False Ideas about God

What we believe about God does greatly affect our lives and character. After all, Christians are supposed to be “followers of God.” Contrary to what some well-educated and popular men teach, God has NOT:

1. Given His moral laws (10 commandments) SO THAT we break them.  While the law cannot save, but only show–through our disobedience–that we need a Savior, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. It represents God’s perfect will for our lives, not a standard God has placed purposely out of our reach.  Salvation forgives us for our treason and cancels out our sin-debt, gives power to overcome the sins we have allowed to overcome us, and restores us to the loving, law-abiding status of the obedient children of God. According to Jesus, the moral commandments can be summed up in 2 commands–love God supremely and love your neighbor as yourself.  Who among us, who has truly been to the cross of Christ and remorsefully looked upon the One our sins have pierced, rejects the law of love?–Paul said if anyone loves not the Lord Jesus (our King and Redeemer), let him be accursed.

2. Cursed us with a level of depravity from which we cannot repent. When He commands all men to repent, He expects all men and holds all men accountable to obey that command. (Acts 17:30; 2 Pet. 3:9; Luke 13:3, 24:47)  To disobey the command (which is sent from God to lead us to salvation), is to harden our own hearts, to hate knowledge, to set at nought the counsel of God, to reject the fear of the Lord and despise His reproof. Those who do this will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.  For the turning away of the simple shall slay them.  (Prov. 1:31-32)

3.  Unconditionally chosen a few to salvation while unconditionally damning the rest. Jesus said anyone who has seen Him has also seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). Jesus healed all who came to Him (Matt. 12:15; Lk. 6:19) and forgave the sins of all those who demonstrated faith, saying He would reject none who came to Him (John 6:37). Rev. 22:17 clearly says the offer of life is for “whosoever will.”  Furthermore, those who did reject Jesus, did so contrary to His will, for He testified with tears, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I WANTED to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but YOU WERE NOT WILLING!” (Matt. 23:37) If in fact, God destined from eternity past to damn these Christ-rejectors because it was His delighted will for them to perish, Jesus was being facetious at best and purposely deceitful at worst when He wept over this city and charged its people with being unwilling to come.

4.  Limited the atonement for the lucky few.  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (I Jn. 2:2)  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (Jn. 12:32)

5. Forced “irresistable grace” on the select few.  The grace that brings salvation has appeared to ALL MEN–Titus 2:11-12–and CAN be resisted. God is not a rapist. Love allows Himself to be resisted. To say He does not is to make Him less honorable than most earthly men are; few earthly men are dishonorable enough to force their will on a woman. The Pharisees and lawyers REJECTED THE WILL OF GOD for themselves, not having been baptized by him [John the Baptist]. (Luke 7:30)  Stephen testified to his accusers, “You always resist the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 7:51)

6.  Saved people in such a way that they can’t leave Him even if they want to. His command is “Abide in me” and if you don’t, you will be lost.  His command is deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Him, and if you don’t, you will be lost.  His command to those who want to be disciples INDEED (not just in name) is “Abide in my Word.” (Jn. 8:31)  If you don’t, you will be lost.  His command is to get rid of whatever is causing you to sin, lest you be thrown into hellfire (Mark 9:43-48).  He said you must forsake ALL if necessary to be His disciple (Lk. 14:43).  He said if you deny Him before men, He will deny you before the Father (Matt. 10:33).  He said you must endure to the end in faithfulness to Him if you want to be saved (Matt. 10:22, 24:13; Mark 13:13).  The only Savior has given these warnings to those who follow Him; why are so many lying in His name, teaching some form of unconditional “once saved always saved”???

Dear reader, anyone familiar with the TULIP knows that the doctrines refuted above are the core tenants of Calvinism. This insidious doctrinal schema uses select Scripture (ripped from its context) to malign the character of God and the nature of salvation; and it leads to all kinds of evil fruit.

For John Calvin himself, false ideas about God led to his putting to death those who disagreed with him (completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus).  He became a dictator who ruled Geneva (his earthly kingdom) with an iron fist, rather than a servant laying down his own life for his friends as Jesus was. After all, his God was arbitrary and cruel, delighting in the damnation of the wicked, so why should Calvin be any different?  The Protestant churches of the Reformation era, as opposed to the Anabaptist churches which didn’t agree with these doctrines, were marked by rampant sin. False teaching always brings forth the fruit of wickedness.

Today, the problem is worse because so many sin-lovers with itching ears have turned from the truth and heaped up for themselves false teachers to tell them what they want to hear. People blame their sin on God rather than on themselves as they should. They believe if they haven’t repented, it is God who is to blame for not forcing them to be holy while they revel in their sins. They believe continual rebellion and sin is normal Christianity, and the warnings of Scripture somehow don’t apply to them. They believe they are “saved” to continue to do abominations, but with a cover that will shield them from the all-seeing eyes of God and His judgment to come. God forbid. I beg you to see that these lies were planted to stumble millions into thinking they won’t reap what they sow. Do not be deceived. Read the Scriptures and obey them; build your life carefully and deliberately on the truth lest you come at last to be destroyed, and your false ideas about God with you.

Imputed Righteousness–A Transference of Righteousness?

A pastor recently told me that when I was born again, all my sin was transferred (imputed) to Christ, and all His righteousness was transferred (imputed) to me.  How much of my sin was transferred to Christ, he asked?–ALL of it.  Therefore, even future sins would never be “imputed” to me.

I do not believe this view of “imputed righteousness” is correct, and I believe it leads to a whole host of other sin-excusing doctrines, including the infamous “once-saved-always-saved.”  After all, if my future sins cannot be imputed to me, then I have no reason to even feel guilty for them. According to this version of “imputed righteousness,” I can be positionally righteous even while being practically wicked. Or, as some would say, God doesn’t even see my sin–all He sees is Jesus. (Please click here for a refutation of that doctrine.)

Because “imputed righteousness” is a term used in the Bible, and misused and abused by so many teachers, it is imperative that the Christian learn what this term means in biblical context.

Some of the most common verses used to support the doctrine of a transferred righteousness are Psalm 32:2,  Rom. 4:5-25, and James 2:23.  We will look at each passage separately, and I hope to show you that the word “imputed” does not mean “transferred” at all!  Nowhere in Scripture does it expressly say that the obedience or personal righteousness of Christ is transferred to believers, although it is true that Christ’s atoning sacrifice makes our forgiveness possible.

1. Psalm 32:2

Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. (Psa. 32:2)

The context of this verse is David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, and his repentance after being confronted by the prophet Nathan. The previous verse (Psa. 32:1) states, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” David was simply thankful for the blessedness of not having his past sins of adultery and murder counted against him AFTER he repented and was forgiven by God!  If David had not repented of his wickedness, his transgressions would not have been forgiven, his sin would not have been covered, and his iniquity would have been imputed to (counted against) him.

2.  Rom. 4:5-25

⁵But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

⁶Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

⁷Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Here, Paul reviews Psalm 32:2, showing how God imputes righteousness without works. David was not counted as righteous because he worked off his sins of adultery and murder, but because he was forgiven after he repented. It was his faith, working together with his repentance, that was counted for righteousness; the verse does not say that Christ’s perfect obedience was somehow transferred to David. The imputation of righteousness, then, happens at the moment of forgiveness.   A forgiven person is counted as having never sinned and is therefore counted as righteous. 

Please notice the Scriptures do not say that David’s sins were ever unseen by God, but only that they were forgiven by God (and his forgiveness was contingent upon repentance.)  The modern-day doctrine of imputation says God doesn’t even see your sin because Christ’s perfect obedience has been transferred to your account so that God sees Jesus rather than the sinner and his sin.

Notice also the use of the word “imputed” in verse 6 means the same thing as “counted” in verse 5.  David was counted as righteous once he was forgiven by faith.

