In Isaiah 29 v13, God speaks to His people, the chapter is about a people who were far from Him,it starts with ,' What sorrow awaits Ariel,a special name for Jerusalem'. Verse 13 highlights their state spiritually, 'And so the Lord says,''These people say they are mine, they honour me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man made rules learned by rote''. On a general application of the words,'These people say they are mine',most people would say they are children of God,but they are not unless they have truly trusted Jesus as Saviour. ( John 1 v 12- 13).These people say they are mine, but where they?,everything they were doing was a denial of that relationship.Remember what our Saviour said by their fruits you shall known them Matthew 7 v16,There must be an evidence that we are Gods children, even as Christians we will sin, 1 John 1v 8, but we do not walk in sin,and act as if sin does not matter, it does.John Stott writes,' The divine nature within the regenerate believer asserts itself against all evil. It is impossible for him to make a practice of sin.' We are children of God, and sin is unnatural to us'( Dodd').'The believer may fall into sin, but he will not walk in it. (Smith)We will continue this next time.
Augustine
'It is a human thing to fall into sin
A devillish thing to persevere therein,
And an angelical or supernatural
thing to rise from it.'
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