Water Of The Word 087 Newsletter

Presented by Free Bible Study Lessons

MESSAGE

"But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. " Rom. 6:17-18

In this life there are many inescapable concepts. An inescapable concept is something which will always exist. It is never a question of if we have it or if we don't have it. The question is always what kind will we have. Slavery is an inescapable concept.

To begin with we are all born slaves of sin. That is our "default" setting. We have no choice. We sin because we are sinners by nature. We may choose the style of sinning from self-righteous church-goer to mass murderer, but we are slaves to sin nevertheless. It is slavery. A drug addict may be doing what they want when they get "high," but they are not free. Although people may, sometimes with great effort, change the style of sinning they can never escape the slavery of sin outside of Jesus Christ.

Now, as most of my readers are Christians, I know what you are going to say. We are free in Christ. We are no more slaves to sin. Slavery is no more an issue. Right and wrong.

Yes, we have been set free from sin. We are in the process of learning to walk in that freedom. A Christian never has to sin. When we do sin it is a choice because we are in an area of deception. In that specific area[s] we believe more in the power of sin than in the power of God. We are all in the process of dropping the shackles of sin.

However, that does not mean we are independent and are suddenly "free" to do whatever we want. That is the illusion of the slavery of sin! Instead, we have traded Masters...or to be more accurate, one Master has bought us from another master. We had no choice in the transaction. We were slaves to sin, now we are slaves to God.

This idea, although common in history, is abhorrent to modern man who worships independence. He wants to believe that he is in control. He wants to be the captain of his own ship. Unfortunately, this thinking has infiltrated the church. Christians think they are free to choose for themselves how they will live and act just because their new Master doesn't immediately judge or override their decisions. We see this in many areas including the fact that divorce is as common in the church as the world. In many cases, there is no substantial difference between the lives of Christians and non-Christians.

Christians today need to come to the realization that although they are not the slaves of sin or of man [including the State!], they are the slaves of God. They do not have a choice about their lifestyle, about their language [i.e. profanity and "bathroom" words], their tithes, their attitudes [i.e. to forgive or not to forgive], sexual lives/fantasies, etc. God is a total God. There is NO area of independence from Him, no area which God does not have the right to govern.

Adam's sin was that he sought an area of independence from God. He wanted to prove his independence. The only way to do that was to choose the route of disobedience, in doing so he did not find independence but a new master - a harsh master instead of a loving Master.

One of the primary reasons for studying the Word of God is to discover what our new Master - whom we love and who loves us - requires of us and then choose the path of obedience. This is one of the reasons why I have a page on Christian Social Theory where we can explore God's requirements on a national level. But we should never forget that God's ownership is total and there is no area of independence from God. Properly understood, this is not a negative thing, but a joyous release to be who God created us to be.

SPECIAL OFFER

Save 50% on The Life Of Christ: The Cross And The Crown. This course is an adaptation of Book 5 of Alfred Edersheim's famous Life And Times Of Jesus the Messiah. It takes a look at the last week of the life of Christ. You will walk beside Jesus watching the events unfold and gaining new understanding into what happened. This not so much a theological explanation as a look at the historical events and context. The normal price for these 22 PDF lessons is $20.00, but until March 16/09 they are on sale for $10.00! Don't miss it. Check out the details here.

BOOK REVIEW

Many of you have children who are in or approaching the teenage years. Dr. James Dobson has a great book titled Preparing For Adolescence. It is an easy-to-read book which deals with the issues that every teenage faces. It talks about feelings of inferiority, handling peer pressure, physical changes, sexual values, making sound decisions, the ten most common misconceptions about romantic love, and much more. It is a great book to give to your child as he or she is approaching the teen years or, better still, to read with your older child. Your child needs to know that they can talk to YOU about some of these sensitive issues.

WEBSITE PICK

albertmohler.com is a website that I have just found. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has many good articles from a conservative Christian world-view, including commentaries on whether Christians must believe in the Virgin Birth and a look at the Dawkins Delusion. Check it out even - if like me - you are not a Baptist.

PERSONAL BLOG

I am not a winter person. The best thing about winter is that it makes me appreciate spring and summer all the more. In some ways, it appears that our world is heading into a winter season, but - regardless of doomsayers - spring will come again. The advantage of being a post-millenarianist is that you believe the world will end in a summer not a winter. Christ returns in the sweet victory of His Bride as accomplished by the Holy Spirit working through her. It is the celebration of summer, not the apparent death of winter.

ANNOUCEMENTS

February has been an extremely busy month and so no new pages have been added to the site except for up-dating our Matthew blog almost every day. In March I plan to be adding a few new pages. Keep your eyes open.

God bless you,
Glenn Davis
Free Bible Study Lessons

Joshua Club

Learn To Read Prince George and the World