Why You Don't Have a Sinful Nature

God uses birth, not behavior or performance, to determine who you are. As a Christ follower, If you have been considering your behavior or performance to come to a conclusion of who you are and you see yourself only through the lens of what you do or don't do,  then I have good news for you! Remember! God uses birth, not behavior or performance to determine who you are!

When you hear, "I'm just a sinner saved by grace," you have often heard it so many times that you probably nod your head in agreement without giving it much thought. However, you cannot find any New Covenant scriptures which proclaim that you are a sinner as a Christ follower. You may say, "What about where Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:15, 'This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief?"  If you start reading in verse 9 and then to 17, you will see the larger story he is using to make this statement. He is saying that because he persecuted the church before he met Jesus on the Damascus Road, he is the worst sinner ever, and if God can save a sinner like him, He can save anyone.

When I played basketball in high school, I set a record for the most rebounds ever in the history of the school.  A rebound is when you grab the basketball after it hits the backboard or rim and doesn't go in the basket.  To my knowledge, I still hold that record a few decades later. Though I have graduated from high school and no longer attend there, would it be a fair statement to say that I am the "chief rebounder" at my high school?  Yes, it would be, though I am no longer a part of that school. It is simply a part of my past, just as Paul being the chief of sinners was a part of his past, though he says it in present tense.

Another issue is that you may have been told most of your life that you have two natures as a Christian -- the old nature and the new nature. However, Romans 6:6 is very clear that your old nature, identified as "sinner," died once and for all on the cross with Jesus.  It was put to death and you were given a new nature - Christ's nature. (2 Cor. 5:17) Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

One more challenge you may find is that you grew up reading the New International Version Bible.  I like it too, except where they translated the word flesh as sinful nature. That is very confusing because the old nature is dead and removed. However, God did not remove the flesh from the Christ follower. In addition, the old nature and the flesh are not the same.   So when you see in places like Romans 8 that we are dealing with a sinful nature, it's easy to make the assumption that you have one.  To the NIV's credit, the newest version changed 95% of those back to the flesh, which is more accurate.

Rejoice today!  Though you and I can certainly act in a sinful way, we do not have a sinful nature.   

Scripture states that the battlefield is in the mind. The conflict is between the flesh and the Spirit, not between two natures. (Galatians 5:17) For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (The definition for the  flesh is behavior influenced by old patterns of thoughts, feelings and choices, apart from total dependence on Jesus Christ.)

"Why is this so important?" you may be asking. Because it goes to the very heart of the Gospel about what really happened when Jesus died on the cross for us and when we died with Him. Then, God raised us up with Him to walk in newness of life, for the very first time!    It goes to the core of who you really are deep within.  Can your identity be both a sinner and a saint, based on  rebirth?  Or, are you a saint who sometimes sins? According to Romans 6, you are a saint who sometimes sins. When we teach this truth on your new identity in Christ to people here at GLI and they have embraced it, we've watched God change their perspective.  Why?  People tend to act in a manner in how they see themselves. Will you believe the truth today so you can live freer in your own life?

We welcome you to join us at GLI-Charlotte for the Free Orientation that speaks on this Life-Changing Class called Advanced Discipleship Training.  In ADT, over 8 months, we learn more about entering God's rest that Hebrews 4:10 describes.  Orientation begins Monday, July 11, from 6-9pm. Contact Sandy Witherspoon at 704.522.9026 or EMAIL US! for more information.  

                                            

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

You Cannot Generate Sinful Thoughts as a Christian

Have you ever wondered why when you are praying, terrible, sinful thoughts come out of nowhere into your mind?  Have you ever experienced a flurry of thoughts about what a failure you are as a Christian or, for some, what a great Christian you are compared to others?  When we have these sinful thoughts, many of us beat ourselves up.  But should we really be beating ourselves up for these very common experiences? Absolutely not!

Here's why. These sinful thoughts are not coming from you.  In fact, you do not even have the ability to generate sinful thoughts. You may be thinking in your mind, "You must not know me very well, Mark, because if you did, you would realize that I can come up with all kinds of sinful thoughts!" Actually, you don't, and as I said earlier, you can't. Why? It's because as a new creation in Christ, the real you, the true identity can only think and produce loving, righteous thoughts.  

1 John 3:6 tells us this: No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (NASB) The new you cannot sin because you are 100% righteous in your identity in Christ, that is, in your spirit. As a righteous person, you do not have the desire nor the ability to produce sinful or tempting thoughts.  

Since that is true, where do they originate from? Sinful thoughts originate from one of two places. 1. Indwelling sin or 2. Satan.

In Romans 7:15-17, the Apostle Paul shares his own struggle with temptation, how he failed to overcome them and where the temptations were originating. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  What does this teach us?

Our deepest desire is to live righteously not sinfully!

There is zero power in the law or in will-power to defeat temptation in our lives!  

Sinful thoughts originate from sin, which lives in our bodies, not from the real us!

