Sin Shall Not Have Dominion Over You

 

'Christ's life is an eternal life. He voluntarily went under the dominion of death. By doing this He demonstrated His power over death. He went down into the grave to show that right there, while bound by the chains of the prison house of the grave itself, He had power to burst those fetters asunder and come forth free and a conqueror. 

Therefore since He dies no more and we take that sinless life of His, then we can reckon ourselves dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As death can have no dominion over Him, so sin, which is the sting of death, can have no dominion over us.

A questioner may say, "You make it out that we ought never to sin any more--you leave no room for sin." But is not that what the Bible says? "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Rom_6:14 

We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. How? By death, we make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. There is such a thing as a complete surrender to Christ--when we give up everything and then trust to His power to keep us in that state. And I thank God that He is able to do it.

Men start out on dangerous expeditions--some to conquer a country and when they reach that land, they burn the boats they came in so they cannot go back if they desired to. It is right for us to count well the cost. There is no use to make a headlong plunge into the battle. Look over the whole ground. Here is this pleasure and that indulgence. Can I give them up? They have been very dear to me; they have become entwined around my very life itself. They are identified with me, so that they show themselves in my very countenance; they are imbedded in my very character and are a part of myself. I have clung to them as I have clung to life itself. But Christ was not in them; they do not savor of the life of Christ at all. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. Can I, for the sake of sharing that joy, endure that cross? Can I give up the pleasures of sin for a season in order to share the riches of Christ and the joy of His salvation? These are the questions we must ask ourselves.

Look up and place your eyes on Christ and the joy of present salvation. They form the opposite side of the picture. There is the joy of having an infinite power working in us. For that joy which we can have now are we willing to give up everything and to become sharers of the sufferings of Christ and to be made partakers of His death and the power of His resurrection? This is a joy that will last forever, so let us burn the boats and the bridges behind us! Can we give up all these things that have been so dear to us; can we give them up forever? That is the hard part.

Says one, "I have tried to give up these things before, and I have fallen again; now how do I know but what I shall fall again?" Ah, no, you are not making a new resolution this time; you are not turning over a new leaf and saying that you are going to do better. You are merely letting the old life and all the resolutions go. Simply say, "I know that there is power in God. And that same power which spoke the world into existence, that same power which brought Christ forth from the tomb--into the hands of that power I will yield myself and let it sustain and keep me in the new life." And day by day as we do that, our hearts will go out in thankfulness to God for His wonderful power.

It is not ours to make provision for the flesh in the lusts thereof, but we must step out and take hold of the life of Christ and feel that the power of God is working in us. When we feel that power working--that miracle which is wrought in us--the temptations to which we have yielded so often, the sinful practices to which we have given way, will be overcome and we will rise superior to them. Then we can go out into the world, in the power of Christ and carry the message as we never have done before.

How is it that we will have more power? Because we know that if God can work that miracle for us, He can do it for anyone. 

Our work from a human standpoint is an impossible one; difficulties arise on every hand. But we have a knowledge of what the power of God can do, and therefore go forth in faith that He who can cast down imaginations 2Co_10:5  in our hearts and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and can bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ can do that same work for others, since He has done it for us. It was that same power which caused the walls of Jericho to fall down before the people of God. I am so thankful that the God who has called us to be His servants is a God of infinite power. Take hold of that power and prove it for yourselves.

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." "Likewise"--Like what? Like as Christ was raised from the dead to be dead no more, so likewise reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin to sin no more. Is that true? Note it carefully--that sin shall have no more dominion over you. That is what the Bible says. We are no longer under the law but under grace. We are no longer under condemnation, but the grace of God resteth upon us. The spirit of glory and of grace is present with us.'

1891 G.C. Sermons #10  E.J. Waggoner 

We Die With Christ.

 

'What a precious thought it is that our lives are not our own. We have but the life of Christ. It is this thought that makes a man triumph even in death. Why? The sting of death is gone! Death does not sting the righteous man, because he is freed from sin.

 

It was the knowledge of this that enabled the martyrs like Jerome and Huss to go to the stake, singing songs of triumph and victory. "Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

 

Our lives are hid with Christ in God, so that we fear not the power of wicked men or of the devil himself. When we have given ourselves to Christ and our life is hid with Him, what matters it whether this life be cut off soon or not? We walk with Christ and He controls our lives. Wicked men or devils can no more touch our life than they could hold Christ in the grave.

 

Col_3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

 

Oh, that we might feel the power of that life and know that we are His!

