God's Nature
It is God's nature to love because he is love (1John 4:7-11).
It is not God's will that any should perish, but that all will come to repentance (2Peter 3:9).
God is merciful and He desires that all people understand who He is and how He wants a relationship with Him.
One of the best revelations we have that shows us God's nature is the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatian 5:22).
The Fruit of the Spirit is God's character. Each virtue identifies who God is.
Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These are the character traits of God and our Lord, Jesus Christ.
When we become saved, by trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Jesus then abides in us and we now have God's characteristics abiding in us also. The problem is, we have to learn how to use them. The more you try to make these character traits become a part of you are the more difficult it seems to be. You come to the place you realize you need extra help. This is why you need to follow God's will and be baptized in the spirit (Ephesians 5:17-18). Once you are filled with the Spirit, you have the power of the Holy Spirit to help you develop in the characteristics of God, our Father. Once you develop the Gifts of the Spirit (1Corinthians 12:1-10) and the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) that is in you through Christ and being filled with the Spirit, you have the spiritual tools to maintain the lifestyle you were created to have.
We are not Created Sinful!!
We were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28), and that image is sinless.
Some would like to teach that we are born sinful because of the sinful nature of Adam, the first man. This is not true. As God was talking with Noah about man's evil conditions He said that, ". . In the image of God, He made man." Once God finished with His creation He saw what He created and He said that it was "very good". If we were created with the nature to sin, God would not have said His finished creation was very good.
People are not born with the desire to lie, speak evil, steal, kill, or any of the things. We are not created sinful or evil. God created each person in His image, and that image is not evil. 1John 1:5 tells us that there is no darkness in God. God does not have sin and his image does not either.
Everyone is born in the created image of God. We have a body, a soul, and a mind, that is born in God's perfect image. This image is not born sinful but it is born with a corrupted bloodline of Adam. Sin has passed upon all mankind because of Adam's sin (Romans 5:12; Psalm 51:5), thus we are all capable of sin.
WE are capable of sin but we were not born with sin.
We learned how to be sinful because we hear and see people being sinful, and we choose to try it ourselves, fulfilling the scripture that says, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Babies Learn to Lie
It has been said that babies are born speaking lies because of Psalm 58:3 that says,
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
To use this scripture for arguing that babies are born speaking lies is a misquote because Psalm 58:3 is describing the just judgment of the wicked. Verse 3 is simply stating the wicked go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) the word wicked is ἁμαρτωλοὶ, which is the masculine plural form of sinner; being translated as these sinners.
Its translation in the Greek Septuagint is, These sinners have gone astray from the womb; they go astray from the belly; they speak lies. Because of their desire to sin, they go astray as babies.
Babies are not born lying, they learn to lie. When a baby is crying and you check to see if they need to be changed, they are not lying to you about their need. You have not learned what they are saying yet. Unless they are hurting in some way, babies need food, changed, cuddled and held, or they are sleepy. They are telling you what they need by crying. You have to learn to interpret their cries before you will know what they are wanting.
Babies learn to lie by not responding the way you want them to and they get away with it. They learn very quickly that if you are doing something and they want attention, all they have to do is cry. Someone will come and get them. As they grow and start speaking, the first time they do something wrong and they say they did not do it, and you were not aware they did, the baby starts understanding they are not in trouble. The next time this happens the baby denies it again, and still, nothing happens to them for the wrong they did. This pattern starts training the child to lie. Before long, your baby is lying to you about many things. This is how babies come from the mother's womb lying, they learn to lie.
Sin is Against Our Created Nature
If a person is doing something that is not accepted by God, this is sin.
Sin is turning from the holy instinct to be like the creator's image and bringing yourself to do things against your created nature. It is in our holy nature to be like God.
One of the things I love about watching our grandchildren is they start doing things like their parents. It is natural for children to do the things of their parents. A child moves in similar ways, they talk in similar ways, they think in similar ways, and they even make mistakes the same ways as their parents. Children do this because it is in their nature to be like their parents; they cannot help it. In this same way, we are created (born) with our Heavenly Father's nature. It is not natural for human beings to sin; we were created to be like God.
Human beings do what is instinctive until they are shown something different.
When we are young we see someone doing something wrong and we try it. We might get temporary pleasure from the wrong but we try to hide the wrong because it is in our nature to be good and we sense something is not right. When a human being does a specific thing wrong for the first time they do not feel pleasure inside their being from that wrong. They may learn to feel temporal pleasure outwardly from the sin that has been committed, but in the beginning, each of us feels the condemnation that comes from what we did.
This is why Adam and Eve hid from God when they eat of the forbidden fruit.
They hid because their sin went against their nature to be like God and they became afraid.
