The answer is reading these words—you!
The answer is reading these words—you!
You are to set aside your own life and look to Jesus every moment of every day, even when occupied with other necessary matters, until you can say with Paul: "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I am living. But it is Christ who is living in me."
When that is true of you, you will be a life-giving Spirit. Not just a living spirit, but a life-giving Spirit.
To whom will you give the Life of Christ? To His inheritance, and yours!
God so loved the world. He will put that love in you.
When He does, you will see that the current hope of Heaven and mansions is little more than a desire for Disneyland in the sky.
It is the nations of people, and the farthest reaches of the earth, that are the heart's desire of the man and woman of God.
Do not quit. I know the way is rugged. But the reward is God and people, and there is no other reward that compares with them.
Christ does not want you or me to sin against God. He has the power to keep us from sinning.
One of Satan's supreme lies is that we have to sin against God.
How do we get delivered from participation in the world spirit? We must set a time aside for waiting on God, for listening to the Lord Jesus. We must ask continually to be delivered from influences of the world. Movies, the Internet, and other electronic communication devices, must be rigorously controlled so they do not pervade our thinking.
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." And, "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (II Corinthians 6:16-18—NIV)
How do we get delivered from the sins of the flesh? Follow the Holy Spirit carefully. He will point out the spirits that are dwelling in your flesh. Then with the assistance of the Spirit, denounce these spiritual influences, one at a time when they are revealed to you, and ask the help of the Lord Jesus Christ in turning away from these influences for eternity. You will be able to overcome these temptations in the future if you do what I have just said.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12,13—NIV)
How do we get delivered from the sins of our personality, mainly self-will. God will help with this deliverance if we pray. He will send many crucifixions upon us until, like the Apostle Paul we will be certain that the sentence of death has been passed upon us.
This "dark night of the soul" may last for several years, because self-will is the greatest monster of all. We must abide faithfully in our "prison" until the Lord releases us. We always are to pray for release; but we never are to take matters in our own hands and free ourselves from our onerous circumstances until we hear from Christ. It is in the denial of our most fervent desires that the chains of self-will are demolished.
You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, Lord, every day; I spread out my hands to you. (Psalms 88:8,9—NIV)
Our soul is transformed as it dies, and Christ is formed in it—finally by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit making Their eternal abode in it. It is "Christ in us," the hope of Glory.
The satanic lie that while we are in the world we have to sin, that "no one is perfect." and so forth, seems to be believed by Christian people of all persuasions.
Let me be among the first to herald what always has been true. "It is not only possible but absolutely necessary for us to cease sinning."
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (I John 3:6—NIV)
Is the verse above found in the inerrant Word of God?
Was it written by the same man who also wrote, "God so loved the world He gave His only Son?"
Should we believe the one statement but not the other?
Is it to be discarded because our tradition is against it?
We had better get busy, don't you think?
We are not speaking about sinless perfection, or instant sanctification, or positive thinking, or any other useless fantasy. We are referring to gaining victory over every sin by the wisdom and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us realize first that Adam and Eve were not created with a sinful personality or sinful body. So there actually were two human beings who at one time lived on the earth who were without sin, until Satan appeared.
By definition, redemption would mean that we are restored to this sin-free state. Anything less than this would be an incomplete redemption; and I do not believe the Lord Jesus gave His Life to accomplish an incomplete redemption. Do you?
Let us realize also that our sinful disposition is not composed of an infinite number of sins.
Our sins, finite in number, can be overcome through the Lord Jesus Christ, one at a time. This includes our worldliness, the sinful spirits living in our flesh, and the sinful personality we inherited or acquired.
The Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than each and every one of these sinful urges and practices.
Now, tell me this is not so.
If the Lord Jesus Christ has more power than all of these urges combined, and it is His demand that we cease practicing them, and He is willing to help us lay them aside, than what is our problem?
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. (Romans 8:12—NIV)
We have a choice now, don't we? Either we will believe and obey God and press forward to become a life-giving spirit; or else we will shrink back and continue in bondage to Satan.
Remember, this game is a "winner-take-all." The rewards to the victorious saints are marvelous beyond all marvels—to sit with Christ on the highest throne of the universe. The rewards to the fearful and disobedient are to reap corruption and to be sent to the outer darkness.
He who has shall be given more.
He who has not, even that which he has shall be taken from him.
I have made my decision.
What will your decision be?
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45—NIV)
The Life-giving Spirits
We have discussed the resolution of the problem of sin. Now we will think about the life-giving spirits, who are so important in the installation and maintenance of the new world of righteousness.
Every member of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is by calling a member of the Royal Priesthood.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9—NIV)
Every member of the Royal Priesthood is called to be a life-giving spirit.
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" [soul]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45—NIV)
Every Christian who does not cooperate with the Spirit of God in becoming a life-giving spirit may be as though he or she has buried their talent. They clearly are in danger of the outer darkness and of having their God-given gifts taken from them.
The calling today on each Christian is to pursue the current aspects of the program of redemption until he or she becomes a life-giving spirit. Christ will make this possible. Our task is to follow Christ closely and obey Him completely.
The people from the nations who are saved to citizenship on the new earth, but who are not called to be members of the Priesthood, will pursue their vocations in a glorious environment. They are the inheritance of the Priesthood and will receive eternal life from the Priesthood and be governed and blessed by the Priesthood.
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. (Psalms 2:8,9)
The promise above is to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are co-heirs with Him.
The following passage shows the two different groups, the Priesthood and their inheritance:
Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. (Isaiah 61:5,6)
The "priests of the Lord" are the Christians, the life-giving spirits.
The "strangers" who will shepherd your flocks are the saved people from the "nations," the inheritance of the life-giving spirits.
We see the same pattern in the Book of Revelation:
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. (Revelation 21:24)
"It" is the new Jerusalem, which is the glorified Christian Church, the assemblage of life-giving spirits. The "nations" are the saved people from the nations of the earth. Here is the fulfillment of the Word of Christ, "You are the light of the world."
Such is the relationship of the true, eternal Israel of God to the nations of the earth. Such is the Kingdom of God that has been proclaimed and soon is coming to the earth.
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being [soul]"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man . (I Corinthians 15:45-49)
If there is a more amazing statement in the Scriptures, I do not know what it would be.
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