Mansfield
Missionary Baptist Church
Bible
Study
Wednesday
Evening August 23, 1972
Lesson #1 - Aim: To present the Biblical teaching relative to the "Born
again" person's pursuit of holiness. Also to refute a popular and prevalent
error in present day teaching which declares the saved person to be above
sin, and beyond the possibility of sinning. Listed below are some of the
most frequently used Scriptures (Misused, if you please.) of the contenders
of sinlessness, in the flesh.
I
John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for His
seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
The "Wesleyites," including the Nazarenes and all "holiness" groups need
to study this text in the light of the context, and to subject their notions
as to the teaching of this verse against their own experiences with sin.
Honesty demands they echo the cry off the dedicated Apostle Paul "O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body off this death?"
(Romans 7:24).
The advocates off sinless eradication in the flesh place themselves in
an insolvable dilemma. If one cannot sin, he cannot fall away and be lost,
and if he can not be lost, he is eternally safe, and secure. On the other
hand if a person is lost, he is lost as a result off sinning, therefore
that person was not above sin, nor was he ever at anytime free from the
possibility off sinning.
I
John 5:16 "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is
not unto death, he shall ask (Pray), and he shall give him life for them
that sin not unto death. there is a sin unto death: I do not say that he
shall pray for it." (See also Matthew 20:21-22)
IN THIS TEXT WE EXPRESSLY COMMANDED TO PRAY FOR A SINNING BROTHER.
The life, and obedience of Jesus Christ is the saint's standard of holiness.
I
Peter 1:16 "Because it is written. Be ye holy; for I am holy."
Sinlessness is perfect holiness, and it is most illogical to seek something
which you already possess. Yet, Paul wrote to the Hebrew Christians, "Follow
peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
(Hebrews 12:14). Let us not accuse the Holy Spirit off such vanity,
as to instruct the child of God to seek something he already possesses.
All the saved are called unto holiness, "That we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love." (Ephesians 1:4b). The truth
is, the more nearer the saved person draws unto God, the more he is caused
to see the awfulness of his old nature, and he will all the more bemoan
the fact of his failings, and his inability to conform to God's perfect
standard off righteousness. Philippians 3:14 "I (Paul) press
toward the mark (sinlessness - holiness) for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus." It would have been foolish of Paul
to say he was pressing toward a "mark" which he had already crossed.
The Epistles of the Apostle John were written to Christians (I John
2:1), and he says, "If we (Pronoun "we" including himself)
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (self-deception is
the most stubborn kind), and the truth is not in us." (I John
1:8). "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and
His word is not in us." (I John 1:10).
Based on these two single verses off Scripture (I John 1:8 and 10)
the conclusion can be drawn that the advocates off sinlessness eradication
in the flesh are:
1.) Self deceived
2.) Void of spiritual truth
3.) Charging God foolishly by making Him a liar
4.) In great and urgent need of hearing the gospel, for John says "God's
word is not in them."
Job
9:20 "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I
say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse."
Mansfield
Missionary Baptist Church
Bible
Study
Wednesday
Evening August 30, 1972
(Fill
in Scripture Blanks)
Lesson #2 - The false doctrine of "Sinlessness in The Flesh" considered.
The advocates of this doctrine must of necessity relate it to the doctrine
of sanctification. When correct views are held regarding the Bible doctrine
of sanctification, the heresy of "sinlessness in the flesh becomes all
the more glaring and repugnant.
There is a true and genuine sense in which the people of God or completely
sanctified. In regeneration (new birth) all sin from the soul, and spiritual
nature of the believer is removed. In the new birth the soul and spirit
are set apart from the flesh, and unto God. Thus it is that Paul says,
"I delight in the law of God after the inward man." (Romans 7:22)
The "inward man" or the "new man" is the Divine nature imparted
by the Holy Spirit to penitent. It is this Divine nature the Apostle John
refers to (I John 3:9) as the the "seed of God" remaining
in the believer, and perpetuating that perfect cleansing performed by the
Holy Spirit at the time of regeneration. It is in this sense the saved
person cannot sin, and is entirely sanctified. It is on the basis of the
soul's moral cleansing that it cannot sin, adorned with immortality and
fitted for Heaven. And thus it is the born again person can say, "Absence
from the body, presence with the Lord."
The propagators of "sinless perfection" contradict themselves by their
advocacy of the believer's liability to apostatize, and by this possibility
of utterly being cast down (their notion) they are held in the bondage
of fear all the days of their lives. They "err not knowing the
Scriptures, nor the power of God." When Christ died He bore the penalty
of sin as a substitute for His people. By the shedding of His blood he
washed away all their guilt, (I John 1:7, Revelation 1:5).
By the perfect (passive - active) obedience of Christ, and by His sacrificial
death on the cross the demands of God's holy, just and good law were fully
and forever satisfied. The soul of the believer has been morally cleansed,
and Christ's vicarious death has provided him with legal purity.
Hebrews
10:10 "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once --- ---."
While it is true, that the soul and spirit of the believer are entirely
sanctified, and cannot sin, it is equally true that sin has been condemned
in the flesh. So then, there is further need of sanctification in the believer.
These three agents are employed of God in sanctifying His people:
1.) The "Blood" (Hebrews 13:12)
2.) The "Spirit," (II Thessalonians 2:13)
3.) and the "Word (Ephesians 5:26).
The "Blood" sanctifies the penitent by setting him apart from the curse
of the law. The Spirit sanctifies by quickening, and continually applying
the benefits purchased for the believer by the shed blood. The Word sanctifies
the babe in Christ by teaching him the things of God. Thus we are progressively
set apart from self, and unto Divine service.
John
17:17 "-------- them through thy -----: thy word is -----."
1
Thessalonians 4:3-4 "For this is the will of God, even your
sanctification, that ye should ------- from fornication: {4} That every
one of you should know how to ------- his vessel in sanctification and
honour;"
It is through God's Word that the GREAT work of redemption is revealed
and the more we know of our redemption, the more we will love God. The
more we love God, the more we are set apart from the world. So is through
the Word's sanctifying power applied by the Spirit that body is brought
into subjection, and the power of sin nullified.
Pastor Mink
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