 ⁹Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

¹²And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Here, Paul is explaining to Gentiles that even “Father Abraham” was justified by faith, not by conformity to the law of circumcision, and he is the father of physically uncircumcised people who also walk in like faith.  Again, notice that the use of the word “imputed” in verse 11 carries the same meaning as the word “reckoned” in verse 9. The truth being taught here is that righteousness is imputed to (reckoned to) the believer by faith, rather than by keeping Jewish law; therefore salvation is open to all Gentiles who will exercise faith like Abraham. Anyone who repents and believes according to the gospel can have their sins forgiven, and righteousness imputed to (reckoned to) them.  In other words, they can be reinstated to a right relationship with God, and their debt of sin can be cancelled or erased–THIS is imputed righteousness.

Nowhere do we see a transference of God’s righteousness to the believer as a covering behind which they can continue in sin, but rather a righteousness (clean record) which belongs to the believer by faith and because of forgiveness. 

²⁰He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

²¹And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

²²And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

²³Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

 ²⁴But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

²⁵Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Again, we see that it was Abraham’s patient faith in God’s Word which was imputed to him for righteousness. He possessed “the righteousness of faith” (vs. 13).  It was not that God’s righteousness was being transferred to him, but that his own faith was counted for righteousness, and his sins were forgiven. And verse 24 tells us that we too can be considered or reckoned righteous if we have the same faith toward Jesus.

3. James 2:23

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

This Scripture is right in the middle of James’ teaching that faith without works is dead. James reminds us that Abraham offered his son Isaac in obedience to God, and his faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect.  According to James, it was this faith made perfect by works that became the basis for righteousness being imputed to him!  Again, nothing here suggests that the “righteousness of Christ” or “Christ’s perfect obedience to the law” was somehow transferred to his account, so that his future sins could be ignored.  Imputed righteousness is simply reckoned righteousness. Abraham was considered righteous in God’s sight because God had forgiven his sins.

To briefly summarize this paper, I believe that “imputed righteousness” is not a transference of Christ’s righteousness to our account, but a personal righteousness that is granted when a person repents and exercises saving faith, and God forgives his sins and declares him righteous (unblemished by sin.)  If a person–after being forgiven and declared righteous by God–returns to his sins, his righteousness will not be remembered (Eze. 3:20; 33:13).  Therefore, to the one who thinks he can hide present-tense sins behind a transferred “righteousness of Christ,” I repeat John’s words, “Let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” (I John 3:7)

For more in-depth study on this subject, please read Imputed Righteousness by Jesse Morrell.  Jesse includes all the uses of the Greek word (logizomai) from which we get “impute” in the Bible,  as well as its equivalent in Hebrew (chashab)–this is very helpful in understanding the application of the word.

God bless you.

An Understanding of Romans 9 Without the Calvinist Spin

Introduction

In this paper, I would like to examine Romans 9 in light of its immediate context and other Scriptures.  This is necessary because this chapter is a favorite of Calvinists, who use it to “prove” that God arbitrarily chooses and forces some men to be redeemed and others to be destroyed, purposely withholding saving grace from some, despite all the Scriptures that assert His desire for all men to be saved.

Although Calvinists claim that Romans 9 eliminates all possibility of ”free will,” this cannot be so, because free will can be plainly seen in the rest of Scripture as something God has sovereignly given to man.  Although God is sovereign, He has given the choice between life and death to men, and urged them to choose life.

I contend that the Calvinist reads into Romans 9 what he already believes is true, because his first loyalty is to the teaching of John Calvin and his followers.

Please read each section of Romans 9 carefully, along with the commentary I have provided. While my commentary is not inspired, I do believe it is more faithful to both the immediate text and the whole counsel of God, than the assertions and assumptions of Calvinism.  May God bless you with understanding as you read.

Paul Sets Up His Topic

Verses 1-9

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,  that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,  who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;  of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,  nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”   That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.  For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

Here the apostle Paul sets up his topic of discussion: his countrymen according to the flesh–national Israelites. This is very important to remember–Paul is speaking of the state of a nation, not individuals.

Paul explains that although most national Israelites are causing him “continual grief” due to their rejection of the gospel, it isn’t that the Word of God has not accomplished what it set out to do.  It isn’t that the promise to Abraham has failed to come true. For “they are not all Israel who are of Israel.”  Not all the physical Israelites belong to the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16)–that is, the Commonwealth of Israel and Household of God to which both Jews and Gentiles belong by faith (Eph. 2:11-22) . Paul is saying that it is not all physical Jews (children of the flesh) who will be saved, but those who are “children of the promise”–that is, all those who have faith like Abraham (Rom. 4:12, 16; Gal. 3:7-14). We must keep this theme in mind when reading the rest of Romans 9.

Verses 10-13

And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac  (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),  it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”  As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Here the word “election” is introduced with the story of  Rebecca’s two sons, Jacob and Esau. Paul took care to say that both sons were born of  “one man…our father Isaac.”  This means that both Jacob and Esau were physical descendants of Abraham.  Esau was the eldest; nevertheless God elected Jacob as the one through whom would come the Savior. Please note that the election did not elect Jacob the man to salvation, but it did elect the nation of Jacob to bring the promised Seed–Jesus Christ.  Therefore, this passage does not say that the man Jacob was eternally saved, or that the man Esau was eternally damned.  Neither does it say that every descendant of Jacob would be saved, or every descendant of Esau would be damned.  It simply tells us that God elected that Jesus would be born through Jacob’s descendants rather than Esau’s, proving that God can choose whomever He wants through whom to do His will.  God proved that He was not bound by the traditions of men to choose the eldest son (and Isaac’s favorite son), but He has authority to choose whomever He wishes according to His own will.

Remembering what Paul taught in the previous section, the right application of the example of the election of Jacob is this: Being physically descended from Abraham does not automatically entitle one to God’s favor. This was a vain hope that many Jews in Paul’s day were holding onto. They believed that being a physical “son of Abraham” made them automatically right with God.  This is why John the Baptist said to the unrepentant Jews:

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matt. 3:8-10)

God has indeed raised up children to Abraham from the living stones who are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. (Eph. 2:19-20)

Just as God–choosing not to be bound by the traditions of men–chose Jacob over Esau through whom to bring the Savior, He was choosing to accept Gentiles as children of Abraham.  It was not “the works of the law” done by the cultural Jew that would save, but God had chosen to save all who met His conditions of repentance and faith (Acts 20:21).

Jacob Have I Loved, But Esau Have I Hated

We have come now to the oft quoted phrase, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”  This sentence deserves extra attention, lest one mistakenly see in it a great injustice on God’s part.  Paul was quoting Old Testament Scriptures, and we must visit those verses if we want to understand the context.

“I have loved you,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “ Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” Even though Edom has said, “ We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places,” Thus says the LORD of hosts:“ They may build, but I will throw down; they shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever.” (Mal. 1:2-4)

First, it should be clear that the Lord was speaking of 2 nations — Israel and Edom (Esau’s descendants). God was not speaking of the two men Jacob and Esau; both men were long dead.  Nor is God saying He chose one race for salvation and another race for damnation. However, God DID choose (elect) one nation through whom to bring the Savior into the world (this had nothing to do with personal salvation.)  In this Malachi passage, God is reminding backslidden Israel how much He has loved them and favored them as a nation.  He sovereignly chose this nation to be used by Him to bless the whole world, and yet the nation (as a whole) had turned against Him!

When God says He hated Esau (the nation), we ought to keep in mind that Jesus also taught this:

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  (Luke 14:26)

Did Jesus mean that we should literally walk in hatred toward our earthly family members?–No. For we are called to love both our brethren in Christ and our enemies, doing good to all.  Obviously Jesus meant that we must esteem (and fear) other people so much less than we esteem Him;  we are to love Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength.  We cannot be the servants of God while we are trying to please men.  In this case, “hate” can mean “to love less by comparison.”  In the same way, God did not bless the nation of Esau in the same way He blessed the nation of Israel. In the Malachi passage, God was calling the nation of Israel to account–for to whom much is given, much is required.  He had blessed them exceedingly, and they had repaid Him evil for His good.

