Compliments said

As part of my search to understand 'what is the gospel?' this 'what is [u]the[/u] lie?' remains a matter for serious consideration.

There is a great deal on SI which describes the lie, by way of complaints about dead churches. These take many forms, from complaints about a humanistic 'gospel', to descriptions of Christians who are deceived by aspirations of riches through the prosperity movement, or, who don't recognise their role in distributing either spiritual or material wealth to the poor.

I think it would be useful if we could re-interpret what we are seeing, into terms of [i]Is it a lie?[/i] - so that we can remind ourselves of the corresponding truth in the Bible, or as it applies to us in Christ.


This morning, I realised I [i]do[/i] know the foundation of 'the lie'. It is here:

[color=006699]Romans 1:17 - 25 (Young)
For the righteousness of God in it is revealed from faith to faith, according as it hath been written,

`And the righteous one by faith shall live,'

for revealed is the wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety and unrighteousness of men, holding down the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which is known of God is manifest among them, for God did manifest [i]it[/i] to them, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, by the things made being understood, are plainly seen, both His eternal power and Godhead--to their being inexcusable; because, having known God they did not glorify [i]Him[/i] as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was darkened, [u]professing to be wise, they were made fools[/u], and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of fowls, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.

Wherefore also God did give them up, in the desires of their hearts, to uncleanness, to dishonour their bodies among themselves; who did change the [u]truth[/u] of God into a [u]falsehood[/u], and did honour [u]and serve the creature rather than the Creator[/u], who is blessed to the ages. Amen. [/color]

And

[color=006699]Psalm 14:1
A fool hath said in his heart, `God is not';[/color]


Thus, one of the biggest 'lies' in our time, is the Theory of Evolution.

It is far easier to attribute scientific findings of similarities and differences to [i]the Fall[/i], or, to the possibilty that God has continued creating new things despite the Fall. Having said that, I see the Hebrew word for 'rested' is used only 11 times in that sense, and 47 times as 'ceased', so maybe He hasn't [i]made[/i] anything new except [i]in Christ[/i].

This would be in line with Paul's comment in

[color=006699]Romans 8:18 - 23
For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time [i]are[/i] not worthy [i]to be compared[/i] with the glory about to be revealed in us; for the earnest looking out of the creation doth expect the revelation of the sons of God; for to vanity was the creation made subject--not of its will, but because of Him who did subject [i]it[/i] --in hope, that also the creation itself shall be set free from the servitude of the corruption to the liberty of the glory of the children of God; for we have known that all the creation doth groan together, and doth travail in pain together till now. And not only [i]so[/i], but also we ourselves, having the first-fruit of the Spirit, we also ourselves in ourselves do groan, adoption expecting--the redemption of our body; [/color]


But in Hebrews 4:4, where the sabbath rest of believers is likened to God's resting in Genesis, there are four English options for the word in Greek: restrain 1, rest 1, give rest 1, cease 1.

There are other verses which state He is always involved with His creation, holding it together, notably

[color=006699]Colossians 1:14 - 19
...in whom we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of the sins, who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation, because in him were the all things created, those in the heavens, and those upon the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things through him, and for him, have been created, and himself is before all, and the all things in him have consisted. And himself is the head of the body--the assembly--who is a beginning, a first-born out of the dead, that he might become in all [i]things[/i] --himself--first, because in him it did please all the fulness to tabernacle, [/color]


I concede He may not be 'making', but rather [i]holding[/i].


The other [u]big lie[/u] of which Jesus warned us many different ways, was 'the cares of this world'. Where do we find these warnings?


How could we define (if at all) a [u]legitimate[/u] 'care' for a Christian?

: Linn (Dorcas) suggested I put this here. This is part of a dialogue that we have been having in PM, and she thought that this would be beneficial in this thread to which I agreed. Below is one of my replies to Linn. I have edited it for clarity.

Compliments wrote:
Thanks Linn for your reply.

Quote: "We are struggling with victory over sin, and yet this was basic in their thinking"

We have the victory today in Christ Jesus when we recognize that we are dead. As Paul said, "Reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin and alive unto God"

The problem with NOT having victory over sin is the fact that we are struggling to overcome sin via our input of obeying the law or any law that we put to ourselves in thinking that 'this' or 'that' will help us overcome sin.

The only remedy for sin is placing our complete faith and trust in what Jesus did on the cross. Once we begin to add or take away from this equation, sin lieth at the door.

I need to drive this home, because it's becoming a reality in my own life. It's important that we hang unto this liberty that we have in Christ Jesus lest at anytime these things will slip.

I am tempted. Temptations comes in many forms and they change from one level to another level, but when you recognize that your dead, sin will not have dominion over you. You got to want to walk in the Spirit. And you can't do that by means of the law or laws and rules that you have established or your Church has established for you in your life to make you righteous before God. You are made righteous before God by the act of trusting that the report of Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross is true and by placing your faith exclusively in Jesus Christ and what He has finished on the cross.

