Freedom From Sin

FREEDOM FROM SIN
“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 1 verse 21
1
CONTENTS
1.1 What is sin?

sin Page 3
1.2 How did man sin?

sin Page 4
1.3 God`s purpose in man Page 7
2.1 Overcoming Page 9
2.2 How can we overcome?

overcome Page 13
2.3 promised-land,
The promised-land, our inheritance Page 15
2.4 Failure to enter the promised-

promised-land Page 17
2.5 The Natural man Page 20
3.1 The trial of faith

faith Page 25
3.2 Reasons for unbelief Page 36
3.3 Do we really believe?

believe Page 45
3.4 The parable of the talents Page 50
4.1 How do we get to produce fruit?

fruit Page 52
4.2 Abiding in Christ Page 56
4.3 What is Faith?

Faith Page 58
4.4 “Lord increase our Faith” Page 59

4.5
4.5 Freedom from sin Page 62
2
1.1 “What is sin?”
sin ”
Sin is not an act or something that we do, sin is a condition or nature..
The bible says that we were all born sinners;
Psalm 51 verse 5-
5-6
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you
desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part you will make me know
wisdom”
The question is, what possible sin could we have committed at birth? The answer is, none.
We had no say so or did anything to become sinners. Sin is therefore not an act, but a
state of being at birth which we inherited from Adam. We are not sinners because of what
we do, but we are sinners because of who we are.
Romans 5 verse 12
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so
also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.”
According to the gospel of John, “sin is lawlessness”. Lawlessness is a condition not an act. By
definition, a lawless creature cannot keep any laws and by nature, man is a lawless creature.
Romans 8 verse 7
“
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.”
When God created man, he created him with a free will, free will is the ability to freely
choose right from wrong. For free will to truly function, there must be a possibility of
right and wrong. In fact, for RIGHT to be worth anything, there must be the possibility of
WRONG. RIGHT which is mandated and imposed, is really not RIGHT. It is not really the
product of MORAL CHOICE .This makes this kind of right worthless.
You can force a lawless creature to obey laws by threatening to punish it if it breaks a
law or by promising to give it a reward if it keeps a law, but at the end of the day, that
3
creature would still be a lawless creature whose behavior has been changed by the hope
of getting the promised reward or by the fear of punishment. In such a case there will no
longer be any free will, but force. The only solution is to do away with this lawless creature
and introduce a new creature which has a new nature enabling it to be able to obey the
laws without fear of punishment or hope for a reward. God promised to do this as indicated
in the following verses:
Ezekiel 36 ver
vers
erse 26-
26-28
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put
my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my
judgements and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers,
and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
Ezekiel 11 ver
vers 19-20
erse 19-
“And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take the
stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh: That they may walk
in my statutes and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people and
I will be their God.”
Jeremiah 31 verse
verse 33
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those
days, said the LORD,, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;
and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
1.2 How did man sin?

sin
Genesis 2 verse 17
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat
freely; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the
day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
4
In the beginning, God planted TWO trees in the garden, along with many others which
did not have the same significance. The forbidden tree was there, as was the tree of life.
God told Adam to eat of the tree of life, but to stay away from the forbidden tree.
Nothing could have been stated more clearly. Have you ever asked, “Why two trees?” I
mean, why not just one? Why did God make it possible for Adam to sin by planting the
forbidden tree? God had to make it possible for Adam to sin. Why? Because unless sin
is possible, righteousness is worthless. Had God made it impossible for Adam to reject
Him, Adam’s love for Him would have been the compulsive reaction of a robot.
You cannot think of a single moral choice you make which doesn’t equal the choice which
was before Adam. Not only do you choose to eat of one of the two trees, but by
definition, you are choosing not to eat of the other. Choosing right always carries with it
a rejection of wrong, and choosing wrong always carries with it a rejection of right. Or,
as we have seen, to have faith in God always carries a rejection of unbelief.
But why not plant only one tree? Why would that do away with choice? I mean, if there
were only one tree, you could, I suppose, choose to eat of it or not eat of it. Isn’t that a
choice, too? Herein there is a deep truth. By planting two trees, God is showing us that
there is no middle ground. God’s universe does not morally consist of “good” and
“absence of good”, or of merely eating or not eating. No! Something is either good or
bad. And like it or not, you and I are going to eat one or the other. We are moral
creatures. We are not built to be able to stand on morally neutral ground, any more
than we can decide never to eat food again. This is impossible. In the final analysis,
you are either going to eat of one of the trees or the other. You are either going to
belong to God, or belong to yourself. Again we see our principle of overcoming. By
eating of the tree of life, I overcome all the suggestions of eating of the forbidden tree.
Even with regard to salvation. To believe and trust in Christ, I have chosen not to eat of
the forbidden tree of sin, unbelief, and self-rule. I have chosen willingly, knowingly, and
deliberately.
The tree of life represented belief and faith in God, in having him decide for us what is
good and what is evil. The tree of knowledge of good and evil represented man having
belief and faith in himself to decide on his own what is good and what is evil. Sinning
was therefore Adam and Eve taking it upon themselves to decide what good was, and
5
what evil was, as seen in the following verse;
Genesis 3 verse 6
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the
eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. “
Even though God had told them that it was bad for them to eat from that tree, they
took it upon themselves to decide that it was actually good for food. They stopped
believing in God´s truth but instead, chose to believe in the devil´s lies. This is what it meant
to "be like God" because it is only God who has the right to decide what is good and
what is evil. But now, God was no longer their God, and they were no longer his people.
They were now their own gods belonging to non but themselves, thereby breaking the
first commandment of God which said;
Exodus 20 verse 2-
2-3
“I am the Lord your God… You shall have no other God before me.”
This why in the Old Testament, God promises that after he restores everything to the way
that it`s supposed to be;
Ezekiel 37 verse 27 and Jeremiah 31 verse 33

Ezekiel
“…I shall be their God, and they shall be my people”
In the New Testament, it`s stated that;
1 Corinthians 3 verse 23
“You belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”
The essence of sin is therefore self-rule and self-ownership. It is to severe accountability

to God, and to declare that you will not be governed by any rule of ownership except
your own, which is exactly what Adam and Eve did. When they sinned, they did in-fact
become like God, as confirmed by God himself in the following verse;
Genesis 3 verse 22
"The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be
6
allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live
forever."
Adam and Eve sinned the moment they decided in their hearts to eat from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. The disobedience which followed was merely the outcome of
their inner disposition. Their disobedience was the direct result of them not believing in
what God had commanded them. The act of disobedience came as a result of not
believing, which led to their disobedience.
The question is: How can you obey or disobey, if you don’t believe? If God had never
said; “when you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die”,
there would have never been obedience or disobedience, but God did say this and they
did not believe him, which was clearly “unbelief” which was their sin.
If for example if you were to tell your son that:
“Do not stick your hand in the fire, because if you do, you will get burned”
Later that day, your child sticks their hand in the fire and gets burned. Did he disobey
you to get hurt intentionally? Or did he not believe what you told him? The answer is; he
did not believe and as a result,, he disobeyed. Had he believed he would not have
disobeyed.
1.3 God`s Purpose in Men
26-30
Genesis 1 verse 26-
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may
rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild
animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created
mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he
created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number;
fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and
7
over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every
seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with
seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the
birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has
the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Men was created to rule over all of God`s creation, but this rule was only to the degree
that, that man remained under God`s dominion. God was to reign and rule over all
creation through man, and man was to rule over all creation but being under the
dominion of God. Man was not created as an independent agent, but he was created
to be one with God in each and every way.
When Adam sinned, he lost his dominion and came under the dominion of the realm of
darkness. He became a slave to sin, which is typified by Israel`s captivity in Egypt.
However, Jesus came to redeem (buy back) and deliver man from the realm of darkness
and bring him back in a right relationship with God by being formed together with Christ
so that ultimately, God could reign and rule through those people who are in Christ.
Jesus Christ became the means by which all of this was restored.
Colossians 15
15 verse 45-
45-46
“The first man Adam became a living being the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
13-20
Colossians 1 verse 13-
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of
his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things,
and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For
in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to
8
himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his
cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has
now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and
blameless and above reproach before him”
Romans 8
“We know that God works good in all things to them that love God and are called
according to his purpose, for whom he did know he also did predestinate to be formed
together with Christ in the image of his son that Christ may be the first born among
many brethren.”
We are to be formed together with Christ to become witnesses unto God.
2.1 Overcoming
Unlike Adam and Eve, we start off from a deficit position, we are born spiritually dead.
This is why we have to overcome. To overcome does not mean that you identify a
certain sin in your life and get a big club to hit the sin with over the head until you
subdue it. The moment we do this, we are in one way or the other under a law. We may
not call it that, or we may not understand that that`s what we are doing, but this is
what we would be doing. We will never be able to overcome sin by trying really hard
not to sin, even if we say that we are doing it in faith. The only way that we can
overcome sin is by plugging-in into the one who had victory over sin. In order to
overcome sin, we need to have faith in Christ. You cannot get victory over sin by trying
to get victory over sin, because just from the fact that you are trying, means that you
are already in unbelief (refusing to believe) Why? Because victory was already
accomplished over sin therefore you need to plug-in by faith into the one who had
victory over it.
Galatians 3 verse
verse 1-
1-3
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was
clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you
9
receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so
foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of
the flesh?”
We have to walk in the victory we never won, and which we should never intend to win,
in-fact, a victory which we do not have any input. Therefore, overcoming, is coming under
the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the end result being freedom from sin. Jesus is our victory.
Revelation 21 verse 7
“He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my
son.”
“To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
Paradise of God.”
“He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.”
“To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that
receives it.”
Revelation 2 verse 26-

26-29
“And he that overcomes and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over
the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall
they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the
morning star.”
Revelation 3 verse 5-6

“He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and
before his angels.”
10
Revelation 3 verse 11-
11-13
Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no
more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of
my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I
will write upon him my new name.
“To him that overcomes...,” certainly suggests a conditional promise. And actually,
Jesus gives a total of fourteen conditional promises “to him that overcomes” in His
messages to these seven churches.
The tree of life – symbolizing the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Not hurt by second death – life eternal through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Hidden manna – continual spiritual food in our wilderness. (Jesus Christ)
White Stone – a verdict of acquittal through the death of Jesus Christ.
Power over the nations – authority over all things.
The morning star – authority over the enemy.
White raiment – righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Name in book of life – eternal life.
Jesus will confess our name to the Father – He will know us and we will not be
forgotten.
Become a pillar – be strong in the Body of Christ.
Write upon him the name of God – shows we belong to God.
Write upon him name of city of God – shows we are a citizen of heaven.
Write upon him Jesus’ new name – identification with Jesus through His resurrection.
Sit with Jesus on His throne – partake in His authority.
Revelations 3 verse 21
“To him that overcomes, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame
and sat down with my Father on his throne”
In the verse above, Jesus is saying that to him who overcomes (or comes under
me/carry his cross), I will grant him to sit with me on my throne (I will give him
dominion/authority), as I also overcame (came under God – carried my own cross) and
sat down with my Father on his throne (dominion over all creation).”
11
We have here God reigning, ruling and living through Christ on one hand, and then on
the other hand, people who are in Christ, and Christ reigning and ruling through them. If
we come under his Lordship, by definition it means that we are already reigning and ruling
because we are under him, and what will emerge is power and authority that Jesus can
exercise through us. The kingdom of God is in us because Christ, who is the King, is in us.
Hebrews 1 verse 4 - 14
4
The Son became much greater than the angels, and God gave him a name that is
much greater than theirs.
5
This is because God never said to any of the angels,
“You are my Son.

