IMPORTANT MATTERS ABOUT THE CHURCH - 2

THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE FORMATION OF THE CHURCH

Paul said in his epistle to the Ephesians brethren, “...And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the MYSTERY, which from the beginning of the world hath been HIDDEN in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God.” Ephesians 3:9-10

It was in this saying of the apostle, that we got a glimpse of why the church was formed and to what purpose. Christ formed the Church but Paul called it the manifold wisdom of GOD. Why did Paul call it the manifold wisdom of God? Follow closely...

Christ said to Peter in the book of Matthew that he will build his Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail… this was where the foundation of the Church was laid. Many people have erroneously translated Jesus’ statement about “the rock” as meaning he will build his Church on Peter. NO! That was not what he meant that day. So we have had some persons who erroneously believe that Peter is the foundation of the Church, but the Holy Spirit made us know through Apostle Paul that, the 12 apostles are the foundation of the church and Christ is the chief cornerstone. So what did Jesus mean by saying, “on this rock’ will I build my church seeing that the name "Peter" means "the rock"? We have kept this exposition for the next lesson. But, let us be informed for now that Christ is the builder of the church.

That's just why Paul said, the church is the manifold wisdom of God.

Now, what is it about the Church? What is it about the "manifold wisdom"?

In the book of Genesis, we saw how that man lost the Kingdom of God. The major calamity that happened in the Garden of Eden was not the eating of a fruit. It was not the disobedience to God’s commandment either; it was the treason of handing God’s kingdom over to the devil. Satan deceived man into collecting the keys to the kingdom that God had designed man to rule. God destined man to have dominion and rule this earth realm just the way he rules the heavenly realm, but man failed and committed treason.

Note that through the first woman Eve, the devil robbed Adam of the Kingdom. This is because Eve was formed to help Adam achieve his goal. Adam's goal again is to rule this world for God's glory. 

Adam was the caretaker of God's beautiful creation. Eve was formed out of Adam as an helper in other for Adam to fulfill destiny.

Now, In the epistles, Christ is called the Last Adam, and the Church is called the bride of Christ. This is a mystery which was rooted in the creation of the first man and woman. Adam and Eve were types of the Christ and the Church. As Adam was given the kingdom mandate, so was Christ given the kingdom mandate. In short, Jesus Christ was prophesied to be a King even before he was born. And not just a earthly king, but his Kingdom is of God taking over the earth. So Christ being the Last Adam retrieved the keys of the Kingdom from Satan by his victory at resurrection.

These same keys of the kingdom is what Christ has handed over to the Church. According to Matthew 16:19, he said he will give the Church these keys after he has built it.

Why did Christ gave us the keys? This is another mystery! Christ is the "head" of the Church. That's is we are just the remaining part of the body of which Christ is the head. The head tells us that Christ controls the Church. Although it also implies that he is incomplete without us. Because we are his help meet! - as Eve was to Adam. We are meant to put to action what is in his mind. The mind of the body is in the head, so Christ has given us a mandate and this mandate is the kingdom mandate.

The Church is the medium through which the Kingdom of God will be established on earth. Christ built the Church for the same purpose. Christ has made us his instruments into fulfilling the eternal plan of God. We will be used by the spirit of God to overthrow the evil that has enveloped this earth for ages. This is our mission, the greatest commission.

Not just to win souls but to establish his Kingdom. We are the emissaries, we are the channels.

This is why the Church was formed by Christ, just as Eve was formed for Adam. But again, there is a "serpent", and this serpent has repeatedly deceived the Church. This we shall begin to look into in from the next lesson.

Amen.

IMPORTANT MATTERS ABOUT THE CHURCH - 1

WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCH

The word ‘church’ as used in the bible is the Greek word ‘ekklesia” which means ‘a calling out’ or simply ‘called out ones’ or ‘an assembly’.

This is the word used to refer to saved persons who have RECEIVED SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH. The church is simply another word for believers. They are those who have been called out from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, those who have been called out form darkness to light.

The church was never a word used to describe a building or a cathedral where people worship. The error in definition came from modern dictionaries. The modern dictionaries are however not be blamed, as this has been the error passed down from ages past by ignorant and unskillful teachers. They teach that the church of God is the building instead of the people. This error had been since the time of the great schism. It is one of the many errors that crept into the body of Christ.

Now, to what reason do we refer to believers as the church?

