Where will you be 10,000 years from now?

Do you want to have a pure conscience before both God and man? Read this little booklet, it can lead you into a true Christian experience. Read it with your heart, remember, only those that hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled!

Today we have many denominations claiming to be the "True" Church, and knowing the right way to God. You will be told to do and believe many things. More often than not one group or organization will contradict the other. Where can we find the truth? And how can we know that we are on the "right road"? Good questions! Let's turn to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for the answers.   Jesus said in Matthew 7:13 - 14  "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

There are two gates, one is wide and opens up to a road that is broad, but it leads us to hell and after that, the lake of fire, the other gate is strait and narrow, and opens up to a road that leads to Heaven, the Lord Jesus, and our Heavenly Father.

Take note of the fact that it is easy to end up in hell, it is difficult to end up on the right road! We have many things working against our being on the right road. I personally believe that modern religious denominations are, and will remain to be the main vehicle that the Devil will continue to use to that end! For example, the Lord, John the Baptist, and all of the apostles, John, Peter, James and Paul, just to name a few, taught that a man must REPENT and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to receive the forgiveness of sin and be restored to our heavenly Father. Today the word repentance is played down or not used at ALL in modern evangelism. Without repenting, we will not get anywhere with God! Almost all modern evangelism has stopped using this word "repentance." I think that the Devil has done his job well, getting the various denominations to stop using the very act that God demands, REPENTANCE.

Modern evangelism has also tired of preaching the law of God. Today the focus is on everything, except the one thing God designed to use in order to show us our transgressions "The Law." It seems today that even mentioning the "law" is going against the grace of God! The greatest preacher of all times, Jesus Christ, preached the LAW, Jesus wasn't afraid to preach the law of God, He preached nothing else to get sinners to see their sin. Only the light of God's law will allow us to see the wrong in our life. We don't need a Savior until we see ourselves as sinners! And we never will see ourselves aright until the light of God's holy law is put before our face. Read Galatians 3:24 "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Now observe, modern evangelism has eliminated this, it refuses to use the very thing God designed to lead us to Christ. Allow me to illustrate; Before I repented, a man came to me and told me I was a sinner and needed Jesus! I told him that he didn't know what he was talking about, I thought that I was not just a nice guy, but one of the BEST! You see the preacher was trying to sell me on my need of a Savior, before I was convicted of sin, before I saw just how lost and in danger I was. He tried to lead me to Christ, but without teaching or showing me my SIN!

Now mark me well, I am not saying that we are saved by the law! Nor can we be! The law was not sent to save us, but only to show us our sinfulness, and to demonstrate to us our need of a Savior, Jesus Christ. And there upon lead us to Christ!

What a victory for the Devil, convincing preachers that this "new way" of Modern evangelism is better than the way God intended. Friend, if you have been "talked into being saved" and have not seen the sin in your life, and have not repented, then you need to be saved. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. This is God's standard for Christians, quite different from the standard the worldly Churches advocate. One day I met a black man by the name of Charles, I saw my sin by beholding the very image of Jesus, that shown forth in his face continually, for he walked constantly with the fruit of God's Spirit evident in his life, the way he lived his life convicted me of SIN. He did not have to preach to me, for his very life was the best sermon that I have ever heard!

The Two Roads

The easy road to follow has but few rules, and you get to make the rules yourself! You can do as you please, you deny yourself nothing. On this road you are the most important person in the universe. All others are less important than you.

The road that Jesus traveled, the one that leads to Heaven, is a difficult road, and as He said in Matthew 7:14 "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." You must love your neighbor as you love yourself, you need to realize that God loves others as much as He loves you. He is interested in them as much as He is interested in you. So God expects us to live for our neighbor's good, as much as for our own. Focus on the way Jesus lived, that is the way God expects us to live. Not repeating the same ministry as Jesus, for only He could do that, and it is done! We are to have the same mind as Christ; 1 Peter 4:1-2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Something of importance that Jesus said!

Reading in Luke 10:27 "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." What is it to love the Lord with all of our heart? When we love someone, we will find ourselves thinking on the goodness and loveliness of the one we love at all times. We will resist being distracted from the one we love. Just as a young man, when he is in love with a young woman wants to be with her whenever possible; so it is with the person who truly loves the Lord with all of his heart. We will pray to Him at all times, and when we are not being distracted by our work, we will be thinking on the Lord.

The Big Difference

The big difference between a Christian and a sinner is, selfishness. The Christian is converted from a state of being consecrated to selfishness, to a state of being unselfish. The sinner is selfish, but often times, does not see himself as such. The sin problem in mankind finds it's very root in selfishness. We always choose for self, our motives are always wrong until we yield to the Holy Spirit's persuasion and our motives are changed, from selfishness to unselfishness or love. In other words we are "born again."

