Q&A – WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 5

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Q&A –  WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 5

2 Corinthians 7:2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

We are saved by grace.  We are not saved by forgiveness.  Believers must embrace the call of a righteous life and thereby live by grace.  Apart from grace, the power that IAUE gives us to do His will, we will continue to live petty and meaningless lives of sin moving from one prayer for forgiveness to another, and never experiencing the reality of the salvation that Messiah died to give us.  We will never live above our expectations.  If our expectation is that Messiah died to forgive us of our sins and take us to Heaven when we die, we are doomed to lives of sin.  If our expectation is to live righteously by the power of IAUE, then that is what we can expect to experience.

In our last post, we discussed the “false gospel” that prevails within contemporary Christianity that would lead the lost to believe that Messiah came to forgive them of their sins, and that once forgiven they would be eternally saved. This message misses the whole point of why Messiah came.  The forgiveness of sins is only the doorway that enables us to become aware of the salvation that Messiah made possible; and that is the power to live righteous lives before IAUE.  If we believe forgiveness of sins is the objective, then our lives will never experience freedom from sin.

This false gospel is also responsible for another very significant reason why believers still commit sin. If the believer camps around the forgiveness of sins as the essence of salvation, then he/she will never recognize the significance of the new creature.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Messiah, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

1 Corinthians 1:30  But of him are ye in Messiah Yahushua, who of IAUE is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

When we give our life to Yahushua Messiah, we are born anew by the Spirit of IAUE; and what we become in Messiah did not exist just moments before.  We are “created” a new life.

Psalm 102:18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise IAUE.

Obviously, when we come to Messiah, we do not receive a new physical body (although one is promised to us in the resurrection); nor do we have a brand new mind.  We still retain our memories, our knowledge, etc. [though we are commanded to have our minds renewed (Rom 12:1-2)].  We do, however, have a new spirit, a new life-force; that part of us that animates our flesh and activates our soul (mind, will and emotions). If our focus (produced by the gospel message to which we responded) is that we have been forgiven of sins, we will not appreciate what has actually happened to us; and we will leave far beneath the dignity, power and capability of the new creature.

All that you did before you came to Messiah was attributable to the life you lived up to that point.  You may have been a liar, a cheater, a deceiver, a thief, a hater, a bitter and unforgiving person, a conniver, a manipulator, a murderer, etc.  All of that sinful activity, though forgiven, is still a part of your “permanent record” in this world. It is the history of the flesh, the human body that committed those things; but it is absolutely not attributable to the new life that was created within you when you were born again in Messiah Yahushua.  There is no permanent record that is a function of the physical body and soul of the man who has become a new creature in Messiah.  That record begins at the moment of the new creation.  Nothing of your prior life carries over to the new creature.

Look at the life of Paul.  He was an aggressive protector of Judaism, such that he was personally responsible for the arrests of the disciples of Messiah in Jerusalem.  So mean and vile was his pursuit to cleanse the city of these disciples that his campaign was responsible for the dispersion of the disciples of Messiah who fled Jerusalem to the regions round about and beyond to escape his persecution.  Remembering who he had been before his “Damascus road experience,” Paul says:

1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Messiah Yahushua our Master, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

14 And the grace of IAUE was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Messiah Yahushua.

15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Messiah Yahushua came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Yahushua Messiah might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Paul freely admitted to his “permanent record.”  He was a blasphemer.  He was a persecutor. He harmed the lives of others, needlessly.  He identifies himself as the chief of sinners; but he does not stop there. He says that he obtained mercy; and that his redeemed life would serve as an example to others that it does not matter what your permanent record is, there is a whole new life that begins when we come to Messiah.  Look at what Paul said of his life as a new creature.

2 Corinthians 7:2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

This same man who hauled people to prison that they might be tortured and killed says he has wronged no one. He has corrupted no one.  He has defrauded no one.  That is the new creature speaking.  The man who was the chiefest among sinners had been forgiven and REPLACED with a new life; and since becoming a new creature in Messiah, Paul had harmed no one.  He did not carry with him the onus of having been so evil in is past.  That was no longer Paul’s identify.

