  But sadly, no.  That is not what he meant.

We talked it through for quite a while actually.  He considers himself to be a moral person.  Which he is.  He thinks of himself as fair and honest in his dealings with others.  He isn’t corrupt.  He is a good professional and made his living honestly in a country where corruption is rampant at every level.  But most of all, he brings up the specific good deeds he has done in his life.  He talks of his brother who was sick and in trouble in another country and how he spent his own hard earned money to go to his rescue and bring him back to Argentina and took care of him.  Like the Good Samaritan, he would be praised by God and accepted into His kingdom because he, John, was a good man.

No.  It doesn’t work that way.  If that were true, then the cross of Christ is worthless and the gospel is useless.  There is “no condemnation” only for those who are “in Christ Jesus.”

He may consider himself to be a Christian and therefore “in Christ Jesus” in some sense, but we all know that a true Christian would never get these basics wrong.  No matter how good I may seem to the people around me, all of my good deeds are like dirty rags in the eyes of God and it is only the righteousness of Christ and his death on the cross as a substitute for me that can save me from the loving wrath of God.  That is the heart of the gospel.

I remember one time near the end of our ALPHA series when I brought up this issue again but in a different context.  We had two guys off of the streets who had been coming to ALPHA and we had just finished the Holy Spirit Weekend and were starting to talk about the church and getting baptized.  There were people who still had to make a decision to follow Christ and be baptized either in the Spanish church or the English church.

And there were two guys, that we had been working closely with, who were sitting there on the front row.  One of them, Alberto, had a dark past.  He was a manipulator, a political animal, an enforcer and associated with some very dark people.  He had been given the choice to disappear or be disappeared.  He chose the anonymity of the streets and became a nobody until the political winds started to blow his way again.  The other, Rafa, was a good person.  He was divorced but committed to his only daughter and visited her regularly.  He was a personal trainer and deeply involved with Eastern ways of thinking.

Each one of them had a story that would make the hair on your arms stand at attention.  But morally, one of them was basically a good guy and the other was morally corrupt.  And they knew it.

With their permission, I spoke about these two types of people who both needed to come to the Lord and make a decision to follow Him especially by taking the step of getting baptized.

“The problem with both of these situations is that they look to be on two sides of the issue.  One person is good and the other person is bad,” I said.  I looked around at the rest of the group of around fifty people.  Even John was there, listening intently.

“The Devil doesn’t care which game you want to play,” I said.  “If you want to play the good guy.  Perfect.  He can live with that.  And if you want to play the bad guy.  Even better.  He loves that even more.”  I paused, looking around at all of them.  “As long as you are willing to play games, he will play along.  His only goal is to keep you playing games until your time runs out.  In either case, you will be spending eternity with him and that suits him just fine.”

The room was completely silent.

“Frankly, I’m more scared for the good guys than the bad guys.  Chuck Colson, the president of Prison Fellowship, often said that the bad guys in jail, or on the street, or in gangs are often closer to the kingdom of God than the corporate businessman or even the elder in the church.  They know what they are.  They have no illusions.  They aren’t fooled by hypocritical posturing and moral game playing.”

“They still need to accept the gospel of Christ and repent of their immoral lifestyle but at least they have a more realistic grasp of who they are especially in the eyes of God who uses the standard of absolute love as His measuring stick.”

“No, the ones that I fear for the most are the good guys.  The ones who are actually decent human beings.  Who have not really done anything seriously wrong ever in their lives.  They are in the most danger because their self-deception is the deepest.  They are the ones who have a hard time understanding why God would be upset with them.  Why they would be condemned.  They consider themselves to be fine, upstanding members of the community and they would be shocked at any indication that they may not, in fact, be Christians at all.”

“Playing the bad guy, Satan loves, but he knows from experience that it can blow up in his face at any moment.  Playing the good guy, makes Satan sick, but he knows from experience that he can hold on to these people much easier until it is too late.”

I looked around the room.

“The question is, which game are you playing?  Good guy or bad guy.  The solution is stop playing games, leave it all behind, the good, the bad and the ugly, and start following Jesus.  It begins with baptism.”

So what does this all have to do with our passage today?