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It is quite true that God had punished the nation of Esau (Edom) by laying waste his mountains.  Did God do this for no reason?

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The history of the nation of Edom is important to study.  Esau himself, though he despised his birthright and thus became an example of one who gives up the spiritual blessings of God for carnal indulgence, did not necessarily die an ungodly man (as many assume). Though he was angry with Jacob and wanted to kill him at one time, when Jacob came seeking forgiveness of Esau, Esau readily forgave him. There is no indication that Esau or his immediate descendants caused any trouble for Jacob’s family (the nation of Israel) for some time. In fact, the house of Esau was under God’s protection at one time:

And command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully.  Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. (Deut 2:4-5)

Furthermore, it is written that God did for national Esau just exactly what He also did for national Israel–that is, He uprooted and destroyed a wicked nation before him and enabled him to take possession of the land.

But the LORD destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place,  just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day.  (Deut. 2:21-22)

The Israelites were specifically commanded not to despise the Edomites (house of Esau).

You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. (Deut. 23:7)

It appears that just as Israel apostasized from following the Lord, the house of Esau did the same. At one time, they apparently had wisdom and counsel:

Against Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?”  (Jer. 49:7)

God tells us exactly why Edom was judged and destroyed. It was not an arbitrary act on God’s part. Edom reaped what Edom sowed:

The pride of your heart has deceived you…For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.  In the day that you stood on the other side—in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem—even you were as one of them. But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity;nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laidhands on their substance in the day of their calamity. You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped; nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress. For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; as you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head. (Obadiah 3, 10-15)

Edom [shall be] a desolate wilderness, because of violence against the people of Judah, for they have shed innocent blood in their land. (Joel 3:19)

For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because he pursued his brother with the sword, And cast off all pity; His anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. (Amos 1:11)

So we see that the nation of Edom/Esau was destroyed by God for SIN. Esau was not “hated” by God–either as a man or a nation–due to some unchangeable “election to damnation” before time began.

Remember:  while God elected Israel as the nation through which Messiah Jesus would come, He is no respecter of persons–but in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him (Acts 10:35).  When Israel was punished by Babylon and Assyria, this did not mean every Israelite lost salvation. There were those in Israel who were faithful to God. Likewise, any persons who lived in the nation of Edom–that feared Him and worked righteousness–were also accepted by Him.

God’s Right to Save Whom He Wills, Independent of Man’s Tradition

Verses 14-16

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

Here Paul maintains that even though some Jews would be lost, there is no unrighteousness with God. He is certainly allowed to have mercy on whomever HE WILLS.  He does not have to conform to Jewish traditional thought, and save all those–and only those–who circumcise their children. God’s Word tells us plainly the man upon whom GOD WILLS to have mercy:

He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. (Prov. 28:13)

For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,  but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Ex. 20:5-6)

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  (Matt. 5:7)

Likewise, Scripture tells us who will NOT have mercy:

Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy.  (Jonah 2:8)

For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. (James 2:13)

Because the majority of the Jews were refusing to repent and rejecting Jesus Christ, clinging to the idol of Jewish nationalism as a means of salvation, God was under no obligation to be merciful to them.

Remember, Paul’s topic is about how most of the physical descendants of Abraham were rejecting the gospel, and not all the physical seed of Abraham are the children of God (vs. 7).   Just as God sovereignly chose Jacob (the nation) to bring Jesus to the world–even though tradition would have chosen Esau–God has the right to sovereignly choose whom to save based on His own will. Just because the Jews WILLED to be saved based on race or tradition, and just because they called Abraham their father–this did not make them saved.  They would have to meet God’s conditions by which He chooses to save men.  To learn those conditions, you have to look elsewhere in the Scriptures.  God chooses to save all those who have the FAITH of Abraham–not the blood of Abraham (study Galatians 3 and Romans 4.)  This promise is open to all, both Jews and Gentiles. Neither the will of man nor the traditions of man will ever change that.

The Example of Pharaoh

Verses 17-18

For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

Here, Paul mentions Pharaoh, whom God hardened. Why did God choose to harden him?  What Paul did not mention here is that Pharaoh also hardened HIMSELF repeatedly against the Lord. God–the Potter–absolutely has the right to harden a man in his chosen rebellion! He will not strive with man forever. This is why we are warned not to reject truth, or God shall send us a strong delusion (2 Thess. 2:9-11)!  And this is why we are told to walk in the light while the light is with us, lest darkness overtake us (John 12:35).

Though the Calvinist reads into this passage that God arbitrarily hardened Pharaoh–not desiring or allowing him space to repent–this cannot be true. For Scripture says, “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11) and that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)  Thus, grace appeared to Pharaoh, for God was not willing that Pharaoh should perish. But Pharaoh resisted grace (as some of the Jews resisted the Holy Spirit–Acts 7:51) until God became his enemy and fought against him. For he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy (Prov. 29:1). Nehemiah 9:10 explains why God used Pharaoh in the way that He did:

You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against all the people of his land. For You knew that they acted proudly against them. So You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.

It was because of Pharaoh’s pride and persecution of the Israelites, coupled with Pharaoh’s hardening of his own heart against God’s command, that led to God’s fighting against him for his own destruction.  God had the right to use even Pharaoh’s rebellion in order to show His own power and make His name great in all the earth.

Once again, remember that Paul’s theme in Rom. 9 is his countrymen after the flesh–the Israelites who do not believe on Christ, and in fact persecuted the followers of Christ. If these Jews reject the truth, does not God have the right to harden them in their chosen rebellion, and use even their rebellion to make His name great in all the earth, meanwhile saving the Gentiles who repent and believe?  Indeed, He does.  As Paul and Barnabas testified so boldly before some of the Jews who rejected the gospel:

It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.  (Acts 13:46)

The Potter and the Clay

Verses 19-23

You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”  But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”  Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?  What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,  and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory.

“Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?“  The Calvinist stresses that God makes the clay into whatever He wishes, some vessels of honor and some of dishonor. While this is true, their error is in assuming that the clay has no choice as to which he will be.

If we look up the Potter and the clay in the Old Testament to see what passage Paul is referring to, we wind up in Jeremiah 18, where God tells Jeremiah to watch and learn from the potter at the wheel.  There we see that when the clay becomes “marred” in God’s hand, He reserves the right to start over so that He can still bring glory to Himself despite the rebellion of the clay. In other words, He has every right to be glorified by our lives, and will be glorified by our lives, whether by our obedience or by our rebellion.  He also declares that if a nation or kingdom (the clay) repents, then He also will repent of the evil He is planning to bring on that nation or kingdom.  God clearly teaches through Jeremiah 18 that the “clay” has a choice! (Don’t take my word for it; read it for yourself!)

Further, there is another passage of Scripture that affirms that we have a choice in whether we will be a vessel of honor or dishonor in the Lord’s hand:

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. (2 Tim. 2:20-21)

If a man “purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor”! He has a choice! Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel [of honor] for the refiner. (Prov. 25:4)   If he does not purge himself from the deeds of dishonor, God will use him as a vessel of dishonor, just as He used Pharaoh’s rebellion to make a name for Himself in the earth.

Now, we must relate the Potter and the clay back to Paul’s original topic.– If the physical nation of Israel had become “marred” in God’s hands though unbelief and disobedience, did not the Potter have the right to pour out on them a spirit of deep sleep (Isa. 29:10), and use even their unbelief for His glory? As it is written in Rom. 11:11, “through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.“  Does this mean that ALL national Israelites are automatically elected to damnation? Paul answers, “Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” (Rom. 11:1)  Paul goes on to say that he hopes to “save some of them [his Jewish countrymen]“ (Rom. 11:14), and that they can still be saved “if they do not continue in unbelief” (Rom. 11:23).

