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Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (Romans 8:12) |
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What Paul is presenting in the above verse is as follows: because our body is dead because of sin and our inward nature is the location of our righteousness, we are not obligated to follow the desires of the flesh. |
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Here is a major concept. How often we hear people say, "As long as we are in the world we have to sin; no one's perfect; when we get to Heaven we won't sin"; and so forth. |
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I don't see Paul presenting this kind of negative gospel. I guess life knocks the idealism out of people, even out of Christians. Perhaps because of the long, wearying struggle against sin they come to the conclusion they might as well resign themselves to the fact they can't kill Goliath. |
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But it often is the case they are deeply involved in the world. They are not carrying their cross after Jesus. They do not realize our purpose in life is not solely to eat, drink, play, work, and reproduce. They are not only in the world but are of the world even though they are Christians and attend church. |
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There is this prevailing idea about going to Heaven being the solution to our urge to sin. "When I get to Heaven I won't sin any more. So I'll try to be as good as I can so God will accept me. Then I won't have to worry about sin." |
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A recent (March, 1997) poll asked American people if they thought they would go to Heaven when they die. More than half felt certain they will go to Heaven. This may be true. Let us hope so. |
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But going to Heaven is not the issue. The issue is, "Who will deliver me from my sinful body?" No passage of Scripture of which I am aware reveals that going to Heaven will meet Paul's need. (If you know of one please E-mail it to me. Thanks.) |
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In fact, the phrase "going to Heaven" does not appear in the King James New Testament. |
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No, dying and going to Heaven does not release us from the dilemma of our sinful actions being accused by the Law of Moses. The answer, and the only answer, is the redeeming of our mortal body by the infusion of the Life of the Father. We are eligible for infusion by the Life of the Father only as we cease to walk in the desires of the flesh and mind and think, speak, and act in the Spirit of God. The blood of Jesus meanwhile keeps us from condemnation. |
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We do not owe our death-doomed flesh anything that we should obey its desires. Living according to our fleshly desires leads only to corruption and spiritual death. The body is dead in sin and obedience to its passions and appetites results in sin and spiritual death, exactly as Paul has told us in the sixth chapter of Romans. |
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But keeping the body in control by the power of the Spirit of God, and following the Spirit in prayer, reading the Scriptures, and in whatever service God asks of us results in a continual increase of the Spirit of God in us as well as the forming of Christ in us. This is eternal life and the Kingdom of God. This is salvation. |
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The final product will be total deliverance from the sinful body and the fullness of incorruptible, eternal resurrection life in spirit, soul, and body. |
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What do you say? Do you want to go along? |
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For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13) |
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Here is a major step in the program of resolving our dilemma the problem of the spiritual mind that chooses to obey God and the sinful flesh that is in rebellion against God. We are to follow the Holy Spirit in putting to death the actions of our body, keeping in mind that this is how we prepare ourselves for the release of our mortal body from the chains of sin. |
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If we continue in the deeds of the flesh we will not be available for the release of our body when the Lord returns. |
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What are the actions of our body? |
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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. (Galatians 5:19-21) |
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Here is a devil's brew if there ever was one: fornication, immorality, uncleanness, impurity, debauchery, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, witchcraft, |
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hatred, discord, strife, jealousy, outbursts of rage, disputes, dissensions, factions, envy, murder, carousing, orgies, and all such behavior. |
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This sounds like the American way of life including the way of life in the churches. This is because the Americans in the churches are living in the flesh and so they behave like all good Americans. |
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How are we to put fornication, moral filthiness, sexual excesses, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, to death through the Spirit? For if we practice these we will not inherit the Kingdom of God. We will slay our own resurrection. |
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When you feel lust, covetousness, anger, the spirit of argument, come up in you, you have a choice. You can give in to it or you can put it to death through the Spirit. To put it to death through the Spirit you confess it to God as sin and turn away from it, asking God to help you. |
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If this doesn't work confess the urge to a mature Christian of the same sex as yourself, or your husband or wife, and have them pray with you as you pray. You have to be the one to kick the sin out, with the help of the Lord Jesus. |
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If this still doesn't work, go to the elders of your church. Have them bind the urge in the name of the Lord Jesus and cast it out. |
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You will get deliverance. Your deliverance will stick provided you live as a disciple of Jesus. |
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If you do not live as a disciple of Jesus the spirit will return and bring seven devils worse than itself. |