In the Old Testament, just right after the fall of man and the calling of Abraham as the new starting point for the journey that will bring produce the messiah that will redeem mankind, people had been dealing with God by building altars and calling it the house of God. Wherever an altar is built, the Lord dwells there. These altars were sacred places which represents the presence of God at that time.

Right after that, many hundreds of years later, the dwelling place of God shifted to the tabernacle, precisely the holy of holies. This began during the exodus. Moses and his talented craftsmen built a tabernacle to house the presence of God. There was a most holy place, the office of God, in the tabernacle which is where only the high priest could enter.

Now, from “tabernacle”, the place of worship took another shift into being a “temple”. This was after the children of Israel had settled down in their own land and have chosen for themselves a king. The tabernacle was no longer relevant. The bible made us understand how that King David, was the man who chose to construct this temple which is also called the house of God. But God later gave the mission to his son, King Solomon who eventually built this temple. However, it is clear from God’s remark to David, that he will not dwell in this temple forever and that there will be another shift soon and this shift will be the final shift. Although Solomon dedicated the house of God, and it was a great day in the history of the Israelites, yet it was not the intention of God to live in a building. The intention of God was set to be revealed after the temple era.

See how Solomon puts it in 1 Kings 8:27…”but will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

Now, the intention of God was the Church – the saints, the believers, those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

All his dealings with people concerning his dwelling place all this while had been a shadow of the real thing. The real plan of God is to dwell in a house that is not built with hands. The plan of God was to dwell inside of the born again believer.

So, the house of God shifted from being an altar, to a tabernacle, to a temple and then to human body (the born again). This shift, is the main reason why the believers became the Church. The old patriarchs must build an altar before they can satisfactorily reach God, the congregation of the Israelites was bound to worshipping God in the tent, in the tabernacle, the Jews were strictly accustomed to worshipping God in the temple, especially the one in Jerusalem, but God has chosen in this last time to dwell inside us. Our worship is now in the spirit, therefore the church of God cannot be a building but those who worship the spirit.  This exactly what Jesus told the Samaritan woman; Worship has shifted!

So it is high time we understand what we call the church. The church cannot be the chairs and pulpit, a structure or a place where we go to worship God. We are the church; we do not go to church!

The early apostles and believers tried to communicate this truth and this is clear everywhere in the epistles. In Acts 2:47, the Lord added to the church daily…, In Acts 5:11, it was said that great fear came upon the church… In Acts 8:3, Saul made havoc of the church…In Acts Chapter 12, they vexed certain of the church… In Acts 12:5, prayer was made by the church… In Eph 5:25, it was said that Christ loved the church…

All these are CLEARLY REVEALED passages about the true meaning of the church. There is none of these which mean a structure or a building. Saul cannot persecute a building, Christ cannot love a building, and the building cannot make prayers for Peter when he was arrested and great fear cannot come upon a building and so on…

WE ARE THE CHURCH!

The born again believers are the church!

The CHURCH IS NOT A BUILDING! Not even a structure made with hands! Christ is the builder!

On worship days, we do not go to church; rather we (church) meet together in fellowship. Simple!

This is the first thing we need to get deep into our mindset, before we can grasp all that the Lord has for the church and all that he purposed to do with her.

God bless you!

WHAT ABOUT SIN? - 7

GRACE IS THE SOLUTION, NOT THE LICENSE TO SIN

Grace is the solution to sin, hear that LOUD AND CLEAR!

Grace is the ONLY ANTIDOTE TO SIN! You cannot stop your sinful actions by your own effort! You will always fail!

On the other hand, you cannot teach a believer to stop sinning, no and never!

A believer is not a sinner; a sinner is not a believer.

The sins (verb) in the flesh of the believer will be taken care of but the Holy Spirit with time. This is what was recorded in the book of Philippians as “working out” of salvation. It is a working that must be drawn from the spirit of the believer through the soul to the physical. It is a not human work. Any human who dares it will wear out with frustration.

Now watch how Paul wrote it to Pastor Titus “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and world lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

So it is Grace that BRINGS salvation not (do not do this, do not do that…) and it is grace that can TEACH us how to live soberly, righteously and godly... not any Pastor, not any Sunday school teacher, not any Apostle.

