Preacher, What
Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?
By Harry A.
Peyton
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
DEDICATION &
ACKNOWLEDGMENT (4)
A WORD OF
ADMONISHMENT (4)
PREFACE (11)
FOREWORD (13)
INTRODUCTION (14)
CHAPTER 1 MAN’S LOST OF IMMORTALITY (15)
Man’s Condition before Sin
Man’s Condition after Sin:
Physical, Spiritual and Eternal Death
CHAPTER 2 GOD’S OLD COVENANT (21)
Law vs Grace Demonstrated and Revealed in the Garden
of Eden (What Did the Tree of Knowledge
of Good
and Evil Represent in God’s Plan of Salvation; Why Did
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Bring Death; What
Did the Tree of Life Represent in God’s Plan of Salvation; God’s Promise of Eternal Life Was
Fulfilled in the Seed of the Woman, Who Was Christ)
Old Testament Salvation
Portrayed by Animal Blood Sacrifices
The Mosaic Covenant: The Mosaic Law System and the
Pharisees; God’s Offer of Eternal
Life in the Mosaic Law System; The Entire Mosaic Law System Had to Be
Abolished, So Eternal Life Could Come Through Christ; How Did the Mosaic Law
Doctrine of Salvation Enter into God’s New
Testament Church; Holiness: The Believer’s Loving Response to God’s
Grace; God’s Three-Fold Purpose in Giving His Holy Laws to His Old and New
Testament Children.
CHAPTER 3 GOD’S NEW COVENANT (47)
What Is the Gospel of the New Covenant
When and Where Did the Gospel of the New
Covenant Begin
Was the Thief on the Cross
Saved under the Terms of the New Covenant
Who Are
the True Ministers of the Gospel of the New Covenant?
Can Christians Be Deceived by
False Prophets Concerning the New Birth
CHAPTER 4 FOUR STEPS IN OBEYING THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST (56)
First Step: The Essentiality of Living Faith
Second Step: Faith that Leads
to Confessing Christ as Your Lord and Savior
Third Step: Faith that Leads
to Repentance
Fourth Step: Faith that Leads
to the New Birth of Water and Spirit
CHAPTER 5 GOD’S NEW BIRTH MESSAGE (69)
Water and Spirit
Baptism Is How the Believer Enters into Jesus’ Death, Burial, and Resurrection
The Apostle Paul
Taught the New Birth Consisted of Water and Spirit Baptism
The Blood of Jesus
Is Applied at the New Birth
Water Baptism Is the Place Where
God Performs Heart Surgery on the Believer
The Importance of Water
Baptism in the New Birth
Where and When Did the Apostle
Paul Experience the New Birth
Old Testament Typology
Confirmed Jesus’ Teaching on the New Birth
All Ancient Preachers Taught
the New Birth Consisted of Water and Spirit Baptism
Many of the Reformers Taught
the New Birth Consisted of Water and Spirit Baptism
Immersion: the Only Mode of
Water Baptism that God Will Accept in the New Birth
CHAPTER 6 BAPTISM INTO THE NAME OF JESUS (89)
What Was the Great Commission
Jesus Gave to His Apostles?
What Is the Name of God the
Father and the Holy Ghost in the Baptismal Formula?
The Apostles Understood and
Fulfilled the Great Commission
Historical Evidence of Baptism in the Name of the
Lord Jesus Christ
Many Noted Trinitarian Textual
Scholars Declare the Trinitarian Baptismal Formula
of
Matthew 28:19 Was Not the Original Words of Jesus
YHWH: the Old Covenant Name of
God the Father, How Is it Pronounced?
CHAPTER 7 BAPTISM INTO THE HOLY SPIRIT (105)
The
Terms Receive, Be Filled, and Be Baptized with the Holy Spirit Are Synonymous
Terms
Glossolalia and
the New Birth
Jesus’ Prophecy and Teaching on Glossolalia
The Prophet Isaiah’s Prophecy on Glossolalia
The Glossolalia of the
Apostles and Disciples on the Day of Pentecost
The Glossolalia of Cornelius and His Household
The Glossolalia of the Believers in Ephesus
The Glossolalia of the Believers in Samaria
CHAPTER 8 FALSE TEACHINGS CONCERNING GLOSSOLALIA (126)
Is There A Difference Between
the Tongues of the New Birth and the Gift of Tongues?
