Just read a book by Daniel A Brown entitled "Embracing Grace" - if you can get hold of it I thoroughly recommend it.
He deals a lot about on-going guilt in our lives. Even though we may know we are forgiven and have been washed clean by the blood of Christ; we sometimes still carry around with us this foreboding horror and spectre of past sins hanging over our heads like an axe ready to fall.
He walks us through why and how the past is forgiven and forgotten and how it is actually a sin to keep beating ourselves up about sins that are gone forever.
He strongly believes that God is a God who desperately wants to have a relationship with us and it's not His desire to punish us, now or ever.
The Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus' time were all about condemnation, judgement, guilt and blurting out religious wrongdoings. Jesus on the other hand teaches about the great and loving grace of God.
In the ending of the book is a chapter Brown calls "The Evil Twin" and it really struck a chord with me especially when he says and I quote "I feel like I have an evil twin inside of me - one that looks like me but is actually another me inside of me"
He grabbed my attention straight away because that is exactly how I feel heaps of time and it's obviously how the Apostle Paul felt when he said in Romans 7: 19-25 "I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do"
So where do we go from here and what do we do with verses like 1 John 3:9 "Those who are born again because of what God has done will not keep on sinning. God's very nature remains in them. They can't go on sinning. They have been born again because of what God has done."
Reading those verses and others like them only go on telling us that we are GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!!! because we go on sinning deliberately or unintentionally.
So, that is the very reason why I along with Daniel A Brown, the Apostle Paul and I dare say millions of other Christians feel like they are co-joined with an evil twin; a split personality; a look-alike, sound-alike person who does these amazingly horrible and devastating things and gives us the "I can never be saved" attitude.
As earnest believers aren't we ashamed of our weakness to resist temptations? Ashamed of those times when anger, jealousy, pride and lust barge seemingly uninvited into our lives and tend to take over!!
We feel like (or at least I do) Spiritual imposters, thinking and doing what we know is wrong. How can we be such hypocrites??
Daniel A Brown points out that the reason why we feel we have such an evil twin is because biblically speaking, we do. How else could we account for doing the very things we don't wish to do?
When we are born again - we become a New Creature in Christ - 2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!"
The "born-again you" cannot sin - THAT is the incredible; life-changing promise that hit me like a mac truck. THAT PART OF ME CANNOT SIN! WHOA!!!
As a believer in Christ, a new-me was born. That day when I gave my all to Jesus, I was re-created in righteousness, holiness and truth.
The old me, which unfortunately I will have to cart around with me until Jesus takes me home, is dead and cannot affect my eternity with God.
Old me which the Bible refers to as 'Flesh - me" still raises it's head and tries to control me but to no real advantage.
Old "flesh-me" remains full of unrighteousness and death and will always be a sinner.
1 John 2 tells us that if we do sin and we will!! we have an Advocate. WOW!! that is just so important it makes me tremble.
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. BUT if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
The Holy Spirit of God sent to us when we accept Jesus as Lord will certainly remind and convict us of sin in our lives - we need to come immediately to Christ to ask and receive forgiveness.
When I accepted Christ as my Saviour I became a new creation; a new being in Christ and my new being cannot sin because it is "No longer I who lives BUT Christ who lives in me" Galatians 2:19-21.
The life I live now in the flesh or in my humanity, I live by faith in Jesus who gave His life for me.
The old has gone; the new has come!! WHOA!!!
He deals a lot about on-going guilt in our lives. Even though we may know we are forgiven and have been washed clean by the blood of Christ; we sometimes still carry around with us this foreboding horror and spectre of past sins hanging over our heads like an axe ready to fall.
He walks us through why and how the past is forgiven and forgotten and how it is actually a sin to keep beating ourselves up about sins that are gone forever.
He strongly believes that God is a God who desperately wants to have a relationship with us and it's not His desire to punish us, now or ever.
The Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus' time were all about condemnation, judgement, guilt and blurting out religious wrongdoings. Jesus on the other hand teaches about the great and loving grace of God.
In the ending of the book is a chapter Brown calls "The Evil Twin" and it really struck a chord with me especially when he says and I quote "I feel like I have an evil twin inside of me - one that looks like me but is actually another me inside of me"He grabbed my attention straight away because that is exactly how I feel heaps of time and it's obviously how the Apostle Paul felt when he said in Romans 7: 19-25 "I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do"
So where do we go from here and what do we do with verses like 1 John 3:9 "Those who are born again because of what God has done will not keep on sinning. God's very nature remains in them. They can't go on sinning. They have been born again because of what God has done."
Reading those verses and others like them only go on telling us that we are GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!!! because we go on sinning deliberately or unintentionally.
So, that is the very reason why I along with Daniel A Brown, the Apostle Paul and I dare say millions of other Christians feel like they are co-joined with an evil twin; a split personality; a look-alike, sound-alike person who does these amazingly horrible and devastating things and gives us the "I can never be saved" attitude.
As earnest believers aren't we ashamed of our weakness to resist temptations? Ashamed of those times when anger, jealousy, pride and lust barge seemingly uninvited into our lives and tend to take over!!
We feel like (or at least I do) Spiritual imposters, thinking and doing what we know is wrong. How can we be such hypocrites??
Daniel A Brown points out that the reason why we feel we have such an evil twin is because biblically speaking, we do. How else could we account for doing the very things we don't wish to do?
When we are born again - we become a New Creature in Christ - 2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!"
The "born-again you" cannot sin - THAT is the incredible; life-changing promise that hit me like a mac truck. THAT PART OF ME CANNOT SIN! WHOA!!!
As a believer in Christ, a new-me was born. That day when I gave my all to Jesus, I was re-created in righteousness, holiness and truth.
The old me, which unfortunately I will have to cart around with me until Jesus takes me home, is dead and cannot affect my eternity with God.
Old me which the Bible refers to as 'Flesh - me" still raises it's head and tries to control me but to no real advantage.
Old "flesh-me" remains full of unrighteousness and death and will always be a sinner.
1 John 2 tells us that if we do sin and we will!! we have an Advocate. WOW!! that is just so important it makes me tremble.
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. BUT if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
The Holy Spirit of God sent to us when we accept Jesus as Lord will certainly remind and convict us of sin in our lives - we need to come immediately to Christ to ask and receive forgiveness.
When I accepted Christ as my Saviour I became a new creation; a new being in Christ and my new being cannot sin because it is "No longer I who lives BUT Christ who lives in me" Galatians 2:19-21.
The life I live now in the flesh or in my humanity, I live by faith in Jesus who gave His life for me.
The old has gone; the new has come!! WHOA!!!
Excellent post Bruce. As I was reading it I had all kinds of scriptures pinging around inside my head. The challenge many Christians face when they come to Christ is that they learn the "what" of Christianity, but not often any depth of the "how" and "why." It is when we learn the "how" and "why" that the issues you discuss above become clear and guilt and self-condemnation fade away. It is then that we can come to the place Paul wrote of in 1 Cor 4:4, "I am not aware of anything against myself." To be able to find that place of peace and contentment is one of the aims of the faith because then we know the past is truly dead & we are alive to God in Christ Jesus. And then even if we do fall, we do not fall headlong and guilt cannot overwhelm us. It's a great place to be. Excellent stuff!
ReplyDeleteThanks John – you are the best! – You always encourage us on Twitter, FB and Google+
DeleteI was just so encouraged when I read that book.
Hope to see you on twitter tonight.
Cheers
Bruce