Liberty From Sin, Not Liberty To Sin
Jesus came to set us free! This is one of the fundamental truths of the gospel, repeated over and again in the New Testament. As expressed by Paul, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1a). In the words of Jesus himself, “. . . if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
But what kind of freedom do we have in the Lord? The New Testament speaks of different aspects to our liberty, including these:
- We have been released from serving God through an external legal system “so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom 7:6)
- We have been delivered from slavery to Satan and the fear of death (Heb 2:15)
- We have been set free from condemnation and guilt (Rom 8:1-4); in fact, the primary NT word for forgiveness (aphesis) means “release from debt,” in this case the debt of our sin against God.
In Jesus, we are no longer prisoners, and when the Lord announced his mission in what is often called his “platform speech” in Nazareth, he declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
There is another aspect to our freedom in the Lord, however, one that is stressed more than any other in the NT: In Jesus we have been set free from sin. Look at this well-known passage from John:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31-36).
The ultimate bondage is bondage to sin. That’s why the root of our freedom is freedom from sin. Jesus is our liberator!
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he was very concerned because they had fallen into a Judaistic-based legalism, one that taught these Gentile believers that unless they observed the Law of Moses and were circumcised, they could not be saved. Paul confronted this error head on, emphasizing the freedom they had in Jesus. But it was a freedom that could be abused, and Paul confronted this dangerous error as well: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” (Gal 5:13; see also 5:19-5:21, where Paul lists some of the works of the flesh, closing with this warning: “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”)
In similar fashion (but in a very different context), Peter wrote, “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God” (1 Pet 2:16; this follows on the heels of 2:11, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul”; and this builds on the foundational call to be holy because the Lord is holy in 1:13-16).
Look at how Paul opens this up to the Romans:
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life (Rom 6:18-22).
All this is quite clear and, for the most part, quite obvious. Really, how could Paul or others in the New Testament made it any more clear? And yet in recent years, a very strange message has been gaining momentum, one that claims that Jesus has set us free to sin rather than from sin. To be sure, believers who embrace this concept don’t flatly say that the Lord has set them free to sin – but they say everything other than that. For example, a friend tells you excitedly about a movie he just saw, one which is laced with profanity, nudity, and sexual scenes. You say to your friend in surprise, “But I hear that’s a really filthy movie. Why in the world did you see it?” He replies, “I’m free in the Lord, man. You’re not going to put me under some old legal system. I’m been liberated from that kind of bondage.” What a bizarre concept!
When you are liberated from prison, you don’t go back to live in your prison cell. When the shackles are taken off of your wrists, you don’t put them back on. Why would you? What kind of liberty is that? And who would ever think of saying, “Hey man, I’m free! If I want to put the shackles back on, that’s my right.” Only a demented person says to the doctors who pumped her stomach after a massive drug overdose, sparing her life, “Thanks so much! You pumped my stomach and saved my life so I can overdose again.”
Sin is our mortal enemy, and there is nothing good in sin, only evil and death and deception and bondage. And sin is so ugly that it cost Jesus his very blood. Why in the world would we want to indulge in the very thing from which Jesus delivered us? It not only makes no sense, it also undermines a foundational truth of the gospel, namely that Jesus sets us free from both the penalty of sin and the power of sin. We really have been liberated!
How odd it is that many believers today boast of their freedom in Jesus as if it provided a license to sin – the very thing Paul warned the Galatians about. I would recommend that the next time someone abuses the concept of liberty in Jesus and liberty in the Spirit (“Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” 2 Cor 3:17b), throwing around the “I’m free” mantra, just ask them: Then why are you making yourself a slave again? If he cleansed you, why are making yourself dirty again? Jesus died to give you a brand new nature, not a license to indulge the old nature that brings only destruction and death.
It’s really pretty simple, isn’t it?
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Amen…….
Father Help! and HE does…….
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it’s systems of religion, for “the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one”……. francis
That’s a very good word, Dr. Brown!
Preach it, Brother Michael! If we are just like the world, where is the testimony for Jesus in our lives?
i thank the Father through yeshua Jesus that 6 years ago i was set free from porn drugs and continually drinking nearly every night. There is nothing to go back to for me, I have been freed from mitzraim by the blood of Jesus. Halleluyah. I thank God for my wife june who put up with me for 29 years of crazy living.
Thank you Mr. Brown for that excellent article!