Why Did Paul Write the
Fourteenth Chapter of First Corinthians?
The Necessity of the Gifts of
the Spirit Operating Freely in God’s Church
Have Tongues Ceased?
CHAPTER 9 GLOSSOLALIA: TEN STEPS OF FAITH TO RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT OF CHRIST (140)
First Step - You Must Believe
Jesus Loves You
Second Step - You Must Repent of
All Sins
Third Step - You Must Believe
the Blood of Jesus Will Cleanse You from All Sin
Fourth Step - You Must Receive
the Holy Ghost as A Gift
Fifth Step - You Must Believe
God Is Not A Respecter of Persons
Sixth Step - You Must Believe
God’s Holy Spirit Is Anxious to Come in You
Seventh Step - You Must Place
Your Whole Mind on Jesus, as You Worship Him with All of Your Heart Eighth Step You Must Yield Your Tongue and
Voice to God’s Spirit by Faith in Verbal Worship
Ninth Step - You Must Believe
in Your Faith
Tenth Step - Praying for the
Holy Ghost
My Personal Testimony of How I
Received the Holy Ghost
CHAPTER 10 THE BENEFITS OF JESUS’ SINLESS PRECIOUS BLOOD (179)
(Atonement),
(Propitiation), (Justification), (Righteousness), (Sanctification),
(Divine
Healing), (Victory over Sin, the World and the Devil)
CHAPTER 11 FALSE DOCTRINES THAT HINDER A BELIEVER FROM RECEIVING ETERNAL LIFE (188)
The False Doctrine of Predestination
The False Doctrine of Eternal Security
The False Doctrine of Two
Different Classes of the Saved and Kingdoms
CHAPTER 12 LOVING AND STANDING FOR THE TRUTHS OF CHRIST (205)
BIBLIOGRAPHY (208)
ENDNOTES (213)
Copyright May
30, 1996 by Harry A. Peyton under the title of “The Doctrines Of Christ.”
A Note from the Author: Since Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
gives His Salvation and His Word to all freely (Rev 22:17, Mt 10:7-8), this
book, and all other books, written by Harry A. Peyton are given without charge,
and can be accessed through the Internet at the following address: http://www.DoctrinesOfChrist.com. Therefore, fell
free to copy it in digital or written form, and share it with others. Since
this book is copyrighted, the author forbids any alteration of its contents,
and the reproduction of it in any form for Marketing Purposes. This book may be
placed on anyone’s web page, as long as my website address is attached to it.
The
author believes that the Word of God is infallible in the ORIGINAL
LANGUAGE it was written in, and all translations of the Bible regardless of how
good they may be are NOT. Since the author has implicit faith in the infallibility
of the Word of God, the author has formed his beliefs firmly on the truth of
the Bible. This author uses the ancient ANTIOCHIAN LITERAL-HISTORICAL METHOD OF
INTERPRETING THE BIBLE, which was used by early Christian Prophets and Apostles
of the Bible.
I
definitely believe that the ancient Alexandrian Allegorical Method of
spiritualizing scripture, which was made popular by the ancient Jewish
philosopher Philo Judaeus (13 BC – 50 AD) and later used by the Ante-Nicene
Catholic Priests, especially Origen and his student Clement of Alexandria (200
AD), is an abomination to our Lord. Therefore, all scriptures will be
interpreted in a literal exegetical fashion, unless the language used and the
context demands a spiritual interpretation.
All CAPITALIZATION and ITALICIZATION in QUOTES used in this book
is always MINE. All Biblical quotes used in this book will be in dark red, and from the New King James version of
the Bible, unless another version is stated as the reference. The vast majority
of all translations of the Bible, as well as Hebrew and Greek Lexical
definitions and grammar, will come from BibleWorks computer
software program version 7.0. The author in most
places will quote verses from the Bible instead of commenting on a verse and giving
a reference; for He believes that the written Word of God’s has greater power
to inspire and enlighten a heart to understand and act upon truth, than the
elegant oratory or writings of any man.
