Chapter 5 Dealing with Big Sins Part 2: Next Steps after the Big Sins
Msg 5 Dealing with Big Sins Part 2: Next Steps after the Big Sins
"Big sins" are when you've made a mess. The consequences of big sins are that you make big messes. So, what's next? Let's say you're wanting to come back to the Lord and you're recognizing that the grace of God is for you, but you're also seeing your life is rife with consequences. The next step is to recognize the sovereignty of God as you're being reconciled to Him. This doesn't mean there's a problem between you and God. Remember Paul addressed the Corinthians who were in a mess, saying, "God is in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We're ambassadors for Him and we're begging you to be reconciled to God".
Reconciliation of the Mind and Walking in the Spirit
These Corinthians are reconciled people --- believers who have peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Paul reminds them that God is for them, and they need to be reconciled in their mind. If fact, all of us need to be reconciled in our mind. This reconciliation is about setting your mind on the things of the Spirit...walking in the Spirit.
Some people have asked me, "How do I walk in the Spirit?" According to Romans 8, to walk in the Spirit is simply to agree with the things to which the Spirit bears witness rather than agreeing with the spirit of bondage and fear. The spirit of bondage and fear comes with the law, which is a set of accusations against you. The law tells you all the things you shouldn't do and have probably done or tells you all the things you should do and haven't done. The law is a record against you. The law comes with an accusation and demands a wage, which is death. When we stay focused on the law and on sin, we shrink back from God and say, "This is my lot. I might as well continue this sin because I'm a slave to it. It has a hold on me. I owe the flesh. I'm a debtor to the flesh".
The Bible says God crucified the old man (Romans 6:6). You died to sin, and you died to the law (Romans 7:4). Sin shall not rule over you because you're no longer under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14). When you are stuck in "big sins", believing that you are under grace, or that sin won't Lord it over you, can be very difficult. Your conscience is defiled, and your sins are likely impacting the lives of everyone around you.
Our only hope is God's grace, which is extended to us in Christ, who has reconciled us to God and made peace with God for us. If we are believers, we are reconciled, and His grace is always available. However, our mind needs to be reconciled. Before we were saved, our mind was alienated from God through wicked works (Colossians 1:21). After being saved, engaging in wicked works alienates our mind. The mind of the flesh is carnal and unable to be subject to God's law --- it's hostile to Him (Romans 8:7). God has reconciled us, but if our mind is set on the flesh, and we are in unbelief, we still need to be reconciled in our mind. For this to occur we need to agree with the truth of the gospel and of our position in Christ, despite what we see in us and around us! We are told in Hebrews to "look away" from the sin that entangles us and look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). We do this practically by exercising faith, which means agreeing with what God has said that He has provided in Christ. There is no other way to be freed from the dominion of sin!
Neither Do I Condemn You
Recall the account of the adulterous woman. She went through a process where Jesus showed her the truth: "Where are those who condemn you? Neither do I condemn you" (John 8:10). She had to see that. This would have been a change of mind for her. She thought she was going to be stoned to death. She thought the Pharisees would kill her and that Jesus would applaud them. The Pharisees brought her to Jesus to see what He would do. The righteous thing for Him to do would have been to say, "Yes, stone her according to the law."
But according to the righteousness of God, Christ has been given authority to execute judgment. He was going to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. He's Jesus, the Righteous, and He, in that moment, showed her, "Neither do I condemn you." There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). If God is for you who can be against you (Romans 8:31)?
Seeing through the Imperishable Word
You've committed big sins and you are seeking a release. You're like the prodigal son, coming to his senses and realizing that it is better to be in the Father's house than in the "pig slop" (Luke 15:17). When you start coming back to God, you may say, "Well, it's better in my Father's house as a slave. I'll practice a speech, 'Lord, I'm not even worthy to be a slave in your house'" (Luke 15:18-19). However, while you're thinking this, and rehearsing your speech, God is running towards you! (Luke 15:20). Even while you seem to be a "great way off", He is running toward you! His plan is to put His robe on you and bring you to the feasting house!
There seems to be a journey home, but the journey is shortened when we see our Father's Heart. The Prodigal Son came to his senses, and started to head home, but he was still afraid. His mind changed when He saw His father running toward him with joy on his face and tears in his eyes. This is what real mind renewal looks like. This is the kind of renewal we need, but because our Father is invisible, we need to see it in the Word...the Word is His witness.