So many believers never recognize the nature of the new creature within them.  They are stuck on being forgiven of their sins, and continue to move from forgiveness to forgiveness as their lives are still defined by the person they were before they came to Messiah.

Now, to be perfectly honest about this matter; a large part of this problem in believers is another false teaching that pervades Christianity; and that is that their baptism in water is simply an act of obedience that we are supposed to do after we become believers.  Nothing of consequence is attributed to it; but the Scriptures have a powerfully different position on the matter.

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 Elohim forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Yahushua Messiah were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Messiah was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

In the book of Acts, which serves as our only historical account in the New Testament of how the gospel was presented and how people responded to it, we never see anyone being “invited” to “accept Messiah as their personal lord and savior.”  That is so much absolute nonsense; and yet it is the heart of the false gospel that marks contemporary Christianity.  No one is ever asked to pray to receive Messiah. When the gospel was presented, it was a command to repent, to forsake lives of rebellion against the authority and will of IAUE.  It explained that the impasse that made relationship with IAUE impossible had been broken by the death and resurrection of Yahushua, unto whom IAUE had given all authority to rule; and that he was the King unto whom their knee should bow.  How did they respond to the gospel?  They were baptized in water.  They buried the man they were and became the disciples of Yahushua Messiah.

There is no magic in the water; but it is the answer of a clear conscience before IAUE; and it unites man with the death of Yahushua.  The old man is crucified with Messiah; but until he is buried; our link with sin is not broken. Once fully separated from the old man, the nature of the new creature can empower our lives in freedom from sin.

Freedom from sin is what Messiah died and rose again to produce in our lives.  IAUE desires a family that walks in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:5-7). Such a life is the natural product of the true gospel.

Q&A – WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 4

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                              Q&A –  WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 4                                               

1 Timothy 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Messiah Yahushua came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Today, we are going to discuss a powerful reason why believers still commit sin; a reason that might be regarded as presumptuous and arrogant for me even to suggest. Sin is prevalent in the church today because most believers have responded to a false gospel…a gospel message that is simply not THE gospel message, and which fails to produce the kind of life that Messiah died to make possible for us.  As a result, the majority of people who sit in pews on Sunday morning around the world may believe in the facts of the message of the Scriptures; but they have never become disciples of Yahushua Messiah; and have never been born again by the Spirit of IAUE.  That simple fact alone accounts for a lot of the sinful living in “the church;” however, not being born of the Spirit, they are not really the children of Elohim and not the focus of this study. Our only concern for them is that they repent and come to Messiah by faith.  Our focus is on those who have genuinely given their lives to Messiah and have been born again of incorruptible seed unto life lived through the Spirit. 

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of IAUE, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Why do true disciples continue to sin?  It is because they, too, have come to Messiah through a false gospel message.  In this verse, we can see that a by-product of the TRUE gospel is that we would be born again unto an unfeigned love of the brethren. 

John 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Well, look around.  Most “Christians” pick and choose who they will even give the time of day.  We do not even consider that our ignoring and often even despising our brothers and/or sisters in the Body of Messiah, or our choosing with whom we will and will not have fellowship is a most grievous sin to our Master. The very existence of 200+ denominations and almost innumerable non-denominational segments within Christianity is an undeniable representation of followers of a false gospel.  Love for each other is one of the first manifestations of the life produced by the TRUE gospel, yea, it could even be considered a valid litmus test of which gospel brought us to Messiah.

1 Corinthians 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Master Yahushua Messiah, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Messiah.

13 Is Messiah divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

1 Corinthians 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

18 For they that are such serve not our Master Yahushua Messiah, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was written due to his concern that the gospel he preached unto them was being corrupted by men who came in after him.

Galatians 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from IAUE the Father, and from our Master Yahushua Messiah,

4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of IAUE and our Father:

5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amein.

6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Messiah unto another gospel:

7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Messiah.