The Solution

We can not deliver or save ourselves. We didn't call on God first, He called to us! Let us read Ephesians 2:1- 9 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Take note of the word "formerly" Whenever the Bible talks about a Christian and sin it always uses the "past tense" with words like "formerly" or "were" because Christians have been delivered from the power of sin. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Anyone that has been saved from sin, knows for a certainty that it was the work of God's grace and that God did it all!

we need to see just how wrong our motives are, even when we are in the process of doing something we think is good! Yes, when selfishness is in our hearts we never do anything from proper or pure motives.

Have you ever given something to someone, but didn't feel good about it until others found out about it! When we are loving our neighbor, and give him something that he needs, we have a very warm feeling just seeing his need satisfied. We need not have others even know about what we did! Ah, but if the deed had a selfish motive behind it, then our reward would not be complete, until someone found out about it!

The solution only comes when we find out this one very important fact, we can't save ourselves! We don't even want to until God's precious Holy Spirit pays a call on us. The Holy Spirit will show us our sin by means of revealing to our minds the holiness and goodness of God's law. By showing us Jesus Christ! When our minds fasten on the goodness and wonder of Christ, we see ourselves as undone, unclean, and all-together filthy. At this point we will try to reform, we will try "not to sin" we will try to be like Jesus, to follow His example. And when we apply all of our mind and strength to this task we make a startling discovery, Romans 7:19 For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. We find that sin is our master, the more we struggle against it, the stronger it's grip becomes on our life, and we become more aware of our bondage. Now we are ready for a Savior!

We discover that we are wretched. (Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?) We begin to look for some power outside of ourselves! The name of this power, this power that can overcome the bondage of sin in us, that can deliver us to the uttermost, is Jesus Christ!

How can we receive this power over sin?

By repenting of the sin attitude and all of the sin in our lives, when we repent, we can then believe that Jesus WILL save us from our SIN. And don't miss this, the very thing Jesus was sent to save us from, was sin; Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins.

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Who Will You Deny?

The Bible tells us to deny ourselves, read Luke 9:23, And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. This is a command from Jesus Christ, the One that was sent to save us!

What happens when a fireman in the process of saving us out of the burning fire, tells us to do something, like "stay low to the ground and follow me" If we spurn his instructions will he be able to save us? Or will we perish in the fire? If we are willing to follow the advice of mere men, how much more should we follow the advice of the Son of God! Jesus is attempting to save us from a much bigger fire than any we shall ever encounter here on earth. And I am compelled to add, a fire that will never go out!

Now Let Us listen To His Instruction

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me. First of all, if we want to "come after Him" we must deny ourselves! What did Jesus mean when He said we must "deny ourselves." A preacher of old once said, "Denying ourselves and taking up our cross isn't a little side issue, it is absolutely necessary to becoming or continuing to be a disciple of Jesus. If we don't practice self-denial, we aren't His disciples. It's useless to try to follow the One who was crucified without taking up our own cross daily. Unless we deny ourselves, it will be impossible not to deny the Lord. But so many who have written about self-denial, don't seem to have an understanding of the subject. Either they couldn't explain it to others, or they didn't know how far to take it, or they didn't sense the absolute necessity of it. Others speak of it in such a dark, mystical way that the average man can't understand what it's supposed to mean."

Here are some of the aspects of denying ourselves

This doctrine of "denying ourselves and picking up our cross" is the very heart of Christianity, without this being true in the practice of our lives, we are but hypocrites! This very attitude was the central theme in the life of Jesus, and He has instructed us to follow Him in this example.

Three things stand in our way of obeying our Savior!

The World: This doctrine of self-denial is the very opposite of the spirit that is in the world. The world says, "get all the traffic will bear." The Lord said, "do unto others as you would have them do to you." Worldly-minded professors HATE this doctrine. They want the dignity of being called a good person, a Christian, but do not want anything to do with the very thing that makes others admire the Christian, his or her love for others, that is daily demonstrated by their self-denial!

The Flesh: our "old man" our "flesh" our "old nature" (many ways of describing the self life that we all have before we are born again.) The flesh wants to rule again. The very last thing the flesh wants us to do is deny IT! We must not yield to the flesh, and we don't have to! Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. And also Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

The Devil: Satan hates the very thought of our denying ourselves. He appeals to the selfish nature. Satan knows that when we follow Jesus down the path of self-denial that he has lost his power over us. The "strings" have been cut! Others will see that the Christianity we possess is real. By living this way, we demonstrate every day of our lives that we believe the reward in Heaven is truly worth more to us than all this world has to offer. The Devil doesn't like us to deny ourselves, for when we deny ourselves we are denying the Devil, also.

How do we gain victory over the world, the flesh,

and the Devil?

It is given to us by our Savior, Jesus Christ. The very thing Jesus was sent to save us from, was sin. Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins. The very root of all sin is selfishness! The fact that we deny ourselves is the proof that we have truly been born again from above, to a new life, the very life of Jesus.