 

When we do get it, the power of God will accompany the message, as we go forth bearing it. What difference if men bring reproaches on us--we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God, and the life we live, we live in Him and through faith in Him.

 

This is the power of the gospel and the hope that makes the Christian triumph even in death. It is the hope of the resurrection, for when the man is called to lie down and sleep, he sleeps in Jesus. His life is just as sure and even surer then, than if he were alive upon the earth. His probation is sealed; he has fought a good fight; he has finished his course and kept the faith. Well might the apostle say that he did not sorrow for those who slept, as for those who had no hope.

 

When the church of God and the ministers of God have died indeed, giving up everything that has pertained to their own life, then they will belong to Christ in deed and in truth. If Christ is willing to intrust us with some of these things; if we are to be spared on earth for awhile, it is all right. If on the other hand He thinks best to take us away, that is all right too. Whether sleeping in the grave or working for the Master on the earth, matters not, for it is Christ all the time.

 

When we get hold of these ideas and make them ours and we may have them as soon as we please, they are precious to us. Having counted the cost of giving up all those things that have been dear to us, if we are prepared to count them all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, then we can yield ourselves wholly to Christ. Just as soon as we are willing to count the cost and to let ourselves be crucified with Christ, by giving up the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and all those things which have pertained to our old life, making no provision for the flesh, then the power of Christ comes upon us. But we are living yet on earth! Yes, but we have given up our life and all there is to us is Christ working in us.

 

The very moment that a man denies everything pertaining to the flesh, that very moment he can say that Christ is his, and that he has the life of Christ. How does he know it? Through faith in the operation of Him that raised Christ from the dead!

"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him." '

 

(Excerpt - GC Sermons 1891 E.J. Waggoner #10)

We Must Die.

 We must die.

 

There are various deaths we must consider.

 

When God told Adam and Eve if they ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree then they would die, did they breath no more upon that first bite? Did their hearts stop beating in that moment? No and no. Death was promised to be the result of their action and it was, it just was not instantaneous.

 

There is the first death and the second death.

 

Rev_2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

 

Rev_20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

Rev_20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

 

Rev_21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

 

The first death is the death millions and millions of people have experienced over the last six thousand or so years. The first death is the death that those you have known and loved and are no longer with us have experienced. This death sleep is a reality, but the resurrection promised by Christ when the last trump sounds and Christ returns is equally a reality. The dead in Christ will rise then.

 

1Th_4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first

 

From Adam to the very last person that dies in Christ, with Christ as their Savior- they will all rise from their graves to meet Christ in the air.

 

Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 

Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 

 

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 

 

Act 2:34  For David is not ascended into the heavens

 

The patriarch, the second king of Israel, David died long before the Apostles were born and we know truthfully that He was NOT in heaven yet. There was the promise of heaven for him just like the promise exists for us.

 

There is yet another death we must consider.

 

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily

 

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 

 

2Co 11:23  Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 

 

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 

 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 

*******

 

We must die to self as we choose to live for Christ. Our lives truly are forfeit because we have no power to save ourselves. There is nothing we can do to give ourselves eternal life, we have to choose Jesus Christ so HE can give eternal life to us.

 

********  (Excerpt)

 

Says Paul in Galatians 3:27, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." In Romans he says, "As many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death." But if we died with Christ we are bound and certain to live again, for Christ is alive. Here we can forcibly apply the words of Peter in Acts 2:24: "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." It was utterly impossible that death should hold Christ.

 

Therefore if we died with Him and in our death are united with Him, we shall also live with Him. The great thought around which the whole Bible clusters is death and resurrection with Christ.

 

If we die with Him, we shall live again.

 

We die with Him--when? Now!

 

When we acknowledge our life forfeited and give up all claims to that life and everything that is connected with it, that very moment we die with Christ.

 

Now what is this giving up of our life? Life stands for everything that a man has. It stands for everything that pertains to life. What is it, then, that pertains to the life that we naturally have in ourselves? It is sin! It is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It is envy, malice, evil speaking, evil thinking--all these things make up the natural life, because we see that every man that has the natural life has these things. They are a part of his life. They enter into the life of every man on earth.

 

When we come to that place where we see that we have those things and are ready to give them up and pay the forfeit, then it is that we can die with Christ and take His sinless life in their stead.

 

In yielding up that life of ours, we give up all these things, and when they are all given up, then we are dead with Christ.

 

But just as surely as we give them up and die with Christ, just so surely must we be raised again, for Christ is risen, and we then walk in newness of life.

