“CHRISTIAN LIBERTY — GOD’s WAY!”

I believe that there isn't a more beneficial, effectual, and supernatural place or disposition to be "settled in", than where Christian Liberty — God's Way, is not activated and realized through the life of a believer!  

As a matter of fact, the place of our greatest fruitfulness is also tied to this state, and guarantees a level of reward and blessing that is actually humanly impossible apart from Him!  As bondage represents the exact opposite disposition, the burdensome restraint and darkness that follows it is enough to choose a different path to steer clear of the trouble that follows the absolute slavery associated with it.

I understand the "T-Totalers" that have had such a dark experience with evil, generational curses, personal battles, and the disturbance and antagonism of the forces of darkness strongly against their life, they cannot passively ignore, mishandle or show an openness towards ANYTHING questionable and potentially sinful, but must have an aggressive posture towards grey areas where Christian liberty should be thoughtfully taken; to make sure to bring balance to bare in every situation we find ourselves.

Not overreactions, hateful rhetoric or fear-based rules — but, sound decision making rooted in the light and the love of God that settles the unestablished heart, and causes eternal rest to consume the soul every time we trust God to exercise His Sovereign Will and control in our lives at our invitation.

I also understand the individual who decides not even to socially drink, because of the horrible history of alcohol's devastating affects upon their family-generationally speaking (as an example); so they won't allow their children age-appropriate celebrations like Halloween; to drink as young adults in their home although their of age; or to take certain liberties in life, because both their past experiences and the challenging realities they've faced have convinced them to live differently.

EVERYONE's JOURNEY IS UNIQUELY SPECIFIC AND SPECIAL TO THEM! (PIHIM SOF; "Personal Doctrines"). So, don't try to convince others of doing what only you're convicted needs to be done; or muscle consent for others to go where only you're convinced that you need to go; and/or take any unnecessary disciplines and burdens that are unique to YOU in the scheme of your path and His Promise for you.

ANY alliance, relationship or affinity towards "dark things" and things that we categorize as "spiritually neutral", must be addressed in faith, so that we can live this life in the fullness and fulfillment of Christ without the need for coping mechanisms, extremism, or imbalanced decisions rooted in the fear of a nagging "sin consciousness" that makes us all captives to demonic defeat and degradation.

Salvation has three aspects:

• Past: We have been saved from the penalty of sin. We have been justified.

• Present: We are being saved from the power of sin. We are being sanctified.

• Future: We will be saved from the presence of sin. We will be glorified.

Sin is the reason that we all need to be saved. We are saved from various aspects of sin, and so our salvation has both a past and present (as well as a future) implications.

When we are saved (or justified from sin) we are saved from the "penalty of sin". This is a past act that took us out of alignment with God's Spirit. Jesus paid for our sin on the cross once and for all in the past, and when a person trusts Him for salvation, that person is forgiven and justified before God.

This is a once-for-all supernatural transaction of the God-kind. A person who is justified has been supernaturally saved:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)

However, it is not only the penalty of sin that is a problem. Christians still struggle with the power of sin in their lives. Even though they are forgiven, they are not perfect. While on earth they are being saved from the power of sin (sanctified).

Paul spends chapters 1—3 of Ephesians explaining how believers have been saved from the penalty of sin. Then he urges them to live in that reality by not letting sin continue to control their actions:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1–3).

Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:11–14).

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:21–25).

So even Paul the apostle admits that he still struggles against sin in his life. However, as a Christian matures, there will be victories over sin in day-to-day life. Christians are being saved from the power of sin over them.

Finally, in the future Christians will be saved from the very presence of sin (glorified). One day, Christians will receive a new body, and the sin nature will be completely eradicated. We look forward to a new home, a new heaven and a new earth where sin will no longer be an issue:

Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. . . I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 21:1–4, 22–27).

In John 6:25–59, Jesus presented a challenging teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The disciples struggled to digest Christ's words, while the Jewish religious leaders were scandalized by them. Jesus then explained that He was speaking figuratively about spiritual realities and not literally: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63, NKJV).

The noun flesh (sarx in Greek) refers to "the physical aspects of a person in distinction to the nonmaterial soul." Technically, flesh describes the body's soft tissue but is often used in the New Testament to indicate the "sinful nature" or the seat of sin and rebellion against God in humanity. In the Old Testament, flesh is frequently used in reference to mortal humans in contrast with God, a life-giving Spirit. The term translated as "profit" in John 6:63 means "to be of use, help, aid, facilitate, accomplish."

The New Living Translation renders Christ's words this way: "The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (John 6:63).

The flesh profits nothing means there is absolutely no hope of salvation or any spiritual insight or gain that can be achieved through human effort. The apostle Paul had nothing good to say about the flesh: "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out" (Romans 7:18, ESV). Paul urged Christians to "put no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).

Our interpretation will be flawed if we try to understand the Word of God from a literal, flesh-dominated, human perspective. We must have the indwelling Spirit to comprehend God's Word correctly: "But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. . . . No one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit. And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us" (1 Corinthians 2:10–12, NLT).

The flesh profits nothing because it relies on human wisdom. "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:14). The "spiritual person" can understand the Word of God and the things of God's Spirit because he has "the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:15–16, CSB).

The flesh profits nothing because it prevents people from receiving "the message of the cross," which "is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). The message of the cross is that Jesus died to save us and bring us into a relationship with God the Father: "Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18, NLT).

Only the Spirit of God gives everlasting life. In John 3:6, Jesus said, "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life" (NLT). We must be born of the Spirit (John 3:5–8) by believing in Christ and receiving His gift of eternal life (John 5:21, 24, 26; 7:37–39).

Believers can think of "the flesh" as the symbol of our humanness, which is of no profit to a true follower of Christ. Jesus told His disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:24–27, ESV).

The flesh profits nothing means that, in and of ourselves, as human beings born into sin, we can never experience eternal life (Romans 3:9–12). The "flesh" is human power, which is utterly incapable of generating spiritual life. Only by the power of God—the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of His Spirit—can we be saved.

So, when we talk about "Christian Liberty", which is complete freedom and a functional independence that frees us to be everything God called us to be "in Christ" (The Only One that can save, redeem, heal, deliver, and restore us) we do NOT need to compare notes, compare ourselves among ourselves, or convince anyone of anything..DO WHAT GOD TOLD YOU TO DO!!

Finally, when we talk about "Christian License", we're dealing with the inherited permission we receive as a benefit of being "in Christ" that allows individual freedom, without permitting sin or a reckless disposition and attitude that seeks to satisfy our flesh!

"Christian Liberty — God's Way" is possible, if we resign ourselves to follow Him no matter what we have to face, what we have to go through, and no matter how long we have to trust God in the process He's deem necessary to develop our Christian character and an established heart in Christ!

"Your advantage" is not necessarily God's favor or blessing at work on your behalf! Your disadvantage is not necessarily a form of God's judgment or correction for you, especially when you feel like God is nowhere in sight or in no way involved, by observation! WS-3

Walter L. Smith III (WS-3)

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