I was having coffee with my best friend this morning, and Al came up in conversation. Al is a wonderful young man we both got to know when my best friend was youth pastor at the church we all attended. Al like so many in the Church today struggles with his ability to be a Christian. Al's newest idea is to rename himself "Able". We're not talking about naming himself after the son of Adam and Eve who is murdered by his brother Cain.
Al has taken the name Able, because, "its what he's always struggled with..." So now Al is "Able". This accursed thinking is perhaps the worst pile of poisonous teaching the Church has ever been fed.
We've been fed this nonsense that Christianity is God's plan for human self-improvement. "If I just read the Bible, go to Church and Bible study enough then eventually I will change." Its as if we get a box of "Holy Spirit Power Bars" or a "Holy Spirit Cleaning Kit" when God makes us born again, and we're expected to "fix" or "clean" ourselves up. Sorry kids the Bible isn't a Holy Spirit inspired "self-help" program. God doesn't want to fix up the broken you. God wants to absolutely abolish you and me. Why else would Jesus say,
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘Youmust be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
~ John 3:5-8
Notice please the last sentence, "So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." The word "Spirit" is capitalized. Jesus says we must be born of the Holy Spirit. So if Al is born of God then how does he somehow become able?? Again what does the Bible teach about "able"?
"Therefore he [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."
~ Hebrews 7:25
Gee it seems to me that Jesus believes he is "Able". And he is able to save to the uttermost; completely; from start to finish. If Jesus is able to do the work from beginning to end then ALL the work of salvation is his to do. If Jesus does 100% of the work of salvation, then what part of the work is left for us??? We are also told in 1 John 5:4,
..."for everyone born of God overcomes the world."
God thinks it is his "able" that makes us overcome the world, not our "able" with a Holy self-help or 12 step program. This is what so many in the Church do. Christians can't change themselves so instead they begin a program of sin management. "Hi my name is Al and I'm an alcoholic; I'm a homosexual; I'm a wife beater," and etc., ad nausea. God's plan is to make us born again, and then enable us to put off the old sin nature. And how do we know this is God's real plan?...ha ha ha, cause he tells us, that's why.
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;"
~ Ephesians 4:22
Well, there we have it, "Take off the old self..." We get a picture of our sin nature as a garment. I don't know if you've ever seen one of those really old top coats men used to wear decades ago. 
See how the old coat is filled with our sinful ways. All too many Christians think they get a "Holy Spirit cleaning kit", and if they simply pour on enough Holy Spirit "Comet Cleaner", or Holy Spirit "Shout Stain Remover" the stains will eventually come out of the old self. So there they stand working away at the sin stains in their old self "overcoat". All the while, Jesus is dousing the old self with gasoline. Jesus, after covering the old self "overcoat" with gasoline, stands waiting with a match. Just as soon as we take it off he's ready to burn it up. Jesus is "Able", we are "Un-Able". If you want to please God then put off the old sin nature. Stop trying to clean up what God wants destroyed. Accept God's power to make you born again, and throw away the old self "overcoat". Stop trying to save what God himself won't even try to save. Better to simply give up than blasphemously calling yourself "Able". Are you God? Has Father hung you on a cross to pay for the sins of the world?? If you are not Jesus then don't dare usurp what can only belong to Jesus. Only Jesus is "able" to save to the uttermost. We have God's word on the matter.
See how the old coat is filled with our sinful ways. All too many Christians think they get a "Holy Spirit cleaning kit", and if they simply pour on enough Holy Spirit "Comet Cleaner", or Holy Spirit "Shout Stain Remover" the stains will eventually come out of the old self. So there they stand working away at the sin stains in their old self "overcoat". All the while, Jesus is dousing the old self with gasoline. Jesus, after covering the old self "overcoat" with gasoline, stands waiting with a match. Just as soon as we take it off he's ready to burn it up. Jesus is "Able", we are "Un-Able". If you want to please God then put off the old sin nature. Stop trying to clean up what God wants destroyed. Accept God's power to make you born again, and throw away the old self "overcoat". Stop trying to save what God himself won't even try to save. Better to simply give up than blasphemously calling yourself "Able". Are you God? Has Father hung you on a cross to pay for the sins of the world?? If you are not Jesus then don't dare usurp what can only belong to Jesus. Only Jesus is "able" to save to the uttermost. We have God's word on the matter.Blessings,
Lonnie
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