Rendered Righteous

The familiar parable of the Pharisee and the publican is often misunderstood to conclude that anyone who claims to be free from sin is actually full of pride.  We find the story in Luke 18:9-14, but if we look closely, we'll see this parable reveals more than a simple blanket interpretation of sinless = prideFULL.

"And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

Crucified = Eradicated

I'd like to discuss a passage in Scripture which I see some people misconstrue. 

Galatians 5:16-23:

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

Now, oftentimes people will use those verses describing the war between the flesh and the Spirit to conclude that we're never free from the flesh (the sin nature), and therefore our walk as Christians here on earth is a constant battle with ourselves, continually struggling against our desire to sin and striving to walk in the Spirit, hoping the latter overcomes, in which case sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't.  The point is we're trying.

This, however, is not the case.  

How To Endure Until The End

I know there are who send me private messages just to chew on my ear and shoot me a line, but there have been a number of message with a recurring them that I want to address here.   I'm going to read my response to a private message of one such viewer, who was afraid he had lost his salvation and ability to repent based on verse such as Hebrews 6:4-6.  Here I'm sharing my answer, with personal information having been omitted.

Pretentious Piety

As I said in Receive Blessings video, too often on I see those who wish to turn things into sin which aren't, so they can condemn others who don't conform to their self-made standards.  It's almost as if they just make it up as they go, in a blind attempt to seem uber spiritual and holy, when Scripture says nothing to back up their claims.  In fact, in most cases Scripture says the complete opposite.

Romans 14 is a perfect example.  This chapter deals with things like meat, drink, and holidays, and Paul exhorts us not to judge our brethren in these matters. 

Receive Blessings

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."  (1 John 2:15-16)

Many times, I see this verse and others like it being used to mean we can't enjoy anything in the world.  Some I know are truly wanting to please the Lord in how they're living, while others simply use it to condemn those they deem as not denying themselves enough, as a form of haughty spiritual one-upmanship. 

However, these verses are referring to the SIN in this world and the sin SYSTEMS -- the LUST of the flesh, and the LUST of the eyes, and the PRIDE of life.  It's these things we are to reject and avoid, not simply all things in the world... WE are in the world, we're just not OF the world.  We don't enjoy or participate in the sinfulness of this world, nor anything which promotes it.

Fear Not, Little Flock

A while back, before warningthepeople blocked me, he and I exchanged a few comments regarding the fear of the Lord on his video "Perfect Love STILL Fears God."  I want to explain it here, as people have addressed my comments on that video, but since I'm blocked I obviously can't publicly reply.

The Congenital Sin Nature

In my videos and comments, I often refer to the sin nature, and the removal of it when we come to Christ.  The KJV refers to the sin nature as "the flesh," but I typically use the former term so as not to confuse it with OUR flesh, our bodies.