You and I are dead because we have been crucified with Jesus Christ. We are DEAD and our life is hid in Christ. We are now living out of a new life, a totally different aspect of what we knew before. We are walking in the Spirit when we place our total faith in Christ.

Let me share more on this subject of death. There are many lies in the Church. No where in the bible does it say that "we are sinners saved by grace". Thats a lie. You and I are not sinners, we have been called to be saints and are saints. We have been called to be perfect even as He is perfect.

A sinner is one who continues in sin, but we, who are dead to sin, no longer sin; because His SEED remaineth in us.

However, those of us who do continue in sin after we have believed, are sinners, because a sinner is someone who continues in sin. But if we sin we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus the Righteous.

James 5:19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

He is talking about believers that have erred from the truth. If we err from the truth, it means that we have received lies, which means that we cannot properly love God or do His will nor are we free.

God is not willing that any of us should perish but all would come to the knowledge of the truth. This verse is for our benefit.

We must realize that we are dead, the victory is in the cross.

"Near the cross, Near the cross, be my glory ever, when my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river."

I agree with the first portion of that chorus, however, our rest is not beyond the river, our rest is in Jesus Christ today. Come unto me and I will give you rest. That rest is what we must enter into today. The Kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. Every day believers are pressing into the Kingdom of God. And no can get in there unless he hath clean hands and a pure heart, neither anyone who loveth and maketh a lie.

Victory over sin is standing on the fact that we are dead. When temptation comes, we must count it all joy that this tempation doesn't come because of the devil but that God has willed that the devil would try us. We must know the word of God so that we might rebuke the devil. We must stand our ground.

When someone says that we are sinners saved by grace, we must nip that in the butt immediately.

Oh yes, Paul said that he was the chief of sinners. I am going to give you something that I believe the holy Spirit just showed me as I was reading that.

Paul wasn't saying that he was the chief of sinners because he thought of himself as a sinner. Rather, he was ordained to be the Chief of sinners, Chief of the gentiles. The 12 apostles were made to be a witness to the Jews, Paul was to be made a witness for the Gentiles in whom he was ordained to be the Apostle over them.

I never saw that until this very moment. Thank you Jesus

The struggle ends when we stop struggling to overcome sin. The deeds of the law shall no man be justified, so why try to overcome sin when we have been made MORE than a conquerer. "More than a conquerer" is someone who didn't have to do anything to conquer. It's like the wife who gets her husbands paycheck. She didn't do the work, he did.

A good example of this is found in Gideon, tho the men who were left behind because there was too many of them, God wanted only 300 men to go and fight this massive army, yet when they came back with the spoils, those men that didn't go got a share of the booty. They were more than a conquerer.

In legalistic churches, even though they have a form of godliness on the outside, sin is rampant in that church, problems like you've never seen before. When we try to place our works against the cross of Christ and we think that by our works we are made righteous, we are living in sin, in fact we are enemies of the cross.

Thats why our faith is looked down with scorn, because ALL religions in the world DO something to obtain their righteousness. Ours is simply faith and what Christ has done, not by works...lest any man should boast.

A believer may say in himself, praying will make me righteous towards God, but I tell you it's a law, and it must be rejected. Faith and faith alone is to be received. We must pray yes, pray pray pray, with a right motive.

God be with you

Hi Compliments, and thank you for posting this.

From Finneys "Breaking up the Fallow Ground":

7. Lying. Understand now what lying is. Any species of designed deception for a selfish reason is lying. If the deception is not a design it is not lying. But if you design to make an impression contrary to the naked truth, you lie. Put down all those cases you can recollect. Don't call them by any soft name. God calls them LIES, and charges you with LYING, and you had better charge yourself correctly.

How innumerable are the falsehoods perpetrated every day in business, and in social intercourse, by words, and looks, and actions--designed to make an impression on others contrary to the truth for selfish reasons.

_________________
Terry L Merritt

Hi Psalm73,
You've put an interesting slant on this topic, which ties in with what RobertW said in an earlier post in this thread. He pointed out that God's definition of 'lie' in scripture, is associated with issues to do with the kingdom of God.

It was not till today I found myself reading John (below), connecting with Robert's observation, and sparking a new train of thoughts.


1 John 2 Young
21 I did not write to you because ye have not known the truth, but because ye have known it, and because [u]no lie is of the truth[/u].
22 Who is [u]the liar[/u], except he who [u]is denying that Jesus is the Christ[/u]? this one is the antichrist who [u]is denying the Father and the Son[/u];
23 every one who is denying the Son, neither hath he the Father, [he who is confessing the Son hath the Father also.]


Compliments said