Sunday, September 30


Yes sin separates us from God. As a Christian the wall of separation has been torn down in Christ, yet the condemnation of sin still keeps us at arms length. Condemnation you say, not condemnation from God but from you and the enemy. For in Christ there is no more condemnation. It is "natural" for you to feel condemned yet God wants you to be "supernatural". Does this mean that you shouldn't feel condemned or even feel bad for your sins? NO! Feelings of guilt is a natural response mankind has for doing something they know is wrong. That will always be there and always be a tool to keep you on the right path. If you had no conscience then you wouldn't be a living being. Even dogs have a conscience and their tails curl under when their masters come home.

Just as guilt is a response to what you have done wrong, you need to have a "changed" response to guilt. The first response Christians usually have toward guilt is to hide from God like a puppy that did something wrong. BUT we are in Christ now. The proper response to the guilt of sin should change, you have the righteousness of Christ upon you now that allows you to go beyond the veil and receive an undeserved Grace. You see Christians often think that if we just stay away from God for a little while that His anger will subside and He will soon forget after a while, which then we can come back into His presence. NONSENSE, a righteous judge never forgets and will execute judgement as due. God is a righteous judge, but what happens when a righteous judge takes upon himself all the judgement that He should have executed upon you? YOU ARE FREE FROM JUDGEMENT!! He is not trying to punish you for your sins. Many teaching out there still say this but be aware of them. God will still discipline you but not judge you. He is not going to send a lighting rod of a staff down on your head. He has given you the righteousness of His Son as a tool for you to come back into His presence immediately to receive the grace of God. 

The trick of the enemy is to blind you of your stance in Christ. He deceptively makes you think that nothing important happened when you were born again. That nothing significant happened to free you of sin. That you are still the same and that you should feel just as condemned as he is. You see the enemy is jealous of your redemption in Christ. He is jealous of the Love that Christ has for you. God stole you away as a thief in the night from the god of this world and the devil wants you back in darkness. Only problem is you are NO LONGER DARKNESS but instead you're a child of the day and a heir to God. Joint heirs with Christ. You see satan is all around jealous, for you are receiving  a position similar to the one that he tried to steal in the time of his fall. No wonder he works so hard at getting you to believe you are not who God has transformed you to be. He wants you to take the guilt of your conscience and respond by feeling self condemned and punish yourself by banishing yourself away from God's presence. He is jealous that he was banished and you are being drawn nearer. If God won't banish you he will deceive you to do it yourself. The underlying trick is this though, as you think you are doing right by staying away from God for a while, you become more vulnerable to continue in that same sin and sin will also increase. Your misconception of your identity in Christ becomes so skewed that you literal start believe you are darkness and choose to live in the wrong Kingdom. Indeed you are a child of light but you will be destroyed in the darkness. That is his plan, his plan for you is destruction. GOD wins. You keep your faith in Christ and God wins. Although you are being destroyed your spirit shall be saved in the day of judgment. That is how much God loves you. He had a wonderful strategy. His strategy was to impute the righteousness of His Son upon you by grace, that way you don't have to earn it.

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” Romans 4:7-8

You have received the Spirit as a guarantee  The blessing of Abraham. The Promise of the Father. A first fruits of your inheritance you may say. An assurance  that you are an heir with Christ. The first deposit of your calling in the Son of Righteousness. You are literally sitting at the right hand of the Father right now through the Spirit. You are one as the Father and the Son are one. The Spirit that joins them together has been deposited within you and has made you unified with the Father and the Son. We are one in Christ, we are in the Father and the Father is in us. A child of God according to 1 John actually can not sin. The seed of God remains within you. GOD HAS WON, unless indeed you have believed in vain. Every sin that is done is committed outside the body of Christ. In the flesh, but not in the Spirit. 

So what shall we say, shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound? Absolutely not, but here is the deal, you will continue to sin if you are constantly away from God's presence. If you never realize that you have an immediate opportunity to come back into His presence. So as I said before, you need a "change" in the response to your guilty conscience. Your response to guilt shouldn't be condemnation anymore, but instead should be a constant reminder of a continuous grace from above. Where sin abounds grace much more abounds. If you believe this then you have no reason to believe you need to banish yourself from His presence but instead run after His Grace boldly. Your response should be a bent knee at the throne of Grace. Not with condemnation as a beggar  but with boldness as a son of Righteousness. As an  heir. As a son. As a loved sheep. As you spend time in the communion of the Holy Spirit in prayer with the Father you begin to be transformed more and more from faith to faith and from grace to grace and from glory to glory. The more transformed you become the less you sin. Do you see the importance of the Grace of God now. If you don't run to His presence you can't be transformed  You will continue in sin. You will walk in darkness. Your response is to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness above all things. When you sin, run to Him to receive His grace and to receive the power from His grace to walk in righteousness. As you are naturally feeling condemned you need to supernaturally get back up an into His changing presence and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk in the newness of life. Wake up out of sleep and Walk in the Spirit. Your response to sin and condemnation is crucial in your growth and maturing in Christ. Many never run after His grace yet still through bad discipleship work really hard at doing good and consciously and pridefully feel they have conquered. Jesus is the conqueror  don't ever think that you had any part in this victory. He did it all, so that every mouth could be stopped and all will be found guilty and all would need His Grace. It is the Spirit that crucifies the deeds of the flesh. This is sign of a child of God. The continuous crucifying of the flesh by the Spirit and not by the flesh. If you are of God then you will continue in the Spirit. If you strive in the flesh to do good then you will fail because even after you become victorious over the sins, you are the one responsible for the change and not the Spirit of God who has been given for this very reason. If you are the one changing yourself then you are due a reward. Let Grace be on your mind at all times. Let His Spirit conform you at all times. Your response is to be a Son!! Remember who you are in Christ. Remember why you have received the Spirit of adoption. Cry out Abba daily!!  

By: Rich Cohrs
www.RichCohrs.BlogSpot.com


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