 

That new life--that newness of life which we have, is the life of Christ, and it is a sinless life. Knowing this, "that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we might not serve sin."

 

Here is the secret of all missionary effort. When a man comes to the point where in very deed he reckons that he has no life of his own and he gives up the forfeited life which he did have in his possession and the life he lives in the flesh he lives by faith in the Son of God; then Christ is his life, and his life is "hid with Christ in God." He has been raised to newness of life by faith in the operation of God. What can that man fear of what man can do to him? What will he fear of what man will say of him? He will say to himself, It is not I, but Christ that liveth in me.

 

What will it matter to him if he is called to go to an unhealthful locality? His life has already been yielded up, so that death has no terrors for him. He goes willingly, "not taking his life in his hand," but leaving it in the keeping of Christ in God. If Christ, in whom his life is hid, wishes to allow him to sleep for awhile, it is all right. Moreover he is not discouraged by difficulties in the work to which Christ has assigned him, for he has practical knowledge of the power of Christ and he knows that He who cast down the high things that had exalted themselves in his own heart against Christ is able to subdue all things unto Himself. The life that he lives is the life of Christ, provided only, that every moment of his life he yields himself and is as thoroughly consecrated as he was at the time he died.

 

It is necessary that we die continually and that we continually know the power of God and of the resurrection of Christ. For "we are saved by his life." We must know and experience the same power that God wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. We take that power--How? "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."

 

It is simply a matter of making the resurrection of Christ a practical thing in our own lives. It is simply believing that what God could do for Christ, as He lay in the grave, He can do for us. That power which brought Christ from the dead can keep us alive from the dead. If we have the life of Christ and it is working in us, it must do for us all that it did for Him when he was in Galilee and Judea

 

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! All through His love! His amazing love always!

I Will Never Be My Own Righteousness.

Christ knew no sin. Christ knew OF sin, but sinned not. Christ abhors sin to the uttermost. Christ willingly took on flesh with ALL its tendencies toward sin. Christ COULD be tempted to sin.  If there had been a hedge erected around Christ so that it was impossible for Him to sin, then Satan would NEVER have bothered to even try to tempt Him and he would have been crying foul very, very loudly. If Christ did NOT really sacrifice anything, if He came to earth protected in a way that we cannot be protected why bother coming here at all?  Christ was GOD put into flesh, OUR flesh. Christ never sinned but being born into sinful flesh, death was the penalty for that flesh.

 

Christ was not given supernatural access to God - access we are not allowed to possess. Just imagine how Satan would use any sort of super power to say Christ didn't prove anything. Christ proved human flesh was capable of being sinless beyond the inherited sin tendencies. Christ proved the possibility by His complete and full choice to rely upon God the Father for ALL things always.

 

We all know how various sports/contests and the like strive to make things as fair as possible during the events. We've outlawed strength enhancing drugs, we have many weight classes so that the fights are as fair as possible. We try not to give any one team/player unfair advantages over another so that the winning is warranted fairly not because another has a greater advantage over the other. No winner wants to win based on unfair advantages, no winner that has any self-respect that is. What good does it do to say I won that race when I was so much more muscled, and my body was pumped full of artificial strength? I would know I didn't win fairly, I cheated.

 

Christ could NOT cheat and earn us salvation it would NOT work that way, it couldn't work that way! He did NOT have unfair advantage, He did NOT have anything that we are not able to avail ourselves of because He did NOT cheat.

 

Let's get one thing straight before we continue- Christ did not come so we would be able to resist sin  ON OUR OWN.

 

Christ did NOT resist sin on His own. He kept connected to God the Father.

 

Where Adam and Eve chose to break the connection they had with God, and sinned, Christ never broke His connection with the Father.

 

Having kept His connection with the Father perfectly Christ still had to pay the penalty for sin- and He did that FOR US. Christ had to face what all who will face that are not forgiven and saved by Christ. Christ faced a complete cut off from His Father having done NOTHING to deserve such a horrific fate! The sacrifice was of such enormous impact we can scarcely even imagine it at all!  We live our lives able to choose to have Christ forever with us, never cut off from us, never. Christ cried out at the forsaking of Himself by the Father. We do not ever have to cry out the forsaking of ourselves by Christ not even when we face the first death. Christ is right there with us, with ALL His forever promises! We may suffer unimaginably but that suffering is not done alone. Christ had to go through His death suffering alone. Christ had the hope, the faith in the Father, but not the Father with Him at the very end. We have the hope in Christ, the faith in Christ, and Christ will never leave us, never forsake us, through HIS power we hold fast to the hope found only in HIM.   Paul could say though he faced death and torture often that it was joy to him because it was for Christ.

