I see. So, please, list for us the full names of just 10 living Christians who "hit the mark" who never fall short of all that follows ("sin" - "to miss the mark")
Matthew 5:48, "You must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
1 Peter 1:16, "You must be holy even as God in heaven is holy."
John 15:12, "Love all people just as I (Jesus) first loved you."
First John 2:6, "You must live as Jesus did."
Philippians 2:5, "You must have the same attitude that Christ did."
Who does that...... perfectly....... 24/7...... as much as God does....... NEVER missing those marks in nature, thought, word or deed..... in things/thoughts/words done or left undone..... ALWAYS doing/not doing EXACTLY, PERFECTLY, DIVINELY as God directs?
Of course, your list would prove Scripture to be lying. For Scripture says...
Genesis 8:21, "Every inclination of man's heart is evil from childhood."
Romans 5:12, "Sin entered the world through one man's sin, and death through sin, and therefore death came to all men for all have sinned."
Romans 3:12, "There is no one who does good, not even one."
Mark 10:18, "There is none who is good but God exclusively."
First John 1:10, "If we claim we have no sin, we make God a liar and His word is not in us."
And of course, your list would would mean Jesus is a joke - an irrelevant, unnecessary joke. "If we could keep the law, then Christ died for no purpose" the Bible tells us. Your list would prove we don't need a Savior, we just need enough help and time to save ourselves (or more technically, make ourselves such that we need no salvation, no Christ, no God, no Cross, no mercy, no forgiveness cuz we got self - which is, of course, the soteriology of Bhakti Hinduism, not Christianity).
Thanks
Pax CHRISTI
- Josiah
Yeshua would have never said "Go and sin no more" if He knew it was impossible. We would not be encouraged to over come in this world, now, if it wasn't going to happen or not possible. 144,000 are without guile and will be the perfect examples of those who do live without sin before His second coming and in this world of sin. It is proof it can be done with fallen men/women who do not have the divine seed to start with.
I know it is not possible without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But a day is coming where the indwelling will be in its fullness, and we will be transformed like Yeshua on the Mount of Transfiguration. With the early rains in the Spring Feasts, Pentecost, we can look forward to the latter rains in the Fall Feasts, Feast of Trumpets.
Jeremiah 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
We need these outpourings from heaven to be transformed completely, so that no temptation will overwhelm us.
Job 29:23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
Hosea 6:3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
If you know the Jewish calendar, you would know that there is the first month of the civil year and in the sacred year. The sacred year is 7 months long starting in the spring with the Passover - 14th day in - to - Feast of Tabernacles - Eighth day. The civil year is the time when their calendar starts which is at the Feast of Trumpets. So when you read this following verse, understand that the early rain goes with the first sacred year month, and the latter rain goes with the first civil year month.
Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
So we wait for the outpouring [rain] of the Holy Spirit upon us. We are His Temple, and we are to be filled with His Spirit, not in moments of great spiritual awakenings, enlightening, inspirations, but full, complete, without stopping, forever indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is the only way we are going to be able to live in the Presence of God forever.