Much is often made of the phrase “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” in vs. 22.  Again, the Calvinist wrongly assumes that vessels of wrath have no choice in how they are being prepared. If a man submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, he will receive mercy. If he “purges himself from these,” he too can be “prepared unto every good work,” according to the promise in 2 Tim. 2:20-21. If he does not, he is being prepared for destruction even now–

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

Paul’s Conclusion

Verses 24-33

even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?  As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.”   “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,‘ You are not My people,’There they shall be called sons of the living God.”  Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:  “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,  the remnant will be saved.For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.” And as Isaiah said before:  “Unless the LORD of Sabaothhad left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.”   What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;  but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.  For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.  As it is written: “ Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Paul here concludes, drawing from many Old Testament Scriptures for proof (shown in italics), that it was always God’s plan to save the Gentiles who believe, and it was never His plan to save men from only one race!  From the beginning, Abraham was told he would be father to many physical nations, not to one nation only.  Paul explains why some of his Israelite countrymen were currently being excluded from salvation. Was it because God desired from the beginning to put them in hell? No–but these were wanting to be saved based on the laws of the Jews, rather than by faith as God requires (vss. 30-32). In Rom. 11, Paul will go on to explain that even these unbelievers can still be saved if they do not continue in their present unbelief.

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Conclusion

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Paul’s main topic in Romans 9 was the NATION of Israel, the majority of which had rebelled against God. God was under no obligation to “save all the Jews” simply because they were physical descendants of Abraham. God will save whom He wants to save. And He has elsewhere declared that salvation is open to all who repent and believe. This was a sore point with some Jews who wanted salvation to be based on race or their lineage to Abraham, but God is the Potter and we are the clay.  He had every right to defy the traditions of men by electing Jacob’s descendants to bring Jesus into the world, and He has every right to defy Jewish traditions by saving Gentiles, and by using Israel’s current unbelief for the good of the Gentiles. He is not a respecter of persons, but “in every nation whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him.” (Acts 10:35)

God bless you!

What Spirit is Working in You?

And you [saints] hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. (Eph. 2:1-2)

I’d like to draw your attention to the last phrase, “the prince of the power of the air [satan], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”  The saints to whom Paul was writing had walked according to the course of this world only in time past.  Since then they had died with Christ, and been raised to a new holy life. Their conduct was no longer disobedient toward God, for those who are disobedient now are still being controlled by satan.

Many profess to be children of God and filled with the Spirit of God. However, the tree is known by the fruit it produces (Luke 6:44).

The Spirit of God is the HOLY Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to and finds rest in only those who obey God (Acts 5:32).  If a man is filled with the Holy Spirit, his works will be holy, for the Spirit working in him will produce fruit after His own kind (holiness). The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love (obedience to God’s commands–Jn. 14:23), joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance [self-control] (Gal 5:22-23).

If the fruit being produced in a man is fleshly and disobedient to God, the spirit at work in that man is the devil. He can say he believes in Jesus all he wants; even the devil himself believes in Jesus. Not only that, but the devil trembles, knowing that Jesus will soon crush him beneath the feet of the saints (Jam. 2:19; Rom. 16:20).  What the devil will not do is obey Jesus. And those who are taken captive by satan to do his will also live in disobedience (2 Tim. 2:26). As their father does, so do they.

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. (John 8:44a)

Those who are doing “the lusts of your father [the devil]” are yet children of the devil.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (I John 3:10)

Are you DOING righteousness? Not merely acknowledging that Christ was righteous, but doing likewise–living as He lived? Have you crucified your flesh with its affections and lusts?–If not, you are not yet Christ’s (Gal. 5:24). If you are still walking after the flesh, be assured that you will die (forfeit eternal life; Rom. 8:13). Let no one deceive you that you can walk after your flesh and yet possess eternal life.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  (Gal. 5:19-21)

Those who DO such things shall NOT INHERIT the kingdom of God. For King Jesus Himself will send His angels to remove from His kingdom all things that cause sin and those who DO sin and cast them into the furnace of fire (Matt. 13:41-42). It makes no difference what you believe in your mind and profess with your mouth, if your works continue to be unrighteous.  For many will say “Lord, Lord” on judgment day, and the Lord will turn them away forever because they did not put His words into practice in their everyday lives (Matt. 7).

So I ask you, dear reader, what spirit is working in you? Is it the Holy Spirit of God, working what is righteous and obedient to the Lord? Or is it the spirit of the devil, working what is disobedient?

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;  neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.  Be not ye therefore partakers with them.  (Eph. 5:3-7)

“Let it not once be named among you,” for the children of disobedience have only wrath to look forward to! Those who live and preach that we can only be disobedient for the rest of our lives have missed the whole purpose of the gospel of grace; they do not understand that Jesus has come to redeem us from all sin and purify for Himself a peculiar people who no longer walk in disobedience, but are zealous for doing what is good (Titus 2:11-14).

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence [lust], and covetousness, which is idolatry:  for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. (Col. 3:5-6)

Again, the children of disobedience will have wrath!  If this describes you, your only hope is to repent of doing evil, and turn to the Lord in obedience, trusting in His sacrifice to atone for your past rebellion.  Do not receive the grace of God in vain; do not do injury to the Spirit of grace by continuing in willful disobedience after coming to know the truth, lest you be considered worthy of greater punishment than those who despised Moses’ law and died without mercy (Heb. 10:26-29).

You must let the devil do his works in you no longer, giving him no place (Eph. 4:27).  Submit yourself to God (letting Him reign and rule in your life); resist the devil, and he will flee from you (Jam. 4:7).  The Son of God to Whom you submit was manifested to destroy the works of the devil (I Jn. 3:8). In becoming Christ’s servant and the servant of righteousness, you will no longer be the servant of sin or the devil. In submitting to His yoke (both His control and His divine assistance), you will find rest for your soul at last.  Follow the Lamb of God–Jesus–who only did what pleased the Father (Jn. 8:29).  As He lived, so you are called to live in this world (I Jn. 4:17).  If you do this, you will have confidence before Him at His coming because you have been abiding in Him (I John 2:28) and His Spirit has been living in you (I Jn. 3:24).

May God bless you and dwell in you by His Spirit!

Refuting Calvinism

This is a very well-written article by Doctor Patrick Johnston, demonstrating how Calvinism is contrary to Biblical reason and sound doctrine.  God bless you!

Refuting What Calvinists Believe with What Calvinists Know

Muting the Objection of Conscience and Creation

There are many Calvinists both dead and living who have earned my admiration over the years. That I believe that they are in doctrinal error does not mitigate my respect and admiration for them as mighty men of God. Some of the greatest open air preachers and evangelists during the first and second Great Awakenings were Calvinists. Calvinists are leading Christendom in the restoration of biblical order for the home, in pioneering Christian home education, and are at the forefront of the attempts to apply the truths of God’s Word to issues generally thought of as secular: public education, welfare, economics, criminal justice, and the lordship of Christ over all matters of life. For that, they have my deep respect.

A Calvinist I deeply admire is Greg Bahnsen, one of my favorite Christian apologists who taught me, through his writings, books, and sermons, the presuppositional approach to evangelism and strengthened my belief in theonomy – the belief that governments and nations should obey God’s Word in all matters. When I prepared to listen to a CD that he preached on the subject of Calvinism, I grew concerned that my worldview was going to come crashing down. I have never heard Bahnsen say anything where he wasn’t overwhelmingly persuasive. I felt for certain he was going to bring a probing application of presuppositional apologetics to prove that Calvinism was true, necessitating a sea change in my theological beliefs.

What I heard from him, however, was the opposite: rather than a vigorous appeal to conscience and creation to prove the veracity of the Calvinist system, he advocated rather a suspension of our rational faculties and the muting of the predictable objection of human conscience. He did so based upon a passage from Isaiah, which is often misinterpreted. I’m sure you’ve heard a preacher say it: “God’s ways our not our ways, and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.” They often take that passage to mean that we just cannot understand God, and therefore shouldn’t try; just accept the truth of His Word by faith. However, a cursory perusal of the passage reveals the gross error in this thinking.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so our my ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your  thoughts.” Isaiah 55:6-9

If your ways aren’t God’s ways, you shouldn’t just accept the conflict as unavoidable – you should repent. If your thoughts aren’t God’s thoughts, you shouldn’t give up trying to think God’s thoughts – you should repent. That’s what this passage plainly means. To interpret this passage to mean that sincere Christians cannot understand God or His thoughts or ways is absurd.