We need to believe what the Word says. The Word is imperishable. The Word goes out and does God's will --- it does not return to Him void. Just consider the power of the Word. I'm thinking about Colossians 3, Philippians 3, Galatians 3, Romans 3, John 3, and Romans 8. How many people have been set free over the years? Millions and millions of people over two thousand years have been reconciled to God through the important peaks in these passages! We are dealing with the Word of Grace, and this Grace is eternal! Grace is LIFE. Grace is Christ Himself. Grace is the Triune God.
In Luke 15, there are three parables representing the Triune God, the Shepherd and the Lost Sheep, the Woman and the Lost Coin, and the Father with the Lost (prodigal) son. Each story ends with a party! The Son is the Shepherd, bringing home the lost sheep. He's bringing you into the house and having a party. The woman who sweeps and finds the coin, representing the Holy Spirit, what does she do? She finds the coin and has a party! The Father meets the prodigal son and what does he do? He has a party! These are all pictures of God's heart toward us that show us He is waiting for us to be reconciled to Him, and that this is a matter of great rejoicing.
Ambassadors and Being Visited by the Father
Salvation is grace, the Triune God, working to bring you from a "lost state" and into the "party", into the feast, and into the rejoicing! The Book of Romans 7 ends with "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death"?! And then The Book of Romans 8 begins with, "there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" (Romans 7:23.) The Book of Romans 8 ends with "If God is for us who can be against us? If He did not spare His only son but freely gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things" (Romans 8:34). We come to our senses, we agree with the Lord, and we are eventually brought into the party. Between Romans 8:1 (no condemnation) and Romans 8:34, Paul tells us about the role of the mind. The mind set on the flesh, law and sin is death, but the mind set on the "Spirit" is life and peace (Romans 8:4-8). This is the mind that is set to agree with that which the Spirit of sonship bears witness to with our Spirit- that we are sons of God and heirs (Romans 8:15-17)!
In 1 Corinthians Paul beseeches us to "Be reconciled to God." He tells us that He is an ambassador of Christ who has been given the "ministry of reconciliation", because God was in Christ reconciling the world (including ourselves) to Himself not counting our trespasses against us. We need to see that this message really REPRESENTS God's heart, God's feeling, God's position and what He has really done for us. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). He's made us, Paul included, ambassadors of His grace and ministers of reconciliation, begging you to be reconciled to God to enjoy your position.
Being reconciled and enjoying your position is so difficult when you're in "deep sins", yet the prodigal son and adulterous woman did it. But was it really them doing it? No, it was God visiting them with the truth of who He is! Jesus visited the woman by saying, "Where are those who condemn you? Neither do I condemn you!" The Father visited the prodigal son by running to Him and embracing Him. The three parables (the shepherd and the lost sheep, the woman and the lost coin and the Father with the prodigal) should be considered together. In the parables, it's the shepherd who goes to get the lost sheep, it's the woman who sweeps to find the coin, and it's the father running to the prodigal who's come to his senses -- through the shepherding work of the Son and the sweeping work of the Spirit! The whole journey from "being brought to our senses" to starting to come home, to being reconciled to the Father and brought into the feasting house is carried out by God's hidden work. It is the Triune God's hidden visitation that draws us back to Himself and reconciles us to Himself. If only we lay hold of this!
When I was lost in my sin, I couldn't escape from God! I couldn't deny Christ. "Though I make my bed in hell, there He is" (Psalms 139:8). That verse used to resonate with me because I was trying to run from Him. I didn't want to deal with my sin anymore. I thought, "I can't stop doing what I'm doing, and yet, if I think about God, all I sense is condemnation and fear, so what am I going to do? I can't stop thinking about Him, I can't stop believing Him! I can't say it's not true!" Why? Because I'm sealed with the Spirit! I have the witness of the Spirit in me, testifying that Jesus is the Son of God and that He came in the flesh! I can't get away from it and yet I can't embrace it because my mind is alienated through wicked works.
The Spirit of Bondage and Fear v. the Spirit of Sonship
"Romans 8 begins with, 'There's no condemnation,' but it's for those who walk in the Spirit. If you're not walking in the Spirit, you are gripped with alienation, condemnation, fear, and death. You're gripped with a spirit of bondage and fear. But in the Spirit, there's something called the 'Spirit of Sonship'. Those who are led of the Spirit of God, are the children of God. 'For you have not received the spirit of bondage to bring you again into fear, but a Spirit of sonship in which you cry, 'Abba, Father'. The Spirit itself bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God and if a child, an heir' (Romans 8:15-16).
