THE PERFECTION OF THE SAINTS

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Dear brothers and sisters I would like to talk about a subject God has given us in this last days but we have not been able to fully grasp until now.  I believe the time for us to get complete understanding of this issue is now because of the time we are living in.  

We will start with; Eph 4:13 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive”.

The first thing that comes to our mind when we read the above scripture is that we cannot be perfect, we cannot come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.  Those are very high measures, so we start justifying the word perfect to mean something else, something different than perfect, or to separate the flesh and the spirit to justify that one is perfect but the other is not and we end up not understanding neither.  But God says that we all must come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.  He speaks in absolute terms and we must come to that perfect understanding, let me correct that, He must bring us to that perfect understanding, He must build us unto the measure of the fullness of Christ.

Some say, yea that is true but it will only come to pass when we enter heaven in a perfect body.  Ok so why does it say in the next verse, Eph 4:14 "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” 
The purpose of that perfection is that we be no more “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men”, that is clearly not in heaven but here on earth, therefore, until we reach that perfection we will be tossed to and fro and I insist, the time for that PERFECTION is now.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

The understanding of the knowledge of good and evil is key to understand our situation and predicament because it is that knowledge that makes us think we are gods.  Good and evil has to do with our (the world, the flesh), mindset, and the way we relate to God, which leds us to our behavior, our actions, and how we relate them to the obedience to the law.  Good behavior, bad behavior and stuff like that, but good is related to God, for God is good, and evil is related to the devil or the lie, so good and evil is a false religion, it’s got Jesus in it and it also has works, like Grace with works mixed together or like bread with leaven.  But God says it is all Grace or all work, you might say, oh yea that’s easy to understand, the problem comes when we mix Grace and works and it’s so easy to do because we say oh, we’re save by Grace but now we have to work, let’s see how God lays it all out in the Bible.

First of all, we judge a “Christian” by the appearance precisely because we have works mixed with Grace but God says. 

Mat 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”  

When He talks about “false prophets” He’s talking about false Christians, so let’s see how are we really to judge and determine if they are true or false, and please let’s not jump into quick conclusions, lets first consider all of the scriptures and find harmony with all of what the Bible teaches. 

Why do I want to identify a true believer from a false one? Isn’t it better to love the whole world the same way? Are we not commanded to love our enemies?  On the other hand we are exhorted to love each other 1 Jn 3:11 "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.”  We can see that there are two kinds of love, the love for the spiritual brother and the love for the physical brother, but we are to have the spiritual one. 
In fact the Lord Jesus said, “Joh 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  Even more, if we look at the whole scripture we find out how truly important it is we love our spiritual brother. 

1 Jn 3:10 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.”

1Jn 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” 

1Jn 3:16 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

I ask the question then, how important is it that we be able to tell without a shadow of a doubt that someone is my brother or not?  Are we doing that at this point, or are we still been tossed to and fro in this subject? Jesus said, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”  Absolute statement, no gray area, you either shall know them or you won’t.

Besides all that, the admonishment of “be aware of false prophets” shall make us want to know and understand his teaching on how to really do that, so let’s look at the scripture again;  

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

The first thing I notice is the fact that I should not look at the outside because they come in sheep’s clothing, so I will be deceive doing that.  What is the outside? It has to do with their behavior which in terms have to do with their obedience to the law, even their clothing or their discipline, everything that has to do with their ethics.  I am commanded to look at the inside, therefore the question arises, Can we see the inside of a person, the heart?  Jesus says that not only we can but we should, because inwardly they are ravening wolves.
So “Ye shall know them by their fruits” Mat 15:19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” 
Now remember, you will not see the manifestation of this sins because they are spiritual, all you will see is the sheep's clothing.  What are the fruits then?  When I ask that question, everybody points quickly to; 

Galatians 5:19  “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  

Now, where we fail is to see that this are all spiritual in nature and their manifestations could be physical but we don’t want to look at the manifestation of them because we will end up doing the carnal thing which is to look at the outside, we need to look at the spiritual aspect of them because the Bible says that this fruits would come out of the mouth.

Jas 3:8-12 “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.  Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?  Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh?

Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs?  God is telling us that the fig tree cannot bear olive berries, or that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit.  That is why, Mat 15:19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:”  because the fruits are in the heart, they are spiritual and we can only see them as they come out of the mouth.  You might think that we have to have perfect understanding of the Word and the Work of God to judge the spiritual teachings or words of somebody else without erring in that judgment, and that is precisely what we are thinking God is doing in this last period of His children on the earth as Ephesians 4:13-14 states it; 

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive”.

Note: I started wondering about this long ago when I was listening to a teacher on the radio and though, how I am supposed to see this teachers behavior to know his fruits, all I can do is listening to his voice through the radio but yet I had to determine if he was a false teacher or a true teacher, and I think this same thing happened to most of us as we listen to Mr. Camping, Chris McCann or brother Gunther on the radio, up to now I don’t really know neither of their behavior but I can hear their words and know what’s in their heart, in the same matter I can listen to the Pope for example and know what’s in his heart.  Now, the pope has an excellent behavior which has deceived millions.  The problem is not with people like him, because the Catholic church has so far out doctrines that it is easy to detect them.  But the problem is with those that are so close to the truth that makes it more difficult to do, like us in this case, the true church of God, the true believers, and this is why I think that 1 Pe 4:17 is more applicable to us now than before; “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”     