 

Christ went through the worst of the worst so He could fairly before universes unnumbered, before the Father in Heaven, before all angels- redeem sinful mankind. He paid the awful price necessary to pay in order to give us the hope of a life made new in HIM, a life that will know eternity with Him.

 

We suffer now, but we are never forsaken.

 

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 

Php 3:9  And be found in him, NOT HAVING MINE OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 

Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 

Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 

 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 

 

1Pe_2:19  For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

 

1Ti_4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

 

2Ti_1:12  For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

 

2Ti_2:9  Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

 

2Ti_2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us

 

2Ti_3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

 

Heb_11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season

 

1Pe_2:20  For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

 

1Pe_3:14  But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled

 

1Pe_3:17  For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

 

1Pe_4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

1Pe_4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

 

1Pe_4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

 

Rev_2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

 

How then are we to live…

 

By GRACE.

 

And GRACE will work in us as we avail ourselves of that grace. We seek to know God's will. We know the law that was transgressed and brought about sin, the same law that came with the hope of grace.  The perfect standard impossible for the imperfect to uphold revealing the need for a perfect Redeemer who would uphold the perfect standard.

 

The Redeemer who becomes our Redeemer and lives in us, works in us, fills our lives and in that presence we know of our imperfection and we rely upon Him to save us from those imperfections. As we fall short, we turn to Him for forgiveness. We never stop recognizing the perfect standard for what it will always be. We never excuse our short comings, we acknowledge them and in acknowledging them our remorse for our imperfection has us to cling ever tighter to our Redeemer, our hope. We are NOT our own hope! Christ is our hope, Christ is EVER our hope. 

 

I sin because I am a sinner. I desire NOT to sin because I know that any and all sin is a separating of me from God. I repent and seek forgiveness so I can be covered in the Righteousness of the One who sinned not, the Perfect One, Jesus Christ Our Savior. I rest in HIS righteousness, not at any time in my ability to seemingly overcome any sin. If I happen to stop sinning a particularly besetting sin it will only be by the power of Christ. I will have not stopped of my own accord. All the glory goes to Christ, all the glory goes to God! As I continue to sin under those sins that easily beset me, the almost deliberate sins I seemingly fear I'll never give up, I MUST keep within me the HOPE of their ultimate end as a part of my life! The battle rages on and my victory is found in CHRIST. I trust that every single sin that is a part of my life will ultimately be forsaken. I trust that all that separates me from God will be gone! I claim the blood of Jesus Christ, I have my filthy robes washed white in HIS blood! I trust in HIM. I BELIEVE in HIM. He helps my unbelief! He gives me the faith I need to have the faith! The Holy Spirit is promised to me now, to live in me to guide me along this wicked world's roads, protecting me!

 

CHRIST IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS! I am not and will never be my own righteousness!

Out of Love, God Show Us Our Sins.

 

(Excerpt - Sermon On Righteousness #9)

Continued…

"Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20)

The time of the entering in of the law was the time when it was spoken from Sinai. It entered that the offense, or sin, might abound. But where that sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

There was sin in the world before that law was proclaimed from Sinai.

Therefore the law was there before it was proclaimed from Sinai.

But God spoke it in that awful way and in those thunder tones from the mount for the purpose that sin might seem to be a greater sin. It was done that the people might see sin more as God saw it.

These things were written for our benefit. The speaking of that law in thunder tones with such a solemn scene of grandeur all around it is to have the same effect on us that it had on the children of Israel. We are to see the thunder clouds and the lightning and they are to strike terror into our hearts.

Still further: Whoever touched the mount was to die. What is meant by that? All that was intended to show the awfulness of the law. It was given in that way that the people might see the wonderful majesty that it had and that by it no man could get life. It was so great that no man could keep it.

Everything connected with its giving, conspired to show man that the only thing he could get by it was death.

It was so great, so inexpressibly great, that they never could reach to the heights of it. It was given in that way to show the people that there was only death and condemnation to them in it.

Then was not the law just given to put discouragement into the hearts of the people?

