You might plead lack of intelligence or that the Holy Spirit is not a
rationalist or any number of things, but it is quite simple and true that if
you do not keep the commandments, you are not in Christ. Here is the reason
that you and I cannot understand one another concerning the characteristics
of a believer in his apprehension of knowledge and truth.
1. Jesus in His "sermon on the mount" assumed that all in the crowd were evil ("If you being evil know how ...) Does this mean that the parents of John the B were not in the crowd? And would the assumption apply to you, if you had been in attendance? It is in this very sermon that He tells them to be perfect? Does this mean the indwelling was offered to this multitude? Did Chrsit expect this crowd to obey all of why He said in the sermon. And when was the last time you cut off your hand or plucked your eye -- or haven't you ever committed such sins?
2. Is sin only "transgression of law?"
3. When we are told that we are " .. falling short of the glory of God," how is that a present time occurrence?
4. If the saint were actually "dead to sin," why the continued teaching against sin and the constant [implied] call to [begin again] avoiding sin?