Consider again the story of the prodigal son --- he was in the spirit of bondage and fear (which is slavery terminology). As he makes his way back home, he's practicing a speech, "If I could just be a servant in your house..." What he really means is, "I can't survive out here. I'm not worthy to do anything!" And yet, the prodigal is a son and an heir!
What does the prodigal need? He needs his mind to be reconciled to the truth. The father throws the robe on him and gives him the ring. What is this? This is God visiting him with the truth to renew his mind. How is God working in my situation when I'm in such a mess? When you sin, God goes to work. He can't do anything for your joy until your mind is reconciled. That's why Romans 8 says, "The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace and the mind set on the flesh is death; those according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh. Those according to the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit." You're either minding the things of the Spirit, or the lies of the flesh, the deceitfulness of sin, which says you have no way to have fellowship with God and you're lost, which is death. Meanwhile the Spirit is interceding for you in your weakness, and bearing witness to the truth: "I'm a son and an heir, and God is for me."
Being Brought Into the Father's House
There's nothing you can do to remedy your situation. All the riches are in the father's house and in your situation, you seem to be outside of the house. That's how it was with the prodigal son before he got into the house. He was still hungry. He was still dissatisfied, and he was not in the house. He was on the road. While he was on the road, however, the Father embraced him, and gave him the robe and the ring. What is the robe and the ring? It's the representation of Christ's righteousness and the seal of the Holy Spirit, which is given to him as a token gesture, as a pledge, of the inheritance in the house. This represents the witness of the Spirit to our redemption and to our righteousness and our sonship. We need this on the way back to the Father's house!
In my own circumstances, I had to accept that, "I am what I am, and my life is what it is. The people around me have suffered what they suffered." And I eventually cried out to the Lord, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" I've prayed before, "Lord, just kill me. If I'm going to keep sinning like this, just kill me. All I'm doing is reaping corruption. There's no point of me being alive. I'm damaging everything and I can't stop." Then, through the grace of God, He got through to me that there's forgiveness through Jesus Christ. He pointed me to Christ...and Christ on the cross. He showed me God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. He reminded me that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, yet it was so difficult to believe! This struggle to believe is our weakness. And in that weakness, the Spirit is interceding for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26).
During this time, another scripture He gave me, "The bruised reed he will not break, and the smoking flax he won't quench" (Matthew 12:20). This means He deals with you tenderly and gently, knowing you are fragile. He will keep visiting you and visiting you and visiting you with the truth while interceding for you and bearing witness. He will do this even while you continue to sin. If you are His, He is doing this for you even if everyone around you who's a Christian can't fellowship with you. You are never alone! However, the only answer for your peace and your joy and to return to "walking in the Spirit", is to have a change of mind about your position in Christ and actually embrace it.
Up to the point where the father throws the robe on the son's shoulders, embraces him, and places the ring on his hand, the prodigal was walking alone in the spirit of bondage and fear, practicing his speech to his father, begging to be made a servant in his house. The prodigal was likely confused by the father's welcome, and the father just had to overwhelm him. The prodigal's rehearsed speech ceased, and he was reminded that he's an heir. The robe is the righteousness of Christ which justifies and positions you as a member of the house, a citizen with the rights. The ring says, "Yes, he is the heir." The son is not destined for slavery!
The Affirming Witness of the Spirit
Maybe the son thought, "The father hugged me and he's happy, but when I get into the house, he's going to beat the daylights out of me!" Scripture doesn't reveal what the prodigal thought of the father's reception, but the father would have been speaking encouragement to him, "I'm so glad you're back! You were dead! Now you're alive! I'm so glad to see you!" He would have been affirming and reaffirming him, just like the witness of the Spirit affirms that you are a child of God and an heir. We need this assurance on our journey! In our journey, we are weak! Romans 8 goes from, "The mind set on the flesh is death," to, "The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Finally, we are told that those who are led of the Spirit of God are the children of God, and that we have not received the spirit of bondage again or of fear, but a spirit of sonship in which you cry out, 'Abba, Father'! The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and are heirs and co-heirs with Christ!"