How does this victory come to us, through our trying very hard to be "Good"? NO! Our best efforts are a stench in the nostrils of the living God! Jesus was sent to save us because God knew we could not, and would not save ourselves! Salvation begins with God calling us; it is a demonstration of His grace. All of our efforts always fail. Something of interest, is the fact that the reason for our failure is not that we physically can't obey God, but rather because the sin problem in mankind is selfishness. We always choose for self, our motives are always wrong until we yield to the Holy Spirit's persuasion and our motives are changed, from selfishness to unselfishness or love.

Look at what Paul said. Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. Hypocrisy is the result. And the world recognizes hypocrisy! Have you been born again? Have you been raised to newness of life? Or are you still living the "self" life, denying the Lord almost daily?

Remember that we will deny someone. We will either deny the Lord or ourselves! Who will you deny? . . . . Will you ask, "how can I live consistently, a life where self is denied, instead of the Lord of glory?" The answer to this question is simple, you can't! But Jesus can do it for you, if you will but allow Him to. Some may ask "How"? Let me tell you how this greatest of all miracles was accomplished in my life.

First of all I came to a place of hating my life, I could see that what the Lord asked, I rarely did. I began making excuses to the Lord, "next time Lord I'll do it." Then I saw a pattern in my life, I seemed to always please myself and never the Lord! And that brought me to a place of misery. You see I read my Bible and therefore knew better. When I read my Bible it condemned me, for my life didn't line up with the examples of the other believers in God's word.

I came to a place of despair, one night as I laid my head on my pillow, I asked the Lord to put me in HELL, I saw that hell was where I belonged. I began to see myself as one of the most wicked persons that had ever lived! (This too is the grace of God. If we never see our sin as God sees it, we will never truly repent with that repentance caused by a Godly sorrow.) When I awoke the next morning I wasn't in hell, but still alive and in my bed! I didn't know it then, but I had truly repented with a repentance that I would never repent of.

Having begun this new life in Christ, I wanted to finish my course, with the new and pure conscience, that God had given me. I had tried to please God before, but never did. The one thing I had learned, is that my best efforts would always end in failure. And so I stopped trying to live the Christian life, and left the job of my salvation, and the way I walked, to the living God. This is the way of faith. This is what the Lord was explaining in Hebrews 4:3-9 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My wrath, although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; and again in this passage, "They shall not enter My rest." Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart" For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

The Old Testament Sabbath was a "type" of "rest" spoken of here in the book of Hebrews, be very certain you enter this rest, God's rest!!!

The flight upward

Let us look at the progression of steps the sinner will follow as he starts out to respond to God.

1. You will find out that the way you have been living your life is
2. wrong, you have been living a life of sin. You have lived your life as if God didn't exist! You may learn this from the Bible, an evangelist, or from the example of the unselfish life of a Christian you have come to know.
3. Now you know that you are a sinner, God is not happy with the way you are living your life.
4. As a result of this knowledge, you tell the Lord that you will try hard to follow Him, you will reform. This is where the fun begins, now, for the first time in your life you discover the bondage you are in, when you try to do right, sin raises it's ugly head. When you try the hardest to do right, wrong results, even faster. The harder you try, the greater the failure!
5. As the feeling of wretchedness sets in, you realize your need of help from the outside, someone to save you from this body of death. Now and only now will you be ready to look up. No one needs a Savior until they realize that they are indeed "lost." Let me make an observation here, many times people try to "Talk" someone into "accepting the Lord" before they are convicted of sin. We are proud critters, and we think we are as nice as anybody else. But when the Holy Spirit does His job of conviction, we are ready for a Savior!
6. We learn that God will forgive our sin, all of our sin, if we repent.

What Repentance Is Not

1. It is not simply being sorry. The drunkard, after waking up the next morning in the gutter, smelly, cold and hungry is very sorry about his plight. He is sorry about being broke and hungry, but before the sun is very high in the sky, he is trying to figure out how he will gather enough money to buy wine and get drunk all over again!

2. Sorrow is a part of repentance, The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that a Godly sorrow will lead us into a repentance that we will not repent of! But the sorrow of the world works death. The sorrow of our plight does not lead to repentance. Our sorrow should be about our treatment of a Holy God who paid a precious price for our redemption!

What does the Bible word repentance mean?

1. Turning from sin in shame and disgust, with a resolve never to do it again.

2. A change of mind (heart) not just remorse, regret or a feeling of being sorry.

3. Repentance is a hatred for sin, all sin.

Now God bestows a clean, new, pure conscience in the believer. He knows his sin is forgiven and the result is JOY! A peace that is deep and abiding.

We have arrived!

Now the new believer starts to live by God's word the Bible, and to follow Jesus. Things are going swell now. Selfishness looks like a terrible thing to him now. He has a desire to learn even more of the Lamb of God. Everything seems at peace. . . But. . .

The Flight Downward

In order to walk upright before God and man, we need to fight the good fight of faith, daily! When we first start walking with Jesus, we are like little children. Whatever the Lord asks we do without questioning. Remember now the three forces that are constantly working against us, The world, the flesh and the Devil.

