10.) Waging a covert war

Chapter.10

Although he was alive and well Paul, the apostle, says, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I (ego) who live…”(Gal.2:20).  He doesn’t say his sins died. He says he died. Paul was actually, not theoretically, crucified with Christ. If death is not real than it is not real death. Paul fully realized his own nature was the enemy conspiring to wage a covert war against God. Paul rejoiced to deliver this enemy over to the cross so he could be truly freed from the world (Gal.6:14).

 Humiliation is the ONLY WAY to die, to lose face. It is detestable in man’s eyes but beautiful in God’s eyes (Luke.16:15). Paul went from a somebody to a nobody. Paul said his “fellowship” was with the sufferings of Christ so he could be “conformed” to his death (Phil.3:10). Freedom from sin does not com by the formula “I’m sorry for my sins”(“Accepting Christ as your Savior”). This is ridiculous and anti-christ! When you begin to lay yourself bare before God and choose to be humiliated before others, to lose face, then God will honor you humility with His light (1Pt.5:6).

People think if they suppress their anger, lust, swearing, or stop smoking, drinking or adultery then they have “turned from sin” and are closer to God. It doesn’t matter how much fruit you can take off a tree, the tree itself remains the same. To think that you are dealing with sin, because you have recognized and admitted sinful things, it about as reliable as using a few apple seeds to gain an accurate picture of the tree itself.

What I’m trying to do here, my dear friend, is make you realize that the nature of sin is so deep-seated, so immense in its consequences, so complicated as a web of deception, so ever-present and unavoidable that you can not possibly deal with it!

I am trying to break through your wall of pride and make you realize hat you are totally blinded to your sin! What you may “know” in theory means beans because it is vacant in your every day to day reality

Sin is anything you do not do in faith (Rm14:23). Sin is everything you do that violates the clearly defined laws of God (1Jn.3:4). Looking in a mirror is sin. Sneaking the last pork chop is sin. The slightest exaggeration is sin.

 If you have learned what is right and do not do it, it is sin (James.4:17). Anything that is not perfect is sin                    (1Jn.5:17). Any foolishnesses you’ve ever done in your life is sin (Prov.24:9). So the only sense of comfort you may now have in your life is called delusion!

Still think saying you’re sorry for your sins means anything to God? Think again. God says man is wicked, period (Rm.3:10). This means you don’t have to do anything to sin. You may “repent” for a few sins but God only smells the stench of your deep-seated ego! Whenever you are provoked to anger is when the hidden monster comes out of his cave. Are his reactions reckoned dead and under the blood of Christ or does he rule unbroken and unbridled?

When things don’t go your way is when your pretense is exposed as the “sand” foundation (Mt.7:24). If you were put in the precise circumstances you have the potential to be ten times worse than any Hitler or pervert in history.

 You are sitting on a massive volcano, able to destroy the world, but your pride tells you it is just a little ant hill. People act so shocked when someone they’ve always considered a “nice person” does something bizarre. They say “I just can’t believe he did that. He was not that kind of a person”. People are totally ignorant of what lies within them. When some terrible event happens they say “How could anyone do such a thing?!” They watch someone get arrested for some terrible act and are quick to say, “ I could never do that, it’s just not in my nature!” Then when they do something they never thought they’d do they quickly bury it.

You act shocked when you do something you never thought you’d do because you don’t really know what is within you. Put it this way, hell is the only corresponding reality to your nature!!! Hell is the only thing that provides and accurate context of the nature of sin. Sin is a ghastly monster within that knows it is doomed to die (Rm.6:26).

Hell is so horrible Jesus says that anything you must do to escape its destiny is worth it (Mk.9:43). Satan does not want you to see your sin or it might force you to come to Christ. And when you do see it he is immediately there to bombard you with all manner of lies about it. This is all our warfare!