I read this article with interest and whilst there is much in it I agree with and whole heartedly endorse, it leaves me feeling very despondant if I am honest. I live in the Uk and have been around charismatic churches and christians for the last 30 years + & I have the scars to prove it. I dont go to church, and havent really for the last 10 years, Basically having been in 3 Churches as I say charismatic in nature, and seen each one of them explode in gargantuan fashion leaving fall out to match, after the politicing of middle class, middle age men who think they have something to say worth hearing, pushing and politicing their way into positions of authority, then behaving like politicians – manipulating situations & people, bending the truth etc. From my experience the church (to borrow the phrase from Peter Labarbera above) looks very convincingly like the world – in fact it looks very much to me like the house of commons with all the caniving and underhand conduct which goes on in the name of church. There is a lot more to sin than pornography, Beer and drugs. Whilst a lot of christians love to bang on about these so called ‘big sins’ a multitude of worse ones go on totally unmentioned and unnoticed. For myself I try my best to follow God & end up most days with my head above water, but only just and that is on the good ones! – so I am no saint. Personally I couldnt care less if I never set foot in a church again. What I find really racks me off though is that God doesnt seem too bothered by sin in the Church from my somewhat admittedly jaundiced view, it seems to me that many christians can sin in whatever way they want and seem to live charmed lives on the back of it – and God appears to turn a blind eye and cock a deaf ear – incredible. Please if anyone is tempted – dont beat me over the head with the old ‘perfect church’ cleches. Most people dont want a perfect church – just one where their is some humility and integrity.
Mick,
Thanks so much for your comment, and I’m sorry to hear about your scars. May I ask, however, how there can be true holiness without true humility and integrity? And how does it ever help anyone — saved or lost — to give themselves to sin?
Dear Mick…You probably already know this, but I am only confirming it in you and desiring to encourage you. The “organizations” calling themselves the church with different denominational labels (even the label of “non-denominational”) IS NOT THE TRUE CHURCH. The true church of Christ consists of individuals all over the globe who are following the law of the Spirit (Romans 8: ), not following the “organizations”. People who are guided and led by the Holy Spirit which leads to holiness. Some of these people may be led to be in the organization, but not partakers of the organization. (Matt )Some of these people may be led to be outside the organization.
Remember, Jesus came to the organization (the pharisees; the sadducees; preaching in the temple) first. The organization rejected the true Messiah and the true life for a Messiah and a life of their own making. The organization crucified Jesus Christ. The people who came out of the organization were called disciples and followers. Some of these followers were sent back to the organization to bring them the truth again and again.
In order to follow God we must focus our eyes, ears, minds, hearts upon Him and not upon men. As soon as we take our eyes off God….we stumble….even if it is ever so slightly that we don’t even feel it.
There is a little song we use to hear…”Trust and obey”…A very simple song which conveys the simplicity of our walk with God into holiness. It isn’t knowledge; It isn’t hype; it isn’t men’s formulas; It is simple trust (like a little child) in the living God Himself and His Living Word He speaks to you through His Spirit that produces His Holiness in you. The scripture tells us the evidence of this walk….is Love. No trust..No walk…No love.
May God fill you with His precious Grace and Spirit. L.
An Amen to the response of L.P.
The Body of The Messiah is Spiritual not of the flesh…….
And a Spiritual Body needs not be in the same place at the same time in time…….
As soon as “two or three are gathered together” the religions of this wicked work seek to infiltrate, their sole purpose being the destruction(i.e. crucifixtion) and perversion of any vestige of Truth ;-(
Father Help! and HE does…….
“Trust in Our Father with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding”…….
Let The Light of Truth shine!
