Concerning the Christians relationship with Christ and
the problem of sin

Understand this:

• Scripture is truth from beginning to end.
• Every verse of Scripture and its interpretation must agree with all the rest of the Bible to be true.
• Scripture must interpret Scripture.
• Context: Many people don’t understand this principle when they interpret Scripture. The context is all the verses that surround the verse which make the context for the verse. Then, there is the greater context, in some cases it might be the rest of the chapter or a couple of chapters or the whole book. The context for the books of the Bible is the whole Bible together. When interpreting we have to look at the larger context of a verse to be able to understand a verse properly.
• Scripture has the final say on all doctrines and beliefs of the church.

When we think of a “Right Relationship” with God we have to understand some terminology.

• Sin: Rom 3:23 shows clearly that all have sinned and have lost the glory of God.
  That is it left them because of sin.

1.  This is what happened to Adam and Eve
2. There is no difference in Adam and Eve’s sin and sins committed today. If it separated them from God it separates us today. Is 59:2

•  Death because of Sin: Rom 6.23 This death is  being separated from God
• Salvation is to be saved from something to something. It is not the relationship itself. But it is necessary for the relationship to be recognized by God.
• Grace – is the gift that is freely given to those who accept Christ and are cleansed from their sin. Salvation is the act of cleansing us from a sinful state to a clean state that is made possible by grace. This clean state makes us acceptable to God.

Can someone fall from Grace?

The answer must be yes, according to Scripture:

I.   One great passage that clearly shows the loss of salvation is in Rom 11:11 to 24.This is a discussion of what happened to Israel and their relationship with God.

•  Paul begins by asking, “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all!” No one falls beyond recovery except the one who commits blasphemy (1 Jn 5.16).
• However, when one has committed a sin he or she is in danger of losing their salvation. Grace is always available to anyone who has sinned. Grace is never unavailable (except for blasphemy) but if the person should die with unpardoned sin in their lives they will not be accepted by Christ. 2 Pt 3:14, “make every
  effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him.” Spotless is to
  be without sin. Being at peace means have a clear conscience or a conscience
  that is at peace.  I’ll say more about this later in this work.
• Rom 11:22 is very important in our understanding of falling from Grace. “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.”
• Rom 5:21 says, “just as sin reigned through death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin brings death (separation from God – that is a broken relationship). Grace reigns only in righteousness. Righteousness means “right living.” In relationship to Christ that means living a holy life. A holy life is never mixed with sin. I’ll say more about Holiness later.

Grace made ineffectual:

1. 2 Co 6.1
2. Ga 2,21

•  Can we live without sin? This is a great debate but Scripture once again is very clear, we must live without sin. Look at these verses:

1.  Mt. 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Perfect here means holy, blameless, without sin. I’ll talk more about what happens when we do later. The question to ask here is, “Would Christ command us to do something that we can’t do?” Absolutely not.
2. Romans 6 (study the whole chapter) is a great chapter on being freed from the power of sin. Verse 1and 2, “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” The following verses are key in this passage:

 Verses 5-8 “we have been united with him like this in his death . . . we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

 Verses 11-23

Verse 18, “You have been set free from sin;”

Verse 19, “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to
impurity [impurity is the opposite of righteousness] . . . so now offer them in
slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.”

 Verse 22, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Salvation is a process. We are cleansed from sin through the power of the blood of Christ, we live a life of right-living, that is living in such a way that we discipline body, mind and soul to be totally free of sin so that we are the found in a holy (pure) state and acceptable for eternal life.

3.   Study all of 1 John. Key verses: 1.7-10, 3:3-5, 3.9-10, 5:4, 18.

 II.  What does apostasy mean? Apostasy is literally “to revolt” it is the renunciation of a religious faith. Scripture warns against apostasy. 1 Ti 1.19, 4.1; 2 Ti 4:4; Heb 3.12, 2
Pet 2.20;  Rev 2.4

 Other Verses:

Galatians 5:4 “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ, you have fallen from grace.” Paul is talking with the Galatian Christians who had been approached by “judaïzers” who wanted the Galatians to follow Jewish traditions rather than the truth they had received from Christ.

