This following document was originally written by Rick Roehm 10/25/05 for Steve Toft...a friend for 35 years from Williamsburg, Ohio.
The truth of the Bible and power that comes from the Gospel message deals specifically with two sides of the human family. One side is the negative side which consists of sin and darkness and relates to the heart and life of sinful man. The other side is the positive side consisting of holiness and light and relates to the heart and life of the child of God. As unusual as it may seem a child of God cannot live on both sides of life at the same time. The blessing of the new birth brings forth an initial separation from the negative side of life through love, purity, and the holiness of a living God imputed to the soul of a believer. Sanctification through the Spirit thus affects the way a believer thinks; changes his will and desire; and enlightens his understanding to Godly things.
· Acts 26:18…To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified
After the new birth is experienced a child of God makes decisions concerning which side of life he is to live on. The Holy Spirit enlightens the conscience to the fact that man cannot live unholy and holy at the same time. With a new consciousness to the Spirits presence a child of God realizes he cannot be disobedient and obedient to God at the same time. Nor can he be unrighteous and righteous at the same time. God gives the child of God a clean conscience and the ability to do right through a penitent heart and the forgiveness of sins. This is the greatest of God’s miracles. Inside this miracle is the moral change that comes when Christ is received into the human soul.
· Rom 10:10… For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
Regardless of man’s opinion or tradition passed down from generation to generation, it is impossible to be faithful to God and to be unfaithful to him at the same time. The Bible teaches that Christians are obedient to God. Faith in Christ produces obedience to God… not disobedience. A faithful man does things pleasing in the eyes of God…not unpleasing.
An unfaithful man is not obedient to God nor does he do things pleasing in Gods sight. Sin, disobedience, and unfaithfulness to God are all various forms of violation to Divine law. If man does these things he is a violator. Without the power of God man is unable to stop these practices. Without the power of God man will violate Divine Law because of the nature of his being. Outside of power given from Christ man is powerless and without strength to obey God because of his inherited fallen nature.
Only through the redemptive power given from Christ is man able to be made right in the sight of God. God given righteousness enables a believer in Christ to quit wrongdoing and sinful practice. This Divine power is not a lighting bolt from heaven but simply a God given desire placed in the heart of man to live and be right, in the sight of God.
· Col 1:21-22…yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
· Heb 13:21…Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ
The process of repentance from the heart allows God to help the sinner to break away from the negative side of life. Sorrow from within helps this individual to recognize the need to stay away from the old life. A union made with the Holy Spirit after the forgiveness of sins is received lays the line of separation in the mind and will of the believer. So… what keeps a believer from stepping back across the line? A God given desire to be right in the eyes of God keeps the believer from stepping back. Obedience mixed with the new desire proves a believer’s faithfulness to God. This new desire helps the child of God to grow closer to God and not further away. God consciousness and godly intentions from the heart come from this new desire. Through a relationship built on man’s faith and his dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit, God is able to keep a believer from falling.
· Jude 24…Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
Under Mosaic Law before the dispensation of the Holy Spirit came Jesus himself encouraged all mankind to stop practicing sin. These were the words of Jesus to an adulterous woman…
· John 8:11…go, and sin no more.
In simple terms to sin no more, means not to do it anymore; to stop; or to quit. Holiness from God empowers the believer with strength to cease from sin. Through the calling of God a penitent sinner is given a holy heart by the regeneration of a new birth.
· 1 Peter 1:15-16…As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
· 1 Thess 4:7…For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
Holiness thus becomes a manner of life acted upon through a believer’s realization of a God given moral change within the heart and soul. Obedience is the believer’s subjection to the call of God to live out the life of holiness.
This transformation is recorded numerous times in the Bible through various terms which are not common to the unbeliever. An unbeliever cannot recognize Biblical truth because he has never experienced the power of God. Truth from the Holy Scripture is confirmed only in the heart and life of a believer through the person of Christ.
· 1 John 3:14…We know that we have passed from death unto life
· Col 1:13…Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son
· 1 Peter 2:9…that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light
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