Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man.
But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26).The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright,
He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other.
He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it.Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so.
From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . ” (John 3:19).
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October 5, 2010
Journal Entry for Today-JDV
I do not think I have fully grasped the idea that I have no right to myself. If that was and is the original and all encompassing sin….holding on to my rights to myself; my ideas of right and wrong, of what is mine and what belongs to God, then I suspect that I continually overlook a critical element. I overlook the fact that I am only responsible for surrendering my life; failures, successes, strengths and weaknesses and circumstances. I cannot seek or claim victory in my right choices nor His covering and help in what appears to be my wrong ones. I am only to claim Jesus, in all things.
And God says…..”And you know that all things work together for good…..I predestined you, justify you and will glorify My Son through you by using everything that occurs in your life to help conform and transform you into the likeness of Jesus. It is not that I will pull you through difficult times, I already have pulled you through difficult times, you need only trust and obey and stay connected to Jesus.”
“You have no right to yourself in any circumstance or outcome. It is not you that helps your brother, it is not you that helped your brother come to know Jesus and it is not you that offered that prayer and offering. It is the very Spirit of God living inside of you. And it is the Spirit of God that pulls you through even when you believe it has something to do with your own good works and committed and good intentions…….it does not.”
“Trust in the Lord in all your ways and do not rely on anything that comes from you, and He will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart……….and you know that all things work together for your good….and your victory is already assured.”
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