“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31).

Peter has been criticized through the years because he at times showed a lack of faith. The above passage from Matthew’s Gospel is one example. Peter asked if he could join Jesus out on the Sea of Galilee . That took faith. Jesus permitted Peter to come to Him. Peter “got out of the boat” and started to walk to Jesus on the water, but then Peter took his eyes off the Lord.

The Sripture verse actually says “he was afraid” then he immediately began to sink. The Lord reached out and saved Peter. Then Jesus asked “why did you doubt”? The faith Peter did have was enough to at the least get him out of the boat. I wonder how many Christians today ever truly “get out of the boat”.

Faith is something all Christians claim to have, and rightly so. Peter had faith, but as Jesus said “Oh thou of little faith.” Do we have the same amount of faith Peter demonstrated when he exited that boat to stroll with Jesus on the sea? Can we honestly say yes we have faith enough to move mountains? Faith as big as a mustard seed is all we need, according to Jesus, to move mountains. It’s not how much faith we have but where that faith is placed and in whom. That’s the key. Is our faith in Jesus, God Almighty, or is it in a nonexistent god.

Many times we try to achieve the goals of this life by placing our faith in ourselves instead of allowing Jesus to see us through the inevitability of trials. Peter wasn’t the only disciple who had a failure when it comes to faith. The disciples came to Jesus after their failure to cast out a demon from a child and asked why they were not successful?

“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

Telling the disciples they were in unbelief was a major rebuke. Placing our faith in anything but the Son of God is not faith at all, it’s heresy.

“The eye cannot see itself. Did you ever see your own eye? In a mirror you may have done so, but that was only a reflection of it. And you may, in like manner, see the evidence of your faith, but you cannot look at the faith itself. Faith looks away to itself to the object of faith, even to Christ.” —Charles Spurgeon

“…and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3b).
The Holy Spirit empowers people to proclaim Jesus is the Christ, that He is God our Messiah. The word used in the verse above for Lord in the original Greek is “kyrios” and in Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words we’re told that it is representative of the Hebrew word for Jehovah, Adonay, and Elohiym (God).

There was no doubt in Paul’s mind, as he wrote to the Corinthians, of who he believed Jesus to be. There should be that same steadfast assurance in all believers’ minds of exactly who Jesus is; sadly that is not the case. Peter, as well as the other disciples, watched Jesus approach their boat as He walked across the Sea of Galilee on the water. They all thought they were looking at a ghost. But Jesus wasn’t a ghost and is not a ghost, He’s God and He is Almighty, and He’s alive and dwelling with every believer on earth.

When Jesus speaks to us from the pages of our Bibles it is God Almighty who is speaking, and that’s a fact. It all boils down to faith. Do we place our faith in a lesser Jesus than whom He said He is? Do we have faith in God’s word believing He’s being completely truthful with us? Without complete faith and trust in God’s word we will most assuredly come to erroneous interpretations.
When that happens, we think we have correct discernment, and then we use other scripture verses to enhance our erroneous beliefs, that my friends will begin to take us down a very slippery slope where we begin to question God’s word. Our faith is lacking when we don’t believe God, and in essence we’re calling God a liar.

Peter demonstrated extraordinary faith stepping out of that boat. We’re told Peter actually walked on water, surely a very short walk. Have you ever tried to walk on water? I have, can you guess what happened? Yes, I got wet. Peter believed in Jesus at that very moment that he walked on water.
Ultimately though, Peter had a moment of doubt, and a lack of sufficient faith, and probably he got a little wet before Jesus reached out and grabbed him. There were other times that Peter experienced doubts as he walked with Jesus but eventually he overcame those doubts to the point that he died for Christ. Dying for Jesus Christ would certainly take extraordinary faith.

We’ve all heard, I’m sure, about the young high school girl at Columbine High School who while looking down the barrel of a gun was asked if she was a Christian. When she responded with an affirmative answer those satanic cowards pulled the trigger, killing her, then they laughed about their deed.
By faith, we know she’ll spend eternity with Jesus who she stood up for and we know where those murderers are spending their eternity, but the question is, would our faith hold up while facing such a horrible situation? Presumably all she needed was to say no to their question about being a Christian and they would have left her standing there.

