Sunday: Where Sin Abounded
In Romans 5:20, Paul makes a powerful statement: “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” His point is that no matter how much sin there is or how terrible the results of sin are, God’s grace is sufficient to deal with it.
Image © Kevin Carden Goodsalt.com
What hope that should bring for each of us, especially when we’re tempted to feel that our sins are too great to be forgiven! In Romans 5:21, Paul shows that although sin has led to death, God’s grace through Jesus has defeated death and can give us eternal life.
Read Romans 6:1. What logic is Paul dealing with here, and how, in Romans 6:2-11, does he respond to that kind of thinking?
Paul follows an interesting line of argument in chapter 6 as to why a justified person should not sin. To begin with, he says that we shouldn’t sin because we have died to sin. Then he explains what he means.
Immersion in the waters of baptism represents burial. What is buried? The “old man” of sin-that is, the body committing sin, the body dominated or ruled by sin. As a result, this “body of sin” is destroyed, so that we no longer serve sin. In Romans 6 sin is personified as a master who rules over his servants. Once the “body of sin” that served sin is destroyed, sin’s mastery over it ceases. The one who rises from the watery grave comes up a new person who no longer serves sin. He or she now walks in newness of life.
Christ, having died, died once and for all, but He is now alive forevermore. So, the Christian who is baptized has died to sin once and for all and should never again come under its dominion. Of course, as any baptized Christian knows, sin doesn’t just automatically disappear from our lives once we come up out of the water. Not being ruled by sin isn’t the same as not having to struggle with it.
“From this we clearly see what the words of the Apostle mean. All such statements as: 1. ‘We are dead to sin,’ 2. ‘We live unto God,’ etc., signify that we do not yield to our sinful passions and sin, even though sin continues in us. Nevertheless, sin remains in us until the end of our life, as we read Galatians 5:17: ‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.’ Therefore all apostles and saints confess that sin and the sinful passions remain in us till the body is turned into ashes, and a new (glorified) body is raised up which is free from passion and sin.” – Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. 100.
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I think that "sin and the sinful passions remain in us till the body is turned into ashes" may refer to habit patterns we have developed through selfish motivation in our past. However, the Spirit of God can give us victory over these "sinful passions" as we live under the motivation of His Love.
We are not slaves to these passions when we have been justified, even though they still exist within our character. When we give God the position He deserves in our lives His Grace allows His Love to motivate our thinking and feelings to produce His perfect Righteousness in our lives.
In our regeneration with glorified bodies, do you think God will regenerate any of our bad habit patterns in our brains or will He generate only the righteous habit patterns we have chosen to live by?
Bad habits are produce in a sequence, step by step until it becomes part of us(character)- the LORD wants us to surrender those sinful habits only then He can help us overcome them. What you feed grows & wins- the HOLY SPIRIT & GOD'S WORD will us victorious over them--d sword is a powerful offensive weapon!!!
Don, Your comment would suggest that you believe a sinner can be sinless here and now in this life if they believe enough and trust enough in the Holy Spirit. Quite the burden to lay on someone if that is what you are suggesting.
Jim, I believe the burden is on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, Who works in us.
Ed, it's not a burden but a joy to be freed from sin. Just ask the alcoholic who is now free from alcohol, depression, and vice because of what God has done for him/her.
I agree with Don. Everything is about Christ. Christ does ALL of the work. We cannot contribute ANYTHING. I remember a friend saying the same thing. Then if that is the case. Who is stronger or more powerful, God or sin? God can and will do it. I believe when we say this we leave it up to the believer to do the work, which a life wrecking work. However, if we left up to God then that huge burden is lifted of our shoulders and given to Christ. For His yoke is easy and His burden is lite. Take heart Christ will take care of you. (Jude 24,25)
Jim, I believe it's a matter of focus. Paul tells us that grace is much greater than sin, and because of that, we have the option of not letting sin reign over us. Ro 6:12
If we focus on fulfilling the promise of overcoming, we shall surely fail. But if we focus on the Lord who invites us to follow Him and has promised grace to overcome, He will sustain us. We can safely focus on submitting ourselves to His will and leave our perfection to Him. After all, He is the one who has already created good works for us to walk in. See Eph 2:10.
The bottom line is this: If you want to follow Jesus and eventually reign with Him then focus on Him, His promises and His direction in your life. He'll take care of it. (Of course this means giving Him the time to work His will in you instead of giving your time and focus to self and the world. And, by the way, focusing on making yourself sinless or perfect is a type of self-focus, and it will never work.)
