Meeting: Sunday Service
Minister: Pastor Laide Olaniyan.
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4).
There is an ordination over all of us, which is to become as beautiful as God. The reason for their appearance to us then will be to undo a work of sin in us that we might be made beautiful. The ordinances, conversation and instructions for their appearance, the Lord will lay strongly in us that we may be qualified to appear before God. Our appearance before God is tied to Jesus appearing to us.
The true man God wants to appear to is a man that is without sin. There are 2 major appearances of Jesus to the believer; one to undo the work of sin and the second the expiation of sin totally and to bring the believer to salvation – “so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4).
The Lord’s first appearance is for sin; to take away our sins. In spite of the sacrifice and the unveiling of his judgement to us at the first appearing, some sins remain very much present with us. This is the reason there must be a second appearance. To emerge as a soul without sin, another work must be done at the second appearing.
We see Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15, who despite walking with God for many years still said he is the chiefest of all sinners likewise John who confessed he still had sin in 1 John 1:8-10. This shows us that the first appearance of the Lord, though it takes away a portion of sin, doesn’t totally eradicate the workings of sin even if we like some confess they are already free of sin. It is not by confession that we are made free from sin but by a complete work done in our soul to undo sin unto salvation.
Many new creation realities argue that we are no longer under the law and hence we are free from sin but it is a law (of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus) that sets us free. As Christians, though we aren’t under the law, we aren’t lawless – “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:4-5). The laws that govern the Christian life lie in the spirit – “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). There are certain laws in the spirit like the law of charity that a believer can transgress when relating with brethren amongst others.
Even the law of Moses, the original ordinances exists in the spirit but because the heart of the people were hardened, Moses could only give the israelites a shadow of it written and engraven on tablets of stone but when our Lord Jesus came, He interpreted the true meaning of the law as it is in the spirit (Hebrew 8:5, Hebrew 9). Jesus rolled away the shadow so that we can interact with the real laws as ordained by God.
“For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid” (Romans 7:11-13) – The problem has never been the law but the infirmity in the soul of man.
“Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him” (John 11:9-10).
The life in a soul is the light that the soul works by. We are in the season of the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2), we know this because the Lord will come as a thief in the night. The reason a person will walk at night and not stumble is because there is light from God in him. We must walk in the light until the light crystallises on our inside through obedience and becomes our life. It’s that light within that will keep us from darkness (2 Peter 1:19, John 12:35). God will not always shine His light. He ‘momentarily’ gives His light. In the season God begins to give light, what He requires of us is to change and conform to the light. We should trust God not to justify ourselves but yield to change.
The life of a man is the light that he sees with. The judgement that flows from a man comes from a life within. Darkness isn’t the absence of light but it’s a type of life that is formed by light from Satan. When a soul hasn’t used the light of life which is from God, such a soul will walk in the devil’s light, and when the light is formed within, the man ends up using darkness as life (Ephesians 4:18). Light here is understanding or judgement. The degree which a soul sees the Lord is the degree to which that soul will be free from sin (1 John 3:6). There are various allocations of strength in God’s word to deal with the various levels of sin in the soul. For some sins, the knowledge of the scriptures alone is potent to deal with. Meanwhile, for a higher level of sin, the knowledge of Christ and the Son must be given for sins to be remitted. Sins of this kind are mostly unknown to the soul of the bearer until their eye is open to see it. There are sins that are only purged by the appearance of the Lord (Isaiah 6).
Works of the flesh e.g fornication e.t.c isn’t the total definition of sin. Sin is a work of the beginning. It is everlasting in nature. It isn’t static and can be invented by men aligning with evil spirits. Some sins are hidden and mysterious and it will only take the appearance of the Son to reveal. Until the truth of God is revealed to us, we won’t see the true definition of sin. When the Son of God is revealed and we see our sin, we shouldn’t feel condemned, but rather cry for mercy.
God expects us to be a practitioner of revealed righteousness. He expects us to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil world (Titus 2:11-15). These are the ordinances of the new life. (1 John 3:7) Once righteousness is revealed, we have been commanded and it is only by obedience that we can be modelled into that which has been revealed to us.
We must love sobriety. It is how we will completely escape and not be entangled again in the lusts that we have been cleansed from because it is possible for a soul to be free from worldly lust and ungodliness but refuse to be sober. Believers who do not through sobriety embrace the life being revealed and do them can end up worse than they were before he/she was cleansed by the light of Christ (Luke 24-26). We must learn to be sober. To be sober is to have brindled passion. Sobriety gives us the right eye to relate with the world; to see the blessings of the world as rags (Hebrews 1:11-12). This will make us hold the things of the world loosely. This is how we will keep our hearts from being overcharged. Phil 3:8 is the hallmark of a sober man. We should be able to handle the affairs of our life on earth without any attachment.
Sobriety furthermore shows us how to relate well with all men. It helps us to esteem everyone according to the measure of grace. God must help us to discern people and relate with them accordingly for there are angels in human flesh.
Living godly in this present world is to live like God in the days of our flesh i.e to be rich in mercy like God, and to forgive as God forgives.. We will be taught and instructed in the manner of God’s life. When we are filled with his life, we will be able to abide His coming, we will be able to dwell in His presence. This is why it is important that we yield to commandments. We must do all to let go of earthly natures e.g anger so we don’t remain earth bound but to be filled with all things God so we will be caught up, so we will become heavenly dwellers (John 14:3).