Before one fully embraces the Calvinist system, they must first fall prey to the unstated presupposition that we must suspend our rational faculties and mute the objection of our consciences to simply accept by faith whatever God’s Word says about how He governs. First of all, this is an impractical mission. Without our rational faculties we could not even understand Scripture, much less build a cohesive theological system.  In order for Calvinists to suspend their rational faculties and mute the objection of conscience, they first must engage their rational faculties to come to that conclusion, and enlist the mandate of conscience to submit to the Word of God. Thus, the unstated presupposition of Calvinism is false based upon what Calvinists in fact do. Calvinism’s conclusions so plainly contradict the testimony of nature and conscience that we must constantly be reminded by Calvinists like Bahnsen at the onset of their teaching on Calvinism that “God’s ways aren’t our ways” and we just need to accept Calvinist doctrine in spite of its apparent contradiction to self-evident truths.

Is it not a sin to reason. “Come let us reason together, saith the Lord.” It’s as if Calvinists think that God made our bodies and the devil created our intellect and reason. No, we are to “love the Lord thy God with all thy mind.” (Read More)

God Sees Your Sin, Pt. 3

In the previous post, I wrote out some Scriptures from the Old Testament that demonstrate that once being chosen and favored by God does not make one exempt from living a life pleasing to Him. After entering into covenant with God, one’s future sins are not invisible to God. Many members of “the chosen people” did not inherit the promise because they did not continue to obey the Lord; their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and these things were recorded to warn us that such can happen to us (I Cor. 10:1-12).  Now I would like to examine some New Testament texts that confirm our need for obedience to the Lord after being born into His family, and the consequences for disobedience.

A favorite doctrinal component of Calvinism is that if you have ever believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, or ever had a moment of true faith, His personal righteousness has been imputed to your account once-for-all, and is the only thing God will ever see when He looks at you in the future. In other words, even if you live a wicked life after that and die in sin, God can’t see it; all He sees is Jesus when He looks at you.  If such were true, then not only will He continue to see us as obedient when we disobey, He will be mocked.  He said we would reap what we sow, but we really won’t! He said the wages of sin was death, but we have found a loophole whereby we can sow to our flesh and not reap corruption! He is not only blind, He can’t chastise His children when they do wrong, since He can’t see their sin!

Complete hogwash!

One wonders how God could ever see the righteous acts of the saints, if He can’t see their sin! Do NOT be deceived by these teachings; God will not be mocked. If we sow to our flesh we WILL reap corruption, and God DOES chastise His children when they do wrong. (Gal. 6:7-8; Heb. 12:7) The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. (Prov. 15:3) The Lord is wearied when people falsely say that evildoers are good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them (Mal. 2:17). People who do what is wicked are wicked; only he that does righteousness is considered righteous in the eyes of the Lord (I John 2:29; 3:7).

Jesus taught the following:

The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves…shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (Jn. 5:28-29)

In Matthew 7:21, Jesus taught the importance of DOING the Father’s will (righteousness), not just acknowledging or SAYING “Lord, Lord.” So important is it to DO the teachings of Christ, that the man who DOES them is likened to a house that survives a storm, while the man who does not DO them is likened to a house that is destroyed in the storm for lack of a proper foundation.  Friend, you ARE that house, and you are determining the final destiny of your house by whether or not you are submitting to Christ and doing God’s will. This is FOUNDATIONAL to your spiritual life.  Remember, King Jesus will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend (cause sin) and all persons who do iniquity, and cast them into the furnace of fire (Matt.13:41-42). So serious it is to get the sin out of your life, Christian, that Jesus said it would be better to cut off an offending body-part than to have your whole body “cast into hell.” (Matt. 5: 29-30)

So what if you don’t do as Jesus said, and deal a death blow to the sin in your own life?  Is all automatically forgiven because of His blood shed on the cross?

If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,  but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:   of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? (Heb. 10:26-29)

Friends, this Scripture destroys the license-to-sin doctrine.  If you willfully continue to sin after being sanctified, you are treating the precious blood of Jesus as an unholy thing!  God sees it and views you as worthy of much sorer punishment than the punishments inflicted on those who disobeyed Moses’ law!  When Ananias and Sapphira sinned in the church, was their sin hidden from God’s view? On the contrary, Peter, speaking by the Holy Ghost, rebuked them publicly. Their judgment was swift, and caused the fear of God to fall on the people who heard about it. Paul instructed Timothy to deal with sin in the church in like manner:

Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.   I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.   Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.  (I Tim. 5:20-22)

Instead of following the right ways of the Lord, many in the church instead excuse or overlook flagrant sin, letting it spread like leaven through the whole lump. After all, if a person is considered positionally righteous even when they are doing unrighteous things, then who are they to judge?  False teaching is so dangerous!! Paul instructed the Corinthian church to put the sinner out of the church until he repents!! (I Cor. 5)  To refuse to do so is to be a partaker in other men’s sins and to become defiled.  Remember, the pure religion that pleases God includes keeping oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:27); this presupposes that God sees when we become “spotted.”

In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus–who is God–addresses the church. Does He only see His own righteousness when He looks at them, or does He assess them exactly according to their own works, and command repentance when necessary?  Indeed, Jesus makes some startling threats toward those who will not repent!

“Thou hast left thy first love.  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev. 2:4-5)

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.   Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Rev. 2:14-16)

I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.  Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.   Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.   He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.  (Rev. 3:1-5)

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.  (Rev. 3:15-19)

Please study those two chapters in full, and you cannot fail to see that all the beautiful promises of God are specifically for overcomers. We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). There is no easy way; the easy way taken by most is the wide road that leads to destruction. We must die to ourselves, and strive [make every effort, agonize] to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. (Luke 13:24)

Peter wrote that because the judgment of God is coming, and because we look forward to a new heaven and earth where only righteousness dwells, we must be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless…and beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. (2 Pet. 3:14, 17)  The righteous can be led away with the error of the wicked and fall? Yes!

Paul wrote of those who swerved away from love, a clean conscience, and sincere faith, and so had left the path of life and had only “vain jangling” or “meaningless talk”–the emptiness of religion without God (I Tim. 1:5-6). He wrote that some who had not held onto faith and a “good conscience” (they defiled and hardened their conscience by disobedience), had shipwrecked their faith! (I Tim. 1:19) He wrote that any who refused to provide financially for their own widows had, by his wickedness, denied the faith, and was worse than an infidel (I Tim. 5:8). He wrote that some younger widows, being idle and gossipers, had already turned aside after Satan. (I Tim. 5:15)  In fact, Paul recognized that he himself was not immune to falling away:

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.   And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.   I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:   But I keep under my body [keep my flesh crucified], and bring it into subjection [to God's will]: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (I Cor. 9:24-27, brackets mine)

Paul recognized he could be cast away even after all his dedicated service to God! Just as a man who wants to win a race must be disciplined, so must the Christian life be disciplined, for “if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” (2 Tim. 2:5)  It is possible to begin the spiritual race and not finish the course, which is why we are urged to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and…run with patience [endurance].” (Heb. 12:1)  It is possible to engage in “the good fight” and not compete lawfully, being finally disqualified.

