HomeARC ML 0594
"WHEN IS 'SIN' NOT SIN?"--MO August 8, 1977 DFO NO.594
--A Question of Adultery.
Copyrighted August 1977 by the Children of God
1. MARIA JUST ASKED ME A QUESTION: She said she understood from the Letter "God's Only Law Is Love" that we now, as Christians, are no longer under the laws of Moses but under the love-law of Christ. "But," she said,
2. "WHAT ABOUT THE FELLOWS WE MAKE LOVE WITH? Aren't they still under the Mosaic law and committing a sin when they make love with us? Aren't they committing adultery?" Well, I of course always have to think and pray about such answers, and I haven't had much time to think and pray about this one.
3. BUT AS I STOPPED FOR A MOMENT AND THOUGHT, the first thing that came to me was--and I'm sure it must be from the Lord because it was a very strange new thought and a strange idea, but the more I think about it the more I realise that it must be the answer:
4. LIKE CHRIST WAS OUR ATONEMENT and He bore our sins for us, we are their atonement before they find the Lord, and in a sense we bear their sins for them which are already forgiven in Christ and therefore by us. Jesus Himself said,
5. "WHOSE SOEVER SINS YE SHALL REMIT, THEY SHALL BE REMITTED UNTO THEM." (John 20:33) Now that is a tremendous statement and very little understood by anyone but the Catholics, who apply it to their priests. They believe that if their priests forgive them, they have the authority and the power to do so given them by God as His personal representatives, and that they can therefore forgive sin.
6. OF COURSE THEY HAVE REALLY STRETCHED IT to the limit or beyond the limits in forgiving any and everybody's sins. Whereas, what I believe that the Lord really meant by this statement was that if someone has offended you, for example,
7. IF YOU FORGIVE THEM, THEN GOD WILL FORGIVE THEM ALSO. Whoever you forgive, God, will forgive. If you don't forgive them, then God won't forgive them either. He says so in John 20:23, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."
8. YOU WOULD HAVE TO HAVE A VERY GOOD REASON FOR NOT FORGIVING THEM! It would almost have to be their total rejection of Christ or total blasphemy against the Holy Spirit--in other words, rejecting Jesus. This is the only sin which the Lord refuses to forgive, and you can't forgive them for that.
9. BUT SINS WHICH THEY ARE COMMITTING AGAINST YOU, THESE YOU CAN FORGIVE. Since you are freely and willingly, unselfishly, even sacrificially giving of your love to such a man, you are certainly not going to hold it against him. It's not his fault--you're the one who is willingly giving your love.
10. WHAT IS THE IDEA AND PURPOSE OF THE OLD MOSAIC LAW AGAINST ADULTERY? Even behind the old Mosaic laws there was the love of God and His desire to keep people from hurting each other and damaging each other either physically or otherwise, even their feelings.
11. THE WHOLE IDEA OF THIS LAW WAS ACTUALLY TO PREVENT THE HURTING OF A MATE or hurting someone else by having sex with their mate. Well, all I know is that the first thing that came to me when I shot a little prayer to the Lord, "Well, what would be the answer?" is that:
12. IT'S LIKE A VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. You take upon yourself their sins, or this so-called sin, and you take it upon yourself to forgive them. They are not stealing anything from you, they're not stealing your virtue, they are not raping you and taking it by force. But you are gladly and willingly in love giving it to them.
13. BECAUSE IT IS YOUR FREE GIFT AND GIVEN IN LOVE, THEN HOW COULD THIS BE A SIN--even on his part? Because he is not sinning against you, he is not hurting you in any way, and it's all purely voluntary. Therefore, as Jesus has said, even if it might seem to be a sin on his part, in a sense you can vicariously forgive him with the love of God, which is your love that you're giving him.
14. YOU YOURSELF ARE ABLE TO FORGIVE THIS which otherwise might be a sin on his part in God's sight. Then comes the other question which Maria just brought up, "Well, what about his wife, if he's married? Isn't he committing adultery against his own wife? Wouldn't it hurt her to know that he was having sex with another woman?"