No. Go back to Abraham and we shall see what else was taught by the giving of the law. There was a promise to Abraham and to his righteous seed of a righteous inheritance. That promise was sworn to Abraham and to his seed by God Himself. God had pledged His own existence that there should be righteous men--men whose righteousness should be equal to the righteousness of the law. But here was the law in such awful majesty that there could be no righteousness gotten out of it. It was to be the sole standard. Now put two things together: The law is so holy in its claims that no man can get any righteousness out of it, as was shown in the giving of it; but God had sworn that there should be men who would have all the righteousness that it demands; therefore the very giving of the law served to show the people that there must be and was another way of getting that same righteousness.

So in giving the law, He was giving the gospel in thunder tones. Righteousness and peace dwell together in fullness in Christ. So in Him is life. Condemnation is in the law, but the law is in Christ, and in Christ is also life. In Christ we get the righteousness of the law by His life. The voice that declared the law from Sinai was the voice of Christ, the voice of the very one who has this righteousness to bestow.

Now see the force of the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 33:2, 3. "And he said, The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran and He came with ten thousands of his saints from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people."

The giving of that law was one of the highest manifestations of love that could be because it preached to the people in the strongest tones that there was life in Christ.

The One who gave the law was the One who brought them out of Egypt. He was the one who swore to Abraham that he and his seed should be righteous, and this showed to them that they could not get righteousness in the law but that they could get it through Christ. So there was a superabundance of grace, for where sin, by the giving of the law did abound, there grace did much more abound.

That thing is acted out every time that there is a sinner converted. Before his conversion he does not realize the sinfulness of his sins. Then the law comes in and shows him how awful those sins are, but with it comes the gentle voice of Christ in whom there is grace and life.

How precious it is to have that conviction of sin sent to our hearts, for we know that it is a part of the work of the Comforter which God sends into the world to convict of sin. It is a part of the comfort of God to convict of sin, because the same hand that convicts of sin holds the pardon, that as sin had reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In this grace we have again those precious words--much more. Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.

The Lord searches the heart and He knows our sins. Shall we go about mourning and sighing and saying our sins are so great that God cannot forgive such sinners as we are? Some people seem to fancy that God never knew that they had any sins. Then they say that they are not worthy that He should take their sins away. They cannot see how He can save them. Who is it that makes us feel sinful? Who shows us our unworthiness? How do we come to find out that we have sinned? It is God that shows us our sins. He had known them all the time. We do not consider this--that God has known all our sins beforehand and that He it is who shows them to us for the first time, when we are convicted of sin by Him.

When God made the plan of salvation, he knew what He was doing. He knew the human heart. He knew the depth of degradation to which humanity would fall, as no man has ever known it. Now, by His law He drives the sins home to our hearts and then that sin abounds in the proportion that it should. It was small in our eyes before, but He makes us see it as He sees it.

Remember it is the Comforter that convicts.

Remember that where sin abounds in your heart or in your mind that there grace does much more abound.

It is your firm belief of that that makes the grace effective in taking away the sin.

Christ is able to save to the uttermost him that cometh to God by Him.

You cannot ask anything of Him so good or so great but what He is able to do it and--much more.

God does not have to take the measure of grace and look over the world to see how many there are among whom it will need to be divided and then go to work to portion it out so that there will be enough to go round. He gives us scripture measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over. No matter how great are the sins to be covered up, there is grace much more than enough to do it.

Mortal man may be covered with the righteousness of Christ as with a garment. Then let us take the life of Christ by faith and live a new life.  

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #9 A.T. Jones

The Bible - Available and Banned.

 

The history of the Bible is an amazing one. God's truth. God inspired, Holy Spirit directed.

 

Today- September 19, 2020-

 

So what are some of the restrictions on the Bible around the world? Here are some of the most prominent examples:

• In North Korea, children sometimes are unaware of what their parents’ Bible is. Even having a Bible there is enough to be arrested or killed. An American was arrested and detained for five months, simply for leaving a Bible in a restaurant in the hopes a North Korean might find and read it.
• It is not illegal for a foreigner to have a single Bible in the Maldives in their own language, but there is not a complete translation of a Bible in the native language.
• In Malaysia, Bibles are allowed, but it’s not allowed to refer to God as “Allah” in Christian publications.
• In China, Bibles are allowed, but have been coming under increased scrutiny and regulation.
• In Saudi Arabia, it’s fine to bring in a Bible if you’re a foreigner—but if you do something like read it in public, or it’s suspected you have any intention with speaking publicly about your faith, that could mean prison.
• And in many places it’s permissible for traditional Christians and foreigners to worship in private or in their own ethnic groups, but if someone converts from Islam or is found with a Bible in their own language, it can lead to significant punishment.