Hello Inge
Very thoughtful. Doing God’s will may be seen as something abstract and difficult to grasp, but it isn’t. We should start doing everything we are used to satisfy our basic needs, caring that others may be blessed by our influence and become inspired by our christian goals and ethics.
Fighting the symptoms of sin will not bring the cure and Paul advises to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21) that promotes a better mental health than an fragile, artificial and temporary strategy of repressing emotions and wrong behavior. The gospel is not like the pharmaceutical industry that mostly addresses symptoms. The value of symptoms as a tool to show that we are harmed in specific areas, can not be denied, but should not distract us from the biblical therapy recommended by Paul.
I think, for example, that we should not concentrate on fighting depression or looking for happiness. Those things are properly addressed when we do good things encouraged in the bible for the right motives.
I think your quite right Inge. I think we need to choose God as our employer. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all our living will be supplied appropriately. It is very freeing to live according to the Kingdom of God (which is 180 degrees opposite from the ways of this world) and then to see Him take care of our needs without having to worry about it ourselves. We have seen this happen for over 25 years now and we know God is trustworthy to take care of us when we are in His service.
In His service He leads us by His Spirit and by His Word in whatever He chooses. He supports very dependably and well and there is no reason to fear for our sustenance even when we can see the "bottom of the barrel." He never sleeps and is dependable to lead us and keep us if we are willing to give up our own agenda for His.
In Christ all things are possible.
The problem is that we fail to remain in Christ wherein we are in Lucifer which is the king of sin. There is not a 3rd option available. Christ would not have his children remain in Lucifer. As long as we are in Christ we can be without sin. Not on our own merit but on His ultimate sacrifice for each one of our lives.
We simply can't have sin and grace at the same time. Either we choose sin(satan) or grace(God).we cannot live a sinful life an claim we are Christians at the same time
Vita and Nelson. When we ask Christ into the chambers of our heart, Christ fills every chamber with light. He does not leave one dark for sin to abode. That's why we rely on Him to give us victory over evil forces, that still seek to control us. The desire to sin is taken away by Holy Spirit. How could we have peace and joy promised by God if it were always there. Grace is there all the time. When we sin and turn back to God it is there for us to get us across to abyss created by Satan to try to keep us from sanctification now and forever. Grace is available to everyone before even turning to God, who turns to God through Christ Jesus. Romans 5:6-11. Hebrews 7:25. Psalms 91:14-16. He will deliver me because I have set my love upon Him. He will show me His salvation. It's called, standing on the promises of God.
Christian life is a growing experience, not an instantaneous transformation. Otherwise, somewhere along the line I missed the boat. There are always new ways to grow and develop the relationship with Jesus.
We spend a lot of time and discussion effort about the issue of overcoming sin, yet the basis of our relationship with Jesus should not be a focus on sin but filling our life with the joy of salvation.
If I can once more refer to the marriage relationship. I do not go around thinking all the time that I must not commit adultery. Rather I need to think what will make my wife happier today. And sometimes it is just the little things, like holding her hand, or listening to her for 5 minutes that makes the marriage so much more enjoyable.
Likewise, we need to be creative about our relationship with Jesus. One of the biggest sins is to clear our lives of sin and leaving our lives void when we should be filling it with the blessing of a saved life. (There is even a parable about that!)
Hi Maurice, excellent thoughts. Let me share my thoughts on growing in Christ by linking you to Sabbaths blog. https://ssnet.org/blog/sabbath-overcoming-sin/
Hi Maurice
I Wish I could hear this kind of reasoning more often.
Thanks
Thank you, Maurice, for such a clear and simple perspective on overcoming sin. Many times our perspectives get cloudy and need to be cleared and redirected.
It is the desire to sin that will remain in us until we lay down our mortal bodies. Since through the grace and power of Christ, we can live and must cease from sin in order to be save.
Well, how many then have ceased to sin?
If we must "cease from sin in order to be saved," then the burden of our salvation lies on us, not on Christ. But Paul is doing all he can to convince us otherwise - that the burden of our salvation lies on Christ.
All we have to do is to surrender our will to Him to shape and mold us into His image. And that requires that we focus on Him, not our own sinfulness or sinlessness. We need to give Him *time* to work in us.
The more we resist a sinful passion the weaker the passion becomes until its hold ever us broken. This is sanctification and the end of it is victory. We need to draw strength from the Vine to achieve this.