The gospel message had indeed been corrupted; so much so, that Paul cried out in Galatians 3, “Who hath bewitched you?!!!”  And this was in the first generation of the life of the church. Consider the ramifications of the pure gospel having a minor adjustment here, an additional concept added there, a few pinches and tucks happening over generations and centuries of time, and we end up with the Mulligan stew that we have today.  Today, the gospel has been reduced to what you have often heard me refer to as, “The Magic Prayer.”

Note in Galatians 1:4 above, that Messiah gave himself for our sins to “deliver us from this present evil world.”  Today, we are told this means that we are “going to heaven when we die.”  In Paul’s day, it meant being delivered from a life of sin in the here and now; to be able to live above sin for the rest of our lives.  Notice, too, that this false gospel removes us from IAUE and separates us from the grace of Messiah.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of IAUE:

In today’s false gospel message, we are told that we are saved by faith. “Only believe.  Faith alone saves us.”  It does no such thing. This is a major deception and it leads us to identify the essence of the false gospel; and answers our question as to why believers still sin.

The focus of preachers, today, is the forgiveness of sins.  They attempt to lead “the lost” to come to Yahushua to be forgiven of their sins. They lead them in a prayer to ask Yahushua to forgive them and to invite him “into their heart” to be their “Lord and Savior.”  Such a prayer is seen to be utter nonsense when compared with the New Testament Scriptures.  Nowhere in the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts which records for us the birth and growth of the church, do we see anyone being lead in a prayer to accept Yahushua or a prayer to receive forgiveness for their sin.  No, they were commanded to repent and turn from their evil ways to a life of obedience to the Master Yahushua.  They responded by demonstrating their commitment to the Master by being water baptized…immediately.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Messiah, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of IAUE, who hath reconciled us to himself by Yahushua Messiah, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 To wit, that Elohim was in Messih, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Messiah already paid the penalty for man’s sin.  The sins of all mankind are forgiven, already. People simply do not know that the barrier between them and IAUE has been removed.  They do not know that their sins are already forgiven.

If forgiveness of sins was salvation, then all of mankind would be saved, now.  This is not what the Scripture teaches, however.  It teaches us that through the forgiveness of sins we become aware of the salvation that is available to us.

Luke 1:68 Blessed be IAUE Elohim of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:

71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,

75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Master to prepare his ways;

77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

78 Through the tender mercy of our Elohim; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Speaking of the Messiah, Zacharias prophesies that IAUE has raised up a “horn of salvation,” a reign and kingdom of salvation.  He defines salvation as being saved from our enemies, being saved from the hand of those that hate us, and being delivered from all of our enemies that have prevented us from being able to serve him fearlessless, in holiness and righteousness, ALL THE DAYS OF OUR LIFE.  In other words, the scriptural definition of salvation is the freedom from all hindrances that prevented us from being able to walk in holiness and righteousness, NOW, in this life.  And how do we become aware of this?  The knowledge of this salvation comes through the remission of sins.  This is not just forgiveness of sins; but freedom from bondage to sin.  In dealing thoroughly with the sin problem, we become knowledgeable, we become aware of the salvation that has been made available to us, the ability to walk above sin and live a righteous life of obedience to IAUE and to his son, our Master Yahushua Messiah.

So, when Paul says in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by GRACE through faith; he is saying that as we trust in the forgiveness and remission of sins provided by Messiah Yahushua, IAUE pours out grace upon our lives.  Grace is the power to do His will.  Grace is the power that delivers us from all that would oppose our loving obedience to Him.  Without grace it is impossible to do His will; and it is impossible to live righteously before Him. So, when our contemporary gospel message leads men to believe that their salvation IS the forgiveness of sins, they have no imagination to living above and apart from sins for the rest of their lives.  They simply live lives expecting to be constantly forgiven of their sins.  This is not the call of the TRUE gospel.