If this book has been a
blessing to my beloved readers, and they would like to send an offering to the
author, feel free to do so. If anyone wishes to send any biblical or historical
materials to the author, my address is: 148 Little Creek Hills Rd.: Alto, NM
88312: Phone # 575-336-2800: Email address: DoctrineOfChrist@Hotmail.com.
Our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to give Eternal
Life to all who will enter into a covenant relationship with Him through the
New Birth, and walk with Him in Spirit and Truth. This book is designed to
reveal the absolute truth pertaining to the Eternal Life that the Humanity of
God purchased for us through His peerless death, burial and resurrection. It is
dedicated to all the courageous men, women and children of the present and past
centuries, who loved their Savior and believed His Truths. I would especially
like to acknowledge those who suffered social scorn, loss of income, loss of
property, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom for their faith in Christ’s New
Birth message and their monotheistic belief in the Supreme Deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
I
would like to acknowledge the Lamb of God whose love, grace, and inspiration
made this book possible. May He use this work for the propagation of His Gospel;
so many souls may be able to enter into His great Kingdom. I would also like to
thank Bridget Joseph for her invaluable assistance in editing this book. I
deeply appreciate her labor of love.
A
WORD OF ADMONISHMENT
Beloved, permit me to ask
you, why did God’s Children in Jesus’ day reject the truths He taught them? Did
they not have God Himself as their preacher or teacher? Did they not believe in
the one true God? Did they not believe that the Bible was God’s Holy Infallible
Word? Did they not attend Church every Sabbath Day? The answer is obviously yes
to all these questions, so why did many of God’s Children reject their Messiah
and not believe His teachings? The answer can be found in second Corinthians
4:4; this verse reveals that Satan blinds the minds of those who do not believe
the truth, meaning any of the truths that are taught in God’s Holy Word.
How did Satan blind the
minds of the believers in Jesus’ day, as well as today? He accomplished this by
using false prophets, who may have been or may not have been honest and
sincere, to fill their minds with false beliefs. It was for this reason, Jesus
warned all believers to: “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees”
(Mt 16:6).
What did Jesus mean by the term leaven? In verse 12, the Bible gives us the
answer: “Then
they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of
bread, but of the [false] doctrine of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Even though some of these
false prophets may have dazzled and mesmerized God’s Jewish Children with their
oratory and teaching skills, their doctrines were still false. Our Savior spoke
of these deceived prophets when He said: “in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines
the commandments of men…. Making the Word of God of no effect” (Mk 7:7,
13). It
is quite evident that these deceived men followed some of the false traditional
teaching of some of their forefathers in their organization, and as a result
they became false prophets. Therefore beloved take heed, for even though a
teacher may be able to paint beautiful spellbinding word pictures, or a
preacher may be able to speak very fast and give fiery orations, this does not
necessarily mean what they are preaching or teaching is the truth! Evidently,
not everything these Doctors of the Law and Pastors taught was a lie, for Jesus
told them: you “Brood of vipers! How can you being evil speak good
things” (Mt 12:34)?
Since Jesus was the new and
unknown preacher in town, who resoundingly taught the Bible antithetically or
contrary to the Theologians, Pastors, and Preachers of His day, the people
chose to believe the teachings of their Pastors and religious organizations
instead of His teachings. It must have broken our Lord’s heart! It saddens me
to say that this is exactly what many sincere Pastors and Christians do today,
when they hear or read some the truths that were taught by Jesus and His
apostles.
When I understood how Satan
blinds the minds of believers, I soon developed a healthy fear that maybe I was
not studying the Bible with an open and unprejudiced mind. I subsequently
reexamined all my beliefs. I then discovered that several of my beliefs were
incorrect, and I needed to repent and change them. Even though I was afraid to
change my beliefs, being an Apostolic Pentecostal Minister with a BA in
Theology, I made up my heart and mind to walk in the Light as He is in the
Light. I also came to the realization that I am not married to the doctrines of
any preacher, Church, Bible College, or denomination, but to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the Infallible Word of God and the Truth (Jn 1:1; 14:6).
