Today was just a beautiful Sabbath!!!You know those Sabbaths where you wish the sermon could be preached in a stadium?So refreshing!Then the afternoon study just blew me away.It was on righteousness by faith.First time hearing this message and I have not heard such precious truth like this one in my entire Christian walk:).I'm thankful that God made it that I worship on campus today and the little voice cancelled my plans to go minister in a local church in the afternoon.I would have missed out and lost much.God speaks even today:).As I think of the plan of salvation,I get emotional.That God did all and continues to do more.It's also encouraging that regardless of our faults,God can help us to have the same character as His!
Well,the speaker defined what sin is.He taught us that it's important to be able to understand what sin is,before we talk about Christ's requirements and his death.So we thought by this the speaker meant the biblical meaning,so we excitedly told him that "sin is the transgression of God's law" and rightly so.But this is only a definition.
So,we learnt there are two explanations of sin-the true and the false.
THE FALSE DEFINITION OF SIN:
SIN IS NATURE-This means if sin is our nature,then we cannot help it but sin;from the day we are born to the end because it's who we are.This definition then refutes many biblical doctrines.But let me share how.
If sin is our nature,this can either imply that Christ came in sinful nature,and because of this he cannot save us since He is in need of Saviour Himself. Or it could mean Christ came in an unfallen state,having more advantage than the rest of us.Since we are sinful by nature,then we cannot live without sin,so justification is only imputed-but we will sin till Jesus comes.Meaning we will never attain to perfection.Then this supports the doctrine of "I'm saved" which states that I can continue in my state as long as I just accept Christ.Then when Christ comes again,He will then give me his unfallen nature and then I'll be holy.
Then this means man can never keep the law,no such things as sanctification,investigative judgement and no such this as the day of atonement and there's no need for Christ's intercession work.Do you see how dangerous this is.Which goes to support predestination.
THE TRUE DEFINITION OF SIN:
SIN INVOLVES FREEWILL i.e SIN IS A CHOICE.
When Christ came,he came in our fallen nature and he lived a sinless life.This means Christ is able to justify us wholly-impart and impute justification.So,we are declared just or we are forgiven.Not only so, we undergo sanctification-which is a process of helping us leave off sin....Sanctification is a daily process where we choose NOT to sin and through that,we are daily drawing close to living sinlessly by striving over sin and gaining victory.This we do through the strength we receive from Christ and our own will-see that's where free will comes in.I'll do a study on sanctification thoroughly and share it (hopefully :)-time allowing!).Through imparted and imputed justification,then we are able to reach perfection that we are called for.
What is perfection in this context.I learnt that there are 4 types of perfection:
1.Absolute Perfection-The perfection that God possesses...Personally I believe it also refers to Him not being able to be tempted :).....to confirm!
2.Nature Perfection -This refers to the state of Adam before the fall.He came perfect from the hand of God
3.Character surrender-The perfection we are to surrender and it goes hand in hand with Character Maturity (where we can no longer tempted in different things because we've gained victory over this.)
I also learnt that sin has 2 aspects to it : evil and guilt.Evil refers to the consequences of sin while guilt refers to the penalty of sin.When Jesus came to die,he came to pay the penalty-so that we do not die eternally;but he did not remove the evil.The evil will be removed when he comes again (includes the millennium I believe since the cause of sin,Satan and sin will be destroyed never to arise again).Those who do not accept Christ and remain in sin will suffer the penalty of sin.
I admit,I've been discouraged to study the subject a bit,since I thought Lessons on Faith took a long route to come to this subject.But since I've gotten this introduction,I can't wait to study it for myself.As Beehive Mission we will also have a seminar on righteousness by Faith some time in September so I'll share the dates when everything is finalized.
Hope it makes sense.Additions,discussions welcomed.
Plus I met a beautiful soul today.It felt we had known each other forever.One thing I worry about when my friends are not around is having to avoid certain groups because of the conversation that is on worldly subjects (I don't judge them since they might not know it's sabbath breaking).So,I always look forward to being with someone who'll share God's goodness and what God has taught them during the week.I'm also someone who gets very happy when I find someone with the same convictions as me and they see things the same way biblically.So,I had such a privilege with a stranger-someone I met for the first time :),who is also in the faith.
But the Sabbath is also a day to be a blessing to those around us.I learnt this while studying about Sabbath observation on Counsels for the Church.So,we're also to look for opportunities to serve others from taking someone's plate when they are done eating,to listening to a burdened soul and many things.We are not to limit the day of the Lord to a day of taking "sabbath vibes" pictures.There's much blessing in it.