I've been teaching on the covenants and that the Seed of David has an inheritance. We're co-heirs with the Seed! Our position is secure! We are co-heirs of all things with Christ! This is precisely what the Spirit is bearing witness to, just like the father telling the prodigal, "No, you're not going to be a servant in my house! I'm going to make a feast for you!" Did the prodigal deserve it? No. Did he do anything to earn it? No. However, to enter the enjoyment, the son's mind had been changed about the father, or he would have remained in fear the entire journey! He wouldn't have had any appetite when he got to the house. It doesn't matter that the father makes a feast if the son is terrified.
The Spirit Intercedes
Because we are here in weakness, it is hard for us to believe our position. So, Romans 8 goes on to tell us of the Spirit's intercession. After telling us the Spirit of Sonship is in us bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Paul tells us, "The Spirit helps us in our weakness, but we don't know how to pray as we ought; the Spirit intercedes with groanings that can't be uttered" (Romans 8:26). We are familiar with this groaning. On the one hand, it's a groaning because of the futility of the flesh and the weakness and the difficulty to believe in the midst of our situation. Our crying out, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?" This plea probably springs from the interceding of the Spirit in our weakness, but it's also from a general sense of futility that this age is not for me, nothing in it satisfies, and it all turned out to ruin.
This change of mind is a journey and a process. First, we see there's no condemnation. Second, we see we're reconciled to God and an heir, while also seeing that nothing in this life satisfies. We experience our weakness and our difficulty to believe we're an heir. It challenging to enter the joy. We cling to the one good thing we have, which is the Gospel of our salvation! But Jesus is there along the way and the Father is there along the way. Jesus is bearing you home as the Shepherd and the Father is walking along with you.
Again, it is important to consider these parables together. Jesus found the lost sheep and carried him home on His shoulders. While He's doing that, the Father is walking with the prodigal, telling him about his inheritance, encouraging him, and the Spirit is sweeping for that lost coin! The reason we fall into sin is because we also have lost something. We have lost the joy of our salvation and the sense of our inheritance. How? Through bad doctrine and through the lack of knowledge. The Spirit must sweep all of this out. This is all part of the journey. He does it through the intercession.
Paul talks about how the whole universe is subject to futility --- groaning and waiting for the manifestation for the Sons of God to be revealed. He discusses the predestination of the Sons of God, stating, "All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, those He called, He justified, and those He justified, He glorified" (Romans 8:28-29). This is past tense! It's guaranteed. It's secure! There's nothing that can separate you from the love of God - neither life, nor death, angels, myself, my sins, nothing! The love of God in Christ --- that's why I know all things work together for good and He leads me in triumph! As an heir, I am an heir of the Father's blessing, the Son's Shepherding and the Spirit's sweeping intercession. We are safe in His hand, and of all the Father has given Him, Christ has lost none (John 18:19). Our journey home from "big sins" is the same as everyone's journey to knowing Jesus Christ - learning and becoming assured of this truth!
Grasping Your Position and Enjoying the Feast
The peak in Romans 8 is the feast, the rejoicing. Because of God's wondrous grace, He takes wretches like us and sets us up in the heavens, giving us a feast! But there was a journey to get there. There's a journey in our Christian life to reach the peak of joy and that peak of joy is our strength! The Joy of the Lord is our Strength (Nehemiah 8:10). That's the feast He's prepared in the presence of our enemies, and it comes from a reconciled mind.
The path is to be reconciled to God and to agree with the things to which the Spirit bears witness. This is so difficult and it's why we need the high priest interceding for us. It's the same thing described in Hebrews where they're staggering back and forth between the promises of God and unbelief and temptation to go back to religious works, or to simply wallow in sin. They have a high priest and an anchor for their soul within the presence of the veil and their high priest is interceding in their weakness (Hebrews 6:18-19). What weakness? The weakness that makes it so hard for us to believe God is for us, despite all He has provided and spoken.
Once you get a glimpse of your justification, you can begin to grasp this. Your situation, if it's a mess, is seemingly contrary to the will of God. You might think you're out of the will of God, right? This is why Paul takes us on a journey from condemnation in Romans 8 to the description of our predestination as Sons.
