Paul, to believers wrote:
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
(II Cor. 5.1-11)

How can one be judged for deeds done IN THE BODY if this is no longer part of their nature?

. . .and if our bodies (and minds) have nothing to do with our New nature, how could Paul write Rom. 12.1-2?




THE NON-EXCLUSION CLAUSE:
Jesus said,
"For every one shall be salted with fire. . ."
(Mk. 9.49a)

Why God's people, too?
It is an issue of faith(fulness) in Him alone or not.

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
(Heb. 12.28-29)


Consider now this prophecy through Isaiah:

Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.

Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.

Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.

Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
(Is. 33.10-17)



Amen.

by tuc on 2010/12/28 7:49:15

In fact I am as righteous as Christ is.

2 Cor. 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

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"Might be made" is not "are already made."

If I bark like a dog does it make me a dog? No it just means that I am behaving contrary to who I really am. Even if I bark one million times, I will never become a dog.

Yes I may behave contrary to who I really am - 100% righteous and completely dead to sin but that can not change these facts.

If I behave contrary to who I really am, it does not mean I have a sinful nature.

I am A NEW CREATION!!!

yes, yes. absolutely!

But now do not forget that there are still those who live in their earth suit still!

They live the Faith Life IN Jesus and also live on the earth in their corrupt bodies and fouled soul! What do we do with them? should we kill them because they cannot perform perfectly like their new nature says!?

And if they have a new nature, what was their old? and where did it go?

(keep in mind, I know that Rom 5, 6, 7 and 8 hold these answers)

paulwhiteministries deals with this a lot.

You got your sinful nature when you were born in Adam.
You Got Christ's very LIFE and DIVINE NATURE when you were born again.

This is what is called the exchanged life because God takes your life and freely gives you Christ's Life instead of yours. Your old sinful self was crucified with Christ and you no longer live. You have died, and no longer have a life. You have received His all-sufficient Life in exchange for you old corrupt self. Now the Christian life isn't yours to live. God does not depend on you to live His Life for Him. He knows that it impossible for you to live His life, so He gave you His life when you were born again. You do not live for Him - He lives for you. Now you can fully depend on God's Life rather than depending on what you do or do not do. You no longer need to make promises that you can never keep or try to dedicate and rededicate your life to Him. You now have Christ living His Life through you. You no longer have to try make the Christian life work through your own efforts and resources. It is only made possible by your union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.

mguldner,

Thank you for the original post,

One of the things I have found helpful in the fight against sin is when it is first conceived in the mind, to drop eveything if possible and run to God in prayer. At first, with a particular sin this will be frequent but I have found through experience that when we resist the Devil, he does flee....well, only to return with another form of sin. But God truly honors that and will eventually give the victory. Once the relationship with the Father is established through the frequent visits to the throne of grace, It is no longer a focus on sin and our fight with it, but rather a love relationship with the Father and the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit that feels so sweet to lose. It replaces the sweetness of sin.

_________________
Fifi

I agree about the dog bit. I know exactly what your talking about brother Matthew.

You know it's easy to quote the scripture about what we are in Christ. I wonder if our tune would change if we are in dire straights ready to be hanged or tortured.

Paul was telling us statements of facts to which Christ had done for us, the actual words were never meant for us to go around quoting them as some spell or a conjuring. We don't need to say, "I am dead to sin" twenty times a day, it's statement of fact. Paul is telling us, "Recognize" that your dead. We can't change the conditions of the testament, what is written therein is written. We need to come to an understanding that we are dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God. Without it, we will wander from pillar to post and yes every time we sin we will feel like a dead dog. Until we understand that Christ took away sin once for all on the cross and by His death and resurrection He has created a new creation to all them that come to trust in His name.

. . .there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
(Eccl. 7.20)



If we think, walk and talk like Jesus Christ does that make us Him? No, it just means that we are behaving contrary to who we really are. Even if we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus example for every day the rest of our lives, we will never become Jesus Christ.

Yes, we may behave contrary to who we really are - 100 righteous and completely dead to sin but that can not change these facts.

If we behave contrary to who we really are, it does not mean that the human nature to sin is no longer a part of us.

More than likely, it's an attempt to establish a self-righteousness through our own efforts.

We are new creations abiding in Jesus Christ.





God accounts us 'as though we were righteous' through trusting confidence, constantly abiding in Jesus' sacraficial work completed on the execution stake.

This is the meaning of justification.

Now, being 'accounted as though we already were righteous'
and 'growth into the righteousness of God' through constantly abiding in Jesus Christ
are two completely different things.

Growth into the righteousness of God through constantly abiding in Jesus Christ is known as sanctification.



God who cannot lie, sees and calls things as though they already were.

Man cannot righteously do this except in agreement with what God reveals to us on a personal basis.


If we were actually 100% righteous already, even death would not lay our bodies down.

As things stand, though the imputation of righteousness (in Jesus Christ alone) can become an established fact for us, though one can become transformed from glory to glory through the process of santification, we still await the complete metamorphosis translating us into sons of God.

Jesus made it very clear that all sin proceeds from:
the seat of our affections,
the core of what makes us who we are in the earth,
namely our heart.

Commiting just one sin proves that the nature of/to sin is still a very big part of who we really are.










O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself,it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Thus saith the LORD,
"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Thus saith the LORD,
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
(Jer. 10.23 to 17.5-10 to 9.23-24)

Hey TUC,

Come on over for some chocolate fudge ice cream, chocolate cake and refreshing beverages. . .JAVA TOO.

Really, right now there's plenty here for everybody reading.

Any takers?

All y'all are welcome to come visit.

g

I'll invite jimp and we'll all have a ball!