15. THE PHYSICAL ACT IN ITSELF IS NOT WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. You are not trying to steal the woman's husband. You are not trying to take her place. You are not trying to steal his love.
16. YOU ARE IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER TRYING TO COME BETWEEN HIM AND HIS WIFE, which would be adultery, and in which case it would be a sin for you to be stealing another woman's husband--unless she's already forsaken him.
17. BUT INSTEAD, YOU ARE TRYING TO DO HIM GOOD by giving him the love of God, to actually make a better husband of him and a better father for her children, and so to give her a better home. You are doing her a favour! And this we found to be true in numerous cases in actual practice:
18. SOME OF THE MEN WE LED TO THE LORD THIS WAY WENT BACK HOME NEW AND BETTER PERSONS, changed much for the better. Some of their wives hardly recognised them, they were so good! They brought them flowers, started pulling out the Bible and wanting to read it to the family, etc.
19. THEY WERE MORE GENTLE AND LOVING and forgiving with her and better to their children, more concerned about their welfare, more faithful to the home, spending actually even more time at home than they used to, with their children, with their wives, with their families.
20. THEY WERE MUCH MORE LOVING, more tender, more gentle, more merciful, more kind more considerate, more thoughtful, and manifesting much more love--the love of God now--than they had ever been before!
21. SO HOW COULD THIS BE A SIN? Everything must be judged from the standpoint of love. Is it doing good or is it doing evil? Are you helping him or hindering him.
22. NOW OF COURSE HOWEVER, IF HE DOES NOT RECEIVE JESUS and he goes back just the same evil man, back to his family and/or wife as evil as ever, although now having had the opportunity with God offering His Love face to face, but having rejected Christ, closed his heart's door and spurned God's Love, then that's different.
23. THEN SURELY GOD WILL HOLD THIS ACT ALSO TO HIS CHARGE AS A SIN, because in his own mind it's "according to his faith be it done unto him." (Mt.9:29.) If he believes he has committed a sin, if he believes himself that it was wrong and it was sinful and he did evil, then so be it!
24. "WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN" (Rom.14:23), and it is a sin unto him then because he felt that it was a sin and he thought it was a sin and he himself believed that it was sinful and wicked, and therefore as far as he's concerned he is committing sin!
25. IF HE DOES NOT RECEIVE IT IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT AS A GIFT FROM GOD, God's love, freely, willingly, unselfishly and even sacrificially given, then perhaps God will hold it to his charge and hold him accountable for it. It's just one more sin added to a long list of unforgiven sins because he rejected God's forgiveness and therefore God may hold him accountable for it if he even thinks he's sinning.
26. NOW HE MIGHT BE CONVINCED THAT HE'S NOT SINNING against you because you did it willingly, gladly, freely, lovingly and unselfishly, and he may be convinced that you were doing it because you were really trying to help him But he may still be under the condemnation of the old laws of Moses.
27. THEREFORE HE IS SINNING IF HE EVEN THINKS THAT HE IS BREAKING THE LAW to have sex with you, even with your consent, and he's also offending his wife to whom he goes back no better man but maybe even worse, having rejected the love of God in Jesus Christ!
28. IT'S EXACTLY IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS WITNESSING--it is witnessing of course. The Apostle said regarding our witness to others: "To some we are the ministers of Salvation, to others we are the ministers of damnation," depending on how they themselves received it.
29. IF WE PREACH CHRIST AND GOD'S LOVE to them and they receive it as such, then of course they are saved. But if they reject it, "Now the last estate of the man is worse than the first!" (2Pet.2:20) Because by bringing him the truth and the light, he is now more greatly condemned than ever because he has rejected Christ and His salvation.
30. IT'S AS JESUS SAID in John 1:1-5 and 3:18-19, it was as though it was not the world's fault that they were in darkness, but their sin was that they rejected His Light.