Beloved, if you and I expect
to hear Jesus say to us: “Well done good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:21), then we must not be afraid
to change our beliefs, when we perceive that they are not in agreement with the
written Word of God; for the Bible, not men or organizations, is the only
source of absolute truth. Let us not forget, the people who hated the teachings
of Jesus and His apostles, were not the sinners among the Gentiles or the
Jewish people as a whole, but the Church Officials such as: the High Priest,
Doctors of the Law, Elders or Pastors, and priests, who were entrusted with
leadership positions. These church officials were more dedicated to the
traditions of their organization than they were to almighty God and His Word.
Therefore, it becomes very evident that none
of these church officials were infallible teachers of the Bible, even though
their followers thought they were. Because God’s people blindly followed the
teaching of these officials of the church, they rejected their Savior’s
teachings and die lost. This cold but sobering fact should be a warning to all
believers today, to make no man or organization their infallible teacher. Now,
since my name, your name, your pastor’s name, your church’s name, and the name
of your denomination, are not written in the Word of God, none of us are
infallible teachers. Therefore it is senseless for us to make any man or
organization our infallible teacher, regardless if they call themselves: a
Pastor, a Doctor of Divinity, an Apostle, a Prophet, a Prophetess, the Pope,
the Holy One, or the Little Flock. Every believer needs to love and respect
their teachers, but they should never place them on a pedestal and worship them
as their infallible golden calf, whereby every word that comes out of their
mouth is “thus says the Lord.” Most believers are not aware that this is
idolatry and God hates it.
Beloved, when God saved me and delivered me
from this kind of idolatry, I made a vow to God that I would never again place
my faith in any preacher or religious organization, but only in the Lord Jesus
Christ and His Holy Infallible Word. I promised my God that I would not believe
anything about the Bible, until I could personally pray about it and search it
out for myself! Now God has blessed me with some great pastors and teachers,
whom I love and respect even to this day, but I can honestly say that I never
worshipped any of them by making anyone of them my infallible teacher. Please
do not take what I am saying in the wrong way; I am not condemning or
belittling the biblical and holy office of a bishop, but I am placing it in a
biblical and historical context.
Beloved, you may have a pastor who is a good
teacher, or even a great teacher, but I promise you he is not infallible, and I
am happy to tell you that neither am I. Now someone might ask me, why are you
happy about not being infallible? Do you not want people to think that your
teachings or books are infallible? No, I do not! You might ask why not? Because
if I lead anyone to think my teachings or books are infallible, I cannot change
or correct them, if I later discover that any part of my teachings are
incorrect.
Therefore, I do not want to placed myself in the
position, where I cannot say, “I am wrong, please forgive me. I make an honest
and sincere mistake, but I will correct it and teach it correctly.” As a
pastor, an assistant to a pastor, an evangelist, and a student of the Word of
God for the last 38 years, I have always admonished God’s people to become
students of the Bible, and I would challenge them prove what I taught them was
the truth. I did this for two reasons: First, I wanted their faith to be in the
Infallible Word of God and not in fallible man; also I knew that the Word of
God could not get down deep into their hearts, unless each of them prove to
themselves by their own research, what is truth and what is error. Every child
of God needs to take their salvation seriously, for it is too precious to place
it in the hands of any man.
Second, I knew from the Word of God that a
pastor was not the only mouthpiece God had in the Church. I knew every humble
Holy Ghost filled child of God, could receive revelation of truth from God (1Co 14:26). Therefore God placed them there not only
for a pastors to “equip” them “for the work of the ministry,” or to “become able ministers or teachers of the gospel”
(Eph 4:11-12), but also for a pastors
to learn from them; for God gave them to pastors for their protection, so that
they could correct him if he went into error.
