The Grace of Life

1 Peter 3:6, 7

The gift of life is a tremendous example of God’s grace. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God has graced us with life and all good things. Our health, our sanity, our physical bodies, etc., are all because of the wonderful gift that God has given to us.

How to improve the life we have is a repeated concern of the Word of God. Jesus told us that He came so that we might have life and have it more abundant (John 10:10). This abundant life has nothing to do with heaven, but is to be had now by every believer. Peter gives advice to men and women as to how to live in the grace of this life to its fullest, specifically within the context of husband and wife.

He starts with the wife, calling her a daughter of Sara (1 Peter 3:6). Sara is the only person in the Bible to whom the Lord restored their youth while they were in their old age. If you are a daughter of Sara then you have grace upon your physical frame. Every woman should “Amen” that! There is a condition that says, “As long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement”. The doing well that the Apostle speaks of is qualified at the end, “not afraid with any amazement”. Doing well is not fearing the husband or the Lord. Living in trembling fear of your husband robs you of the joy of having your youth in your old age. The same principle applies towards your heavenly Father.

Husbands, we are next, being told to dwell with our wives, “according to knowledge” (1 Peter 3:7). “Knowledge” here is the Greek word “nossos” which means, “common sense”. We are to apply common sense to our dealings with our wives, which will cause us to honor her. Common sense should direct us to love and protect her as one who is “the weaker vessel” (verse 7). This is no insult ladies; for you were taken from man’s side, thus it is in his God-given instinct to shelter you under his arm. If he applies the common sense that God gave him, he will do this naturally.

The husband and wife are “heirs together of the grace of life”. Life is lived to its fullest when a man and woman share their hearts, minds and bodies. This is God’s design and it is fought against by the enemy with great force. Marriages between both saints and sinners are fought with equal fervor by Satan for marriage is instituted by God, and he wants to do all that he can to ruin couples from experiencing the grace of life.

Finally, all men should pay particularly close attention to the last phrase of verse 7: “that your prayers be not hindered”. When we pay honor to our wife and protect her as the weaker vessel, we ensure that our prayers get through to the Father. If you are giving no honor to your wife; abusing her verbally, ignoring her needs or treating her disrespectfully, then you are placing a hindrance between your prayers and heaven. I want nothing to stop my cries from going to my Father, so I want to honor my wife to the fullest, and I know that you do too.

Perfect marriages are not possible, because we act imperfectly, but we serve a perfect God who has designed a perfect union. Dwell according to this knowledge and enjoy the grace of life together.

Separate From Sinners

Hebrews 7:26

Jesus is described perfectly by the phrase, “separate from sinners”. There has never been a man more accurately described, as He was in no way like a sinner, even down to the very nature inside of Him. Since Jesus was not born of an earthly father, he carried no nature to sin. His nature was human and divine, with no propensity towards any certain sin. He could have sinned, of course, for even perfect Adam sinned in the Garden without a nature to do so, but Jesus lived spotless and sinless in this present world (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Though He was nothing like sinners, Jesus was still “numbered with the transgressors” at His death; hanging between two criminals (Isaiah 53:12). Even though He had no iniquity of His own, He was numbered with sinners even during His lifetime, as the religious world of that day called him a glutton and a winebibber (Luke 7:34). In the same passage of scripture, Jesus said that He was also accused of being a “friend of publicans and sinners”.

Now we know why Jesus was “numbered with the transgressors”; that was because He hung between two criminals at Calvary, thus He was identified as a criminal by all who viewed it. But to be a “friend of publicans and sinners”, Jesus must have often showed Himself friendly and open with these groups of people. The religious world of that day would not be caught dead in the presence of publicans and sinners, so to watch someone who all considered a teacher or “rabbi” to be doing so was shameful in their eyes.

The book of Hebrews assures us that though Jesus was identified with the sinners, He never ceased to be “separate from sinners” and this is because He was “holy, harmless, undefiled,…and made higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). The descriptions offered here by the Spirit show us a man that retained His characteristics, regardless of who was in His company. Though the publicans and the sinners were unholy, harmful to others and defiled by iniquity, none of it rubbed off on Jesus. The writer goes so far as to say that Jesus did not need to make sacrifice daily for His own sins as other priests would. The reason for this was that Jesus had no sin!