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We have been practicing moral deliverance for nearly fifty years and have gained a few pointers. If you will do as we have outlined here you will most likely get deliverance. However it is best if you are under the care of a pastor and godly elders so they can supervise what you are doing. |
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It is very difficult to be a lone ranger these days. To obtain and maintain moral deliverance is an effective but tricky business. You need all the support you can get. This is, in fact, the doctrine of eternal judgment mentioned in the sixth chapter of the Book of Hebrews. |
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The Lord Jesus is moving today in moral deliverance. There is great power available for every believer who will confess his or her sins and turn away from them. |
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For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14) |
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Who are the sons of God? Those who are led by the Spirit of God in every aspect of life. It takes a while to grow from a child of God to a son of God. |
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What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? It means to walk in the prophetic milieu. |
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What does it mean to walk in the prophetic milieu? It means to remain in a prayerful state at all times, being aware of the will of God, speaking in tongues often if you are given to that sort of thing. |
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To the young Christian such an environment may seem impossible to attain. Not at all! We attain the prophetic milieu a little bit at a time. We just take every opportunity to bring our mind back to God and Jesus at each point of the day and night. |
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It is good to have a phrase or word that we can repeat because our mind runs off in so many directions, like a tree full of birds when a shotgun goes off. We have to keep corralling our thoughts or soon we are dwelling on dreads, worries, lusts, daydreams of some kind all sorts of baggage that go nowhere. |
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I like to say or think, "God, cause your perfect will to be done." I may say this over and over during the day and at night. It is so hard sometimes to keep your thoughts on profitable areas that a sentence such as the above helps. |
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When your head gets full of mush you can just say, "God, help!" |
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All of this may sound weird or impossible to you, but it is very practical and soon becomes a way of living. |
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You don't get there all at once. But the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. God wants all men to live in the prophetic milieu, and in the world to come all saved people will. |
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There are only two ways in which you can live. One is in the flesh. The other is in the Spirit. |
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But how does this resolve the problem of "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death"? |
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You will notice that the preceding verse says, "If you through the Spirit put to death the deeds of your body you will live." And then, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The sons of God are led by the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body. If you are a son of God you will continually be putting to death the deeds of your body through means of the wisdom and strength of the Spirit of God. This is why the two verses are together. |
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As you put the fornication, murder, drunkenness, jealousy, dissension to death by the power of the Spirit you are preparing yourself for the coming of the Lord. When the Lord comes He, having seen your faithfulness in overcoming the works of the flesh, will remove the sinful nature itself from your personality every possible trace of worldliness, lust, and self-seeking. Then He will clothe you with the body from Heaven that has been formed by your faithfulness in putting to death the deeds of your body. |
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To be a son of God you must be born of woman, born of the Spirit, and then raised from the dead. Your inward nature must be born of God. Your outward nature must be adopted by the Lord. |
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For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: |
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(Romans 8:15,16) |
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Paul is thinking back to the Law of Moses, terming it "the spirit of bondage." If one is to understand the Epistles of Paul he must keep in mind that Paul always is viewing his doctrine against the backdrop of the Law of Moses. Evangelical doctrine has an erroneous base because it interprets Paul as contrasting Divine grace and righteous behavior whereas in actuality he is contrasting Divine grace and the Law of Moses. This single error has given rise to an incorrect understanding of the new covenant. |
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One big advantage of the new covenant is that we do not have to approach God fearfully because of the guilt of our sins. We have no condemnation because the blood of the righteous Jesus has atoned for our sin. What a relief this must have been to Paul! |
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But what is this about "adoption"? I thought we actually had been born of God. |
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We indeed have been born of God. Our new inward nature has been born of God. |
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Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13) |
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Christ has been born in us, and this is not a figure of speech. |
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Our body, however, has not been born of God but of woman. Our body must be adopted. Part of us has been born of God and part must be adopted. |
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It is true we have a new body in Heaven, a robe of righteousness being cleansed and fashioned according to our behavior on earth. Our present body is being sown into death so that our new body may have its rise before the throne of God. |
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Nevertheless our present body will be adopted, if we are faithful. It will be raised from the dead and then clothed with the new body. If our present body were not to be raised from the dead, then there would be no resurrection. |
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Man is spirit, soul, and body. Every aspect of man is redeemed in the program of salvation. Every aspect shall be glorified. |
