The American Wisdom Series 
 http://www.americanwisdomseries.com

Presents 

Caution to students of God's Word - Please remember two things when using our studies: #1. Our commentary is not God's Word. It is only our interpretation or understanding of "His Word" and even though we try our best to be accurate we may or may not be correct. #2. The King James translation, or any other translation, of the original Hebrew text has some words which were given different translations at different places probably because of the interpreters preconceived ideas of what they think God meant to say. For example: According to the notes in the "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible" the Hebrew word hayah in the KJV is Trans. (became) 67 times, (becamest or came to pass) 505 times, (become) 66 times, and (come to pass) 131 times, but for some reason in Genesis 1:2 it is translated (was)! That sure changes the way a person perceives the original creation of the earth, doesn't it?  Gen. 1:2 And the earth was (became) without form, ... Having said that, let us continue with our "Key Knowledge" lessons. These are pamphlets containing knowledge, we believe, you must have to fully and accurately unlock and understand the Word of God.

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:13-14
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

This Bible Study was originally written by Roger Christopherson,
 published at http://www.theseason.org/ 

Without the leading by the Holy Spirit, there is no understanding of the truths, for all the truth of the Scriptures are revealed to us by God's Spirit.

 Now here is our revised study of:

"We are Not in Sin Because We Died with Christ. [1-7]"

"Identification with Christ in Life and Death. [8-23]"

A sinner is one that falls short of the glory of God, and we know we all do if we are honest with ourself, and it is nothing to be proud of. Even when we fall short, within ourselves we strive to do better, and when we do fall short we repent immediately and ask forgiveness from our Heavenly Father.

The other type of sinner could care less if there is a God in heaven, or a Satan to drive you away from God. They just don't care because their entire life revolves around themselves. This type of a person is what the Greek word calls "a fool", and Christ said, don't ever call a man "a fool". However our English word for fool has so deluded this word, to the point of just being a simple slang word. Today the word fool does not refer to the habitual sinner, but to one that acts before thinking, or his reasoning is not what normal people think is reasonable.

With the habitual sinner, there is a closed mind to receiving the seed of the Word of God. However, we do not know the mind of any person, so an effort must be made on our part as a Christian to give them the gospel of Christ.

In any case, we must attempt to remove all them that call themselves Christians from a self accusing guilt trip, for when we place guilt back on ourselves after we have asked forgiveness, we are denying the price that Christ paid on the cross to bring forgiveness for our sin. This is a continuation from Romans 5:21, and Paul is asking:

Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Many will teach that the law is done away with, but Christ did not teach that. The law is just as much in effect today as it was in Jesus day, or even in David's day. The laws of our land are all based on the Biblical laws and standards. The law lets us know what we should not do and how to live our lives. Christ came to fulfill the law, by making His grace a free gift to us, so that upon repentance of a sin we then have repentance. All sin that is committed in the normal daily life today is pardonable.

That is the sin addressed here. The "unpardonable sin" is not addressed at this time. The unpardonable sin is the sin committed against the Holy Spirit, for only after the false-christ has appeared on earth can that sin be committed. Then that sin can only be committed by the elect, those that are fully aware of the identity of Satan, and refuses to allow the Holy Spirit to work through their lives. This sin is written about in Mark 13:9-11.

Mark 13:9 "But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them."

Mark 13:10 "And the gospel must first be published among all nations."

Mark 13:11 "But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought before-hand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit."

The unforgivable sin then is when you as one of the elect of God, living in the time when Satan is here on earth in person, ruling over his one world religious system, refuse to allow the Holy Spirit of God to use you, and speak through you. Satan has not arrived on earth yet, for he is still in heaven accusing the saints before the throne of God. That time is the great tribulation, and it starts at the sixth trumpet. Then Satan and all his evil angels will be booted out to the earth, and this unpardonable can be committed. It cannot be committed in innocence, i.e. anyone who doesn't know who Satan is when he comes to earth ahead of Christ's return, and this is why I feel that it will not be committed. The elect of God will find Satan an abomination to them, for the elect are not be lead by fairy-tales and false doctrine, but are well grounded in the truth of God's Word.

So Paul asks; What about these things, shall we sin so we can enjoy the grace all the more? You know the answer to that, of course not.

Romans 6:2 "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

We are talking about baptism here.

Romans 6:3 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?"

This is what baptism is all about, being baptism into Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Baptism is symbolic between you and the Lord God Almighty. It is a witness that you believe in Jesus Christ. As you are submerged into the water, that Jesus Christ went into the tomb, but that He arose from that tomb into eternal life. Baptism buries the old man, the old sin natured man, and brings out the new, in a spiritual sense.

