The Biblical Path of Life

Tag: Condemnation

  • Who are You?

    “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

    Romans 8:1

    Are you a natural man? The natural man see the things in this earth. Decisions are based upon what is seen or felt. Usually, one considers the abilities one has to accomplish things. The natural man is in the likeness of Adam. “1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 3. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth” (Genesis 5:1, 3). Did you notice something in those verses? When God made man, He made him in God’s image. However, after man sinned in the garden, his children were after his image – no longer perfect, but now sinful men. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Everyone is born as a sinner. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). However, there is hope. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Adam disobeyed God, bringing sin upon all of mankind. God gave One who was perfect, His only Son, who was obedient to God. “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus paid the penalty for sin – for anyone who would just believe. “16.For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17.For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18). That is the only work one can do to have the penalty for sin removed. “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29). Believe on Jesus.

    Once one believes on Jesus, having the condemnation of sin removed, we are taught to do something different. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). One can no longer walk in the flesh as a natural man. We are taught to walk after the Spirit. There is a difference. When one has committed that life to Jesus, there is a change of thought and direction. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5). This Christian chooses the things of the Spirit.

    Why is this so important? “6. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God… 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:6-9). Each person must look into their heart and life to see if they have truly given that life to God by accepting Jesus. It is then one receives His Spirit, enabling one to live a life that is “spiritually minded”. Without Christ, one remains a natural man, unable to please God, for “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

    Once you know without a doubt you belong to Jesus and are “spiritually minded”, there is another question that must be asked. Are you a growing Christian? “1. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3. For ye are yet carnal…” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). One who is not a growing Christian can only understand the simplest things about the Bible and the Christian life. To grow, one must read God’s Word and exercise that Christian life. Remember what Paul told Timothy: “6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. 7. But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. 8. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:6-8). Christians are to be “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine” and exercise unto godliness which is “profitable unto all things”. Choose to be a spiritual Christian, nourished in faith and good doctrine, and then exercise unto godliness.

    Who are you? A natural man who cannot please God?

    Or

    Are you a spiritual man who is nourished on God’s Word and exercises unto godliness?

    How to become a spiritual man: How to be saved

  • Wicked Kings of Israel

    “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”

    Ephesians 4:18

    The following is an excerpt from “The Biblical Path of Life” Year Two, Quarter One – Lesson 2:

    “We read about the first three kings of Israel in our last lesson. See they are described as kings whom: “…did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 15:26). Remember that King Jeroboam made two golden calves, one in Dan and the other in Bethel, for the people to worship so that they would not return to the Temple in Jerusalem. This was sin in God’s eyes. Notice that each king after Jeroboam was compared back to him. … We will meet five more kings of Israel from 1 Kings 16.

    “Elah: When Baasha died, his son Elah became king (see 1 Kings 16:8). Elah’s servant, Zimri, conspired against him. Zimri was captain of half his chariots. After conspiring against him, Zimri killed him, becoming king in his stead (see 1 Kings 16:9-10).

    “Zimri: As soon as Zimri became king, he killed the entire house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord (1 Kings 16:11-13). Why did he do this? “For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities” (1 Kings 16:13). Zimri was king for seven days. When the people heard that he killed Elah to become king, they made Omri their king. When the people did this, Omri went (and all of Israel with him) to besiege Tirzah. When Zimri saw the city was taken, he went into the palace of the king’s house and burned it — while he was still inside, killing himself (see 1 Kings 16:18). It was the Lord’s will that he die. Why? “For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin” (1 Kings 16:19). However, there was a division among the people.

    “Tibni: Half of the people followed Tibni to make him king, but the other half followed Omri. “But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned” (1 Kings 16:22).

    “Omri: The people made Omri king and he reigned for twelve years. He bought a hill in Samaria and built a city. “25. But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him. 26. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities” (1 Kings 16:25-26). Omri died and his son, Ahab, reigned in his stead.

    “Ahab: Ahab, son of Omri, reigned over Israel for 22 years. “30. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. 31. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him” (1 Kings 16:30-33). As we will find in our study, Ahab was a wicked king with a very wicked wife.

    “A Deeper Path: Notice that each generation seemed to be worse than the generation before them. When they rejected God and His commandments, the land filled with “darkness.”  See what Jesus said in John 3:19: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” 

    “Remember that Jesus came to set us free from that darkness to walk as His dear children in Him (the Light). “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

    “A Christian cannot walk in “darkness” (sin).  “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (1 John 1:6).

    “As Christians (God’s people), we are to be different — not like the “nations” around us (as Israel’s kings chose to be). “17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:17-18).”

    Are you like the wicked kings of Israel with their understanding darkened, because of the blindness of their heart?

    Or

    Are you light in the Lord, walking as children of light?