For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

The issue of the ages is a sin issue.

It has never been an issue of the knowledge of good versus evil, for that is God’s domain, and we were told to steer clear of it, but it has always been about sin.

From the beginning, it has always been about Life in Obedience.

The law was added due to the increase of transgressions.  God’s standard of right has never changed, but it was added.  It was God’s perfect righteousness.

Death came when sin did, the world was changed.

The issue is a sin issue, a righteousness issue.  If we will not live holy, we will not see God.

Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

Numbers 23:23

Jesus came because of a sin issue, and none other.  To purify a people.  The devil has no right over a people that is holy, he only has access through our deeds, our sin.  The cross accomplishes this, but if we refuse to walk by the Spirit, we forfeit the covering and protection we would have.

We can prove that the person who lives in sin is not walking by the Spirit, and hence, is less in the Kingdom, which is the definition of the substance of the  Kingdom.  Whoever is walking in sin is not living by the Spirit, not following the Spirit, because the Spirit does not sin.  Because the Holy Spirit is the author of the Law of Moses, the man who perfectly lives by Him, God, will perfectly be fulfilling the Spirit of the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses, because He is its author.  This does not mean the keeping of animal and ritual sacrifices, or the construction of an Earthly tabernacle, for these things are Christ, but so far as Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets hang upon loving God and others, so much as we are not doing this, we are not living by His Spirit, and hence, not living in His Kingdom.  And, if we go so far as to teach others to live thus, we make ourselves the least.

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 3:14-20

The American church is stuck in Babylon; she is stuck in Laodicea.  She is stuck in a false substance and a false reality of what life, what true life is.

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

John 12:40

When the church cannot see that she is naked, cannot tell she is blind, cannot discern that she is spiritually poor, truth must arise.

When was the last time that someone called something a sin in church and wasn’t cast as religious?  While it is not immediately the outward acts that the Gospel addresses, we can be sure that if they outward acts do not correspond to righteousness, as it has always been from the beginning, that they are unclean on the inside.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Matthew 23:26

The acts are sin, as Paul stated that the works of the flesh are obvious.  Yet, what is on the inside, what is in the heart, is the place where the wickedness comes from.

This is, again, the call back to the Sermon on the Mount, for if we are angry without cause, we are in danger of judgement.  Unless we can look to this, and the works of the flesh, and call them wrong, decry the danger of them, we have no footing to speak to anyone.  In this case, we are like the deaf  and dumb man of Psalm 38:13-14.

This is not the faith of the Gospel in which the disciples stood and exhorted the people to save themselves from that corrupt generation (Acts 2:42).

It is only in righteousness that the Gospel stands, and not in any other form.  It is only in purity that God is found, not that we must be perfect, but we must seek Him.  So long as our heart is fully towards Him, He is fully behind us, regardless of our maturity.  But, regardless of how mature we are, it is still the totality of our gaze that He requires.

When we fail to discern sin, and fail to condemn it, we fail the King.  Yet, even as Jesus did not break the bruised reed, nor snuff out the smoldering wick, He brought mercy to those trapped in sin, who knew their sin, and rebuked those who stood proudly.

We must rightly divide the Word, hate the sin, and yet live by the Spirit, in whom is no darkness at all.