Season 3 Podcast 156 The Invisible God Pt II

The Invisible God  PT IIThe purpose of faith in this life is to lead to a perfect knowledge of Christ:“2 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: (2 Peter 1:2-3)Another purpose of exercising faith in Christ is that we might access the promises given to us through covenant.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. (2 Peter 1:4)But faith doesn’t come alone.  We must also take upon ourselves the virtues of Christ5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. Obedience to the commandments of God is the only way we can gain knowledge of Christ.8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unless we apply faith and virtue we will be blinded by the cunning of Satan and the devices of the world. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. To not be able to see “afar off” means that we will not be able to discern the consequences of our actions. The one thing that we overlook is the cunning of Satan. He turns things upside down, calling good evil and evil good. If we are doing evil when we think we are going good, Satan has us in his chains. For example, we all draw our conclusions from the fundamental premises we believe. If we believe there is no God, then we will draw all of our conclusions about creation from temporal laws and not spiritual laws. All life is spiritual. Temporal laws give mortal flesh to the spirit, but temporal laws do not give life to the spirit. The spirit lived before the temporal body,b and the spirit will continue to live after the physical body turns back to dust. Therefore, we cannot draw any conclusions about the origins of life from temporal laws. But leaving the grand scheme of creation, we must consider how our belief in God affects how we govern ourselves. If we discount God, then we necessarily discount the existence of absolute virtue; therefore, we begin to create all of our laws based on the opinions and manufactured ethics of man which change with the tide. That is the dilemma we find ourselves in today. By turning away from the Christian values, our nation is basing all of its laws on popular opinions. We look for temporal solutions of spiritual problems. For example, rather than the law of chastity we look for solutions to unwed mothers, fatherless homes, unwanted pregnancies, poverty, broken homes, diseases, poor education, gangs, increase in crime, etc. through sex education or social programs. We combat sexual promiscuity by teaching safe sex rather than teaching abstinence before marriage. Society is where it is today because we can no longer see “afar off.” We put out fires with gasoline. The problem is compounded with a profound truth that we deny, and it is this. Absolute law has absolute consequences. We do not escape the consequences of law by redefining virtue. All sin, all sorrow, all calamity, all disruption of harmony is caused by broken laws. All sin is violation of the laws of Christ. We cannot be saved in ignorance.