This is evident in the scriptures and in our everyday practical lives. There have been many people especially believers who wish to stop the sin they commit, but could not stop them. Even, our Apostle Paul lamented severally about this inability. He said he couldn’t stop himself from doing what is contrary to God, though he wished he could do. And that every time he wants to do well, he is always failing.

This is because the soul and body of the believer is not yet perfect and is conflicting the dictates of the born again spirit. Inside the born again spirit is the mind of Christ and inside the soul is our fallen mind. So there is conflict every day, that’s why Paul said in the book of Galatians that the flesh and the spirit are contrary to one another. What the spirit wants is not what the flesh wants.

So there is no human being on earth that can be free themselves from the actions of sin, weakness and imperfections. This can only be achieved when you come to the end of your efforts and absolutely depend upon the help of the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit will never leave a believer. The Holy spirit‘s job is to transform every believer daily.

So stop trying to help him. It is his job not your job.

There are many persons who when they hear us preach or teach these truths of God’s word on sin, think that we endorse sin. This is not true; rather we are encouraging people to stop exalting sin or having fear for sin. Why? Anyone who fears sin will never conquer its actions in their life. You cannot defeat what you fear. And that is why we shout it loud every time that sin is dead. This is for you to gain confidence over your addictions and weaknesses.

There have been many testimonies already about addictions, weaknesses and problems all been solved by the outworking power of the Holy Spirit and by absolute dependence on the finished works of Christ.

Grace is the just the solution. It is what you need. Not a list of dos and don’ts.

You know, at times, many pastors are causing more damage to the kingdom of God than the devil, they teach that a believer will go to hell because of their weaknesses and imperfections. That is a very big lie! This is because even the pastor who communicated these junks is not also perfect. And everyone who demands perfection and yet is not perfect is a disappointment to the Church.

Jesus has settled it all. He is now in us, working in us daily, to make us holy and godly, for the world to see and for us to produce good works. The spirit has been sealed forever no doubt, no sin can enter there.

Now no matter your struggles, problems, addictions, weaknesses, sin, maybe it is masturbation, pornography, drugs, fornications, sex addiction, theft, robbery, lies, adultery, and idolatry, whatever it is, and maybe you belong to a cult or evil gang, whatever it is… MAY I INFORM YOU THAT, YOUR PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED WHEN YOU TURN TO THE GRACE OF GOD. Release yourself from condemnation. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

ALL YOUR PROBLEMS AND ADDICTIONS ARE NOT GREATER THAN THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.

TURN AWAY FROM YOUR SELF-EFFORTS, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FRUSTRATED.

TURN TO GRACE, TURN TO CHRIST.

It shall be well with you. I love you so much and God loves you more!

WHAT ABOUT SIN? - 6

SIN UNTO DEATH AND SIN NOT UNTO DEATH

Since there is a controversy on whether a believer can still be damned when they sin or not, we shall now endeavor to attend to this strictly by the eternal word of God.

But before we do that, let us note these two very important things:

i.                     That a believer is dead to sin. A believer knows no sin. Their nature is a sinless nature.   

ii.                   That a believer is not totally freed from committing sin. They still have weakness and imperfections due to their unsaved soul and body.

It is in this light, that we shall now proceed to address the issue on sin as regards the believer, especially on the fact that a believer cannot lose their salvation because of sin.

Now, Apostle John in his first epistle made many statements about sin, some of them look contradictory, but if you have the knowledge of these two statements we have just highlighted above, you will surely be able to rightly divide the word of the Apostle on sin. This is because in some cases, he was referring to the justification, the blessedness and the powerless grip of sin on the believer while in the other cases he was referring to the imperfections of the believer.

So what then are we saying? Since a believer will still go on to sin, despite the fact that they do not have the nature in them anymore, will they still be penalized for these sins?

You should also bear in mind certain things, in other to answer these questions correctly…

i.                     That there is no amount of sin that can send a believer to hell. Jesus paid it all and has been made our substitute. Jesus will then present every believer as holy, righteous, blameless and without fault on the last day. This is what the bible teaches and we have a view of it in the epistle to the Colossians 1:21-23

ii.                   That any sin committed by a believer will bring only physically, biological or emotional consequences to them. It has nothing to do with God or with his salvation. As far as God is concerned, a believer has been justified freely by Grace.

Now, let us consider what Apostle John said in 1 John 5:16-17…

“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death”

Now carefully consider the words used here…”any man see his brother’…definitely this is referring to believers.

