Welcome to Hank’s Place
Question: how’s your Gospel? Solid? Or have you been sold a bill of goods? If there’s no joy in your Jesus, no life in your living, prayer life on life support and your outlook gloomy—then you need to check out the TRUE Gospel. Because it’s GOOD NEWS.
Let’s review: Ro 5 tells us sin came into the world through 1 man, infected the entire world. There were no survivors.… But then God’s man dealt with sin and Righteousness was offered to all. As a GIFT says Ro 5:17. No joy, friend? Then TAKE the gift! If you WORK for it —and mixing covenants will get you doing that — you’ll not have it and your Christian life will be work – hard – unsatisfying work!
Ro 6 has lots more good news. It declares your OLD nature IS dead. You are a NEW man, with a new nature, alive to God. Ro 7 declares you ARE dead to the Law; it no longer has a hold on you, is no longer a requirement; you are FREE to walk after the Spirit. And the Spirit’s law says, “LIFE! In Christ Jesus.”
In the previous message, I told you Paul confused lots of commentators and preachers alike in Ro 7:14, for he employed an ANALEPSIS – a FLASHBACK – to describe the frustration of his pre-Christian life. Many people, who love God, got mixed up and thought we have two natures at war within us NOW, but as a Christian we have a single RIGHTEOUS nature.
Listen! These mixed up, mixed covenant preachers will tell you to be vigilant, to put down that man of flesh, to deny your flesh, carry your cross and such — but I say, read the Bible with a little understanding of Jesus’ salvation. Read, and you would find those verses in Romans and Ephesians and Colossians were Paul tells us to RECKON the old man dead — this is an accounting term, to COUNT — COUNT the old man DEAD, and you alive to the Spirit.
Blind Bartimaeus in Mk 10 is an excellent example! When he heard that Jesus was calling for him, the Bible says he tossed off his outer garment — that’s the garment that identified him as a blind beggar. Can you see this? Bartimaeus could! From that moment he RECKONED — COUNTED — himself DEAD to blindness and alive to GOD. He RECKONED he was NOT a blind beggar anymore. He was someone whom GOD WAS CALLING! He did the reckoning—and received his sight.
My friend, it’s past YOUR time, for a DEAD Reckoning! You do NOT have old and new natures at war within you. Do the MATH! COUNT the old man DEAD and COUNT the new man ALIVE TO GOD — and Come Alive!
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