Galatians 6:14  But Elohim forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Master Yahushua Messiah, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

15 For in Messiah Yahushua neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

The gospel is the power of IAUE unto salvation (Rom 1:16). The TRUE gospel separates us from “the world.”  All that is in the world can be catalogued as “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). The salvation that comes via the grace of IAUE empowers the believer to live above the world, untouched by the world.  This is not simply an aspiration for the most disciplined and ascetic of disciples.  It IS our salvation; and if we are not walking in it, we are fallen from grace.  We can liken it to an airplane.  When the law of “lift” is applied to the wings, the plane becomes airborne and flies above the world.  When lift ceases to be applied, then the law of “drag” takes over and the plane begins to plunge to the earth.  Grace lifts us into effortless obedience and righteous behavior.  When we are removed from grace, the flesh, like drag, is always there to pull us back down to the world. 

We are saved by grace.  We are not saved by forgiveness.  Believers must embrace the call of a righteous life and thereby live by grace.  Apart from grace, the power that IAUE gives us to do His will, we will continue to live petty and meaningless lives of sin moving from one prayer for forgiveness to another, and never experiencing the reality of the salvation that Messiah died to give us.  We will never live above our expectations.  If our expectation is that Messiah died to forgive us of our sins and take us to Heaven when we die, we are doomed to lives of sin.  If our expectation is to live righteously by the power of IAUE, then that is what we can expect to experience.

Q&A – WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 3

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                                       Q&A –  WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 3                                              

John 8^:34  Yahushua answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Wrong thinking is just one of many reasons why believers still sin; but it is perhaps the most important one.  We can never rise above our wrong thinking. 

In the Old Testament, when we first read of the devil, he appears in the Garden of Eden as “the serpent.” 

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which IAUE Elohim had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

The Hebrew word for serpent is nakhash.  It means “to hiss, or to whisper.”  Note, also, that he is especially described as being “more subtil” than any beast of the field.  This word, subtil, (aruwm) in only here translated as “subtil.”  It is elsewhere translated 8X as “prudent” and 2X as “crafty.”  The word means “cunning,” in the sense that he is a thinker, a planner, a deviser of strategies.  He is not one who acts spontaneously. He is calculating in his actions.  He is like a chess player who thinks several moves ahead of the game, understanding that whatever move he makes is calculated to force his opponent to make the very moves that will cause the game to fall into his hands as victor.

In the New Testament, we find him first described as a tempter and a devil.

Matthew 4:1 Then was Yahushua led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

This word “tempted”  (peirazo) means to test or to try something to see what can be done.  If you ever had a chemistry set as a child; do you remember mixing different chemicals just to see what would happen?  You put them to the test to see what would come of it. It is what we refer to as “experimenting.”  The devil experiments with man, and has for millennia.  He is always examining different was to reach a desired end.  By the way, this word “devil” (diabolos) means “to slander, to falsely accuse.”

Later in the New Testament, we see him described as our “adversary.”

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

This word “adversary” (antidikos) means “an opponent in a law suit.” 

Let us not be distracted.  We are not doing a study of the devil.  We are discussing why, after becoming new creatures in Yahushua Messiah do his disciples still sin.  It is imperative to recognize the nature of the enemy of our souls as we further examine this question; so let’s take a look at what we have stated about him.

The devil is a whisperer, a schemer, a planner, a devisor of strategies designed to enable him to win victories against mankind (not just the saints) on any and all levels. He is a false accuser and a crafty litigator always seeking to find the proper legal ground to be able to put down his targeted opponents.  It is safe to assume, since he is a singular being and not described as being able to occupy more than one place at a time (not omnipresent), that he has working at his side legions of demonic spirits who are ready willing and able to do his bidding; allowing him to function as a crafty master planner on a world-wide scale; while his minions work out the details of his strategies.  Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that they are arrayed in military fashion by ranks of authority and position:  principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.  As such, they follow orders and are effective warriors working out the details of the master plan of Satan.

Herein lies the problem.  We do not see the devil nor his minions with our natural eyes.  As a consequence of our living in a natural world ruled by what one may see, smell, hear, taste and feel, we tend to live our lives oblivious to that which is unseen.  This allows the devil to work around us unobserved and unobstructed, for the most part.  Yahushua was not so inclined to live his life unaware of his surroundings.  He recognized the work of Satan in men’s lives.  He took authority over the work and effect of demons in the lives of men, women and children.  The Scripture even says that he came to destroy the works of the devil, as if to declare that it was a specific calling of IAUE upon his life.  Yahushua was never unaware or unconscious of the invisible world of the spirit.  He was alert to the nature of the spiritual life around him at all times.