Predestination of Sons
Calvinism has ruined predestination for many people. If you say the word "predestination", you'll be labeled a Calvinist and the conversation may immediately shut down. Unfortunately, a crucial element of security in Christ is missed. The Sons are heirs of something called "predestination" and only sons are predestinated. Predestination is not unto salvation; it's presented as predestination unto sonship and inheritance. The term encompasses the fact that God knew you from the foundation of the world in Christ, that He chose you in Him, that He foreknew you in Him, and He predestinated you unto sonship (Ephesians 1:4-5).
This predestination is according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace in which He made you accepted in the beloved, in whom you have redemption and forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. He's putting His grace on display in you (Ephesians 1:5-8). Predestination includes all the things God works in time and space to make sure His sons are brought into their inheritance. That literally means everything!
In Ephesians 1, Paul prays that we would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may know the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. (Ephesians 1:18). We are God's inheritance, too. Paul prays that we also would know the greatness of His power and His authority: "what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."
What is Paul saying there? He's saying Christ has the authority. We know that Christ has authority over everything, but why? For the church, to the church. He's head over all things to the church. According to Ephesians 1:10-13, He is working ALL things according to the good pleasure His will. And what is that will? To produce the masterpiece of God...to bring the sons of God into their inheritance. The sons are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ and glorified. He's going to bring them into this inheritance. For a son of God and an heir that means everything in my life is according to God's sovereign will.
Foreknown in Christ
The predestination of sons is not Calvinism. The Calvinist believes you won't be saved if it's not God's will. But God's will is that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For those who do come to the knowledge of the truth, it is that they were foreknown and chosen in Christ. They're known in Christ and not known in Adam.
How are sons known in Christ? They're members of His body and God is showing forth the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness to them in the ages to come in Christ! (Ephesians 2:7). God is doing this as the One who sees all things --- the end from the beginning --- He's already spent that time, so how can He not know you? Of course, He knows you! He doesn't love you with just the general love with which He loves the world. He loves you as a member of the Body of Christ, accepted in the Beloved, a co-heir the with the love by which He loves the Son. "As the Father has loved me, so I loved you. I've loved you with an everlasting love" (John 15:9; Jeremiah 31:3).
The High Priest Who Reconciles Us
It's difficult to understand that His mercies to the righteous are from eternity to eternity. He knows us! It's not that we know God, but that He knows us. This is what puts us in the position and then we grow in the knowledge of Him. For this, He's given us a high priest to deal with us in our weakness and He's working. His high priestly prayer is backed by authority because He's a king priest. He has authority over all things in heaven and earth and He's head over all things to the church (Hebrews 8:1). When He prays, He has the right to do anything He wants --- to bring you through the journey and to reconcile you to Himself.
As part of this journey, your mind needs to be reconciled. He lets you see the corruption of the flesh, so that you'll agree with Him in His judgment on the flesh, finally saying, "I'm crucified with Christ. God is not expecting something from my flesh --- He's expecting something from the life of Christ in me" (Galatians 2:20).
Submitting to God's Discipline
We need to learn to walk according to the Spirit, which is simply to agree with who God is and what He's doing." We eventually will see what we are with our weaknesses and how it's caused so much heartache for those around us. But we also see that even this mess is all accounted for in the sovereignty of God. It's even being worked together for our good. This is what it means to be subject to God, to submit ourselves to God, and to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt us. This is what it means to know His discipline.
One of the best examples in scripture is David. He shows us how to deal with being disciplined by God. David acknowledged that God was the author of his circumstances, that He ultimately couldn't escape from God, and that God was behind him, before him, and set his hand upon him (Psalms 139:5). David was utterly dependent on the mercy of God, and he knew God was for him. Because of this, David could submit himself to everything, including the judgments of God. David recognized that while there are consequences in his life, God is also there.
This is the ultimate understanding of grace. It sounds like a license to sin, but where sin abounds, grace much more abound. Just as sin reigned unto death, grace now reigns through righteousness unto eternal life (Romans 5:21). Grace reigns because I'm an heir. It's because of God, not because of me. I can't fix my situation. I can't make it better. I can't improve myself. I can't stop doing the things I hate, and I can't start doing the things I want to do (Romans 7:15). I am dead to the law. Through the law, I died to the law, and I agree with God's judgment (Galatians 2:19). I'm crucified with Christ.
You don't have to be super spiritual to agree with God about the judgment on the flesh, you just say, "O wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" This is a recognition that I am dead and everything I do is death and everything around me is the product of me sowing to the flesh.
