Category: flesh-walking

Order My Steps #8

Friday, July 22, 2022

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:133 KJV).

May we share the Psalmist’s wish!

Brethren, our Heavenly Father has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). “Ye are complete [lacking nothing] in [Christ]” (Colossians 2:10a). All we truly need, we permanently have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Four necessities given us in Christ are defined in 1 Corinthians 1:30,31: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

Firstly, we need spiritual wisdom, the ability to correctly apply spiritual truths to life. Jesus is our spiritual wisdom. Secondly, we need righteousness, a right standing before God. Christ is our righteousness. Thirdly, we need sanctification, separation unto Father God’s will. Jesus is our sanctification. Finally, we need redemption, a buying back from sin’s dominion. Christ is our redemption. God’s instructions to us are simple: Walk according to the people we already are in Christ!

After three chapters presenting our wealth in Christ, the Holy Spirit through Paul opens the final three chapters of Ephesians concerning our walk: “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,…” (Ephesians 4:1). “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:…” (Ephesians 5:8). After concentrating on our wealth in Christ for two chapters, the second half of Colossians begins with our walk: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above [in heaven], where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:…” (Colossians 3:10).

Paying attention to the Holy Spirit’s words through Paul, we enjoy victorious Christian living. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh [sin]…. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law…. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16,18,25). Here is Romans chapter 8….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How are the LORD God and His works ‘terrible?’”

Order My Steps #7

Thursday, July 21, 2022

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:133 KJV).

May we share the Psalmist’s wish!

The Lord ordered the Apostle Paul’s steps in this the Dispensation of the Grace of God. “Paul, here in Romans chapters 1–6 are the principles of grace for victorious Christian living as a member of the Church the Body of Christ.” However, by the time of chapter 7, Paul personally struggled to overcome his sinful flesh like us all. Why?

Remember, before he was the Apostle Paul, he was Saul of Tarsus. Having been born and raised in the Dispensation of Law as a strict works-religion Pharisee (Acts 23:6; Acts 26:4,5; Philippians 3:3-7), a great deal of Paul’s life as a saint was spent trying to stop thinking like a legalistic lost person. Being Scriptural was not enough, for the Law of Moses (Scripture!) was no longer in effect. God was doing something different—the Dispensation of Grace. To fall back on prior Divine revelation was to fight against the Lord’s current work. We must be Scriptural and dispensational. Since Paul reverted to the Law system, he wound up in the pitiful, miserable condition of Romans 7:24: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Like many poor souls under the heavy hand of works-religion today, Paul was utterly defeated, troubled, and unhappy. His Christian life was nonfunctional.

Consider the Galatian saints, and the Bible Book that bears their name. They too grew up in works-religion—albeit heathenism or pagan idolatry. Paul visited them and shared the Gospel of Grace with them. They passed from death to life by trusting Jesus’ finished crosswork. Alas, legalistic teachers subsequently misled them, necessitating Paul’s epistle to them. “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” (Galatians 4:9). They too had strayed from the path of grace, returned to works-religion, and become entrapped and depressed! “Where is then the blessedness [happiness, joy] ye spake of?” (Galatians 4:15a).

Whether Paul, or the Galatians, or even us, remembering our identity in Christ is the key to successful Christian living….

Order My Steps #6

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:133 KJV).

May we share the Psalmist’s wish!

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). As a slave is purchased out of a marketplace, so Jesus Christ’s shed blood paid for our release from being “in Adam” (sin’s authority). As believers—people in Christ—we do not have to sin!

When we sin, it is because we have reverted to our old (lost/natural man) thinking patterns (Romans chapter 7!). We believe we are still in Adam, dead in trespasses and sins (which we are not). “I beseech [ask, beg] you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice [who we are in Christ!], holy [who we are in Christ!], acceptable unto God [who we are in Christ!], which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2).

The basic principles of grace living, Romans chapters 1–8, correct our erroneous mindset. We begin thinking like the people we are (saints), and we cease thinking like the people we are not (sinners). If we Christians do not have a clear understanding of these Bible truths, it is the equivalent of lost people with no Bible whatsoever. Since spiritual ignorance often prevails, even among professing believers, Christians typically resemble non-Christians.

Instead of “I must do good works to receive God’s blessings” (Law, works-religion), the Christian life is “I have already received God’s blessings in Christ, and good works flow from that position” (grace living!). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). “Hath blessed” is the present perfect tense. God blessed us in Christ (past tense) the moment we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, and the results impact us right now (presently)….