You and I live in a world of sin and failure, where there is ungodliness at every turn. The believer is bombarded with this on a daily basis and it weighs against our spirit. We do not lose our salvation when we are around these activities but we certainly feel their effects. Even in the midst of sinning people, because of the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ that dwells in every one of us, we are seen as holy, harmless and undefiled. Even when we slip and fall, we retain what Christ paid for, keeping us separate from sinners.

Christ is our redemption, having paid the price as our high priest under the New Covenant. His finished work at the cross has assured us of wholeness and rest in Him. Rejoice in the knowledge that you are separate from sinners through the One who loves you.

Condemnation Leads to More Sin

Titus 3:10, 11

If someone is in a “Catch 22” then they can’t get ahead no matter how hard they try. Every action will only worsen the problem, while inaction is often not an option. This principle applies in life as well as in the spirit realm, where believers want to be victorious but do not always know how to bring it about.

Most people in the church would tell you that to avoid living in sin you should memorize God’s laws and principles. The common knowledge is that if God’s law is right and you are wrong, then you should get to know what is right so that you will not be wrong, but that assumes that knowledge of the law leads to righteousness. Paul said the opposite: “…for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

What you dwell on eventually determines who you are. If you concentrate on one thing day and night, aiming all of your efforts at that, it begins to shape your lifestyle and the decisions that you make. When you dwell on the law and how to keep it, you become more and more knowledgeable about sin, while learning nothing about how to avoid it.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is to blame for this phenomenon. We know what is right and wrong but that tree provided us with no ability to stop the bad and start the good. The tree that we need was standing nearby; the Tree of Life. Fortunately for us, Jesus died on a tree and became our perpetual Life, so that we do not live by our knowledge of good and evil, but by His finished work.

Paul told Titus that if someone is given an admonition about what the effects of their lifestyle will be, and they still continue to live therein, warn them again and then part ways with them. This is not a condemnation of their soul but of their lifestyle, noting that it will bring ill-repute to the church and to the brethren while causing heartache for the man himself. After teaching us how to deal with the man, Paul gets to the root of the problem, explaining to us what is wrong with the man.

“Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself” (Titus 3:11).

“Subverted” is another word for “perverted” or “to change for the worse”. Notice what causes the man to live in this perversion and sin; “being condemned of himself”. The text does not say that God condemns him, for Romans 8:1 tells us that this is not possible for those who are in Christ Jesus. We can’t say for sure that the man in Titus is a brother, for Paul does not specify, but it is natural to assume as much since he has been talking about things that “are good and profitable unto men” (Titus 3:8).

When you condemn yourself, the natural course of events becomes sin then perversion. Your condemnation of yourself causes you to lose hope and dwell under a weight of guilt. Sin is soon to follow as you have opened the door for the enemy to attack you, having removed the finished work of Jesus Christ. Repeated sin leads to perversion, where eventually, even the most educated Christian begins to grow hard against the gentle voice of the Savior, turning wholly to a sinful lifestyle.

If condemnation leads you to sin then the lack of condemnation will lead you to righteousness. See yourself as forgiven and never condemned and you will see the weights and the sins fall off in Jesus’ mighty name!

Captive at Satan's Will

2 Timothy 2:24-26

We have all heard the phrase, “The devil made me do it”. We know that free will is not tampered with, neither by God nor by the enemy, but it is obvious that there are many people doing things that they don’t really want to do. Apostle Paul said, “For I do not understand my own actions – I am baffled, bewildered. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe (which my moral instinct condemns)” (Romans 7:15, Amplified).

Paul’s struggle was in living victorious over sin and all vice. He wished to walk free from the dominion of the enemy, and his opening to the 8th chapter is the glorious good news that he had been looking for, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The knowledge that he was not condemned gave him the liberty that he so desired, making him “free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).

If you and I are free from condemnation from our heavenly Father because of the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross, then we should never listen to the voice of condemnation in our life. If He has freed us from condemnation, who else could possibly condemn us? When we dwell in guilt and condemnation, it is either of our own devising, or it has been planted there by the enemy intent on destroying us.

In Paul’s closing lines to young Timothy, he tells him that a preacher must not strive or “argue”; “but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient” (2 Timothy 2:24). This patience is so that we can instruct those who “oppose themselves” (2:25). “Oppose” is not the correct translation here, for the Greek word is “condemn”. Paul is referencing those in the church who condemn themselves. This self-condemnation leads them into the “snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:25, 26).

