They have lost their view on the life mission given to us by Christ Himself to, “speak out the great message of the cross of Christ.” They have definitely not “pledged their heads to heaven.” Neither have they laid their lives down as true disciples saying, “my life for the gospel.”

The Power to Blush…

They have slipped away from their conviction of sin.  They say things like, “I wasn’t as mature in God as I am now.” But as Isaiah stated, “they have lost the power to blush over their sins.”

Their sight of Jesus is so limited that they are in desperate need for God to repair their view of Him.  For it is only in an accurate view of Jesus that we can have an accurate view of holiness, purity, love, power, God and His Kingdom.

Modern Christians have a greater knowledge of Hollywood than of Christ Himself.  They have set up their home to revolve around a flat screen TV, instead of setting up their lives to revolve around Jesus.  They have a greater sight for themselves than Christ. As Keith Green stated, “It is so hard to see when my eyes are on me.”  The only true and valuable sight is the seeing of Jesus.  Backsliders need their view of Christ restored. All issues in life return to vision, namely, the vision of Jesus.  Not necessarily what He would do, but what He is doing.  It is knowing His heartbeat.  It is an issue of knowing Him, right now.  Not in the past, or recent past, but today.  Do you see Him today? Backslider, regain your sight!  All issues of seeing are summed up in a seeing of Jesus. If there is no seeing of Jesus there simply is no seeing.  No matter the intellect and glory of man, men are blind till they see Jesus.

Looking for Guidance

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Luke 18:35-36 ESV emphasis mine

In this blind man’s state, he heard the commotion of Jesus and asked other people what was going on.  The blind backslidden Christian is a person who must look to others for sight.  So many Christians today are looking to a book, a minister, ministry or church to open their eyes.  They look to men for guidance. They cannot see rightly, so they have no other option.  Praise God these people pointed him to Jesus saying, “It is Jesus passing by.”

This blind man wanted his sight back.  He had the sense to notice it is gone.  I pray we would see our deficiency, for we are in a bad way if we lose sight of that.  Look at the heart of this blind man after seeing his deficiency… He cries out to Jesus!  A cry that comes from a revelation of our deficiency will be sincere and deep.  Oh for deep cries that go out to the deep of God!

And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me! vv 38-39

The people around him tried to silence him.  Know this dear reader, if you are blind and backslidden lacking what you once had in God, the whole world is seeking to silence your cry to God.  Worldly satisfactions are trying to bring you to a place of contentment with your blindness.  Lots of Christian things are trying to make you content with blindness and compromise.  Many complacent friends are indirectly seeking to silence your cry.  But you must not listen!  You must, like this blind man, push through and cry out to God for a restoration of what you know is available, the sight of a living Jesus.

And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. vv 40-43

After this blind man pushed through and refused to listen to the silencers, he met Jesus.  He was brought into Christ’s presence and Jesus spoke to him.  This is the only place of restoration, the only place of life; the experience of His presence and the hearing of His voice.  He was then, and only then, healed.  Nothing else will heal you. He received his sight back and he began to follow the Lord.

What do you See?

As he was glorifying God he was made a spectacle to everyone. If we are to be a testimony to the world, it is only as we glorify God with our lives by following Jesus, because we see Him.

Oh reader, do you see Him?

Do you see Him now?

Or are you lost, blind and clueless as to what has happened to you?

Are you wondering how you got to where you are now in life?

Do you look back and say, “Where did I get off?”

Brother, I will tell you where you got off:  you took your eyes off of Jesus and you lost your sight, for just as He is the only seeing, He is the only sustaining of sight.

CRY OUT to Him!

Oh blind one, who cannot see,  my heart breaks for you, as I know the Lord’s does… all out to Him!

If you cannot see like you used to and you have taken your eyes off of Jesus… Cry out to Him!

If in the name of liberty you have opened the door to lesser lovers… Cry out to Him!

If you are not more in love with Him now than ever… Cry out to Him!

If you know you are distant and you know something is between you and God… Call out to Him!

Maybe as you read this, you contrasted your hunger now with your hunger in the past, and have come up sadly lacking… call out to Him! Do not let anything silence you.  He will take you into His presence, speak to you and you will see Him again. At this point and no other can you begin to follow Him rightly.

Reader, look deep within. Are you blind today?  I am not asking you if you know the bible, go to church or profess Christ.  I am asking you… “Have you lost your sight?”

As we continue through Paul’s admonition to walk out our “new life in Christ” in Ephesians 4:17-24 we now come to verse nineteen which reads as follows:

They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Paul says that they (Gentiles who do not know God) have become calloused (lost sense of feeling and have a seared conscience). This is a very dangerous place to be spiritually. Again, we must remember Paul’s audience: recently converted believers in Christ. So, as I have already stated in part 2 of this article series; we too must take these warnings and admonitions to heart lest we too grow callous to God and his kingdom.