31. IT IS NOT MAN'S FAULT THAT HE IS BORN IN SIN A SINNER. This was the fault of the ones who got it started a long time ago and who brought sin into the world through their sin, Adam and Eve, whereby all were made sinners, all of their children from then on. (Rom.5:12-21.)
32. BUT IT IS OUR OWN PERSONAL REJECTION OF JESUS CHRIST WHICH IS OUR OWN FAULT! This is the great condemnation for which we receive a greater condemnation than for in-bred sin. Jesus says to the Pharisee, a man is condemned "because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation: that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (Jn.3:18-19.) And in the first chapter the Apostle John is writing and he says that "the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." He says, "That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (Jn.1:5,9)
33. SO THE GREAT CONDEMNATION WAS NOT THAT THEY WERE ALREADY SINFUL, which God could forgive and does forgive if we receive His pardon through Jesus Christ. "But this is the condemnation: that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
34. ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION COMES TO ME OF THE ISLAND OF TENERIFE and the Canary Islands to which we went: Before we came they lay in a kind of darkness because they had not had the light of the kind of God's love that we preached.
35. NOW THEIR SIN IS THE REJECTION OF SOME. God would not have held them nearly as accountable for their ignorance and the darkness in which they lived had we not come.
36. BUT NOW OUR HAVING COME AND SHINED THE LIGHT and shown them the right, then those who rejected it and became our bitter enemies, or even the indifferent who just brushed it aside with contempt, God will hold them extremely accountable now because they had the truth and they rejected it.
37. THEY WERE SHOWN THE LIGHT OF GOD'S LOVE AND THEY CAST IT ASIDE. They were given the Word of God and the love of Christ and they rejected it, so now they are going to be more responsible than ever. As the Apostle says in another place of those who reject, it would have been better for the rejecters if they had never heard, because now unto them is the greater condemnation for having heard and rejected.
38. SO "THE LAST ESTATE OF THE MAN (THE REJECTER) IS WORSE THAN THE FIRST!" (2Pet.2:20-22.) In fact in one place he says, "it were better for that man that he had never been born," than to have heard the truth and rejected it! (Mt.26:24.)
39. TO HAVE BEEN SHOWN THE LOVE OF GOD AND RESISTED IT IS THEIR GREATEST SIN! To have been convicted by the Holy Spirit and resisted it and to have heard the Word of God of Christ's salvation and rejected His love, these are the greatest of all sins!
40. IT'S LIKE DIVIDING THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS: Some of the people there are now much better off than they were before because they received God's Love and His Light and His Truth and His Way, Jesus Christ, and they're far better off now.
41. BUT OTHERS ARE MUCH WORSE OFF having become our bitter enemies and resisted. Some not only simply rejected the light for themselves, but fought against the light and tried to keep anybody else from getting it!
42. SO NOW GOD IS GOING TO HOLD SOME OF THEM REALLY RESPONSIBLE for being about as wicked as you can get, more responsible than a murderer or an adulterer or for breaking any one of the Ten Commandments, because they have damned souls to hell by calling us false prophets and our truth a lie and our love a sin and rejecting God and His Love!
43. STEPHEN HIMSELF SAID OF THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS HYPOCRITES, "YE DO ALWAYS RESIST THE HOLY GHOST!" (Ac.7:51.) Even Jesus said of them that now they were going to be more responsible than they were before: He said, "If I had not come, ye had had no sin (in their own eyes), but now that I am come, you have no cloak for your sin!" (Jn.15:22.) He didn't mean that they were not sinners if He hadn't come.
44. HE MEANT THEIR SINS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SO GROSSLY EXPOSED and they would not have been as greatly guilty under such great condemnation. But now that He had come and they had resisted the light and resisted the truth and resisted their own Messiah and Saviour, therefore now they really deserved to go to hell!