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this wicked world, for “the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one”……. francis
Hello Michael, There cant in short, and that is my point. A lot of Christians imho seem to see Holiness as an absence of Illicit sex, Alchahol, drugs, & pornography, and if your not trapped in the above then all is well. My point is that the life can be free of all these so called ‘big sins’ but be just as unholy in a hundred other ways – ways which are seen as acceptable sins because they dont seem as ‘big’
I actually have no issue with what you have written, in fact I picked your book up last year second hand ‘blood on our hands’ and enjoyed it, well no I think was impacted by it so much would be more accurate, that I brought all the others I could get my hands on. I also have most the downloads off of the website, so I have no real issue with your article per se. There can be no holiness without true humility & integrity – that is the point, and inversely where true humility & integrity are will be true Holiness – where they should be is the church, however I have to be honest I can find more humility & integrity down the rugby club, so why pretend we are Holy when in fact all the evidence suggests we are not – I mean how stupid is that???? – I work in the local hospital with loads of man haters, lesbians and homo sexuals, and a few so called normal people and guess what they dont think much of the church, and when push comes to shove most of them have dabbled in it, though it may be hard to believe had their fingers burned, so the only people fooled by the chirade of so called holiness on display are the church – which is even more ludicrous. It would be do refreshing to find an expression of church where somebody actually sat up and acknowleged we are not cutting the mustard, instead of playing at been the moral guardians of the nation whilst wallowing in copious ammounts of so called lesser sins. Michael you may be different to the others. I have seen too many so called leaders in the so called move of the spirit who talk a good talk, and waffle with the best of them, but their isnt much substance under it all, I guess I have just allowed myself to become cynical regarding the whole issue, which i know is wrong, and i try to deal with it, but not always too well as you can see.
Francis & LP. Thankyou for taking the time to reply. However If it were simply the case that these people are not really the true church, then what is the point of the whole article which Michael Brown penned? Surely we can just therefore dismiss anyone living unholy lives as not really true chritians then but pretenders to the throne? Surely what makes this so serious is that in actual fact these people are true christians, they are leaders in the true church – men who are born again and yet demonstrating such vile conduct. I personally have no doubt that the people I have encountered and experienced were born again, my brothers and sisters – they just didnt live like it. Perhaps I have got it wrong and Michael Browns’s orginal article is calling unregenerate people to holiness, which would be totally pointless as they cannot do it. Let us not be under any illusions that the people in question here are not imposters who have sneaked in and are pretending to be genuine christians, they are the real article, they just think it is acceptable to live by the values and standards of this world, whilst standing up pointing the finger at what they percieve to be the greater sinners, and that is the reason the church looks exactly like the world, and has no credibility in it.
True Holliness is only found in guarding the Torah of the God of Israel, everything we need to know is there, & because the Israelites of Yeshua’s day 2000 years ago were off the track from keeping the Torah’s requirments, Yeshua came as Moshiach ben Yoseph to give them the path back, of how these instructions apply to each individual & the way to interpret scripture. Deuteronomy 6:25
Many of Yeshua’s own people recognised He was the Prophet spoken of by Moses & to him we must listen to. Deuteronomy 18:18-21
Those who enter into YHVH’s presence & into his Kingdom from following Yeshua the author of life, we only accomplish this by learning to become a Priest in the order of Malkesedik & because Yeshua is the Great High Priest in that order, we must immertate him. 1 John 2:3-6 John 14:15
These concepts from the Torah given to Moses are what we must keep & do to be Holy in turn, then Demonsrates we have been saved by Yeshua our Moshiach. Deuteronomy 6:25
Then we can be a Light, however many Christian Doctrines state the Law is done away with, we dont have to keep it anymore. well if thats what you believe & you think YHVH made a mistake with Moses & sent Yeshua to come & fix it you would be decieved. & therefore what Yeshua says is Lawless so depart from me as i dont know you. Mathew 7:21-23 YHVH does not Change his mind Numbers 23:19.
What Mike just bore witness too are current day hypocrites ;-(
And what was The Messiah’s testimony regarding hypocrites?
“church”? but another buzz word of “the church OF england”, just another religious organization that is of this wicked, evil world ;-(
pagan “catholicism” and her harlot “christian” daughters are the legacy of the pharisee’s!
Father Help! and HE does…….
“The wages of sin is death.”
Chaiyim – It would be great to respond, but to be honest I dont have the foggiest idea what your on about – too clever for me by far!
Francis – yes, but no matter which way you sliced the issue is the conduct of saved ‘hypocrites’ – so I say again that is why it is so serious – we are not talking about some organisation which has ‘church’ atached to it, we are talking about real christians in real churches, and for what it is worth I know plenty of people in the church of england, & the RC church who could knock most of us into a coked hat for holiness. The C of E has its faults, but ill give it one thing – it is honest about its weaknesses, and historically there have been some great theologians, missionaries, evangelists etc, in fact some very high quality christians who have contributed a lot to modern day christianity, & I fear that what they lived and breathed was a damn sight more authentic, humble & holy than what I see in most so called cutting edge charismatic churches. This isnt about pointing the finger at established churches because we think we are better than them, that is the very attitude I have seen too many times from free churches, I am not interested in that personally.
