The Condition and the Cure

The Condition

“The soul who sins shall die.”Ezekiel‬ ‭18‬:‭4‬b NKJV‬‬

“For the wages of sin is death,”Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬a NKJV‬‬

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

““Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: And these will go away into everlasting punishment,” Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭41‬, ‭46‬a NKJV‬‬

“And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, Revelation‬ ‭14‬:‭11‬a NKJV‬‬

The Reason

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;” Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.” Psalms‬ ‭14‬:‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” I John‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him (God) a liar, and His word is not in us.” I John‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” I John‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” Proverbs‬ ‭28‬:‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Cure

“‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt— then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land.” Leviticus‬ ‭26‬:‭40‬-‭42‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“But if we walk in the light (truth) as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” I John‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Confession

“We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, We have done wickedly.” Psalms‬ ‭106‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness And the iniquity of our fathers, For we have sinned against You. Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.” Jeremiah 14:20-21 NKJV

“Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.” Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Cleansing

“I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.” Jeremiah‬ ‭33‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”” Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.” Jeremiah‬ ‭33‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Reason

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬, ‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭3‬-‭10‬, ‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬

What does ‘take up your cross’ mean?

What was crucified on the cross?

The body; the flesh. Sin, the old nature. “He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Therefore:

  • Through the Holy Spirit, continually put to death the flesh & its sinful desires & replace them with Christ Jesus & His righteousness
  • “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,” Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬, ‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
  • “For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭7‬-‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The King is Coming

You still have a choice, but your time is coming to an end. You have no control over your moment of death, your last breath on Earth…

The LORD God Almighty reigns in Heaven, and His only Begotten Son, Christ Jesus the Lord is coming to reign on the Earth.

He will fulfill what Adam failed to do. He is the second & Last Adam, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Prophet. Great High Priest. King.

You are either a citizen in His coming Kingdom through being second born into it (by the Holy Spirit) through faith & obedience to Him, or you are already condemned in your trespasses, sins, and iniquities against His Holiness and your future will be in outer darkness, the lake of fire, where the smoke of your torment will rise forever & ever along with Satan & the unholy angels, and the righteous will remember you no more forever.

Betrayal

It just occurred to me that the betrayer in Psalm 55 is not just Saul, and Judas, but from the beginning is Lucifer.

What a heartbreaking lament.

God the Father knows the pain of betrayal. Jesus Christ knows the pain of betrayal.

LORD help us to remain steadfast & faithful not to betray You or others, and comfort us in the searing pain of betrayal by those closest to us, and not be bitter but allow Your love to flow through us even more.

The Worst Sin

‬‬““You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The worst sin that few ever preach or teach on…

Covetousness

– Satan coveted God’s position, prestige, & power.

– When tempted, Adam & Eve coveted forbidden knowledge.

– Covetousness leads to theft, lying, jealousy, hatred, murder, sexual immorality, and idolatry.

Unthankfulness & discontentment with God’s authority, character, & provision is the root of covetousness.

Humility, thankfulness, & contentment with God the Father & Christ Jesus is the only solution.

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
‭‭I Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