45. SO IT'S JUST LIKE IN ANY OTHER FORM OF WITNESSING: Our FFing is witnessing, trying to give God's love to people. If they reject it or they don't receive it in the right spirit as from God by faith in God as a gift from God, but they simply think that somehow they duped you into being a fool and took advantage of you with no love, no faith, no receptivity, no responsiveness and so on, then it is to them the greater sin.
46. WHOEVER TELLS THE WORLD THE GOSPEL, MAKES OF SOME BETTER PEOPLE, AND OF OTHERS WORSE because they reject it. When we preach the Gospel, and give God's love to people, we save some but damn others.
47. IT'S OF COURSE NOT OUR FAULT. It's their fault, because they're the ones that make the decision to reject it. But nevertheless it makes some better and some worse.
48. BEFORE WE CAME, THE ISLANDS WERE DRIFTING ALONG PEACEFULLY, more or less, and "they had no sin," in a sense. They did not know how great sin could be and how great their sin was going to be until we came and gave them the truth.
49. BUT AFTER WE HAVE COME AND GIVEN THEM THE LIGHT AND LOVE OF GOD and the truth of His Word and offered them Christ's salvation, now they are as guilty as can be, those who have rejected it and particularly those who have fought against it, as the leaders of established religions always do, the false religions of this world.
50. THE ESTABLISHED RELIGION AND ITS LEADERS FOUGHT JESUS AND HIS MESSAGE AND FINALLY KILLED HIM FOR IT! So their guilt is tremendous! It's horrific! But this we cannot help because it is our duty to God and our duty to man to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mk.16:15). It's not our business but theirs what they do about it! That's their decision.
51. IT'S NOT OUR FAULT THAT THEY REJECTED--IT'S THEIR FAULT! In fact, if we did not tell them, then their blood would be upon our hands. But He says in Ezekiel 3:18-19 that if you warn the wicked of his wicked way and yet he repents not of his sins and he dies in his sins, then his blood is on his own hands for "thou hast delivered thy soul."
52. SO IF WE DIDN'T TELL THEM IT WOULD BE A SIN for us. But having told them, then it is their sin for not having received it. So that's the way I look at that, and I feel that is probably the way that God looks at it as well, as far as I can see.
53. BECAUSE WE'VE ALWAYS FELT VERY RIGHT about helping these men in this way, sacrificially--even sufferingly sometimes--giving our own mates to them in order to help them and sacrificing ourselves in order to help them, saving others though we could not save ourselves sometimes, like Jesus:
54. "HE SAVED OTHERS, BUT HIMSELF HE COULD NOT SAVE!"--His enemies said of Him! (Mk.15:31.) Well, it was the truth in a way! In order to save them, or us, He could not save Himself. And this is what we do. In order to save these men, we cannot save ourselves.
55. WE HAVE TO GIVE OF OURSELVES and give even of our mates, and this is not always easy to do. It wasn't easy for Jesus to go to the cross either, and He agonised in the Garden over it, and I have had my Gethsemanes sometimes over these FFings.
56. SO I'M SURE THAT THAT IS THE WAY THAT THE LORD LOOKS AT IT, as that is the immediate answer that came to me. It's a strange thing, two words came: "Vicarious atonement!"--just like that, when I shot a little prayer to the Lord to ask for a reply.
57. VICARIOUS ATONEMENT--IN A SENSE YOU ARE ATONING FOR THEIR SINS. In a sense you are remitting unto them their sins and forgiving them for their sin, which might otherwise be a sin unto them.
58. BUT THEY MUST BE WILLING TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU SAY. They must be willing to believe the Word, the truth and have faith that what you say is true and right, and that it is not a sin for you or them in so doing, because you both do it in faith and love, God's love, in unselfishness. If they believe this, if they receive it therefore, it's all a matter of receiving the message, the whole thing by faith.