Today I have become your Father.” Psalm 2 verse 7
Nor did God say of any angel,
“I will be his Father,

and he will be my Son.” 2 Samuel 7 verse 14
6
And when God brings his firstborn Son into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.” Psalm 97 verse 7
7
This is what God said about the angels:
“God makes his angels become like winds.

He makes his servants become like flames of fire.” Psalm 104 verse 4
8
But God said this about his Son:
“God, your throne will last forever and ever.

You will rule your kingdom with fairness.
9
You love right and hate evil,
so God has chosen you from among your friends;
he has set you apart with much joy.” Psalm 45 verse 6–7
12
10
God also says,
“Lord, in the beginning you made the earth,

and your hands made the skies.
11
They will be destroyed, but you will remain.
They will all wear out like clothes.
12
You will fold them like a coat.
And, like clothes, you will change them.
But you never change,
and your life will never end.” Psalm 102 verse 25–27
13
And God never said this to an angel:
“Sit by me at my right side

until I make you enemies your footstool (put them under you control)” Psalm 110:1
14
All the angels are spirits who serve God and are sent to help those who will receive
salvation.
The plan of God can therefore be summarized as; The Father, the only begotten Son,
and all those who are born again in the Son.
Therefore, faith emerges only if we overcome unbelief. If we believe God, then by

definition, somewhere along the line we have overcome not believing God. In order to
believe God, you must refuse to believe that which contradicts Him. That involves to
one degree or another, overcoming. It would be different if we started out in this world
sinless, and in communion with God. But we don’t. We start out in Adam, dead in sin.
Thus, we have to overcome that by faith, and come out in victory – through Christ.
2.2 How can we overcome?

overcome
verse 10-
Revelation 12 verse 10-11
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation, and strength, and
13
the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is
cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death.”
This passage, quoted earlier, gives us a three-fold progression on how to overcome. The
first is “by the Blood of the Lamb.” Unless we are sure that the victory is already won,
we will not be able to stand in it. The Blood of Jesus secured all victory for all time. It
is finished. What this means is that you and I need not try to win a victory. We are to
stand in His finished victory. Now, there will be a battle and a struggle. But not to win!
Rather, the struggle will be to stand by faith. All spiritual warfare boils down to faith.
The victory is won. But will I believe or not believe? That is the battle. That is why faith
is the victory. If I believe and stand, I have the victory and have overcome, because I
am standing in Christ, and the victory is his.
The second means of overcoming is by “the word of testimony.”

testimony This is not possible
without the faith in the Blood of the Lamb. The word of testimony is my living out the
fact that I stand by faith in what Christ has done. This “living out” would entail
everything we have discussed about refusing to allow unbelief, fear, condemnation,
etc., to destroy my faith. If I believe, I will stand in faith. I will overcome – THAT will be
my testimony.
The third means was that those who overcome “did not love their lives even unto
death.” The only possible way this could be is if those lives are unconditionally
surrendered to God. In other words, as Job did, we leave ourselves in the hands of God
and get on with life, hip-deep in trials if necessary. Job’s earlier statement, “Though He
slay me, yet will I trust Him,” says it all. Are we willing to surrender all to God – without
guarantees, without agendas, and without understanding? Are we willing to trust God
when everything seems to contradict our faith and understanding of His faithfulness?
Will we obey God and refuse to allow those things that lie about Him to have their way
with us? All of these things call from us faith. But if we will believe and stand by faith,
there will be a victory over all of these things – and a freedom from them in our walk
with Jesus Christ.
14
Jesus Christ won the victory over all of these things at the Cross. He now beckons to us
that we might come and enter into His victory and experience it for real. We do this by
overcoming. What we get in return is exactly what we would think would happen if we
overcome: Authority over the things we overcame.
1 John 5 verse 3-5

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments
are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the
victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
Revelation tells us how the saints overcome the enemy: First, by the Blood of the Lamb
– which speaks of the finished victory of the Cross. Second, by the word of their
testimony -which means the life they live in that finished victory. Third, because they
“loved not their lives unto the death,” that is, they surrendered themselves
unconditionally to God. This is how we are to overcome. The passage from John simply
summarizes all of that in one phrase. John writes, “This is the victory that overcomes
the world, even out faith.” Here we begin to see the answer to our question: FAITH.
FAITH Faith
is the victory. By faith we overcome. Faith is the victory. Faith is overcoming.
But you have to relinquish your right to your own life, and unconditionally surrender it
to Him. The choice, by the time you make it, need not be difficult or agonizing. It may
be joyous, and ought to be. But the choice to surrender to Christ by faith is a forsaking
of the old life and the overcoming of all obstacles that would keep us from him (driving
out all the inhabitants dwelling in our promised-land).
2.3 The promised

omised-land, our inheritance
promised-
Yes, God saved the Israelites from Egypt, but this was not his main intention. God did
not just save them, in-order that they might be simply free from slavery, he saved them
so that they could enter and dwell in the land he promised Abraham. There was no way
15
they could inherit the promised-land whilst they were still in Egypt.
The trip from Egypt to the promised-land would have taken them 11 days on foot, but
God made them wonder through the desert for 4oyears, because even though they were
out of Egypt, there was still a lot of Egypt in them.
Exodus 14 verse 12
Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have
taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way,
bringing us out of Egypt? "Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying,
Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
By making the Israelites wonder through the desert, God was trying to remove Egypt from
them. The same applies to Christians today, we are saved when Christ comes to dwell in
us as stated in the following verse;
Ephesians 1 verse 13-14

“When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is
a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s
possession”
But the main reason that we have been saved, is for the purpose of inheriting the
promised-land, our inheritance in Christ (Christ being formed in us) for the glory of God.
All spiritual blessings (including the forgiveness of sins) are in Christ, If you are in Christ
and if Christ is in you, then all the spiritual blessings of the heavenly realms that God
has to give are also in you (because the promised-land is yours). But the question now
is, if I believe that all of this is true, why is it that I do not seem to be experiencing any
of these blessings? Where are they?
Ephesians 1 verse 3-14

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the
16
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for
adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the
praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches
of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made
known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in
Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all
things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been
predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the
purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be
for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the
message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in
him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
The answer to the question above is; all the spiritual blessings are in Christ, it is only
that Christ is unfolded and revealed (formed in us), that all that is in him is unfolded in
us (taking possession of the inheritance), by crucifying us to get the Egypt in us out of
the way.
2.4 Failure to Enter the Promised-

Promised-Land
Numbers 13 verse 27-

Numbers 27-33
They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us, and it is a fertile land! Here
is some of its fruit. But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and
very large. We even saw some Anakites there. The Amalekites live in the southern area;
the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live
near the sea and along the Jordan River.” Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be
quiet, and he said, “We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can
certainly do it.” But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those
17
people; they are stronger than we are.” And those men gave the Israelites a bad report
about the land they explored, saying, “The land that we explored is too large to
conquer. All the people we saw are very tall. We saw the Nephilim people there. (The
Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers, and we looked like
grasshoppers to them.”
The spies discovered that there were 7 heathen tribes dwelling in fortified cities in the
promised-land, the very land which God gave to Israel. Furthermore, they discovered
that among these tribes, there were the sons of Anak, who were giants. All of this was
very discouraging to Israel, and they said “we are not able to go up against these
people, for they are stronger than us” Although this was a statement of unbelief in
regards to God`s command to enter into the land by faith, this was an absolutely true
statement. The question is, did any of this come as a surprise to God? This should never
have taken Israel by surprise because God had told them about these tribes before.
28-30
Exodus 23 verse 28-
"I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites,
and the Hittites before you "I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that
the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous
for you. "I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and
take possession of the land.
God had actually planned it this way, he had allowed 7 heathen tribes (each of these
tribes being stronger than Israel individually) to occupy the very land he had promised
to give them, going all the way back to his covenant with Abraham. God knew exactly
what was going on, and everything was as he planned. He told them to send in the
spies into the land to allow Israel to compare their own strength to that of the heathen
tribes, and come to the logical conclusion that the tribes were stronger than them. In
light of all of this, he told them to enter by faith.
God`s answer to man`s inability is faith, faith in Christ. When we are not able, the
answer is not that God should make us able, the answer is faith and rest in Christ, who
is the power of God. Faith is God`s answer to man`s inability.
18
The 7 tribes collectively represent the old man in Adam, they represent all those things
which are squattering or dwelling illegally in the promised-land given to us by God. The
promised-land represents our inheritance in Christ, all the riches of wisdom and
understanding are in Christ, and God had blessed us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Everything that God has intended for man is found in his son. This is what`s represented
by the promised land. The bringing back of the grapes by the spies represent a foretaste
of the promised land that God gives us so that we can taste and see that the Lord is
good. So, Israel comes to this land that has been given to them by the grace of God,
but what they discovered after sending in the spies was that there was no possibility
whatsoever that they could enter, overcome the tribes, take possession of the land and
live in it despite the fact that it was given to them sorely and completely by the grace of
God.
This is an exact parallel to what we discover when we begin our Christian journey with
God. What we discover is that God has freely given us everything in his son. We discover
that it`s all by grace. We cannot, and must not attempt to earn it or qualify for it
because it has already been given through Christ.
Likewise, just as the spies discovered, on our own, in our own strength and in our own
understanding, we are not able to enter into the promises of God.
“Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”
Even as born-again believers, we carry a lot of flesh in-terms of how we look at things
and what motivates us, we are earthly minded. We cannot enter into the things of God
because the old man in Adam is still governing us. But God has delivered us from the
power of the old man in Adam, so if we put faith in Christ, we can walk free of the
power of the flesh. Until we start seeing Christ, we are going to have our perspective
limited to only what we can do in the flesh, thinking that the possibilities are in our own
strength (self-righteousness). As I noted before, the 7 tribes collectively represent the old
man in Adam. It`s futile to try to overcome those 7 tribes in us through our own power
or strength. It`s too much for us, that`s why we need to trust in Christ.
19
“Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might
not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”
Every trial, when it becomes too much to bear, will bring us to a point where we say,
“We are not able” so that we can learn by faith to trust God in all things. When we give
ourselves to God, we will now be in Christ, thereby entering his rest by faith. It will no
longer be about us being not able anymore, but it will be about us being in him. We
enter his rest by faith, by giving our “not able” to Christ so that he becomes our ability,
our power and strength. Faith is dependence and reliance upon Christ. We cannot have
faith in Christ if we think that we can contribute something. We should present ourselves
as living sacrifices. God`s answer to man`s inability is Jesus Christ. If we put our faith in
Christ, we enter his rest. The bible says:
Hebrews 4 verse 3
“We that believe, do enter his rest”
2.6 The Natural man
Exodus 17 verse 7-8