Romans 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

This "newness of life", is the new sphere that will govern our lives. This new life is misunderstood by many, that think that we should be totally a new person. It doesn't say that; It says that we should walk in a new sphere. That sphere of life doesn't take away our old nature, for even Paul said he always ended up doing what was wrong, even when his new man, or nature fought against it.

There is no end to repentance as long as you have a repented heart and desire to strive for perfection. As long as you are in the flesh, you will fall short, for that is human nature and why we must always seek forgiveness.

It is important for those new Christians to understand this "newness of life" that comes after baptism. After baptism there will still be part of that old nature in you, you will still be able to sin and that is why we must name our sins to the Father in Jesus name. Because you have had that bad thought, or become angry, or even committed any one of those sins that you committed before your baptism, it does not mean that your baptism didn't work. Your baptism is your commitment that you outwardly make to the Father, and even with your baptism you still must ask God's forgiveness when you fall short and sin.

The man that performs the baptism has absolutely nothing to do with your walk with Christ. Your baptism is between you and our Heavenly Father, in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ and in His Spirit. We say this to alert the new converts and those just baptized that certain drives will continue after baptism, and that is why your relationship with the Father must strengthen. That strength through maturity comes through your study of His Word, and prayer life. Then you will grow to maturity in your Christian life.

We all will sin after baptism, because we come short of the glory of God, but that is the beauty of Christianity. Baptism is not a license to sin, but we do serve a God of love and forgiveness. There are certain things that God does hate, and we will see them in the nineth chapter of Romans.

Romans 6:5 "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection:"

If we grow [have been planted] together in the likeness of His death, then we shall be with Him in His resurrection. In other words, He in us and we in Him.

Romans 6:6 "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

The old man is our self. We can know that in baptism our old man, or self was crucified with Christ, and for that time forth we should not be a slave to sin. In the end that is what this earth age, the flesh age is all about. It puts away this old self man, and that is why it is written that every man shall die once, the flesh man, the man the walks under the sun. At death, or at the sounding of the seventh trumpet we will rid ourselves of these flesh sinning bodies. Don't give up when your flesh body gives in to the old nature, for that is the time to repent and just keep trying and pray for the strength to overcome that sin, and the Spirit of God will help you overcome. The Father will always help you in your trials.

Romans 6:7 "For he that is dead is freed from sin."

When you are saved and have repented for your sins and die, your ability to sin will be destroyed. The old nature will die when the flesh body dies. You will have given up this corruptible body for the new incorruptible body or if you are still alive, in the flesh, at the seventh trumpet and the return of the Lord, these old flesh bodies will change instantly.

I Corinthians 15:50 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

"Flesh and blood" are these flesh bodies that we now call ourselves. The "Kingdom of God" is the kingdom that will exist when Jesus Christ is on earth reigning within His dominion. That domain will include all the people who have lived on the earth since its beginning, and it is called the Millennium Kingdom. When Christ comes to set up His kingdom, no man or woman will any longer exist in their flesh [corruptible] body but, will be changed.

That includes all, saint and sinner alike. We'll all live here; the saint will teach sinner the ways of the Lord, while we'll all be in our new spiritual [incorruptible], or soul bodies. The saints already having been granted immortality at Christ's return. The sinner, still having a mortal soul will have to wait for the end of the Millennium and "The Great White Throne of Judgment" for his chance to gain immortality.

Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, "

A mystery is something unknown, and Paul is going to put the pieces of this mystery together for us. There is a time coming when we shall not all die [sleep], and at that instant in time, every flesh body on the face of this earth will change instantly to their new incorruptible bodies. Why? Because Christ has returned to set up the Millennium kingdom, and flesh and blood simply cannot exist in that kingdom. So this change must occur because the Word of God said it would.

I Corinthians 15:52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised [#1453- "to be awaken, i.e. arouse from their sleep] incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

This change to our incorruptible bodies from the flesh and blood bodies will be as quick as you can wink your eye. The time of this occurrence will be "at the last trump", which means that there will have been six other trumps that will have occurred prior to this changing event whereby no human flesh and blood bodies will exist anymore. Today we see that the first four trumpets are well underway, and the fifth trumpet is sounding and the coming of Satan ln person, or fall to earth in his role as the false-christ, will happen when he is thrown to earth at the sounding of the sixth trump.

Rvelation 9:1 "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit."

That star that fell from heaven is Lucifer [Satan], the bright an morning star of Isaiah 28, And he will come onto the earth at the sounding of the sixth trumpet. The key is the authority that God will give to Lucifer [Satan] to take all of his angels with him, when he comes for his five month reign.

