But we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we continue waiting eagerly to be made sons — that is, to have our whole bodies redeemed and set free. Romans 8:23
If you read the rest of chapter 8 of Romans you could make a case for the saved by grace doctrine, as it is very vague and can be interpreted in different ways. I know what Paul was really saying because I have the Spirit and the Spirit is the one teaching me what it means. As said many times, I choose to sit at the feet of the Lord and hear his truth, and not listen to other men tell me what they believe in.
Paul continues in verses 28-30 “Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!” And it makes my point, if a man only read these verses and listened to a man teacher making a point about grace and saying a sinners prayer, I could believe it if I did not know the Lord.
But I do know the Lord and I do read everything written and know that over and over and over it is written in the bible that we are responsible for our own salvation, to work it out with fear and trembling. That we are to be hearers of the word (that is hear the Lord speaking to us) and then doers of that word also. Being lazy and ignoring the Lord will leave you lazy and it will NOT glorify God, nor you.
Paul continues “If God is for us, who can be against us?… Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf!” verses 31,34 This is where so many get it wrong about Yeshua being some sort of lawyer and defending our sin on our behalf so we can remain in the sin. Yes he pleads with the Father on our behalf, but where does it say anything about because we keep on sinning and always will?
Another verse which trips people up is the one about falling short of the glory of God. Many times including this morning, Yeshua has taught me on this one, and the simple message is always this. That falling short of the glory of God can be sinful, but might not be. It might simply be an act of laziness. The example in my mind this morning is sleeping in. Maybe you slept in and missed your opportunity to work out before you went to work? This is lacking in order to be glorified, because if you keep doing it you get lazy and unhealthy. And the majority of the People do not ever work out, and then eat trash on top of it, which then does not glorify them nor God, because their bodies and fat show it. This is not one of the 10 commandments and not sinful as such, but it definitely does not glorify God, and it also will never glorify you. No one is going to tell you how good you look and how great you keep your body if you are fat. Well actually these days people do just to be nice or a “chrisitan” because we cannot say another person is fat or it is not “christian.”
There is also a line we cross over in this example where because our bodies are not right in order to receive the Holy Spirit, we are in sin. But sleeping in one morning and missing a workout, yet still maintaining a good body and not abusing it. Is not sinful, but also falls short of the glory of God, because we lack the discipline.
Do not fool yourself and think you can keep on sinning and disobeying the Lord which ignoring his truth and light leads to sin, where obedience leads to righteousness and there is no sin in righteousness. If you choose to ignore the Lord and do it your own way, he is NOT pleading with the Father on your behalf. He does not even know you because you do not have communication with him. And he says clearly, “they will come in my name, driving out demons in my name… And I will tell them away from me you who practice lawlessness, I DID NOT KNOW YOU!”
If you know him and obey his voice, he pleads with the Father when you fall short and even unto sin. But then a man who is in the Spirit is very unlikely to fall that short to sin and if he does he does not accept it as OK and keeps going back. He prays furiously and seeks the Help of the Helper the Holy Spirit, putting on the full armor of God, dying unto himself daily… A man of God hates sin and the dysfunction which comes from it, and does everything possible to defeat it in his life. A religious man relies on their doctrinal lies that it is OK with God as long as you did _____. Put in what your religion teaches in the blank.
David wrote in Psalms 119:160 “The main thing about your word is that it’s true; and all your just rulings last forever.” Keep in mind he did not have a bible, nothing he wrote like this was published for him to read what he was about to write. The word to him and me is the Lord himself speaking to us. And the part of his “just rulings” lasting forever is did we do as David did and seek the Lord, and then obey him, and repent like crazy when he fell short? Or did we ignore the Lord and live our own sinful life, because no man can live without sin in the flesh doing it our own way. And if we did our works will be our judge. If good works in the Lord, the judgment is unto life ever lasting. If bad works of our own, to damnation. That is the judgment and none of us knows until the day we die. We always have the opportunity to go back to our sin, and some do. They do not fight the good fight. Keep in mind what Paul wrote above “as we continue waiting eagerly to be made sons.” He is making it clear they are not sons yet, but they are hearing the Spirit and obeying so they can be made sons through obedience.