The devil cannot override our will and force us to sin, but according to this statement by Paul he can hold us captive and make us miserable. We give him the right to do so when we condemn ourselves, which ignores the finished work of the cross. When the believer lives in condemnation, they do not cease to be a believer, but they cease to walk in peace and happiness and they are a whipping boy for the whims of the enemy. Oftentimes, we wonder where God is during these moments, even going so far as to ask if He has deserted us. His work is finished, but if we do not accept it as so, we will live in condemnation over our inability to “please God”. Satan swoops in and takes advantage of our ignorance, and as they say, the rest is history.

Accept the gift of no condemnation, just as the woman caught in the act of adultery did in John 8. When Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more”, you have been provided with all of the equipment that you will ever need to live beyond the grip of sin. Silence the voice of condemnation by feasting on the loveliness of Jesus and His love for you. Change your mind about what God thinks about you if you have felt that He was distant and uncaring. Be removed from Satan’s snare and live at peace in your wonderful Savior.

The Fight of Faith

1 Timothy 6:12
There are good fights and there are bad fights. Me against a wet paper sack is a good fight. Me against the Heavyweight Champion of the World…enough said. Paul told young Timothy to “Fight the good fight of faith”, thus marking the only time that Paul told Timothy to fight at all. He knew how to pick his battles, telling the church at Corinth that when he does fight, it is with purpose, “not as one that beateth the air” (1 Corinthians 9:26).

When Paul referred to the Ephesian church putting on the armor of God, he tells them only to “stand”, but gives no reference to them being offensive (Ephesians 6:11-17). It is obvious that he believed in Christians fighting, but not in fighting a foe that you can see and touch. Rather, Paul knew that the believer’s greatest battle will be to maintain their faith in Christ Jesus.

When we place our faith in Christ, we are resting from our own labors and sins. Instantaneously, we take upon us the character of Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to reign in our lives. Only after religion enters do we begin the vicious cycle of performance based Christianity, where we feel that we must do things to please God. This cycle takes our rest away from us, forcing us to “stay saved” with our diligent works. Soon, the joy that was so abundant and unspeakable upon conversion is gone with our latest failure.

In regards to what you can do to help your situation, which is what everyone wants to know, Paul addressed the Hebrews by saying, “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). This marks Paul’s token command to the church to labor. All of our effort in Christianity should be aimed towards entering into the rest that Jesus paid for at Calvary. Effort outside of that endeavor leads to frustration.

The fight of faith is truly a fight to rest. Jesus’ statement to the disciples, “Ye of little faith” comes after they wake Him up during the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:26). Jesus was sleeping during a storm, and it was the cries of His precious disciples that awoke Him. His statement on faith was to ask them why they would take so little from Him when rest was theirs to be had. When Jesus is asleep in your boat, it is a good idea to ignore the storm and take a nap!
The opposite of rest is not work, it is unbelief. This is why faith and rest are so closely connected. Look at the rest of Paul’s statement in Hebrews 4:11, “…lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”. When you fail to rest, you are full of unbelief; so the faithful are those who rest in who Jesus is and what He can do. The ones who fall are the ones who fail to enter into rest and that is because of their unbelief.

Do you believe that Jesus has finished the work at the cross? If your answer is yes, then your sole battle as a child of God will be to never allow the enemy to take that rest away from you. He will try to steal it with the voice of condemnation and guilt, accusing you and deriding you. He will try to kill your joy and happiness with sickness and discouragement. He will also try to destroy your hope by causing you to focus on your storms instead of your Savior. Fight the fight to enter into rest. Rest on believer!

We Don't All Agree

2 Thessalonians 3:13-15

There is an age-old argument that has been used by the world against the church, and it goes something like this: “There are so many different churches and denominations; it’s obvious that they can’t all agree. How am I supposed to know which one is right and which one is wrong?” This observation would be unfair if Christians attended different churches but then seemed perfectly at ease with one another, but we all know that this is simply not the case. Though we are united under the same banner of Christ and Him crucified it is obvious that we don’t all agree.

In Paul’s closing statements to the church at Thessalonica, he encouraged the church not to be weary in well doing, knowing that it is easy to be weary when you look around and it seems that others are not sharing the load. He then gives very sound instruction, “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (2 Thessalonians 3:14, 15). Paul obviously tells us to have no company with some Christians, but what kind is he speaking of?