Perhaps you lost a wife, lost a household, and then ended up in the wrong marriage. You were desperate. You were running from God. You experienced such a sense of filthiness and shame that you shacked up with somebody merely because they accepted you. Eventually, you said, "Well, I guess I'll just marry this person," even if you didn't want to, but you felt as if you had no control over your life anymore. Then you woke up and realized you're in a bad marriage and you've married the "wrong person". It was in your sin and your depravity that you made that decision, and now your whole life is the consequence. You're in this terrible situation.
The flesh says, "Okay, I made a mistake. I was wrong. I'm going to get right with God and I'm going to leave this situation." NO! Leaving the situation will put you back in the flesh. This present situation is for your good and it's from God! Now, please understand, I'm not talking about someone in an abusive situation, but about someone in a marriage where both are believers, and both are coming back to God but having so many problems. Perhaps you wouldn't have married this person now, but because you're reconciled to God and you're submitting to Him, you must account for the fact that, "Yes, this is the bed I made, and I have to lie in it. It's my grave and my grave is different than the world's grave because I'm planted in the tomb with Christ."
"Christ's tomb was in a garden and it's the planting place for resurrection. It's where the grain of wheat was planted, so the life could come out (John 12:24). See, if you can submit to Him, God has an infinite number of things He can do to turn your situation into a blessing."
Submitting to Him is not gritting your teeth and angrily obeying God against your will, it instead is final acknowledgement that, "I can do nothing to remedy my situation. Anything I do will only make it worse. Where shall I go? This is it. This is my life now." You begin to trust God to turn everything into good. You don't even know how He'll do it, but you recognize you're not going to be the one to lift your hand as that's what got you into trouble in the first place.
Understanding the Father
The prodigal started with a wrong concept of the father. He wanted his father dead so he could have the inheritance. He didn't understand the father's love until the father put the robe on him after his long miserable journey away from Him. The prodigal didn't know his father's love. He thought the father was going to make him a servant in his house. The older brother also had a wrong concept. He thought what the father wanted was his labor. "I'm working out here, working in the field. You never threw a party for me!" The older brother didn't realize he could have enjoyed a feast at any time. Because we are sinners, this is the way we think. God must reconcile our mind. He allows us to go through whatever we need to go through until we agree. This is more important to Him than your reputation, the cleanness of your life, and your situations.
Christ is the head over all things. Every circumstance is working together for good for the church. If you are the Lord's purchased property and you've been redeemed. If you believe Jesus died for your sins and rose for your justification, the devil does not rule your life, nor does your sin. Everything that led you to the point of accepting Christ and everything that happens thereafter is God's will.
Please understand, Christ is not the author of sin. James touches on this, calling God the "Father of lights, in whom there is no variance or shadow" (James 1:17). When you're tempted, you can't say, "I was tempted of God." No, you followed your lust and then sin came and death came because of sin (James 1:13). On the other hand, though, God is sovereign and He's the Father of lights. You're His child and you were born as a kind of first fruits of His creation...born of His will. James talks about, "Submitting yourself to God that he may lift you up in due time." And further states, "If any of you lack wisdom, ask from God, who gives liberally without upbraiding." God gives wisdom liberally, without rebuking you for being a fool.
No, you are in your sins because of your foolishness. You lack wisdom because you lack a vision of who the Father is. Wisdom is not, "How do I live my life?" Wisdom is knowing Christ. Therefore Paul prayed that we'd have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us that Christ was made unto us "wisdom from God". In fact, all of Paul's prayers are about wisdom for us to know the Father to bring us into rejoicing. Paul says in Colossians that he prays for us to be, "Filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual understanding and wisdom to please Him in every respect, strengthened with all might unto joy, with all patience and long-suffering and joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us for the share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light (Colossians 1:9)".
It's wisdom to know who you are in Christ. Wisdom tells me I can submit in my present situation and not run from it. I'm not saying you engage in the sin...I'm addressing when you already did your "big sins" and now you're living in the mess. You hope you never do them again and you're completely throwing yourself at the mercy of God. The next step is to see who He is. He is for you. This is covered in Romans 8. It's the journey into the Father's heart to see that you can submit to God and He's not against you, He's for you. When you realize this, you're able to submit to your circumstances in your circumstances. I don't know how to change my circumstances and I can't make them better if I try. My present situation is a result of my own foolishness and I'll just produce another set of circumstances with more consequences by trying to change it on my own. That's what got me in trouble in the first place.