Now, the brother is said to sin a sin “which is not unto death”… let me explain this in simple words - this means the believer will commit a sin, and that sin he or she commits, will never lead to death.

What does this mean? Remember that Paul said the wages of sin is death, and James also said when sin has finally conceived, it brings forth death. Now, if the sin according to the passage in 1st John is not unto death, then it means it is not even a sin at all, or that it is a sin without power. Because every sin results into death, and this one does not. I have heard many unskillful teachers say that the death here is a physical death; well I guess they did not look carefully at the words used in the next phrase…

It went on to say, “he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death…”

If it is a physical death, then there is a contradiction, because no man can give a physical life. This then mean that the other believer should administer life (spiritual upliftment or revival) to the depressed believer who sinned. This is just why we war against sin consciousness. This is exactly what James meant by saying that “he which convert the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death”, so “saving from death” is the same as “giving life” to the believer who committed sin.

And finally the verse in the book of 1 John went to say that “there is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it”….

Now, the sin unto death here is the sin committed by Adam and everyone who has not received eternal life of God in their spirit. Although their sin has been paid for, they are yet to receive this forgiveness and are yet to receive the life of God. So John said, they should not pray for it. There is no amount of prayer that can erase that sin, only faith in Christ Jesus.

Then the last line and verse 17 says “all unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death”

Ignore the “a”, it should read as THERE IS SIN NOT UNTO DEATH. There is no definite article “a” in the Greek language. So it is not referring to a particular sin, it s a general statement.

The implication of this truth is the blessedness of a believer. That he has been saved and sealed eternally in his or her born again spirit forever. That’s why John said he that is born of God does not sin. There is no sin that can contaminate the spirit of the believer. So any weakness or struggle against imperfections in the body is a battle already won. It is just a matter of time.

The Holy Spirit in the believer will work out this blessedness from the spirit to the body. And on that day, when the immortal body shall swallow the mortal body, the salvation of man will be complete and all of the traces of the sin of Adam on earth will be gone TOTALLY AND FOREVER!

Amen.

Philip Oklu

WHAT ABOUT SIN? - 5

SHALL WE CONTINUE IN SIN THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Romans 6:1: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

In order to understand why this question was raised by the Apostle Paul, we need to look at what he had just taught in the previous chapter on sin.

Now he said in Romans 5:20-21, “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Earlier in the book of Romans, Paul was teaching men their need of God’s grace and how God used the Law, which is the Ten Commandments, to show men this need. Romans 3:19-20 reads, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: FOR BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN”

It is obvious that the Law revealed to man that he is a sinner. I have taught this extensively in the last edition of the #Basileia tagged “Grace”. Now Romans 5:20 goes a step further and teaches us that the Law did not only revealed that men were sinners; it also revealed that their sin was an offence against God.

However, before God gave the Law to his people, there was sin in the world, but men had no idea that they were sinning against a holy God and His holy standards of righteousness. Once the Law entered, they knew the awfulness of sin and how guilty they were in God’s sight by breaking His commandments. It is in that sense that “sin abounded.” Did you get that? Sin abounded by the help us the law.

But then God also revealed His grace to men through the gospel. Paul again the book of Romans said, “But now the righteousness of God without law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe.” Verse 24 adds, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” So, even though the Law revealed the ugliness of man’s sin against God, the gospel of grace reveals God’s way of justifying the sinner through Christ’s death on the cross. This proved that God’s grace was greater than all of man’s sin, just as we saw in Romans 5:20, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

So it is in this light that we say that there is no sin that is greater than the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Now suppose sin can be weighed, and If for example you have 100 kg of sin, there is more than 100 kg of grace available, if you say that your own is 2 billion kg, again there is more than 2 billion kg of grace available. And this grace abounds upon us daily as sons and daughters of God. This is what we call Justification by faith.

However, because of this truth, Apostle Paul knew that there would be some people who would use that as an excuse to sin. Man will still be man. For example, anyone who wants to use grace as a license to sin will say, “If our sin allows God to display His grace, then why not CONTINUE IN SIN THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND?”

Paul then meets that argument head-on by stating in Romans 6:2, “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

Note that he said “continue in sin” not “continue to sin”. So he actually refers to our return to the dominion and dictates of sin which has been done away with Christ.