Conclusion:  it is that little leaven that we have to worry about now because it leavens the whole loaf, Mat 3:10 “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”
Mat 23:25 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.”
Pro 14:5 “A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.”Pro 14:25 “A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies”                                      

BEING AS GOD

We determine that good and evil has to do with our behavior which comes from our religious mind frame resulting from us believing the lie, which in turn makes us believe that the power to do good or evil is within our hands, Gen 3:5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”  Therefore, we say somebody is good or bad depending on their behavior, but what does the Bible says, Rom 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:… there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Rom 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”  This is Paul, a child of God saying that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  

This means that I can’t do anything good because in me nothing good dwells and the good that I do is evil because I can’t get something good out of evil, it sounds like redundant but it’s important we understand that, the problem is we think that once we get born again we start doing good things and that is not the case.  Paul is a saved man, a child of God and still, he says in me dwelleth no good thing, so how do we explain those scriptures that say we do good works?  Because 1. We do physical good works, like helping people or giving alms, but they are evil works in the side of God since they have an evil root and 2. The spiritual good that we do comes from the Spirit and is Spiritual, not visible for it’s not physical.  Good is God or God is good, just like He is Faith joy and all the other fruits of the spirit, Gal 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  They are of the spirit, which means they are not mine, in other words they are the character of God and I cannot produce that kind of fruit because I am carnal.  Those fruits cannot be seeing for they are spiritual, they are of the spirit.  The problem is my flesh does produce some fruits that are similar, like love, peace, joy etc. but they are evil because, again, they have an evil root, but we think they are good when they are not.  Example, when Jesus said in Mat 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  We are the light of the world because of the Spirit that dwells in us but we do not shine visible like a light bulb, in fact the Bible says that the world lays in darkness and hates the light, it is all spiritual, the light comes out of us when we speak the truth, Joh 1:4 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”  The world cannot see the spiritual fruit just like they cannot see the spiritual light, it all boils down to the truth which is Jesus, the Word of God, so it does not have anything to do with our outward behavior or the things that can be seen.

The fact that everything we do is evil and everything that Jesus does is good takes away our vain glory and gives God all the glory which is the way it’s supposed to be and until we understand that, we will be calling good evil and evil good, Isa 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Jesus asked the rich man in Mat 19:17 “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God:” He wanted to know if the man was calling Him good because he knew that Jesus was God or because he thought that Jesus was just a “good” man, for He knew that in our understanding we call a good man, someone who does good, outward, visible things, in other words because an outward good behavior.  So where do we get this idea of being “good” or being “evil”, it comes from our obedience to the physical law.  The problem we have with this is that even the Christians think the same way because of the teaching that once we are born again we now are able to do good things but we fall again into the trap of the law and submit ourselves again to it and end up doing what the Galatians were doing, Gal 3:3 “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?.”

We know that we are not under the law and that we are free from it, that Jesus fulfill the law on our behalf so that we would not be under its yoke and we know the famous passage in Romans 7 where God tells us over and over how we are free from it but, again, we still submitting to it.  Why do we lust to be under the law? Because that is what the knowledge of good and evil is, having power to choose between doing good or doing evil, being as god.  Any ways, let’s take a look at Rom 7:14 “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”  The law is spiritual, we talked about that, I am carnal so I cannot obey it.  Only God can.

“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”   If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”  It sounds like an excuse, does it not? But it’s not, it is a fact that I do not have control over that, only God has control as far as He can constrain me or let me fall into it, that is the way the plan of God is designed so that we would not take glory for any accomplishments or “obedience” on our part and become good or “god”.     

Rom 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.”

Over and over he tells us that even when I would do good, evil is present with me, so there is no way I can do good, and that it is no more I but sin that dwells in me. 

PERFECT LOVE

We talked about our flesh, lusting after sin, and because of that we do not have perfect love, again please consider this, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." I John 4:17-18. One thing is the flesh and another thing is the spirit, I do not mind the things of the flesh for I can do nothing about it, the flesh is subjected to sin for sin dwells in it, I mind the things of the Spirit.  And the Spirit tells me that perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment and he that feareth is not made perfect in love.  This action occurs here on earth for in heaven, of course, there is not fear, so when does this casting out of fear occurs?  Isn´t it now when we know that we are secure in the sheepfold, the temple is complete, we cannot lose our salvation, and neither can anyone get saved? “Because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”  Torment is the fear of condemnation and, “[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  Romans 8:1.  It is this “walking” that throw us off, but the Bible simply separates between those that are in Christ Jesus and those that are in the flesh, there is no middle ground my dear friends.  The wheat and the tares.

So the answer to the initial question, can we sin? Is 'Yes'.

No, the answer is no, if you are spiritual the Bible says "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." I John 3:9. That is very clear, HE CAN NOT SIN, and so who is the one that can sin? the flesh, but the flesh is already condemned, there is nothing we can do about it, you cannot clean your flesh enough to be save or to stay save.

Someone else said, ‎1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  Praise the Lord God Almighty.

Yes, sin dwells in me (that is in my flesh), I cannot deny it, but that problem has been dealt with, thank you Jesus! I rest in His work.  Nor can I deny the fact that He has made me clean, perfect, pure, no sin, amen.

Do you notice how 1 John started talking about the light and the darkness, 1 John 1:5-7 "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin".  How can we walk in darkness (sin) and have fellowship with the light? It is impossible. That is what I am talking about.  Again, the separation is clear; we are either in the light or in the darkness, no middle ground

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool”.

We are open to correction and any other comments are welcome.

TO THE GLORY OF GOD