Sister, the Spirit cannot help you if you “distort” the scriptures, He will not override your will. Our strength to resist SIN arises from every word that comes from the mouth of God and not from the Spirit alone. You have been deceived by “the error of the lawless” teachers, you are using something “hard to understand” in Paul’s writings to “distort” Paul’s message and the rest of the scriptures, where more clearly you “distort” the easy-to-understand passage that I found to say the opposite of what it really says: it says do “forever” as it continues to be done in Israel to this day and you have been taught to say not do.
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. (2 Peter 3:15-17)
Paul said the law is good, he is not eliminating the law, you “distort” his message and that of the rest of the scriptures with “the error of the lawless” that have fallen from the secure position of God: not eliminating the law but quite the opposite, He amplified the law to demand more than before. If it were possible to eliminate the law, Jesus would not have to die. Jesus dies to defend the law, the law remains that, through His death, we can grow again to fulfill the law even more than before. You have not understood the thunder of God with Jesus to keep the law and make us new to keep the law again. Even after our fall into sin, God has opened a way for us to return to obey the law through the daily intercession of Jesus as our High Priest “forever”.
It is “forever” as a witness to a past event in that the Sabbath represents our relationship to our creator who in six days made a home for us on the earth before creating us and rested on the seventh. You have been deceived when the “forever” sign between us and God reveals to you that you are a sinner against the covenant of God and, what is worse, you are helping Satan spread his deceptions.
“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. (Exodus 31:13 NIV)
The Sabbath reminds us that having the power to create us in the first place, He has the power to make us function like new again. You distort the scriptures as we were warned could happen with Paul’s writings (2 Peter 3:16) to keep from seeing the sign between us and God, a sign that Satan wants erased from our minds to keep us deceived to remain far from God even when by the help of the Spirit we desire to be close but our blinded by Satan’s deceptions from seeing in His word how to get closer. We do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, His word is our true strength that helps us remain sinless and Satan wants to distance us from His word by deceiving us about its message.
“it is written” that Paul’s words are difficult to understand (2 Peter 3:16). You are distorting the scriptures toward your own destruction by using a difficult passage from Paul to distort Paul’s message as well as the clearer passage I found. Jesus is our example on how to remain sinless, you do not distort the scriptures, you grow by embracing all His teachings. When tested by Satan to sin against His Father, Jesus responded by citing the will of His Father, expressed in every word that comes from the mouth of God recorded in the scriptures.
The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Mathew 4:3-10 NIV)
Tell me, where did Jesus get His strength to resist the temptations? Did it come from the Spirit or from every word that comes from the mouth of God? If Jesus had not known the scriptures, how would the Spirit help Him resist Satan? The Spirit cannot help you if you choose to distort the word of God when facing temptations, He does not override your free will. The true strength to resist sin arises from every word that comes from the mouth of God, the Spirit cannot help you resist sin without the word of God.
With Jesus in the heavenly temple as our high priest, God internalized the struggle against SIN with a feedback loop faster than before, which can deal with more sin more quickly than was possible externally with the animals in the earthly temple. You are wrong about where the strength to resist SIN comes from, the strength is not in the Spirit but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. It is a sin to forget the holy Sabbath! You have not removed sin by removing the law that exposes sin, you have only numbed yourself to the sin still present. Like taking a pain killer for a toothache, it does not address the cause of the toothache it only numbs you to the presence of the cause, deceiving you into thinking it is gone till it pops up in other ways more systemic. It is not the Spirit that keeps you from sinning, what guards you from sinning is to keep in your heart every word that comes from the mouth of God, the true source of strength that Jesus showed when dealing with Satan’s temptations.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10 NIV)
We have been talking about sin from the beginning, but thanks for reminding me of your questions, I will answer them below.
Sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4 NIV)
Jesus took upon Himself the punishment of breaking the law and gives us the opportunity to grow in newness to observe the law, the Spirit does in us a work that can be seen by others in your capacity to keep the law, something that is not possible without the help of the Spirit, especially in this world where Satan rains to provide constant social pressure to keep you from the true Sabbath until the soon return of Jesus.
The inclination to sin is compensated by the Spirit that provides the freedom to choose that we do not have without Him. The Spirit does not force us to be good, it only gives us the freedom to choose to be good, you still have to love it and make the necessary effort to achieve it. However, we are not alone in that effort, with God all things are possible, even keeping the Sabbath is within our reach in a world that will oppose you, to the point of wanting your death for being a constant reminder of their lawlessness. United in our hope of the soon return of Jesus, Jorge