EMPOWERED BY GRACE

 So I have been listening to many professors, physicists, doctors and scientists speak about quantum physics and quantum consciousness. It is fascinating! The thing I find absolutely mind-blowing is that it has taken these brilliant men and women years upon years to discover what God already shows us through the message of the Word. It aligns perfectly and it is the only reason I can keep up and somewhat understand what these physicists are explaining. If I had not known the Word of God for myself, I would never have even opened myself up to learn such things as they always seemed far beyond my comprehension. Luke 8:11 says that the seed is the Word of God. In Genesis 1: 11-12, we learn that after God separated the water and sky, he called for the dry ground to appear. He told the land to produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good! All the trees had the seed that reproduces life in them except one tree. Can you guess which tree? The tree that God told the man he formed, not to eat of, had the seed of death and not life. He told the man don't eat from it or you will die. Check out Romans 3:20. Through the law we become conscious of sin. Which means, the law provided the knowledge of sin. What is the knowledge of sin? It is the knowledge of good and evil. What tree did God tell the man not to eat from? He told the man not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was for the protection of the man that he not eat from the tree that would bring death. The snake convinced the man he would not die if he ate the tree. Little did Adam and Eve know that when they ate of the tree they took on the image of the evil one. Satan then thought he would exalt himself above God through man, that he would be their ruler and control them through unbelief in the Word of God, which is what sin is. Sin was in the world before the law was ever given. But sin was not charged against anyone where there was no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam who was a pattern of the one to come. 

What does all this mean? It means you and I were born into death and God so loved us that He sent us His Son that if we should believe on Him, He would save us from death. But before we would ever know we needed a Savior, God gave us the law through Moses. If we could obey this law we could set ourselves free from death. Sadly many professing believers are still trying to save themselves by means of the flesh, which is just another word for "apart from Christ". The payment for sin is death. Jesus paid that payment for us. Romans 6:5-11 tells us, "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be reunited with him in a resurrection like his." In other words, when Jesus died, we died with him, when he was raised, we are raised in him. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, Colossians 1:18. This is also backed up by Revelation 1:5. Go to Isaiah 53:12, Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured his life out unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he  bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the sinners. Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the LORD.

God became a man to save mankind from death. We cannot remedy this death we were born into. God spoke to the man he created. That man denied Gods Word and followed creation which could only produce death. Death reigned from Adam until the law came through Moses. When the law came it revealed the death of man. It did not produce death, it showed man how they fell short of the glory of God.  God did not give us the law through Moses for us to obey. He gave us the law through Moses to show us that we were dead because of sin. Before we unpack what sin is and what it actually means, think about Romans 6:10, "The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God."

What is sin?

In John 8:3 the Pharisees continually tried to trap Jesus. They believed sin to be breaking the law. The Old Covenant was about right action. The New Covenant is about right believing. In the law of Moses, the woman caught in adultery should be stoned. But Jesus said, "I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more." In the Old Covenant the sin was the action. But in the New Covenant it is a condition of the heart. The Pharisees had no outward adultery but in their hearts they were unfaithful to God. The law condemns but it cannot change the heart. The law exposes and condemns sin, but it cannot take away sin. When Jesus told the adulterous woman, "Go and sin no more," he was not saying, "don't commit adultery anymore," or "don't do the action of sin anymore." He was telling her to go and live for God. "Go and sin no more," is an empowering statement, not a command. He was releasing grace to her to go and sin no more.

The Blood makes us clean, the truth sanctifies us. The only way to reject the gift of grace is to deny truth. Christ was judged for sin. Sin has been dealt with. Sin is not an action we do. Sin is a state of being without Christ. If you are a Christian, your desire will not be to sin. Jesus never came to condemn. Jesus is the manifestation of the goodness of God. Go forward in a new direction and stop living your old lifestyle and live in the newness of Christ.

Romans 6:14, "For sin shall no longer have dominion over you. Because you are no longer under the law, but under grace." Grace always precedes transformation. When Jesus says, "neither do I condemn you," that is grace. When he says, "go and sin no more," that is the empowerment to live for God. Your old man was crucified. Likewise, reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin. Reckon means, take an account, reason, input, conclude, and think. Conclude that you are dead to sin. Dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. If you are not dead to sin, you have not been made alive in Christ Jesus. Go and sin no more, is the same as when Jesus told the lame man, "pick up your mat and walk." It is the same empowerment. Legalism always brings in hypocrisy. Jesus dealt with sin. If you are still dealing with sin, you are in unbelief. It is a heart posture. The law removes righteousness and reveals your sin to you. Sin is to miss the mark. The mark is Jesus. To miss the mark is to reject Jesus Christ. The doctrines and traditions of men nullify the power of God. We fell short of the glory of God before salvation. The unbeliever misses the mark. Sin is unbelief. Only the unbeliever in Jesus Christ will miss the mark, because Jesus does not miss. 

Read John 16:8. Sin is unbelief in Jesus. If the Holy Spirit does not convict you of sin, it's because you do not believe in God. He convicted you at salvation. If you reject the life of Christ, it is as an unbeliever. You cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit if you have salvation. Sin is the power of the old nature. Romans 7 is life before Christ, under the law. Romans 8 is life in Christ. The struggle of sin is pre-transformation. Sin is the old identity. You don't become a sinner when you sin. You sin because you are a sinner. When you receive grace, you enter into a new nature in Christ.