A Christian does not have two natures warring against each other - a sinful one and a righteous one.  The sinful one was crucified on the cross with Jesus according to Romans 6:6.  Yet we do have an unholy force or power in our bodies that is the source of our temptation called indwelling sin. It's just that this source is not who we are.

It's like having a splinter in your finger.  It hurts like crazy! It's something in you, but it's not you. Indwelling sin is in us, but it's not the real us.  Just read the remainder of Romans 7 and you will see this clearly.

Yet, here is where it's tricky.  This "splinter" in us called indwelling sin puts sinful thoughts in our mind which sound just like us talking.  They have our same gender, cadence and accent. So, it certainly sounds like us, but because they are sinful thoughts instead of righteous ones, they are not from us. Let me put it this way.

Every temptation we have is coming from indwelling sin or Satan not us!

If you will begin to believe this, you can not only stop beating yourself up, but you can ask the Holy Spirit to help you recognize these sinful thoughts.

I remember after having a powerful session in counseling one time, I ran a quick errand to the local Walmart.  As I was walking in, I began to be bombarded by these dark sinful thoughts. Knowing the truth, I simply said, "These thoughts aren't coming from me.  I died to you sin. I am a righteous child of God." They stopped immediately.

We all need to know this truth and to be reminded of it often.  I certainly do in my own life, for sure. Ask God to remind you of this liberating truth, and watch what He does in your life.  You will be amazed and encouraged!

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Do We Need to Balance Grace with Law?

What would your life be like if you decided you were going to live totally by grace instead of the 10 Commandments and religious rules?  Would you feel free, or would you feel afraid?  Today, some fear that teaching people to live exclusively by grace will lead Christians to increased sinning. There are phrases which have been created to describe their beliefs about this kind of teaching. Here are a few: license to sin, greasy grace, and hyper grace.  These fears almost always lead to one conclusion: Christians need some law to balance grace.

Here is how it is sometimes couched.  "God's grace gives us the power to obey the 10 Commandments."  I once believed this and taught it.  I dedicated myself for over 10 years to calling upon God's grace to give me the strength and power to obey the Big 10.  I began this with high hopes and excitement.  Five years later I was filled with pride and self-righteousness. It ended in a fog of depression and finally giving up on it all.  I told my wife one night at the end of this part of my journey, "If this is all there is to being a Christian, it doesn't work, and I can't do this any longer."

God gave the Law for some very specific purposes: 1. To show people their sins. "Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20 b). 2. To make people sin more. "The Law came in so that transgression might increase" (Romans 5:20 a).3. To minister death and condemnation.  "But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?  For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory" (2 Corinthians 3:7-9).4. To prepare every person who hears the Law to embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior.  "Let me put it another way. The Law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith." (Galatians 3:24).

The moment a person places their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, any allegiance to the Law abruptly stops because we have "Somebody" better. "And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the Law as our guardian" (Galatians 5:25). Why? We have Jesus in us.  He is not rule based at all but completely relationship based. Once our focus is on Him, we stop performing the rules for God and depend on Jesus to live a life of love through us. And what is amazing is that when we focus on Jesus, we fulfill the Law without even thinking about it! "Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's Law" (Romans 13:10).

We also have the Law written on our hearts and minds according to Hebrews 10:16."This is the new covenant I will make with My people on that day, says the Lord: I will put My Laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." This is a reference to our identity in Christ as holy and righteous sons and daughters of God.  The deepest part of who we are wants to live a life consistent with who we are.

We don't need the Law to balance the life-giving power of living by grace.  We have Jesus, Mr. Grace Himself, in us so we can enjoy His love, love Him back and rely on Him to live through our new creation identity.

That night as I laid in that dark room full of despair, my DAD spoke to me, letting me know that He not only loved me but accepted me even if the church I was starting failed.   Yet, when God first revealed the love and life of Christ to me, I still did not understand that grace had freed me from the Law.  Little by little, my mind was renewed to where I saw that it can't be both.

How about you?  Are you ready to give up on Law-based living plus grace-based living?  That combination still equals trying harder.  If so, you can begin to simply trust that living by pure grace alone is enough.  It's a choice I urge you to make today.  It may be scary at first, but as you experience more and more freedom to live like you've always wanted deep down inside as a Christ-follower, you will be glad you did!

Believe it! It's the Gospel.


Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Why Christians Can't "Out-Sin" God's Grace!

Have you ever wondered if you've sinned so much that God will give up on you and break His relationship with you?  Has it ever gotten so bad that you thought you were in danger of even going to hell?  Let me show you how the Gospel of grace can remove those fears.  

In Romans 5:20, we read, The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

We see some very surprising truths here and some very encouraging ones, as well.  First, contrary to popular opinion, the 10 Commandments were given so that sin would INCREASE not decrease.  Does that surprise you?  It did me at first until I received understanding on what God meant.  

The Law was never intended to be a sin-stopper.  It was intended to be a sin-revealer.  The 10 Commandments were given by God to cause sin to increase in these ways before we were Christ-followers:  1. We become aware of our sins.  2. We sin more when we rebel against the 10 Commandments thinking, "Nobody's going to tell me what to do!" 3. We sin more when we attempt to obey the 10 Commandments in our own strength.  