Revelation 9:2 "And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit."

The bottomless pit is a place of holding of all evil spirits that are not on the earth, and they will accompany Satan and the fallen angels here to earth. This is going on now in the heavenlies. The sixth trumpet is when Satan, as the false-christ comes to earth claiming to be Christ, and many Christians will believe it, for they are being taught to do so in their traditions.

Daniel wrote of this in Daniel 9:27; it was when Satan, the spurious messiah stood in the holy place in Jerusalem, and declared Himself to be God. Jesus backed up Daniels prophecy in Matthew 24:15; "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)"

Are you starting to catch on? You will see the false-christ Satan standing in Jerusalem claiming to be Christ, and you will still be in your flesh body, before you hear the sounding of this seventh and last trumpet. Your escape hatch to the Christian from Satan is; "whoso readeth, let him understand". It is your studying the Word of God and knowing what the signs of the end times are, and the "so called rapture" is not included anywhere in the Word.

In fact Ezekiel 13:17-23 God tells us that He is down right mad at those that would "prophecy out of their hearts", i.e. make up lies and traditions, to teach them fly away traditions.

Ezekiel 13:20 "Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows [teachings], wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly."

The time that God will tear those souls who believe your lies is the time of Christ's coming, and those who have worshipped Satan the false-christ in ignorance will have the Millennium age for their teaching and discipline. Then after the Millennium age of Christ each of those souls will be judged by their works. Grace and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ is for this flesh age only and not the Millennium age, for then we will have our Savior here with us and there will be no need for faith.

I Corinthians 15:53 "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

The corruptible is the flesh body, the incorruption is the new soul body of the Millennium age. "Mortal" means "liable to die", while "immortality" means you have your eternal body. The lost souls that have never been taught the Word, and repented, will have to wait until after the thousand year Millennium age, and judgment by their works of the Millennium age before they receive their immortality. Where as the Elect and faithful in this age will receive their immortality from the sounding of the seventh trumpet, all the way through the Millennium age.

I Corinthians 15:54 "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory."

At the sounding to the seventh trumpet, the flesh age is passed, and all those faithful to Christ will be in their new bodies, and "death will be swallowed up in victory."  The old sin nature will be gone at this time forever for the elect at the sounding of the last trumpet. However, in this flesh age we also have a way of freeing sin from us, and that way is through repentance in Jesus name. All your repented sins have been totally blotted our from God's recorded remembrance, and you are declared innocent of them by The Father. You are freed from those committed sins.

This is why Paul said that he looks forward to that day when he would be with Him, yet I must hang on here to help you. This is why it is one of the biggest sins for one to kill himself with the express purpose of being home with the Father. There is no time to repent in this flesh body, and God will not be happy with you upon arrival in His presence.

Romans 6:8 "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:"

If you humble yourself in love before Christ, and are baptized in that same grave [buried with Christ], then you will also live with Him after this flesh age is gone. This is what this flesh age is all about. God is giving you the choice to choose Him or Satan, the choice is yours.

Romans 6:9 "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him."

This gets into the whole purpose for Jesus coming to earth at the first advent; the purpose was His going to the cross, for when he came out of that tomb, death would have no more dominion over Him. This is also what is offered to you and I through our repentance in Jesus name.

Hebrews 2:14 "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

Christ chose to be born of flesh and blood, whereby He would die on the cross and once and forever defeat death, which is the devil. That was and is the purpose of this earth age, to defeat death [Satan], and as we see in I Corinthians 15:55; "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?". Death has no victory except for those that have not chosen to repent and serve the Lord.

Romans 6:10 "For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God."

Jesus is from God, He is God, and when you have seen One, you have seen the Other; Why? Jesus said in John 10:30; "I and My Father are One." Same person, only two offices of the Godhead, while the Holy Spirit of God is the third office. They are three separate but One.

Romans 6:11 "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

This is good instruction of how to overcome sin. We are to become dead to sin, but we still will sin, but this gives us leverage to overcome our sin. When we are studing His Word, and trying to focus on that Word, our thoughts are not on sinning but pleasing our Father, and Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:12 "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof."

"Mortal body" is this "flesh body that is liable to die". When we are in our flesh body our spiritual body must learn to control our flesh body, our thoughts, and our actions, and this includes our tempers and lusts of the flesh. As long as you are living in the flesh, those lusts will be there. The lust may be for food, or drink, or what ever, that is part of the flesh and the sin nature within us.

It is you that sets the course for your flesh body, whether the flesh nature will rule, or your new spiritual nature that God places within you. God gives you the authority over it, and Satan and his evil spirits will be there to tempt you. This is why you must take the controls, and order Satan and his evil spirits out of your surroundings, and home.