Satan told Eve, "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. . ." (Genesis 3:5). Satan was holding back on the truth. Adam and Eve may not have known between good and evil yet, but they were already like God by nature because they were created in His image. They had no sin! Once they committed sin, they felt the condemnation and feared what God might do.
The Adamic nature corrupts people to do sin. They have to practice it before they will continue doing it.
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. (1John 3:4).
It is the works of the flesh that causes us to continue doing wrong.
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. [Ephesians 2:1-3 NKJV]
We can choose to follow after the Lord and not continue to let the works of the flesh control us.
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." [1Peter 1:13-16 NKJV]
It is becoming too easy for people today to follow the ways of sin because societies do not care to have moralistic concepts of goodness like they did even 100 years ago. Doing what you want, when you want, seems to be the thinking of our day. The Book of Judges ends with this testimony that, "everyone did what was right in their own sight" (Judges 21:25). The problem with this is, unless people recognize who God is and become thankful for His purpose in their lives, they will not glorify God as the creator and they become foolish, thinking they are wise in their own actions (Romans 1:20-21).
This leads to a society of apathy where no one cares about what the will of God is;
Which can lead to no one sharing the Word of God;
And this leads to no one is listening to the wooing of the Holy Spirit.
People then start doing all manner of sinful things that comes from the works of the flesh.
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. . .(Galatians 5:19-21).
We learn how to do these things we were not created to do.
When a person is doing things that are unclean and lewd like molesting children; homosexual activity, pornography, or trans gendering, these are not natural instinctive actions. People learn to do these things by giving into the works of the flesh. They are exposed to these unholy actions either by seeing or hearing about them and it arouses the works of the flesh that are in each of us because of the sin nature we inherited from our natural father Adam.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. . .(Romans 5:12 NKJV)
Do not give in to the lie that people are born with these unnatural affections.
DNA does not determine human character or personality traits; environment and exposure influence character and personality.
A person will either like or dislike their conditions in life and what they do in their environment will result in a person's decision making as they age.
This is why siblings growing up in the same home and become so different in their thinking. Brothers and sisters who lived under the same enfluence and rules can have completely different lifestyles once they are grown. How we respond to what we are exposed to influences our mindsets and personality.
This is why the Bible teaches to, "Train up a child I the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it", (Proverbs 22:6).
This is why it is important to keep yourself and your family exposed to a good church that teaches the Bible as their rule of faith and practice, and they teach the need of being filled with the Spirit; otherwise, people tend to turn away from the Lord.
When people do not glorify God and do not thank God for His purpose in them, their foolish hearts become darkened (Romans 1:21), and they commit sin, thinking what they are doing is alright.
No one is born with desires to commit sin, like it is some genetic defect. That is a lie!
Do not get caught up in this lie. Those who have chosen to do the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) have changed from worshiping the glory of God to exchanging the truths of God into a lie, allowing them to follow after their vile passions, where they dishonor their bodies through the lust that is in their hearts. (Rom. 1:23-26).
This is completely unnatural and works against the nature that God embedded in everyone that is born.
God created mankind to walk in holiness.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
This is the will of God, that we live holy as He is holy.
What Can We Do About Our Society's Mindset?
So what can we do when people are living immoral lives and we do not want our society to endorse these lifestyles? It is not like we can get people to change and become good!
We have to Preach the Word of God!!!
We need to preach the gospel so when people hear the Word of God the Holy Spirit can touch them with that word and their sin is cleansed from what they heard.
When the Word of God touches sin, it cleanses a person for that brief moment concerning that sin. In Ephesians 5:26 Jesus says that He "might sanctify and cleanse (the church) with the washing of water by the word."
As the Word is heard in our ears, it penetrates the depth of our soul, which has been corrupted by sin.
That sin is cleansed by the pure, clean, Word of God.
The refreshing that comes in that moment of cleansing, causes those who hear the word and to cry out to God for help. This is how the Holy Spirit woos us to repentance.
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You realize in the brief moment that the Word touches your soul, you can become free from the condemnation of sin.
You realize that the truth that has touched your soul is the liberator of the sinful nature and you want to be freed of all your sin. You want to be made clean and refreshed as you did in that brief moment that the Word washed away the sin. If you have not been saved, you cry out to Christ to save you and make you whole. If you are saved, you cry out to God because the sin is wrong and you want true fellowship with Him that can only come by the sin being forgiven.
When Christians are faithful to share the truths of God's Word as part of their personality, then people they are around each day will hear the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit will use that to call people to repentance. This is how people are "cleanses from all unrighteousness".