“And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of
the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among
us, or not? Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”
In the story of the Exodus, we find that Amalek was the first nation to attack Israel
after they were delivered from Egypt through the Red Sea. This means something for us
today. Who was Amalek?
His history holds the key to his spiritual significance. Amalek was son of Eliphaz, who
was the son of Esau. That makes Amalek the grandson of Esau. Of course, Esau was the
twin brother of Jacob, through whom the nation of Israel was born. This means that the
ancestry of Amalek had a definite relationship with God’s people. Indeed, just as Esau
20
was the greatest rival of Jacob, so it was that four hundred years later, the Amalekites
choose to be great enemies of Israel – and were the first to attack them.
Genesis 25 verse 20-

20-27
Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the
Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD
for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his
wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is
well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
And the LORD said to her:
“Two nations are in your womb,

Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”
So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her
womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called
his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel;
so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a
mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but
Rebekah loved Jacob.
Esau was the first born of Isaac – Jacob the second born. This was so, despite the fact
they were twins – obviously one of them had to come out of the womb first. I t was
Esau. Therefore, Esau was legally entitled to the greater portion of all that God
promised Abraham – both the birthright and the greater blessing. But God had other
intentions. God by-passed the natural order of birth and inheritance, and instead
chose Jacob – a choice God made solely by His grace.
The primary lesson here is the NATURAL vs. the SPIRITUAL. God was showing us that
21
what is born of flesh is flesh, and it is only that which is born of God through a new
birth that is spiritual. By choosing Jacob over Esau, God is illustrating this very truth,
that natural birth, and all of its entitlements, have no place in the new birth, natural
man cannot inherit the things of God. The natural man cannot birth the seed of
Abraham. Only that which is a work of grace, and born of God, carries this possibility.
I Corinthians 2
“The natural man cannot receive the things of God.”
So God chose Jacob over Esau. God’s choice certainly had nothing to do with the
character of either, since both were quite lacking in that area. Indeed, from the start
Jacob knew that God had chosen him – and so he set out to obtain the inheritance
through his own means, dishonest means. But Esau was hardly a victim here. We
remember that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob - - under duress – but for nothing more
than a temporary meal of soup. The Bible condemns Esau for this, and uses it as a
lesson for those among us – who would value our inheritance in Christ so little that we
would forfeit it for the temporal. The same applies to Adam who also sold his birthright
for a temporal meal.
16-17
Hebrews 12 verse 16-
“See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold
his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to
inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he
could not change what he had done.”
Esau had NATURAL entitlement. But God chose Jacob. But instead of trusting God,
Jacob stole the birthright and the blessing. And instead of trusting God, Esau grew
bitter, and sold the spiritual for the natural. This is a conflict and a reality that
continues today in the hearts and lives of those born again: The natural vs. the
Spiritual. The Old Testament story is given us to show us these truths, Esau represents
the natural, and Jacob the spiritual, which is of grace. Jacob seeks to make the will of
God come to pass through his own natural strength, means, and methods. Perhaps the
best that can be said about Jacob over Esau is that while Esau belittled the value of
his inheritance, Jacob realized the value – so much so that he stole it with cunning.
22
Thus, just as the descendants of Ishmael hate the descendants of Isaac, we see yet
another branch in that tree – the descendants of Amalek hate the descendants of
Jacob. And the issue is always inheritance. Back to Amalek. What we now see is that
Amalek is of a lineage that believes the birthright and blessings belong to them, and
not Israel. This puts Amalek directly at odds with Israel. But the real lesson here is that
the natural order of things is going to be directly at odds with the spiritual order. The
conflict between natural man and the new man in Christ is a central theme in the New
Testament. So the first thing we see about Amalek is that he is the natural counterpart,
indeed, the rival of the spiritual heir. Amalek is to natural man, as Israel is to spiritual
man.
Thus, at the Red Sea we find a working out of their salvation. The power of Egypt – the
power of sin – had been broken through the Blood of the Lamb. But Egypt continued to
pursue them. At the Red Sea, Israel got to see the salvation of the Lord – they got to
see and experience the fact that Egypt had no power. This required death and
resurrection. Remember that Israel had known only bondage to Egypt. They were under
that government. The fact that they were fully delivered did not change their thinking,
mentality, or fears. They were free indeed, but barely believed it. Just because you are
no longer in slavery does not mean you stop acting like a slave. This is seen at the Red
Sea when Egypt pursued them. They immediately resorted to their prior relationship with
Egypt – and practically forgot everything God had done to get them out of Egypt. What
Israel needed was not only to get out of Egypt, but for Egypt to get out of THEM. So God
deliberately orchestrated the impossible situation at the Red Sea to do this work in
them.
And what does this situation at the Red Sea teach us? That God will deliberately
orchestrate situations in our lives for the expressed purpose of bringing us to the end of
our old self- rule, which is equal to bondage to our Egypt. And if we will relinquish
ourselves into his hands – by going down into the Red Sea – the end result will be
resurrection for us, free of our Egypt and this will translate into obedience. Of course,
for us, this is progressive – we must pass through the Red Sea many times to work out
our finished salvation. But as we do, not only is the government of Egypt less and less
in us, but Jesus becomes enlarged in us as our personal Lord. If however you do not
relinquish yourself into his hands, you deny his power as stated in the following verse:
23
2 Timothy 3 verse 5
“Having a form godliness but denying the power.”
The whole purpose is to get us established on a new basis with Jesus as Lord. God saves
us by the Blood of the Lamb once and forever. But it is at the Red Sea that we
progressive, "see Egypt no more," and come up on the other side with a new government
ruling us. Egypt is now out of us to a greater degree. And because the whole experience
was geared to getting us to relinquish our self- rule, we are now free to be governed by
Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
You will notice that the episode of water from the Rock ends with the naming of the
place where all of this happened. It is named because of the, "chiding," of Israel against
the Lord. Even after all God had done to deliver them from Egypt , and even after one
other time providing water, and despite the fact they were already gathering manna
each day, they nevertheless had said, "Is the Lord among us or not?" They doubted God
Why Because their natural bodies were telling them that He wasn’t with them.
Himself. Why?
The natural was providing evidence to them that God was nowhere around – in other
words, thirst. So through natural thinking, rather than faith, and through the
determination of their natural senses and reasoning, they put aside what God had
promised, and even the everyday evidence of manna wasn’t enough to convince them.
We have to be put in a wilderness and faced with practical needs. I t may seem as if
the need itself is evidence that God is not with us. But no. The need is necessary so that
we will be set free from our reliance upon the natural man, and begin to walk in the
Spirit as God intends. God will supply our need. So after Israel drank from the Rock, they
were not really changed. They weren’t thirsty anymore, but they had no more faith than
before. Thus, it was precisely at the point of Israel’s great doubt towards God that
Amalek attacked. Isn’t this a picture of us? It is when we are at our weakest point as to
faith that the natural man will arise and try to get us out from under the Lordship of
Jesus. It is just then that the natural man will rise and seek to get us under him.
Amalek came right after Israel doubted God and tried to conquer them. This principle of
natural man attacking us when we seem weak in faith is actually pictured in the Exodus
17 attack itself. But in order to get an idea of the nature of their attack, we need to
leave Exodus and read what God said about it in:
24
erse 17-
Deuteronomy 25 ver
vers 17-18
“Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of
Egypt ;How he met you by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were
feeble behind thee, when you were faint and weary; and he feared not God.”
Amalek attacked the rear of Israel, when they were faint and weary. They attacked the
weak and those most unable to defend themselves. Moreover, Amalek attacked without
provocation. Israel was no threat to them, Israel was not marching to take their
kingdom from them. These were former slaves, barely out of captivity. They were hardly a
great army, indeed, they had never been an army. Yet Amalek came upon them at
Rephidim. And certainly, if there is one thing that is true about our natural flesh, it is
that it will attack the life of Christ in us at our weakest point.
Deuteronomy 25 ver
erse 19
vers
“Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God has given thee rest from all your enemies
round about, in the land which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance to
possess it, that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you
shall not forget it.”
God judgment upon the natural man is the same as it was upon Amalek – complete
destruction.
3.1 The trial of faith

faith
Job 1:8
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and
hates evil?
Satan’s response to God was that Job obeyed God because it paid him to obey. He
challenged God to allow him to take away many of the blessings Job had. Satan
25
claimed that if the blessings for obedience were taken away, Job’s obedience would
cease, and Satan would be proven right.
There was going to be a dimension of testing and proving that Job had never faced
before. Job had apparently never faced the possibility of being stripped of all blessing,
despite his obedience. He had never accounted for the possibility that obeying God
would not pay him. But now he was going to be faced with exactly that. And God let
Satan be the one to bring about that test.
Jeremiah 29 verse 11
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Right away we begin to see that this entire ordeal was being orchestrated by God not
to hurt Job, or play games with him, but to PROVE him – in the sense of making him
stronger.
It is one thing to obey God and get blessings in return. There is nothing wrong with that
– indeed, God even promises it. But it is another to obey him and have everything fall
to pieces. It is then that your motives for obeying God are not only tested, but your
faith in God is also tested. Job was going to face this, and it is something all of us will
have to face one way or another.
Once again God commended Job. God said:
Job 2 verse 3
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect
and an upright man, one that fears God, and hates evil? and still he holds fast his
integrity, although thou moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.
But Satan was not finished. He claimed that God had not given him enough freedom to
strike Job. So Satan wanted to attack Job’s body. And God let him. Job – and the four
friends that would approach him – had a fundamental belief about how a relationship
with God worked. They believed that if you obeyed God, God would bless you. In
26
contrast, they believed that if you sinned against God, He would bring curses on you.
This created a big problem. For Job had been apparently cursed. Therefore, according to
what they believed about a relationship with God, Job must have sinned. This had to
be, or God was UNJUST. And yet Job had not sinned. Thus, we have the
CONTRADICTION with which Job had to contend.
Job 23 verse 8-10