[Consider radio waves.  There are potentially hundreds of different frequencies of radio waves that are bombarding us all day, every day.  We are oblivious to them because we cannot see them; but with the proper receiver, we can tune in to them and learn what messages they are broadcasting.  The world of the spirit is not unlike radio waves.  Demons and angels exist in a different spectrum of light than the very narrow band that our natural eyes are able to see.  The reality is, just like radio waves, they are around us all the time.  With the aid of the Holy Spirit, we may detect their presence and their intention.]

When we live our lives essentially oblivious to the world of the spirit, we find ourselves simply going along with the flow of the enemy’s strategies.  We do not make counter moves on the spiritual chess board to resist his objectives and defeat his cunning plans for victories against Adam’s race.

Let’s revisit Peter’s words.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Peter commands us to be sober and vigilant.  Why?  BECAUSE.  This is a cause-and-effect matter.  BECAUSE our adversary does not take a nap; BECAUSE he does not leave us unattended; BECAUSE he does not stop planning our demise; BECAUSE he is tireless in his efforts to gain an advantage against us, we need not to be stupid and unaware that he is plotting against us to devour us and render us useless against his strategies.

This leads us directly to our question.  How does this relate to disciples of Messiah continuing to sin once we have been forgiven of sin, delivered from bondage to sin, and invested with the very life of Yahushua within our newborn spirit?  In a word, we are lazy.  From a military perspective, we cease standing watch for the activity of the enemy.  From a boxer’s perspective, we drop our guard and allow the enemy to strike us.

The enemy chips away at us bit by bit gaining whatever advantage he can.  One of his most effective ways is the very first way we see him described in the Scriptures.  He WHISPERS to us.  There is not a single one of us that can deny not having that occasional whisper…that seemingly random idea that pops into our thinking, an idea that did not originate with ourself.  “Do this.”  “Do that.”  “Wouldn’t this be nice?”  “No one is looking…no one is around…you could do this or that.” “That person deserves your anger, wrath, malice, calculated reaction to undermine or hurt them.”  The devil makes sin appear to be our idea, so he may disavow any personal responsibility for it; then once we commit sin, he pounces on us to drive home hard a sense of guilt.  Guilt is a principle tool of his to render us ineffective against him.

Peter command us to be “sober” (nepho) – to be calm, collected, dispassionate; and to be “vigilant” (gregorio) – to be watchful; alert.  In other words, we are to understand that this is our life.  We are in a war; and the enemy does not rest; so we can never relax our guard.  We must dispassionately be on the watch to detect the enemy’s movements and to take action as the need demands.

One of the worst elements of a disciple’s maturing process is working through this very stark reality that the devil and his hordes do not rest.  Our flesh likes rest.  It likes not always having to fight, or even to be watchful.  Well, the reality is that we are commanded to be sober and vigilant not just for ourselves but also for our brothers and sisters in the faith, “…the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

Disciples still sin because they are lazy.  They are not watchful.  They are not attentive to what is going on around them in the world of the spirit; and yet all that is required is to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and follow His lead. Until we recognize the need to be vigilant, we are easily led astray to catering to the desires of the flesh and deal with the guilt and consequences after the fact.  This laziness and inattentiveness to the nature and strategies of our enemy render us vulnerable not just to our commission of sin but also to the subsequent defeat of heart and soul and mind from the enemy’s accusations that follow our disobediences, because we are inclined to agree with him that his accusations are true.

The greatest commandment that is to rule our lives is to love IAUE our Elohim with all our heart and soul and mind.  When we make our heart, soul and mind vulnerable to the accuser because of sin; can we not see the measure of evil that is wrought by his every whisper?

1 Corinthians 15:34a   Awake to righteousness, and sin not.