A lot, actually.  Romans 8: 1 tells us that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” but most people just remember the first couple of words.  They focus on the fact that there is “no condemnation” and ignore the part about being in Christ Jesus or, even worse, assume that they are “in” Christ Jesus because they go to church, or because they are good, moral, upstanding members of the church.  Not true.

So, please don’t make the same mistake.  It takes humility to bend the knee and enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whether your burden is one of immorality or the burden of good deeds, it must all be left behind and a new start must be made, like newborn infants, in the path of discipleship.

This, too, is part of the battle.  In fact, it is often the heart of the “good fight” we spoke of in our last post on Romans 7.  This internal battle on the moral level between what we want to do and what we end up doing.  Remember the question.  Who can save me from this body of death?  I can’t save myself.  Only by being “in Christ Jesus” can I live in the truth of a “no condemnation” lifestyle.

Only a new relationship with God through Christ can save me from the moral corruption of my lifestyle.  Morality cannot create relationship but relationship can create morality.  The moral problem needs a relational solution mostly because the moral problem is a result of a broken relationship with God in the first place.

No judging allowed among followers is the idea.  And, yet, the church is often the most “judging” place on the face of the earth.  The testimony of countless people who have left the church gives evidence of that (not to mention the majority of people still going to church but not getting too involved).  Still, this is the first and foremost truth that we need to hang on to if we want to survive the “good fight” of the faith.

This is the first of seven truths that we will look at together in this eighth chapter of Romans which are meant to help us survive and overcome the good fight of faith that is described by Paul in Romans 7.  Seven truths that can transform your life.  Do you remember our discussion on Romans 12:1 and 2 where we discussed the path to spiritual maturity and the necessity of transforming our minds through the truths found in the Word of God.  Paul gives us a wonderful summary of seven of those truths in this famous and beloved chapter of Romans.

In my mind, two of these truths have to do with faith, two with hope and two with love.  Paul concludes his famous passage on love with these words:  “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13 NIV).

They are considered the religious virtues, bestowed on us by the Holy Spirit when we are baptized and developed as we gain spiritual maturity.  It makes sense, then, that these truths in Romans 8 are rooted in faith, hope and love.

But the very first truth, the one we all quote so quickly and eagerly, if understood correctly, is rooted in all three: faith, hope and love.  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

Did you see that little word, “now,” right there in the middle?  It means that something has changed.  Before there was condemnation.  Now there is no condemnation.  Before we were not “in Christ Jesus” but now we are “in Christ Jesus.”  That wonderful little word makes all the difference in the world.  It condemns the inclusiveness of liberal Christianity and, at the same time, puts the lie to the exclusiveness of moral religiosity.  A pox on both your houses.

There is no way to accept this life transforming truth without faith, first and foremost.  It comes after seven chapters of discussion on our sin and wretchedness and the loving wrath of God which is poured out on all mankind.  Do not divorce the after from the before.  Context is everything.  Before we were condemned.  After we are not condemned.

It takes faith (and grace) to see our sin and faith (and grace) to look to our salvation.  I always liked the second verse of Amazing Grace, where it says, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.”  Exactly.  Without faith, coming and going, before and after, we cannot get there, we cannot appropriate this truth.

And faith is a gift of grace.  As Paul points out in Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”

It takes faith to get there, but it is love that keeps us there.  Not our love, you understand, but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.  This is what is meant by being “in Christ Jesus.”

It is a deep and mysterious truth that we are talking about here.  It is the truth of relationships the world over that provide the merest glimpse into the godhead, the relationship we can have with our Creator.  He has not left himself without a witness in the relationships we have among ourselves.  A father with his child.  A mother with her infant.  A husband and wife in marital bliss.  A friend who is closer than a brother.  All of it gives us a glimpse of the glory of the godhead, veiled and hidden though it may be to many.  Love is the key to life.  It has always been so because God is love.  His wrath is based on his love.  His sacrifice on the cross is based on his love.  It is we who are willing to sacrifice the demands of love for the sake of our own convenience and safety.  It is we who struggle with the true nature of love.

All the best things in life are not things, so the saying goes.  And they are free, though they cost you everything.  Love is free, entering into a relationship with someone is free, but it will cost you everything.  Having a child is free, but, as any parent knows, it will cost you everything.  Especially in this world of hurt and suffering, pain and evil, where anything can happen.  Some even choose not to love, not to get involved, not to hurt or be hurt.  Love is a harsh taskmaster but it is what makes this life worthwhile.  God is love.  He hurts.  He gets involved.  He pays the price.