 

From <https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/where-is-the-bible-banned/>

 

Why ban or restrict a book unless there was a fear of what reading that book might do?

 

God's word is powerful, yet so many who have easy access to this powerful word neglect it completely and many despise it outright.  God's word is alive and well, even though throughout history many have tried to destroy it.

 

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Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

 

 

The word of God.

God's holy word.

Love.

Despised.

Revered.

Trampled upon.

Honored.

 

The Bible has been through many, many phases- some where it has been openly honored and others where is has been openly despised. People have gone to great lengths to possess the written word of God, many have died in possession of mere snippets of the Scriptures because it has been illegal to have any part of God's written word. Even today in parts of the world this is still true. We don't like to believe it is because that would mean we live in a barbaric world and we do in many, many ways. To discount such a powerful prophecy geared towards the written word of God would be incredibly foolish and we would be allowing ourselves to be blind if we ignored the possibility.

 

The word of God was abandoned, burned, discarded, destroyed all as the age of reason was ushered in. Where did this take place? Over in part of the world which was once under the rule of the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire was broken up into ten main parts this part of the world was one of those ten- France. Do you remember our Daniel study on this?  Let's have a tiny refresher.

 

'There were ten nations at some time in their history that were most important in bringing the Roman Empire to its knees, who as independent kingdoms held portions of the Roman empire as theirs. Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Anglo-Saxons, and Lombards'

 

The Franks- France.

 

This wasn't a part of the world unknown, a part of the world that had no history in God's prophecies, this part of the world was 1/10th of those responsible for the Roman Empire falling apart. France- one of the ten toes in Daniel's prophetic interpretation of the great statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. We shouldn't be surprised at all whatsoever that this part of the world would play a part in more prophetic history. Politics and religion mingled- politics trying to shut out religion and succeeding in keeping the written word of God despised but the word of God could NOT be destroyed.

 

The written word of God was shoved into darkness, deep, deep darkness for many years and then in extreme darkness before it was revived.

 

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

 

The Bible! The glorious Bible was massed produced and began to be given to many, many, many people and it has NOT stopped being massed produced since and given to many. The Bible Societies in our world have gone to great lengths to see that God's written word has gone to people all over the world in many, many languages.

 

Read this--

 

Religious books, especially the Bible and the Qur'an, are probably the most-printed books, but it is nearly impossible to find reliable sales figures for them. Print figures are missing or unreliable since these books are produced by many different and unrelated publishers. Furthermore, many copies of the Bible and the Qur'an are printed and given away free, instead of being sold.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books>

 

The MOST printed books and the Bible is among them! 

 

The Spirit of life from God entered into the written word being proclaimed.

Did great fear fall upon those which realized the Bible's power as it was being given to people everywhere? Yes. The very same people that did not want the Bible to be given to people but wanted to control what they knew of God's word- were NOT happy with this mass produced Bible going to everyone. These people even told their followers that the word of God could only properly be interpreted by them. It's true! I know I've mentioned it before in other studies.

 

'In particular, watch more carefully over those who are assigned to give public readings of holy scripture, so that they function diligently in their office within the comprehension of the audience; under no pretext whatsoever should they dare to explain and interpret the divine writings contrary to the tradition of the Fathers or the interpretation of the Catholic Church.' 

 

INTER PRAECIPUAS (On Biblical Societies) by Pope Gregory XVI, May 8, 1844

 

There is much a person can find on the history of the Bible, of the Bible being banned and so forth. God's witnesses were severely oppressed.  We have access to God's written word and we are so incredibly blessed by that access.

 

God's word directs us heavenward, yes?

The gospel of Christ directs us heavenward. We cannot forget this, not for a moment. The Gospel of the kingdom! Salvation through our Savior!

 

As the fallout from the French Revolution, of the Biblical side of things was witnessed many were horrified, severely horrified by what they saw and yet those who are God's chosen knew still they must give all glory to God. God's remnant throughout time have been witness to the abuse of God's written word through those who have sought to follow God's truth.  Killed for the word of God, this is fact NOT fiction and yet so many today laugh off Christianity. So many laugh off conviction and believe it's all a bunch of foolishness.

 

Oh by the grace of God may we NEVER be among those fools, NEVER be among those deceived.  Please Lord continue to enlighten us, please! By Your grace, by Your mercy, by Your LOVE always!!!!!!!! Help us Lord, save us! Amen.