The Devil isn't happy about losing his influence with us, and so he goes to work, (overtime,) at the same time old habits start to call, and as if this wasn't enough the world steps in now to pay a call.

The world, the flesh and the Devil never sleep. Our victory is always given to us moment by moment, and maintained by the Holy Ghost! We must be led daily (all day long) by our Lord. If we take over, we will fail. Next we enter the world of unbelief. When our conscience is no longer pure, we soon give up. Next on the agenda we no longer see any reason to deny ourselves, and so we stop denying ourselves and plunge head-long into sin, (selfishness)! And then returns, the terrible trio, self-indulgence, self-regard and self-worship!

Another way to fall from walking with God!

It depends a great deal on the reason we repented! Observe. If the motive for our repentance was for our own happiness, it won't last, Christians often encounter persecutions. In fact, the Bible promises persecutions to all that live Godly in Christ Jesus! And so if our motive was to be happy, our repentance will be repented of! The world or the Devil will offer something, that will be tempting. The power of the temptation is in direct proportion to the desire we have for the thing being offered. We will give in to selfishness. On the other hand, if the motive for our repentance was our sorrow for our treatment of a Holy God, for the way we have trampled the commandments of the Lord, we will weather the storms of the world, the flesh and the Devil! When temptations come we will have strength in our God. Our love to God is too great for any temptation of this life, for you see, our God allows us to look into the next life. When this happens, nothing in this life is worth what our God has allowed us to see on the other side!

Remember, the command of Jesus is this, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Let me remind you of this one fact, when God commands us to do something, He will move heaven and earth to help us accomplish the thing He has asked us to do!

How To Live in Constant Victory

Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

What is God trying to tell us?

It is commonly taught that a believer, even after being born again, will continue in sin and not be able to always obey God! Sin we are told is a fact of life, "as long as you are living, you will be sinning!" If this is true then what did the apostle mean by "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body" I believe the answer can be found in Romans chapter 6, God starts off this chapter with a question from the apostle Paul, Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" This is a rhetorical question, Paul, often uses this approach in his writings.

In Romans chapters four and five, God went to great lengths to advance the fact that our salvation can not be earned or granted by our effort at obeying the law! Paul had said in Romans 5:20 "And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded." After writing this, the Apostle Paul didn’t want anyone to think that he was saying that sin was normal, or that God didn’t mind sin now! So in order to let everyone that reads his letter to the Romans know that the grace of God was not a license to sin, the apostle asks a rhetorical question "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" Let’s look at his answer to this very important question. Romans 6:2 "God forbid, How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" This is preposterous! How is it possible for anyone born of God’s Spirit to even consider continuing on in sin? Is not "REPENTANCE" the very thing that God demands from us in order to forgive our sins, What is repentance? A sorrow about sin? NO! Repentance is turning from sin. In the Aramaic the word repentance means simply "Stop sinning."

The apostle John has something interesting to say about sin and the believer, let's listen to John, 1 John 3:4-10 "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." John is very definite about sin, he tells us that Jesus appeared to take away our sin, and if we abide in Him we won't sin! "Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil." It appears that John was not told about imputed righteousness, for it is obvious that he did not believe in it, and my friend you must not believe in imputed righteousness either. This Scripture is teaching us just the opposite, "the one who practices righteousness is righteous" If you have a practice of sin in your life, you do not have a practice of righteousness. Take note of John's warning, " Little children, let no one deceive you" This deception is rampant today, but please listen to God's word, and not to preachers who teach against God's word. And now to the point, "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Did you read this, do you understand what God's word has just said! "No one who is born of God practices sin" This is true, I know it goes against modern preaching, It might be that your pastor does not believe this, but, mark me well on this point, it is the word of God! If you have a practice of sin in your life you need to be saved! You need to be born of God! If you have been told that you are born again, this Scripture is telling you that someone has lied to you! For it is obvious when someone is truly born of God's Spirit and verse 10 is what makes it obvious, "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." Remember you can't have a practice of sin, and a practice of righteousness at the same time! Now for John's test of our knowing the Lord, and truly being born again, 1 John 2:3-6 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. And again in 1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. John says that the proof of our being born of God is a practice of righteousness in our lives!

When we are born again, we are set free from sin. No one would want to go back into bondage. Romans 6:3 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?"

When we follow the Lord Jesus Christ into baptism, we are giving testimony to the world that we have died to sin (self will). We are saying to the world "our old self (man) will not rule us anymore, Jesus is the Lord of our life now! Jesus will now rule us!

Why are we buried with Jesus? Romans 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." God expects us to walk in newness of life, not continue in sin! If we follow Jesus in dying to ourselves (not letting our old self "man" rule us anymore) we will walk in newness of life. Here is the promise: Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: Now remember I didn't say this, God did. When God promises something He will do It! No longer do we need to be in bondage to sin or anything, "Whom the Son sets free, is free in deed"!

Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Read this carefully, do you know this about yourself? Is your old man crucified with Christ? If so, you no longer have to serve sin. Look at what the Lord wants us to do instead, we are to "walk in newness of life." Are you "walking in newness of life?" Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. Have you died to self? Is self-will and stubbornness absent from your life? Romans 6:8 "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him."

It is important that you do not miss this very important experience. Have you died with Christ? (meaning "to self") Romans 6:9-11 "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

This word "reckon" is important, it means to consider it done. We are talking faith here, you must believe God and "reckon" yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. When you do, you allow God to perform a mighty miracle in you! Let me add this comment: for many years I searched for a way to be "dead indeed unto sin" only to find that I was very much alive to sin the next day! Self-will was alive and well in me, the one who wished to be "dead indeed unto sin."

The answer to this dilemma is for you to see the folly of man, to find out for yourself that all of your effort at being a "Christian" will end in failure! That in order to live the Christian life you must be a Christian! In other words, Christ must truly be alive in you! He must be leading your life, He must be your life! All of the above statements seem simple, and they are, but until you discover that your best efforts at obeying God and living a right life will always fail, that nothing good dwells in you until Christ dwells in you, that being born again is nothing else but the life of Jesus being formed in you!

Right here is a good place to allow Bro. William Law to say something on the subject of "self" -- "Our memory is the faithful repository of all the fine things that self has ever done; and lest anything should be lost or forgotten, "self" is continually setting them before our eyes. Our will, though it has all the world before it, yet goes after nothing, but as self sends it. Self's understanding is ever looking for new projects to enlarge the dominions of self; and if this fails, imagination comes in, as the last and truest support of self, she makes him a King and mighty lord of castles in the air. This is that full-born natural self, that must be pulled out of the heart, and totally denied, or we can not be a disciple of Christ; which is only saying this plain truth, that the apostate self-idolatrous nature of the old man must be put off, or there can be no new Creature in Christ."

Until you are born again of the Spirit of God, you only have self to draw from, you will yield only to self-will. You must see yourself as not just needing a little help from God, but needing the grave, so that you can be born again. You must give up trying to be a Christian with your Flesh or "old man", only when you realize that your best effort is a stench in the nostrils of God, will you cry out "(Romans 7) "O wretched man that I am, Who will deliver me from this body of death!"

Now, and only now, when you have come to know yourself, will you be willing, nay in wholehearted agreement with Christ being the master of your life, with full desire of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you. After you have submitted yourself to God, you are ready for God’s next commandment. Don’t forget, when God commands you to do something He will move heaven and earth to help you do it! Who can stop God? NO ONE! Now here is the commandment, Romans 6:12 "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." Here it is God has commanded us to "not allow sin to rule our lives", and we can do just that God said it, I believe It, and that settles it.. Romans 6:13 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Now that God has set you free, standfast in the freedom wherewith God has made you free! "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness" What is meant by members? Your EYES; don’t look at anything that is filthy. Your EARS: Don’t listen to anything that is filthy or wrong. Your HANDS: Don’t do any thing wrong, steal, or hit people, etc. Your FEET: Don’t walk into a wrong place. Remember, God never commands us to do something that we can not do. The fact that God commanded it, is the proof that we can do it!

Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace." Many people say that this verse means our sin is not counted against us because we are under grace. But, this line of reasoning is ridiculous! Listen to the apostle Paul as he explains what he meant by this verse. Paul begins with another rhetorical question: Romans 6:15 "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!" God never meant for us to think of grace as a "license to sin" but rather a "license to be FREE FROM SIN"! Romans 6:16 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Now listen to God carefully here, If you yield to sin (self will) you will die. But if you yield to God you will gain righteousness. Look at the choice that the people at Rome made. Romans 6:17 "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Romans 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Notice that the Bible doesn’t even hint at us continuing in sin, but rather becoming servants of righteousness. Romans 6:19 "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness." Romans 6:20 "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness." Romans 6:21 "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death." Romans 6:22 "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The Victory!

The Old Testament Promise Of the Gospel

Allow me to share the main Scripture that has always given me hope of what my God will do, when things seem to be going wrong.

When we understand the depth of this promise given to us by the One who never lies, and never disappoints, Our victory is assured! God will always give us victory in this life of self-denial. Ezekiel 36:25 - 27 "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." What a promise! God will cleanse us from all of our filthiness! That word filthiness means sin! Do you see that God has promised to remove all of the sin in our lives! But that’s not all, God will remove all of the idols in our life! An idol is anything that you worship, or love greater that the living God, we can't remove from our lives the thing we love the most and live for, but with our consent, God can and will! "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Then God will remove our heart of stone. The Bible uses the word "heart" to refer to man’s will, the place we make our decisions (the decision to obey God or our flesh.) Notice here that God refers to a stony heart, this means a stubborn, rebellious will (heart). We won’t stop being rebellious and stubborn on our own, so the God of love removes this rebellious (heart) from us and replaces it with a moldable (heart) "And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." And now after heart surgery, we are ready to receive the most precious gift anyone could possibly receive, God’s Spirit. (And I will put My spirit within you.) But God knows that this is still not enough. Look at the next part of this promise. And cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. Now God has committed Himself to cause us to obey Him! What more need we ask of Him. This is the faith part, will you believe God? Will you take Him at His word? Will you place your faith in Him, now, today? Please take note of the fact that God is the one who does all of these things! This is important, I will repeat it. God is the one who does it..