The point is as I see it western evangelical christianity has virtually lost sight of a Holy God, trading Him in for a soft cuddly daddy best mate type character, where it is ,Me & god & I am the one calling the shots’ – in other words ‘Grace’ gone too far. We have become comfortable, lazy, worldly, to the extent that though we are saved – we look just like the world. I read the other week regarding the verses about been prepared to give an answer regarding the hope we have – and the question was asked “How many people have asked you lately regarding the hope you have?” and if not why not – and the conclusion was revealing – “Maybe they (the world) sees we are really just hoping in the same things they are.
So in conclusion I cant see this debate as an issue for ‘pretend christians’ or CofE, or Catholicism, rather as a wake up call for regenerate people who are living in the world, behaving like the world, and looking like the world.
Francis, God bless & have a good day.
By the way Brian – really helpful & constructive comment!
After having recently been raped by the same messianic Jewish man who raped me as a young woman (yet loved and helped him him anyway to renounce freemasonry and chakra point witchcraft so he could move ahead with his prophetic insight), I have no opinion on this matter and leave everything and everyone who is a WOLF in sheeps’ clothing into the hands of my Abba Father. If you knew who I am in the Spirit of God, and what I have done for the Body of Believers, you would prefer to keep all your own opinions to yourself. May God have mercy on who He chooses. Shalom.
Simply, the religious systems of this world are anti-messiah…….
“Pure And Undefiled Religion”
“Pure religion and undefiled before G-D The Father is this, to visit the fatherless (those children who know not their Father, HE WHO is The Only True G-D, Father{Creator} of ALL) and widows(those who have not “experienced The Messiah and The Power{Our Father} that raised Him from among the dead”) in their affliction and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the world…….” (James 1:27)
Simply, all other religion is impure and defiled…….
And notice that “pure and undefiled” religion is “oneself(individual)”, a Brother or Sister doing The Will of Our Father, led of The Holy, Set Apart, Spirit…….
Simply, corporate “religion” is pagan and of this wicked world…….
And “Brothers and Sisters” is not “religion”, for what are Brothers and Sisters if not Family?
Would not The Family of The Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, “The Body of The Messiah”, be much closer than a natural, fleshly family?
And so it is that most of those who have chosen to follow The Messiah on The Narrow Way have had to “forsake their natural father, mother, brothers, sisters” and all others who will not follow The Messiah because they “love this wicked world and their own life in and of it”…….
The Brethren of The Messiah have “forsaken all for The Kingdom of Heaven’s sake”…….
Father Help! and HE does…….
What is declared to be “religion” today is truly the devil’s playground…….
Simply, Faith will not create a system of religion…….
Hope is there would be those who take heed unto The Call of The Only True G-D to “Come Out of her, MY people”!
For they will “Come Out” of this wicked world(babylon) and it’s systems of religion, and enter into “the glorious Liberty of The Children of The Only True G-D”.
And so it is that they will no longer be of those who are destroying the earth(land, air, water, vegetation, creatures)” and perverting that which is Spirit(Light, Truth, Life, Love, Peace, Hope, Faith, Mercy, Grace, Miracles, etc.)…….
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it’s systems of religion, for “the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one” (1John5:19) indeed and Truth…….
Truth is never ending……. francis
First of all I want to Thank You Dr. Michael Brown for this article. And to Mick, I understand on how you feel and what you are saying. What we need to do is pray for these people who are leaders and non-leaders in the church to wake up and smell the coffee of spiritual reality. To LP and Francis, good call on encouraging MIck on looking to GOD and his word and not to men, even if they are supposedly men of GOD. We all need to be reminded that we fail so easily to be holy in our own way and terms, and that the only way we can overcome this, is by having faith in Jesus, obeying his word and walking with him everyday. GOD Bless all of you and I pray that GOD will help all of you overcome any obstacles and trials in life.
With Sisterly Love,
Rissa :)
To truly live in His grace and freedom, we must die to sin and die to the Law. (Romans 6:11 and Romans 7:4). If we die to sin but not to the Law we become Legalists. If we die to the Law but do not die to sin, we are Liberalists. To bear fruit for God, we must die to the Law. A legalistic gospel is an infertile one. Don’t worry about those who sin, nor debate with them. Just draw them to Jesus and demonstrate your holy life of love (it will have love or it is not Life). Don’t fear sin, die to it. Don’t just abstain from sin, become an icon of His life through service, purity and love. This is the only way to righteousness. He died as a demonstration of His righteousness.
