"No Excuses"

"No Excuses"

       

        Nothing changes who and what born again believers are in the Lord Jesus Christ.

       "Ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Corinthians 6:11).

      Note those to whom the Apostle Paul wrote.  The Corinthians.  A careful reading of Paul's first epistle to the church in Corinth reveals the most wayward congregation mentioned in the New Testament.  "Are ye not yet carnal and walk as men?" chided the Apostle (I Corinthians 3:3).  The Corinthians were indeed carnal in their attitudes and behaviors, so much so that many believers in the church had been chastened with weakness, sickness, and even death because of their disrespect for the Lord's supper (I Corinthians 11:30).  

    Still, the Corinthians' failures did not change who they were in Christ.  The same is true of all believers.  On our best spiritual days, we are no more the temple of God's Spirit.  On our worst days, we are no less.  We are who we are in the Spirit, based on the faithful grace of our Heavenly Father and our Savior's mediation on our behalf: "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).  Certainly our being should lead to doings that reflect the truth: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).  Presently, however, our flesh remains susceptible to devilish and worldly temptation.  "The flesh lusteth against the spirit" (Galatians 5:17).  No less than Paul himself realized he could fall with the Corinthians into spiritual declension: "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself might be a castaway" (I Corinthians 9:27).   Thus, we can walk in a manner that originates and results in death despite the fact of being "alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).

    This truth of God's saving and keeping grace pulls the rug out from every excuse for sin, or for not arising in times of unbelief and disobedience.  Indeed, if we were not who we are in Christ as His eternal spiritual habitation, we might absolve ourselves by a false humility that claims, "Well, that is just who I am and I can't help it!"  Not so.  While a temple of God can fall into ramshackled disrepair, it remains a temple and should function accordingly.  Through the grace of salvation in the Lord Jesus, believers are who we are in Him, whether we act accordingly or not.  No excuse for sin exists in any circumstance, situation, or condition.  Nor can we rationalize any reason for staying down if we fall down.  We are who we are in Christ, a blessed truth of originating and perpetuating grace given in Him, and administered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Blessed indeed, but also decidedly challenging for every believer as it directs us to a "no excuses" life of walking with God as His redeemed sons and daughters.

"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

(Ephesians 4:30)

"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."

(Romans 8:9)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Weekly Memory Verse

     We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

 (Hebrews 4:15).