After reading this little booklet, it is easy to see the difference between the saint and sinner. It is the same difference as between two people, one of which always practices self-denial, and the other who practices selfishness! Compare this with the statement Jesus made when asked which is the greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37- 40 "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Can you see, to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, you must be delivered from all selfishness? If you will serve the living God, you must be a man or women of prayer, remember, nothing of importance is accomplished in this world without prevailing prayer. No blessing on earth can be compared to communing with our heavenly Father in prayer.

We have a Gospel that can't fail, the Gospel has not changed, we have been given but one Gospel. The problem is this, the Gospel that Jesus gave us is not being preached. What is being preached is a counterfeit Gospel, it is all take, with no self-denial. It is usually proffered with an appeal made to your selfishness (You will be happier, you won't end up in hell, so on and so forth.) This Gospel never works!

Do not forget that all of the good that we may do in the course of our life, will be the result of our abiding in Christ. All of the fruit that we may bear during our life, is always the result of our abiding in Christ.

If we don't bear fruit, it is only because we are not abiding in Christ; John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." Do you know this about yourself, that, apart from Jesus Christ you can do nothing? If you know this about yourself, then you certainly realize your need to abide in Jesus Christ

A Few More Words From Bro. William Law (1686-1761)

"Every time we find ourselves not ready to do good of all kinds, to all that we can; every unwillingness to rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep with them that weep, and love our neighbor as ourselves; every aversion to be inwardly all love, and outwardly all meekness, gentleness, courtesy, and condescension in words and actions towards every creature, for whom Christ died, makes us schismatic. "Though we gather together daily into one and the same place, joining in one and the same form of creeds, prayers and praises offered to God, we are destroying the church unity, which makes us one with Christ, as our head, and unites us with men as the members of his body.

"That this matter is true; that true church unity consists in our walking as Christ walked, fully appears, from this Scripture, and many others like this one, the very words of our Lord himself: "Ye are not of this world, as I am not of this world, but I have chosen you out of the world." Therefore to be contrary to the world, as was Christ, is the one necessary and full proof of our being His, of our belonging to Him, and being one with Him.

"No man can call Christ Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Therefore nothing is, or can be a divine service in the Church, which has Christ for its Lord, but what has the Holy Spirit for its beginner, doer, and finisher. For if it be certain that no one can own Christ as his Lord, but by the Holy Spirit, then it must be equally certain, that no one can serve or worship God through Christ his Lord, in any other way, help, power, or means, but so far as it is done, in, and by the power of that same Holy Spirit. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh; that is, whatever proceeds from, or is done by the natural powers of man, from his birth of flesh and blood, is merely human, earthly, and corrupt, and can no more do anything that is heavenly, or perform a service or worship that is divine, than our present flesh and blood can enter into the kingdom of heaven.

"This is what the apostle has said, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." And consequently if not His, he can perform no divine service to Him. Nor can any worship cease to be carnal, or become divine, but by its being all that it is, and doing all that it does, by the power, and presence of Christ dwelling in our souls, and helping us by His Holy Spirit to cry in truth and reality, Abba Father.

"If it should here be asked, "how we are to become and continue to be worshippers of the Father in spirit and truth?" It is answered; "all consists in turning inwards, in attention to that, which is daily and hourly stirring, living, and working in our hearts." Now though the Scripture nowhere gives this direction in these very words, yet, since it is said in Scripture, that God dwells not in temples made with hands, but in the temple of our hearts, since the kingdom of God is said to be within us, and not to come with outward observation, but to be in us, as a secret, living seed of the incorruptible Word. Since our heart is our whole life, and we are said to live, and move, and have our being in God, it is directly telling us that we are to turn inwards, if we would turn to, and find God. It is directly telling us, that in what manner we are within, as the worship is done there, so is God in such manner within us. And that he is no otherwise our God, our life, our rest and happiness, than so far as the working of our hearts, is a willing and choosing, a hungering and thirsting to find, feel and enjoy the life giving power of His holy presence in our souls.

"To be inwardly therefore very attentive to God, showing the good and the evil, distinguishing the light from the darkness in our own souls. To listen to the voice of His ever speaking Word, and to watch the moving of His ever sanctifying Spirit within us, waiting and longing in the spirit of prayer, of faith and hope, of love and resignation, to be inwardly quickened and revived in the image, and according to the likeness of that Son, in whom He is well pleased, is the worshipping of God with our whole heart and soul, in spirit and in truth.

