We can’t understand the spiritual teachings of the Father without understanding sin in the spiritual realm. The common definition for sin is a transgression against divine law. Christ taught us that sin goes beyond these transgressions. Christ said, “whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
In the spiritual realm of the Word, God is peace (Isaiah 9:6). As in the day of Midian the Father was Jehovahshalom (Judges 6:24). Sin is the disturbance of peace in the spiritual realm. Christ taught us that sin must be considered in the spiritual realm of thought and emotion. The law (i.e., our Lord) was given to make peace. Sin exist before we transgress against law because the Father uses desire (i.e., disturbance) to instruct us (Psalm 32:8).
We either become slaves to our desires or remain righteous (John 8:34). Whether or not we remain righteous depends on how we interpret our desires. The Father declares things that are right so that we may have guidance while interpreting the sin we feel in our hearts (Isaiah 45:19). When we desire a woman, the Father declares that we must interpret this sin as an instruction to find a wife. Life is instruction and we are told to keep our hearts with diligence because from it flows the Father’s issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
The sin that we experience in our hearts in the form of desires can deceive us. The scriptures teach us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We must know that sin comes as a disturbance of our peace to make us move. We feel hunger before we starve and fear before we perish. The spirit of the Lord is our provider always working ahead of us.
The law was given to enable us to interpret our sin to remain peaceful. Christ said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Christ taught us how to reorder the confusion in our hearts. The law was given to make peace and love is peace making. Therefore, we are considered children of God when we are peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).The scripture teaches us to be wise for ourselves (Proverbs 9:12).
The Father gives us sin that we may learn to reorder our confusion. We are given sin and the knowledge of the Holy One to interpret the Father’s issues of life. The good man who decides to grow peacefully brings good from the good treasures of his heart, but an evil man who does not decide to grow peacefully brings evil from the evil treasures of his heart (Matthew 12:35). Whether we are good or evil in spirit is determined by our ability to interpret our desires.
The scriptures teach us this saying, “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching the inward parts of his belly” (Proverbs 20:27). Having the ability to reorder the confusion in our hearts is what makes us eternal. The scriptures teach is this saying, “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit” (Proverbs 15:4). A wholesome tongue is a thought pattern that reorders our confusion, but perverseness is a thought pattern that forsakes the law of God. The scriptures teach us that perverseness within us will cause us to develop a spiritual breach. Evil is nothing in the place where something should be. This voidance will cause us to fall into an endless state of desire (Haggai 1:6).
The evil that enters our hearts will only make us evil if we are unable to reorder it. God will not condemn us for having evil in our imaginations. God only condemned men because the imaginations of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). Christ taught us that it is a must that offenses will come (Matthew 18:7), but we must study the word of God to develop a wholesome tongue. Only then will we have the knowledge of good and evil and a tree of life (Job 28:28).