Order My Steps #5

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:133 KJV).

May we share the Psalmist’s wish!

Saints, not only have we died with Christ, we have resurrected with Him (Romans 6:1-10). “Likewise reckon [think, believe it to be true!] ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (verse 11). In Christ, we are dead to sin: the Adamic nature, as far as God is concerned, is powerless over us. So then, why do we sin as believers in Christ? The Bible has already answered that question.

The Apostle Paul’s Christian life died—this is functional death, separation from being active—in Romans chapter 7. “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me” (verses 9-11). Paul tried so hard to live the Christian life—but failed miserably! Where there should have been victory over sin, there was just the opposite. His sin nature, his Adamic nature, constantly overcame him. Two billion church members in Christendom needlessly struggle with that dilemma even now. Like Paul, they have ignored the truths laid out in chapter 6!

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for [because] you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Our flesh, Adamic nature, or sin nature, likes to boast, so it gravitates toward religious works. We deceive ourselves—yea, sin deceives us—into thinking we can manage sin. Even today, it is claimed: “I can keep the commandments of God. Give me rules and regulations to obey and I will copy the life of Jesus Christ.” This is precisely Israel’s faulty reasoning at Mount Sinai. They supposed they could perform in religion to make themselves God’s kingdom of priests (see Exodus 19:3-8, especially verse 8). God ultimately gave them the Law to point out their need for the Saviour, though (like today!) most never actually learned that lesson. Currently, however, God has us under the Dispensation of Grace, that the Law not be an occasion for our flesh to master us….

Order My Steps #4

Monday, July 18, 2022

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:133 KJV).

May we share the Psalmist’s wish!

The Law system has no (!) power to stop sin. It can only (!) indicate our sin, thereby teaching us we need a Saviour: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [teacher] to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;…” (1 Timothy 1:8-10).

When we Christians use the Law system for daily living, we are treading on destructive, deadly mines! Romans 7:4-11: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence [lust, desire]. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”

Grace, not law, teaches us how to live….

Liberated to Serve

Monday, July 4, 2022

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13 KJV).

Today, as we in the United States celebrate the 246th anniversary of our nation’s independence, we invite our Christian brethren worldwide to rejoice with us concerning our freedom in Jesus Christ.

When we proclaim Romans 6:14—“Ye are not under the law, but under grace”—people tend to assume “loose living.” Does “grace living” really mean we can now live any way we want? Lest anyone be misled in that regard, God the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to write in the next verse, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid [May God never let that happen!]” (Romans 6:15). Grace living is not Law-keeping, but it certainly is not Law-breaking either.

God still cares how we live, albeit He is not operating the “weak and beggarly” system of “bondage” (Law) that He once did with Israel (Galatians 4:9). God proved to the entire world that since Israel could not keep His commandments perfectly, no other sons of Adam (the Gentiles) could either: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them [Israel] who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world [Gentiles] may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).

We sinners cannot keep the Law. However, God in His grace provided us a way to escape that condemnation by sending Jesus Christ to offer Himself on Calvary’s cruel cross to pay for our sins. By simple faith in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the fully-satisfying payment for our sins, we can now be “made the righteousness of God in [Christ]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can be delivered from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire) and the power of sin (flesh-walking).

Why are we Christians free? To selfishly live any way we want? NO! Today’s Scripture says we are liberated to now serve others, especially our Christian brethren, just as Jesus Christ selflessly served His Father and selflessly died on our behalf. That is grace living!!!!

Please see our 2011 Fourth of July Bible study “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land,” which can be watched here or read here.

One Letter Makes All the Difference

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

“For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead” (1 Peter 4:3-5 KJV).

While two letters distinguish “believer” from “unbeliever,” there is (in another sense) only one letter that makes all the difference between them.

The Apostle Peter, writing to the believing remnant within his Jewish nation, reminds them of their old lifestyle and identity. Having “lived it up” in sin as lost or unsaved souls, they have since trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. Essentially, the Holy Spirit instructed them in today’s Scripture (paraphrased): “You have had your fill of evil, living like the pagan Gentiles, walking in looseness and carnality, evil desires, drunkenness, partying and socializing with the alcoholic idolaters, gluttonous feasts, and terrible or disgusting occasions of worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator. Now that you have come to faith in Christ, it is high time you live according to the will of God!”