Paul is teaching us clearly and emphatically that grace was never meant to encourage one to keep living in sin (obeying sin); instead grace has put us in a position where we have “died to sin.” What does that mean? It means that the moment you believe on Jesus Christ as your Savior God sees you as identified completely with Jesus Christ. Verse 6 goes on to explain that: “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin”. You see that?

So, in Christ’s death, WE HAVE DIED! When it says, “our old man,” it is referring to the person we were before we trusted Christ, the person who was born into a sinful race and who sinned willfully in rebellion against God. God judged “that person” in the death of His Son so that “the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin.”

Again we come to our previous assertion, SIN IS DEAD!

What does this mean? It means that our death with Christ gives us the power to cancel sin’s power and the one who understands that, would NEVER ask the question, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

Amen.

WHAT ABOUT SIN? - 4

SIN IS DEAD!

The other time “sin is dead” went viral on social media; the body of Christ was divided. This is because many of us have been so indoctrinated. We believe scriptural truths than revelation truths.

For your information, the scripture is not the totality of God. What we have in the scripture is not all of God. But we have the Holy Spirit, who is God in us and is greater than the scriptures. Because he is in us, he reveals deep things of God to us. This is how we know, through the mind of Christ.

Now, when we say “sin is dead”, some folks say that it is not how the bible puts it, because Paul said “we are dead to sin” and not that “sin is dead”.

Well, very true! However, we need to look deep into the statement of Paul and also look beyond it. Paul was a foundational Apostle. The revelations of Paul are not all of God’s revelations. Every believer in the world today has the same Holy Spirit that Paul has, and is liable to same revelation that Paul had. Putting that aside, the age of Paul is the foundational age of the church and right now we are in the maturity age. Many deep secrets and mysteries are being uncovered. Paul at many times made statements that reveal his incapacity to attain certain spiritual landmarks. He could not grasp all of God’s revelation, before he left the world.

We are in the generation of Sons which the creation have been waiting for,  that will unlock all of God’s possibilities, and wrap up the last age to open up the kingdom age.

So when you come across some of these revelations which cannot be particularly seen word for word in the scriptures, you should do well to explore them thoroughly to see their root in the world of God. Nevertheless, any revelation or supposed truth which does not have its root or cannot be traced at all in the scriptures should be discarded. Remember, the scripture is not all of God. Now we shall endeavor to explain why we said SIN IS DEAD!

For your information, SIN IS ACTUALLY DEAD! It is the world that has failed to realize this. 

Follow closely…

When Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane, the bible records how he was offered “a cup” which he wished that it should pass him by, nevertheless he took the same “cup” as God’s will. This cup definitely symbolizes the suffering of the cross and the sin of the world. When Jesus drank from that cup, he drank the wrath of God which was to come upon the world. It was in this garden that Jesus became sin. It was in this same garden that the Holy Spirit of God left him. As the first Adam need to die first in the spirit before he died physically, Jesus who is the last Adam also had to die in the spirit before he died on the cross in other to identify with man. Jesus became the substitute of humanity in this garden.

Paul said in our last bible verse, that he was made SIN for us. This means that when Jesus died on the cross, it was SIN that died.

Our understanding of what sin is; matters a lot. Now the word “sin” in the bible can be either noun or verb. The “sin” that died is the noun sin; it is the same sin that separated MAN FROM GOD in the Garden of Eden. It is this same sin that separated GOD FROM MAN in the garden of Gethsemane.

So if Jesus Christ BECAME the SIN that caused separation, and he died, therefore SIN IS DEAD!

Now, this sin (noun) that died is the root and sponsor of sins (verb). It is the sin (noun) that has actually held man captive, not the actions. The actions of sin we see today is as a result of the longtime dominion of sin (the noun) in our body. The body has been so ruled by sin (noun) and as a result had to behave in that manner.

Recall that in lesson 2, we discussed the tragedy that befell man after he ate of the fruit, that the sin nature became resident in the man, controlling the soul and the body. And that man was helpless sin then, forcefully obeying the dictates of this sin. This dictator is also what the bible refers to as the “old man” or the “sinful nature”. Now, this old man has been destroyed by Christ Jesus. This old man is dead.