To be honest with you brethren and sisters, today's lesson is somehow confusing and more so, i have always struggled to understand what all the biblical verses cementing the fact that after baptism, the old sinful person is dead and a new, changed (sinless????) person is born. Question is, are there people today, alive on earth, who live a perfect sinless lifestyle? if the answer is yes, what about those of us who struggle with sin every day; notwithstanding the fact that we were baptized along time ago.
Make no mistake to think that we do not pray, read the word or share the gospel and do not think we do not call upon the holy spirit to fill us but things are not just happening.
Is it mandatory that every baptized soul must cease to sin henceforth?, what about the notion that we have a high priest who we take our sins to so that God can see his righteousness and not our sinfulness in order for us to be forgiven; forgiven of what if we no no longer sin? if it was true that every baptized soul should never seen again, what about this plan B for those of us who still sin (if at all there are those who do not do so) ?
When i read today's title, i was filled with excitement that may be my confusion will be cleared but the author just added salt to the wound by coming out in this way " Not being ruled by sin isn’t the same as not having to struggle with it" very political statement which makes me more confused because struggling with sin does not give a definitive answer as to whether a baptized soul should live a sinless lifestyle or there is still hope for him/her in case they falter.
Martin Luther even makes a still sinful baptized christian like me desperate by stating that “From this we clearly see what the words of the Apostle mean. All such statements as: 1. ‘We are dead to sin,’ 2. ‘We live unto God,’ etc., signify that we do not yield to our sinful passions and sin, even though sin continues in us"
i remember reading Somewhere in the book of Hebrews (not good at memorizing verses but good at getting the bigger pictures) where it says that there is no more grace for a person who continues in sin!, Can somebody please give me a take home message that clears my confusion! Is there a confusion in the bible where certain sections give a benefit of doubt to still sinful baptized person while others condemn him?
Pascal, Ellen White writes about a sealing process wherein we are eventually sealed in His Character. God's part of the sealing is very great. Our part is realitively small. I think it is a little like the rudder compared to a ship we have the decision who will motivate us in any issue. Thoughts and feelings are the rudder of all our actions, but there is a more basic motivator than this I think this most basic motivator is spirit everyone living has one. When we give it up we die as did Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.
The spirit that motivates us when we are born motivates us with selfishness. To be saved we must give up this spirit and be reborn of the Spirit of Love.
Ellen White writes that our thoughts and feelings produce habits and all these habits make up our character. When we are reborn we still have these habits which make up our character that wars against the new Spirit of Love. If we choose to let the Spirit of God's Love motivate us we can make new thoughts and feelings which form new habits and a new character.
We have this choice to make in every issue as it arises. Will previously made habits rule or will we allow the Holy Spirit to motivate us through this issue. At first it is like we're starting life over again and the task seems difficult for us, but His Love solves problems for us as we go slowly and methodically and prayerfully at first to form new habits in the framework of God's Love.
Our basic habits are not infinite in number. As we allow God's Love to guide us through issues we eventually develop His Character along side the old habits that made up our character before.
Sometimes we may forget to allow God's Spirit to direct us by His Love in a right habit and we will fall. But we have an advocate that stands in our place to pardon us. This does not give license to continue in our old habit patterns, but it gives us hope.
Jesus gave us advice when He said to His disciples, "Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation." I think this means that we should be aware of our thoughts and feelings and pray for the revelation of the Holy Spirit to compare what we are thinking and feeling to what God's Love would motivate us to do. If we are wrong we will have a Comforter to guide us into right thoughts and feelings.
Eventually all habit patterns will be renewed into those Jesus would have in our place. We will then have a great arsenal of habits to use under the guidence of God's Love for any issue or situation we find ourselves in. We will also have the old habit patterns available, but we still have the choice as to who will rule our direction and which set of habit patterns we allow to have predominance in the moment of temptation.
We are told by councel from God that there have been those in every generation who have reached the point in which they have been sealed like Enoch In the Character of God with Love as the motivation for every thought and feeling and habit pattern of the character.
I think this can happen much faster if we focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in every issue that arises in our lives. To choose to allow Him to be in charge of every thought and feeling gives Him the "legal" freedom to motivate us according to the Character of God.
One reason I think we are so slow to be sealed in God's Character is that we don't use our choice to allow the Holy Spirit to work in every issue and situation. We think we can do it on our own because we are not Watching and praying but going in our own self confidence. We will never not need the Holy Spirit. If we loose His motivating Love, we die to God and live to sin.
