"In Christ is man perfected and made complete." Christian Doctrine As Freedom, Not Control

[Lyfe]

"In Christ is man perfected and made complete."

The scriptures teach us that Christ was the perfect man and also that man as a created being only reaches perfection in Christ. We come to further learn through the word of God that this is only accomplished by the power and working of the indwelling holy spirit. I always hear people tell me that they arent interested in religion when I tell them that turning to Christ is their ONLY HOPE for redemption and reconciliation to God. Its not that I am religious or even that I seek to go above and beyond in this regard, but rather my continual emphasis on Jesus is from a truth that is brought to light in the bible. This truth is that Gods purpose( as revealed in scripture) is to conform his adopted children to the image of his son Jesus Christ. Nothing less. If you are a child of God then trust that The Father is working and will always work to bring this about toward you. He does this through sanctification and regenerating the human heart by the supernatural working of the holy spirit. God has sovereign oversight over his elect and disciplines them as sons and daughters, he molds them, he is the potter and we are the clay and always watches over their way. His eyes are always upon them and his heart never forgets them. His intent was to create a new man and this divine extension of grace that allows us to be partakers of this new heavenly nature is only made possible by the work of Christ. People find your zeal for Christ and the things of God strange and even begin to distance themselves from you and treat you like an alien, but as the word of God says the world knows us(the children of God) not, because it knew him(Christ) not. The world will not receive you, because as the Bible reminds us there are children of the flesh and the children born of the spirit. The world and culture of today would very much perceive Jesus to be overly religious when in fact Jesus was the fullness of God in bodily form. God is pure and cannot ever be corrupted, God is holy, he is so far above sinful man that its as his word says there is none like him. God cannot and will not ever partnership with evil or wickedness of any sort. He cant be tempted with evil. He will never tell you sin is ok. His nature and good and holy character never changes. Instead God commands that people stop doing wickedly and harming themselves and others through their sinful ways and even offers the perfect grace and ultimate solution to fix the problem of sin and bondage to sin. He sets us free from the power and domionion and desire of sin by the holy spirit. The more God sanctifies us and refines us by the holy spirit the less worldly we become and the more we become like him who created us, he who is perfect in holiness and righteousness. This is not religion. This is simply what happens when one truly gives their life to Christ and becomes spiritually reborn from above(at the moment of salvation). This is what it means to be born again of the spirit. This is what the bible refers to as regeneration. This is biblical salvation. God gives us a new heart and puts his spirit within us at the moment of salvation. He brings us near to him and adopts us as children. Religion demands external regulation whereas Christ brings internal transformation(of the inner person) by the power of the indwelling holy spirit. God created us to be like him, to be taught of him, because God is perfect. Perfect in love, perfect in holiness, perfect in righteousness, perfect in knowledge wisdom and discernment, perfect in patience, perfect in compassion. He commands all men everywhere to repent and turn to him(through Christ) for the remission of sins that their sin may be BLOTTED OUT. He calls us to fellowship and sonship and that if we turn at his reproof he will pour out his spirit upon us and manifest himself to us. He will inwardly transform and sanctify us with newness of life and the gift of the holy spirit. In receiving Christ as our personal lord and savior through repentance and faith our standing with God changes from "rebel" and "sinner" to "accepted, beloved, justified, and son/daughter of The Most High God." The Father gives us a heart to know him and teaches us how to walk with him.

 

[Maldarker]

Who the SON has set free is free indeed. john 8:36

 

[Lyfe]

Who the SON has set free is free indeed. john 8:36

Amen brother. Its not Gods will for us to be in bondage and spending our lives in pursuit of material and fleshly lusts that consume the mind and thoughts. People are always pursuing and looking for something external found in this world to bring satisfaction - whether that be fashion, video games, drugs or alcohol, but in Christ we have an inner contentment and wholeness through the holy spirit. No matter where we are we are always FREE(from sin and the power of harmful lusts) in Christ. We dont need to go or look anywhere, because God dwells within us and has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing offered by heaven.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17

and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places Ephesians 1:3

 

[Lyfe]

What Jesus came to estabalish was not religion or even necessarily a place that people ought to go to every sunday under the pretense that it will somehow make them right with God. Allot of people go to church out of a sense of duty or religious obligation thinking their attendance somehow grants them favor with God. They believe that as a result of their weekly attendance that they will enter heaven as some kind of reward. This is not the gospel and this is not what the Bible teaches in regards to salvation. The Bible speaks of reconciliation to God and this is now what reconciles a person to God. We live in an age where you can acctually go to a church your entire life and not even know or hear the gospel. You can go to a church for years and never be touched by God and inwardly regenerated and transformed by the holy spirit. That is how dead most of the churches are.