Now what comes to your mind, if we say sin is dead, why then do we still continue to sin? …

Now, we also need to understand that, the soul of man is not perfect, not even the soul of the believer. It is only the spirit of the believer is that is 100% perfect in Christ. The soul of man is not perfect at all; it is undergoing perfection rather. This is an everyday process through the outworking power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what we see today as sins (actions) is actually the result of the imperfect soul of man. The spirit of the believer is holy and knows no sin. The nature of sin in the believer is actually dead. Forget it, it is dead. The nature of the believer is God’s nature. There is no sin in the born again spirit of the believer at all. This is because we have received the gift of righteousness which is by faith in Christ Jesus.

So SIN IS DEAD! The world needs to come to this knowledge. Many people are seriously caged with the fear of sin and hell. This is just a slap on the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died to destroy sin and therefore he expects the world to come to the knowledge of this and receive this provision. It is only sin consciousness that can rob man from obtaining what God has made available in Christ Jesus.

When you have the knowledge that sin is dead, you will be set free from the fear of going to hell. This is because the sin that sends people to hell is what actually died. No one goes to hell again because of sin, but because of their unbelief in Jesus Christ as the substitute for their sin. Similarly, the sin that stops people from making heaven is dead. No one makes heaven because they are sinless, but because they believe that Jesus destroyed their sin and gave them his righteousness. Jesus Christ did not asked us to stop sinning (actions) before he received us, so he cannot cast us away now that we have become joint-heir with him. Amen?

God is no longer angry with this world. The world needs to know this. This is what Satan has been fighting to keep away from us all. Jesus has RECONCILED THE WORLD back to him. SIN IS DEAD, Halleluyah!

WHAT ABOUT SIN? - 3

“HOW GOD DEALT WITH SIN”

One of the reasons why I love God is because he is WISDOM. I do not mean that he has wisdom, but HE IS WISDOM!

This is because before Adam gave sin the entrance into this world, God already made a plan to deal with sin. This plan is called the plan of redemption. God’s plan was to redeem man back to himself by defeating sin and death as well as Satan their sponsor.

God decided to deal with sin according to his own eternal counsel. He chased Adam away from the Garden in order for Adam not to eat of the tree of life because if he does, the nature of sin that was now in man will become permanent.

God chose to confound the wisdom of this world with his wisdom. So he dealt with sin himself. Prior to this, he had destroyed the then world of sin by the flood. But sin did not cease to be, because sin is rooted in the soul of man. The flood could not wipe off the sin of man; it could only wipe off the sinners.

Therefore God became man, and this man was called Jesus Christ, who destroyed sin and its empire.

So when the angel of good tidings came to the Virgin Mary, he said “thou shall call his name Jesus because he shall save his people from their sins”

Jesus means SAVIOR, and there is no other thing that man needs to be saved from, other than sin.

So when there was no man fit to live a life free of sin and to stand in gap for the world out of their chains of sin, God came down himself. God entered into a virgin woman, and came out as Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Jesus was the man that became the sacrifice for the sin of the world. John the Baptist shouted and said “behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”. The sole mission of Jesus Christ was to TAKE AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD. His major work was to save the world from the dominion of SIN and reconcile man back to God.

This he did by laying down his life on the cross thousands of years ago. He paid the price that WE OWED. He conquered the trio - sin, death and Satan. He took away the keys from hell. He set men free from the ancient shackles of sin and evil. Man was restored to his original position with the Godhead.

Paul said “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”

Now bear in mind that when the bible says that JESUS KNEW NO SIN… It actually means he is not polluted by the sin of Adam. This is because he was born of the HOLY SPIRIT; he was not born of ADAM. All men are like ADAM, we all have the corrupt soul and body which is just sufficient for us to keep committing sin. However, Jesus Christ has no link with what we call the Adamic Nature. That is why he was called the last Adam and the firstborn son of God. He ended the race of Adam and started a new race of Sons. He was 100% God and 100% Man while on earth. His configuration was a God-Man configuration. So there was no way he could sin. He “knew” no sin means he has no “relationship” with sin. “Knowing” means “Having an intercourse”. Jesus Christ was just the perfect and right person who saved us all from our sin.

So he died as the propitiation for our sin.  We became eternally forgiven through his death.

We became saved. This is because when he died, he died as our sin. He became our sin in the garden of Gethsemane. The sin of the whole world was embedded in him. So when he went to the cross, he nailed sin to the cross. The same sin that brought death and opened portal unto several evil spirits due to the disobedience of Adam in the beginning, was destroyed by Christ.

