The Removal of Sin.

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On many occasions I have written about and preached about the spiritual fulfilment of the Jewish celebration termed "The Day of Atonement." The concept has returned to my mind forcefully and clearly. It truly is an awesome vision.

The concept simply is this: The God of Heaven has determined to remove all sources of sin from His creation. This removal is typified by the Day of Atonement. It has begun now and shall continue until the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age often referred to as the "Millennium."

(4/29/2007) The redemption of mankind from the bondages of sin occurs in two phases, as shown by the two goats of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus, Chapter Sixteen).

The first phase is the Divine forgiveness of the guilt of sin. The first phase was accomplished through the blood of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. The sin of mankind has been forgiven for those who will obey Christ. Forgiveness no longer is an issue. The perfect Sacrifice has been made. There never shall be another sacrifice made for sin!

The first phase, forgiveness, has been understood and preached throughout the history of the Christian Church. Forgiveness generally is considered to be the limit of what God is willing to do concerning sin. Any idea of the removal of sin itself appears to be vague at best, and sometimes thought of as impossible. "We always must be saved by grace (forgiveness)," it is ventured.

The second phase is the removal of sin. The work of redemption will not have been completed until all sin has been removed from the creation. The second phase could not proceed until the first phase had been accomplished. Consider carefully the following two passages:

Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. (Daniel 9:24)

"To finish transgression." "To put an end to sin." "To bring in everlasting righteousness." There are two aspects of sin. One aspect is motivation, or compulsion. The other aspect is the behaviour caused by the motivation or compulsion.

The two sources of motivation are unclean spirits, and human self-will.

The behaviour occurs either in the spirit world or on the earth through human beings.

God has determined to put an end to sin. This means sin will be forgiven totally. It means also that the motivation to commit sin and sinful behavior will be removed from the creation. There shall be a new world of everlasting righteousness.

Now, think about this second passage:

As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. (Matthew 13:40,41)

I would define the "end of the age" as the end of the Church Age. I would suggest further that messengers (angels) are coming to the churches already, telling us how to get rid of sinful motivations and behaviour.

As I see it, the removing of all sin from the Kingdom, and then through the Kingdom from the remainder of mankind, will take place from the present time to the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Only then can the new Jerusalem, the glorified Christian Church, descend through the new sky to be located forever upon the new earth.

Notice above the weeding out of the Kingdom "everything that causes sin and all who do evil." This is what I meant by stating that all sin and sinners shall be removed from the Presence of Christ and His saints, and incarcerated where and how God decrees.

If we are to understand the Bible and the Divine program of redemption we must come to the realization that the Bible and the redemption are God's response to the original rebellion of the angels. God has determined to portray to the angels, and to mankind as well, the folly of disobedience to God. When we depart from this global concept we rapidly become man-cantered and begin to view the Christian salvation as some sort of plan to make people happy and solve all their problems.

The Scripture is clear that all sinful motivations and behaviour are to be removed and confined where they cannot trouble God or His people any longer. But this is difficult to grasp because we have been taught for so long that the removal of sin is not part of the program of redemption.

But notice:

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (Romans 8:13)

He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (I John 3:8)

We have not been able to perceive such passages because we have been taught that grace (forgiveness) is the only manner in which God is able to deal with the sinful behaviour of His people. We have not understood that God is not benefited when we are forgiven. God is not benefited until our sinful behaviour has been removed from us.

The father is blessed when the prodigal returns, but not if the prodigal returns and carries on his wicked behaviour in the family home.

"Accepting Christ" without repenting of our behaviour is worse than if we never had accepted Christ. Why is this? It is because we have supposed that although we have not changed our behaviour, the Father accepts us because we have made a profession of belief in His Son. Thus another destructive witness of Christ comes into being.

It was necessary that we be blinded throughout the Christian Era and remain in the belief that God has forgiven us and is ready to bring us to Heaven, not being able to remove the motivations and behaviours of sin from us. We have rejoiced in our forgiveness, and many have made an effort to live righteously. It was not time for Christ's enemies to be made His footstool.

Now it is time. The Spirit of God is ready to help us put to death the deeds of our sinful nature. There are three ways in which we can cooperate with the Spirit, as He begins to deal with us concerning our sinful motivations and behaviours.

First, once we realize we are sinning we are to stop doing it, meanwhile looking to Christ for strength to do so. Second, more formally, we are to confess the sinful behaviour to the Lord; firmly denounce the behaviour as sin; renounce the behaviour, declaring that it has no place in the Kingdom of God; draw near to Christ for renewed fellowship; and finally, sternly resist the behaviour when we are tempted in the future.

Third, more formally yet, if the first two steps do not give the desired removal, we are to come before the elders of the church, confess the behaviour to them, declare in their presence we absolutely want no more to do with this behaviour, and have them pray a prayer of deliverance over us.

It never, never, never is the will of Christ that a believer continue in known sin. There is power in the new covenant to release us from every sin. We just need to make up our mind that we want to quit the sinful practice. When we make up our mind, total deliverance is at hand.

The time has come for God to put an end to sin. The pressure of unclean spirits shall continue to grow in the United States, because our courts are legalizing immoral behaviour, such as abortion and sexual excesses and perversions. The demons are coming from every corner of the globe because they are welcome in the United States. Consequently only the most determined believer will be able to stand before Christ in victory.

The most destructive pressure may be that of sexual lust. Sexual lust afflicts young and old people. God has revealed His displeasure with ungoverned sexual behaviour in the form of several kinds of venereal disease. Yet human beings plunge ahead to their own destruction. Teachers, politicians, men of science—all throw away their careers in their attempts to satisfy the demonic lusts pressing upon them.

During the coming age of moral and physical horrors we can save ourselves and our loved ones, but only by following the Lord Jesus closely and obeying Him in every detail.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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