If this is not the truth, then who and what
will prevent any pastor from going into false doctrine. Because the majority of
God’s churches today, do not have several pastors of equal authority over a
congregation, who could also correct them and even reprimand them if they went
into sin, God’s pastors today are without protection. The Bible reveals that
only pastors have the authority to reprimand or even chastise or rebuke their
fellow pastor in any given congregation (1Ti 5:19-20). I know many pastors think that God will use their fellow pastors in
their denomination to keep them from going astray; but this is a lie of Satan,
for every pastor knows that their fellow pastors, in their denomination, will
never hear ninety-nine percent of what they preach or teach.
Beloved, it is a shame that many pastors have
allowed, or in some cases encouraged, their people to believe that they are the
epitome of knowledge, and every word that comes out of their mouth is straight
from the throne God. They are doing a great injustice to the people of God. It
is a shame that these men have made themselves the only mouthpiece of God in
the Church. They should be fulfilling their God given responsibility to not
only to teach God’s children sound doctrine, but also how to study the Word of
God for themselves, so they can rightly divide the Word of Truth and find out
truth for themselves!
Because pastors have made themselves the
infallible Pope in God’s Church, Satan has placed a great fear upon these
pastors that their people will not respect or listen to them, if they change
any of their teachings. Therefore, fear and pride place a tremendous amount of
pressure on pastors to close their minds to any teaching that is contrary to
theirs, whereby they are afraid to investigate the teachings of others. If some
overcome their fear and pride, they usually study the teaching of others with a
bias mind, and their biases blind them to the truth.
As a result, many pastors, seminary
professors, and denominational officials have become Nicolaitan ministers. The
Nicolaitan Doctrine is one of the most misunderstood doctrines of the entire
Bible! This doctrine will be fully explained in this book. Because many
pastors, seminary professors, and officials in the hierarchy structure of
denominations, are Nicolaitan ministers, they use Satan’s method of correcting
those under their authority, who they feel are in error in their doctrinal
beliefs. They usually give a strong rebuke to these ministers or saints, and
then expect them to repent or change their beliefs, simply because they are the
ones in authority.
These Nicolaitan ministers are either
ignorant of or willfully rebel against the Biblical guidelines, which God gave
in His Word to correct someone who may be in error. Because the love of God is
not in the heart of these Nicolaitan ministers, or they are so filled with
pride in their own infallibility, they will not take time to sit down with
those whom they are correcting, and say in a loving way: “Well brother or sister, let
us prayerfully and scripturally examine your belief and my belief, and see if
it harmonizes with all the scriptures in the Bible that pertain to this
doctrine” (2Ti 2:24-26).
When one is looking for a harmony in
scriptures and not for a debate, knowing that the Bible is the infallible Word
of God “in the original language that it was written in,” it is not that hard
for two people with opposing perspectives to come to an agreement, if their
true motive is to find truth. The Bible declares: “Only
by pride cometh contention” (Pro 13:10).
In one sense, denominational organizations
are like individual churches, they close their mind and heart to anyone who has
a different belief than theirs. Now this can be good in some ways and evil in
other ways. It is good in the sense that it prevents heresy from spreading in
the churches and in organizations, but it is evil and satanic when it is truth
that is prevented from spreading. Because their mind is close and they have
lost the spirit of investigation, pastors and denominations will never receive
any more truth than what they presently have; this is exactly the reason why
Christianity has so many denominations, which claim to be the true Church of
Christ. They have gone the way of the Pharisees and Sadducees and have taken
refuge in their organizations.
So, what is the answer to this church and
denominational dilemma? The answer can be found in God’s Word, for God said: “Let
two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge” (1Co 14:29). Paul did not say: “Let
two or three pastors speak, and let the other pastors in the congregation judge,” even though pastors are prophets also, but
the context or two verses down, Paul proclaimed: “For you can ALL prophesy
one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged” (vs 31). Therefore, Paul is no doubt referring to
entire Priesthood of God!