59. THEY NOT ONLY HAVE TO RECEIVE THE SERMON IN FAITH, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE TO RECEIVE THE SAMPLE BY FAITH and believe that both are true and right and good and not bad and not wrong--right? (Maria: Like you said, they have to believe you like you believe Jesus, accept what you say and accept you just like you believe what Jesus says and accept Him.) Exactly, and they must take your word for both!
60. THEY MUST TAKE YOUR WORD FOR THE SERMON AND FOR THE SAMPLE.--If they receive both by faith, then it is no sin unto them. But if they reject your word and they refuse to believe what you say, then in a sense they have also rejected your act as an act of love, and they believe it's a sin and therefore they are refusing to believe that it was good, and therefore they will be accountable for it!
61. IT'S ALL IN THEIR OWN SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE and in their mental attitude. It's how they approach it and whether they receive it by faith in love--"faith which worketh by love"--as the Scripture says (Gal.5:6).
62. IF THEY RECEIVE IT BY FAITH IN LOVE, YOUR LOVE AND GOD'S LOVE, THEN IT'S NO SIN TO THEM. But if after having gone away, they still do not believe you and they still consider that they committed a sin, then it is a sin unto them! Just as the Scripture says in Romans 14:23:
63. "FOR WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN." This is the passage where he says, "I am persuaded that there is nothing unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean." (Romans 14:14.)
64. HE ALSO SPEAKS OF THE WEAKER BRETHREN, to try to keep them from stumbling over your freedom. He says, "Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of."--In other words if they're too weak to receive it.
65. "FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT MEAT AND DRINK"--AND IT'S NOT SEX EITHER! It's "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." He says, "Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin"--to him!
66. SO, THAT'S THE WAY I WOULD LOOK AT THAT QUESTION OF ADULTERY ON THEIR PART. We know that you have done it in love and with God's Love and to try to sacrificially unselfishly help someone and with no intention of stealing anybody's husband or wife or trying to come between them or anything, but only trying to help them.
67. YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE DONE IT IN LOVE. You know that you have obeyed God's Only Law of Love and that you are doing the right thing, just like in witnessing. When we witness the love of God and the faith of Christ we know we're doing the right thing because we're obeying God in love.
68. BUT HOW THEY RECEIVE IT IS UP TO THEM, and either to their credit if they receive it, or to their blame if they reject it. But it will be to their good if they receive it, because it will certainly be to their blame if they reject it. So therefore that is not your responsibility.
69. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO GIVE THE WORD AND LOVE. How they receive it, how they react to it, whether they receive it in faith or unbelief is their responsibility and they are to blame, not you!
70. IF THEY RECEIVE IT IN FAITH and they believe, then vicariously you have atoned for their sin, because you forgive them for whatever they otherwise might have been sinning against you, and you do not hold it against them or accountable for it.
71. YOU GAVE IT IN LOVE, you gave it unselfishly, you gave it to be helpful, and therefore it was no sin on your part. If they receive it in love, if they receive it as an unselfish gift of God, and they believe that, they have the faith for that, then neither is it a sin for them!
72. "WHOSE SOEVER SINS YOU REMIT, THEY SHALL BE REMITTED UNTO THEM." The only problem is that some of these who hear the Word, it's not that they are weaker brethren, but they're not brethren at all if they reject it, and they therefore reject your love as a gift of God.
73. AND SOME OF THE WIVES ARE WEAKER WOMEN, weak sisters or not sisters at all, and they don't understand it at all. They cannot comprehend how you could possibly make love to their husband unselfishly, not trying to steal him, not trying to come between them, but trying to make him a better husband for their wives, to go back to them better men, to treat them better and love them more!
74. THIS IS BECAUSE THEIR MINDS ARE IN DARKNESS and they're not spiritually-minded but carnally-minded. They cannot comprehend it, it's nearly impossible for them to understand or believe it if they do not comprehend your message or receive your message.