“Legalistic”?
What of reality?
As was promised, so today “wo-men rule over men and children are their oppresors” ;-(
So it is that “wo-men are to remain silent” for they but take upon themselves the jezebelic spirit if they are not in submission unto the man…….
And as they do they scream “you don’t love me, you don’t love me” :-(
A Vision of Submission and Love
I had been in search of what i then called the “church” for a number of years prior to my receiving the vision that i will now share with you. In that “search” i heard many preach and speak of the need for “husbands to love their wives”.
Ephesians 5:25 was the prime reference for such preaching. “Husbands, love your wives, even as The Messiah also loved the ecclesia(church), and gave Himself for it.”
“Love” is not a husband and wife sharing their natural affection for one another, which is referred to as “coming together again” in 1 Corinthians7:5.
And Eph 5:25 was preached and preached, again and again, and i wondered, “why is it that Ephesians 5:25 was recorded after and not before 5:22”, and “why is it no one preaches a message concerning those verses just prior to Ephesians 5:25”?
Eph 5:22-25 “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Master(Lord). For the husband is the head of the wife, even as The Messiah is the Head of the ecclesia(church), and He is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as the ecclesia is subject unto The Messiah, so let the wives be subject unto their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as The Messiah also loved the ecclesia, and gave Himself for it”.
Well the “why no one preaches concerning the verses just prior to Eph 5:25” was readily answered as i began to recognize the manipulative processes used by women who desired to dominate the men folk within their particular ecclesia. And yes, that domination began at the “home”. However the question of verse order, “why verses 5:22-24 prior to verse 5:25?” was one thing i still could not comprehend.
And today i yet remain thankful to GOD that i could not comprehend the verse order because that caused me to cry unto HIM for understanding, and HE provided such understanding in a vision, a revelation!
In the vision there were two hands, a right hand and a left hand. And there was a person running about, to and fro in the left hand, and it was revealed the left hand was mine and that the one running about, to and fro, in the left hand was “I” in days that were thankfully long since gone. Days when “I” was “doing my own thing” seeking my own way, self-willed indeed and Truth.
And the right hand in the vision?
It was revealed that the right hand in the vision represented The Hand of GOD!
It was then revealed that in those times past, when i was seeking to “do my own thing”, sadly, i did not know that GOD loved me. “I” did not know GOD. “I” was my ‘god’.
Then by the Grace of GOD, the time came when HE revealed HIMSELF unto me.
And then HE led me to HIS Son, and HIS Son, The Messiah, led me back to the One i once knew as “GOD”. However, the One i had known only as my “GOD”, i now knew as “Our Father”! The GOD and Father of The Messiah was now Our GOD and Our Father!
All Thanks, Glory And Praise Be Unto “Our Father”!
Then it was revealed that when i submitted unto Our GOD, when i was delivered from my own hand, seeking my own will, and into HIS Hand, desiring HIS Will, it was at that moment i knew HE Loved me.
Yes, Our GOD and Father even Loved me when i was not submitted unto HIM, yet “I” could not experience, receive, or believe HE Loved me until “I” submitted unto HIM, HIS Will, HIS Way!
And then it was revealed that it is the same with a husband and wife.
When the wife submits, only then does she realize that her husband truly loves her. Oh, he loved her all the time, it’s just that she could not believe, receive, or experience the love her husband had for her until she submitted unto him.
And so the simplicity of, and the need for, the “verse order” was revealed.
Apart from submission, Love can not be received, GOD to Messiah, Messiah to man and man to woman. Love is given, yet only in submission can Love be received.
Men and women are not the “same” and Thank GOD for the difference.”Our Father” has HIS Order, “HE is The HEAD of The Messiah, The Messiah is the Head of the man, and man is the head of the woman”.(ICor11:3) So why question”The ONE GOD, Father of ALL”? Apart from the Spirit of GOD, The Spirit of Truth, women rule over men, and as they seek and desire to dominate, they scream, “you don’t love me, you don’t love me”! For until a wife submits unto her husband she can not receive and experience the Love her husband was given, to give unto her.
Yet there is hope for such women, and the men that are dominated.
There is Hope that there would be those who “see”!
For Miracles do happen!