A Prophet is someone who has the Spirit of
God in them, which gives them the power to speak under the anointing and
inspiration of Almighty God. In verse 32, Paul reminded God’s Holy Priesthood that their preaching and teaching
must conform to the written Word of God. Paul said it this way: “the
spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets,” that is, the Prophets who spoke and wrote
the Old Testament. The New Testament reveals that this admonishment also
applies to New Testament writers. Everyone in the Corinthian Church must have
been a Teacher for Paul said, “For though you might have ten thousand
Instructors [i.e. Teachers] in Christ,
yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have
begotten you through the gospel” (1Co 4:15-16).
Therefore, God gave His Children the
responsible of knowing truth and judging what is truth, so that they would not
be deceived. This in no way undermines Pastors’ God ordain responsibility of
correcting and reproving false teaching in God’s Church! It is a shame that
Pastors and denominations of today have flouted God’s instructions, which He
gave for their protection, so that He would not have to judge them as a false
prophet on the Day of Judgment! Woe be to the Pastors or
denomination that follow man’s guidelines over God’s commands!! Ignorant is no
excuse, for there will be a multitude on the Day of Judgment who will tell the
Lord Jesus Christ: “Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in
Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me,
you who practice lawlessness,” or practiced man’s precepts and have changed the
teachings of God’s Word (Mt 7:22-23)!
The above biblical principle of correction
can be applied to an individual church, as well as to a church organization. God
told us that those priestly saints, who believe that God has given them a
revelation, or insight into His Word, should have the opportunity to preach or
teach it in the church, just as a pastor should be allow to teach any
revelation in his denomination. Therefore, let the saints of God in the church
along with their pastors, and the pastors in a denomination, judge the
truthfulness or error of the teaching.
In a Nicolaitan Church or organization this
will never be allowed, for the pastor or denomination claims to be the only
mouthpiece of God, therefore no one will ever be able to correct them. As a
result, these pastors and their organizations will never change their
teachings. Satan will continue to use these pastors and their denominations to
promote whatever lies or false doctrines he has deceived them into believing.
Because God does not want His Children to be deceived by Nicolaitan Pastors or
Teachers, and Pastors to be deceived by Nicolaitan denominations, He commanded
all of them to: “Prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:2); and “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good”
(1Th 5:21); and “Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the Word of Truth” (2Ti 2:15, KJV).
According to the great apostle Paul, the
Berean saints explicitly followed these God given commands, for he wrote: “Now
the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they
received the message with great eagerness and EXAMINED the Scriptures
every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11, NIB). In other words, these believers did not
allow their love and respect for Paul, or any other teacher, to prevent them from
examining their teachings with the written Word of God. The only way any child
of God can “know the doctrine whether it be of God,” is by becoming a devoted student of the
Bible (Jn 7:17). This is the will of God! Truth may come
very slowly, but it will come as long as a Saint of God, or a Pastor, or a
denomination is willing to humble himself or itself, and change their teaching
when they perceive that it is error!!
Beloved, if you claim to be a son or daughter
of Almighty God, then you must hunger, thirst, desire, and love truth, more
than life itself. God has given all of His Children the responsibility and
privilege of knowing and finding truth for themselves. If they do not take this
God given responsibility seriously, than God will allow them to believe a lie
and be lost. Because God’s Jewish Children, in the days of the Lord Jesus, did
not take this responsibility seriously, they rejected the truths He preached
and died lost. They rejected their Savior and Messiah.
Our Savior warned all believers not to follow
the teachings of false prophets, who would deceive them, especially concerning
the New Birth, which is how one enters into the straight and narrow path, that
leads into Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (Mt 7:22-23, cp with vss
13-15). Jesus taught that we
would know false prophets and false religious denominations by their fruits.
One of their fruits would be, they would place a literal meaning on the
scriptures they use to prove their doctrine, and a figurative meaning on
the scriptures used by others to prove their doctrine false. This is what
the Bible commanded us not to do, when it stated that we should not ‘wrest’ or
‘twist’ or ‘pervert’ the scriptures to our “own destruction”
(2Pe 3:16). All scriptures
must be taken LITERAL, unless it is a Jewish idiom or the language and
context demands a spiritual interpretation.