Jesus came to redeem souls so that they could come to know God and be united with him in and through the holy spirit. He came to destroy the works of the devil and create a new man, a new heavenly race of individuals made in the likeness of God in true holiness, purity, and righteousness by the power of God and sanctification of the holy spirit. If you have truly been born again and been indwelt by the holy spirit you will not be able to persist in willfull and habitual sin and indifference toward God. God is perfectly good that is his nature and if one is born again and indwelt by Gods spirit then their newly regenerated heart will not be able to rejoice in sin and evil, because God now dwells within them as a result of salvation amd being indwelt by the holy spirit. If God through the holy spirit dwells inside you he is not going to be ok with being subjected to evil entertainments. God is grieved and vexxed with the entertainments we take pleasure in and if God is now at work in someone then this person(because he is a NEW CREATURE in Christ) is going to share in the same feelings. This is what it means to grieve the holy spirit and why we are told not to do so. This is where godly sorrow that leads to repentance comes from. This is a work of the holy spirit. Jesus said the holy spirit will convict the world of sin!

God created us as relational beings to know him AS FATHER and he did not create us to be slaves to harmful and self destructive lusts through our fallen and inherited Adamic nature that became corrupted at the fall of man. People think of sin like an action, but biblically speaking it is moreso a spiritual disease passed down to all men. Jesus came to destroy these works as well as the works of the devil(bondage to sin, addiction, depression, oppression, torment, and death). All those sinful and twisted passions that exist, enslave, and compel the heart of man to live and persist in self destructive behavior is brought to an end, because of what Jesus accompalished at the cross. He tells us in HIS WORD to TURN at HIS reproof(repent and believe in him) and HE will pour out HIS SPIRIT upon you and manifest himself to you. He said it was expediant for him to go to THE FATHER so he could give the gift of the holy spirit to all who turn to him and give their life to him in genuine repentance and faith. He came to reconcile the world back to God and create a new man which is why Jesus is referred to as the second Adam and why all those IN HIM are his divine offspring and TRUE children of God!

 

[Apheirox]

 

[Lyfe]

No matter how hard someone wants to fight or resist it the truth is that we were made in Gods image and apart from him there is only a false sense of togetherness(completeness in oneself and material things). People were created to be a recipient and object of Gods divine love and affections. We were made to have communion with God. He created us as relationship oriented beings. He designed our bodies to need certain nutrients and vitamins to be in good health. In the like manner our soul was made in such a way that it cannot be healthy or prosper apart from the one who created it. We are given a choice to what voice we will believe in. The antichrist forces will sow seeds of mistrust and accuse God. The testimony that God bears of himself says that he is life, he is healing, he is your creator and the designer of your heart, everything you need is found in him. The Bible says that apart from Christ there is no possible way for someone to have connection to God. God establishes that connection at the moment of salvation when one gives their life to Christ and becomes indwelt with the holy spirit. Jesus said he will draw all men to himself and that he is the only doorway to The Father. We are only made whole and complete in him and through him when God enters into a person at the moment of salvation through the holy spirit. We resist these truths to our own peril and destruction. Hardening yourself against God and insisting you don't need him is like thinking you will be ok without oxygen.

Proverbs 8:34-36

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.

For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord,but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

 

[JoChris]

For the visual learners:

 

[Lyfe]

For the visual learners:

View attachment 82009

Amen, psalm 32 is a powerful passage. God takes away those weights of guilt and shame that come with sin.

 

[JoChris]

Whole psalm here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 32&version=KJV

 

[Lyfe]

The Bible teaches that man is given a new heart and becomes regenerated by the holy spirit at the moment of salvation. Nobody who is truly a new creation in Christ is going to be able to persist in a life characterized by the sins of the flesh. Imagine God giving someone a new heart and them still finding pleasure in sin. It doesn't work that way... The Bible very plainly says everyone born of God cannot go on sinning, because Gods SEED(the holy spirit) abides in him. The holy spirit is grieved by sin. The holy spirit convicts of sin.