75. THEY HAVE TO RECEIVE THE MESSAGE, the truth, or they will not believe the sex act is in God's Love. If they have not received the message, then they cannot believe the sample. If they have rejected the sermon they cannot believe that the sample is good either. So it's all in their spiritual and mental attitude and the way they receive the message.
76. THOSE ISLANDS ARE NOW WITHOUT EXCUSE, as well as a good deal of Spain and the rest of the world, now since they've heard about it. Because they know our message and why we do it, unselfishly in the love of God, and that we're not trying to do anybody any harm, but good, we're not trying to steal anybody's mates, but to help them be better mates.
77. BUT OF COURSE, IF THEY DON'T BELIEVE OUR SERMON, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THAT THE SAMPLE WAS GOOD. They're going to think that was wrong too. Wrong message, wrong sample, if that's their attitude and they don't receive it in faith. If they believe the message is wrong--they're going to certainly condemn the sample as being wrong!
78. IF THEY BELIEVE THE SERMON WAS A LIE, THEY'RE GOING TO BELIEVE THAT THE SAMPLE WAS A SIN. So it's again all in how they receive it or reject it. It's again all by faith. It all depends on their personal decision to either believe and receive or doubt and damn!
79. BUT ARE YOU GOING TO STOP PREACHING THE GOSPEL JUST BECAUSE SOME MEN ARE GOING TO REJECT IT and therefore receive unto themselves the greater damnation? Are we going to stop preaching the Gospel just because we are damning the majority of the people to hell that hear it?--Because the majority always reject it, the majority are always wrong! (Mat.7:13-14.)
80. SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?--STOP PREACHING IT SO WE WON'T SEND SO MANY PEOPLE TO HELL? NO! We're commanded to obey God, the commandment of Jesus Christ Himself, to "go into all the world an preach the Gospel to every creature," and we've got to do it!
81. WHETHER YOU OR THEY LIKE IT OR NOT, GOD LIKES IT!--And they'll like it if they receive it. Of course they certainly don't like it if they don't receive it, and some hate it and hate us for it.
82. SO ARE WE ALSO GOING TO STOP GIVING THEM THE SAMPLE OF LOVING THEM simply because it may be adding to some men's sins the greater damnation because they didn't receive the love with the right spiritual attitude and faith?
83. IF WE'RE GIVING THEM THAT LOVE to convince them that we love them as an unselfish free gift from God, but they don't receive it as such, that's not our fault. that's their individual problem, their own fault, they themselves are to blame for the greater condemnation.
84. BECAUSE WE DID IT IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT, WE DID IT TO FULFIL GOD'S LAW OF LOVE. But if they rejected it as such, therefore to them, yes, it could be the greater sin.--But that's not our fault! The men who have gone to bed with our girls but have continued to reject Jesus Christ, they have not received God's Love.
85. THEY'VE ONLY RECEIVED UNTO THEMSELVES THE GREATER CONDEMNATION AND THE GREATER SIN because they did not accept sex as a true gift from God, as a sinless sample of God's Love, and therefore yes, to them it's the greater sin!
86. IT'S PROBABLY THE GREATEST SIN THEY EVER COMMITTED in their whole lives because they toyed with God's sample and didn't believe it was from God but still did it, and therefore committed sin in their own eyes, therefore unto them it is sin and a greater sin!
87. BUT YOU CAN'T HELP THAT! You're giving in the right spirit, you're doing it in love and you're trying to give them sample of God's love (Maria: Except it shows how great a responsibility you have to try to lead them to the Lord!) Yes, of course, but:
88. YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER BUT YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM DRINK!--And if he drinks thinking that he's drinking poison, then it'll kill him, it'll be the greater condemnation to him, the greater damnation because he thinks he's doing evil.
89. BUT THAT'S NOT YOUR FAULT, YOU CAN'T HELP THAT. If you go giving the Gospel to people and they reject it as poison, as lies, you can't help that, that's not your fault. You gave it to them in truth and in love. What they do about it is their own fault, and they themselves alone are to blame for their rejection.