Notice that he says they have “become” callous. Another words, this is a process that takes place over time. This is not an overnight event.

So the question is how do we become calloused?

Well, a big part of the answer is found at the end of verse eighteen. Paul speaks of “hardness of heart.” A hard heart is the springboard to a calloused life. One major way this happens is by continual resistance of the Holy Spirit and his leading and prompting in our lives. The NKJV translates the phrase “being past feeling.” This description is so evident in the church today. It is as if we have been given a large dose of Novocain and are numb to spiritual things. This takes place primarily in the arena of sin (missing the mark). When conviction comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Jn.16:8) and we continually turn away from it, something happens. As Paul says…”We give ourselves up to sensuality.” This is a good spot to speak of the dual work of God and man, which is both the sovereignty of God and human responsibility working together. We do “give ourselves up” but not by ourselves. Behind our “giving ourselves up” (Eph.4:19) God “gives us up” (Rom.1:24,26,28) just as behind our coming to Christ is the drawing of God (Jn. 6:37,44,65). Let’s take a moment and look at this spiritual principal in the letter to the Romans.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.  (Romans 1:24-32)

So we see here the three primary things God gave them up to and the fruit of it in their lives as listed in detail throughout the passages above. God gave them up to:

• The lust of their hearts
• Dishonorable passions
• A debased mind

The above passage is a clear example of where an individual ends up that as Paul says in Ephesians areb futile in their minds, darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. These individuals are calloused and have given themselves up to sensuality. Greedy to practice every kind of impurity. All the sinful living as seen in Romans chapter one can be summed up in the one word that Paul uses in our text we are studying: sensuality. Peter touches on this topic as well. We see this in the following passage of Scripture where he too exhorts us to no longer live like Gentiles do. In this passage we see that when we do “take a stand” for what is right and do not go about living like the rest of the world, they take notice. However, they do not always applaud us. In fact Peter says they will slander and bad mouth you because of this:

For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you… (1Pet.4:3-4 ESV)

Elsewhere, Paul exhorts us in his letter to the Romans to be on guard of “sensual living.”

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Rom.13:12-14 ESV)

Paul goes on to say they are greedy to practice every kind of impurity (v 19) as we so clearly saw in Romans chapter 1. This next phrase really jumped out to me though. Paul says: “But that is not the way you learned Christ.” I thought to myself; how many today have been falsely taught about Christ in this very way? Taught that it’s ok to live in sensuality. There are some today that teach grace is a license to sin. They teach that because of Christ and what he did on the cross it does not really matter how we live. As long as we “simply believe.” I believe these are the types of people Jude warns us about.

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 3-4 ESV)

Or as Paul said:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Rom.6:1-2 ESV)

“But that is not the way you learned Christ…” Just meditate on this verse. Think to yourself, how did I and how am I learning Christ? Paul continues to say that we are to be taught “in him” as the truth is in Jesus. Again, we see Paul emphasizing the “in him” truth. All we are, all we have, it’s all in him. It is for this reason that Paul told the Colossians the following:

As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him. Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ (the Messiah). (Col 2:6-8, Amplified)

It is because “the truth is in Jesus” that it is important to be students of the Word. Jesus is the Word made manifest. His word is truth because he is truth. May we take to heart the words of Jesus himself on this matter.

31…If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. 32And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. (John. 8:31-32 Amplified)

Check out recent podcast episodes on related subject matter:

What Is Renewed Thinking?

What Is True Repentance?

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“His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.” (Revelation 1:14,)

“I have made you a tester of metals among my people, that you may know and test their ways. (Jeremiah 6:27, ESV)

The concept of Jesus’ eyes of fire mentioned when the apostle John stood before Him in his vision on the island of Patmos really fascinates me lately. John was the one who knew Jesus the most intimately of the inner twelve, and the only one who remained to witness His death on the cross when the others scattered. He often referred to himself as the one Jesus loved, yet in this moment when Jesus revealed Himself to him, he still fell at his feet as though dead (Rev 1:17).

Jesus is an assayer, or tester, of our hearts. An assayer is someone who tests metals or ore for its components and judges the value or worth of the metal based upon its purity of composition. The method is accomplished by using a combination of intense heat, dry reagents or fluxes, and special vessels that help separate the precious metals from the rest of the extraneous material, or dross. King Jesus doesn’t merely examine our hearts, but He tests and evaluates our true spiritual condition, and then brings His fire to effect a greater purity and usefulness in our lives. He sees through everything in the same way that fire penetrates metal. His eyes of fire penetrate to the core reality and the truth of everything that exists. He sees everything that is good and everything that is bad, without any bias or clouded judgment at all. He sees behind the scenes and below the surface. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13).