A favorite saying among
those who have been deceived by false prophets is: “I know this teaching is not
of God because it bring in confusion.” Therefore many believers will follow the
example of their deceived teachers, and will also place a literal meaning on
the scriptures they want to believe in, and a figurative meaning on the
scriptures that seems to bring confusion to them. Because they are not willing
to change their beliefs, they will not look for an interpretation that will
harmonize with all the scriptures on that subject; therefore, they would rather
believe a lie, and spiritualize away or totally forget about the scriptures
that seem to bring confusion to them. Hey friend, it is time to repent for
handling God’s Holy Infallible Word in a dishonest fashion! Do not forget, God
will judge you for this on the Day of Judgment!
I have discovered through my
own experiences that we are beings, who love to follow the traditions of our
Elders, churches, and denominations. Since none of us likes change when it
comes to our beliefs, we react very negatively when someone disturbs our
feelings of security. Beloved, if we claim to be Children of the Light, we must
then walk in the Light, or “darkness will overtake us” (Jn 12:35-36, 46). If we truly love our
fellow man as our Lord commanded us to, then we will not be afraid to tell each
other the truth in a kind and loving manner, even if we momentarily become
offended. No surgery is pleasant while the doctor is cutting us open, but after
the tumor, cancer or disease is removed and our health is restored, what joy
good health brings.
Since our God and Savior
commanded us to: “Buy the truth, and do not sell it” (Pr 23:23), Pastors and Saints, who
preach this great gospel, should always remember that there is a price to pay
to walk in truth! Rejection, loneliness, and heartache are often a part of this
great price; nevertheless, everyone who truly loves our dear Lord will always
be willing to pay any price to walk with Him in truth! Therefore, I encourage
my readers to open their hearts and minds, as they open their Bibles in search
for the truth.
I furthermore admonished
them to believe that God said what He meant, and meant what He said. In other
words, God intended that we believe and understand “every word,” He used to express His
infallible thoughts or teachings (Psa
12:6-7; Pro 30:5; Mt 4:4; 2Ti 3:16). God never intended His Word to be interpreted by
the imaginations of the mind of mankind; it makes no difference if they are
called Pastors, Prophets, Prophetesses, the Anointed Ones, Doctors of Divinity,
Archbishops, or the Pope. The Bible is a Book inspired with all of mankind in
mind, and God intended that it should be read, studied, and understood by all
of mankind, not just a selected few, for it is one of our Heavenly Father’s
great and precious gifts to us.
Therefore, let each of us
become students of the Bible, and eat “our daily bread” with an open and
unbiased mind. Let us not be lazy; let us study the Word of God for
ourselves; let us not be afraid to search out the teachings of other Christian
Ministers. Either we will believe Satan’s lie, that we can not understand the
Bible because of our lack of education in theology, or we will believe what
Jesus said: “If any man will do His [God’s] will, he shall
know the doctrine, whether it be of God” (Jn 7:17).
Beloved, we do not understand the teachings
of the Bible by our intelligence, regardless how much or little we may possess,
but it comes by inspiration from God’s Holy Spirit. God only gives revelations
to us as we love, keep, hunger, thirst, dig, and pray for truth! You
must be willing to do your homework, and study the Word of God with an open,
unbiased, humble, and honest spirit!! You must have your mind made up, that
you will settle for nothing less than truth, in your walk with your Creator and
Savior!!! If we do not buy the truth because it is not popular, or it offends
our parents, relatives, friends, church, organization, and so on, then we are
selling our salvation for the favor and praises of men. We become men-pleasers
instead of God-pleasers. We will esteem men much more highly than we esteem
God.
Beloved, permit me to give you one example of
how truth is discovered. When our government wanted to discover the truth
concerning splitting the atom, they gathered together a group of scientists
from various fields of science, and placed them in one room. These men were
instructed to proposed theories of how the atom could be split to form a bomb. Each
scientist had to be willing to lay aside their pride, as their fellow
scientists did their best to disprove their theory. Every theory that could
not be disproved was then tested, until the truth was discovered. The same
principle is also applied to Pastors or Saints in a Church, or Pastors in a
denomination!
