“For I
joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law
in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me
a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:22-23, NASB).
The mind is
“grand central station” for the function and appropriation of what man
believes. It is like the hard drive on a
computer: whatever gets programmed in, is the instruction the system uses to carry out
orders. The mind IS renewable – thank
God. When we were unsaved, the sin
nature was controlled and mastered by Satan himself. He was the sole programmer of our little hard
drive – called the mind of man. Once we
became saved, we were given a new Master (programmer) – Christ, through the
power of the indwelling Spirit. Knowing
this, we are given the mandate to choose to submit to our new Master
programmer. In our unsaved state, the
master programmer was Satan. Once Christ came, He removed the old programmer
and placed Himself at the keyboard. But, the data the enemy placed on our hard
drives (mind and body) remains and is in need of being renewed (2 Cor.
4:16). This is the process that the
Bible calls “working out your Salvation.”
It is a daily, moment by moment process that brings us freedom from the
enslaving issues left behind by the old programmer.
Now, let’s address
the issue of Christians living in “false faith.” When children of God choose to
sin, willfully or not, communion with God is interrupted and the fruit of the
Spirit ceases to flow. After this
occurs, the Christian has the prerogative of “faking it until he makes it” OR
repenting and reestablishing the overflow from the indwelling Spirit. If the believer chooses not to repent, the
sin(s) become habitual and the believer typically begins to use his faith to
produce plastic fruit – fruit unto death (Rom. 7:5). This is what develops the independence in the
believer. He chooses to allow the flesh
to have temporary mastery, which God has judged and set aside forever. Many
believers are simply ignorant of this Truth.
The unsaved
man sins out of his sinful nature; whereas when a Christian chooses to sin, he
sins directly against God. Since God has
given His children the power not to sin, it becomes grievous to God when one of
His children chooses to sin anyway. But,
when non-Christians sin, it is the enemy who sins directly against God. The
unsaved man has no choice but to sin, it is who he is! The unbeliever is judged by the law, because he
is under the law. The Christian is
judged by grace, because he is under the law of the Spirit of life (Rom.
8:2).
When a
believer sins, he places himself under the correction and governmental dealings
of God. When his sin is confessed, the
believer is responding to earthly, self-judgment. He is then able to appropriate his
forgiveness offered through the life of Christ.
Keep in mind that the forgiveness is already complete, but it
needs to be appropriated by the born-again believer. Communion is oneness and oneness exists in
our Spirit, but our souls can detach from the experience of oneness. This is why we just need to be honest with
Christ within us, take ownership of the sin we committed, and begin enjoying
communion that is already made available for us to enjoy. But, there is a leading factor that needs to be
considered. God oftentimes allows the temporal
consequences of a person’s wrongdoing through earthly bodily suffering,
circumstances, or lifestyle changes. If
the Christian continues in willful sin, darkness (which is characteristic of
unbelief) controls the heart. Fake faith
and reputation become inevitable and the believer most assuredly will come
under the corrective hand of God (Acts 5:1-16; 1 Cor. 11:28-32).
One of the
most challenging individuals to deal with is the so-called “believer” who says
he has had a salvation experience, but reverts back to the world, and by all
obvious signs, stays there. This is the
group of people “who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have
no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away” (Luke
8:13, NASB). The word “believe” is not to be associated with true faith in
Jesus, which transforms the person from the inside out. But rather, this type of belief is that of an
intellectual assent. This person does
not display the type of repentance that leads to godliness, but only to regret
(2 Cor. 7:10). These “believers” do not
hate sin, but rather promote it. They
return to their sin like a dog to their vomit (2 Peter 2:19-22). He makes a firm stand on his “faith” in
Christ, but does not profess Him with his works. Like the washing of a pig externally, this
person may appear to change, but that change then disappears. This is evidence there
has been no change of nature or disposition – he is still lacking in true
Salvation.
There is yet
another type of “believer” - the one who knows and chooses a life of
unbelief. This person is willfully
choosing not to believe in the message of Truth. He is dead to Christ, alive to the enemy, and
will suffer the same consequences God has reserved for Satan himself.
As for those
Christians who speak and act, as those who are to be judged by the law of
liberty, we still have a judgment to face.
James tells us that the believer is going to be judged by the liberality
and generosity of Christ Himself. Our
judgment will be proportionate to the amount of mercy we have shown here on
earth. For those who showed no mercy, they
will receive no mercy. The entrance into
heaven is a result of the work of Christ, but the enjoyment of heaven and its
rewards will be proportionate to what the believer did for Christ in his life
of faith on earth. This is a reality that Christians rarely talk about (James
2:12-13).
In
conclusion, a man is justified (just as if he did not sin) by applying the
works of Christ in Himself, and not by faith alone. Just like the body without the spirit is
dead, so also is faith without its best friend, faith (James 2:24, 26). Jesus said that the world would know us by
our fruit and fruit comes as a result of works being blended with faith. Faith starts by believing God, without having
to have all the answers first. Works
should be a spontaneous act, resulting from believing in the substance of
things hoped for. If I remember
correctly, works and faith mixed together make a solid reputation!