Hope is there will be those who experience The Miracle that is receiving “love of The Truth” for they will “see” that The Only True GOD is a GOD of Order not dis-order, and The Life is only realized by those who submit too, and abide in, HIS Order.
Father Help! and HE does…….
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) and dis-order that is of this wicked world, for “the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one”(1 John 5:19) indeed and Truth…….
Truth is never ending…….
Righteousness in not legalisic, yet Lives in Reality…….
hi, i’m new to all of this. This is my question,
What does it mean by fullness of the gentiles?
Does it mean something spiritual like healings and great miracles? Which from what i read in the new testament, didn’t work altogether that well.
Or does it mean by a holy life. That we will be measured by how holy we are. Holiness from a repentant heart that produces behavioral transformation.
Or by blessings of peace, wealth and a ‘protected’ life?
What will provoke the jealousy?
Dear Mick,
When I read your first comment it reminded me of when I was diagnosed with an illness that required me to do chemotherapy. It left me looking like death but when I would talk about it my family would say that I looked fine. I became so frustrated that nobody seemed to see what was happening to me and then one day I was visiting a relative and my young niece walked in with her teenaged boyfriend who took one look at me and said, “what happened to you? You look awful!” I was like, thank you! Finally!
The same thing happened when I began to see and hate what is wrong in the church. I became so frustrated that no one around me seemed to be bothered as I did. I searched myself first, fearing that I had become critical and I would beg God to fix me so I didn’t see it because it became unbearable at times and I began to wonder if God maybe was mad at His people.
Then one day when I was sitting in my chair by the window with my Bible open on my lap a memory flashed through my mind of when I was 12 and a neighborhood boy asked if I would be his girlfriend and feeling flattered I said, yes. The next thing I knew he walked behind me and yanked my pants down. All the neighborhood kids were there and I was totally humiliated.
The memory faded as I sat there in my chair and then God softly said, “That is going to happen to my church. She is going to be exposed. There will be those who don’t even know they are naked. The others will run naked and ashamed.”
I sat there stunned.
The next day I go back to my chair and randomly opening my Bible I glance down and see the words, “they will strip her naked,” (Rev. 17:16) and it took my breath away. I glanced to the left page and my eyes landed on the words, “so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.” (Rev. 16:15)
Then I received an email devotion from a popular women’s ministry in which one of the leaders wrote of going to speak somewhere and being alone in the elevator she lifted her skirt to adjust her stockings and then was horrified when she turned around and saw that the back of the elevator was a glass wall. The title of the devotion was, “Exposed.”
The fallout of this will be a re-formation (not to be confused with reformation) I am hearing that re-formation is a ‘changing of the guards.” It will be the Lord’s doing and it will be wonderful to see.
I do feel led to point out that on the day when my pants were pulled down, after the initial shock wore off, my friends gathered around me to help me get them up. It was a sober moment in which no one laughed.
I share all of this in the hope that you will see that the Lord absolutely cares about the condition of His church and He is going to do something about it. He is not being slow, but rather longsuffering since His obsession is people and His heart is that none should perish.
For some reason that I don’t understand, it did help me to know that I was not alone in what I saw so I hope it helps you as well. There is an excellent book called Revolution in the Church that helped me tremendously. I felt such comfort just by knowing that I am not crazy and I do not ‘just have a critical spirit.’ I am just one who longs for righteousness and it that way, I take after my Father.
So go after God and love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and be blessed as He will then come and strengthen you to stand through all that is false.
Make it your aim to be found in Him. Wow. Imagine that! Jesus restoring to us what the first Adam lost! To walk with God and not even know we are naked! Now that, takes my breath away!
I am a Jewish man fighting with the churchs when it comes to the Jewishness of His word.
Keep on going brother we need men like you
I am a true Christian who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
Sin is defined in I John 3:4 as “transgression of the law”. What law? It is vital to know “what law” in order that we may also know what it is we need to repent of.
God’s law is perfect, converting the person. God’s law is His instructions for how to live life, summarized in two commands, namely, to love Him above all else and to love others. Are these merely vague feel-good suggestions, or are we instructed more specifically how to love God and how to treat others?
It is God’s law that instructs both how to love Him and how to love and treat others. The first four commandments are instructions regarding how to love God. The last six commandments or rules and the basic guidelines for how to treat others.