A Christian is someone who has been born again by the holy spirit and has been united with Christ as a result of this spiritual rebirth. It has nothing to do with works or good deeds even though good fruit will result from ones sinful nature having being cut off and their heart being regenerated by the spirit of God.

A person is not necessarily a Christian because they say they are. A person is not even necessarily a Christian, because their life is characterized by good works. A Christian is someone who has been born again and, because of this is united with and identifies with Christ as a result of being indwelt by the holy spirit(Gods SEED).

1 John 3:9
Amplified Bible
9 No one who is born of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, because [a]God’s SEED [His principle of life, the essence of His righteous character] remains [permanently] in him [who is born again—who is reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose]; and he [who is born again] cannot habitually [live a life characterized by] sin, because he is born of God and longs to please Him.

Romans 8:9
Amplified Bible
9 However, you are not [living] in the flesh [controlled by the sinful nature] but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God lives in you [directing and guiding you]. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him [and is not a child of God].(A)

 

[Lyfe]

People are looking for answers and a sense of direction to make sense of the world. Life will never make sense without the correct perspective as someones actions and decision making are dictated by their outlook and the lens in which they interpret reality. This is why God calls us to renew our minds through the learning and sanctification of the word of God. This world believes the world works in one way. Gods word says the world works in a way that is completely different.

God has revealed in his word that this world is fallen and that there are two kingdom's in a constant war against each other. We as humans are either still operating in the fallen "adamic" nature which is bound to sin(spiritual disease inherited by all men at birth) or we have been ransomed, redeemed, and been born again(through Christ) by the holy spirit and translated into the kingdom of light as true sons and daughters of God. Most people go through life spiritually blind living for the pleasures of this world completely unaware that they are dead in sin and part of the kingdom of darkness. They are unaware that they need a redeemer in Christ to give them life and set them free from the power of sin and death.

 

[Lyfe]

God doesnt call us to religion. He calls us to a new life in the spirit(the holy spirit) and to walk with him in the spirit. He called Abraham out of the world and Abraham walked with God and was called a friend of God. We cannot live for God through our fallen and sinful nature which is why God gives someone a new heart and puts his spirit within them at the moment of salvation. This is part of Gods redemption purpose that causes the old sinful man to pass away that we can now live for God in the newness of the holy spirit(as a new person no longer enslaved to sin). This is what Jesus meant when he said that unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Sin is more than just an act of rebellion, it is a spiritual disease infecting our hearts and tainting our thoughts. It is a total sickness of the soul and twisting of the mind, it is a perversion of the heart that causes man to live in a state that is perpetually ruled by self destructive passions and impulses. It is a terminal cancer inherited by all. Man is a slave to sin in his fallen and corrupted nature which is why Jesus proclaimed that a person MUST be born again(spiritually reborn from above), because in this present dispensation man abides in sin and death and has the nature of a rebel(toward God). He is separated from God and has no way for reconcliation or hope apart from Jesus!

Religions answer is rules and regulations whereas God gives someone a new heart and puts his spirit within them. Gods response is to make someone into a new man inwardly and through the heart. Religion calls for external regulation whereas God brings internal transformation by the power of the indwelling holy spirit. He pours out his spirit on all who turn to him with through repentance and faith in Christ. He commands all men everywhere to repent and will in no wise turn away anyone who comes to him with godly sorrow and a penitent heart. We are commanded to repent and to call upon the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness and introduction into Gods family as a legitimate son. It is when one does this that God becomes their Father delivers them from the power and domain of sin by the regenerstion of the holy spirit!

Like with Abraham God is calling a remnant out of the world and into a new life with him. God calls us out of darkness and into light. This world will not get better, because as Jesus said men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. God is calling people to get in the Ark of Christ before its too late.

 

[Lyfe]

The Word of God tells us that those who overcome and endure until the end will be saved. There are many saints who would hold a different stance than me, but in my ten years of walking with The Lord I have come to the realization that enduring really has nothing to do with myself(and my own efforts) and has everything to do with these three realities. God is The Father of his elect(1) and God loves his children(2). It also has everything to do with the incredible and supernatural nature of what occurs at the moment of salvation(3). The scriptures speak of spiritual rebirth and a transformstion where God in his infinite power gives someone a new heart (a heart of flesh) and puts his spirit(the holy spirit) within them. Jesus said he knows his sheep and the very desire to be faithful to God(because you have come to know him in and through the holy spirit) acctually comes DIRECTLY from the very first work he did(initially) in your heart when he redeemed you. He said I will give them a heart TO KNOW that I am The Lord.