When the dross is removed from the precious metal, be it gold or silver, then the vessel is ready to use. When the tree is pruned, it can produce more fruit; when the wheat is separated from the chaff, then the wheat is ready to use.

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Luke 3:16)

How many of us in our charismatic circles love that verse? How many messages and writings have we heard on this aspect of receiving the Holy Spirit and being baptized in fire? Let’s not forget to read the next verse:

His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (v. 17, emphasis mine)

Jesus desires intimacy with us; He longs for a people who intimately know Him face to face, but in order to get closer to Him, those eyes of fire are going to test the pure motives of our heart and let us know that He is committed to burning up the chaff in our lives. He will remove the dross, for it’s impossible to get closer and closer to the heat source without things getting brought to the surface in our lives and removed.

Mike Bickle states in a message on this subject and passage:

The more I understand that His eyes are on me, the more I walk in the fear of God, and, secondly, the stronger or the more mature my intimacy with God is. So the two practical applications are, we grow in the fear of God by the revelation of His eyes of fire, but we also mature in our intimacy with God. We see that He sees us; that He feels what we feel; that His eyes are always on us; that we move His heart. He moves our heart as well. The connection is the knowledge of His eyes being on us.1

 

 

Jesus is not testing us because He wants to punish us, but the opposite, He wants to make us better. He wants to purify us, and often times the way he does it is through trials and tribulations. We must not neglect to understand the ways of the Lord, as many forget that it’s His love for us that allows us to suffer for times and be prepared for His presence.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8)

But the word of God also says a fire goes before Him (Psalm 97:3). As we draw near to Him, the fire touches our lives. It touches our thoughts, it touches our motives, it purifies our minds. God knows we won’t be ready for His face when we seek Him, until we’ve been purified by His fire.

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)

It was only recently that I noticed for the first time that this verse in the Old Testament mentions God’s jealousy in the same sentence as mentioning that He’s an all consuming fire. But God’s jealousy is not the same as ours. He’s not insecure or incapacitated by immature thoughts in his jealousy like we our in our idea and concept of it. His is a jealous love for us. And it’s in our best interest, out of his love for us, that He brings the winnowing fork to the threshing floor of our lives.

Jesus tests us with his eyes of fire “…that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:13).

Purification of the Life of Zion

I’ve recently been re-reading the book The Fire Of Delayed Answers By Bob Sorge when I began making my notes for this post. Right away in the first chapter of his book he brings up the very same passage and concepts about the eyes of fire as I’d been planning on writing, but I came across something even more interesting that I best just quote for our purposes:

“Gehenna was a place outside Jerusalem where King Josiah, in his godly reforms destroyed the altars of idolatry. It became a place where refuse was burned. It was the city’s incinerator. The purpose of Gehenna was the purification of the life of the city. In time, Gehenna came to be the name for the fire of hell. Gehenna (hell) is set ablaze by the holiness of God. Fire destroys the perishable and perfects that which is imperishable.”

“Unless this holy fire burns within you now, bringing you to purity and peace, then you will have no escape from the fire of Gehenna which consumes forever.”2

Jesus said in Mark 9:47 we’d all be salted with fire. Salt is for retaining flavor, or purifying. Psalm 104:4 states that God makes His ministers a flame of fire, and Daniel 12:10 mentions that “many shall be purified and made white.” If we’re going to be a people after God’s heart who know Him intimately as ones who see Him face to face, then there’s no escaping the fire in His eyes!

Intimacy with God WILL result in righteousness and holiness pervading our lives. It’s impossible for the fire not to have a purifying effect. To quote Sorge again:

When hypocrites and the half-hearted can dwell in our midst without being convicted or made uncomfortable, then something’s wrong. God intends for His fire to so envelope the local church that hypocrites will not be able to stay, and the devout will not be able to remain unchanged.3

 

 

When a people after God’s heart are close to Him, it will result in the fire on a corporate level, and changed lives.

Eyes Like Doves

His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool. (Song of Solomon 5:12)

As a dove does not have peripheral vision, so is the Beloved Jesus – He has complete singleness of vision and cannot be distracted by anything that is unpleasing to his Father. His eyes are loyal to God and to us, His Bride. His eyes also speak of His ability to see and discern everything; he has perfect insight into every area of our lives and His perspective is absolutely pure.

The phrase ‘bathed in milk’ speaks of that which is white and nourishing, and speaks of the Lord’s purity of discernment. This basically speaks of God’s ability and great skill to see perfectly everything about our lives, and interprets everything about our lives through the cleanness of His own heart because His motives are always pure. He always knows what fire to put us through at what stage of our lives, and just how much we need.

