In order to receive moral deliverance you have to be serious with the Lord. No one can lay hands on you and deliver you until you really and truly want to get rid of the sin. There is ample authority and power in the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver you; He is waiting for you to make up your mind that you are through with the sin.

An ounce of resisting the devil is worth ten thousand gallons of rebuking the devil. You resist the devil and let Jesus do the rebuking.

I am speaking of a real experience, as real and actual as having our sins forgiven; being born again; receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Having sins removed from us is the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, a Jewish feast that follows the feast of Pentecost.

We are in a new day, and we must look to the Lord Jesus carefully, at all times, so we do not miss the day of our visitation.

Let's look at some passages of the Book of Hebrews and consider them in the light we have just mentioned.

How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. (Hebrews 2:3)

These Jewish Christians, to whom the book is addressed, had all the experiences and knowledge of the Word that we have today. Yet they are warned and exhorted sternly throughout the text. We understand from this that the writer was not speaking of a sovereign, eternal forgiveness unrelated to our behavior.

And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? (Hebrews 3:17,18)

The above passage would have no application to Christians if under the new covenant we were perpetually forgiven by a Divine, sovereign, unending grace.

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. (Hebrews 6:7,8)

Christian who do not continue to walk with the Lord until the fruit of Christ's character is seen in their behavior are in danger of being cursed and burned a severe warning indeed and completely at odds with current teaching and preaching.

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case things that accompany salvation. (Hebrews 6:9)

There must be "things that accompany salvation." A "faith" in Christ that does not produce a transformation of our behavior, from sin to righteousness, is no faith at all. It is a modern form of Gnosticism. The believer who does not bring forth the moral image of Christ in his or her character will be cut from the Vine, from Christ.

To be continued.