Learning to See that God is for You
This is what transformation is about --- the renewing of the mind to where you acknowledge who God is, know who He is, and submit to Him. You're now the prodigal son, walking with the Father while being encouraged by the Spirit. You're the adulterous woman to whom Christ says, "Neither do I condemn you." You're the lost sheep, being carried by the Shepherd. And in these parables, if you're not being carried by the Shepherd, it's because you're walking along by yourself, going off the path. If it's not the Spirit searching you to give you wisdom, then your own carnal mind will come up with erroneous concepts. If it's not the Father walking you home, no one has the authority to let you in the house, give you the feast, and tell the servants to make sure you are fed.
Our peace will be found in finally surrendering to God. If we think He's against us, we'll not submit. This is what Paul's talking about in 1 Corinthians --- to be reconciled to God...He's not counting your trespasses against you. The 1 Corinthians were very carnal. They had so many sins against them, and it was defiling their conscience, keeping them from coming forward to Christ. Why? Because of their ignorance, because of their unbelief. What do they need? They need a vision of Christ, but that vision can't come unless Christ visits them...they'll otherwise not see it. In Genesis, we see Abraham's knowledge of who God is and his ability to walk forward every time. But this was first supplied by a visit from God. The God of glory visited Abraham (Acts 7:1-2), gave him a vision, and spoke to him.
I have no idea how I ceased some of the sins that plagued me. I haven't been on porn sites in years. For every guy, this is a major struggle. I say all this in fear and trembling because I know what's in my flesh. Please hear me. I'm not boasting as if I've accomplished anything...what I'm saying is I don't understand the mercy of God that took me away from those behaviors. All of this is the Shepherd carrying me.
"There's a fundamental thing when you clearly see that, 'If God doesn't carry me out, then I'm not getting out.' Then, as He starts to carry you out (and He will), you'll see, 'He's for me! I'm the righteousness of God in Christ! I'm predestined! I'm saved after all, even though I'm this big sinner!' It's crucial to get this right in your mind and when you do, you experience total assurance that you have eternal life, that you agree with God's testimony concerning His Son, and that what you heard from the beginning abides in you."
This is the message we heard --- the promise of eternal life. He has given you eternal life. How do you know you have eternal life? Because you believe in the Son. The witness of the Spirit never left you, even when you were in "big sins". This witness is why you couldn't run away and be able to sin without thinking about God and without worrying about the consequences. Nope, that's why it's so miserable being a Christian living in sin. There's no such thing as a Christian just doing whatever they want to do and being happy.
We do eventually do what we want to do, which is to submit ourselves to God and wait for Him to raise us up. We must agree that He predestinated everything and even brought me through the whole journey, knowing I would fail, knowing He gave me the inheritance. He gave the prodigal the inheritance while he was still alive! No, the father didn't tempt the prodigal to sin, but he knew what was working in the son's heart. When the son says, "Dad, give me my inheritance," you know something wrong with the relationship! And yet the father gave it to him. Why? Because he needed to go through all that to learn who his father was.
Being Put on Display
God needed to allow man to fall. He needed to have the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden. Some people wonder why God even put or allowed it to be in there. Everything would have been perfect! But realize there is a wisdom we gain, where God's attributes are put on display, and there is a side of Him we wouldn't otherwise know. In Peter, it says we're brought into a state of rejoicing. We haven't seen Him, but we love Him and we rejoice with joy unspeakable, full of glory, receiving the end of our faith the salvation of our souls of which salvation the angels inquire into (1 Peter 1:9).
God knew from the beginning what He was going to do, and He did it this way to put certain things about Himself on display through His work in the church. "The riches of the glory of His grace," is put on display by bringing us under the Sonship. God delights in transforming a worm like Jacob to become Israel, the heir.
See, the angels knew God was powerful, glorious, and holy. They were made His ministers to do what He commanded. They were created to execute His commands, why? Because that's what they do! But now, through the fall of man and the incarnation, God is putting things on display that the angels would never have known or even thought of before. For instance, what is compassion? What is weakness? What are tender mercies? What is reconciliation? What is humiliation? Jesus was humiliated to become a servant...to come in the likeness of a man, to be found fashioned in a man, and even to die the death of a criminal. What is condescending? Jesus condescended to a low estate, to partake of flesh and blood, so that He could taste death for all of us and bring us into glory. What is His perfect patience and mercy towards sinners? God justifying the ungodly who work not but believe on Him who justifies the ungodly. (Romans 4:5). What does it mean to walk by faith? The angels see God, but man walks by faith and yet we love Him because of His love for us. In a way, the angels can't even understand this now.