He’s gentle, yet convicting–the same Jesus whom all it took was one look at Peter after he betrayed him and it cut to the heart and made him run and weep that he denied the Lord. Yet, when Jesus restored him, this is the same man who boldly proclaimed the Gospel and 3000 were converted at Pentecost. The deeper the piercing of His eyes, the deeper a work done in our hearts.

Will you look into His eyes of purging?

Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

1. Click here to watch a video on the subject
2. The Fire Of Delayed Answers By Bob Sorge, p.19
3. The Fire Of Delayed Answers, by Bob Sorge, p.15

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the Fire On Your Head podcast between Dave Edwards and myself on this subject, I highly recommend doing so.  It’s not necessary before proceeding, but this post is basically a write-up or follow up to some of the stuff I got spontaneously discussing with Dave when we were discussing repentant thinking.

Our Scripture passage, to start with, is found in Song of Solomon 4:3, which states

Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

In Scripture, the temples–or cheeks, depending on the translation you’re reading from–represent the seat of man’s thoughts. In describing the temples as a sliced pomegranate, we see that the thoughts of the Bride are opened and exposed before the Bridegroom, God. In Jewish culture of that time, women would typically have their face veiled in public, and only their husbands could see their face at home. Letting the man see their face was personal, therefore, notice that the temples are veiled from the outward world, but in this description they are open and laid bare before the Lord. “Behind the veil” speaks of the Bride’s humility, as well as her secret life in God. Her veil also represents her submission to her Lover.

The Psalms repeatedly describe writers who desire to have their inner lives searched and found to be acceptable and pure before the Lord (see Psalm 19:14, and 139:23-24 for a few examples). The seeds of a pomegranate are crystal seeds, tinged with red. In describing her face, her inner private most personal thoughts and appearance like this, Solomon is saying the thoughts of the Bride have been cleansed and made purified. Her thoughts are pure and red as crystal, allowing the light of God and His wisdom to shine through them. Her thoughts have been redeemed, as signified by the color red used in this description, signifying redemption, similar to the way the blood of Jesus has redeemed us and made us pure.

Becoming Strong Pillars in the Temple of God

As I mentioned previously1, Solomon was an incredibly brilliant man and knew what he was doing when he wrote this, and when he designed his temple:

The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection which was beside the latticework. There were two hundred pomegranates in two rows all around, and so with the other capital. (1 Kings 7:20, emphasis mine)

I find it very fascinating that he had designed the pillars in his temple in a fashion that involved latticework resembling this fruit hanging from it, and we can obviously glean from this the idea of pure and exposed thoughts. But what other practical significance can this hold for us as believers?

I believe the answer is found in the following;

if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. (1 Tim 3:15)

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. (Revelation 3:12a)

It should be noted then that the ones who are overcomers–whose thoughts have been made pure by the blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus–who know how they ought to behave in the house of God, are the ones who are made pillars in the temple of God, the Body of Christ. I find it interesting to also note how the very image of a pillar in Solomon’s temple involves each one of them bearing fruit, so to speak–in terms of having the two hundred of them woven into the framework towards the top. Each of us are members of the Body of Christ and are expected to bear fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives (see Gal 5:16-24). If we’re not in intimate fellowship with Christ, we won’t produce the corresponding fruit. It’s as simple as that.

Those Who Hear the Voice of God

Also of significance is the crown of lilies that tops it as described a few verses later in 1 Kings 7 verses 19 and 22.

Consider then what Solomon says in chapter 5 verse 13 of his song:

His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.

Myrrh is one of the most fragrant perfumes and casts an intoxicating odor. One characteristic of a lily is that it has a very sweet smell. The lips tend to represent speech or words that proceed from the mouth. As believers, we don’t live on bread alone but from every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matt 4:4). Jesus’ words are sweet, intoxicating and powerful; and Solomon had this depth of revelation when writing this, knowing fully well how he designed the temple to have this ‘crown’ of lilies above the fruit-like latticework.

Man is the crowning glory of God’s handiwork, and will be adorned with the words of the Lord–worked into their spirits will be the comfortable familiarity that comes through intimacy with God, of that still small voice, penetrating our spirits.2 Overcomers are ones that are intimate with the Lord and who know their God. Jesus, our Bridegroom King and Shepherd has sheep who follow him, and his sheep know his voice (John 10:27).

Jesus also said in Matthew 6:28-29 that even King Solomon was not arrayed like the lily when he was in all his glory. In his case, his glory was his wisdom and understanding. Even though he was the wisest man who ever lived, we now have Jesus Christ Himself who is the source of all wisdom and understanding, above and certainly beyond any wisdom the man Solomon ever had or wrote from.