Hearing will Plant Seeds of Truth
Because truth does not balance in our natural minds when it is first presented to us, we must have something that proves to us a thing is true before we will accept its truth. When we share from our personality and our hearts the truths we have learned from the Word of God, that truth is seeded where it hits. When a person hears the truth, it is planted in their heart and that seed of truth will never die. It might not grow for years before some water of faith touches the seed. But at the moment faith waters that truth it starts to push its way to the top of our consciousness. Once I have shared a truth that someone did not know, I always ask them, "Now what are you going to do with the truth that you have heard? You know in your being that it is the truth and you want to trust it. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in its truth, then you will know without a doubt that what you have heard is real."
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17).
This is why all Christians need to share with people about the truths of God, no matter where they are. This should just ooze out of you like sharing what you enjoy the most.
Preaching the Word does not have an address that restricts it to a pulpit. Sharing the Word is not limited to standing in front of a group of people or a church like pastors do. That is a very small part of what is truly preaching the Word.
When you let the Word of God become part of your nature by becoming absorbed in who God is, sharing the truths about God will ooze out of you before you know you are saying anything.
There is never an inappropriate time to share the truth, because it is the truth.
There is no such thing as being politically correct, or being too religious when it comes to truth.
Truth is not a religious concept, it is a Godly precept.
When we learn to speak the truth out of our being, we will be sharing what is real about God and Jesus Christ.
Here is how this is done:
Matthew 28:18 starts with, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. . ."
The Christian world has labeled this verse through verse 20 as the Great Commission.
It is a commission to all believers in Jesus Christ, everyone in the Body of Christ.
The "Go" part of this commission is better interpreted from the Greek language as, "Having gone your way" or "As you are going". The specific form of the word go, gone, or going is what is called a "deponent" verb, which is a verb that is either a passive or middle voice form with an active meaning. That is to say, the GO of this scripture is used in the Passive voice, where the receiver of the action is the object of that action. In this case, disciples are the receivers of the action because we "having gone our way". . .make disciples.
So why the Greek grammar lesson?
What is so interesting about this verb form being a deponent verb is the GO means it is a verb that gives evidence of its purpose. The GO of the Great Commission is a word that must give evidence of its purpose.
Jesus has commissioned us to, Having gone our way. . .give evidence of your purpose by making disciples.
We are to be making disciples as we are on our way. . .on our journey during the day.
It is not by just standing in a pulpit somewhere preaching as a pastor in a church. Preaching in a church has its purposes but it is not what this verse of scripture is centered around.
The Great Commission is about sharing the Word of God that is in you, as it oozes out of you.
The result will be "cleansing people of all unrighteousness".
Giving evidence of our purpose in making disciples is so people are cleansed of all unrighteousness.
Another word for Christians could be "Oozers of the Word of God".
This should be a natural thing inside us once we have been redeemed.
The quietest person becomes an open, over the top personality that cannot say enough about Jesus.
People that could not speak in front of people, become confident and bold to speak of the truth.
What seemed hard to do becomes easy because sharing truth is a natural thing to do.
How can We Keep Quiet?
I understand how people can be intimidated when it comes to sharing things about God and the truths from the Bible. But from the first day I was saved, I have never understood how a person could hold back. I have not been able to keep quiet and especially so when I read what Paul told the Romans,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. . . (Romans 1:16).
I have always been so excited about the things of God there is no way I was able to remain quiet. From that first week that I received Jesus as my Savior, at the age of fifteen. I went to school the next day and I was sharing with everyone about this new thing I learn, that Jesus will save you of your sin.
That was in 1967. Now, fifty-two years later, I am still sharing the goodness of God. Now I share the great things Jesus has done through a person that could not read much at all, could barely make a passing grade in school and was terrified about speaking in front of people. Now, my favorite thing to do is preach the Word. I have been told, "If you are talking, you are preaching. If you are talking you will be talking about Jesus and what he has done for you. You always bring God into anything you talk about." This is because it oozes out of me like the air that comes from my lungs when I breathe out. I do not have to think about breathing, nor do I have to think about what to say concerning my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
People are seeking answers to life's biggest questions. Most of the time, the answers involve Jesus Christ and the Word of God. Most of the time people are looking and do not know that God has already solved many of the problems when He had his only son die on the cross. Then He gives us a revelation so we can find the answers to all our questions.
If you will choose to glorify God for what He is doing in you and follow the precepts of the Word of God, you will come into a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
If you are willing to let the truths that God plants in you through His revelation of who He is and the precepts of the Word of God, naturally come out of you, God will use you to change the world as He "cleanses people from all unrighteousness". He will use your words to implant truth throughout the earth, and you will see nations changed because of the truth that comes out of your being.
Now that is an action that shows evidence of your purpose!