In 2 Peter 2, Peter wrote of false teachers who bring in damnable heresies [such as once-saved-always-saved or "God doesn't see your sin"], even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.  Peter describes these false teachers as having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices. Beware if your spiritual teacher shamelessly claims he cannot cease from sin, and that we must all sin every day in thought, word and deed! They teach such lies because they themselves are spiritually adulterous, loving the things of this world, especially the adoration and financial support of others who love sin and wish to have their ears tickled with sin-excusing lies.  Such teachers allure through the lusts of the flesh those who were clean escaped from them who live in error.  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. And so these wolves pretending to be ministers teach the flock of God that they have “liberty in Christ” to sin all they want! But when a man serves sin, he becomes the slave of sin! His so-called liberty is false! Don’t be deceived. Peter called these who had at first escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and were again entangled therein and overcome worse off than they were before they knew the Lord!  They were like dogs returning to lick up the vomit they had expelled, or pigs washed from their filthiness returning to their filth.  Truly this is receiving the grace of God in vain!

Dear reader, it is possible to deny the Lord by your disobedient works (Titus 1:16). Consider this carefully:

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Tim. 2:19)

This is the foundation of the Lord, and will not change despite the empty promises of false teachers.  How do you then depart from iniquity? David said a man could cleanse his way by taking heed to God’s Word (Psa. 119:9)  It is by abiding in Christ that His good fruit will be manifest in your life (John 15).   I John 3:6 teaches that whoever abides in Jesus does not sin! When you go astray, it is directly due to your not abiding in Christ.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.  (John 15:7)

Paul said, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:2-3)  We must CHOOSE the things above or the things of this earth. We must CHOOSE to mortify our members which are on this earth, and to follow the things that please the Lord, because the wrath of God is coming on the children of disobedience (Col. 3:5-6).

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy post!  I hope it is clear to you that in both Old and New Testaments, God’s covenants with men are conditional. If you have not already, please study both testaments on your own, asking God to open your understanding to the Truth. He has promised wisdom to those who ask, and He has promised to be found of those who seek Him with their whole heart.  He is the God of love, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a peculiar people zealous for good works. His grace teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world (Titus 2:11-14). I pray that you do not receive the grace of God in vain! I will leave you with this powerful statement by the Apostle Paul:

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Rom. 8:13)

God bless you!

God Sees Your Sin, Pt. 2

In this post, I would like to present you with Old Testament Scriptures which demonstrate that God deals with people on a day-to-day basis. He makes conditional covenants (agreements) with people, but if the people violate the conditions for blessing and refuse to repent, God is not bound to bless them still. The covenant has essentially been broken. Though God is merciful and loves to forgive, He does not blind Himself to the future sins of His people, allowing them to sin all they want and still remain under His protection and grace.

Some will argue that the Old Testament has no bearing on the lives of New Covenant believers, but this is error. We must remember that Jesus and all the New Testament teachers taught new believers from the Old Testament! It is applicable because God changes not. His character in the Old Testament is still the character He has today. There is a newer and better covenant in place, with a greater High Priest and more precious promises, but God remains the same covenant God, whose conditions must be met if one is to remain in His favor.

The Old Testament Judaic law was a shadow of things to come (Heb. 10:1)–meaning it was a type, from which we can draw truth and parallels relating directly to the present gospel time. Paul wrote exactly that in I Cor. 10:1-12, warning Christians that although the Old Testament Israelites had exited Egypt (symbolically: separated from the world), lived under the cloud (symbolically: enjoyed the protection of God), were baptized in the cloud and the sea (symbolically: old man crucified in baptism, resurrection to a new life as God’s child), ate spiritual meat (symbolically: partook of the True Bread, Jesus), and drank of the Rock who is Christ (received living waters), most were still overthrown in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land. Why? They lusted, committed idolatry, fornicated, tempted Christ, and murmured in continual complaint, being unthankful. All these things happened to them, and were carefully recorded for examples to us, according to Paul!!

Therefore, we under the New Covenant can be sure that if we do the same things the Old Covenant people did, we will suffer the same fate. Though we have at one time separated from the world, enjoyed God’s protection, been baptized in Jesus, and feasted at the table of God, it is possible that because of our future sins, we will not receive the promise.  For this reason, the writer of Hebrews admonishes us,

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. (Heb. 10:36)

It is imperative for those of us who have faith in the promise of God to DO THE WILL OF GOD with PATIENCE–BEFORE we receive the promise!

Listen to the promise of God given to Israel in Deut. 31:8–

And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

Right after Moses delivered this wonderful promise to Israel, God gave him a snapshot of the future; Israel would “rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.” What would happen next? Would God overlook their future sin and “never forsake them”?–

Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? (Deut. 31:16, 17)

When Joshua’s men suffered defeat at Ai, he sought answers of the Lord. Hadn’t the Lord promised to be with them? Why was He not keeping His promise? The Lord’s answer:

Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (Josh. 7:11, 12)

Clearly, God’s promise to be with Israel was conditioned upon their remaining separate from “accursed things.”  God’s present favor is not a promise of unconditional future favor, no matter what you do.

If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. (Josh. 24:20)

The same warning was given to Solomon, a man gifted with wisdom from God:

Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.  (I Chron. 28:9)

Azariah, speaking by the Spirit of God, said the following to King Asa, and the people of Judah and Benjamin:

The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. (2 Chron. 15:2)

Let us not forget David, the man after God’s own heart, the shepherd king chosen to replace the backsliding King Saul. When he took another man’s wife and had her husband killed, “the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” (2 Sam. 11:27)  The Lord did not overlook the sins of the man He had chosen. Many people believe that David remained in a perfectly safe, “saved” condition during the long period of time before he repented, but the Bible does not make this claim–contrarily, it claims that unrepentant adulterers and murders will not inherit the Kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9; Rev. 21:8). Certainly, God’s mercy was extended to David in that he did not die in an unrepentant state, and His hand was heavy on David leading him to repentance. David could have hardened his heart at Nathan’s rebuke; thankfully, he did not.  We should not conclude from this story that David was an adulterer who was saved (unbiblical), but that God saw David’s sin and expected repentance.

In Ezekiel 8, the prophet was encouraged by God to look upon the wicked abominations–and greater abominations than these–being committed in the house of God. Was this not the house that once had the glory of the Lord resting upon it? (I Kings 8:11) But now God was angry at what the people were doing, so angry that He said,

Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. (Ezek. 8:18)

Dear reader, God judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day (Psa. 7:11).  He does not turn a blind eye to the future deeds of those who are presently considered “righteous.” In fact, He declared that if a righteous person turns from past righteousness  to future sin, none of his past righteousness will even be remembered! (Ezek. 3:20; 18:24-26; 33:12) A righteous person’s future sins are not invisible to God! Dare you say to the all-seeing God, “You can’t see what I’m doing”?

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? (Isa. 29:15)

The Lord says to His chosen people that turn to sin, “I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins.” (Amos 5:12) Not only does He know them, but “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Eccl. 12:14)  If you cover your sins (perhaps with unbiblical arguments like “God doesn’t see my sin”), you will NOT PROSPER, but if you confess AND FORSAKE them, you will have mercy (Prov. 28:13).

Although Israel had a covenant agreement with God whereby his sins could be covered and forgotten, his refusal to obey God’s voice, and his continuation in wickedness made his iniquity to be remembered (Ezek. 21:24). Because the people refused to restrain their wandering feet, the Lord no longer accepted them, but would now “remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.” (Jer. 4:10)

This doctrine that “God doesn’t see my sin” grieves the heart of God, who desires to heal backsliders of their ways if only they would “consider…in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.” (Hos. 7:1-2)

Apostasy was so rampant when the prophet Jeremiah was preaching, that the Lord directly said to the people, “I will utterly forget you…I will forsake you…and cast you out of my presence.” (Jer. 23:39)  Because the people transgressed the covenant and “cast off the thing that is good,” counting the “great things” of His law “a strange thing,” the Lord would no longer accept them, but would remember their iniquity and send them back to Egypt! (Hos. 8:3, 12, 13)  Because the people went whoring away from the God who loved them, and insisted upon corrupting themselves, He would “drive them out of His house,” “love them no more,” and “cast them away.” (Hos. 9)

The Israelites were taught by God, through the Levitical system, how costly sin was by seeing their innocent beasts die for their sins. Whatever sins were remitted by the shedding of blood would not be remembered against them. It was not a one-time deal, but a lifestyle of obeying God’s voice, examining themselves, and making appropriate offerings to God while seeking His forgiveness and favor. A man who became careless with the things of God was “cut off from his people.” Although the blood of animals cannot take away sins, these things were written for examples to us, and for our admonition (I Cor. 10:11).  Our offering for sin is the blood of Jesus Christ (shed once for all time), but this does not negate the fact that we must live lifestyles of obeying God’s voice, heeding His correction, examining ourselves sincerely, confessing and forsaking sin while seeking the Lord’s forgiveness, and looking to the crucified & risen Lamb of God with faith in His blood.  Carelessness and callousness can still result in being “cut off.” I will discuss this same theme in New Testament Scriptures in the next post.