Each day there’s many believers in every part of the world who are experiencing trials and tribulations. Jesus tells us that we will be persecuted for His name sake. Our faith must see us through each trial, by trusting in Jesus’ strength not our own. Just knowing that Jesus is going through each and every trial with us is our comfort.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Faith must be understood spiritually, there’s nothing blind about our faith in Jesus Christ. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear, it points to who Jesus was and is, and where He is and even that He’ll return one day very soon.

We don’t need to be ashamed of our faith in Christ because He is risen and alive and we know that fact to be true. Faith allows the born again believer to see things spiritually, and yet, unbelievers have been rendered spiritually blind simply through their unbelief. Our faith comes to us by hearing, reading, and studying God’s perfect word.

By faith we look at the glory of God, which is all around us, and we marvel at His handiwork. Faith is our tool for reasoning out what God has for us to learn. For example, when we look to the night’s sky and soak in His majesty, those innumerable stars, and the impossibility of all we observe happening by some chance explosion is evident. God gave man the intelligence to learn but faith allows us to see.
“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

Are you too proud to live upright and justly incorporating faith into your everyday life? Adhering to the false premise of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is a very proud and blasphemes attitude. Nothing is possible without God. By faith in Jesus Christ we shall see Heaven someday. By contrast, unbelief will only produce an eternity of fire and brimstone.

All we need to do is to climb out of the boat once in a while, and as we’ve learned through Peter’s doubt, it only takes faith.

God bless you all,

Ron Graham

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

Condemnation is a sphere of entrapment used by Satan and his horde of malevolent misfits to enslave even the followers of Jesus Christ. Every time we stumble and commit a sin the enemy moves in to convince us that we are once again under God’s condemnation.

If you are born again and yet you have allowed the enemy to entrap you thusly, it’s imperative you memorize the above verse. If you don’t fall into that category memorize it anyway. Satan will never stop his attacks. Consider the above verse your security blanket.

“He that believeth on him [Jesus the Christ] is not condemned. (John 3:18a)

With this verse, Jesus’ words confirm the simplicity of salvation; believing “on Him” removes all condemnation “…but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name (Jesus) of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18b.

The simplicity of Jesus’ words come shinning through once again, condemnation is only upon those who reject Him.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)

Although the wrath of God remains on the Christ rejecting world, Christ’s “ekklesia” (the assembly of the called out) has nothing to fear from their Father in Heaven. The wrath of God is not against us nor is it against sinners. Sin is no longer the problem; sin is not what condemns the lost of this world. Not one human being currently in hell is there because of their sins. Since Jesus took the “SIN” of the world upon Himself why would anyone think they go to hell/hades for sin?

Many Christians today believe they are under condemnation because they continue to sin – yet Jesus took all sin upon Himself. As the last verse above plainly states, he that does not believe shall not see life. Because of their unbelief, the wrath of God is upon them, they are the condemned. Interestingly, there’s no mention of sin in that verse.

Jesus (God incarnate), didn’t just die for the sins of the people of the days when He walked the shores of Galilee and climbed the hills of Judea some 2,000 years ago, His death on that cross was intended to be the propitiation which God required. Fully sufficient was His death which is why He spoke this word from that cross “tetelestai” (it is finished). Did you get that? Are we all on the same page here?

“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10:26)

Don’t misunderstand this verse. What Paul is telling us here (yes, I believe Paul is the writer of the book of Hebrews) is that those who have been told about Jesus yet refuse to accept Him as their atonement (their covering) have no further recourse. No more sacrifice is offered that they may be forgiven. The wrath of God is upon them, they are condemned.

So we know that Jesus didn’t just die for past sins but for all sin past, present, and here’s the kicker, future. Wow! What a God, what a Savior we have. He looked into the future as He hung on that cross and He saw you brother, and you sister, and He said “I’m dying today for your sins, all of them.” Is there any reason for us not to love Him? Is there any reason to continue to live under the condemnation of the enemy?

Stop allowing the enemy to have his way with you. He’s committed to instilling fear in you and he does it by way of condemning you each time you commit a sin. He knows what sin you enjoy the most and he capitalizes on that particular sin. He puts things in your path to trip you up so you will always be confronted with the desire that pushes you into your sin. Then he puts the condemnation on you so you feel useless and defeated.

Here’s the rub. When we as born again believers get caught up in some kind of sin we move ourselves away from our God. We become, as it were, estranged from God. Don’t misunderstand, God never moves away from us but we move away from Him as we seek a hiding place out of God’s line of sight so we might commit our sins in private.