I think there will be a large number of people in perfected in the Character of God before Jesus returns in the clouds.
Pascal, I see your comment as refreshingly honest, rather than a repetition of spiritual platitudes.
I believe you express the thoughts of many of our readers. Focusing on becoming sinless results either in despair or self-deception/Pharasaism.
So what is the solution? In my own experience I knew the theory of righteousness by faith .. sort of. But I didn't experience it until I went through a crisis in my life during which I finally gave up asking God to change people around me and just prayed, "Lord, show me how *I* need to change." And God answered that prayer by showing me how even all the "good" things I had ever done were laced with selfishness. I saw the hopelessness of trying to be "perfect" and all I could do was to throw myself on Christ's mercy and cry, "Lord, save me!" That was followed by such a period of assurance and peace as I had not experienced before. Since then, this experience has been a point of reference for me. If I stray from the Lord, I know how to go back. And I know that it's hopeless to attempt to become "good enough to save." But I know that I can trust Him to save me as long as I keep looking to Him for direction and guidance.
Now let's go back to what happens at conversion. In Eze 36:26 the Lord promises to give a "new heart." (Compare Jer 31:33) That implies new thoughts and new motivations. A change in direction. This change in direction does not generally result in uniform and steady progress. But our *purpose* is to follow the Lord, even though we may slip and fall and even go backward at times.
It is not the individual good deeds or bad deeds that count, but it is the *direction* of our life that counts. Compared to where we were last year at this time, are we closer to the Lord or farther away? If the latter, we can know that we need to go back to the place we last knew the Lord and re-commit ourselves. Otherwise, just keep looking to Him, spending time in talking to Him, listening to Him and working with Him. Let Him worry about our sanctification. He is committed to finishing the work that He has begun in us. (Phil 1:6)
May the Lord bless you as you seek to follow Him.
Hi Inge
I'm confused as Pascal. I was just starting getting it from your above comment but you cut it short. Roman 6:6-7 is part of the reference for the lesson. The Author said when we baptize we are dead to sin...Does that mean that sin doesnt have dominion or dominate me but I'll still sin if I yield to temptation? I dont even know if I'm citing the question properly but I dont know if I get it because it would seems then if for e.g. I baptize today and tomorrow I lied(didnt mean to)and I feel really bad and discouraged about it- wouldnt that mean that sin still dominates? I know he said "...it's not automatic and not been ruled by sin is not the same as struggling with it" I'm thinking if something is dead why is there a struggle? Is it that it wasnt really buried...? I too like you all want to live the victorious life! Not just for some things but for all things. Please shed some light for those of us who are confused...Blessings
Nikki, I wonder if the problem is a matter of taking the "death" of the old nature too literally or of ignoring the possibility of resurrection? Paul says, "Since we have died to sin ... " It is a matter of submitting our will to Christ who gives us the power to turn away from sin. Sin is no longer our master whom we obey slavishly. We have been set free, but we are also free to give in to old habits, to partially resurrect the old nature. But Christ does not cast us off for these occasional falls but helps us up again. He gives us power to subdue the old sinful nature that will not be finally gone until our bodies are glorified.
Remember that eve Christ felt the pull of sin. He was tempted as we will continue to be tempted. The difference was that He was continually so submitted to the Holy Spirit that He was empowered to live above temptation and sin. Although my previous statement was brief, it includes a summary of my own experience as well as an explanation of how God sees us: He looks at the direction of our life. Which way are we moving - towards Him or away from Him? A preacher in the pulpit, looking righteous and holy may be just preaching out of habit while his soul is turned away from Christ, and a drunk in the gutter may have just been confronted by Christ and saying, "Jesus, help me!" in recognition of His helplessness and Chris's power and goodness. The repenting drunk is moving towards Christ and covered with His robe of righteousness while the preacher in the pulpit is lost because He turned his back on Christ.
Please keep reading on this blog. Just this morning, Don Litchfield left a number of comments that put things in right perspective. There are others commenting who understand the process of salvation. And it is a process, not a one-time thing.
I will make one strong recommendation: Don't focus on becoming sinless, because that is a focus on self. Rather, focus on Christ and study His life, especially the closing moments. Spend significant time each day in this activity and pray and listen to Christ. Then throughout the day, look for opportunities to let the love of Christ flow through you. Just trust Christ with your salvation, He has promised to save you - to finish the good work He has begun in you. (Phil 1:6) That's what it means to be saved by faith in Christ. We trust Him to save us while we focus on keeping our relationship with Him strong.