History - Prophecy

 

Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

 

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There are a lot of people who believe even today that the Bible, that belief in God, that belief in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- is an oppressive religion. This moment in history (PROPHECY)- if you will- reveals a time when religion was banned. This happened at tail end of the 1260 year prophecy which ended in 1798.

 

It is notable, very notable and recognized in many ways even today- if not significantly for the religious aspect.  The Reign of Terror- who hasn't learned of this in school history? This is a remarkable event and all that surrounds it is very telling. In 1798 Napoleon's general took the Pope out of power and this led up to that prophetically significant event. We can't ignore it, we shouldn't ignore it. We have to realize that there is quite  bit of prophecy specific to the very end times, but we have thousands of years of history that the prophecy has been set for. Periods of great events, and long lulls. We have to trust that our Savior will give us all the truth we need so that we are not deceived as all but the very elect will be.

 

So much to learn!  Does this fit the prophecy? Truly, does it? Could it? Putting things all together does it work? Are we forcing puzzle pieces into the puzzle or are they falling easily into place?  A lot of people would have us believe we are forcing those puzzle pieces.  And you know what, they'd say that no matter what theories we come up with.

 

Everyone has their own and this is the theory of people who came to the truth as God was opening the eyes of people to understand the messages in the little book of prophecy- Daniel.  Does this mean they can't be wrong? No, it doesn't mean that at all. We all are given light and seriously as God enlightens our understanding to things then we can build on truths that have been presented but only in such a way that we are not contradicting God's word, not contradicting truths that have been established beyond any doubt whatsoever. If we begin to believe in something that takes away that truth that has been given without any doubt at all then everything collapses and deception works its way in. We have to pray and pray hard to have understanding in God's truth.

Personally I do not subscribe to any religion at all that has been established as a religion today- unless I am joining the few who are coming out of Babylon and believing in God's truth and nothing but God's truth.

 

Do I have all the answers? No, and I never will.  We are ALL called to walk by FAITH and that means not having evidence for all things. We place our hope and faith in our Savior to lead us to all the truth we need to be His now and forever.

 

For now read the history excerpts below and realize that the two witnesses (the old and the new testaments) the Bible, was truly, historically, on a huge level denied entirely.

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History- 1793-1797

 

Oct. 5, 1793. The revolutionary calendar was established making weeks of 10 days.

(God created the seven day week)

The month is divided into three décades or "weeks" of ten days each, named simply…

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar>

 

Nov. 10, 1793 A statute of liberty as "godess of the French people" replaced the image of Mary. . -

The official nationwide Fête de la Raison, supervised by Hébert and Momoro on 20 Brumaire, Year II (10 November 1793) came to epitomize the new republican way of religion. In ceremonies devised and organised by Chaumette, churches across France were transformed into modern Temples of Reason. The largest ceremony of all was at the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. The Christian altar was dismantled and an altar to Liberty was installed and the inscription "To Philosophy" was carved in stone over the cathedral's doors.[10] Festive girls in white Roman dress and tricolor sashes milled around a costumed Goddess of Reason who "impersonated Liberty

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason>

 

Nov. 24. Satute ordering the closing of all churches. (Aulard, p. 161)

 

Sept. 17, 1797. Catholicism had been generally restored.

 

Pasted from <http://www.bibleexplained.com/revelation/r-seg11-12/r11f-Fr-rev.htm>

 

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France guarantees freedom of religion as a constitutional right and the government generally respects this right in practice. A long history of violent conflict between groups led the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church early in the last century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining a totally secular public sector.[1]

 

The Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801, forming the basis of the later and less radical Laïcité movement. The goal of the campaign was the destruction of Catholic religious practice and of the religion itself.[1] There has been much scholarly debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated or something forced upon the people by those in power.[2]

 

The programme of dechristianization waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:[1][3][4]: confiscation of church lands, which were to be the security for the new Assignat currency  removal of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship  destruction of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship  the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,  the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all persons who harboured them liable to death on sight.

 

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on 10 November 1793.

 

The dechristianization campaign can be seen as the logical extension of the materialist philosophies of some leaders of the enlightenment, while for others with more prosaic concerns it was an opportunity to unleash resentments against the Church and clergy.[5]

 

In Paris, over a forty-eight hour period beginning on September 2, 1792, as the Legislative Assembly (successor to the National Constituent Assembly) dissolved into chaos, three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry mobs; this constituted part of what would become known as the September Massacres. Priests were among those drowned in the Noyades for treason under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Carrier; priests and nuns were among the mass executions at Lyon, for separatism, on the orders of Joseph Fouché and Collot d'Herbois. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in abominable conditions in the port of Rochefort.

