When
it comes to the will of God in our lives, the roughest and toughest distance to
trek is between the two points characterized by disobedience to God’s will for
our lives. From its inception to the very end of it, nothing good can be said
of being between those two points which is ladened with trouble. Dr. Merrill
Unger shared a similar view of the difficulty between these two points of
disobedience which, by the way, gave birth to this article.
This two-point stretch, which is fraught with burdens, troubles,
headaches, and heartaches, is not only avoidable by staying away from it, but something
else is quite visible there as well. Within this wasteland of man’s self-will, self-snubbing of God’s authority, and self-exercising a mistaken autonomy, what is often discovered is the salient feature of the conspicuous absence of blessings from on High! Self takes us there, not God!
This
is not a picture of a lost man! For until he or she is saved, there is
obviously no traveling on the road of faith. This is also not a portrait of a
believer losing his or her salvation, which is always presented in Scripture as
eternal or everlasting and unconditional once placing faith in Jesus Christ. If
you can lose your salvation, you have never had the Holy Spirit living within
your heart in the first place (cf. Jn 14:17; Rom 5:5;
8:9b, 11; 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:13; 2:22; 4:30; 2 Tim 1:14;
1 Jn 3:24).
The
Spirit of God comes to live within the heart of a repentant sinner during a one-time-only-genuine-salvation
experience (cf. Jn 3:3). There is no record in the Scriptures of anyone ever being
born again
more than
once. Sadly, many false teachers espouse you might have to be born again and
again and again because of sin; most of the world’s population will not experience
a “once” (cf. Mt 7:13)!
Now,
fellowship with Yahweh is one of the benefits of unconditional salvation
that demanded a one-time-only of the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ for
the remission (forgiveness) of sins (cf. Lev 17:11; Mt 26:28; Rom 6:10; Heb 9:14,
22, 28), and all who receive God’s provision of His Son Jesus Christ for
salvation by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9) will experience the gift of
eternal life (cf. 1 Jn 5:12; Rom 6:23b). Even though the basis for salvation
has been satisfied by the death of God’s Son to atone or expiate for the sin of
man to the satisfaction of God the Father (1 Jn 2:2; 4:10; cf. 1 Cor 15:20),
there can be no fellowship with the Holy One apart from salvation.
Even
though it is a benefit of salvation, fellowship or “close, vital intimacy with
the Savior” is made possible and actualized only by the consecration of the
believer in obedience to the command to be holy as God is holy (Lev 11:44; 1 Pet 1:15-16).
Abiding in Him is keeping or obeying His commands (My words abide in you, Jn 15:17). True fellowship
is realized when our will is lost in the will of the Master which is always in
accordance with His Word.
Sinning
in knowledge can and will cause a needless fracture in experiencing fellowship
with God because of His holiness. Though our peace with God (Rom 5:1) is
forever settled, experiencing the peace of God in the daily routine of
living (Php 4:7; Col 3:15; cf. Jn 14:27; 16:33) is conditional predicated on
our obedience to God or practical holiness. The breadth, length, height, and
depth of this peace of God is sacred, unmeasurable, and priceless (cf.
Isa 26:3).
Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blessed;
Finding, as He promised,
Perfect peace and rest.
—Frances Ridley Havergal
Disrupting
that for sin is insanity! It parallels the thought, “What were you thinking!?” Thankfully,
fellowship compromised by sin on our part is not fatal or a permanent spiritual
condition, but we must realize that God will not allow for this breach of
fellowship on our part due to sin to continue; it will always be addressed in
one way or another as so determined by Yahweh. Jesus didn’t die for us so we
could treat communion with Him in contempt by going in and out of those two troubling
points! This is where chastening comes into play should we fail to repent (Heb
12:6).
Taking
advantage of 1 John 1:9 enables you and me to reconnect with Yahweh in
fellowship sweet. To be clear, to agree or confess our sins contains a spirit of contrition and
repentance on our part, and by the way, using reverse psychology on God is absolutely
ineffective since He is all-knowing (cf. Jer 17:9, 10)! With confession, we
find ourselves away from the land of the two troubling points and back on the
path of blessings from where we exited a time ago.
Too
often we overlook this truth; all sin is ultimately against God (cf. Gn 39:9; 2
Sam 12:13; Psa 51:4; Rom 3:23). By sinning against God, we hurt ourselves and
other people in the process. It violates the first and second commands, yes? God
will not allow sin in our lives to go unchallenged. Yeah, we forget that, too! It
would be wise for us to keep this also in mind!
Since
the 2nd command (Mk 12:31) is linked to the great command (Mk 12:30),
violating the 2nd command is also a fellowship-breaker. We must be
careful that our beef with someone else does not become having a beef with God, given
the connectivity between the first command and the second command. Yahweh is
not going to tolerate disobedience to His Word (again, Heb 12:6).