Within the context of the chapter, Paul is talking about some believers living off of the hard labor of others, refusing to work. This prompts Paul to write, “If any would not work, neither should he eat” (3:10). He states further that some are simply “busybodies” (Verse 11). If there are any readers of that epistle who refuse to work after that admonition, Paul said to “note that man, and have no company with him” (Verse 14). This separation should make the man ashamed of himself (Verse 14).

Paul knows the way that men are, and fears that this separation will cause some saints to count the lazy brother as an enemy, so he tells them not to consider him an enemy, but a brother. Notice that Paul refuses to call someone who disagrees with him or ignores his instructions, an enemy. Instead, he views him as a brother in need of admonition.

When we encounter other believers who do not agree with all of our doctrines and by-laws, why would we count them as anything other than a brother or sister? I spent many years believing that I was one of the few people left who were living and preaching the “true gospel”. This caused me to distance myself from many different beliefs and churches because I felt that they were not walking in total truth. There are many things that need confronted and that need avoided, and there are other things that we simply do not see eye to eye on; but how we treat one another speaks volumes to a world that is watching us.

Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? If so, then you and I are family! We may not agree on water baptism, or speaking with other tongues, or the timing of the rapture, but we share the one common bond that makes us who we are: we are washed in the blood of the lamb. If your faith is independent of your works, then you and I will get along wonderfully! If your faith is tied to your performance, I do not count you as an enemy; but rather I hope that you will trust Christ completely and cease from performance based Christianity. Any admonition that I provide is not to make you a “brother”, it is because you already are. Let us find reason to rejoice in that knowledge.

Disarming the Devil

Colossians 2:14-15

For the past several decades there has been talk of nuclear disarmament between nations. This dialogue between rival nations has been to stifle any chance of a nuclear war which would effectively wipe the earth of mankind. When you see the videos of nuclear explosions, it is easy to see why the nations want to rid future wars of these terrible weapons, and common sense says that if you do not possess a certain weapon, there is no opportunity to use it.

Satan has hated mankind from the moment he laid eyes on Adam in the Garden. His objective then was to bring sin into the world through one man’s disobedience, and he succeeded (Romans 5:12). He then fought to stop the Promised Seed from coming by causing multiple rebellions and sins among God’s people, yet Jesus came anyhow, born of a virgin, and fathered by the Holy Spirit. He then lost all of his ability to wage war at the cross when Jesus crushed his head.

You would think that Satan would have conceded defeat when Jesus rolled the stone away from the Garden tomb, but he is still on the prowl, “seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). If we are not aware of the defeat of Satan, we will think that it is still our job to defeat him, and we will turn to our own righteousness to do so. The landscape of the church is littered with the bodies of those who have attempted to overcome the enemy by their religious devices, only to be incinerated by a defeated foe.

When Christ died on the cross, he took the law of Moses, which had inflamed and revived sin within the heart of man for over 1500 years (Romans 5:20; 7:9), and He moved it out of man’s way. The obstacle that had kept man from God was the Law, which was “holy, just and good” (Romans 7:12), though it provided man with no help to become just, holy and good. We know that it was the law that Jesus removed, for Colossians says that he blotted out “the handwriting of ordinances that was against us” (Colossians 2:14). The Law was written by the very hand of God, and it had stood against man for too long.

To remove the law as an obstacle, Jesus nailed it to His cross, thus finalizing its demands and its requirements. He then made a show of the powers of darkness, insulting them with His precious blood by triumphing over them in His victory. This disarmed the devil, taking the one thing away from him that he had been able to use against man for centuries: the law.

Satan is a master of guilt and condemnation. He takes your knowledge of the law and uses it against you, always pointing out to you that you are a failure and condemning you for every act that you do, even the “good” ones. His voice screams at you that you are not doing enough to please God or that you have done too much to ever be any good to heaven. By disarming the devil of the law, God was taking away his leverage. He now has nothing to scream at you, for the law has been fulfilled by Christ.

This is knowledge that Satan has, but do you? If you are not aware that the law has been removed as an obstacle then you will go about every day attempting to do things to please your heavenly Father. Satan will take every available moment to condemn for what you do and do not do. Realize that the law is no hindrance, for Jesus has moved it out of the way. The moment that you see just how finished the finished work is, you will be no slave to condemnation and failure, and Satan will have been de-fanged. Praise God!