May God bless you abundantly and help you see clearly that Christ in you is your hope of glory. (Col 1:27) He wants to save you and doesn't want you to be lost. Trust Him in this.
Let me try to put the practical overcoming Christian life another way:It is a matter of constantly making the choice Christ made in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Not my will, but Thine be done." It is ours to make the choice, noChrist's to supply the power.
Let me try to put the practical overcoming Christian life another way:It is a matter of constantly making the choice Christ made in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Not my will, but Thine be done." It is ours to make the choice, noChrist's to supply the power.
Remember also that the great Apostle Paul himself said, "I die daily." So must we. See 1 Cor 15:31 and Gal 2:20.
Thank you so much mum Inge. These are good insights I receive from you.
What is the most integral part of the texts under discussion?
"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death"
What does that mean?
When we read this passage the first thing we need to understand is that our dying to sin is the result of our union with Christ. Because He died to sin, we die to sin. Therefore, our dying to sin is not something we do, but something Christ has done, and something we obtain when we are united with Him.
A mistaken understanding is that once we are baptized somehow all our propensities to sin die, and we are no longer tempted to sin. But it doesn't happen that way.
So what does it mean "died to sin"?
In the first chapters of Romans Paul emphasizes that Christ died bearing our sins and that we are justified by faith in Christ, and this is a gift, not something we earned. The one who comes by faith to Christ is freed from the guilt and condemnation of their sins! Christ took our sins and died on the cross that we might be justified. No, this does not allow us to continue in sin, but in addressing the sanctified life Paul is telling us that we need to keep in mind the things he stressed in the previous verses.
When Christ died He took our "old sinful nature" upon Himself and died the death that was due that "old sinful nature". He died bearing every sin we have committed! When we are baptized we are baptized into HIS DEATH -- the death that was caused by our sin.
Thus we are to "reckon ourselves dead to sin", because Christ died with those sins. We are freed from them, and now FREE to live for Him, reconciled to Him.
Before we accepted Christ and came to Him for salvation, we were in bondage to sin, under the reign and rule of sin. It didn't matter if, by human standards, we were "good" people, we were still sinners in bondage to sin, under the condemnation of the law and headed for destruction.
But now, through our union with Christ in His death to our sin, we have been delivered! Simple faith enables the believer to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is as we behold the cross and Christ's death, that we are to reckon, or count ourselves dead to sin. It's not in looking at our achievements, but in looking to the cross. That's where our death to sin finds a reality.
It's as we rejoice in His resurrection, that we must believe the same power that raised Christ from the dead, can raise us from our spiritual death into newness of life in Him.
There is a reason we have the verse 'man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart'. Reading the bible from cover to cover, I was struck by how much mention there is about the condition of our hearts. We have David desiring a clean heart - we have pharaoh having a hard heart.
As far as I can see, from God's perspective, sin is more of a heart tendency issue than a behaviour issue. If you think I'm off track with this assertion, consider how it was that Abraham in Hebrews 11 is referred to as not wavering in his faith (when we know he did behaviourally). And then we have David as a man after God's own heart - a description that was not retracted despite some very problematic behaviours and associated consequences that David engaged in.
I would assert that being 'perfect' (which the Greek word concept is increasing in maturity and completeness) is about the habitual trend of our heart more than the specific behaviours. Of course, the trend of our behaviours will tend to reflect the trend of our heart motives.
There is a risk that people may misunderstand what I am trying to convey. But it is consistent with the whole of scripture. It also makes sense from a restoration perspective of salvation/sanctification - but it may raise concerns from a behaviour monitoring perspective of salvation/sanctification.
Yes, Phil, your thoughts about the "heart" resonate in my thinking about our relationship with God. It was the motivation of the heart that caused Adam and Eve to do the act of eating the forbidden fruit. It was a heart action that caused them to blame others for their action.
Something had changed the motivation of the heart for Adam and Eve for them to allow themselves to eat of the forbidden tree. I think it was the motivation of the heart. In my study of scripture I find that the spirit is the most basic motivation of the heart.
Even God has a Spirit which motivates Him to do all He does. The Holy Spirit motivates with Love everything God does. This was the motivation for Jesus to do all that He did from conception to death. The Holy Spirit brought the thoughts and feelings from the Father such that Jesus said, "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:30) The Holy Spirit was even involved in His conception, His life, He gave up the Spirit in His death, and the Spirit was involved in His resurrection.