God bless you!

Go to Part 3

God Sees Your Sin, Pt. 1

One of the fallacies that is repeated in many churches is that when you become a Christian, all sins–past, present, and future–are forgiven, and God no longer acknowledges your present or future sin.

This belief, although prevalent today, does not adhere to either logic or Scripture.

To embrace this doctrine is to assume that God cares so little about His own righteous laws and the people He created, that he gives a blank check–a license to sin– to all who were ever sorry for sin at one time.

The reason this error (that God doesn’t see our sin) is so readily embraced is because people WANT to believe it. Often they want to believe it is because they don’t want to give up their sin. But it simply isn’t true. If you are a sinner clinging to this refuge of lies, please understand that any false refuge will disappoint you in the day of judgment.  It is imperative for you to know and obey the truth if you want to be truly free.

Do we really think that the righteous moral Governor of the universe, whose laws are good and right and lead to the happiness of all men, forgives criminals in such a way that they can continue to be criminals against God and men without consequence?  Is the God of Love willing to pardon criminals unconditionally, even while they continue their crimes against others? How loving is that toward those being sinned against?  Would any earthly government worth its own salt operate this way–freely pardoning criminals who have no intention of stopping their crimes? Would you want a child molester pardoned once for all, even if he continued to molest? How loving or merciful would that be to the children he continued to hurt? Wise love must look out not only for the transgressor’s welfare, but also for the welfare of those who have been hurt by the transgression, and those who will continue to be hurt if the transgressor’s heart is not changed.  The criminal must stop committing crimes.

A sinner is a person who breaks God’s laws (I Jn. 3:4). The reason he needs to be forgiven and “saved” is because he has not obeyed the law of God, but has chosen his own way and justly deserves death.  The reason there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood is because sin is very serious!! Simply pardoning a criminal does not erase the crime already committed, nor does it always reform the criminal’s heart to curb future offenses. The shedding of innocent blood for the guilty (under both Old Covenant and New Covenant) was meant to bring about a heart change in the criminal–he must hate the crime he committed, recognizing that it brought harm to everything that is good, if he is ever to become a voluntarily law-abiding citizen–and this is God’s goal, to make voluntary law-abiding citizens in His Kingdom!  In fact, all “things that offend, and them which do iniquity” will be cast out of His Kingdom into a furnace of fire (Matt. 13:41-42).  The Kingdom of God is for those who willingly submit to its King.  The blood of Jesus displayed the tremendous mercy of God toward His enemies, and is meant to produce a holy hatred for sin in the repentant soul.  It is able to cleanse away not only the sin committed but also guilt in the conscience.

The giving of oneself to sin/lawlessness produces slavery in the soul (Rom. 6:16). A man needs supernatural help to escape from this slavery. And so God sent His Word to heal us, He proclaimed His gospel of salvation to us, and He shed His own blood to change our hearts from rebellious to submissive, to atone for sin, and to erase the guilt of our past crimes so that we are free to serve Him as fully forgiven children.

Past crimes? Not present and future crimes too?

Christ Jesus:  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the REMISSION OF SINS THAT ARE PAST, through the forbearance of God. (Rom. 3:24-25)

While it is true that the body of Jesus Christ was offered “once for all” (Heb. 10:10), when we come repenting of a life of rebellion against God, we come to the King and ask forgiveness for having been lawless citizens in the past. It should be understood that we must lay down our arms and surrender if we wish to be pardoned!  We come as those whose hearts have been moved and changed by the self-sacrifice of this King–though we once proudly resisted Him, now we know He is all-wise, all-loving, all-merciful, and worthy to be obeyed. We come ready to submit to the King’s commands from henceforth because we know that in His commands is life (John 12:50).   We come as those sorrowful for our past sins, ready and willing to take His good yoke upon us and learn from Him the way we should walk in–we intend to be lawless citizens no more. Beloved, if we do not come to the King of the Universe this way, we do not receive a real salvation. Sorrow for sin brings repentance unto salvation (2 Cor. 7:10), and this salvation is the salvation from sin’s bondage. It is not merely a get-out-of-jail-free card. No, Jesus did not die so that you could admit you are a sinner, say “thanks” in a trite prayer, and continue to sin without consequence. He died to set you free from sin, to purify for Himself a peculiar people who are zealous to do good (Titus 2:14). He commands you to abide in Him and follow Him continually, so that you can produce good fruit instead of the evil fruit you produced when you followed your flesh!

Listen to the inspired words of Peter:

His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:  whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature (holiness!), having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;  and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;  and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if (IF!) these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Unfruitfulness will lead you to being separated from the Vine and thrown into the fire!–John 15.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be burned!–Matt. 3:10)

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (Purged from old sins, not future sins.)

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if (IF!) ye do these things, ye shall never fall:  for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  (2 Pet. 1:3-11)

Clearly, there are conditions to never falling. The doctrine that all sin–past, present, and future–is forgiven in a moment, and God chooses to blind Himself to our behavior for the rest of our lives, is a doctrine that reassures sinners and encourages them to stay on the wide road that leads to destruction.  When they experience guilt for their sin, they tell themselves there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, forgetting that the rest of the verse defines “those in Christ Jesus” as being those who are not obeying their flesh, but are obeying the Spirit of God. (Rom. 8:1, KJV) Sometimes they try rebuking the devil for their guilt, instead of confessing and stopping the sin that is causing the problem!

Walking with Christ (salvation) is characterized by freedom from sin and willingly serving righteousness.  Though we used to yield our bodies as servants of sin, now we yield our bodies as servants of righteousness unto holiness (Rom. 6:18, 19).  He that commits sin is of the devil, and Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (sin) in our lives, not to merely overlook them. Only he that does what is righteous is considered righteous in the eyes of the Lord, which are in every place, beholding both the evil and the good (I Jn 3:1-9; Prov. 15:3).

Now, it is still possible to sin after being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore–

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (I John 2:1-6)

The goal is to sin not, but if a man sins, he can be reconciled to God through the advocate Jesus Christ, returning to keeping His commandments once again, and walking as Christ walked. His sin can be cleansed away–

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (I Jn. 1:9)

Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, guides us and corrects us. We have a responsibility to listen to His voice and follow Him (Jn. 10:27), submitting to His correction if we go astray.

My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. (Prov. 3:11-12)

The Lord chastens us “for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness,” without which, no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:10,14). But–hear this warning–”he, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Prov. 29:1)

There are more passages of Scripture that teach that our present and future behavior has a direct bearing on our final salvation, and these we will discuss in a future post. God bless you!

Go to Part 2

The Field is the World

When discussing the rampant sin in the professing church, how often have you heard, “The church is full of wheat and tares. We can’t tell the difference between the two, so we just have to wait until the end and let God remove the tares.”

I submit to you that this is a wrong interpretation of the passage in question, Matt. 13:24-30. Let us examine it.