 

Anti-church laws were passed by the Legislative Assembly and its successor, the National Convention, as well as by département councils throughout the country. Many of the acts of dechristianization in 1793 were motivated by the seizure of church gold and silver to finance the war effort,[6] though exceptions weren't uncommon. In November 1793, the département council of Indre-et-Loire abolished the word dimanche (English: Sunday).[citation needed] The Gregorian calendar, an instrument decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was replaced by the French Republican Calendar which abolished the sabbath, Saints' days and any references to the Church.

 

Anti-clerical parades were held, and the Archbishop of Paris was forced to resign his duties and made to replace his mitre with the red "Cap of Liberty." Street and place names with any sort of religious connotation were changed, such as the town of St. Tropez which became Héraclée. Religious holidays were banned and replaced with holidays to celebrate the harvest and other non-religious symbols. Robespierre and his colleagues decided to supplant both Catholicism and the rival, atheistic Cult of Reason with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Just six weeks before his arrest, on June 8, 1794 the still-powerful Robespierre personally led a vast procession through Paris to the Tuileries garden in a ceremony to inaugurate the new faith.

 

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early 1795 a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on February 21, 1795 legalised public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still forbidden.

 

As late as 1799, priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General Louis Alexandre Berthier captured Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VI, who would die in captivity in Valence, France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with Napoleon now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, Pius VII, led to the Concordat of 1801, formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the Roman Church and the French State.

 

Victims of the Reign of Terror totaled somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000. According to one estimate, among those condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes.[7] Of these social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.[7]

 

Main articles: Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution and Revolt in the Vendée

 

The Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of a campaign, conducted by various Robespierre-era governments of France beginning with the start of the French Revolution in 1789, in order to eliminate any symbol that might be associated with the past, especially the monarchy.

 

The program included the following policies:[44][45][46]  the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,  the closing, desecration and pilaging of churches, removal of the word "saint" from street names and other acts to banish Christian culture from the public sphere  removal of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship  destruction of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship  the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,  the large scale destruction of religious monuments,  the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,  forced marriages of the clergy,  forced abjurement of priesthood, and

 the enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.

 

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on 10 November.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians#French_Revolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dechristianisation_of_France_during_the_French_Revolution

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Roman Catholicism, the religion of a majority of French people, is no longer considered a state religion, as it was before the 1789 Revolution and throughout the various, non-republican regimes of the 19th century (the Restoration, the July Monarchy and the Second French Empire).

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_France>

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In September 1793 a period known as the Reign of Terror ensued for approximately 12 months

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_France>

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The climax was reached with the celebration of the goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on 10 November. Because dissent was now regarded as counterrevolutionary, extremist enragés such as Hébert and moderate Montagnard indulgents such as Danton were guillotined in the Spring of 1794.[citation needed] On 7 June Robespierre, who favoured deism over Hébert's atheism and had previously condemned the Cult of Reason, recommended that the Convention acknowledge the existence of God. On the next day, the worship of the deistic Supreme Being was inaugurated as an official aspect of the Revolution. Compared with Hébert's somewhat popular festivals, this austere new religion of Virtue was received with signs of hostility by the Parisian public

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror>

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The days of the French Revolution and Republic saw many efforts to sweep away various trappings of the ancien régime; some of these were more successful than others. The new Republican government sought to institute, among other reforms, a new social and legal system, a new system of weights and measures (which became the metric system), and a new calendar. Amid nostalgia for the ancient Roman Republic, the theories of the Enlightenment were at their peak, and the devisors of the new systems looked to nature for their inspiration. Natural constants, multiples of ten, and Latin derivations formed the fundamental blocks from which the new systems were built.

 

The new calendar was created by a commission under the direction of the politician Charles Gilbert Romme seconded by Claude Joseph Ferry and Charles-François Dupuis. They associated with their work the chemist Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, the mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange, the astronomer Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande, the mathematician Gaspard Monge, the astronomer and naval geographer Alexandre Guy Pingré, and the poet, actor and playwright Fabre d'Églantine, who invented the names of the months, with the help of André Thouin, gardener at the Jardin des Plantes of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. As the rapporteur of the commission, Charles-Gilbert Romme presented the new calendar to the Jacobin-controlled National Convention on 23 September 1793

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar>

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