I also believe his lips speaks of the power of His words; it can refer to the affirmations of His heart as written about in the Scriptures, as well as the words spoken directly to our hearts by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, as our Bridegroom, has the ability to speak lovingly and precisely to the needs of our hearts (see Psalm 45:2; John 6:63, 7:46). The phrase about his lips “dripping liquid myrrh” signifies that Jesus’ lips speak of His words which are sweet and pure like lilies. They contain myrrh which refers to exhortations to embrace death to self. His words are motivated by the incredible sacrificial love that He has for us, His Bride. Everything Jesus says to us comes from a heart of kindness. Even when He corrects us, we need to see it as coming from a heart of a sacrificial love. Loving correction is never to be taken as rejection.

I hope some of these brief insights into a few of the phrases used in this song can develop a hunger for you to become someone whose intimacy with Christ makes you into a strong pillar producing fruit for others in the Body of Christ and resulting expressing the voice of God as an overcomer.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the aforementioned podcast, What Is Renewed Thinking?, you can do so here:

Download this episode (right click and save)

1. In my post, Why the Song of Solomon Fascinates Me
2. I got this from the study I previously mentioned, Bible Studies for the Preparation of the Bride: A Study of the Song of Solomon, Bob & Rose Weiner, p.97

Since many people make New Year’s resolutions that involve weight loss or spiritual disciplines to fast more, we thought we’d tackle the subject of fasting. Join us this week as David Edwards and Steve Bremner continue their series on unpopular subjects in the body of Christ:

Is it really beneficial or even necessary for the believer in the New Covenant? What is true fasting? Do we have any commands in the New Testament that we’re to fast, or was that part of Jewish culture? Is it about abstaining from only food, or other things? In what situation did Jesus say “this kind only goes out by prayer and fasting?” You may be surprised, so join us in what is going to be the first in at least two parts on the subject. This week’s intro, “Fire To My Soul” by Demon Hunter.

Check out Steve’s exposition of Matthew 17:14-21 here in an article called “Because of Whose “Little Faith?“And visit here for David’s article on The Hidden Manna mentioned during the discussion.

Check out a great Bible teaching series by Dave Roberson, called The Basics of Fasting.

Download this episode (right click and save)

If you’d like to subscribe to the Fire On Your Head Podcast, visit our directory in iTunes,  or visit FireOnYourHead.com for more subscription options.

Frequently, many believers read how God dealt with His people in the Old Testament, and read of a God who wiped entire nations off the face of the earth including the women and children. We read of people being stoned to death for breaking the Sabbath and rebellious children being executed for disobedience. As we read these stories–if some of us can even stomach opening those parts of the Bible–I’ve heard many believers breathe a sigh of relief and say, “thank God we’re under grace now.”

Or, are we?

Forgiveness from sin is not just forgiveness from sin—it includes being set free from the power of sin. Most believers don’t have a very clear concept of “grace” or else they’d live differently and in obedience instead of disobedience saying “oh well, it’s God’s grace that I’m saved so it doesn’t matter if I sin.” They take one small part of the picture (“grace means unmerited favor”) and miss the rest. Grace is more than unmerited favor (although unmerited favor is nothing to be ungrateful for). It is more than God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, although that acronym sums up everything we will ever have or experience in God. God’s grace is more than a noun or a concept, more than the manner in which God deals with us (as in “I’m saved by grace and everything I do is by grace”).

IF We Sin, Not WHEN We Sin

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1, ESV)

The word when assumes that something is going to happen; however, if suggests there is a good possibility that nothing will happen. John writes in his epistle several times statements like “no one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or known Him” (1 John 3:6). When we abide [in Christ] we will not sin. This passage also states believers are now in the category of ‘if’ we sin, not “when” we sin. I like how David Ravenhill says it best in his book, Surviving The Anointing:

You have an eraser on the end of a pencil in case you make a mistake, that is, if you make a mistake. You don’t purposely misspell words in order to use the eraser. Neither is that what the blood of Jesus is all about. We don’t continue on in sin and say “Well, God is the divine eraser, and it doesn’t matter what I do; I can go out and enjoy myself sexually or any other way and at the end of the day I can just turn the pencil over, so to speak, and Jesus will forgive me.” No! It’s if we sin.1

Grace = Power

The original Greek word “charis” (rhymes with paris) does mean unmerited favor, and instances of it being used in this sense include Acts 15:11, Gal 2:21, Rom 4:16, John 1:17, Acts 14:3, Acts 20:24. see also v. 32. However, the New Testament word “grace” does not fundamentally mean “unmerited favor.” Its basic meaning does include favor (of any kind) along with kindness, but it also includes enablement and gifting, important concepts many seem to miss when discussing holiness and the power to overcome sin. You see, God’s grace not only did something amazing for us—forgiving us all our sins. His grace continues to do something amazing for us: empowering us to live for Him, free from sin.

