Definite Deliverance

He would not have us ignorant of our sins!

But we are ignorant!

That ignorance is the reason believers are continually being brought to the sense of their wrong, in order that they would know what not to do, and also brought to the sense of God’s love (and obedience) in order to know what to do!

No one sees the whole stain.

Isaiah wouldn't have been horrified and awestruck if he was previously or all already aware of all of his stainfulness. 

Isaiah 6:1-7 
In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 
4And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

That is NOT something said by a man who knows his stain (or his forgiveness). He had to be brought out of his ignorance to the knowledge of his uncleanness (and the forgiveness he did not deserve). 

Luke 5:4-11
4When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

Peter was going about his business unaware of sinfulness. He knew the Law. He had some intellectual knowledge and mere assent of his condition, but coming face to face with God changed it ALL. Both these examples are pre-Calvary, pre-Pentecost, but they evidence the human condition: sin AND ignorance thereof. Being brought from death to life does not instantly make us knowledgeable and mindful of our sins and sinfulness. 

2 Peter 1:3-9 
3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

According to Peter we have trouble remembering we've been cleansed. We become nearsighted, forgetful and that, in turn, has a pile of adverse consequence (many of which are further sinful!). 

Amen!

What shall we make of the "easier"? It's easier not to sin, but not impossible. Once the Holy Spirit has made a sin known to us and led us into what to do and what not to do are we then impervious to relapse? No! There would be no need for James to instruct us to confess our sins to one another if once was sufficient. Confession, repentance, amends, forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, grace.... none of that would be a routine part of the Christian life is one episode was sufficient. Our reliance on the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is ongoing.  He makes it easier, not impossible, not to repeat something we know for certain is wrong and sin. 

Amen! 

WORKS DO NOT SAVE! 

We are saved by grace, through faith, for works (Eph. 2:5-10), and it is God who works in us we are exhorted by scripture to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Believers are continually being brought to the sense of their wrong, in order that they would know what not to do, in their repentance; We are also brought to the sense of God’s love in order to know what to do.

This is where we're likely to part ways because it reads as if this is the believer's doing. If that is what was intended to be communicated, then it runs into some real or perceived conflict with the opening statement about the work of the Holy Spirit. Our doing God's will is never solely our doing. We can't do anything in the flesh that is sanctifying or or changes our disposition with sin. Only Christ crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected can change that. This is why there is so much repeated emphasis on our being dead to sin, crucified with Christ, enslaved to righteousness, obedient to and reliant upon the law of the Spirit, etc. To the degree this part of the op intends to say the Spirit's work of (ongoing) sanctification changes us I say, "Amen!" but care should be taken to clarify the statement, "it's the doing of God's will that manifests the significance of it all." God's grace makes us significant. We do not make God (or His work) significant. 

Amen! Well said.

This is bad psychology. It might also be bad theology because there are some who divide intentional sin apart from unintentional sin when scripture makes it very clear 1) ALL sin is sin, and 2) in our heart of hearts we all know. The heart is many things, but above all else it is deceitful. Implicit within Jeremiah 17:9 is the knowledge of sin.  There would be no need for deceit if the truth weren't known. 

John 3:18-21 NIV 
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. 

Romans 7:14-8:1
14For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. 15For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. 16However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. 17But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. 18For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. 21I find then the [principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, 23but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in [x]my body’s parts. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. 1Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Praise God there is now no condemnation! 

Galatians 2:11
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

Did he now? How could an apostle, a man for whom there was no condemnation stand condemned? 

Galatians 2:12-14
12For prior to the coming of some men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and separate himself, fearing those from the circumcision. 13The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

Who did the Holy Spirit use to help Peter see his sin? Another believer! How long had Peter being maintaining this double-standard, this hypocrisy? Who knows? Was the Spirit not bringing him to the sense of his error or showing him what not to do? Might might infer such action on the part of the Spirit but what we know is Paul was the vehicle for that rebuke, correction.

This is wrong.

God is not magic. Merely being His will not free a person of addiction. I will again use Peter to illustrate this. For the day Peter stood in the boat amazed at how the fish manifested and became aware of his own sinfulness to the day he was corrected by Paul (and probably beyond that) he was an impulsive man. There's no evidence he was every cured or cleansed from that problem. God used that condition for our benefit, to teach us through that example, but Peter remained an impulsive man. Similarly, Paul was under some kind of unidentified judgment from God and he cried out repeatedly for release. His speaking of a "thorn" in his flesh is an Old Testament idiom for judgment (look it up). He asked God to remove it and God refused. God's reply was, "My grace is sufficient."

Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.


By grace we have been saved. By grace we are being saved, and it is only by grace that we will be saved. The Holy Spirit continually brings the believers to the sense of their wrong, in order that they would know what not to do and also brings us to the sense of God’s love in order to know what to do, but it is bby grace that we are saved. Sanctification is due to grace, not the other way around and care should be taken not to conflate the two (not implying the op does so, only clarifying a point).


Here again some clarification is warranted because for those in Christ there is no dying in sin. The option of dead in Christ or dead in sin is a post-conversion condition alone. Those in Christ are dead to sin, even when again disobedient and in need of sanctification, confession, repentance, etc. We forget that sometimes and become nearsighted or myopic, but our myopia doesn't change the fact we have been brought from death to life, purchased and are not our own. We are His, and He is sovereign over EVERYTHING, including sin. Once dead in Christ we don't have a choice to die in Christ. We may have a choice how well we die, but that death is accomplished if a person is in fact dead in Christ. Lots  of poseurs. 

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

But is it correct? 

The sum of our obedience and love to Father and Son is the place of holiness to which Christ brings us. It is the most extreme spiritual reality. 

Christ does bring us to obedience. 

Christ does bring us to love God (Father and Son). 

That obedience and love is a place of holiness (of sacred separateness). 

That is reality (spiritual or otherwise), and it is magnificent.



It is not the most extreme reality. The things of this side of the grave, no matter how wonderful, simply will not compare with the things awaiting us. And in between this side of the grave and the magnificence of the other side of resurrection we will stand before the throne of God and held to account for very vain word and every vain act and every work built on the foundation of Christ before we are face to face with the complete absence of condemnation, the full effect of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and receive definite deliverance. Most, if not all of of us don't even know all we've done. We know neither our disobedience nor our obedience fully.  We will be shown. Blessedly, there is NOW no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus and God will be faithful to His promise to wipe away the tears and commend us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," (even though NONE of us came remotely close to what Christ did). 


Definite deliverance.