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:  but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.   But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.   So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?   He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.   Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Notice that when tares appeared, the servants of the householder immediately recognized them as tares rather than wheat.  Servants of God can recognize the children of the devil and the children of God. “For every tree is known by his own fruit.” (Lk. 6:44)

Later in the chapter, when the disciples asked Jesus to help them understand this parable, Jesus declared the following:

He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;  the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;  the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.   As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;   and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.   Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (vss. 37-43)

The field is not the church. I repeat, THE FIELD IS NOT THE CHURCH!  The place where wheat and tares must be allowed to co-mingle until the end is THE WORLD.  In the world, there will always be wicked people and righteous people. If the righteous were to go about “gathering up” the tares (killing them!) before the appointed time, it would bring hurt to the wheat. Instead, the righteous must wait patiently for the angels to gather “all things that offend, and them which do iniquity” and cast them into the furnace of fire.  Vengeance is the Lord’s, and He will repay. Untold harm has come to the testimony of the church when “holy wars” have been carried out in the name of Christ. These are the premature “gathering of tares” to which Christ was referring. While the door of salvation stands open, it is still possible for the children of the devil to repent and believe, and become children of God. In the meantime, the servants of God must be content to allow the wheat and tares to grow up together in THE WORLD (not the church!)

Now it is true that wicked men have crept into the church unawares, perverting the doctrines of God (Jude 4), but that is another subject.  The subject at hand is whether or not the righteous (wheat) and the wicked (tares) are permitted to grow up and produce fruit together in the church.

The belief that the the field of wheat and tares is the church, rather than the world as Christ taught, has caused leaven to spread unchecked in the church. This parable has been wrongfully used to ignore the Apostle Paul’s admonitions in I Cor. 5 to:

MOURN over sin in the church (vs 2),

JUDGE the deeds of wicked men in the church (vs 3, 12),

DELIVER sinners to satan for the destruction of the flesh (vs 5),

PURGE the leaven of sin out of the church (vs 7),

STOP having fellowship with wicked people who profess to be Christians (vss 9-11), and

PUT such people “away from among yourselves” (vs 13).

If we are to do all these things, is it not obvious that we must first judge the tree by its own fruit?–that we must discern whose works are inspired by the devil?

Paul asks in I Cor. 6:3-5,

Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?  If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.  I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

Paul is reproving the church for failing to judge appropriately! Is there no one in the church who is wise enough to judge between what is good and evil? How can this be, among the very people who will judge angels?

Again, in Eph. 5:3-7, Paul writes:

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;  neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.   Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.   Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

We, the saints, are not to allow wicked people to remain “among us” in the church, turning a blind eye to their wicked works, saying “God will deal with the tares in His own time.” We are to purposefully refuse to be partakers in other men’s sins, and to keep ourselves pure (I Tim. 5:22). This means there must be church discipline. The sinner must be confronted in love, and commanded to repent. If he does not repent, we must separate from his company. There is not to be a mixing of holy and profane in the house of God, but a distinct difference between the two. It is this very mixing of holy and profane that has caused untold reproaches to fall unjustly on the name of Christ!

When sin is rampant in the church, and you hear the tired excuse, “God will deal with the tares in His own time,” and “it isn’t for me to judge,” remember that Jesus said THE FIELD IS THE WORLD.  Stand against the false teaching that the field is the church. The Bride of Christ that Jesus will come for is a pure Bride that lives in daily communion with Him, hearing His voice and following Him, and having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness that the children of the devil continue to produce.  Obey the Holy Ghost-inspired words of Paul–”Put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”

God bless you!

 

Legalism, Obedience, and the Apostle Paul

If you are a Bible-believing Christian who loves Jesus, keeps His commandments, and teaches others to keep His commandments, you’ve probably been called a “legalist.” According to those who bring this charge against you, the Apostle Paul would have called you a legalist too.

The argument goes something like this: If you think you have an obligation to obey God, you have a works-based salvation. You can’t earn your salvation, so you can’t lose it no matter how much you disobey God. Believing and teaching that you must obey God is legalism.

This is an astonishing charge, since part of the great commission is teaching others to obey Jesus’ commands! (Matt. 28:19-20)

It is assumed by many people that the Apostle Paul equated careful, love-motivated obedience to God’s moral law with legalism, but this is simply not true. Where Paul taught that “the law” has no bearing on salvation, he was not  referring to loving adherence to God’s moral commands, but to the keeping of the Judaic law.

Paul taught repentance and faith to every person (Acts 20:21). A person who repents (God’s first requirement) is a person who turns away from known lawbreaking (sin) and submits to the law of God, indeed has the law of God written on his heart. Without this heart change from rebellion to submissive obedience, there is no salvation possible. When Paul taught repentance, he was essentially teaching transgressors to return to obedience to God.

Where Paul asks, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:2) he is reminding the Galatians that they were not saved by attending to Jewish ceremonial laws (such as circumcision), but by receiving the Word of God with real faith (the kind of faith that is not a hearer only, but a doer of the Word–James 1:22). Paul had to spend considerable time refuting the troublesome Judaizers, who confused new Gentile converts by teaching them that unless they became good Jews–celebrating the correct feasts, being circumcised, etc.–they could not be saved. While there is nothing wrong with attending to such Jewish practices, and there is some spiritual benefit for those who recognize their typological significance, they remain only shadows of the true spiritual heritage we have in Christ, and are not mandatory for salvation. Anyone who attempts to make these old covenant requirements, or some other man-made requirements, binding for salvation is a legalist in the true Biblical sense.

The truth is that Paul himself would be considered a legalist by many today, if only they would pay close attention to all that he wrote! Unfortunately, many teachers today wrest some of his teachings from their context, while ignoring others, in order to uphold their false, sin-excusing doctrines.  Apparently men were already wresting Paul’s teachings to their own destruction in Peter’s time, and Peter acknowledged that some of Paul’s writings could be hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16). However, there can be no doubt that Paul taught Christians to obey God’s moral law, which is the same law summed up by Jesus as love to God and love to neighbor, upon which all the law and prophets hang (Matt. 22:37-40).

Notice that Paul taught the Jewish rite of circumcision has no bearing on salvation, while obedience to God’s commands is extremely important.

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. (I Cor. 7:19)

Please examine these important teachings by Paul:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.  Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise. (Eph. 6:1-2)

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (I Cor. 6:9-10)

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:19-21)

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience…But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. (Col. 3:5-9)

Noting the highlighted portions of the previous verses, it should be clear that Paul taught people they must obey their parents, must not have any gods before the Lord (idolatry), must not covet, must not lie, must not steal, must not murder, must not take the Lord’s name in vain (blasphemy), and must not commit adultery (among other things). Paul has here upheld 8 of the 10 moral commandments, and has clearly stated that some of these sins will exclude one from the kingdom of God! Here is the ninth:

If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (I Cor. 16:22)

Is Paul not teaching that we must LOVE the Lord our God (the first commandment) or be cursed?

Truly, the law of God was written on Paul’s heart, and he taught others to obey God. His problem with “legalists” was with those who wrongfully insisted that Gentiles convert to Jewish ways, not with those who obeyed God’s moral law from the heart!

 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Rom. 6:16

What? Obedience leads to righteousness? Indeed it does, and here Paul agrees with John, who wrote that only those who DO RIGHT are considered righteous! (I Jn. 3:7) Paul also wrote the following:

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Rom. 8:13

That’s a big IF, friends. According to Paul, you have to mortify the deeds of your body by the power of the Spirit if you want to retain spiritual life. And Paul lived what he preached–he kept his own body under subjection lest after preaching to others he himself should be a castaway (I Cor. 9:27).

One last, very important passage by Paul:

God, who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:  but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:  for there is no respect of persons with God. (Rom. 2:6-11)

What did Paul say would happen to those who do not OBEY truth?–They will have indignation, wrath, tribulation and anguish! What did Paul say one must do to receive eternal life?–Patiently continue in well-doing (doing what is right or LAWFUL according to God’s standards!)

It truly is amazing that anyone would believe or teach that lawlessness is permissible in the Kingdom of God. To be part of this kingdom, one must faithfully serve its King!! Remember dear friends, Jesus Himself testified:

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND ALL THEM WHICH DO INIQUITY;and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:41-42)

God bless you!