It’s one thing to say “I come to God through His grace” meaning I have access to God through the blood of His Son. It’s another thing to say “I serve God daily through His grace” meaning I am enabled to do His will because He Himself is at work in me. There is a clear distinction.

One believer says “I’m not under the law, I’m under grace” (see Rom 6:14) taking it wrongly to mean “God understands my sins and doesn’t condemn me for them. He receives me just the same regardless of how I live”. Another believer says “I’m not under the law, I’m under grace,” taking it correctly to mean “Through grace, I’m not only forgiven for my sins but I can now live above sin. Whereas the law could only point out my shortcomings, God’s grace can transform my nature.” That is the power of grace!

Of the 155 times that the word “charis” occurs in the New Testament, less than half of them refer to unmerited favor. Instances that demonstrate this usage of the word include:

Luke 2:40: And the child [Jesus] grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor (charis) of God was upon him.

Acts 6:8: And Stephen, full of grace (charis) and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

These two passages make it obvious that charis does not mean unmerited favor here. For other examples of it being used in this manner, please check out: Romans 1:5, 12:3, Acts 4:33, Col 4:6, 2 Cor 8:1-4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 2 Cor 12:9.

Do you see the difference? With regard to salvation it means that God is helping the helpless. With regard to your walk with Him, it refers to His helping the helped (favor and empowerment). Look at 2 Tim 2:1, James 4:5-6, 1 Peter 4:10, Acts 11:23, Titus 2:11-14. When you look at these passages, you’ll notice that “charis” not only brings us salvation—it enables us to say NO to temptation, Heb 4:16, Eph 2:6-7, 1 Pet 1:13.2

Grace that doesn’t make us holy is not worthy of the name

The Apostle Paul was very clear when he wrote throughout chapters 6 through 8 about living holy and free from sin. I think the first two chapters of Romans 6 state it best:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

And also, notice the admonition we are given in this passage:

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holinesswithout which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace (charis) of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. (Hebrews 12:14-17)

Grace is not only a gift, it is a grave responsibility. A man cannot go on living the life he lived before he met Jesus Christ. He must be clothed in a new purity and a new holiness and a new goodness. The door is open, but the door is not open to the sinner to come in and remain a sinner, but for the sinner to come and become a saint. God’s grace must be joined with human response. True faith is active not passive. The way we are able to repent is only through God’s charis grace, or enabling empowerment.

For Good Podcast Discussions on this subject matter, be sure to check out the following Fire On Your Head podcast episodes:

What Is True Repentance?

Download this episode (right click and save)

Do Happiness & Holiness Mix?

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Is It Possible To Live a Holy Life?

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If you’d like to subscribe to our podcast using iTunes, then click here. 

Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

1. Surviving The Anointing; Learning to Effectively Experience and Walk in God’s Power, David Ravenhill, p. 55
2. The Word study on the word charis comes from Dr Michael L. Brown’s book “Go And Sin No More“, which is an invaluable resource on this subject matter. Click here to visit his site if you’d like to get your hands on a copy.

This week, join David Edwards and Steve Bremner as we discuss the crucial role of repentance in the normal Christian life.

What is repentance? Is there more to repenting than just feeling sorry for sin? Is there such a thing as pre-meditated repentance? Also, are you personally aware of what are the following verses surrounding the context of John 3:16–the most quote verse in the New Testament?

If you’re not familiar with your Bible, then you don’t want to miss this episode, as this week we plow through numerous Scripture passages and give you a good edifying and challenging Bible study on the subject matter.

This week’s intro: Going Under by This Beautiful Republic.

For More Reading and Meditation: The Recovery of Sharpened Proclamation, by Steve, The Fire Offering and the Washing of the Inner Parts, & The Sense of God’s Holiness, by Bryan Purtle, Another Gospel, by Keith Collins, Finding Holiness in Love, Is Introspection A Sin? by David Hepting, Habitual Sin & Holy Ostracism, by Jerry Bolton; Whatever Happened to Conviction? by Joel Crumpton

Also don’t forget to check out the article 7 Counterfeits of Repentance, by Mark Driscoll.