I once had someone tell me that if this is the case then these who have sinned never were saved. This denies the truth of these verses. It is impossible to fall if one never climes on a ladder. It is impossible to fall from grace if one never has received it.

 Mat 24:10-12 Christ warned that in the end times many “will turn away from the faith” and “the love of most will grow cold.”Everyone that I know of who preaches about the end times talks of a great apostasy. If the doctrine of once in grace always in grace is true then the idea of an apostasy is impossible. How can you be apostate if you can’t fall?

See also: Lu 9:62; Ga 1.6; 4:8-11; He 10:38-39; 2 Pt 2:15

Pay particular attention to Galatians 4:9 Paul asks, “how is it
that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish
to be enslaved by them all over again?

III.  Scripture calls apostasy “spiritual adultery.” Hosea 4:12

 IV.  Rev 2.5 says, “He who overcomes . . . I will never blot out his name from the book of life . . .“ Now the last phrase makes it look like “eternal security” but the first phrase shows a condition. They have to overcome for the second phrase to take place. What happens If they do not overcome? This conditional statement is reflected in Hebrews 3.14.

 V.   2 Pt 3:17 is extremely clear, it says, “ . . . be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.” That secure
position is secure only if we overcome and guard ourselves.

 VI.  1 Ti 1:19-20 says, “holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.”

 Now what happens when we do sin and fall from Grace:

I.    Rom 11:23 says, “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted
in for God is able to graft them in again.” See also Joel 2:13

 II.   1 Pt. 2:25 “For you were like sheep going astray but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

 III.   So we see that if we repent as soon as we realize our sin we can be forgiven and brought back into right relationship with God again.

 IV.    The purpose of the process that I spoke of earlier of living a righteous life is to give us a time to grow in the Lord and to perfect our walk with him, free of sin.

 V.   James 4:19 says, “Anyone, then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” If we think of the command of Christ to be perfect like God then we have to wonder how is this possible? Perfection will look different in each of us because of our different levels of understanding of what we ought to do or not. This has to do with our levels of maturity in Christ. God will judge us according to what we know, not what we do not.

For example: A child cannot be punished (should not) for doing something that it doesn’t know is wrong, possibly playing with an expensive porcelain doll. But after you have told the child that he or she will be punished for touching it and explaining why then the child
risks punishment for touching it anyway. Sin is this way if I am a new Christian and have no in depth knowledge of Scripture and what is right and what is wrong. God will hold me accountable for what I do know. If I live according to all that I do know in a way that is pleasing to God then I am perfect but immature. Now after 40 years I know far more, God will hold me more punishable that the immature Christian because my knowledge of right and wrong is greater. This is one of the points behind Rom 7.

 VI.   According to the verse in James 4:19 I can only fall from Grace if I commit sin. Sin is purposely doing what I know is wrong. 1 Jn 2:1 though shows that we can ask for forgiveness and be forgiven.

 The Holy Spirit’s role in all this:

I.   Many have a problem with sin: a. they can’t get the victory over it; b. when they are forgiven they wonder if they are really saved, that is they doubt, c. they can’t forgive themselves even though God has.

 II.   Study Romans ch. 8 – it is the beginning of our understanding of the victory we have in Christ.

 III.    Rom 8:1 Forgiven means, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  

Pay close attention to Rom 8:12-17, verse 14 -16 picks up the thought line by saying because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s Children.” This witness that we have helps us to know that we have indeed been forgiven.