We
may mistakenly think that having an issue with another brother, for instance,
is no big deal; it is if we are violating His Word in the process (cf. Mk
12:30; Jn 14:15). It is ultimately a love (agape) for God problem! It
can be challenging having our creed and conduct on par, but through the empowerment
of the Holy Spirit we can make this happen in our lives (cf. Gal 5:16).
What
makes this patch between those two points so negative is because we are in a
disagreement on some point with God’s holy will or standard of holiness. This is
an unwise decision to be in disagreement with God because it is another way of
saying we are in sin which automatically violates God’s holy will or standards.
Keep in mind that cafeteria-style Christianity cuts against the grain of
Scripture. We are not allowed to pick and choose what we like or dislike (cf.
Josh 1:7, 8, observe
to do according to all; 1 Pet 1:15, all your conduct).
There
is no living by faith, no peace of God, no blessings as long as we remain on
the lam between these two points. The first point represents contention with
God; the second one symbolizes the end of the disagreement with God, but until
that second point is reached, it is not good to be there. Nonetheless, Romans
8:28 is still in play. Paul never mentioned all things are good only that all things work
together for good. Without repentance, God chooses the timing with the appearance
of the second point with an exclamation point!
Without a doubt, this two-point wandering is a rough route to traverse. This is not to
suggest that staying on the positive path of blessings or being smack-dab in
the center of the will of God is free of any difficulties or troubles (cf. 2
Tim 3:12)! The question here is what spiritual terrain do we want to trek over?
This sounds like a silly question to ask, doesn’t it? So, if it is, why do we still
sin against God if the answer is so obvious, knowing that we are asking for unnecessary
burdens and sorrows over blessings and joy by sinning in knowledge? What sick
person loves chastening over joy anyway? Sad to say, I have been there and done
that, and if you are honest with yourself, you have, too!
It begs the question; why do we take the exit of our own design leading out of the way to those two troubling points if we know that there is nothing there but sorrow, headaches, and heartaches? If I had an answer to that, my friend, I would share it with you. Even so, this enigma of sin cannot ever justify the notion that we are a victim of any kind, like, “My sin nature is causing me to do this! I was born this way! Therefore, it is not my fault; it’s God’s!” To sin against God is a voluntary act (cf. Rom 3:23), not the result of being a “victim” (cf. also Rom 7:24-25).
We are sinners not because we sin, but we sin
because we are sinners (Hamartiology 101). All I know is that if you leave this
world having the Holy Spirit living within you, you will go to heaven; if not,
you will wind up in hell. That sounds like volunteerism (cf. Jn 3:18; 2 Cor 4:4). I never read where the everlasting fire was ever meant for man (cf. Mt 25:41)! He or she willingly chooses to go there! Talk about the enigma of sin! Most of humanity will choose the lake of fire over heaven due to unbelief!
You
have noticed that this “straight and narrow” or “high road” that we travel on as
believers has no exit ramps by Divine design? I have never seen any, except for
those I created. Off ramps appear only when we choose to violate God’s will and
take that exit ramp created instantaneously by our own design.
I
use this illustration as I imagine it might be for relevancy, not with any biblical
specificity. Yahweh allows for us, in my opinion, to make and take these off-ramps
leading to the wasteland of our own free will. What need there be of faith, my
friend, without choice, yes? I am of the opinion that you and I create our own
exit ramps leading to the wasteland of disobedience to God or under the sun
living every time we deliberately sin in knowledge through commission or
omission.
It
makes you kind of wonder if some so-called believers (BINO = believer in name
only) are more interested in running in the rat race rather than in the race of
faith? Staying on the track or on point in a vertical orientation of above the
sun living (obedience to His will) is logical, and being faithful.
Exiting
to go between the two troubling points or horizontal orientation (self-will or out of God’s
will) is irrational and sinful, yes? Any believer desiring burdens over
blessings has to be missing a brick or two or is a BINO (cf. Jn 6:68)!
Such
is the enigma of sin working in the lives of the willfully unwise or the spiritually
blind. We need to come out from among them, or better yet, stay completely away
from that area between the two troubling points, creating no exits or provisions
for the flesh, and be holy, set apart for Yahweh, running full bore on the
track of faith for His glory and our good, yes? <><
(1
Jn 1:5) This
is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is
light and in Him is no darkness at all.
(1
Jn 1:6) If
we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do
not practice the truth.
(1
Jn 1:7) But
if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
(1
Jn 1:8) If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(1
Jn 1:9) If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1
Jn 1:10) If
we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
(1
Jn 2:1) My
little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if
anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
(1
Jn 2:2) And
He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for
the whole world.