"Every Church distinction is more or less in the corrupt state of every selfish, carnal, self-willed, worldly minded, partial man. And is what it is, and acts as it acts, for its own glory, its own interest and advancement, by the same spirit, which keeps the selfish, partial man solely attached to his own will, his own wisdom, self-regard, and self-seeking. All of this needs to be removed from every church, or Christian society, in order for it to be a part of the heavenly Jerusalem. All of this is that which may be called its own, human will, carnal wisdom, and self-seeking spirit; which must all be given up. How can this be given up? Only by turning the eyes and hearts of all its members, to an inward adoration, and total dependence upon the supernatural, omnipresent God. To the inward teachings of Christ, as the power, the wisdom, and the light of God, working within them every good, every blessing, and all purity, which they can ever receive, either on earth, or in heaven. Under this light, I am neither Protestant, nor papist, I am not Baptist nor Pentecostal.   I cannot consider myself as belonging only to one society of Christians, in separation and distinction from all others.

"God is always present, and always working towards the life of the soul, and its deliverance from captivity under flesh and blood. But this inward work of God, though never ceasing, or altering, is yet always, and only hindered by the activity of our own nature, and faculties, by bad men through their obedience to earthly passions, and by good men through their striving to be good in their own way, by their natural strength, and a multiplicity of seemingly holy labors and contrivances. Both these sorts of people obstruct the work of God upon their souls. For we can cooperate with God in no other way, than by submitting to the work of God, and seeking, and leaving ourselves to it.

For the whole nature of the fallen soul, consists in its being fallen from God, into itself, into a self-government and activity, under its own powers, broken off from God. Therefore dying to self, as well to our reason, to our passions and desires, is the first and indispensable step in Christian redemption, and brings forth that conversion to God, by which Christ becomes formed and revealed in us. And nothing hinders this conversion from being fruitful in all good, and gaining all that we want from God, but the retaining of something to dwell in as our own, whether it be earthly satisfactions, or a righteousness of human endeavors.

"But we can in no otherwise worship God in spirit and in truth, than as our spirit in truth and reality, seeks only to, depends only upon, and in all things adores, the life-giving power of His Holy Spirit; as the creator, upholder, and doer of all that is or can be good, either in time or eternity. For nothing can be good, but that which is according to the will of God, and nothing can be according to the will of God, but that which is done by His own Spirit. This is unchangeable, whether in heaven, or on earth. And this is the one end of all the dispensations of God, towards fallen man, i.e. to bring man into union with God. Comply with all the outward modes and institutions of religion, believe the letter, own the meaning of scripture facts, symbols, figures, representations, and doctrines, but if you stand in any other use of them, or seek to gain some other good from them, than that of being led out of your own self, from your own will, and own spirit, that the will of God, and the Spirit of God, may do all that is willed, and done by you. However fixed, and steadily you may adhere to such a religion, you stand as fixed and steadily in your own fallen state. For the restoration of fallen man, is nothing else but the restoration of him to his first state, under the will and Spirit of God, in and for which he was created."

What is worship?

More often than not, people believe that when they go to Church and join in the service, sing, pray and listen attentively to the sermon, that they are worshiping the Lord. This may be true, they may be worshiping the Lord, but then they might not be worshiping the Lord at all!

What is Christian worship? Let's turn to God's word for the answer, Romans 12:1 "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." This is an urgent message as far as the Apostle Paul is concerned, for he says "I urge you therefore, brethren" Now he goes on to say "by the mercies of God" yes it takes the mercy of God for this to be accomplished. We must present our bodies as a living, and holy sacrifice! Pay close attention to this phrase "living, and holy sacrifice" When we sacrifice something we "lose it." When the old testament priest sacrificed an animal, it died! God wants us to be a living, sacrifice not a dead one. Being a living sacrifice is much more difficult than being a dead one, but this truly can be accomplished by the mercies of God. Let's look into this; each day when we awake in the morning, we present our mind, body and soul to the Lord, to do with as He pleases! To lead us in His path of peace, to use us for His Kingdom. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:15 "and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." Is it not fair, seeing that He died for us, that He should ask us to live for Him! This is an example of presenting our bodies as a living Holy sacrifice. When we live for Him, and not for ourselves, we are in truth "no longer living for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf".

When someone abuses you and you turn the other cheek, you are a truly "presenting your bodies a living and holy sacrifice"

When you obey our Lord's teaching in Matthew; "And if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you." When you obey the Lord in this, It can truly be said of you that you are, "no longer living for yourself, but for Him who died and rose again on your behalf".

And this is true for all of the things that the Lord has taught us. You see we will sacrifice our lives or if we fail at this, we will be sacrificing His will!