90. SO IF YOUR GOING TO BED WITH THEM HAS MADE A GREATER SINNER OUT OF THEM, YOU CAN'T HELP IT, THAT'S NOT YOUR FAULT. It was your business to show them the love of God and give them a sample, whether they've received it in the right way or not. If they receive it in the right way and believe in faith that it was a sample of God's love, then they're believing God, so then of course it's no sin to them.
91. BUT IF THEY THINK THEY'RE SINNING and they're not believing it's from God, that it's not the love of God, and they think they're even making you sin, then they're going to bear all the greater sin and all the greater condemnation, and you have made a greater sinner out of them! But you can't help that, that's not your fault.
92. BY PREACHING THE GOSPEL WE MAKE GREATER SINNERS OUT OF A LOT OF PEOPLE because they reject it, right? But we can't help that, that's not our fault, that's their fault! So, praise God! That's what I would say would be my answer to that question, a question of adultery, or can love be sin!
93. IS IT POSSIBLE, AS MARIA WAS SAYING, THAT MAYBE YOU'RE NOT SINNING BUT MAYBE THEY'RE SINNING? Yes of course that's possible, unless they receive it in faith and believe the message. If they don't believe the message then they don't believe the sample, either, and both are a sin to them!
94. THEY HAVE REJECTED THE SERMON, THEREFORE THEY HAVE REJECTED THE SAMPLE TOO! They may have taken a bite, but they rejected it as being the love of God and rejected it as being a sample of His love--they don't believe that. They just think it was a stolen sweet that you dumbly foolishly gave them and they took it under false pretenses.
95. THEN TO THEM IT BECOMES A GREATER SIN, BUT THAT'S NOT YOUR FAULT. It's your job to preach the Gospel, it's your job to show the love of God, the sample--but how they receive it is up to them, even though your preaching and your loving makes a greater sinner out of them by their rejecting.
96. YOU CAN'T HELP THAT--THAT'S THEIR FAULT, NOT YOURS! But those who receive it by faith that it is a gift of God because you say so, they believe your word, therefore they're believing God's Word and they're receiving your word in faith, the sermon in faith, they're receiving the sample by faith as well.
97. SO GOD WILL NOT HOLD THAT AGAINST THEM. In a sense it's a vicarious atonement. You have already borne their sins, in a sense, for them, as Jesus did, and forgiven them, and gladly and freely given it.
98. SO IF THEY RECEIVE IT IN FAITH, THEY ARE NOT TO BLAME AND THEY ARE NOT SINNING and they are not doing anything wrong, because it was all in God's love. It was given in love and they receive it in love. It was given in faith and received by faith. So it is all the love of God and all by faith.
99. THEREFORE TO HIM THAT BELIEVETH, IT IS NO SIN, it is no sin to the one who receives it by faith. "All things are possible to him that believeth" and "with God nothing shall be impossible," as Jesus Himself said (Mk.9:23 & Lk.1:37). He can take away the guilt of adultery, or what otherwise would be adultery. He takes it away by faith, faith in the sermon and the sample, and the man receives it by faith in the sermon and the sample, so to him it is no sin! It says here in Romans 14,
100. "LET NOT HIM WHICH EATETH NOT, JUDGE HIM THAT EATETH, for God hath received him!" When they eat of your flesh with little faith, those of weaker faith who don't believe it's right and believe it's a sin, that does not make it a sin for you just because they believe it's a sin.
101. HOWEVER, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO TRY NOT TO DO IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF OTHERS OF WEAK FAITH AND THEREBY OFFEND THEM. We tried to keep all of our activities as secret as we possibly could--it's the world, the flesh and the Devil that publicised our activities! But I'm sure it was God's own plan in order to make them all more responsible and in order that His Word might be more widespread, and "nevertheless the Gospel is preached, even though it be the Gospel of controversy"! (Phil.1:16,18.)