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Our spirit becomes one with the Holy Spirit of God. |
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Our natural inward nature is crucified by being delivered to death continually. In its place is a new creation being formed from the Divine Nature of Christ. |
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Our sinful flesh keeps attempting to express its own desires. It is up to us to make the flesh obey the commandments of the Apostles. We do this with God's help and must pray continually for wisdom and strength. |
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While all of this struggle is taking place we have the comfort of knowing that God is our Father by birth and by adoption. We can call Him "Daddy" and He loves it! |
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We Christians have the witness in ourselves that we are God's children. It seems from Paul's statements that he did not have that sense of being God's child while he was under the Law of Moses. |
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It probably is true that our ability to go past the Mercy Seat to the very Throne of God and call God "Daddy" are awesome privileges we little appreciate because we never have served God under the Law; we never have stood trembling in fear as the High Priest dared go past the veil on the Day of Atonement. |
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We are God's children and genuine brothers of Christ, although in early stages of infancy. |
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One time I asked some young children what they thought we would be like a million years from now. |
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A little girl answered in one word. |
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"God!" |
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And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:17) |
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If we truly are children of God then we are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ. |
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This concept is unbelievable in its scope. When your father dies he leaves you whatever wealth he has accumulated. How much wealth has God accumulated? |
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There is a somewhat deep thought here. Should I present it? I don't want people to become confused or get shunted off into a lagoon, there to paddle about going nowhere of importance. |
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Let's go for it. |
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Ordinarily you don't inherit an estate until your parents die. Has God died that His heirs should possess His wealth? |
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This is how it works, I believe. God has died in the sense He has chosen to appear to us in Jesus Christ and has entrusted all His wealth to Christ. It is His love that prompts such an endowment and His joy to give it. |
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Now Christ has chosen to appear to the world in us and has entrusted His wealth to us. It is His love that prompts such an endowment and His joy to give it. |
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God and Christ are still alive in their Own right but they have transferred their life in the sense we have described. |
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To inherit the all things of God is to receive the totality of the universe. Truly the sons of God are destined to rule all the works of God's hands. |
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But as always there is a condition. |
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Revelation informs us that it is he who overcomes who will inherit the all things of God and will be referred to as God's son. The defeated believer has no such hope. |
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If it were true, as taught currently, that all believers are overcomers by virtue of believing in Christ, then Revelation, Chapters Two and Three would make no sense whatever. Let us cease this foolishness for we are leading multitudes of believers astray with our people-pleasing notions! |
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Again we have the condition expressed in Romans 8:17: "If so be that we suffer with him." |
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We must share the sufferings of Christ if we expect to be glorified together with Christ. The sufferings of Christ include long imprisonments while our most fervent desires are withheld and we are compelled to remain in detestable situations. It is here, in the prisons of God, that we gain the crown of life. |
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There is no other way than the way of suffering denial of our desires. Numerous Christians escape from God's prisons by breaking God's laws. They believe God wants them to be happy and so they see to it that they get what they want. The result is they sin against God, compromise their integrity, and betray those who are trusting in them. |
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To receive the inheritance of a son of God is to acquire authority, power, and wealth not equaled by any earthly emperor of history. The stakes are as high as Heaven above. |
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As always is true of things of great value there is a great price tag. God is ready to bequeath to you everything He owns. But He demands in return everything you own. |
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In the day you can say to God, "All I have is yours," in that day God will say to you, "All I have is yours." |
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In the Day of the revelation of Jesus Christ, God and His wealth will be revealed to the world through Christ. |
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In the Day of the revelation of Jesus Christ, Christ and His wealth will be revealed to the world through us. |
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Thus Christ and we shall be glorified together. |
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When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (II Thessalonians 1:10) |
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For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18) |
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At least one aspect has changed (we think) of the original Gospel of the Kingdom. The Gospel has become a means of enabling us to have a happier, more successful life now. |
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In the beginning it was not so. We can see from the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews that the Gospel is and always has been a hope for the future a hope for people who are counted as sheep for the slaughter. |