Now Satan will try to remind us of our past sins but once we have asked for forgiveness we can rebuke Satan and claim our victory. He will eventually leave us alone on those past sins. This is our confidence and peace. Our conscience serves to let us understand this testimony of the Holy Spirit. It’s his job to convict of sin (Jn 16:8)

This witness is our confidence before the Lord 1 Jn 3:18-24 this whole passage is important. Satan would remind us of our sins. This takes place in our brains but the confirmation of the Holy Spirit takes place in our hearts. Verse 21, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God.” And verse 24 “. . . We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

 Perseverance:

 Why are there so many verses on perseverance? On resisting the devil? Etc. It’s because the authors of the Bible were aware of the possibility of “hearts growing cold”, the “desires of the world” drawing people away from Christ. Christ himself said that the one who “puts his hand to the plow (accepting salvation) and looks back (turns to the world again) is unfit for the kingdom of God.”

2 Ti 2.11-113 “If we died with him, we will also live with him;  If we endure we will also reign with him, If we disown him he will disown us (you can’t disown
something you don’t own). If we are faithless he will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself.”

Finally:  Study 2 Pt 1:3-11 the important verse for this discussion is verse 10 and once again the key word is “If” “For if you do these things, you will never fall.”

So my friends be faithful and obediant to the absolute truth of Scripture that the good Lord has given us and you will receive your crown in heaven.

Blessings,

Sherman

The new church building in Plateforme is taking shape with the help of the congregation on several occasions the whole church has turned out to dig the foundation and to help pour the footing. This has proved to be a great blessing as we have been able to save some money on construction with this kind of participation! With the excitement that has been generated by the beginning of the construction we expect to see greater things for this congregation in the future.

If plans go according to projection we should be up to ring beam level by the third week in October and then begin considering the roofing of the building. Our deepest thanks to our supporters for this help.

In Him,

Sherman and Kay

Last week Sherman taught a three evening seminar from the book of Revelation titled, “The Christian’s responsibility in times of crises according to Revelation”. Considering the great trials this country has just come through it is a subject of great importance. It would have been best have been done before the conflict but maybe it had more value after our brothers and sisters knew by experience what these times could be like.

Sherman is preparing to teach in July at IBAO on Systematic Theology I and II. This will be another 2 weeks of intensive teaching. Pray for the students to be able to understand this important subject. Pray also that Sherman will also have the strength and insight to teach the long hours he will be teaching.

In Him,

Sherman & Kay

I know look forward to spending my time with the work here in the Ivory Coast. I begin a two week intensive at the West Africa Bible Institute, teaching Hermeneutics and Discipleship. I am looking forward to this challenge in spite of the fact that it is going to be very exhausting. Pray for the students they are going to have to really push themselves!

Sherman

Moïse has not left his house since the fighting began and he said that last night was heavy fighting and it was very bad. He told me of the shells hitting Fréquence Vie. He said he had made some preparations so he had some food and water in the house. He was very thankful for the prayers that had gone up for him and others there. They are praying that it is truly ended.

Even though the fighting seems to be near an end the end may be a long time before there is true peace. There may very well be retributions. Then there is the problems of security and getting the economy back to some sense of normality. Food is highly over priced and water is a problem. There has been widespread looting. There are many more problems to be overcome and justice needs to be ensured for all.

We are basically at peace here in Yamoussoukro but the
tensions have been high because no one knows what was going to happen. We thank
all of you for your prayers. Continue to pray.

Psalms 46 begins with these words, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (vs. 1-3). This Psalm and these words were part of my devotions a week or so ago and formed part of the sermon I preached that following Sunday.

These are very apt words for the events we have seen around the world in the last couple of months, such as, earthquakes, wars, tsunamis civil-disturbances and many other events that shake the hearts of men and women everywhere.  Nations are being overturned and lives disrupted or destroyed. However, God’s strength and sovereignty is ever present. Verses 6 and 7 of Ps. 46 say, “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Every verse in this Psalm speaks to us in these events and we find strength.