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On
the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right
hand, that I cannot see him: But he knows the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I
shall come forth as gold. “
Suffering is like birth pangs. It is not the goal, but is the result of the goal being worked
out, if we yield to God by faith. Suffering will happen if we walk with, and grow in, Jesus
Christ. Indeed, it is absolutely impossible to live in Christ and to follow Him without
suffering. Suffering is necessary to crucify the old man and allow the life of Christ to
become manifest in us.
erse 1-20
Deuteronomy 8 ver
vers
“I allowed Israel to hunger and suffer want to prove them.”
Proving is a situation of want in the face of promises of God which do not seem to come
to pass, the question for us would be, do I believe in what God promised or am I going
to believe that the temporary contradiction to his promise is the truth?
Matthew 7 verse 24 – 27
“Everyone who hears my words and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on
rock. It rained hard, the floods came, and the winds blew and hit that house. But it did
not fall, because it was built on rock. Everyone who hears my words and does not obey
them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. It rained hard, the floods came,
and the winds blew and hit that house, and it fell with a big crash.”
If you are following God because it pays to do so, the wilderness is the place where the
27
benefits and blessings of following God are taken away. We will now have to decide
whether to continue following God or not, even if it does not benefit us to do so .Are
we going to follow God even if it costs us?
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, our inner
man is being renewed day by day. For our light and temporary affliction is producing for
us an eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles.”
John 3 verse 16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Matthew
Matthew 4 verse 4
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God.”
The new man does not live on bread, but from the real bread of life which came down
from heaven (the word of God). During proving, God takes away the ordinary bread,
and gives us the true bread.
Peter writes this very key to victory in his first epistle:
1 Peter 5 verse 5-11

“God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care
upon him; for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in
the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are
in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
God has total control in all of our sufferings. He could end it anytime he wants. But
28
instead, he wants us to overcome by turning to him. And he will allow our suffering to
continue in order to accomplish this victory. God has given us the victory. But he wants
us to experience it, and live it out. Only then will we grow. We might liken this to
belonging to a gym. If I am given a free membership to a gym, at that point I have the
right to go there and lift the weights in the gym. All of that is free. It is mine by virtue of
a free gift. But despite the fact that I can rejoice in the free gift, does this alone make
me able to lift the weights? Does it alone make me strong? No. In order for the gift to
do me much good, I have to actually go to the gym and lift the weights and become
strong, really and truly and practically. Just as you get physically strong by
progressively lifting heavier weights, so you must face and endure spiritual weight to
grow spiritually. There is simply no other way.
Romans 8 verse 35-

35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we
are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The mistake here would be to think in terms of what these things can do to us physically.
That’s a mistake because the fact is, Christians are martyred. Christians have, and do
experience some of the things above – and they don’t go away just because we stand
by faith in the victory of Christ. Paul is, in fact, telling us that all of the things
mentioned above are going to be in our lives to one degree or another. Otherwise, why
even mention them as things over which we are “more than conquerors?” You cannot be
that over anything which God has promised will never be in your life. No. All of the
things Paul mentions are possible in the life of a Christian. The question is not whether
we have such a victory that we are able to physically escape them or keep them from
happening. Rather, the question is: Are these things able to destroy our faith? Are they
able to overcome US?
The fundamental question here is not whether we can get out of trials. It is not whether
29
we can overcome the outward circumstances of the trial. No. It is whether we can
overcome, by faith, the unbelief and everything else which the trial seeks to do in us.
Will we, despite still being in the trial, believe and rest in Christ? If we will stand by
faith, while still in the trial, we have overcome the trial. We are then more than a
conqueror through Christ – despite our circumstances being the same as before.
Can we see that the issue here is whether we will allow a trial to separate us from God?
WE alone decide that. To overcome means that despite the fact that the trial is still
there, and still causing all kinds of terrible reactions in me, that I COME OVER the trial
by faith to Christ, and refuse to allow that trial to come between myself and God. The
need here is faith – a faith which will refuse the voice of unbelief through the trial. The
term, “a trial of faith,” says it all. If faith is trust, reliance, and surrender to God, then
a “trial” of faith will consist of that which contradicts our faith. It will consist of
circumstances, reactions in us, emotions, fears, and false perceptions, which tell us that
we are crazy, silly, or even hopelessly trusting in God. That “tries” faith, doesn’t it? What
do we think a trial of faith is going to do, make it easy for us to believe?
Have you ever been in a situation where everything you know, see, feel, and can
possibly perceive, tells you that God has forsaken you? You have NO proof, and little
understanding. Yet you must still believe. How? By overcoming all of those terrible
obstacles through faith. By unconditionally surrendering to God, even if you cannot see
where he is or what he is doing. For those who will take this step of faith, and keep
taking it, there will come an overcoming and a victory over all those things which were
trying to keep us from God – over all of those forces within the flesh, and of the enemy,
which sought to destroy our faith. We will enter into the victory of Christ in a way that
could not be accomplished otherwise. It is one thing to know we have been given all
victory. It is good to believe and rest in that. But then there comes a time when you
have to live it. Only then does the victory become articulate and dynamic. Only then
do you change.
Can we see that what God wants is to make us living examples and instruments of his
finished victory? The victory is not merely something we exercise “out here.” The victory is
in us. We have begun to experience the finished victory of Jesus Christ when he has
practical victory over us and in us. For God to get a victory through us, but not over us,
30
would be shallow, if not impossible. In the final analysis, God wants us. He wants us to
overcome, through Christ, all that is in us which is contrary to his purposes. The beginning
of such an overcoming is salvation. Once we are saved, we have the equipment. Now,
we must “work out our salvation” by taking possession of what God has purchased
through the Blood of Christ. There are two examples in the Old Testament, among many,
which illustrate the point. The first is Job. Job had a great trial of his faith. He cried,
argued, and tried to understand how God could allow such a terrible thing to happen to
him. Job had no idea how he got into this mess, and no idea how to get out. And God
refused to speak a word to him. Then, one day, God did speak to Job. In response, Job
answered the LORD, and said,
Job 42 verse 1-6

“I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye sees thee. Wherefore I
abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job had believed many things about God – true things. But then everything he believed
was tested to the limit. But Job never gave in to unbelief, despite all of his human
reactions. We know this because,
Job 42 verse 7
“The LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against
thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job
hath. “
Through it all, Job spoke rightly of God. The result of Job’s faith was that he overcame
all of his doubts to where he was actually able to see GOD HIMSELF. Read again his
words: “I heard of thee….but now my eyes see you.” The result was that Job fully
surrendered himself into the hands of God. Now note: Job did all of this while still IN the
trial. God had not lifted the trial one bit, and had not even explained to Job the
reason for the trial. All of Job’s circumstances were exactly the same as before – BUT –
Job was not the same as before. Job had overcome the trial and gotten through to
God. He had not allowed what happened to him to separate him from God. God finally
did end Job’s trial. But notice when:
31
Job 42 verse 10
And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD
gave Job twice as much as he had before.
What we see here is not Job finally figuring out what God wanted him to do. Neither did
God command Job to pray. No. Despite the fact that Job was still in the trial, he
prayed for his friends. This shows that Job had so surrendered to God that he was now
able to leave himself alone in the hands of God. His faith, rather than be diminished,
was greater than ever.
Why? Because Job saw God. Compare these few verses in chapter 42 to the rest of the
book of Job. What a change! But not in Job’s circumstances. What a change in Job!
That is the whole point. There was an overcoming here which resulted in authority over a
trial, a trial which almost got the best of Job. Job had a victory over this trial because
God got the victory over Job! Notice that none of this overcoming or victory is a matter
of Job mustering the strength necessary. There is nothing here to which Job can point to
as merit. No. Job overcomes the trial because he surrenders to God. That is the ONLY
reason. The victory and the glory all goes to God. By not trusting in ourselves by fully
yielding and depending on God, we start to lose ourselves in the process.
The second example is David. David had been given a city named Ziklag, and in it he
and his men had kept all of their possessions and all of their loved ones. But while
David and his men were one day out, Ziklag was taken by the enemy.
1 Samuel 30 verse 1-4

And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day,
that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned
it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any,
either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his
men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their
sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were
with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
How easy it would have been to have blamed God for this. The next verse is quite
profound, for it captures the humanity of those who trust the Lord, but who are human
enough to feel the trials of life.
32
1 Samuel 30 verse 6
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul
of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David
encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
We see in this one verse David overcoming everything which would have told him God
was unfaithful, and choosing to believe and trust God. And it is under the power of this
faith that David is able to recover all. Now notice: Unless David had faced this terrible
trial to his faith, but nevertheless “encouraged himself in the Lord,” he would have never
grown in faith. Because David had to go through this terrible ordeal, and did so by
faith, God had a place of victory in David that he would not have had otherwise. The
victory here was first in David. David overcame unbelief, and was therefore able to
operate from that victory in recovering all. God wants us to be able to operate and
function over those things which might otherwise keep us from freedom. He wants us to
be unmoved by that which might separate us from himself. That is overcoming. That is
authority. But it is not “out here” in circumstances. It is “in here,” inside of us, through
faith.
Through this life, we are not only going to find ourselves in trials, but we are going to
find that those trials produce many ugly reactions in us. They bring out all the potential
sin and unbelief out in the open. We are all lawless, what´s lacking is only the occasion
for that lawlessness to come out. Peter would never have imagined that deep down in
his heart, there was unbelief which was going to result in him denying Jesus;
Matthew 26 verse 35
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus declared, “this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny
me 3 times.” Peter replied, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.”
It only one simple trial of faith to have that disbelief exposed in the open, and he did
end up denying Jesus, not once, but 3 times.
It is there in our hearts that the battle is won or lost. I must choose to either be a slave
to these reactions, or overcome them through Jesus Christ. Trials tend to gender fear,
condemnation, depression, anger, confusion, and despair. These things can be real and
33
dangerous. They can consume us if we allow ourselves to come under them. But the
point is, we are supposed not to come under them but overcome them by faith. If we
overcome these things by faith, can we see that this spells freedom from them, and
victory over them? Victory over these things cannot be accomplished unless we face
these things. God wants a lived and practical victory, not merely one which is on paper.
Paul speaks of these struggles as if they are a normal part of our Christian walk:
2 Corinthians 10 verse 3-
3- 5
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
According to Paul, the warfare, and the weapons are not fleshly or physical. They are
spiritual. Things such as “imaginations and every high thing which exalts itself against
the knowledge of God” are internal issues. It is there that the battle is waged, and the
victory is won. The outward simply reflects the results. In the above passage, we see that
we must, by faith, actually refuse certain thoughts, and “cast down” certain
imaginations. Why? Because they are lies. Because they are doing damage to us.
We must “bring into captivity” our thinking. This all speaks of making the choice to put
our faith into our thinking. In effect, if we believe, at some point we have to live it. It
all starts in the inward man. Of course, if we do this, we will find that our faith was
correct, God is faithful and true. And all of those other things are lies. But we will never
experience victory if all we do is say we believe it, but do nothing to act on our faith.
Faith always produces works – even if those works are expressed in nothing more than in
our thinking, or in the emotions we allow to parade through us.
James 2 verse 14-