As far as we are concerned right now, sin has been dealt with.

As far as we are concerned right now, sin has been destroyed.

As far as we are concerned right now, all human has been forgiven; men just need to receive this forgiveness by believing the Gospel.

How did God deal with sin? He exchanged OUR SIN for CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Glory be to God!

WHAT ABOUT SIN? - 2

“THE SPIRIT – MIND SHIFT”

We shall continue from our last bible verse…

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and DEATH BY SIN; and so DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN, for that ALL HAVE SINNED” Romans 5:12

You know, what happened to the configuration of Adam when he committed the sin, was that all of God’s endowment departed from him. Adam became sold to the rulership of sin and death. Now when we say that sin and earth became rulers of the man, we mean that man was controlled and dominated by them. No one could STOP sinning, no one could STOP DYING. Everyone became enslaved by them.

Now let us get this straight; that man is a spirit, has a soul and lives in a body. Man is spirit, soul and body. Man is not just spirit, man is not just soul, man is not just a body. Recall that in the book of Genesis, the bible records that God breathe into the nostrils of a molded body, and as a result the body became a living soul. So in that scenario, we could see how man came to be – that the spirit entered the body, and the result of this was a soul – this is LIFE. It then implies that when the spirit and body separates, the souls ceases to exist – this is DEATH.

Now watch this; the real man is the soul. The soul is actually the central faculty of every man. The spirit and the body are not directly connected except through the soul of man. However, the spirit of man receives impulses from the Godhead and then through the soul rules the man. Now, when man sinned, the spirit of man was disconnected from God.

I want you to get it…

Before the fall, inside the spirit part of Adam = Adam’s spirit was joined to the Holy Spirit. By our analogy in the previous paragraph, it means the spirit faculty of Adam was a full being before the fall. Since we said SPIRIT + BODY = SOUL (humanity), then in the spirit faculty of Adam, the HOLY SPIRIT + ADAM’S SPIRIT = SPIRIT (the Divine). That is to say, before the fall, Adam was perfect and completely divine in his spirit.

This is like saying that the spirit of Adam is a complete spiritual being on its own. See it clearly…

Adam’s Spirit (HOLY SPIRIT + MAN’S SPIRIT) + Adam’s Body = Adam’s Soul

So Adam’s Spirit was loaded and was the steering of Adam. That was the headquarters of the whole being of Adam. As a result of this, the soul and the body of Adam were subject to his Spirit.

However, when Adam fell in the transgression, it caused the spirit faculty of Adam to collapse, and then the Holy Spirit was separated from the Spirit of Adam. This was when God’s warning to Adam came to pass – Adam died.

Remember how we explained death…

SPIRIT joins BODY = life

SPIRIT leaves BODY = death

Similarly in the spirit-faculty of Adam ….

HOLY SPIRIT joins ADAM’S SPIRIT = life (Spirituality)

HOLY SPIRIT leaves ADAM’S SPIRIT = death (Carnality)

So when sin entered into man, Man became CARNAL AND BECAME RULED BY HIS SENSES. Since man could not receive from God anymore, he followed the dictates of his senses, feelings, emotions, brain and mind. All these are factions in the soul of the man. And therefore the seat of power in the man was shifted from the SPIRIT to the SOUL.

Therefore, sin disorganized the configuration of man contradicting the design of God. All what we call evil and sin today is a result of this calamity. The evil and atrocities people commit today is due to their MIND-DRIVEN life. Sin killed (made dormant) the spirit of man and occupy the soul. Now, in the soul is where we have the mind. The mind is just like the headquarters of the soul. So sin erected its throne in the mind of the man.

Now, all through the scriptures, it is clear that evil is rooted in the mind of man. Sometimes the word “heart” is being interchanged for “mind”. But we know that the human heart is just an organ that pumps blood throughout the body, therefore the word “heart” as used in the Holy Scriptures especially in areas related to sin and evil cannot be the blood-pumping organ but the mind of the man.

Solomon said “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”

When God wanted to destroy the earth with flood, the bible says “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth…”

Also Jesus said in the book of Matthew that “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies”

Looking at this critically, we see that the consequence of sin in man is very terrible. All of man’s life is now being controlled by THE MIND that is being occupied by SIN.

That is just the reason why the fallen man has no life in him. The nature of sin is his nature. He can never be freed from sinning.

