Re: [TruthTalk] Read it and weep!

[Terry Clifton]

=======================================================Maybe I am a little slow here John, but did Jesus not instruct us to be perfect, just as the Father is perfect?  Has obedience not always been close to the top of God's list?  Did the Father not turn away from even His own son when the Son took on the sins of the world?  I do not see anything wrong or humorous.  That is God's word. Respectfully, Terry Judy has said that one has absolutely no kind of relationship with God until and unless he is perfectly able to  practice God's commandments against sin.   Is it true that our sins and iniquities separate us from God using Isa 59:2 as a reference?   Well,  we are told that God accepts faith as righteousness (Romans 4).  And why would that be?  If there is no sin or iniquity of any sort in our lives, we are righteous and have no need for the exchange of faith for righteousness.   If we say that we have no sin, we deceive even ourselves (I JO 1:8)  We have sinned and continue to fall short of the Glory (Rom 3:23.)  So, what of Isa 59:2?  Ask youself this:  does this passage exclude the necessity for a continuing sin sacrifice as defined by the Law?   I say no.  So sin continues, does it not?   Isa 59:2 in light of the continuing need for sin sacrifice is speaking of an action on the part of the individuals involved, not of God's decision to exclude them.   I fight or resist the sin issues I have in my life. If or when I decide to give in to them, to go my own way and revel in my sin, my sins and iniquities have separated me from my God.  Romans 7:14-25 and Eph 4:14-24  paint a clear picture of one who struggles  in a binary reality  -  two natures existing at the same time and influencing each other.   To say that we have no relationship of any kind with God because of sin and iniquity is wrong.  The point of the cross is that our misdeeds are covered and remembered no more  -- is it not?  Your view? John ================================================= My view is that we all continue to sin in spite of our best efforts to lead a sinless life.  God has made provision for that.  As you say, the blood keeps on cleansing.  It is also my view that there is a vast difference between an occasional stumble and walking in iniquity.  I view iniquity as intentional defiance of God's command or will, or put another way, sin is the pattern of your life.  God knows the difference between a one time slip and continuous self willed, self serving sin, because God looks at the heart. I know you are not wild about people using verses to prove their point, but I do not know of a better way to prove that what you or I say is true.  Therefore I must point out that as one of the disciples said to Jesus, "We know that God does not hear the prayers of sinners".  I take that to mean that God maintains the same relationship with those in iniquity today as He did in the days of Isaiah. I also need to point out that Jesus asks every person who claims to be a believer, "Why do you call me Lord when you do not do what I tell you to do?"  The implication being that those who are saved do what He teaches.  Things like "Go and sin no more" and "You be Holy,"  and "You will know them by their fruits". Paul verified this expectation when he pointed out  in 1 Cor.,chapter six  several groups of unrighteous [people that will not inherit the Kingdom of God.   If sin is the pattern of their life, they are not believers, they do not live by faith and are not saved by faith, no matter how earnestly they claim otherwise. That's the way I see it, because that is what the Bible says, and God wrote the Bible. Terry