14-26
“
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have
works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not
give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith
by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I
34
have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my
works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and
tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the
altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith
was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not
Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent
them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works
is dead also.”
James says that we may not be saved if claim to be Christians, but do not live it out,
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22 and
Romans 2:13; Matthew 7:21; Matthew 7:24-27; John 13:17). Ephesians 2:10, right after
saying that grace is a gift that one cannot get by works, tells us that, “…we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). We are not saved by good works, but we
are saved to do good works. Abraham is presented as an example of how our faith
should result in our doing good things (James 2:20-24). An inward faith that does not
result in an outward change of behavior may not be a genuine faith at all, “So also
faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). The life of Abraham
included both faith in God and works motivated by that faith. Our Christian walk should
have both those elements also.
Good works are as a result of faith (believing), faith without good works is useless, and
good works without faith are also useless. Believing in Christ will however result in good
works, the only work which acceptable is believing.
John 6 verse 28
“Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus
answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent.”
35
3.2 Reasons for unbelief
We are all born with a sin nature, the old man, who cannot cross the Jordan and enter
into the promised-land to live in there according to the will of God. First we have to lose
the old man (deny self) to Christ on the cross. We cannot enter by our own efforts but
by faith in Christ Jesus. What we have to do to enter, according to the Lord himself, is
we have to deny ourselves and carry our cross daily. By denying ourselves, we will no
longer put faith in ourselves, but in Christ Jesus. Once we deny ourselves, we can carry
our cross because we have denied the self. By definition, the cross is a crucifixion, or
slow painful death to the self, executed by the Lord himself. You cannot carry your cross
if you have not denied yourself because carrying the cross is denial of self in essence.
The Israelites failed to enter the promised-land because they refused to deny
themselves. They held onto faith in themselves and refused to put their faith in God,
despite knowing him for more than 40 years. Because of this, they were condemned to
wondering in the wilderness for another 40yrs.. Sadly, lot of people are wondering in the
wilderness thinking they are in the promised-land.
Have you ever wondered why God made it so difficult for Israel to take possession of the
land He had given them? After all, God could have easily driven out all of the
inhabitants of the land ahead of Israel. But he didn't. Instead of conquering these
tribes for Israel, God wanted to conquer them through Israel. Why did God choose to
work this way?
This question becomes especially important once we realize that the promised-land is a
"type" of our inheritance in Jesus Christ. Just as Israel was freely given this land, so are
we freely given our inheritance. We can do nothing to earn it. We must receive it solely
by faith. But we also have "tribes" dwelling in our "promised land." We have the flesh.
We have the residual patterns of the sin nature. And likewise God says to us, "I won't
drive these out for you. But in Christ, I will drive them out through you." So why does
God work this way? Why didn't He simply drive out the tribes for Israel? And why doesn't
He simply get rid of all of our tendencies toward the flesh once we are saved by His
grace? If we have received all things in Christ, free of charge, why must we then
overcome, conquer, and grow?
36
Actually, God answers this question directly:
Exodus 23 verse 27-

27-30
“I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against, and I
will make all your enemies run away from you. I will send terror ahead of you that will
force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way. But I will not force all
those people out in only one year. If I did, the land would become a desert and the wild
animals would become too many for you. Instead, I will force those people out slowly,
until there are enough of you to take over the land.”
Here we see exactly why God did not drive out the inhabitants all at once ahead of
Israel. If He had, Israel would not have had the time, ability, or capacity, to enter and
occupy the entire land so quickly. As a result, the land would have been uncared for. It
would have become overgrown with thorns and weeds. Worse, all kinds of animals and
insects would have overrun the place. Israel would have had an even worse time being
able to finally take possession of the land.
We see this all the time today. If a house, or piece of property, remains unoccupied for a
period of time, it isn't long before all kinds of varmints, plants, and animals overrun
the place. The absence of human life opens the door for the presence of every other kind
of life which would have otherwise never entered in.
This reason why God did not drive out all the inhabitants ahead of Israel carries a
tremendous spiritual type for those who have an eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ.
God cannot just go into our beings, minds, wills, emotions, and souls and simply wipe it
clean of every possible foreign element as it pertains to His perfect pattern in Christ. If
He did, what would occupy these places? These aspects of our makeup are what they are
as a direct result of our choices. We have become that, they are what we are. Good or
bad. For God to simply wipe the slate of our mind, will, and emotions clean and then
immediately, all at once, somehow replace them with something else, would mean that
we would cease to be who we are. We would have no memories, no choice, no
experience, and no emotional patterns. At best, we would be a blank slate, without
personality or character i.e., "the land would become desolate."
37
It would only get worse from there. According to God, what would happen next would be
that "the beast of the field would multiply against thee." If God did everything for us,
instead of doing it through us-we would possess the land. But we would have no
character in the process. And without that, the "beast of the field" would overrun us,
the greatest "beast" being our pride.
It is not sufficient that the "land" be made fit for us to dwell in. More importantly, we
must be made fit for the land. We must be adjusted spiritually so that we can actually
experience our eternal inheritance.
What we are talking about here is spiritual character. Spiritual character is not a gift. It
can't be "pasted on" to us. It must be developed through the power of choice. Through
faith and obedience we must allow God to work through us to drive out the things of the
old creation, and we must begin to allow him to adjust us for eternal life in Christ.
The gospel of grace tells us that there is nothing we can do to earn our inheritance. An
inheritance is never earned! It is inherited! Through birth! But in order to be able to take
possession and live in your inheritance, you have to be made fit for it. You have to
develop the character necessary to reign and rule with Christ over it.
This is why we are able to say, on the one hand, that we possess all things freely
because of Christ, but on the other hand, that we must do what God commanded Israel
to do: Go in and take practical possession of what God has given us.
How do we do this? In many spiritual ways and in many settings. Every place the sole of
our foot touches (spiritually) is now ours in Christ. But once we take that step and
plant our foot-we must stand. We must stand by faith and refuse to be moved. And
this will entail, by the power of choice, driving out the inhabitants of the land, all of
our old patterns of unbelief and flesh. We must drive out the old man. We must be
crucified with Christ.
Most of us have been taught that his purpose for us is to preach the gospel-to witness
to Christ. But it is not. It is to become His witnesses. Then we can preach the gospel and
it will witness, because we will be a witness to what we preach.
Jericho had walls and gates. It was totally fortified. No way in. And in was entrenched
in the promised-land. God told the children of Israel:
38
Joshua 6 verse 2
"See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.”
Now read the words of Jesus to His disciples:
Matthew 16 verse 16-

16-19
“He (Jesus) saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and said
unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
See the parallel? Jericho was a place representative of "the gates of hell." These can
never prevail against the church, as typified by Israel in the Old Testament. But there
are other truths tied up in this passage. Notice for instance, Jesus statement that "the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Often we think of the enemy as the one on
the offensive. We think the church is on the defensive. This seems to make sense
because we do have the victory, don't we? And we must stand in the victory against the
enemy, mustn't we? And that makes things appear as if we are in the fortified city, and
that the enemy is the one attacking us. But this isn't how Jesus pictured it. Nor is it the
way the story of Jericho pictures it. Clearly, the enemy is the one in the fortified city,
and the church is the invader. We see this pictured in other places in the New Testament.
For instance:
Corinthians 10 verse 3-
I Corinthians 3- 5
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Again, we see a picture of the eternal invading the natural. And of the victory of Jesus
39
Christ taking possession of that which was occupied by the enemy. And of the believer
taking possession of what God has freely given. Thus, instead of the enemy trying to
invade and conquer those who belong to Christ, we find that in God's perfect pattern, it
is the believer who is to invade and take possession of that which was formerly
possessed by the enemy. The believer is to "drive out" the enemy, and occupy the
inheritance God has given.
To natural thinking, this might seem like we have a victory to win. It might seem as if
the enemy must be defeated and driven out, and until he is, nothing is won. But this
isn't the truth. Just as Israel already possessed the land, so do we already possess all
things in Christ. Yet we must go in and face the enemy. But the purpose here isn't to
defeat the enemy. It is to drive out a defeated enemy. The purpose is to exercise faith in
the finished victory of Christ, to work out that faith through obedience, and to take
possession of that which God has won in Christ.
Now, there could be only one reason why fortified gates and walls-gates and walls
which have been there for ages and ages-could not prevail. That reason is this: the
victory is already won. The gates and walls have no power behind them. They are ready
to come down. But God says He isn't going to go ahead and blow them down
independent of us. No. Rather, He ordains that we be his instruments, even if all we do
is march around the walls and never so much as reach out and try to push them over!
This is where faith comes in. The enemy has no power today.
But he does have permission to do one thing: Try to deceive us into thinking he does
have power. He has God's permission to threaten us, incite fear in us, and to try to
make us believe that it is all up to us. Just as Jericho must have surely looked
invincible to the Israelites, and just as it must have seemed as if there was no victory
forthcoming, so it often looks to us in the Christian life. But no. The victory is won. It is
simply a matter of walking through the steps of faith and obedience, and the walls will
eventually fall.
Joshua 6 verse
verse 18-
18-19
“And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves
40
accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and
trouble it. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated
unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.”
Here we see God's command directed toward two types of items which Israel would find
in Jericho. First, there were the "accursed" things. These were items which had been used
by the inhabitants of Jericho to worship false gods. Included among these were statues,
garments, and other tools of the occult. These items were to be totally destroyed.
Secondly, there were the valuable things-such as silver, gold, brass, and iron. These
were not to be destroyed, but were to be salvaged by Israel and added to the "treasury
of the Lord." Again, we see spiritual types. The accursed things are those things which
must totally die. They are of the sin nature, and of the flesh. They cannot be brought
forth and incorporated into the new life in Christ. But there are other things which CAN.
These are the elements of the personality and human makeup which are not, of
themselves, evil and wrong. God made us and it was very good. And He intends to take
those elements and sanctify them unto His glory.
A Christian born again in Christ does not become inhuman. He has sensitivity,
emotions, a mind, a will, and emotions. These are not obliterated through the new
birth. They are regenerated. They are salvaged and brought into "God's treasury." Note
this: They are brought into "GOD'S treasury." They no longer belong to us. They belong to
him. They are dedicated to Him and are to be used unto His glory.
In the case of Jericho, Israel did not obey God. One of the children of Israel, Achan, the
son of Carmi, had been involved in the conquest of Jericho. But he disobeyed the
command of God on all counts. He later confessed:
Joshua 7 verse 20-

