I didn't know where to post this but think it goes with a few current threads. :)

In Him, Chanin

From "Conformed To His Image"

Sin is not wrong doing, it is wrong [i]being[/i]- [b]deliberate and emphatic independance of God[/b]. Sin is mutiny against God's rule; [i]not vileness of conduct[/i], but red-handed anarchy. When you get sin revealed in you, you know that that phrase is not too strong. It is not that men are conscious anarchists- the devil is the only being in whom sin is conscious anarchy- but that a man perceives that that is the nature of sin once the light of God is thrown upon it.

Bear in mind that it requires the Holy Spirit to convict a man of sin; any man knows that immorality is wrong, his conscience tells him it is; but it takes the Holy Ghost to convince a man that the thing he most highly esteems (his own self-government), is an abomination in the sight of God. There is nothing more highly esteemed among men than self-realization, but it is the one thing of which Jesus Christ is the enemy because its central citadel (stronghold) is independance of God.

If a man can stand on his own feet morally- and many a man can- what does he want with Jesus Christ and His salvation? with forgiveness? Some men are driven to God by appalling conviction of "sin". Conviction of sin never comes as an elementary experience. If you try to convict a man of sin to begin with you draw him to a plan of salvation, but not to Jesus Christ.

[b]The essence of sin is my claim to my right to myself; it goes deeper than all the sins that ever were committed[/b]. Sin can't be forgiven because it is not an act; you can only be forgiven for the "sins" you commit, not for heredity. "If we confess our "sins", He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins": SIN must be cleansed by the miracle of God's grace.

It does not awaken antipathy (strong feeling of aversion) in a man when you tell him God will forgive him his sins because of what Jesus did on the cross, but it does awaken antipathy when you tell him he has to give up his right to himself. Nothing is so much resented as the idea that I am not to be my own master. If any man will be My disciple, said Jesus, "let him deny himself," i.e.-deny his right to himself, not give up external sins, those are excrescences.

The point is, am I prepared deliberately to give up my right to myself to Jesus Christ? prepared to say, "Yes, take complete control"? [b]If I am, Jesus Christ has gained a disciple[/b].

We don't go in for making disciples today, it takes too long; we are all for passionate evangelsim--taken up with adding to the statistics of "saved souls", adding to denominational membership, taken up with the things which show splendid success. Jesus Christ took the long trail--"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself"--"Take time to make up your mind." Men were not to be swept into the Kingdom on tidal waves of evangelism, not to have their wits paralysed by supernatural means; they were to come deliberately, knowing what they were doing.

One life straight through to God on the ground of discipleship is more satisfactory in His sight than numbers who are saved but go no further. Over and over again men and women who should stand in the forefront are knocked clean out. When a crisis comes, [b]the reason is not external wrong-doing, but something has never been given up[/b], there is something in which Jesus Christ has not had His right of way, and the discipleship is marred.

_________________
Chanin

Amen to that! Worth reading...and practicing

_________________
Paul

Thanks Chanin
as so often, OC puts his finger right on the spot.

_________________
Ron Bailey

Yes, that's a painful thing to come to grips with. First, regardless of whether I recognize it or not, I have been my own God. Once we began to see that for what it is, it is a painful revelation that leads to a deeper repentance than the surface level sins. Although Christ was crucified for our sins, we must be crucified as well and for me that process has been rather painful.

On the other hand, it's very freeing as I begin to fully submit to God then the fruit of the Spirit manifests itself. (Gal 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

_________________
Ed Pugh

I am bringing this back up again (and i know that mike has had a thread on this before also), but this morning i read these verses which just confirmed a part of this writing so clearly.

_________________
Chanin