Of course it is impossible to move out of God’s sight, and when we come to our senses we are saddened and convicted that we’ve committed an offense against our God. Does any of this sinfulness void our salvation? No!

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29)

Did you notice in the above verse what Jesus does not say “Of course this is all null and void if my sheep continue to sin”? Nothing can ever condemn us again.

When we say yes to Jesus Christ He gives us eternal life and we never die. Everlasting life means just that, no more death. It also means we are no longer under the curse or condemned. Confused? The body dies, yes. But those who reject Christ experience a second death which is the lake of fire. Is it becoming clearer?

The crux of the matter is this, anything that draws you away from God (unrepentant sin) will become a stronghold for the enemy. If Satan can get the children of God to feel pain and sorrow by leading them into his realm of condemnation, then be assured he will attach himself to that stronghold like a leech, sucking the life out of every believer who allows condemnation to reign in their lives.

This is Satan’s most aggressive territory and his scheme in regard to believers is to continually assault us until we become prisoners of our own self-imposed guilt. As born again children of the Most High God we have nothing to fear from Satan. But many Christians allow fear to steal the joy from their lives and that is when Satan and his ilk have them.

These malevolent supernatural beings have only one agenda, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” John 10:10a. Just when you think you’ve prevailed against the wiles of the devil, when you believe you hear the all clear signal you get attacked again. The born again “in Christ” believer cannot let down his/her guard – ever.

I know that there are Bible teachers, and pastors, that teach the opposite of what I’ve just written about, that a born again believer in Christ will lose their salvation when they sin. This false doctrine is very pervasive and it’s taught by those who limit the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on that cross.

These folks are actually doing the enemy’s work for him. When we first believed, we became fully justified (saved) in God’s eyes. That, my friend, is a done deal; nothing can change that. Immediately after we said yes to the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, a very different kind of life’s journey was initiated, and God is the initiator and finisher.

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Nothing can void our salvation. But condemnation will steal our joy.

God began another work in us at the moment we became born again; this new work is called sanctification. This is a lifelong process and will only be complete at the point when we become glorified. These bodies must die (or be taken in the rapture) to become glorified. Therefore sin cannot be a factor in receiving salvation since we continue to sin right up until the day we die. If anyone says they no longer sin they are a liar.

The apostle John makes this clear in his first epistle to the brethren:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10)

We sinned, we sin, and we continue to sin until God takes us home.

So sin is not a factor in keeping us saved, nor is it a deterrent from keeping the rest of humanity from gaining salvation. I hope everyone is on the same page here. Sin can’t negate or void our salvation. But when we do sin we run the chance of falling under the condemnation of the devil. Satan is not going to inflict his torture of condemnation on the lost world, they have no idea they are condemned.
He’s not about to let the cat out of the bag regarding their position and ultimate destination. But he’ll do everything possible to torment the “in Christ” believer, so much so that he may even convince them to give up on life all together. Condemnation is a powerful satanic tool, many a believer lives under its destructiveness.

Even though sin won’t condemn us to Hell it is debilitating. As we grow in our walk with our Lord Jesus we begin to move away from sin because the Holy Spirit, who is sealed within us, convicts us when we do sin. Little by little we become disgusted by the fact that sin still reigns in our bodies. We begin to look at sin as God does. God hates sin, not the sinner. God loves us, all of us. Satan, on the other hand, is the culprit who will never stop trying to enslave us with condemnation.

Here’s something I’m sure many of you have not given much thought to. Those who’ve passed on (have died) and currently reside in hell entertain no false assumptions as to why they are where they are. If those individuals had the opportunity to speak to us (the living), each one would tell us they are there as a result of their rebellion. They now know that no matter how good or bad they were, the only reason they are there is because they rejected God’s free gift of salvation—which is Jesus, our Messiah.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7.

The fact is that Satan has such a short span of time remaining he’s not going to slack off with his darts of condemnation. There’s no doubt that in these last days Satan has increased his attacks exponentially and with the fervor of an unyielding zealot.

Sooner or later all God’s children will be attacked by those satanic darts. But stand fast; they cannot penetrate your God given armor. Sometimes we need reminding of the armor verses of Ephesians 6. Amen?

God bless you all,

Ron Graham