We are made in the image and likeness of our Creator physically, mentally, and spiritually. God even shared His own Spirit with mankind in the creation. That is still His desire.
Through the conversation of the serpent in the midst of the garden a new self motivation was taught to mankind which took over the original plan for man to be motivated by the same Holy Spirit as the Creator. This produced self-centered motivation and selfishness moved Eve and Adam to eat of the fruit and enter into sin. This evil motivation has been passed on to us as the default motivation of our lives unless we choose to accept God's offer of Love as our motivation brought to us by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was the first person of the Godhead mentioned in action in the creation story and if we study the "Breath of Life" we find the Spirit involved in the primary motivation of the life in mankind.
When this Spirit is lost, life as we know it ceases and we are dead in trespasses and sins. The Spirit of life works in the heart of man to revive us to life as God resurrected Jesus to life. Any life without the motivation of the Holy Spirit is only probational. True life is based on the Love of God that is the motivation of the heart of the soul.
David was not motivated by the Holy Spirit when he sinned, but his primary desire was to be motivated by the Holy Spirit. When he realized his sin in his heart he yearned for the Holy Spirit to be restored to him for the motivation of his heart. He said, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) I think it hurt his heart to think that he had acted without the motivation of the Holy Spirit. This is why God said David was a man after His own heart.
Spot on Don!
If someone asked you, "can a Christian live without sinning" how would you answer him/her?
Yes. Did not Christ himself condemn sin in the flesh? (Rom 8:4,5) God doesn't ask us to do anything that we can cannot accomplish without His help. God is the Creator of all that exist. He is everlasting and all powerful declaring the end from the beginning. Is sin more powerful than God. NO. It is not. God does ALL the work. Leave it up to God. Do not worry.
3 Steps to Victory:
1. Come to the Cross Daily and Claim the benefits of His atoning death. 1 Jhn 4:13
2. Put on the mind of Christ. (To receive the mind of Christ is by the receiving the Holy Spirit by coming to cross.)You gain His Thoughts, His feelings, His motives.
3.Hope of Glory
Yes, in Christ anyone can live without sinning.
So, what do we think of the people who are in Christ but are sinning, what really is missing?
I found this helpful:
Source: http://www.the-ten-commandments.org/not-under-law-but-under-grace.html
When Christians are sinning, God's Love is missing in their lives. The only place to find God's Love is in Him. When He lives in us we have His Love and we do not sin when His Love motivates our thoughts and feelings.
Good question - in terms of one that is often asked. I would first want to know how the person views salvation - as it would depend upon their frame of reference as to how I would answer.
I find that this question more often than not springs from a misperceived view of salvation (associated with a misperceived view of the nature of God's reality and so forth) - for example, a view of salvation as a standard that must be reached and measured. Saul (before the Damascus road encounter and subsequent renewal) is an example of someone who had misperceived God and salvation in like manner (see Phil 3:5-7).
In contrast, Paul's declaration in Phil 3:12-14 is a more accurate/helpful conceptualisation that resulted in him having a different focus.
God desires that we each be fully restored and to actively co-operate with Him as He leads, educates, and empowers us along that journey to its destination. What the specific journey looks like for each person is likely to have similarities and differences. How far will we each get along that journey before we die or before God returns? God only knows. Our focus is best when it reflects the one adopted by Paul - rather than on measuring whether we have become sinless at some point or not.
A MAN who practices "witchcraft" comes out & tells Pastor that he has no better option other than to keep doing what he has been doing all a long since what he has done is " MORE THAN SINS". He called us inside his house. We got in & I became terrified as we got into his bedroom. On the floor were 3 fresh human hands.He went down under his bed & pulled a long snake under the bed.
While Pastor seems to be strong, I began shivering but God gave me unique strength.The man confessed to us that he is more devilish THAN GODLY.Pastor then ordered the man to bring everything out to set them on fire.
This man had desired to be horned again but he wasn't really sure if his sins could be forgiven. He had a list of 73 people he has caused their death.I whispered to Pastor, "Let's leave this man a line.... he has committed more sins".The Pastor didn't give up on him, but instead prayed whole burning all the items /idols from the house. TO CUT THE LONG STORY SHORT... this man is today AN ORDAINED PASTOR... In Romans 5:20 , Paul makes a powerful statement: “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” His point is that no matter how much sin there is or how terrible the results of sin are, God’s grace is sufficient to deal with it.
If God forgave Manasseh after committing the most heinous atrocities, then He can do so to anyone.