102. "LET EVERY MAN BE FULLY PERSUADED IN HIS OWN MIND" (Rom.14:5.) We're not to deliberately put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall directly in our brother's path and deliberately try to make him fall. Well, you're not doing this, you're not trying to make him stumble. You're trying to help him. But we can't say,
103. "I BETTER NOT PREACH THE GOSPEL BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO MAKE SOME PEOPLE STUMBLE. Because Jesus is a stumblingblock to the Jews, it'll make them stumble, therefore I better not preach Him!" Well, there are some things you have to do regardless whether people stumble or not!
104. YOU STILL HAVE TO TELL THE TRUTH, you still have to love, you still have to preach the Gospel, even though it causes some to stumble. Paul was here talking about the little and minor things in life: If drinking wine is going to cause your brother to stumble, then drink it to yourself. In other words, go home and drink it in private, don't do it right in front of somebody you know doesn't believe in it.
105. I WOULDN'T ADVISE YOU GIRLS TO MAKE LOVE TO HUSBANDS IN FRONT OF THEIR WIVES! I'm sure it would be quite a stumblingblock to them! And I'm sure most of them keep it a secret from their wives so that it won't be a stumblingblock to their wives, lest they throw a block at their block!
106. IF IT IS NO SIN TO YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE DOING IT UNDER GOD'S LAW OF LOVE AND IN THE LOVE OF GOD, THEN IT IS NO SIN TO THEM, if they believe it and they receive your word which is God's Word. If they believe the sample is of God and is the Love of God and they receive it as such, to him it is no sin.
107. SO WHOSO RECEIVES IT IN FAITH, TO HIM IT IS NO SIN, AMEN? To him who receives love in faith, that it's of God and God's Love as you have told him, to him it is no sin if he receives it in faith, because he's receiving the Word of God, he's receiving your word, he's receiving your love in faith and believing it.
108. THEREFORE HE CAN DO IT WITHOUT CONDEMNATION of conscience or feelings of guilt, and should, because he believes your word, God's word, that it's love God's love and therefore to him it is no sin anymore than it is to you. Praise the Lord? Amen! That I believe is the answer which the Lord gave me.
109. WELL, I GUESS IT WAS A VERY NECESSARY ANSWER, because it's probably a problem that does come up and has been wondered about by some of the girls--and boys too for that matter! It's not your fault anymore than it is your fault that they reject the Gospel. (Maria: That same answer came to me. I thought somehow our faith is for them too, they're covered by our faith.)
110. YES, IT'S SIMILAR TO THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THE GRACE OF MARY OR THE SAINTS, for example. They're supposed to have so much grace that they have more than they themselves need personally, so they share some of it with us! Well, in a sense that's true. Your pardon and your atonement and your forgiveness, your love, in a sense atones also for them--if they receive it in faith. But it doesn't do them a bit of good if they don't receive it in faith.
111. IT'S JUST LIKE A PARDON: GOD HAS OFFERED PARDON TO THE GUILTY, BUT IF THEY DON'T RECEIVE IT they'll never get out of condemnation, at least not for a long time, until they do believe it or something. I believe that's the answer, as I looked to the Lord for the leading of His Spirit to give me the right answer and the Scriptures for it.
112. THE CHURCH AND THE DEVIL MADE SEX A SIN--BUT GOD THROUGH US IS RESTORING THE VIRTUE OF HIS OWN CREATION! True love cannot be sin, for God is Love and Love never fails! So how can sex be adultery when given for the love of God! Love is God, so true love can never be a sin! "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me! (Mt.25:40.) "Whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, do all to the glory of God!" (Col.3:17.)
113. THE CHURCH MADE GOD-CREATED SEX A SIN--WE HAVE MADE IT A VIRTUE!--as He Himself intended! Praise God! God bless you with Lots of His Love!--If you can't find it at home or at church, try us! We'll love you!
Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family}