There are other instructions that fall under the first commandment because these, too, demonstrate that one loves God. God’s food laws and holy day appointments are among these. These laws are for ALL who align themselves with God. They have not been “done away”, neither are they “passe”. They are practical and are a way of life to those who know God.
No one can know or understand God’s plan of redemption for mankind without studying and keeping His holidays. Why do so-called Christians keep the world’s holidays? Why do so-called Christians continue to eat foods that God said not to eat? Why do so-called Christians keep sun god day, while ignoring the fourth command?
People seem to readily agree that murder, stealing, and adultery are “wrong”. What makes these things “wrong”? Who says they are wrong? God’s law says they are wrong. Since these things are “wrong”, what would make breaking the Sabbath “okay”?
We are not “free in Christ” to turn around and break God’s laws, the very thing we need to repent of breaking. We instead keep them. Shall we continue in sin (breaking God’s laws) that grace may abound? Paul answered this question most emphatically; “By no means! We establish the law”.
Mainstream Christianity is not true Christianity. It is one of the biggest deceptions since Constantine’s Roman Empire. People are being called out of Mystery Babylon, Revelation 18:4.
This message is not popular, but neither was Jesus Christ or his true followers.
The way is narrow, few find it. May the real truth be disseminated as we witness this age come to a close.
“Hereby we do know that we know Him *IF* we keep His commandments. He that says, ‘I know Him’, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him … I write no new commandment, but an OLD commandment which you had from the beginning.” I John 2:3-4, 7
What of The NEW Covenant, and The New Covenant “Jew”(Brethren of The Messiah)?
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Jer 31:31-37 “Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE TIME THAT I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO BRING THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT FOR THEY BROKE THAT COVENANT, although I was an husband unto them, says YHWH: (Thankfully no longer natural “fathers” but YHWH, “Our Father” in “the NEWness of The Spirit not the letter”)
But this shall be the NEW covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts(not in stone, but in their heart consciousness); and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be MY people. (“Come Out of her, MY people”! Come out of this world and it’s systems of religion)
And every man shall no longer teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know YHWH”, for they shall all know ME, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says YHWH: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Thus says YHWH, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar; YHWH of hosts is HIS name:
If those ordinances depart from before ME, says YHWH, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before ME for ever.
Thus says YHWH; If Heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says YHWH.”
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The NEW Covenant established The Truth that, “he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, whose circumcision is that of the flesh, he is a Jew who is one inwardly, whose circumcision is of the heart” as he was immersed in, of, by and through The Holy, Set Apart Spirit that is of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL. And all gentile NEW Covenant Believers are “grafted into The Good olive tree”, they are of The NEW Covenant Jews…….
And The NEW Covenant Israel?
“A Holy nation”…….
Heavenly and Spiritual, not earthly or of the wicked worldly nations!
“A nation of kings and priests” indeed and Truth, and all New Covenant Believers are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” whose “citizenship (Life) is in Heaven”…….
They are not of this wicked, evil world and it’s systems of religion because they have taken heed unto The Call of The Only True G-D, Father (Creator) of ALL to “Come out of her, MY people”…….
The NEW Covenant Believers are those who follow The Messiah for they have taken heed unto The Call to “Come Out” of this wicked world, and they have have “set their affections on things above, Heavenly things”……. No longer are they of those “whose god is their bellies, and whose glory is in their shame, because they mind earthly things”. They are no longer of those who “love this world and their own life in, and of it”…….
Sadly, there are multitudes who profess a belief in The Messiah with their mouth only for they are “friends of this world” because they “love this world and it’s things” ;-( And so it is that they “love their own life in and of the world” ;-( Such is not The Will of “Our Father” …….
And those who do not seek and desire to do The Will of “Our Father” and “Come Out” of this world(babylon) will hear those woe filled words, “Depart from Me all you workers of iniquity” because “the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one” indeed and Truth…….
Thankfully The NEW Covenant Believers, The Brethren of The Messiah, have their “citizenship(Life) in Heaven” for they are “A Holy nation” of “kings and priests”, all of whom are thankful that, that which was “decaying and waxing old” DID “vanish away” with the destruction of the natural, earthly kingdom centered in jerusalem. The old covenant did indeed vanish away, The NEW Covenant WAS, IS and always WILL BE!
At the time the old covenant vanished away “THY Kingdom” DID “Come” and IS, for The Messiah delivered up The Kingdom unto His G-D and Father(Creator), and The Kingdom of The Only True G-D in Heaven WAS, IS, and ALWAYS WILL BE…….
