This post has already been read 284 times!
THE BELIEVERS BIBLE STUDY
with Paul B Thomas
In conversation with my Muslim friend who does not believe that in Adam we all sin,’ consequently he does not see the need for all by Christ to be saved. Scriptures clearly teach both sin and salvation from it. Were it not for one man’s sin, then we would not need one mans sacrifice for sin. Salvation and Jesus is therefore the divine solution to man’s problem today, we call sin.By one man’s sin entered into the world. Not only is sin therefore in the world today, so is the guilt of it, both sin and guilt is imputed to us all, because we by nature are sons of Adam. We inherit not only his sin, but the depravity and corruption of his nature. His DNA. ‘In sin did my mother conceive me’ (Psalm 51:5). To say we have no sin is to dismiss the conciousness of it, why go to a mosque to pray and ask forgiveness if you have no sin? surely is the consciousness of sin that makes a man pray five times a day, is it not?The OLD MAN. (Ephesians 5;22). Sin makes the old man deformed, I’m talking of the carnal nature of the unregenerated man, the man that knows not God, he who is born in trespasses and sin and is ruled by the SIN NATURE. ”Original sin has its vim coactivam the power of the law which binds the subject to allegiance” (Thomas Watson). The sin that binds the first perfect man binds us all, surely if Adam could be tempted when he had no TV, no lustful movies to watch, no Hollywood media outlet to bombarded his mind, no city life to entice him, no boredom to lure him, no sinful companions to ensnare him, yet he in a perfect environment found the enemy of the soul and the enemy of his soul found him. How much more we should be conscious of our sins.Adam was our representative when he gave in to sin, so did we, when he fell so did we, when he lost it, we lost it. When he died, we died. Sin is our master as long as we remain under its law of sin and death. ‘They weary themselves to commit iniquity as a man that follows his game while he is weary yet delights in it and cannot leave it off (Jeremiah 9:5). I hear men all the time say how fed up they are with things, even life, yet when confronted with Christ, scorn and reject his message of deliverance from their misery. He is powerless to break the very chains that bind him, ‘drinking iniquity as water,’ (Job 15:16) Ever thirsting for more.He keeps laws, yet he cannot keep his heart from idolatory, he fasts and prays, yet his lust grows more and more that which he loves he too hates and that which promises freedom takes him more into bondage. ‘No man is justified by the law in the sight of God’ claims the apostle, (Gal 2:16). A man is justified only by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians2:16). ‘Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.’Original sin defiles the heart. Original heart contaminates the conscience, sin says the apostles ‘dwelleth in me’ it is a weight, a burden, an enemy of our soul. Yet we love to sleep with it. ‘ What I hate that I do’ says Paul (Romans7:15). Original sin, is there not a remedy, a deliverer, a healer? Show me one man who has solved the sin problem for all men, is it found in religion, or does religion make me twice the more conscious of my own failures and sinfulness? Does religion give me power over my enemy or does it make me a slave to it? If in Adam we all sin, then who is the man in whom we all live?For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Romans 8;5-7).The carnal mind is enmity against God. ENMITY: logic without God’s opinion. Carnal reasoning discounting God. Enmity in the Greek ‘Echthra’ from ‘Echros’ meaning ‘enemy.’ The Mind of the carnal man is an enemy of God. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. (Romans 8:7NLT). For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. (ESV) The friendship of the world is “enmity with God” (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15, 16). The “carnal mind” is “enmity against God” (Romans 8:7) so that with the mind we cannot please God (Romans 8:8). Without The Lord an unregenerated mind follows its natural course of doubt, unbelief and fear. Filled with negativism it opposes the truth of God himself. Sure, many have a positive mind but I read the other day how even Tony Robins admitted to the folly of having a positive mind. Yes, positivism without a transformed mind through Christ is temporary. Only Christ has the power to transform one’s belief from being world ruled to God ruled.THE NEW MAN.Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. be. (2 Corinthians 5:19,2).Salvation requires that a man must be born of God, that is ‘born anew’ or ‘born from’ above or ‘born again’ (John 3:5,16).In Adam we all sin, we inherit his nature and his natural desire to sin. CHRIST is the second Adam who starts a new family lineage of righteous men, the family of God. Those born not after the will of man but born in the spirit, Sons of God.Religion has no power to change the nature of man, it can only reinforce his nature.Only the creator can change a man’s heart, and only men born of God can become new, with a new heart, a new name, a new nature.Religion cannot deal with the sin question, only Jesus has dealt with the sin problem.TBC…