“They said therefore to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’” – John 6:28-29

There are multitudes of anxious Christians who are inquiring what they shall do to       overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. They overlook the fact that “this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith” (I John 5:4) that it is with “the shield of faith” that they are to “extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.” (Eph. 6:16) They ask, “why am I overcome by sin? Why can’t I get above its power? Why am I the slave of my appetites and passions and the sport of the devil?” They look all around them for the cause of all this spiritual wretchedness and death. Sometimes they think they have discovered the answer in the neglect of one duty, and at another time in the neglect of another duty.   Sometimes they imagine they have found the cause of their wretchedness to be that they have yielded to one sin and sometimes in yielding to another.  They put forth efforts in this direction and patch up their righteousness on one side, while they make a tear in the other. Thus they spend years running around in a circle, making dams of sand across the current of their own corruptions. Instead of at once purifying their hearts by faith (Acts 15:9), they are engaged in trying to stop the overflow of its bitter waters.

“Why do I sin?” they inquire; and looking around for the cause, they come to the same conclusion: “It is because I neglect such and such a duty!” “But how shall I get rid of sin?” Usual answer: “By doing my duty, that is by ceasing from sin.” Now the real question should be: Why do they neglect their duty? Why do they commit sin at all? Where is the foundation of all this mischief? But all this only brings us back to the real question again: How are we to overcome this corrupt nature, this wickedness, and our sinful habits? I answer, BY FAITH ALONE . No works of law have the least tendency to overcome our sins, but rather they strengthen the soul in self-righteousness and unbelief.

The great and fundamental sin which is at the foundation of all other sin is unbelief. The first thing to do is to give that up – to believe the Word of God. There is no breaking away from one sin without this. “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23) “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” (Heb. 11:6) Thus we see that the backslider and convicted Christian, when agonizing to overcome sin, will almost always try to use the works of law to obtain faith.  They will fast and pray and read and struggle and outwardly reform, and thus endeavor to obtain grace. But all this is in vain and wrong.  Do you ask, “Shall we not fast and pray and read and struggle? Shall we do nothing but sit down in cheap security and inaction?”  I answer: You must do all that God commands you to do; but begin where He tells you to begin, and do it in the manner in which He commands you to do it. That is – in the exercise of that faith that works by love. (Gal. 5:6) Purify your hearts by faith.  Believe in the Son of God! (I John 5:10)

What Is “Faith”?

The first element of saving faith is realizing the truth of the Bible. But this alone is not saving faith, for Satan also realizes the truth of the Bible, which makes him tremble. (James 2:19) But a second element in saving faith is the agreement of the heart (or will) to the truth understood by the mind. It is a cordial trust or resting of the mind in those truths, and yielding up the whole being to their influence. Now it is easy to see that without the consent of the will, there can be nothing but an outward  obedience to God. A wife without confidence in her husband can do nothing more than outwardly perform her duty to him. Works of law may be performed without faith, that is,  we may serve from fear or hope or some selfish motive, but without the confidence that works by love, obedience from the heart is naturally impossible.

By what I’ve already said, I mean that to seek the grace of faith by mere human works is an utter abomination. It is as abominable as to attempt to purchase the Holy Ghost with money. (Acts 8:20) It is to set aside the testimony of God’s Word concerning our utter depravity (helplessness) and attempt to pawn off our unbelieving, heartless works upon an infinitely Holy God. It is an attempt to purchase His favor, instead of accepting grace as His sovereign gift.

To give any other answer to one in unbelief, and to tell him to perform any work with the expectation that by it he shall obtain faith, is to confirm him in self-righteousness, to prolong his rebellion, to lead him to settle down in a self-righteous hope to produce in the end, discouragement and blasphemy.

Because repentance, faith, love, and every other holy exercise both imply and proceed from faith – without confidence in the character and requirements of God, it is impossible to repent. For what is repentance but heartily to justify God and condemn ourselves ? So it is equally impossible to exercise a trusting love in God without faith.  Submission to God implies the exercise of confidence in God and in His requirements.

Faith is the only exercise that receives Christ with all His powerfully sanctifying influences into the heart. The Bible everywhere represents the sanctified soul as being under the influence of an indwelling Christ. Now the exercise of faith is an opening of       the door by which Christ is received to reign in the heart. If this is so, the proper direction plainly is to do that which receives Christ. If this is done, all else will be done. If this is neglected, all else will be neglected, of course!

Some Helpful Remarks

1. You see why the Church is not sanctified. They overlook the office and necessity of faith as that which alone can produce acceptable obedience to God. They are engaged in efforts to obtain faith by works, instead of first exercising that faith which will  produce within them a clean heart. And in this way they seek in vain for sanctification.   How common it is to see Christians bustling about with outward efforts and works – fasting and praying, giving and doing and struggling – and after all this, they do not have the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,  faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23 KJV)

2. You see why the Bible lays so much stress upon faith.

3. You see what the difficulty is for those who are constantly in a complaining state in their walk with the Lord. They seem to know they are wrong, but do not understand what the foundation of their wrong consists of. They sometimes think that a neglect of a certain duty is the grand difficulty, and sometimes their mind fastens upon something else that is the prime difficulty in their case. They set themselves to break off from one sin and another, they practice this self-denial and that duty, and all without that faith that fills the heart with love. Thus they go round and round in a circle and do not see that unbelief is their great, their damning sin, without the removal of which no other sin can be repented of or forgiven. All their efforts are entirely legal, hypocritical, and vain until they exercise faith.