God is displaying all of this to the angels and Christ is what's being put on display. Christ is being manifested as God's righteousness and His propitiation of our sins...our justification. God is just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus, even though he works not. Though we were ungodly and enemies, God is just, and He has the authority to reconcile Himself to us and establish peace with us. He has the authority to even bring us into the inheritance, to glorify us, and to predestinate us to be sons of God, brothers of Christ, and co-heirs with Him!
God Is Not Done with You
See how important it is to understand that the inheritance is secured by justification? One of the reasons I stayed in sin was because once I did my "big sins", I thought God was done with me and that I had disqualified myself from the inheritance. Even though I was saved and knew I was saved that entire time, I still couldn't go on in my Christian life because I thought God was done with me. But the good news about predestination is God's never done! You may plead for Him to leave you alone, but He says, "No, I'm NOT leaving you alone! I'm already working for you!" What He wants is for you to be reconciled to Him in your mind, so that you learn these attributes He's putting on display through His redemption. He is glorifying Christ through your bad journey. No, He's not the author of your bad journey --- He allows it, though, because He knows how He'll work it out and bring you through it.
"Hear me! There's no such thing as a Christian who is rendered of no use to God because he's sinned too badly. There's also no such thing as a Christian who's disqualified himself of the reward because the 11th hour laborer gets the same wage as the one who worked the entire time (Matthew 20:9). Our reward is based on the generosity of the Lord. We may lose some opportunities, and I won't rehash all that again, but the point is you are not useless to God! He's not giving up on you! He is still working in you."
Submit yourself to Him until He gives you this vision. That's part of His reconciliation --- He's interceding you for you in your weakness and He's bringing the New Testament ministry to you, describing the riches of the glory of His grace which has made you accepted in the beloved. Agree with this and then see that God is not done with you.
The prodigal son, who was in the pig slop, working for a wage...he originally went out with all his money and could do whatever he wanted...yet now he's working for a pig farmer. You know God's not done with him! You may have come to what you see as a checkmate, but resurrection is made available when you are put to an end of yourself and now God can start to express His life in a more open way.
Christ is the Next to Move
When I talk about our death with Christ, I always say that the next person allowed to move in the tomb is Christ, the risen One. We're raised together with Him and it's His life that God wants to manifest. His life can't manifest while you're not reconciled to Him and spinning your wheels trying to make things work for yourself. That's what the prodigal son was trying to do...trying to make the inheritance work for him according to his own rules. When we're reconciled to God, we finally agree with all His judgments on sin and His condemnation on the flesh --- that it's crucified.
Agreeing with these things, however, doesn't cloud our vision that He's for us and loves us. My journey didn't separate me from Him and even now, He's even using the consequences of my life for my good. He's writing a story that I couldn't have written! If you resist the urge to run, ten years from now, you'll see the blessing God works in your life through your present circumstances. Just stay still. Don't move until you know God's leading you in a direction and don't count your suffering in the equation. You may be suffering because of the consequences, and this is where a lot of people start reasoning, "Well, if I'm suffering, then there must be something I can do to alleviate the situation." Then they start questioning, "Is this situation God's will? What if I leave?" Using the marriage example from earlier, that person may begin accusing their spouse of much more than what they're even guilty of to justify the next bad decision they'll make. No! Stop making decisions for yourself. Instead, start absorbing the truth of God's Word and stop eating food from the pig trough.
Discerning What You Consume
You need to be brought to the feast. Cleave to the New Testament ministry. Separate yourself from error. A lot of people come to YouTube because their life is a mess and they're looking for comfort. Each day, they get a little morsel, but they're still lying down in the pig slop. Some of the food is good, some of it's bad, and they'll eat anything. They're starving. The one thing you can do is judge what you're eating and say, "Okay, I'm only going to eat the food that actually nourishes me with Christ and supplies me with Him, reconciles me to Him, and shows me who I am as His child. These are what we call "identification truths". Identification truths are what is yours because of your position in Christ, apart from your condition, no matter how bad it is, because God is for His heirs.