WHAT ABOUT SIN? - 1

WHEN SIN ENTERED THE WORLD

I shall endeavor to teach on the subject of sin as revealed by the eternal spirit of God. This is because as popular as this topic is, it is obvious that many are yet to understand the doctrine of the bible on it. One of the reasons why we have many denominations today is due to their varying belief on the doctrine of sin. I shall therefore do justice to this controversial but simple topic in the next three days. May the Holy Spirit unite the Church under the umbrella of love and truth with adequate knowledge of the Word in Jesus name

Now when did sin enter the world? Oh, that may sound as personification to you, but we mean “when sin was first recorded on this earth realm”. Definitely, we all are aware of how the first man, Adam ate the fruit that was forbidden by God. And as a result fell from his original position with the Godhead and was chased out of God’s presence.

In the book of Romans, Paul said man “came short of the glory of God” as a result of sin. That is, there was a glory which man could have enjoyed but man was deprived of this glory. That was just the summary of the consequences of the sin of the first man, Adam.

Now further in the same book of Romans, Paul again gave an overview of how sin came to be.

He said, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world…”

I have heard a preacher sometime ago say that the word “entered” is wrong English, that since sin is not a man, then “entered” is not the right verb. Well, “sin” in the passage is noun and singular and not the actions of sin. It represents the root of the sin of the world. Sin entered the world means, sin was first recorded in the world. So Paul said this came by one man. That is, sin would not have gain entrance if not for the man Adam.

Get it straight; the sin that entered through Adam REIGNED for many generations. This shows that the sin is a noun. Since noun is a naming word, then it suffices to show that sin is an entity or a being. Now if sin entered the world just like Satan, Death and Hell entered the world, recall that “Hell” and “Death” were also personified and said to be riding horses in the book of revelation as revealed to the Apostle John, though symbolic, it actually connotes their “being” or “spirit person”. The same applies to sin. Sin is said to “enter” and as a result “reigned”.

Now, when sin entered, the configuration of man which was made in the image of God was distorted. The bible records it that their “eyes were opened”, these do not mean an opening of the physical eye, but a KNOWLEDGE WAS GIVEN. That was why the result of the “opened eyes” led to the discovery of their nakedness. When sin entered into the world, it entered into the settings of man and tampered with it. When sin entered into man, it killed man’s spirit.

At first when God said, “if you eat of the fruit of the garden, Adam will surely die”, he meant Adam will be RECONFIGURED, he meant Adam will BE SEPARATED FROM THE GODHEAD. Man’s configuration in the beginning was strictly God’s image and God’s likeness. However, when the first man ate the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, man opened the gates of his whole being to sin. The fruit they ate was the portal, eating it opened the portal for sin to enter the world. If Adam had eaten from the tree of life that day, they would have similarly opened the portals of life and Immortality.  As sin is to death and life is to immortality.

Again when sin entered the world, the world was hijacked from man. Sin did not only kill the spirit connection of man, it also took the keys of dominion from man. Man was meant to rule all of God’s creation, but he gave the keys of this kingdom to Sin. Sin was Satan’s channel of dominion. Although Satan is the god of this world, but he has been reigning through sin. So sin reigned and ruled man.

Man became helpless; man became totally separated from God. God could not reach man again; man could not reach God again. There was a great indignation, a broken relationship between man and his maker.

The entrance of sin, was a big blow to man. This is because when the portal of evil (via the forbidden fruit) was opened, many other evil spirits followed suit. Some of these evil personalities are sickness, poverty, deafness, blindness, barrenness, dumbness, death, and hell. All these are no ordinary neither are they natural occurrences; they are actually spirits that flooded the earth realm upon the opening of the portal by Adam’s disobedience. Our previous verse continued by saying that “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, AND DEATH BY SIN; and so death passed upon all men…” “Death here is the compound word for sickness, poverty, blindness, barrenness etcetera.

God’s original purpose and plan for man is not to be poor – Adam had everything he wanted supplied, not to be sick – Adam was functioning like God on earth, so he could not fall sick. All these things are as a result of sin. Death reign by sin.

Sin entered the world, and ruined the beautiful world created by God.

Sin entered the world, and all men became sinners, whether you commit a sin or not, as long as you are identified with Adam, you become a sinner. Sin entered the world, and made the world in need of a savior.