20-21
“And Achan answered Joshua, and said, "Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God
of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly
Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty
shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the
earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."
41
The greatest sin we can commit against God is not necessarily some outward breaking
of his law -although we certainly should never take such sin lightly. An even greater sin
is to take the very things of God, things we may have obtained in a great victory, and
then use those things for ourselves. How might one do this?
this Leaders, for instance, carry
that possibility with them. If someone has a special gift from God to get insights from the
Bible, or to counsel others, or to teach people, they might take the gift the Holy Spirit
has given them and use it, not to glorify God, but to glorify themselves.
This can be quite a subtle thing. Achan, remember, hid what he had stolen for himself
and buried them in his tent. Only because God knows all things, and will judge them,
was the truth able to be known. Today, as has always been the case, people, leaders
and non-leaders alike, take the things of God, things which God has given them, and
use them for their own profit. They use the things of God, the name of Jesus, and the
position they might hold, to get rich, or perhaps to gain a following. Or perhaps to build
themselves up as spiritual giants to be greatly admired of men. Instead of bringing the
things God has given into his treasury, to use unto the edification for all, some hoard it
for themselves.
Jesus said where your heart is, there will be your treasure. In Achan's case, it was in his
tent, in a hole he had dug. Now, that's what some of us do with the "good" things which
God has given us from our victory. But what about those things which were to be utterly
destroyed Some even take those and hide them in their tents. We settle down beside
destroyed?
these wicked things, and make a treaty with them. Or we justify them by saying that
they aren't really as bad as God says they are. There is a passage in the book of Ezekiel
which speaks to this point.
Ezekiel 8 verse 7-
7-12
“And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the
wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in
the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked
abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of
creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel,
portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the
ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah, son of
42
Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of
Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD
seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.”
This "chamber of imagery" is the place where we do, say, think, and choose, but don't
really think God sees us. We don't quite put it in those words, mind you, because we do
know that God sees all. But somehow, there is no sense of conviction or openness
about it before God. This "chamber" belongs to us. And in it we subtly worship our other
gods, and entertain and linger among those things which God says are not to be a part
of our lives. The parallel to Achan is unmistakable. Members of the body of Christ take
that which is wicked and evil, and are at ease with these things. They allow them to
remain, or even use them for their own agenda. But to God, these things are an
abomination.
Even before Achan confessed his sin, Israel began experiencing the consequences of that
sin. They were routed by the men of Ai. This led to the inquiry wherein the sin of Achan
was discovered. Notice what God said to Joshua regarding this sin:
Joshua 7 verse 11-

11-13
“Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded
them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and
dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children
of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their
enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye
destroy the accursed from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify
yourselves against tomorrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed
thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye
take away the accursed thing from among you.”
Do you want to know why the body of Christ doesn't have the miracles of the first
century today? It isn't because God did away with miracles. It isn't because the gifts
ceased with the apostles. It is precisely because of the reasons God gives in this verse.
We have "taken of the accursed thing...and have put it even among our own stuff." We
43
have brought all kinds of terrible things into the body of Christ. Therefore, God cannot
use us the way he used the first century body of Christ. To do so would be a false
witness. God would be saying, "I approve of this." Remember, miracles are signs, not for
believers, but for unbelievers. Jesus said they would "follow" where the true gospel was
preached. So when you preach a watered-down gospel, or add to it with false teaching,
there can be no witnessing miracles. God will not witness to that which misrepresents
Him.
Of course the ironic thing today is that we have even found a way around that. If God
won't witness to false teaching, and won't witness to us when we have taken wicked
things and made them part of "our stuff," well, then we will make the miracles happen
without God! So we have hundreds of "miracle services" every year, claiming many
fantastic miracles. We have thousands of promises and claims of miracles as a result of
giving money to these ministries. But when all is said and done, and the evidence is
really examined, there are few miracles. We just don't see happening today what once
happened in the body of Christ. Miracles are not, of course, the important thing. The
spiritual condition of the body is the important thing. But if you want to know why we
haven't seen many miracles since the first century, you will find your answer in tragedy
of Achan. We have mixed the wicked things of darkness with the things of God and
called it Christianity. We have used even the good things God has given us for our own
profit and agenda. God isn't going to bless that. Ever.
We lose the ability to stand before our enemy. That is because overcoming requires
faith. And I can't have real faith unless it is unconditional and to the death. When I
have an agenda, and a personal gain in mind, it is certainly NOT unconditional.
Many of us, when faced with a spiritual battle, begin to rummage through the spoil.
"Well, I know that I shouldn't have this among my stuff, but I'll bury it in my tent, just
in case I need it." This can be subtle and deceptive. Rather, we should say, "Everything
good belongs to God. Everything evil is to be mortified and shunned." God never tells us
to mess around with unclean, accursed, or evil things. He always uses words like, "flee
from" or "put off." We are never to entertain or linger among those accursed things. But
what "accursed things" is being spoken of here? Well, we certainly have, as a church,
taken the things of the world and pasted on them the name of Christ: The world's music,
44
the world's financial practices, the world's authority system, etc. But we have taken
things even further: We have allowed to remain in us the world's mentality; the world's
way of thinking. The Truth is, I can only overcome because Jesus has already won the
victory. My faith is therefore not me winning a victory, or me accomplishing anything.
My faith is simply a matter of me surrendering myself to His victory.
3.3 Do we really believe?

believe
Many claim to believe in Jesus Christ, but according to Jesus, they really don`t.
Isaiah 29 verse 13
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their
hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have
been taught.”
Believing in Jesus means to believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
John 15 verse 1
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener...”
John 14 verse 6
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through
me.”
John 6 verse 51
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live
forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
45
John 8 verse 58
"Truly, truly, I tell you," Jesus declared, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
John 17 verse 5
“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the
world existed.”
…in short, Jesus says:
John 8 verse 24
“…if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
John 3 verse 16 explains that

“God loved the world and gave His Son so that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.”
Mathew 13 verse 3-
3- 9
“Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way
side, and the fowls came and devoured them some fell upon stony places, where they
had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of
earth, and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root,
they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked
them. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold,
some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
The "soil" in the parable stands for the heart, the four kinds of soil are representative of
four conditions of the heart. The seed which is sown in the heart is the Word of God, the
word of God being of-course Christ.
Regardless of the differing conditions of the hearts, the seed sown is the same for all. It
is therefore the condition of the soil, that is the heart, which determines what happens
to the seed.
46
Not everyone receives the Word the same way. The condition of each heart determines
how the person hears, and what eventually happens to the Word Jesus gives.
In one of the cases, the "wicked one" snatches away the seed, because the condition of
the heart (soil) was "by the wayside." In other words, not ploughed, or part of the field.
In another case, the condition of the heart is said to be stony. Thus, the seed is scorched
by the sun.
A third condition is that of thorns and weeds which choke the Word.
And of course, then there is the good soil. There the seed eventually grows and brings
forth fruit. The condition of the soil (the HEART) is what determines the outcome. It is
not the condition of the seed which determines the outcome.
The good soil had been plowed. It had been made ready for the seed. Or, to switch back
to real time language, the heart had been conditioned and adjusted so that it could
receive the Word of God. And once received, the end result was spiritual fruit to God's
glory.
The question now becomes, "Who determines the condition of heart?" God determines
the sowing. But who determines whether I am able to receive the seed he sows?
Actually, we do. We determine the condition of our hearts. God wants to do a work of
plowing in us but he is not going to force us. We must choose to allow Him or resist Him.
God often starts plowing through these places before we realize we have to choose. He
will bring about circumstances, trials, and all manner of things in our lives, for the
purpose of exposing us and showing us these obstacles. Then, as he begins to feel the
pain of the plough tearing at us, we must then choose, therefore the condition of the
heart is the reason why some people believe and some do not. Adam and Eve sinned
because the condition of their hearts changed from “good soil” to “bad soil.”
Before he fell, Lucifer was a perfect being, with extra-ordinary beauty and wisdom. At
one point he praised and reflected God's glorious light. However, he turned to focus on
his own praise and glory, and once he focused on his own beauty and wisdom and not
the source of his gifts, his heart became corrupted, and unrighteousness was found in
47
him.
Ezekiel 28 verse 12-

12-17
"You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden,
the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the
diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the
emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On
the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who
covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in
the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were
created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you
were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as
profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from
the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you
corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.”
He began to think more of himself than God who gave and maintained such powers and
he managed to get Adam and Eve to think more about themselves. Their hearts were no
longer pure, instead of them seeing God, they started seeing themselves “your eyes shall
be opened.”
Mathew 5 verse 8
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
John 7 verse 15-

15-19
“And the Jews marveled, saying, how does this man know letters, having never learned?
Jesus answered them, and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any
man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself. He that speaks of himself seeks his own glory: but he that
seeks the glory of him that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law? Why go ye about to
kill me?”
The Jews could not figure out how Jesus knew so much. But Jesus told them. He not
48
only told them how HE knew so much about God, but how anyone could know the Truth.
He said, "If you want to know the will of God, first be willing to obey it (righteousness)."
That was simple enough. But Jesus went on to elaborate. He said, "If you are seeking
your own glory (unrighteousness), that is, seeking your own will and agenda, you will
never see the Truth. Only if you are open and yielded to God will you be able to hear
(see) and understand.
John 8 verse 42-47

verse 42-
“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth
and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not
understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father,
the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I
tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say
the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hears God's words. You
therefore hear them not, because you are not of God.”
Jesus asked and answered two questions in this passage. The questions addressed two
levels of the same problem. The first question was: "Why do you not understand my
speech?" He answered it for them and said, "Because you cannot hear my word." He
said you cannot understand because you do not hear. Thus, Jesus is telling the
Pharisees, and us, that the reason for our lack of understanding is that we do not hear
him. The Pharisees were not listening to Jesus with an open heart. They were listening
with pride, envy, and were judgmental. They had set up their beliefs as the standard by
which to judge Him. And pride would not give room for them to budge. That is self-will.
In short, they had hardened their hearts.
The Pharisees were not thinking, "We know this man is telling us the Truth, but we will
not hear Him.". They were saying, "We will not admit to learning anything from this
man." The result is that they closed themselves off from the truth, not because they saw
it was truth but because they were so set in their own pride and self-will that they could
not see it was the truth.
49
The second question was: "If I say the truth, why don't you believe (hear) me?" Jesus
answered by saying, "He that is of God hears the words of God. You therefore hear them
not because you are not of God. "The relationship between the two answers is this: First,
Jesus says they cannot understand because they do not hear. Second, Jesus says they
cannot hear because they were not of God. The Pharisees were "not of God" because
they were not open to God. And consequently, the seed cannot take root, let alone
grow. We see this played out all the time today. Thousands of Christians hunger for God
and His Truth. They open their Bibles and cannot at first grasp the Truth in there. But
over the course of time they do. It "sinks" in. Why? Because they have allowed God to
"plough" them even if this consists of nothing more than simply allowing Him to remove
a few obstacles which would have hindered the plowing. So they can hear. And the seed
which is sown is taking root.
In short, Jesus was simply saying;
John 5 verse 38
"You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
Many have been told that all they need to do is believe on Jesus to receive the benefit
of all His promised blessings, which is the receiving of the forgiveness of sin and eternal
life, but what they do not realize is that once we are born again, we are not finished.
We have merely been born and now we have to GROW. In other words, the seed which
God has planted in us has to grow, purifying our hearts in the process.
3.4 The parable of the talents
14-30
Matthew 25 verse 14-
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to
them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each
50
according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went
at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the
two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and
dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of
those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five
talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me
five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done,
good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward,
saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful
over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who
had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard
man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, I was
afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But
his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I
have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested
my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own
with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from
the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless
servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.’
The wealthy man is "the Son of Man," or Christ. His journey into the far country
parallels Christ's departure into heaven after His ascension. The servants represent the
followers of Christ down through the ages, and the talents they receive represent the
WORD that Jesus sows into the hearts of his followers. The absence of the lord from his
home pictures the absence of Christ's visible presence on the earth, and his return is
51
Jesus' promised return. Christ expects fruits from the seed which he has planted into our
hearts.
4.1 How do we get to produce fruit?