In other words, the Law of God will never empower us to decrease our sinning, but sit will fulfill its purpose to increaseour sinning. This is not because the law is bad.  It is not.  It's because before we come to faith in Christ, we are bad.  

After we come to faith in Christ, we have something much better than the Law.  We have the Law written on our hearts and the Law-Giver, Jesus Christ, in us to live His life through us. (Hebrews 10:16 and Galatians 2:20).

The second truth we see is that no matter how much we sin, God's grace is greater.  For those who don't know Christ, this means that no matter how horrendous their sins have been, God's grace is strong enough to save them.  For we who are in Christ, it means that no matter how much we sin, we cannot sin more than God's grace can cover.

The natural question then is this.  If I can't out-sin God's grace, what is there to keep me from going wild with my sinning knowing I am covered by that grace?  This question is anticipated by the Holy Spirit in Romans 6.  It is here where he makes clear that if we stop there, we don't fully understand the Gospel.  It is our death with Jesus on the cross to sin that must be understood (Galatians 2:20).  Our identity in Christ is dead to sin's power through it often doesn't feel like it or look like it.

I'm out of time today to tell you more, but let me leave you with two questions.  First, will you embrace the radical place you stand under God's grace?  If so, it will rid you of a lot of condemnation and fear.  Second, I encourage you to register for the remainder of our Foundation for Transformation Conference where we will go verse by verse through Romans 6 next Monday, June 13, to unpack this chapter on why grace isn't a license from God to sin.  See the sidebar with more details on how to register.  

Missed Romans 5?  No worries!  We will make sure you get to listen to it when you register and pay online for the remaining Monday evening classes covering Romans 6-8.  You may do so by CLICKING HERE. 

We hope you will join the many others who will be in our office and online.

Live Free in Christ,

Mark Maulding

President & Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Misconceptions about Intimacy with God

For many years, I equated intimacy with God to how long I read my Bible and prayed each day.  On the days I did those for 30 minutes, I believed I was intimate with God. However, it was a twisted version of what true intimacy with God actually is, which was rooted in "Checklist Christianity."  

"Checklist Christianity" is the false belief that by performing certain spiritual activities, I place myself in a position for God to bless me with His love, finances, better relationships and more.  It's performance-centric rather than relationship-centric.

Intimacy with God is, at it's core, all about God enjoying us and us enjoying God.  Did you know that is the main reason God created us?  When we go back to Genesis 2:7, we see this intent clearly.  Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

When God saved you He united Himself to you just as He did with Adam, when He breathed Himself into him. He did this so you could enjoy each other.  Think about it for a moment. God enjoys you by living in you.  Legalism says God loves you but just kind of puts up with you.  That is critically contrary to the Gospel of Grace.

How, then, can we enjoy intimacy with God the grace way? First, we need to realize that because God is in us, we can talk with Him anytime, anywhere, about anything. We can also hear Him speaking to us in the same way. That includes times we carve out to pray, read the Bible and listen to Him. For example, Jesus spoke about entering into your closet. He was saying that we do well to have a special place we set aside for prayer and that we don't have to pray to impress people.

Where is your closet?  I had a friend years ago who literally got in the closet in his room and shut the door. The only problem was that it was so dark it scared him, and his prayer time lasted about 30 seconds!  Your prayer closet can be a quiet place in your home, your car, your office, a park, or anywhere you want it to be.  Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley, forerunners of the Methodist Church, reportedly put her apron over her head and made that her prayer closet, since she could find no place to get away from her 18 children!

Yet, intimacy with God exceeds those carved out times. You can pray when you are at work, when you are on an errand, even when you are watching TV.  I wanted to watch a basketball game one night and asked Jesus what he thought about that.  He said to me that He liked basketball and wanted to watch it with me.  We had a great time together!

Intimacy with God can also be times of quiet where you are simply aware that Jesus is communing with your spirit, though there are no words being spoken.

Intimacy with God is not about putting ourselves in a position to be blessed.  It is enjoying the royal position we already have, in already being blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus! (Ephesians 1:3).

Take off the legalistic glasses preventing your true intimacy with God, and put on the comfortable "Son-glasses" by believing that God enjoys being in you, so that you can enjoy Him, too?   Would you stop and tell Him that you believe He enjoys you, just because He is in you?

There is so much more I want to tell you about this which I will be teaching on June 6, from 6-9pm (Romans 5). Though all of the FREE seats for that night are SOLD OUT in our office, you can still come to Romans 5 that first night if you register for ALL of the Foundation for Transformation Conference (Romans 5-8).  We have reserved a few seats for people who sign up for the entire Conference which includes June 6, 13, 20 and 27. 

REGISTER HERE

We also have a few seats still left ONLINE that are FREE for June 6,  but you need to SIGN UP HERE ASAP to insure one of the remaining ones.

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!