The difference between someone who merely claims to be Christian and someone who has been spiritually reborn(born again) is the heart inside them. If someones heart has not been changed in a way where they begin to see and feel as someone who has been recreated in the likeness of God then this is not biblical salvation. God gives someone a new heart, he puts the fear of him inside them, he puts his spirit within them from whom the mind of Christ comes from(meaning they think like he would), God adopts them as a son or daughter and promises to discipline them when they walk in sin, God promises to go after them like the one sheep when they go astray. They enter into a covenant with God and become wedded to Christ. This is what salvation is(biblically)and if we really study this and the power behind these divine workings(that only God himself can do) then we come to learn that from start to finish salvation is a sole work of God and has nothing to do with our presumed ability to cling to him. The truth is actually the opposite, He clings to us and the heart he gave us dictates the course of our lives and our pursuit of his ways.

The life one lives after giving their life to Christ is dictated by the new nature that God first put inside them as well as his covenant faithfulness. If someone makes a profession of faith, but has no fear of God that leads them away from sin before they commit it, if someone falls away without any godly sorrow toward how they offend God in their thoughts and actions, if they renounce their belief despite God promising to give a spirit of faith to every true child of his, if there is no chastening for their sin, if they feel no pulling to come back(the fathers love when he goes after his strayed sheep) then this is not biblical salvation and such a soul has never truly been born again and regenerated(by the holy spirit) or become a "new creature" in Christ. This idea that a person can enter into a covenant with God(where he becomes their Father) and enter into a marriage with Christ and then just easily forsake(divorce) him is not biblical salvation. Nobody who has had the love of God poured into their heart by the holy spirit wants to forsake their comforter and source of joy.

Those who endure and overcome will do so simply, because God loves them and his SEED is in them. I really believe that if you walk with God long enough this is something that becomes more and more evident. This endurence will not come from human ability or oneself and the very fact that one has come to know Christ and desires to walk with him comes from the fact that he revealed himself to them and he gave them a new heart that desires the things of God in the first place. In every instance of true conversion( biblical salvation) God always transforms the heart and then through his covenant pursues and brings the rod of discipline on his disobediant. God has a way of keeping his children and this idea that The Heavenly Father just lets his kids wander off to destroy themselves without going after them is one of the greatest offenses to his heart I personally believe. This idea that a human parent will do everything in their power to pursue and protect their kids, but God will not is a complete and total failure to understand the new covenant and what it means for God to adopt someone through the spirit of adoption(holy spirit) and become their father.

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Matthew 24:13

For """"everyone who has been born of God overcomes"""" the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-5

 

[Lyfe]

If you talk to people about their need for Christ many of them immediately think of church. The truth is that the vast majority of churches have denied the faith and no longer possess the ability to impact the human soul. Most are formal and function according to religious procedure. Churches are not the source of ones salvation or healing or deliverance even though there are assemblies where the holy spirit is still in and God most certainly still draws people there. It's very important to understand and recognize the signs of the times. People need to be directed to Christ through repentance and faith so that they may be healed and made whole, so that they may come to know and experience divine restoration and the newness of life that they are desperate for. They need to be pointed toward the cross that they can be washed and renewed by blood of Jesus so they can have the connection to God that their soul and spirit was made for. Once a person is born again(by the holy spirit) they should pray that God would guide them and place them in an assembly. Life is not about going to church once a week it is about walking with God and establishing his good and perfect will on earth in order that society may come to also know him. This is how society will experience restoration. It's not according to mans own made up ways. People are wounded and broke within their soul, the poisons of sin and hollywood have filled their spirit and manifest into depression. A person can only ingest so much poison before they become unwell. It's by the power of the holy spirit and the blood of Jesus that removes the stain, shame, guilt, and poison of sin that infects our soul and spirit like a terminal illness.

God heals and sanctifies someone by the holy spirit. God adopts someone into his family by putting his seal of approval on them(demonstrating they belong to him) through the holy spirit. The holy spirit dwells within the born again Christian . Jesus said that a man must be born again. We were created as relationship oriented beings and God(through) Christ is calling us to repent and walk with him.

Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Proverbs 1:23

38 Whoever believes in me, as[a] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:38-39

 

[Lyfe]

God says in his word that his ways are not our ways. People think that if they had more of this or more of that they would be more sufficient, but God says that his grace is all we need and his strength is made perfect in weakness. Some of the greatest moves of God are accomplished by weakened vessels. It says Paul was often near death. It was actually when he was weak when he was strong(by the holy spirit), when his outreach would bare the most fruit. The irony is that God often uses weakend and infirmed vessels to advance his plan to bring about the healing and restoration to others. I believe this is, because we are closest to God in affliction. It breaks pride and attachment to this world. There are many people who go about this life blinded by the fleeting pleasures of sin, blinded by the world and the things of this world, blinded by prosperous ease. They live their entire life far from God and without hope all the meanwhile professing him with their lips while their heart is far from him. We should not harden our heart in affliction, because often God will use it to keep us from harmful pursuits and arrogance. We must realize this life is not all there is and it is over in the blink of an eye. Then what?

Isaiah 57:15

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity. Job 36:15

 

[Lyfe]

God's word reveals that we were created in his image, but at the fall of man there was a corrupting and pollution of his nature. People think of sin as an act, but sin is something more. Sin entered into the world and "spread" through all men. The Bible says that Adam and Eve's eyes were opened the moment they ate of the fruit. To me this sounds like a virus and chronic infection that they had contracted immediately upon consumption. It was Jesus who said a diseased tree cannot bear good fruit. This is important to know, because until one is healed of this spiritual sickness and rot they can never be whole and they can never bear good fruit.

People think that walking with and serving God is boring, but this mentality comes from total bondage to sin. It comes from one having their reasoning faculties clouded and governed by sin. This is why Jesus said a man must be born again. We will always live in rebellion and enmity toward God and his ways until we come to Christ and get healed through his blood and by the holy spirit. God gives someone a heart of flesh(a new heart) and puts his spirit within them the moment of salvation. The old self that was subjugated to sickness, sin, death, and bondage at the fall is crucified and one is made alive and whole by the holy spirit. Until one comes to know Christ through the holy spirit and is healed of their self destructive disposition inherited through Adam they will remain spiritually blind and be among the crowds of Israel that crucified Christ. Christ's crucifixion was God making a way back to himself, but it was also sinful man's total and complete rejection of God and his perfectly righteous character.

 

[Lyfe]

Idolatry is really the disillusionment that something or someone other than God can bring fulfillment. The Bible says that God is spirit and those who worship(engage and interact with) him must do so 'in spirit' and truth. There are many people who go through life under the pretense that gratifying their flesh can make them happy, but this is not possible since man is really a 'living soul' (1 Corinthians 15:45) with flesh and bone. We are all born with a soul and spirit and our capacity for emotion comes directly from God.

We are actually told to sow to our spirit, because this is what determines our true well being as individuals made in the image of God. Only God through the holy spirit can nourish and heal the human soul. The moment someone gives their life to Christ through repentance and faith they enter into a communion with God by receiving the holy spirit. The holy spirit connects them with God on a spiritual level. Their spirit is unified and joined with God(through the holy spirit) and it is through this union that man is made whole and complete. This is salvation. Salvation is really reconciliation to God and the perfection of man and God's means to bring completion to the human soul. We are indeed rescued from the path of destruction and from the lake of fire which is a place where all that is defiled and corrupt will one day be devoted to destruction, but the emphasis on salvation will always be God bringing completion to the human soul by conjoining himself to it. This is what the Bible refers to as the marriage supper of the lamb. It is when we are joined to God and through this spiritual union between our spirit and God's spirit we are made perfectly whole. This is salvation or when the human soul finally reaches what it is longing for. God through the holy spirit nourishes and interacts directly with our soul and spirit. He heals, he binds up, he sustains the human soul via the fruit of the spirit. Fulfillment is something that only God can give to our soul and it is something that cannot be attained by indulging our flesh no matter how hard one tries.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 1 Corinthians 6:17

Hosea 2:19-20
English Standard Version
19 And """I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me"" in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

 

[Lyfe]

God uses his word and the holy spirit to regenerate, purify, and transform individuals. The moment someone gives their life to Christ(through repentance and faith) and receives adoption into God's family(through the holy spirit) they come into knowing God as The Father. It is The Father's will and plan after salvation to conform all his adopted children into the image of Christ who is a picture of the perfect man. Gods word makes promise to oversee and shephard his adopted ones, to discipline them in his ways, to change them inwardly by the power of the holy spirit. There is the spirit of God and the spirit of the world and each person is being led in one of two directions. The more God works in and through someone the more alien they will appear to this world. The Bible refers to them as strangers and pilgrims, it says the "reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him." In scripture it's revealed that Jesus was despised and rejected of men and in the same way that Christ was undesirable to fallen man the people(his children) who he is working in will also become less recognizable to those around them. They become outcasts. This is the work of the holy spirit and a result of someone who has truly been born again. God's answer to the corruption and bondage that came from original sin was to create new men. This is what The Bible teaches.