fruit
According to Jesus;
Mathew 7 verse 18-

18-20
“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree
that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will
know them by their fruits”
And John the Baptist said;
Mathew 3 verse 10
“The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good
fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Matthew
Matthew 12 verse 33
“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be
bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.”
Jesus said;
John 15 verse 1-
1-8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that does
not bear fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it
may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto
you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide
in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches:
52
He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;
and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in
me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto
you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”
Luke 9 verse 23-

23-25
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself (the bad tree) and take up his
cross daily and follow me (the good tree). For whoever would save his life (the bad tree)
will lose it, but whoever loses his life (the bad tree) for my sake (the good tree) will
save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits
himself?”
No matter how much the bad tree wants to produce good fruit, it cannot do so, unless if
it´s cut off from its roots and be grafted onto the good tree, and only then can it
produce any good fruits. However, the good fruits are not coming from the bad tree,
they are coming from the good tree. Jesus is the good tree, we are the bad trees.
Psalm 23 verse 3
“The Lord (good tree) is my shepherd...he leads me in the paths of righteousness (good
fruit) for His name's sake.”
John 10 verse 11
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
The Good Shepherd leads us in "paths of righteousness" or "straight paths." These are
paths which are morally straight, right behind the Shepherd. They are the same paths
which He takes. They are paths which are in HIS will. Righteousness is the characteristic of
the path in which Jesus leads His people; His sheep.
Only when we have been uprooted from the bad tree (the tree of knowledge of good
53
and evil), can we eat from the good tree (the tree of life). When we stop eating from
the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and start eating from the tree of life, we will
have freedom from sin.
That’s why Jesus is able to say, “He that overcomes will I give the tree of life.” Without
overcoming the self, God will not allow us to eat from the good tree, as stated in the
following verse;
Genesis 3 verse 22
"The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be
allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live
forever."
The story of Abraham will help us to further understand the relationship between
believing in Jesus and good works.
Abraham was 99 years old and his childless wife was 90 (Genesis 11:30; 17:1-4, 17). They
were apparently past the normal age for having children; therefore, it would clearly be a
miracle of God were they to have any. Nevertheless, Abraham trusted God and believed
God could accomplish what He had promised.
God had promised that Abraham would have children (Genesis 15:5; 22:17). When this did
not take place as quickly as Abraham thought it should, he became impatient with God
and took matters into his own control. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was still childless, so she
told Abraham to sleep with her handmaid, so that they might get a child from the union.
A son was born from this union; his name was Ishmael.
However, this was not God’s plan; God’s promise was for the offspring of Abraham and
Sarah’s union (Genesis 15:3-4). Isaac was the name of the son that came from the
union of Abraham and Sarah; it would be through Isaac that the nations would be
blessed.
54
Galatians 4 verse 22-
22-31
For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a
free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and
he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two
covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar for
this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is
in bondage with her children but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us
all. For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born
according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so
it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
“So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Today as Christians, we make the same mistake which Abraham did. We read from the
bible that God will give us a new heart and that if we abide in him, fruits will come.
However, when we look at ourselves from the outward, we see that fruits are not visible
to our eyes, then we become impatient and decide to help God by producing the good
fruits for him. Such fruits will not be acceptable in the eyes of God and will be rejected
the same way Ishmael rejected (product of the slave woman – the old man). The only
fruit which will be acceptable is the one he promised coming through Sarah (product of
the free woman – the new man).You cannot receive promised-land blessings in Egypt.
Moses represented the Law, Joshua (Yeshua - Jesus) – represented Grace and truth.
Moses did not enter into the promised-land with the children of Israel but Joshua did.
This means that you cannot enter the promised-land based on the law, but only
through Christ (Yeshua).
55
Abraham was not a perfect man; however, the overall direction of his life was towards
God. We will not always walk perfectly in our Christian life either, but we should
remember that, just as God was with Abraham even when he struggled, God loves us
and will gladly forgive us if we fail.
The New Testament presents Abraham as a model of faithful life; a life that believes the
truths of God and lives out those truths in day-to-day living. This is the kind of faith we
should seek to duplicate; and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are able.
Therefore we are saved by faith, not by works. The Bible tells us that Abraham did not
work his way into God’s good favor, but, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to
him as righteousness...And to the one who does not work but believes in him who
justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:3, 5 and
Galatians 3:6). The book of Hebrews contains many examples of people who lived by
faith; verses 8-12 and 17-19 give us details about Abraham’s faith.
The Bible is crystal clear that no one can do enough to become righteous in God’s eyes,
“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace” (Romans
4:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9). Forgiveness (salvation, eternal life) is a gift from God; He
initiated it and He brought it about by His own will and power. We do nothing to gain
salvation other than accept His gracious offer by faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, our
works reveal the genuineness of our faith. The Pharisees did not have faith because they
obeyed God out of fear (disbelief) of punishment. According to Jesus, they were
whitewashed tombs. All obedience in the Christian life is supposed to be the outcome of
faith. When you believe out of fear, that obedience is not real but is the outcome of
unbelief.
4.2 Abiding in Christ
4-10
John 14 verse 4-
“
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in
56
the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you
can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and
withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my
disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you
keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commandments and abide in his love.”
Definitions
Christ means to be in the new man (walking in the spirit). The new man is a
To Abide in Christ:
citizen of heaven in the Kingdom of God in which Jesus is King or Lord. A prayer by the
new man is a prayer in Jesus`s name, it is a prayer which God answers because it is
according to his will and is in truth and in spirit.
Christ: means abiding in self or being in the old man (walking in the
Not abiding in Christ:
flesh). The old man is of the world and is not under the Lordship of Jesus. A prayer by
the old man is a prayer according to the will of man, and is a prayer which God does
not answer (praying in the flesh).
It is possible to pray from self (with a self-agenda), but in God`s will. That prayer will
not be answered even though it`s God`s will, because it is on the wrong basis with wrong
intentions. We have to abide in him to be fruitful.
Matthew 7 verse 8-10

“For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door
will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he
asks for a fish, will give him a snake?”
The reason why we don`t get what we pray for is that in our ignorance and efforts for
self-interest, we unintentionally ask for stones and snakes instead of bread and fish.
The question is; do we really want him to give us stones and snakes? The good thing is
that God always give us bread and fish but we usually do not recognize them as such.
57
Just like Eve who saw a bad fruit as being good for food, we also, in our corrupted
hearts do ask for things which are bad but seemingly good to us, but God being the
good Father he is, do not give us these bad things we ask for, but gives us the good
which we do not even ask for. So, instead of us asking God to give us what we want, we
should be asking him to give us what he wants.
4.3 What is Faith?

Faith
Faith means trust, dependence upon God. Faith is losing our lives in his hands
completely.
Romans 10 ver
erse 14
vers
“How then can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they
believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without
someone to preach?”
You cannot believe unless you have something to believe, you cannot trust God unless
if he reveals himself to you. Faith comes by hearing. In the Greek translation, hearing
means to listen or take heed to. It`s possible to hear someone, but totally ignore them,
but listening involves taking heed to what has been said.
Romans 10 ver 16-17

erse 16-
vers
“But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed
our message?” Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did”
Man is a believing creature, we have the capacity to believe, and we exercise this
capacity every day. When we get up in the morning, we might believe that it will rain
that day. Maybe we believe that when we get to work, this or that is going to
58
happen…we are constantly believing. It`s our perception of reality and our willingness to
accept that perception. But, believing, doesn`t make something that you believe to be
the truth. If you went to bed tonight and pulled back the covers to get into bed, and
what you saw was this large snake, what if upon seeing this that it was such a jolt to
you that it scared you so much that you had a heart attack and collapsed. Even though
that snake might be a rubber snake because someone was playing a joke on you, the
fact still remains that you are dead, why? Because you believed that it was a real
snake and it caused that reaction in you. The fact that it wasn`t a real snake doesn`t
matter because it was real to you. What we believe can cause reactions in us. To us,
something may be true and it may totally govern our lives, in fact, in may be untrue.
Unless God speaks to us and reveals the truth in Christ, this is all we have to believe in
(our old man).
4.4 “Lord increase Faith”