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"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." |
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The reason we have converted the Gospel is that we are rich, relatively speaking, and the rich have a difficult time entering the Kingdom of God. Riches are deceitful. |
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By means of riches we can imitate now what the afflicted peoples of history hoped to gain by dying. |
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Even the fabulously wealthy Abraham chose to live in tents because of his vision of the new Jerusalem. |
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Moses, raised in the opulence of Pharaoh's court, chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasure of Pharaoh. He was looking for a reward in the future. |
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We may find that if we decide to seek Christ fervently we will encounter fairly severe trials. Instead of becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise we are surrounded by many troubles. |
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Don't panic. This is the way it is supposed to be. God is giving you a chance to prove yourself worthy of the Kingdom, the same Kingdom entered by the saints killed in the amphitheaters of ancient Rome. |
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But there is absolutely nothing that can happen to you that is worthy to be compared with the Glory of almighty God that is to be revealed to the world through us. |
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We do not realize it but this present world is an absolutely miserable place to be. We humans cling to our rags. The ambassadors of the King of kings come to our hovel, our converted chicken coop, ignore the pigs and chickens rooting in the yard, brave the dirt and smells, roll out the purple rug, and invite us to come to the Palace. |
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We look around at our impoverished, animal surroundings, our tarpaper shack, our garbage heap, and contemplate whether we should abandon this splendor. |
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You say, "But I have a nice home and yard in a beautiful neighborhood." |
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Compared with what is being offered you, you are in the most squalid of slums. |
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Of course you will be tested by various sufferings. God doesn't want self-centered, conceited, lazy, good-for- nothings in His Palace. Your character will be examined again and again to see if you are worthy of the Kingdom. |
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Don't be so stupid as to return to your squalor, like the dwarfs in Lewis' The Last Battle. |
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So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (II Thessalonians 1:4,5) |
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For the earnest expectation of the creature [creation] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19) |
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Notice the expression "the manifestation of the sons of God." |
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I want to pause right here for station identification. I am sick of reading about what is wrong with the "latter rain," William Branham, and the "manifestation of the sons of God." |
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These criticisms are written by people who apparently rejoice in straining out gnats and swallowing camels. |
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Why do you think people get into these errors, falling on the sacrifice and eating the blood, to borrow an Old Testament figure? It is because they are spiritually starved! |
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Why are they spiritually starved? Because they are being fed lawless grace and the rapture. Lawless grace and the rapture are not food for the sheep. Consequently they look around for something for their souls. This is why they get into "the manifestation of the sons of God," imaging, faith in faith, all Christians should be rich, and reconstructionism. |
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I'm beginning to sound like "God's answer man" and I don't want anything like that to happen to me. Please pray for me. |
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Let me reminisce a little. Audrey and I know something about the latter rain and William Branham. We have been in Branham's meetings. I know he got off. Maybe you and I would too if an eight-foot angel appeared to us. The glory in his early meetings beat anything you ever experienced. Brother Leroy Cloud, a respected Assembly of God pastor, said you could hardly sit in the same car with Branham because of the Presence of God. |
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So let's have done with discrediting Brother Branham. He had what may have been the greatest gift of healing of the twentieth century. |
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As far as the latter rain, when the Hawtin party first came down from North Battleford the Glory of God was at least four feet deep on the church floor. Maybe they too got off, but in the beginning the Presence of God was marvelous. |
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At that time people began to talk about the manifestation of the sons of God. I (as green as grass) stood up and said the manifestation of the sons of God is not for today but has to do with the coming of the Lord. I still hold to this view. |
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Sure there was error in the latter rain, in early Pentecost, and in every other revival except those held by God's answer men. |
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When the rain comes down it brings up more than flowers. |
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We knew Brother Frodsham, for many years the editor of the Pentecostal Evangel. He was put out of the Assemblies for endorsing the latter rain movement. Frodsham, an authority on early Pentecost, recognized the latter-rain movement as that which occurred in the early days of Pentecost. Imagine! The hue and cry was over laying on of hands and prophecy a common practice now. |
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Audrey and I knew other pioneers also, such as E. E. Fullerton and J. O. Dowell. Like the rest of us these men had as many problems as a dog has fleas. But if you looked at them kind of sideways you could see the Glory of God. Somehow God doesn't wait for perfect people to appear in order to get His work done. |
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To be continued. |
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