God's spirit is conforming his children to the image of Christ through the sanctification of the holy spirit while the world is being led(by the spirit of the world) in the complete opposite direction. The spirit of the world leads people into humanism, materialism, carnality and it testifies of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The spirit of God testifies of Christ and life in and through him and his ways. There is the carnal man and the spiritual man and only in Christ is found true spirituality. Jesus said that a man must be born again, because the fallen and perverted nature that we inherited at birth does not resemble the original condition in which God made man. We can only identify with God and be set free from sin and self destructive lusts through Christ and by the power of the holy spirit. Only in this way can we walk in the freedom, wholeness, and uprightness that God had always intended.

John 7:38-39
Amplified Bible
38 He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’” 39 But He was speaking of the [Holy] Spirit, whom those who believed in Him [as Savior] were to receive afterward. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. 2 Corinthians 3:17

 

[Lyfe]

The truth is that until a person is brought to a place of being grieved and convicted over their sin they are described(by the scriptures) as being an enemy of God(James 4:4). Imagine creating a beautiful garden and then some random crowd comes in and completely pollutes and desecrates it so that it no longer resembles it's original beauty. Imagine having just put in a bouquet of roses and then a gang of hoodlums come in and completely trample it without regard for it or the ability to even care about what they had done. They came in and all that came out were seeds of destruction. This is essentially what we are doing by living in willfully and habitual sin. God loves what is good and his very character is one that will always value, preserve, protect, and appreciate beauty. This is why those who persist in living in sin(rebellion) are described as being enemies of God.

It does provoke God's wrath when we go through life wrecking and destroying things that he created as good. Things he created to be loved and nourished with affection. To sin is to harm, it is to destroy, it is to pollute. There are some who would contend that their sin isn't really affecting anyone but themselves (therefore it's not a big deal). God especially hates the sins that turn out to harm us, because they still destroy. Destroying your mind and body through drugs and alcohol is still endeavoring to destroy something that God created to be loved.

Only God through the holy spirit can remove someone's heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Until a person repents and receives Christ they will remain an enemy of God, because their natural state of being is living in a way that harms and destroys all that God had made to be good and loved. God has the power to give someone a new heart and free them from the power and domain of sin. This is what he does at the moment of salvation in Christ.

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 an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Proverbs 1:23

 

[Lyfe]

Its not possible for a person to experience God in the way that he intended until they receive Christ and come out of the world and be separate(as scripture calls them to). Until a person does this God will likely only be perceived by them as an abstract being that doesnt seem to have much interaction in their lives or the lives around them. Its completely neccesary for everyone who desires to experience God and life in Christ to come out of the world and stop quenching the holy spirit. You can only experience God through the holy spirit and by your soul and spirit being brought near to him by the blood that was given for us at the cross. God must first make a vessel clean by the blood of Christ before he can dwell within them through his spirit.

The holy spirit is the helper, the comforter, the unction and anointing someone receives and is brought to life with when they give their life to Christ and become spiritually reborn(John 3), he is the seal of circumcision demonstrsting that someone rightfully belongs to God as a beloved son or daughter. The Bible says if anyone has not the spirit of Christ he does not belong to him or have a connection to God. Jesus told his disciples he will never leave them or forsake them, and he is always with his adopted children wherever they go through the indwelling holy spirit. The Lord is the spirit and he promises to be with those who receive him until the end of the age. The holy spirit will always draw and woo us into prayer and communion with God so we can receive of him. We come to know God through the spirit.

Until this connection is estabalished and one is cleansed by the blood of Christ there will always remain a veil or barrier keeping(separating) someone from God due to sin and uncleanness. Jesus removes this veil so a closeness and intimiate connection between a person and God can be estabalished . This is how ones connection to God is established. Jesus is the only hope and the only way to God, just as the scriptures say.