No longer old, natural, earthly and temporal, The Kingdom of The Only True G-D WAS, IS, and ALWAYS WILL BE NEW, Spiritual, Heavenly and Eternal…….
And so it is that yesterday, today, and if there be a tomorrow, that “the chosen ones”, “the elect”, The NEW Covenant Believer, the Spiritual Jew, “The Brethren of The Messiah”, continue to “fight the good fight of Faith” as they but seek and desire that which is NEW, Spiritual, Heavenly and Eternal…….
So it is they “forsake all” and “suffer the loss of all things”…….
Father Help! and HE does…….
So The Brethren of The Messiah rejoice!
Giving All Thanks, Praise and Glory Unto The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father (Creator) of ALL…….
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(lies) that is of this wicked world and it’s systems of religion, for “the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one” indeed and Truth……. francis
Great post Mike…
I think of things in the simplest terms when I can because there is so much ugly legalism and on the other hand so much ungodly liberalism in main stream churches and they are 2 sides of the same ugly coin of bondage.
If Im driving down the street and I see a speed limit sign and the only reason I obey it is because I dont want a ticket Im actually a very selfish person.
I should drive at a reasonable speed whether a sign is posted or not because I dont want to injure anyone else or anyone elses children and last but not least myself….
” Love your neighbor as yourself ” goes much much deeper than people thinkand tends to get interpreted as ” tolerate your neighbor ”
We live in shallow times……….
boa palavra dr. browm.
So from what i am gathering it is a sin to not keep the sabbath on saturday is there a scripture in the new testament that says this. I think it is funny when people say sunday is a pagan day what about saturday is is named after saturn it must be pagan. the father desires them that worship him in spirit and truth. the bible says that the world is under the control of the evil one does that mean a born again believer serves the devil because he lives on the earth. no it dosnt that is a carnal way to think. if you are going to keep the sabbath it has to be for a thousand years because that is how long a day is to the lord. the sabbath is a person not a day jesus christ is are sabbath rest. we will reign 100 years with him on the seventh day. keeping the sabbath or the holydays does not make you any more holy or spiritual as evidenced by the pride and strife of those that keep them and spew their venom in the body if keeping the holydays makes me hatefiul and prideful i dont want to keep them. if i saw some spiritual fruit and revelation coming from them instead of carnal ordinances well then i would surely keep them . let us keep the feast not with old leaven but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
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Great teaching Dr. Brown!
I agree with you that as believers in Christ Jesus we are set free from sin! But I still have a question to ask you: Is it possible for a believer in Jesus to lose their eternal salvation? This has puzzled me for a while now and I would love to hear your thoughts on that matter.
Blessings
This matter of sexual orientation, practice, and God’s definitions of boundaries placed on his creation is so charged with identity matters for those invested in sin’s short term enticement, as such without essential knowledge of eternal promise established in the National conscience in our day. We find much of that promise etched into slogans on government buildings constructed for the most part in what now seems a distant National past.
On the one hand, creation authority with the blessing of marriage is clear enough in establishment, on the other so many souls feeling the depths of sexual identity self procurements above a higher orientation of heart and mind than that of self speaks to the pervasiveness of sin and death creeping in to our whole way of living as a people.
It seems strange the inner and societal conflicts involved in going against the Word of God and His establishments, being so presently passionately disposed, pursued, with a problem addressing will as a component of character abandonded as to giving priority to self control and surrender of the will to a conscience higher than self.
When our President weighed in on freedom of choice over boundaries on being human something different was etched into our National consciousness than is found placed in high view on old goverment infrastructure buildings, as faithful slogans appearing there, etched without permission of our people of faith’s abiding conscience. That this imagination occurred to change our outlook as a people by decree of one man without co-consultation, and therefore, without basis of our Nation’s own constitutional law shows just how far self will has exceeded the blessed bonds of what was once the common threads of true community and mutual care.
What concerns me the most in raising a family here now, is how readily indifference to faith, hope, and love comes up from a different will of National purpose, and so as to bending the knee to anything goes–where a strong disagreement to the present drift is not now permitted through a clearly declared and resistant confrontation within our common milieu of work, home, and school. Godliness is presently forbidden by the unspoken rules regarding the boundaries placed on each person’s walls, rather than each person’s vulnerabilities.