Romans 6:13 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

We are told here not to serve the vice that controlled the old nature, but dedicate yourselves unto God. There is only one person that can make his or her mind up who he will serve and what they will do, and that person is you. You must do it for yourself. "Those that are alive from the dead" is speaking spiritually, and when you repent in Jesus name, and believe on His name, that faith brings you alive from the spiritual dead body that you were in.

Again, when you do fall short after you have become spiritual alive, don't go off on a guilt trip when you fall short, for that is why you repent when you do sin, that sin then is blotted out so don't even think about it. Be careful of self-righteousness, for this is the condition where you think that you are so righteous that you simply cannot sin, and that is the greatest sin of all. Satan loves the self-righteous attitude, for it makes his work easy in claiming that soul.

Jesus warned us in Matthew 10:28; "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him Which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

This death in hell fire is not an continual time of suffering, but you cease to exist forever in any form, even within the thought and remembrance of those loved ones around you. It is as you had never existed in the first place, ever.

Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

Many people have a lot of trouble with this. Remember back in Romans 3:31; "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." We have the law of freedom through grace. You are not now under the law because the law doesn't exist, because it does still exist. It is still illegal to steal, to murder another, to bow to idols, and so forth, but you come under the law by falling short of that law, repentance and grace from God is there for you to participate in.

Romans 6:15 "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."

Paul is saying that we never should sin on purpose because we are under grace.

Romans 6:16 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey: whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

Paul is saying that it is your choice who you take for your master. The choice is between Satan and the destruction that will follow from your obedience that you have given while serving him. The other choice is your obedience to our Heavenly Father and your obedience to His Word and serving His righteousness. When you walk with Christ you have eternal life for your soul.

Christ paid the price that you can even make that choice, and those that know and understand the choice will serve righteousness.

Romans 6:17 "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you."

We were servants of sin in the past, before repentance, but now you have the message of faith. Your faith is your taking of God's Word, and acting upon it in confidence, that when you repent, you free yourselves from guilt.

Romans 6:18 "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."

You are free from sin, in so much, as since you are in the flesh that causes sin, on sinning and repentance, from the heart before God, you become set free from that sin through the gift  God gave to you.

Romans 6:19 "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your member servants to righteousness unto holiness."

Paul is speaking of the weakness of the human nature that is of the flesh. But when you keep giving in to this weakness and sin over and over again, it requires you to keep seeking forgiveness over and over, and ask our Heavenly Father for righteousness and strength to be holy. As you ask for forgiveness, ask also for guidance, to help you overcome those weaknesses that you have. Remember that flesh brings temptations, and yielding to them brings sin that requires repentance.

Romans 6:20 "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness."

When you were a servant of sin, then you did not have the rewards of righteousness.

Romans 6:21 "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death."

When you look back on your life when you were a unrepented sinner, enjoying those sinful acts; What did those things gain you in the end? The fruit of one sin will bear more of the same. One lie leads to another, as one sin leads to another and there is no end to it. The road leads in the opposite direction then eternal life, and that is death of the body, and the soul.

Romans 6:22 "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."

The fruit of your holiness is what you have done in this flesh life for God and His righteousness. Your fruit could be in your planting of seeds of truth that leads someone to God, or in your prayer life, or even in giving of materials or money in Jesus name. It is the act of doing something in Jesus name to advance God's kingdom, and bringing others to God's saving grace, and their eternal life. Sometimes even in our falling short, we can use that troubled time to assist others in keeping others from falling into that same sin. It is at repentance that gives us the freedom over our sins.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

This is to say that Satan brings us only death and sin into our lives. The law was given to Adam, and Adam was tempted by Satan and broke the law, so we see even in Adam's case that Satan was the root of the sin that entered into the world.

God's law or commandment to Adam was "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:17 The "tree of good and evil" is just one of Satan's many names in the Bible. The sin that was committed was not the eating of anything, but the sexual union between Satan and Eve with Adam, in the Garden, and from it came Cain, Satan's child, who murdered Abel, Adams child.

When you take Christ into your heart, and by believing in Him and repenting to the Father in Jesus name, He will forgive your sins, and give you eternal life. Remember that the only way to the Father is through His Son, for when you come in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, you then recognize that Jesus' blood on the cross was shed for you. You are then accepting that gift that the Father is offering to you of His grace, unmerited favor, and telling the Father that you accept Christ's sacrifice for yourself.

                        

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.  We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

---

The American Wisdom Series

is

Published by:

Rhine Publishing Co.
E-mail address - americanwisdomseries@verizon.net