increase our Faith”
Luke 17 verse 5-10

“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, if ye had
faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, be thou plucked
up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of
you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is
come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make
ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and
drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because
he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise ye, when ye shall
have done all those things that are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants:
we have done that which was our duty to do.”
The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. Their request was based on the premise
that faith was something that Jesus could just give them. It is not. Thus, their question
was based on a false premise. That is why Jesus answered as he did, and followed up
59
his answer with a parable. Get the contrast: The disciples ask, "Increase our faith." Jesus
answers, "If you had faith." Isn’t that odd? You could almost imagine the disciples then
saying, "What do you mean, If we had faith? We don`t have faith. That is why we are
asking you to increase our faith." But as strange as Jesus’ initial answer seems, it
carries in it much truth. It tells us that an increase of faith is not something God gives.
Note that Jesus compares faith to a mustard seed, which is quite a small seed. He is
basically saying that if you had even a speck of real faith, the sky would be the limit.
Faith is a relationship between man and God. Faith is trust, dependence, and belief in
God as faithful.
In Jesus’ parable the disciple is pictured as the servant who is out in the field doing
exactly what a servant is supposed to do – working all day in the field for his master.
Then the servant comes in from the field. He then asks, "Do you expect that your master
is going to thank you for doing the work of a servant, that your master is going to be so
thankful to you that he will tell you to sit down so that HE can serve you?" The disciples
obviously thought that if they served God, and did their duty before God, that God
would reward them by feeding them – i.e., that God would grant them their desires and
give them blessings. This was their idea of a right relationship with God. Thus, when they
asked Jesus for more faith, He had to first address this wrong notion of relationship with
God. So until our relationship with God is right, there can be no real faith.
What we have in this story is a description of the kind of relationship with God that will
not increase our faith. If we do only what we are expected to do, but are really doing it
because of we think that it the end God will pay us back, this is not faith. For it is not
based in the relationship God wants with us. What does God desire from us? He wants a
relationship based upon love, and within that, one based on his grace. If our
relationship with God were based upon that, we would utterly and completely lose our
lives into his hands, with no strings attached, serving and obeying him to the complete
disregard of all rewards, punishments, or consequences. Now all of this leads to the real
answer to the disciple’s question: How can we increase in faith? Well, the only way to
increase in faith is to increase in our relationship with God.
The servant in Jesus’ story really had no faith at all. He had no faith because he had
60
no relationship with his master other than that which was mandated. In fact, Jesus
pointed out that even if this servant did his duty and did it to perfection, 24 hours per
day, and seven days per week, that he would be entitled to no thanks, nor would he
have earned the right to be served by his master. In fact, Jesus told them directly that if
this is our idea of a relationship with God, then we might as well call ourselves
unprofitable servants. Why? Because despite the work we do for God, it is really for
ourselves, for what we think we will get out of it.
There is a mentality among Christian people that goes something like this: We received
Jesus into our hearts because the alternative of hell was not something we could
accept. We walk with Christ and do good works, and even serve him, because the Bible
says we must. The alternative to doing so is likewise not acceptable. We don’t want to
be on God’s bad side. And after all, obeying God does have its rewards. God will keep
us safe, bless us, prosper us, and answer our prayers. Thus, as long as we do our duty
to God, God will do his duty to us. We would never say this, but our attitude towards
God is, "If I scratch your back, you will scratch mine." This entire attitude is usually
exposed for what it is when God doesn’t scratch our back. When God does not sit us
down at his table and begin to feed us, in thanksgiving for, "all that we have done for
Him," we get resentful. We feel that God is unfair or unjust. It is at that point that we
find out that we never had much faith, or much of a relationship with God, at all.
Rather, we must walk with God in a relationship of love. It isn’t that we will do more
things than those things that constitute our duty, but we won’t have the attitude of
duty towards God. In other words, we will serve God to the complete disregard of
rewards, punishments, duty, or results. We will give ourselves to Him, and our lives to
Him, and our possessions to Him. This kind of walk is the only one that will grow faith.
Faith is not our ability to do things. It isn’t even our ability to do things for God. Rather,
faith is a relationship whereby God can do things in us, and for us, and through us.
Because faith is a relationship, not only does it means we trust God, but in another
sense, it also means God can trust us. In other words, He will know that because we
trust him, and rely upon him, and are sold out to his will, he will know that he can do
his will in our lives. We won’t misuse it. The disciples wanted to grow in faith. Jesus said,
61
"If you want to grow in faith, live for God. Faith will always emerge in any person who
lives for God, and wants his will alone."
4.5 Freedom from sin
“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our
instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
The events recorded in the Old Testament are true history, they happened the way they
did and are written the way they are, as physical types of spiritual realities.
Egypt, in the Bible, always stands for the world, the realm of darkness, and bondage to
sin. It speaks of the old nature which keeps us in bondage, the old nature of-course
being represented by Pharaoh. Israel, in captivity, stands for the real person who God
wants to save. Presently, he is held captive in Egypt by Pharaoh and there is no way out
for him by his own strength. God is calling out the Israelites (the chosen people of God)
out of Egypt unto salvation.
When reading about the story of how Israel was delivered from Egypt, we should think in
terms of all that is described as going on inside of each person. We have Egypt and
Israel in us. God wants to deliver us, and bring us into a new land of promise: Jesus
Christ.
Just prior to that first Passover, God gave specific instructions to Moses as to what the
children of Israel were to do to prepare. He said,
5- 7
Exodus 12 verse 5-
“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from
the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the
same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on
62
the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.”
Christ is our Passover lamb;
I Corinthians 5 verse 7
"For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."
John the Baptist announced Him as;
John 1 verse 29
"The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
God told the children of Israel that each household was to kill a lamb without blemish.
They were to take the Blood of the lamb and sprinkle or strike it on the two sides of the
doorway, and on its top. Furthermore, they were supposed to EAT the lamb during that
same night – the night during which the plague would come upon the land. This Blood,
and it alone, provided salvation that night for that household:
Exodus 12 verse 11-

11-13
“It is the LORD'S Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the
gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for
a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you,
and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
First, note the reason as to why the Israelites had to kill the Lamb, and then apply the
Blood. Ask: Was God confused as to who was an Israelite, or who was an Egyptian? Of
course not. He knows everyone by name. Thus, we see here that it wasn’t being an
Israelite that mattered at all. It was that you were under the Blood. It was, in fact,
whether you put yourself under the Blood by faith.
They had to come "under the Blood" by believing God – and by "applying" that blood to
their houses. It was clear that if any Israelite had not applied the blood as God
instructed, that they too would have been under the curse that night. In the blood and
only the blood was salvation.
63
Those who would take the Blood and apply it in faith to their doorway would be spared,
for they were coming under the Blood of the Lamb, and accepted His death for their
own. God would honor their faith and "pass over" them. Notice how in a manner of
speaking no-one escaped death. It was just a matter of whether you were going to die
for your own sins, or come under the death of the slain Lamb. Regardless, however,
death was coming in one form or another that night. There would be no escape.
Those who came under the Blood of the Lamb were able to emerge the next day, free of
what had enslaved them. The power of Egypt had been broken for Israel. The power of sin
is broken for us. Do you see how the only means by which God can solve the sin
question is death? God cannot fix Egypt, or rehabilitate it. No. Egypt must die. Then
Israel is free. Here we see that "our Egypt" – our old man of sin – must die. There is no
reprieve and no pardon. He must die. But the "real us" – which is under the Blood – is
saved. It is that which emerges the next morning, ready to come out of Egypt. For any
component of a human to be born-again or resurrected, it first has to die (Body, Spirit
and Soul).
If we again picture ALL of this going on inside of US, we will see that our "outer man"
Egypt which is "outside" of the houses covered by Blood, must die; must have its power
broken. But our inner man – the fundament of our being, long ago brought into
captivity through sin – is safe inside, covered by the Blood. It is that part of us which is
IN CHRIST – and which is saved. Paul the apostle says all of this. He tells us that we –
and by "we" I mean our old man in Adam– do not escape death because of the Lamb.
No. Our "old man" isn’t inside, under the Blood. It is "outside" – of Egypt. Our old man,
the "old we" meets death, is crucified in Christ. But because of that, our new man is set
free from sin.
Romans 6 verse 6-7

“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. For he that is dead is freed from
sin.”
So if you understand that YOU have an Egypt and an Israel, you realize that there is a
part of you that must die: Your Egypt. There is no reprieve for your Egypt, for it is only
64
through the death of your Egypt, that your Israel can be set free. What we see here is
that the Blood of the Lamb is your salvation. But so is the destroyer. The destroyer puts
to death all that must die for you to be free. The destroyer puts to death all that stands
between you and God. But the Blood preserves the real you unto a resurrection the
next morning.
Romans 5 verse 10
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much
more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Romans 6 verse
verse 8-11
“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he lives, he lives unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The only thing necessary for salvation is to come to Jesus. Coming to Jesus is the one
thing WE must do, and the only thing we CAN do. God does the rest.
Two deaths had occurred that first Passover night. There was the death of the first born
of Egypt. But there was also the death of the Lamb. The death of the first born of Egypt
was, in type, the death of all that holds us captive.. The death of the Lamb is the death
which substitutes for the death of what God wants to save – the real us. What we end
up with is a new creation one that has been set free from bondage by coming under the
Blood of the Lamb. The next morning we are "resurrected" unto newness of life.
Exodus 12 verse 8-
8-11
“And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and
with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but
roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance (ofals) thereof. And ye
shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the
morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your
shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the
LORD'S Passover.”
65
Jesus has given all of himself for us, that we might have life. To "eat the Lamb" is
explained by Jesus Himself. He said:
53-57
John 6 verse 53-
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his
blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, hath eternal
life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed. He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him. As
the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he
shall live by me.”
To eat of Jesus means to live from him.
John 6 verse 32-

32-35
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is
my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. God’s bread is the One who
comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” The people said, “Sir, give us this
bread always.” Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me
will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
In addition to eating the Lamb with bitter herbs, the Israelites were to eat the Passover
meal dressed to depart from Egypt. This "departing posture" is to show our desire to
forsake sin and no longer belong to Egypt.
John 6 verse 56
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains (abides) in me, and I in him.”
John 4 verse 33
But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the disciples
asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?” Jesus explained, “My food
is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.…
Matthew 26 verse 42
A second time He went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I
66
drink it, may your will be done.
John 6 verse 57
Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who
feeds on me will live because of me.
As long as Adam and Eve did the will of God, they lived (the will of God was their food),
but as soon as they started doing their own will, they died.
Hebrews 3 verse 14
“For we are made partakers (fellowship and communion with God through Christ) of
Christ (who is life) if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end”
29-30
Exodus 12 verse 29-
“And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of
Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the
captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in
the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in
Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”
To slay all the first born, in those days, meant to cut off all inheritance. Symbolically,
it meant to cut off the natural lineage. By this we see God picturing the death of the
old heredity in Adam. It is cut off, and can no longer keep those under the Blood in
bondage. We see through this that when everything was said and done, nothing could
set Israel free short of death. Simply plaguing Egypt and Pharaoh would not do. There
must come a death in order for those under the Blood to be set free.
END
67

Freedom From Sin - Chapter One

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Freedom From Sin - Chapter One

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

1.1 What is sin?

1.2 How did man sin?

1.3 God`s purpose in man Page 7

2.1 Overcoming Page 9

2.2 How can we overcome?

2.4 Failure to enter the promised-

2.5 The Natural man Page 20

3.1 The trial of faith

3.2 Reasons for unbelief Page 36

3.3 Do we really believe?

3.4 The parable of the talents Page 50

4.1 How do we get to produce fruit?

4.2 Abiding in Christ Page 56

4.3 What is Faith?

4.4 “Lord increase our Faith” Page 59

Sin is not an act or something that we do, sin is a condition or nature..

The bible says that we were all born sinners;

1.2 How did man sin?

Ezekiel 37 verse 27 and Jeremiah 31 verse 33

In the New Testament, it`s stated that;

The essence of sin is therefore self-rule and self-ownership. It is to severe accountability

If for example if you were to tell your son that:

1.3 God`s Purpose in Men

We are to be formed together with Christ to become witnesses unto God.

Revelation 2 verse 26-

Revelation 3 verse 5-6

The tree of life – symbolizing the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

“You are my Son.

Nor did God say of any angel,

“I will be his Father,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.” Psalm 97 verse 7

“God makes his angels become like winds.

“God, your throne will last forever and ever.

“Lord, in the beginning you made the earth,

“Sit by me at my right side

Therefore, faith emerges only if we overcome unbelief. If we believe God, then by

2.2 How can we overcome?

The second means of overcoming is by “the word of testimony.”

1 John 5 verse 3-5

2.3 The promised

Ephesians 1 verse 13-14

Ephesians 1 verse 3-14

2.4 Failure to Enter the Promised-

Numbers 13 verse 27-

2.6 The Natural man

Exodus 17 verse 7-8

Genesis 25 verse 20-

And the LORD said to her:

“Two nations are in your womb,

3.1 The trial of faith

Once again God commended Job. God said:

Job 23 verse 8-10

Peter writes this very key to victory in his first epistle:

1 Peter 5 verse 5-11

Romans 8 verse 35-

Job 42 verse 1-6

1 Samuel 30 verse 1-4

James 2 verse 14-

Exodus 23 verse 27-

Now read the words of Jesus to His disciples:

Matthew 16 verse 16-

Joshua 7 verse 20-