Hey All!
Oswald Chambers is so powerful today; I had to send it out!
October 5, 2006 “My Utmost For His Highest” Oswald Chamber’s Devotional
The Nature of Degeneration
"Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . ." —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation ("He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Hebrews 9:26 ).
The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god."
"Self-realization" Hmmm? Just for kicks I looked up “realize” and found that one of the definitions says “apprehend, grasp significance” so if we’re talking about “self-realization” we’re talking about a “grasp of significance” of who we are. So what is our significance? There’s a book and study guide titled “Search for Significance”, I haven’t read it, but I know that if I want to know what my significance is, I need to look in THE book for it, it’s in there. I remembered that the first time the word “realized” is used in the Bible is when Adam and Eve realized (what they thought was) their significance, and because of their choices, it condemned all of human race.
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" NIV Genesis 3:7-8)
How many of you are still hiding from the Lord? How many are not willing to give up the things of this world, come into the light, and just see what God has for you? How many see that your significance, your importance, is more important than to listen to what God says you are, and how He wants to love you and bless you? How many are still hearing His voice calling to you “Where are you?” and you ignore it, or say “not now God”? Hopefully by the end of this, you’ll see that Oswald is saying that we are nothing without the Lord, in fact he says (as does the bible) that if “I refuse to let Him do so. (to deliver me from the heredity of sin) From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation.” Does that sound serious to you? Does is sound like something made up? Do you really want to take the chance?
This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man ("and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." John 2:25 ).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. "This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . " ( John 3:19 ).
Let me ask you, how much more clear could this be? We are not contemned to "damnation" because of the sins we commit from the day we were born, but because of Adam’s sin, from the day we were born we were already condemned, BUT, Jesus came and hung on a cross for that sin, for ALL of us, and now it's up to us to recognize or to realize that truth, and to ask Him to come into our hearts and be our savior and redeemer. I asked you above if this sounded serious to you? And if it sounded like something made up? And if you really want to take the chance? My heart for those of you who are receiving this who haven’t turned your life over to the Lord, which rightfully is His anyway, breaks as I think of what you will face when all is said and done. Am I sure that you as an individual will certainly face eternity in heaven or hell? I know what me bible tells me, but I also know that God is the only one that looks on your heart. As the verse in John 2 says up above; “…He knew (and knows) what was (and is) in man!”
If you haven’t asked Jesus into you heart and life yet, will you do it today? Don’t wait too long! Look around you, the world is dark and getting darker by the day, step out of the dark and into His light, stop hiding from God, He doesn’t want to thump you, He wants to love you and welcome you as a new adopted child for eternity.
If you have questions, please email/leave a comment.
In HIS Grip
Tony
Oswald Chambers is so powerful today; I had to send it out!
October 5, 2006 “My Utmost For His Highest” Oswald Chamber’s Devotional
The Nature of Degeneration
"Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . ." —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation ("He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Hebrews 9:26 ).
The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god."
"Self-realization" Hmmm? Just for kicks I looked up “realize” and found that one of the definitions says “apprehend, grasp significance” so if we’re talking about “self-realization” we’re talking about a “grasp of significance” of who we are. So what is our significance? There’s a book and study guide titled “Search for Significance”, I haven’t read it, but I know that if I want to know what my significance is, I need to look in THE book for it, it’s in there. I remembered that the first time the word “realized” is used in the Bible is when Adam and Eve realized (what they thought was) their significance, and because of their choices, it condemned all of human race.
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" NIV Genesis 3:7-8)
How many of you are still hiding from the Lord? How many are not willing to give up the things of this world, come into the light, and just see what God has for you? How many see that your significance, your importance, is more important than to listen to what God says you are, and how He wants to love you and bless you? How many are still hearing His voice calling to you “Where are you?” and you ignore it, or say “not now God”? Hopefully by the end of this, you’ll see that Oswald is saying that we are nothing without the Lord, in fact he says (as does the bible) that if “I refuse to let Him do so. (to deliver me from the heredity of sin) From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation.” Does that sound serious to you? Does is sound like something made up? Do you really want to take the chance?
This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man ("and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." John 2:25 ).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. "This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . " ( John 3:19 ).
Let me ask you, how much more clear could this be? We are not contemned to "damnation" because of the sins we commit from the day we were born, but because of Adam’s sin, from the day we were born we were already condemned, BUT, Jesus came and hung on a cross for that sin, for ALL of us, and now it's up to us to recognize or to realize that truth, and to ask Him to come into our hearts and be our savior and redeemer. I asked you above if this sounded serious to you? And if it sounded like something made up? And if you really want to take the chance? My heart for those of you who are receiving this who haven’t turned your life over to the Lord, which rightfully is His anyway, breaks as I think of what you will face when all is said and done. Am I sure that you as an individual will certainly face eternity in heaven or hell? I know what me bible tells me, but I also know that God is the only one that looks on your heart. As the verse in John 2 says up above; “…He knew (and knows) what was (and is) in man!”
If you haven’t asked Jesus into you heart and life yet, will you do it today? Don’t wait too long! Look around you, the world is dark and getting darker by the day, step out of the dark and into His light, stop hiding from God, He doesn’t want to thump you, He wants to love you and welcome you as a new adopted child for eternity.
If you have questions, please email/leave a comment.
In HIS Grip
Tony
posted by In His Grip at 11:30 AM
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