To be “in Christ Jesus” is both a judicial statement as well as a relational one.

If we are Christians, God has declared us to be righteous with the righteousness of Christ and has declared Christ to be a sinner worthy of his loving wrath with the sin that belonged to us.  It has been declared and it is true already now and will continue to be true for all time.  In that sense, judgment has already been passed on the cross and it only remains for us, in a temporal sense, to “confess with our mouth and belive in our hearts” in order for us to have that judgment (and mercy) applied to us.

But in a deeper, more mysterious sense, beyond the judicial but rooted in it, there is a relational, even physical, change that takes place.  When we are “in Christ,” he is also “in us.”  Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:14 “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance…”

Entire books have been written on this topic and I can only touch on it briefly but the point must be made clearly.  If you are truly a Christian, you have received the Holy Spirit and there will be evidence of “Christ in you.” Evidence not just in terms of morality.  That is true but nowhere near enough.  It is in terms of relational truths, such as godly sorrow, true confession and repentance, forgiveness of others and self based on the cross of Christ and an unwavering commitment and pursuit of true reconciliation with God and others especially among believers that provides the real evidence of a new relationship with God through Christ.

The fundamental virtue that undergirds all of this is humility since the cross takes away every excuse to rely on our own efforts and transforms our addiction to ego into the dignity of self worth in the context of transforming love.

Yes, it takes faith to get there, but it takes the love of God expressed through us and in us that keeps us there.  But finally, it takes hope.  Specifically, the hope of glory.

That is the thing, isn’t it?

Christians are a bit nuts after all.  It is such a basic truth of human existence that this life is to be protected above all, that this life is what matters more than anything, and anyone who thinks differently is suspect.  Think about it.  How many movies have you watched where the hero does amazing things to save people’s lives, especially the lives of his family or friends.

Satan thinks like a man, but God thinks of eternity.

So the saying goes.  And that is the difference, isn’t it.  When we start to think like God, people think we are off our rocker… just a bit.

But Jesus invited us to think like God.  To have our eyes and our hearts set on eternity.  To be willing to sacrifice this life for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of eternity.  Paul said that if we are only hoping for some sort of recompense in this life, then we are truly to be pitied.  It only makes sense to sacrifice this life if we believe in the life to come.  Otherwise, we are just stupid.

All of the suffering and persecution, all of the pain and evil, all of the difficulties that come to us because we follow the gospel of Christ and prioritize (even in the church) the agenda of God, all of it is without value if we are without hope for the future.

The problem is that there is real hope and there is false hope.  It depends on what your hope is based on.

My friend, John, and many others like him, have hope for the future based on their own goodness.  They are blind to the truth.  Their hope is false and has no foundation.  The religious majority in our churches are dedicated to the status quo not to the furtherance of the gospel.  They are more interested in programs than people and more committed to the prosperity gospel than to the gospel of suffering that Paul preaches.  It is a false hope that is divorced from faith and does not express the love of God which now lives in our hearts.

What is true hope, then?

Paul tells us in Colossans 1:27b that it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  Christ in you.  Did you see that?  Paul roots our hope in this deep, mysterious judicial and relational experience of the Holy Spirit within us as a seal guaranteeing our “glory.”

Paul tells us later on in Romans 8:17, that “if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Like any relationship, it is free but it will cost you everything.  And it’s worth it.

What would life be like without someone to love, without children, without friends.  But it means that you have to get involved and getting involved can get messy and hurt.  Suffering is a good bet.  In this case, to suffer with Christ means to suffer for the gospel.  The point is that we identify with Christ and with his plan to save the world.  We have a purpose and that purpose will cost us dearly and we will pay the price because our hope is in another life, not in this life.

Yes, it takes faith to believe in another life after this one but, more importantly, it takes love.  What binds us to the life to come as our top priority is a relationship.  Anyone who has lost someone dear to them begins to understand this.

But we are not just hoping for salvation.  If we are “in Christ” that is a done deal.  We have been declared righteous with the righteousness of Christ.  There is “no condemnation,” not now and not then.  Not ever.  That is our new status “in Christ.”  If God does not judge us, then who can condemn us?  No one.