Even though the events of the past few days and all that is going on today in Abidjan was never as bad as it was when we were in Goma, Zaire we still had to process many things. There were decisions about staying or leaving, preparing emergency bags for a quick getaway, whther the supplies in stock were enough to hold out for a long siege, etc. Then there were the considerations of family and colleagues and their concerns for us. We decided to stay, though it was not easy. There will come a time for all of us when we have to take our
stand.

Tuesday evening, the evening before the takeover, we went to the church service. We weren’t even sure if there would be a church service but went just in case. Pastor Ehoussou used a very interesting text, Rom 12:4-8 and concentrated on verse 8, “If it is encouraging, let him encourage . . .” He spoke about the fear that was gripping many people and that now was the time for us to speak words of encouragement. I thought about our thinking of leaving and what that would say to the people, certainly it wouldn’t be encouraging. The Lord was reminding me that we need to stand by the people of God in times of trouble, not flee. Just as Psalms 46 says, “The Lord is with us” so we need to stand firm for Him and His people at all times.

The funeral began at 10:00 a.m. at the church. Bishop Nkansah’s wife Edith, dressed in white and raised up on the casket, was in the center of the church and the congregation would pass around the casket and some place reefs. Rev. Chin from Chicago and Rev Summers from Bloomington, Ill. were there and officiated the service. It was very dignified and spoke of the great hope we had in Christ and that death was not the end. Letters and emails of condolences were read. It seems that in Ghana the family of the deceased chooses a style of cloth to be worn in the traditional Ghanaian fashion. Everyone wears the same cloth.

From the church we went to a grave site in Accra and the funeral took place there. I have been to many funerals in several countries and have seen many strange and bizarre activities at the occasions. However, this was conducted very well and people did not lose control of themselves. The reefs were put into the grave and buried along with the casket.

As we were leaving another funeral was taking place and they were in the process of breaking up the casket! When we asked why they were doing this. They said it was to discourage grave robbers who try to get the valuables! Most people seal the grave site with a cement cover to show honor and protect the casket. This group was obviously going to just cover it with dirt.

Sunday’s memorial was a ceremony of victory and rejoicing in the life of Edith Nkansah and the reward she was enjoying in her new home with the Lord. Brother Nkansah handled all this remarkably well. So did his family. Our sympathies remain with the family but we also rejoice that there is no longer anymore suffering. Brother Nkansah thanks you all for your support and encouragement through this time.

My return home was a bit more eventful and complicated. Abidjan is continuing to deteriorate. Here’s what I wrote the evening of my arrival in Abidjan.

“As I sit here in the place I am spending the night in Abidjan I hear, in the evening light, birds chirping away without a care, people are going about their business seemingly without a worry, vehicles continue to move here and there with the accompanying blasts of car horns but in the distance towards two of the sub-divisions of Abidjan there is the sound of war. Heavy weapons and small arms fire and the occasional explosion of shells and grenades can be heard. This raged on for about 2 to 3 hours. Later in the night another half hour of this exploded into the night air. It seemed strange that life could go on as if nothing is happening and yet full scale fighting was happening within listening range.

I had planned on just heading on home after doing my shopping. It meant I would have arrived after dark. Because of the situation Kay and I decided it would be wise to take the risk. So I stayed. I just prayed that the situation would not get so bad that I would not be able to leave Abidjan for a few days. I received a phone call from one of our pastors encouraging me not to travel out the way that I had to go to get home. He had heard from a friend in Youpougon, a sub-division on the edge of town and through which the main high way passes, had said the road was closed due to fighting.

The following morning it was calm and I decided to finish my devotions and eat quickly and go ahead and try to make it through to the highway outside of town and continue on. Since I heard no shooting I thought it would be alright. We had thought of alternative ways of getting to Yamoussoukro but none looked good. Just as I was finishing up packing things into the vehicle I heard shooting starting again. I just decided to go ahead anyway. The Lord blessed and I was able to get on out of town and home without incident.

Thank the Lord!