Grant,

That was some mighty fine preaching and theologically spot on, as the Brits 
say.

Phil.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Grant E. Metcalf" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: What does God call sin?


> First John 3:4 gives the Biblical definition of sin as follows: "Everyone 
> who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." To 
> say that in another way, sin is acting without any restraint whether it is 
> the rules laid down by dad and mom, human government or God's Word.
>
> Satan rebelled by wanting to be like God, without restraint, and that was 
> "the lie" he used to convince Adam: "If you eat the forbidden fruit you 
> will be like God." Ever since he ate mankind has been acting without 
> restraint. See Romans 1:25: "For they exchanged the truth of God for the 
> lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is 
> blessed forever. Amen." In this section of Romans, 1:18 through 3:20, is 
> described all mankind and their relationship to every kind of law from 
> those chosen selectively by an individual up to and including the Ten 
> Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount or if you will God's law. And in 
> 3:20 the section concludes that no man will ever be justified or saved by 
> keeping any law.
>
> How grateful I am for the grace of God which provides the way of escape by 
> faith in the good news declared by Paul in First Corinthians 15:1-5a: "Now 
> I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which 
> also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, 
> if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in 
> vain [to no purpose]. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what 
> I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the 
> Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third 
> day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to [many]."
>
> Again, man would not choose to believe but for the grace of God as related 
> by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9 and 10.
>
> "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [faith is]not of 
> yourselves, _it _is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that 
> no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus 
> for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in 
> them." Did you notice that it is God who gives us the faith to believe, 
> created, or places, us in Christ Jesus and then produces the good works as 
> we allow Him to work through us? "For Christ is the end of the law for 
> righteousness to everyone who believes." (Romans 10:) WOW! Thank You, 
> Lord!
>
> If I may, regarding the reference to "love", I would offer the following 
> comments.
>
> In Matthew 22:36-40 we read: "'Teacher, which is the great commandment in 
> the Law?' 37 And He said to him, ' "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH 
> ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND."
> 38 'This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 'The second is like it, 
> "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 40 'On these two commandments 
> depend the whole Law and the Prophets.'"
>
> Notice that it is the Law and the Prophets that depend on these two 
> commandments. Christ was speaking to a Jewish lawyer during the time He 
> was offering the Millennial Kingdom to Israel which they ultimately 
> rejected. Later, in the Upper Room, just before His Death, burial and 
> resurrection, He made this statement to His disciples in John 13:34-35. "A 
> new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have 
> loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all men will know 
> that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
> In His first epistle John writes this in 4:10-11: "In this is love, not 
> that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son _to _be the 
> propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought 
> to love one another."
>
> Now then, it seems to me that the standard for our loving has been raised 
> far above that given in the Law of Moses. We no longer are to love our 
> neighbor as we love ourselves but to love as Christ loved us. That love is 
> a self--sacrificial, other-centered love which should be willing to lay 
> down both our lives and also our living for our brothers. We are not to 
> live by trying to keep the Law because as Paul discovered and points out 
> in Romans 7, the Law provokes our sinful nature, but it has no means of 
> delivering us from its influence. However, as Christians living in the 
> dispensation of grace we now have the indwelling Holy Spirit who produces 
> His fruit in us as we are in a proper relationship to God. "Therefore, 
> since you have been co-raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things! 
> above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind [or 
> reflective thinking] on the things! above, not on the things that are on 
> earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." 
> (Colossians 3:1-3) And back in Romans 8:2-4 we read: "For the law of the 
> Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of 
> death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, 
> God _did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and _as _an 
> _offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement 
> of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the 
> flesh but according to the Spirit."
> Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out 
> the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the 
> Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to 
> one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if 
> you are led by the Spirit, you are not under a Law. ... 22 But the fruit 
> of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, 
> faith, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
>
> So then, mentally consider it to be true that you are dead to the sinful 
> nature and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (cp. Romans 6:11) This 
> is a good place to begin so that the Holy Spirit can produce His fruit in 
> us.
> We cannot produce His fruit but we can, like the fireman with a hose in 
> his hand, direct it toward the appropriate object at the appropriate time.
>
> Listening for His shout!
>
> Grant
>