P.S:If you find any spelling errors,that hurts me:).But I'm way too tired and I need to rest:)....
Well,the speaker defined what sin is.He taught us that it's important to be able to understand what sin is,before we talk about Christ's requirements and his death.So we thought by this the speaker meant the biblical meaning,so we excitedly told him that "sin is the transgression of God's law" and rightly so.But this is only a definition.
So,we learnt there are two explanations of sin-the true and the false.
THE FALSE DEFINITION OF SIN:
SIN IS NATURE-This means if sin is our nature,then we cannot help it but sin;from the day we are born to the end because it's who we are.This definition then refutes many biblical doctrines.But let me share how.
If sin is our nature,this can either imply that Christ came in sinful nature,and because of this he cannot save us since He is in need of Saviour Himself. Or it could mean Christ came in an unfallen state,having more advantage than the rest of us.Since we are sinful by nature,then we cannot live without sin,so justification is only imputed-but we will sin till Jesus comes.Meaning we will never attain to perfection.Then this supports the doctrine of "I'm saved" which states that I can continue in my state as long as I just accept Christ.Then when Christ comes again,He will then give me his unfallen nature and then I'll be holy.
Then this means man can never keep the law,no such things as sanctification,investigative judgement and no such this as the day of atonement and there's no need for Christ's intercession work.Do you see how dangerous this is.Which goes to support predestination.
THE TRUE DEFINITION OF SIN:
SIN INVOLVES FREEWILL i.e SIN IS A CHOICE.
When Christ came,he came in our fallen nature and he lived a sinless life.This means Christ is able to justify us wholly-impart and impute justification.So,we are declared just or we are forgiven.Not only so, we undergo sanctification-which is a process of helping us leave off sin....Sanctification is a daily process where we choose NOT to sin and through that,we are daily drawing close to living sinlessly by striving over sin and gaining victory.This we do through the strength we receive from Christ and our own will-see that's where free will comes in.I'll do a study on sanctification thoroughly and share it (hopefully :)-time allowing!).Through imparted and imputed justification,then we are able to reach perfection that we are called for.
What is perfection in this context.I learnt that there are 4 types of perfection:
1.Absolute Perfection-The perfection that God possesses...Personally I believe it also refers to Him not being able to be tempted :).....to confirm!
2.Nature Perfection -This refers to the state of Adam before the fall.He came perfect from the hand of God
3.Character surrender-The perfection we are to surrender and it goes hand in hand with Character Maturity (where we can no longer tempted in different things because we've gained victory over this.)
I also learnt that sin has 2 aspects to it : evil and guilt.Evil refers to the consequences of sin while guilt refers to the penalty of sin.When Jesus came to die,he came to pay the penalty-so that we do not die eternally;but he did not remove the evil.The evil will be removed when he comes again (includes the millennium I believe since the cause of sin,Satan and sin will be destroyed never to arise again).Those who do not accept Christ and remain in sin will suffer the penalty of sin.
I admit,I've been discouraged to study the subject a bit,since I thought Lessons on Faith took a long route to come to this subject.But since I've gotten this introduction,I can't wait to study it for myself.As Beehive Mission we will also have a seminar on righteousness by Faith some time in September so I'll share the dates when everything is finalized.
Hope it makes sense.Additions,discussions welcomed.
Plus I met a beautiful soul today.It felt we had known each other forever.One thing I worry about when my friends are not around is having to avoid certain groups because of the conversation that is on worldly subjects (I don't judge them since they might not know it's sabbath breaking).So,I always look forward to being with someone who'll share God's goodness and what God has taught them during the week.I'm also someone who gets very happy when I find someone with the same convictions as me and they see things the same way biblically.So,I had such a privilege with a stranger-someone I met for the first time :),who is also in the faith.
But the Sabbath is also a day to be a blessing to those around us.I learnt this while studying about Sabbath observation on Counsels for the Church.So,we're also to look for opportunities to serve others from taking someone's plate when they are done eating,to listening to a burdened soul and many things.We are not to limit the day of the Lord to a day of taking "sabbath vibes" pictures.There's much blessing in it.
P.S:If you find any spelling errors,that hurts me:).But I'm way too tired and I need to rest:)....
Wow. This is great! God bless you Mercy
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