Deliverance From Sin:

The Lord Jesus Christ provides the authority and power to deliver us from every sin.

The sermon yesterday morning (7/11/2004) had to do with the commandments of the New Testament and what to do about them.

When I first came to the Lord sixty years ago I was told that the purpose for the commandments found in the New Testament was to show us our need of a Savior. God did not expect us to be able to keep them but was willing to receive us by grace.

This impression lasted for some years. After a while I felt the need to write. I was working on a book titled The Tabernacle of the Congregation. I started a chapter on the holiness of the Tabernacle. As I went along it crossed my mind that perhaps God and His Apostles expected us to keep Their commandments, a revolutionary thought and one that changed my thinking and teaching.

So I started through the New Testament and began to write down the commandments we clearly were expected to keep. Soon I gave up. There simply were too many. In fact, I was faced with a major portion of the text.

For example: "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. (Ephesians 4:17)

Now, it is nothing short of ridiculous to assume that Paul knew we could not do this and wrote it only for the purpose of our seeing a need to be saved by grace. So the current understanding of the "state of grace" is unscriptural and therefore erroneous. Yes, we indeed are to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ and His Apostles This is the purpose for the Great Commission.

Here are three steps one can take to break the bondages of sin that prevent our obeying Christ.

Announce; Denounce; Renounce. When you take these three steps, God has promised to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Announce to the Lord the sins you are committing. Describe as clearly as you are able what you are doing that is against His commandments in the New Testament.

Denounce the specific behavior as being evil, filthy, unscriptural, fit only for the Lake of Fire. Denounce it vehemently, diligently. Mean business so the spirit world will know sin is being judged.

Renounce the behavior, saying sternly, fiercely, and determinedly that you never, never, never again, by God's help, act like this—no, not for eternity!

Try these three steps with one of your bondages, such as profanity, fornication, lying, stealing. You will be so delighted with the results that you will continue on until you are able to live as the Apostles commanded.

Remember, if you are to be able to maintain your freedom you will have to live as a disciple. This means denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following the Lord. Read your Bible and pray every day. Find the most fervent church you can and then assemble regularly with the saints. Watch carefully in prayer! The spirits that went out of you will be looking for an opportunity to return to their comfortable house.

We American Christians are going to have to learn to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

At night we ventured that the purpose of the Christian Era has not been to bring everyone on earth into Heaven but to call out from the ranks of mankind a company of holy ones (saints)—people drawn close to God as a firstfruits of the population of the earth. When the firstfruits have been brought to maturity in Christ, then the world will believe in Christ. Then the Glory of God on the saints will draw the nations to them, and thus to Christ and God. This concept indicates that at the present time, while the work of evangelism continues, our main resources should be directed toward bringing the holy ones to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.