Remember, nothing short of this is "your spiritual service of worship"

The Holy Spirit's Work In The Believer

It is important to understand the actual work of God's precious Spirit in the life of a believer. We can not save ourselves, we need the God who is in us both to "will" and to "do" His good pleasure. Here is the Scripture that brings to light a very important aspect of the Sanctifying work of God's Spirit, Romans 8:13-14 "For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Do you understand this, we don't "go it alone" God's Spirit is the one who puts to death the deeds of the body! We need to lean on God's Spirit for this, He is the one who does it! Many people will say "yes it is all grace and not works" and after saying this they go to work. Often times when things start to go wrong in the life of a believer they will try to "Fix" the problem by reading the Bible, or praying or some other work. Not understanding that all that is needed is to turn inward to God's Spirit, and look to Him to restore all the ills of the human spirit. Ephesians 2:8-9 is not a theory, it is a fact!

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." Many, many people quote this Scripture, then go and live their life as if this Scripture was wrong, or didn't exist! Jesus said apart from Him we can do nothing, do you believe Him? If you believe the Son Of God, then put Romans 8:13 into practice in your life, for if you don't, you will be "ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Your conscience will be forever stained, none of God's power will be evident in your life. You will not be able to say with the saints of God "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 And again, "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4.

The 14th verse in Roman's 8 is also very important, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God". The Spirit of God is our guide in our new Spiritual life, if we are not led by God's Spirit we have only three other sources to follow, the world, the flesh and the Devil! If our life is in line with this Scripture, then we have proved ourselves to be Sons of God.

If on the other hand we are not continually led by the Spirit of God, then we are being led by one of the three sources mentioned above. This must be true, for we can only draw from God or one of the three other sources, the world, the flesh and the Devil. When this happens the results are always the same, we are unfruitful, for God, but very fruitful for the Devil! The deeds of the flesh soon make themselves evident, our conscience is stained, we either go head long into hypocrisy are turn completely from the Lord.

May God show you your absolute need to follow the His Spirit continually.

What does the Lord want us to do!

In the second book of Corinthians we find our responsibility spelled out for us. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 "Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." This Scripture is very important, for we are told that God has committed something to us, "the word of reconciliation." If you have truly been born from above, you know intuitively how that came about, you are aware that the Spirit of the Living God now dwells in you. You have been redeemed! You now have a deep abiding joy that needs to be shared. God is counting on you to share this experience with others, "We are ambassadors for Christ." and as such, we have a mission, to lead as many souls as possible into the Kingdom of God. We are to be lights set on a hill, we are to "let" our light shine before men, that the sweetness of God can be seen!

Do you realize this, NOTHING we do on this earth can be compared to leading a soul out of slavery into the light of God's love! Many people do not see the necessity of leading others to Christ, they feel that others are more qualified, if you have experience the new birth, you are qualified!

Many people feel inadequate to this task, let me share with you the way to victory in leading others to Christ. First, you must have a burden for lost souls, without a burden for the lost, you won't pray for the lost, if you don't pray for the lost, you won't have the desire, nor the power to lead others to Christ. You might say to me "I don't have any opportunities to share Christ with others, this is because you have no burden for the lost. Or at best it is only an excuse. I have witnessed many times the transformation in both men and women, when they pray and ask God to give them a burden for lost souls all of a sudden one opportunity after another comes their way!

Lets focus on the one all important pastime of believers, prayer! Do not neglect this all important, wonderful pastime. Nothing on this earth can change the life of a believer like prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 instructs us to "pray without ceasing" you can do this, I have prayed while talking to others, I have prayed while driving a car, (with my eyes open!) I have prayed while flying an airplane, I have prayed while working. To make this easy, let me say I have prayed during just about every human endeavor. The Lord likes this, if we allow the Holy Spirit of God to lead us into this life of prayer, we will truly be fruitful. For you see, we must certainly be abiding in Christ while in prayer. And if we abide in Christ we will be fruitful!

Bible Verses That We Need To Live By!

1 John 3:4-10 "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. "No one who is born of God practices sin" "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

*Writers note: This portion of Scripture means exactly what it says!

Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?  And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." Remember these were not pew warmers, these people had power with God, at one time, they had prophesied in the Lord's name, they had cast out demons, and in His name performed many miracles! But because they practiced sin "lawlessness" He is telling us now, that in that day He will say, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." No one will want to hear these words from the Lord.

Philippians 4:8 is a very important portion of Scripture also, it says,  "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." This is God's test for the thoughts you allow To be in your mind, (the things you think about.) God wants every thought to pass the test of Philippians 4:8, if it doesn't, do not allow that thought to be in your mind. This is what this Scripture does, 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," Do this and you will cut off the Devils ability to fool you! Don't obey this Scripture and you will have trouble with your walk with the Living God!

Dear friend, if you have any questions about any of the Scriptures listed above, or need further help with your walk before God, please contact me.

I hope this little booklet helps you abide in the Lord Jesus Christ!

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