No, it isn’t just the hope of salvation that motivates us.  It is the hope of glory.  The same glory that Christ receives from the Father, we will share in, if we share in his sufferings.  That “glory” as we have pointed out before is the character of Christ.

The glory of God is in his character of goodness.  Perfect justice.  Perfect love.  The one rooted in the other.  The other fulfilling the first.  Both parts one integrated whole.  His glory.  His character.  The willingness to die for his enemies to make them friends.  God made human for all eternity.  The glory of true love in the face of real evil.

That glory will become ours as well, fully expressed in the life to come but rooted in the experiences and trials and tribulations of this life as we suffer for the gospel as emissaries of the One who suffered and paid the ultimate price to save us on the cross.  He leads the way and we follow.

Our hope is to become like him.  Our hope, as we fight the good fight, is to overcome, to be more than conquerors, to prevail in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Our hope is that the fight, itself, will come to an end, that there will be no more night, no more struggle, no more addictions, no more pain, no more weakness, and temptation, and trial.

Not because it is all taken away when we enter into our glory.  Which is true.  But, more importantly, because, in this life, we have been made new, we have endured our hardships as discipline and because we have learned the lessons of our sufferings and, through faith, in hope and rooted in love, we are transformed.

In our minds, in our hearts, in our behavior, in our attitudes, in our relationships, in our priorities, in our values, in our perspective.  Addictions will be overcome.  Temptations will be dealt with.  Relationships will be restored.  Not perfectly.  Not completely.  But we will move on from glory to glory, increasingly mature in our use of the Way of the Cross, and increasingly focused and committed to suffer for the gospel of Christ in radical discipleship.

That glory is the hope of those who are fighting the “good fight” of faith in the ongoing rescue operation that God is committed to until the end of days.  If you are not in the fight, no doubt, you aren’t that interested in overcoming anything, much less your own sin and weakness.

It is a key element to your spiritual maturity that you want this glory and you are willing to fight for it.  That is also a gift from God.  But your sinful desires are at war with your new spiritual desires.  That is the battle.  You must set your mind on things which are above and not on things which are below.  You will get better at it as you go along.

You can’t do it on your own, you know.  You’ll figure that out soon enough.  It can only be done as you rely on God and are grafted into the vine, which is Christ.  At first you will struggle with all of what that means but you will get there.  The Holy Spirit is a patient teacher.

But you have to be in the fight.  You have to be on the way.  There is no steering a parked car.  You have to try and move and “make every effort” as Peter would say.  Then you can learn.  The good fight is always in the context of ministry.  The ministry of reconciliation creates the tension, empowers the dichotomy, insists on a new standard, a new way of thinking, a transformation.

Paul talks at length about being “controlled by the Spirit” and not by “the sinful nature.”  Obviously, that is the goal.  But it it s a fight.  It isn’t automatic.  You need to “set your mind” on Christ and “reckon” yourself dead to sin, just to name two exhortations that Paul gives us in this battle.

But the battle is not divorced from ministry and it is rooted in the fundamental truth that we cannot lose.  Already now, there is “no condemnation.” The battle is already won.  We still need to fight because there are people to be saved and our spiritual maturity is a key element in our testimony that Jesus Christ can transform lives today.

We will start with these seven truths found in Romans 8.  It is a good starting point.  But without being “in Christ” none of it matters.  It is all worthless and none of it will be understood.  We start with “no condemnation” but the idea is to end with becoming “more than conquerors.”

The Desert Warrior

Let us pray…..

Lord, I want to become more than a conqueror and I know that that isn’t a free ride.  I don’t take it lightly and I know it will cost me everything.  But that’s all right.  Everything that I have and everything that I am today is nothing compared to the glory I will become when I finally stand before your throne.  Not because I did such a good job but because you did everything in me and through me.  Thank you.  I know that you are both the initiator and the finisher of my faith and that I can do nothing without you.  In your name I pray.  Amen.

 

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The Desert Warrior

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© 2012 vanKregten Publishers and Desert Warrior Ministries. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to vanKregten Publishers, Desert Warrior Ministries and/or Bert A. Amsing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Specific reprint permission will be granted upon request via email for inclusion in digital and print media.

Scripture Copyright

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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