In 1 John 1:6, John is speaking to unbelievers in Christ. Light is salvation. Darkness is before salvation. Salvation is only found in Christ. Sin is unbelief, separation, missing the glory of God. Sin is rejecting grace. Grace destroys sin at the root. The sin between the believer and God has been dealt with. Nothing I can do can effect my salvation. Sin does affect my conscience and my conscience can keep me from receiving the things of God. Sin is not the same to a believer as it is an unbeliever. The Gospel (truth) will set people free from sin and release them in righteousness. Sin in the unbeliever is to miss salvation. Sin in the believer is to live a lower standard than that which God intended. To act outside of our new nature is sin for the believer. God is looking at your new nature not your old man. A child learning to walk is not in rebellion when he falls down. He is learning! Sin is violating the law of love.

Read Romans 13:8.

Bitterness does not unsave a believer, anything that is not from faith is sin. Whatever is inconsistent to your new nature in Christ, is sin. A clean conscience gives boldness to enter the throne room.

Sin consciousness is not a clear conscience. A clear conscience comes from righteousness in Jesus Christ. If your conscience is convicting you that means you are in sin. Only the blood can cleanse your conscience from dead works. The law always judges and rules you guilty.

Hebrews 10:16. My sins and lawless deeds (past, present and future) he remembers no more!

Sin is to miss the mark. Man missed the mark. Jesus did not miss. If it's no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me the mark is not missed because he does not miss! It is not wise or persuasive words that bring transformation. It's only the Power of the Holy Spirit. To grieve him is to cause him distress by trying to do the work yourself.

Romans 7:4, So my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God.

The realm of the flesh is the law. Flesh is the outward appearance. It is the way that seems right but leads to destruction. We die to what once bound us, we are released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not the old way of the written code. Serve means devoted to. We are devoted to the new way of the Spirit, not the old way of the written code. Commands don't bring life. They bring death. We were alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. Through the commandment we were put to death. The law is holy and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Sin used what is good to bring about my death. I was sold as a slave to sin through the commandment. It is through the blood of Christ that I am bought from slavery from sin- the sin that was made alive in me through the law that brought about my death and now the death I die I die to sin and the life I live I live for God. The law brought death through the commandment. From that death came the Son of Man. When Jesus was born of a virgin, he was the Word made flesh. Which means he is fully God and fully man. He is the only one qualified to die for our sins. He is the firstborn from the dead, who gave his life to secure the release of us who have been held captive by death, through sin. Death was the price for us to be brought back to our Father. Jesus paid it. We are no longer orphans. We are legitimate sons and daughters. Death no longer has mastery over us. Jesus defeated death, hell and the grave. If you are in him- you are a new creation. Therefore, now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Unbelief is condemned in the outward appearance because God became as flesh to be a sin offering. The righteous requirement of the law is not met by those who live according to outward appearance- but to those who live according to the Spirit. The mind governed by actions is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Walking in darkness is not to live out truth. If we are not living in truth it is because we are out of fellowship with God. But if we walk in the light (Jesus, our Salvation) as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. People who live in darkness and who pretend to be in the light do not have fellowship with others for fear that their false identity will be exposed. When Jesus suffered, he submitted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds we are healed. We were like sheep going away but now we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul. To believers, Jesus is the precious cornerstone. A Cornerstone is the feature on which a certain thing depends or is based, a foundation. It is the piece that joins two together. Jesus is the connecting piece that joins us together with God. But those who don't believe, to those who reject him as the foundation of salvation- he is a stone that causes them to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message. The message is only heard through the Word about Christ. The Word brings forth the message about Christ. When we hear the Word, faith brings us a message about Christ through the Word. Hearing a word is the action of perceiving an isolated signal, while hearing a message through that word only comes by faith. First it comes by sensation... hearing. Then it comes by faith. Jesus is the first and the last. He is fully God and fully man. All Deity lives in bodily form. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. The message that is heard through the Word is about Christ. Unbelievers stumble because the disobey the message. Unbelievers in Christ Jesus oppose, resist, deny and go against the message. People in the church today are still denying the message about Christ and trying to follow what the New Testament says without him. The exact way the Pharisees tried to obey in the Old Testament. If our obedience is not from faith, it is still disobedience. If we are still trying to obey our way into salvation and our obedience does not come FROM salvation then we are in sin. That was me most of my adult life. I guess that is why I am so passionate about helping people get free from DEAD WORKS! I was stumbling all over the place trying to please God with my vain attempt to do what the Word says. But this had to happen. It is the order of Gods design. The law brings death and Jesus brings life. We can keep dying and dying and dying but at some point we have to call up on the name of Jesus. At some point we have to trust him and believe in his finished work. At some point we have to move beyond death into the resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus IS the Resurrection and the LIFE. The new covenant is our new life in Christ Jesus. Let us take ahold of that Which Christ has taken ahold of for us! Go and sin no more!!!

Love Always, 

Talli