Acquainted With Grief
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
Ed added today devotional absolutely conflicts with what is being taught in many Churches today. It starts with the false belief that as reborn disciple of Christ's we still do not have absolute power over sin. Even thought they preach that Christ lives in us and have become slaves to righteousness they do not believe (trust in rely and adhere) that Christ has the ability to help them stop sinning.
Matt19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible) Does "all" not mean "all"?
They accept the lie from Satan that God expects them to continue to sin. That there is no negative consequence if they continue to sin. Christ paid for all their sins past, present and future so what they do now has no consequence. Does not
Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? state just the opposite?
If they do not believe they have absolute power over sin then it is not their fault if they continue to sin. Therefore their sins are not to be considered "willfully sinning".
Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. and all the other verses in the Bible that states the negative consequences if they willfully continue to sin does not somehow apply to their sin.
On Judgment Day God will overlooked their sin as something they could not control.
Scripture like
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. can not really ever be accomplished and it's true Biblical meaning "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God" is never discussed.
1 John 3:6
Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.and 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
Are again somehow overlooked because it would be in direct conflict with Satan's lie that continued sinning is expected.
I conclude there are three simple but powerful truths at play here to explain this theology
One:
They never met the condition to be reborn as outlined in
2 Cor 7:10.
For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Therefor they have never been reborn and given the super spiritual power of the Holy Spirit and are trying to be good Christians based solely on their own natural human abilities.
Two:
Romans 6:6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
1John1:6-7
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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.
They were reborn but have been deceived to put back their old man on, have moved away from the light and therefor are not using their ability to be in an agape love relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Therefor they will never be obedient to all of God's commandments, that are really for their benefit, to defeat Satan's attacks.
How many that openly profess to be Christians even know what the six pieces of God's armor are, no less pray to keep them on in order to do their part in defeating Satan?
Three:
They do not really believe (trust, rely and adhere) that as a reborn disciples of Christ's they can accomplish God's greatest commandments
Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall (agape; unconditional, sacrificial, devotional) love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall (agape; unconditional, sacrificial, devotional) love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Does not "all" really mean "all" and does not scripture state if we are using the gift of the Holy Spirit and agape loving our brothers and sisters there is nothing in us that can causes us to sin?
1John2:10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for (sinning) stumbling in him.
Really convicted by the Holy Spirit today
What say you?
You can forward all questions and is happy to discuss his faith by e-mailing to edtrizzino@hotmail.com