Verses 1 and 2: “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” Yes, their unsaved family and friends will view them as “weird” or “crazy” for abandoning their old lifestyle and conduct (today’s Scripture)—but God will think it proper, and these saints with their renewed mind will see it suitable too (1 John 2:15-17). Dear Christian friends, our Apostle Paul concurs in Romans 13:11-14!

Therefore, a new Christian told her unsaved friend who could not understand how her lifestyle had changed so radically: “Just one letter of the alphabet makes all the difference between us now. You love the world and I love the Word!” 🙂

Downward, Not Upward!

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Romans 1:20-23 KJV).

Are we ascending the evolutionary ladder? No, and our experience shows us today’s Scripture is as true as ever.

Younger generations have been—and are still being—indoctrinated with the idea that mankind is becoming more “enlightened” as the years pass. We are allegedly moving away from the “primitive ignorance” of our ancestors to an increasingly “refined” outlook that will result in a perfect society. Humanism, also called “secular humanism,” is the belief that man’s thoughts and efforts are superior to the will of any “god,” and utopia will transpire only when we put forth the effort.

Supposedly, all we need to do is control our sin, and the world will become a happy, peaceful place. Post-Millennialists, for example, assume they can bring in God’s kingdom on Earth—and do it without God too! Confiscate all weapons, and war will cease. Pass enough legislation, and criminals will behave. Experiment adequately, and we will eliminate all disease. “We do not need any god! We can be good on our own! We can solve our problems without any ‘higher power!’” This is self-deception. Some 6,000 years of human history reveal we have yet to “be good”—and none of us can truthfully say we can manage sin individually, let alone address the world’s sins collectively. How can we ever admit this, though? In denial, we just strive a bit harder as we plead for another chance.

If ever our species was languishing in spiritual darkness, it is today, so, Saints, let us get out there and impart “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” so it can “shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3,4)! There is no victory over sin if there is no life of Jesus Christ.

*Dear readers, only by God’s grace, we now close 11 full years of daily studies here at “333 Words of Grace!”

Our two latest Bible Q&As: “What are ‘collops?’” and “What is a ‘servitor?’”

Labour for the More Important Meat #5

Thursday, May 26, 2022

“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:26,27 KJV).

Where is our interest—in “the meat which perisheth” or in “that meat which endureth unto everlasting life?”

Dear friends, though spoken and written 20 centuries ago, today’s Scripture is not “dead history.” It is just as true then as it is now. Human nature has not changed one whit. The God of the Bible is still treated like He is “Santa Claus.” Multimillions beg Him for a promotion or bonus at work, a larger home, a spouse and kids, a new vehicle, a safe journey, a miracle healing, and countless other temporary material blessings.

How many of these precious souls have ever stopped to think these sobering words?! “My, oh my, how I fear that I am dead in my trespasses and sins, and, having offended the holy, righteous Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, I am on my way to an everlasting Devil’s Hell! I had better look to Jesus Christ and believe on Him, lest my eternal soul be lost forever! He can supply me with eternal life, something infinitesimally more important than all these lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eye, and the pride of life!”

Indeed, we should not reduce the mighty God of the Bible to a mere genie in a bottle—even if countless “Christians” have already done it and still do it. The greatest work the Lord Jesus Christ could ever do for us, the most valuable gift He could ever give us, He gave it (His very life!) 2,000 years ago. He died for our sins, shedding His sinless blood, He was buried, and He resurrected victoriously on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). We need to trust Him alone as our personal Saviour, before it is eternally too late. In the grand scheme of things, nothing in this world really matters—so, why do we act like it does?

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Can you explain ‘reel to and fro’ in Isaiah 24:20?”

Labour for the More Important Meat #4

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:26,27 KJV).

Where is our interest—in “the meat which perisheth” or in “that meat which endureth unto everlasting life?”

Our five senses allow us to experience the natural world in which we live, so we are frequently pressured to pay attention only to what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Nevertheless, through the eyes of faith, we appreciate the fact that this world is passing away—a fleeting arrangement of time and space.

The Apostle John advised Israel’s Little Flock undergoing the difficulties due to the Antichrist’s brutal regime and satanic religion: “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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).

In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, the Apostle Paul recommended: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Relentlessly hanging on to the material world and its pleasures is to ignore their short-lived status (see today’s Scripture). Far better it is to seek to obtain spiritual truth, that which will span the endless ages of eternity future….