It took me around 6 years to actually receive the Holy Spirit and be set free after I started to hear God. And over those years the Spirit would show me and tell me what I need to change. And many times in difficult situations. Or through embarrassing actions. Like when I knew I had to stop drinking so much it was when one night I was so drunk I put my boat on the trailer where it was sitting on its side. When I saw it and had my neighbor come over and asked what happened, it was extremely embarrassing to me. I knew it had to stop, but it was a few months later before it actually stopped. Where I was set free from it and the sexual sin which so easily snared me.
Since those days, I have fallen short and drank too much, and know it. I cannot say it lead to sin, but it certainly is not what a man of God does. The point is this is where the pleading of the Lord with the Father comes in. I know when I fall short and or sin, and I know what I need to do to get back up on the horse, to get back in the race. And I do it! What I do not do is tell myself it is OK, the Lord understands and is fighting on my behalf as a lawyer to defend me to the Father. Because I know that is a BIG FAT lie.
Two other things on this subject, first my neighbor who came over told me it was OK I got drunk and did that. He was religious as a “christian.” He said it because that is what “christians” do is defend themselves and others as just being human and somehow God the Father accepts it. The second part of this is to make the point that this is why so many people never come to know the truth in Yeshua, because when Yeshua and or the Holy Spirit convict you like he did me. The religious people come in and tell you it is OK you are covered by grace. If you believe the lie like this, and others. You will NEVER die unto yourself to be born again, and no one who is not born again will enter the Kingdom of God.
At the time I did not understand this point very well and easily could have turned back and kept doing it. Because not one man ever told me what I am writing to tell you about what real grace is and what God expects from us, and then the fruits we bear because of obedience to the Lord. If my neighbor was a true Messian, he would have come to me and said something like, yes it is very wrong in the eyes of God, but do not despair and instead get yourself up and strive in the Lord to do better and defeat this. It is obvious the Holy Spirit is the one who is convicting you of those bad works. This is how we support our fellow true believers, the ones who will truly be brothers in Yeshua. Not telling them everything is OK, Jesus died on the cross for all your sins. And you are only human and the flesh will keep you in sin. A true brother tells you to keep up the good fight and anything they can do to help, they will.
The men believing the great deception or lie like this, also do not want to call your attention to your sin and encourage you to fight it and become perfect in Yeshua, because they want to remain in their sin and feel comfortable in it. We see it as good before the Lord when it is really bad, we are actually telling the man in the sin that we should ignore the Holy Spirit and rely on grace because in their minds this voice or feeling of doing wrong is the devil, not God. It does not profit a man to help you to overcome sin if they themselves do not want to overcome and change and be righteous, it brings condemnation on them. They also do not like to read this type of post because it also brings condemnation on them, so most argue and defend their sinful doctrine which allows them to remain lazy and in sin, and not fighting anything nor running any race. Just to stay living in the darkness they have come to know so well and are OK with.
As said many times, this is also why we do not strive and prosper in our physical life either. We choose to hear the excuses and live with the lies we tell others and ourselves. Lies as to why we are poor and it is not our fault. Why we are fat and unhealthy, why we are weak physically. Why we get drunk and do drugs. Why we beat our kids and abuse them. Why we….?
These are the fruits we bear and which God judges us on. And the reason we fall short on these works is because we ignore the voice of God in favor of the voice of men who tell us poor little old you! I feel sorry for you.
And they hate the man with the message like me who says there is a reason why you are broke, fat, unhealthy, ignorant and stay in sin. And God is judging you on this one point. It is because you refuse to hear and obey him and his Spirit. You instead want to rely on your religious beliefs, which are lies. So the simple message is if you truly want a better life, then stop doing it your own sinful selfish way and start listening to the Lord and obey him. Then your works will be the good works the Lord intended us to do from the beginning.
Paul finishes in verses 37-39 “No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.” Keep in mind when Paul is writing about Love he means what Yeshua said about Love. That those who love him will keep his commands. In other words, do what he says. If you do not do that then you were never in his love, you were in sin,and sin and love have nothing to do with each other. But once you are in his love and see how good it is and the good fruit or works you bear in his love and how incredible your life becomes in him. Then no one can separate you from it, you crave it more than anything.