4. If persons without faith, in an unsanctified state, set themselves to obey the commandments of God, their efforts must necessarily be legal, self-righteous, and destructive. To them the directions of the Gospel, as well as the commandments of the law, are a horrible pit of miry clay. And when you cast a man into a horrible pit of miry clay, the more he struggles the deeper he sinks. Every effort at obedience without faith is sin, and as it confirms self-righteousness, is sinking him further and further from God and rational hope. And the more violently he struggles, the more desperate and alarming his case becomes. The clay surrounds him and cleaves to him, suffocates and kills him. Just so the commands of God to an unbelieving heart are a snare and a pit. Without faith, there is ruin and damnation in them.

5. To the careless, unawakened sinner who knows nothing of his lostness, it might be important and proper to direct his attention to the law of God to bring conviction – not with the expectation of promoting holiness in him, but of convicting him of sin. Thus we find Christ requiring the rich young man who is wrapped up in self-righteousness to keep the commandments, bringing out before his mind his supreme love of the world and of things. (Luke 18:18-23)

6. You see how to the Jews and to all unbelievers, the commandments of God are a stumbling block. All outward conformity to them is useless and ruinous. Love without faith is impossible . And consequently, the merciful directions and instructions contained in the dos and don’ts of the Bible are made the food of self-righteousness and the snare of death. But to those whose souls are full of faith and love, the commandments of God are just the instruction which they need when, in their ignorance, they earnestly inquire what they shall do to glorify God. “Do this and avoid that,” and the like, are just the things upon which hearts of love will seize as the needed directions of their Heavenly Father.

7. But someone may inquire, “Do not men learn to exercise faith by what you call legal efforts and an obedience to the legal directions?” No. They only learn by experience that all such directions are vain, and that they are totally depraved and       dependent, which they ought to have believed before. They set themselves to pray and read and struggle, expecting at every meeting they attend, with every prayer they make, to obtain grace and faith. But they never do until they are completely discouraged and despair of obtaining help in this way. And the history of every self-righteous sinner’s conversion and every anxious Christian’s sanctification would develop this truth: that deliverance does not come until their self-righteous efforts are proved by their own experience to be utterly vain, and abandoned as useless – and the whole subject thrown upon the sovereign mercy of God. This submitting a subject to the sovereign mercy of God is that very act of faith which they should have put forth long before, but which they would not exercise until every other means had been tried in vain!

8. But perhaps you will say, “If by this self-righteous struggle they learn their depravity and dependence, and in this matter come to prove by their own experience the truth of God, why not encourage them to make these efforts as at least an indirect way of       obtaining faith?” Answer: Blasphemy and drunkenness and any of the most shocking sins may be, and often have been, the means of working conviction which has resulted in conversion. Why not encourage these things to possibly bring about ultimate salvation for some?

The truth is, when a sinner’s attention is awakened and he is convicted and puts forth the inquiry, “What shall I do?” and when a Christian, struggling with his remaining corruption, puts forth this same inquiry, why should they be thrown into the horrible pit of which I have spoken? Why not tell them at once, in the language of the text, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”? (John 6:29)

9. Let me say to you who would make the inquiry, “How can I overcome sin?” don’t wait to fast, read, pray, or anything else – don’t expect to break off from any sin in your unbelief! You may break off from the outward commission – you may substitute       praying for swearing, reading your Bible for reading magazines, outward employment and honesty for theft and idleness, soberness for drunkenness, and anything you please – but this, without faith, is after all, only exchanging one form of sin for another – it is only varying the mode of your rebellion towards God. For remember that in unbelief whatever your conduct is, you are still in rebellion against God. Faith would instantly sanctify your heart, sanctify all your doings, and render them in Christ Jesus, acceptable to God.

My dear friend, you inquire whether you shall obtain holiness by reading the Bible, or by prayer, fasting, or by all these together. Now let this sermon answer you and know that by neither nor by all of these, in the absence of faith ,are you to grow any better or find any relief. You speak of being in darkness and of being discouraged. No wonder you are so, since you have plainly been seeking sanctification by outward works. You have “stumbled over the stumbling stone.” (Rom. 9:32) You are in that pit of miry clay. Immediately exercise faith upon the Son of God! It is the first, the only thing you can do to rest your feet upon the Rock – and it will immediately put a new song into your mouth!