OVERCOMING SIN BY REVELATION
(week 50/17)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Genesis 2:8-9 KJV: Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. (9) The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:15-17 NKJV: The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (16) And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; (17) but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Here, we see God planting BOTH the trees of life and of the knowledge of good and evil IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GARDEN: to attract man’s attention and then commanding him NOT TO EAT OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
This was actually an implicit commandment to eat of the tree of life!
Had Adam and Eve eaten of the tree of life, they would have received the knowledge of good and evil BY REVELATION (2 Cor. 4.6). It is instructive to note that God has the knowledge of good and evil by REVELATION and has ALWAYS used His WILL AND POWER TO CHOOSE TO ONLY DO GOOD and never evil!
Mark 10:18 KJV: And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.
1John 1:5 KJV: 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.
So, the knowledge of good and evil is not in itself evil: what is evil is getting it by experience through the 5 physical senses rather than by revelation!
So, regrettably Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and obtained the knowledge of good and evil through the 5 physical senses and so died spiritually by becoming separated from God through disobedience.
Before their disobedience, they were covered and protected with the light of the glory of God (Ezk.8.2; Hab.3.3-4), but when they sinned the light of that glory went out: and they saw they were naked and became exposed and vulnerable to their physical environment!
Psalms 8:1-5 NKJV: For the choir director; on the gittith; a psalm by David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! Your glory is sung above the heavens. (2) From the mouths of little children and infants, you have built a fortress against your opponents to silence the enemy and the avenger. (3) When I look at your heavens, the creation of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have set in place- (4) what is a mortal that you remember him or the Son of Man that you take care of him? (5) You have made him a little lower than yourself. You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Man was created just a little lower than God and was crowned with glory and honor: which was lost when man sinned.
Romans 3:23 KJV: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
The good news is that this glory that was lost in Adam has now been restored and made available through the Lord Jesus Christ:
Colossians 1:27 KJV: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Today, we have access to the tree of life by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word of God:
Proverbs 3:13 KJV: Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
Proverbs 3:18 KJV: She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
2Peter 1:2-4 KJV: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, (3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
As we partake DAILY of this ‘tree of life’, we will receive the light of revelation that will enable us to ‘see’ through the folly and horrible consequences of sin so making sin unattractive and motivating you to use the power of God to kill the lust or desire of sin and so practice righteousness!
It is instructive to understand sin and HOW it unfolds:
James 1:13-15 KJV: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: (14) But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (15) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Sin STARTS as a temptation THROUGH LUST OR A DESIRE CONTRARY TO THE WILL OF GOD.
This lust or desire comes from Satan in the air THROUGH OUR SOULS: WILL, MIND, EMOTIONS and PHYSICAL BODIES:
Ephesians 2:2-3 KJV: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (3) Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
So when BY REVELATION, we ‘see’ through the enticement and attraction of sin: that it will only bring death, sorrow and destruction; we are STRONGLY MOTIVATED to release the power of Holy Spirit by prayer using the blood of Jesus (Heb. 13.20-21), the Word of God (Dt. 30.11-14, 2 Cor. 7.1, 2 Pet. 1.4-10) and praying in tongues and travail (Jn. 7.38-39, Eph. 6.18) to CRUCIFY or KILL the lust so overcome the temptation and do not sin!
Revelation IS CRUCIAL to MOTIVATE US TO PRAY AND SO RESIST AND OVERCOME SIN! Hence the Lord Jesus said ‘Watch (by revelation) and THEN PRAY’ (Mt.26.41).
Romans 8:10-13 KJV: And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (13) For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.
So in this time of abounding iniquity (Mt.24.12), it is VITAL to overcome sin, especially habitual sexual sin (which will ‘solidify’ the sin nature in your physical body (1 Cor.6.13-20)) so that your body will act as an ‘insulator ‘ to the power of God and so rob you of your destiny of inheriting and manifesting the glory of God IN THIS LIFETIME.
Selah!