Now beloved, if we are willing to lay aside
our pride, fears, and bias beliefs, and meticulously examine all the
scriptures on any given subject of the Bible, and look for an
interpretation that will harmonize with all of them, then God will be able
to open our spiritual eyes and give us enlightenment. Another way of saying
this is, we must first find all the scriptural pieces to the jigsaw puzzle,
which is the hardest part of studying the Bible, but this is where the real men
and women of God become separated from the false prophets. Second, we must put
all the scriptural pieces together until we can see that one and only perfect
picture, which is the absolute truth. Third, we must learn patience, and wait
upon our Savior with faith in our hearts, expecting Him to give us
enlightenment. Let us always remember that it is our God given responsibility
to seek for truth, and it is our Heavenly Father’s responsibility to reveal
truth (Mt 7:7).
A Brother in the Lord once told me that his
dad, who was a denominational minister, told him that he spent four years in
Seminary School to learn the Bible, and twenty years unlearning what he had learned.
In other words, because he was so thoroughly indoctrinated with the beliefs of
his denomination, it was a real struggle for him to lay aside his biases, and
to study the Bible with an open mind. Beloved, do not be afraid to test or
thoroughly examine your beliefs; for truth can be placed under a microscope and
thoroughly dissected, and it will shine brighter than ever; as long as we
follow the biblical guidelines that are given in the Bible. These guidelines
can be found in my book entitled, How to Study the Bible, which is also
given away on my website.
Therefore, the author of
this book is asking his beloved readers, to prayerfully read this teaching to
the end, so that they may comprehend the entire teaching. After doing this,
then dissect and examine this book by looking for a harmony in all the
scriptures that I use, and also the scriptures you know of that pertain to this
subject, as both of us interpret them in a literal fashion. After you have done
these things, then judge for yourself the validity of this teaching.
I challenge my beloved
readers to try to prove this and the following message in this book wrong! I do
not say this in the spirit of pride or in claiming infallibility, but I put forth
this challenge in hopes that they will earnestly and thoroughly examine these
truths. If anyone believes he or she has found an error in any portion of this
or the following teachings, I admonish him or her to love me enough to correct
me, and to show me how their belief is in perfect harmony with all of God’s
reveal will on this subject. Please email your response to:
DoctrinesOfChrist@hotmail.com.
Beloved, truth is the
greatest gift of love that any preacher can give to those who listen to him speak,
or read his writings. The more truth any Child of God places in their heart,
the more of Jesus they have, for He is the Truth (Jn 14:6). Beloved, you cannot
say you love Jesus and not love the Bible, for Jesus is the Living Word (Jn
1:1); and EVERY WORD in the Bible is His Words.
My prayer for you is that
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both the Almighty God and the Son of God, will
open your heart and mind to understand His message of truth. With all the above
truths in mind, let us begin our SEARCH FOR TRUTH!
Your Servant in Christ,
PREFACE
The Word of the living God
commands us to evangelize the world for our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible
declared: “It please God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe…. The preaching of the cross to them that perish is foolishness; but
unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1Co 1:18, 21, KJV). Jesus told His Church: “You shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in
all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8); and “Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Mt 28:19).
God commanded His people to
preach: “The truths found in His
Holy Word not the lies of the Babylonian Religion: Jesus Christ and Him
crucified not the death of Zoroaster (one of several names for Nimrod): Eternal
Life through Christ not Lucifer’s doctrine of the eternality or godhood of man:
the New Birth not reincarnation: Water Baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ not baptism in the titles of the Babylonian Trinity: Spirit Baptism not
spiritualism. God’s people are ambassadors not diplomats: preachers not prissy
philosophical puppets: prophets not greedy ignorant dumb dogs that have
forgotten how to bark” (Isa 56:10-12).
The Bible is the greatest
source of Truth this world has ever known. It is not just a truth, but it is “the Truth.” Every scripture as it relates to any given subject
is the guiding light that every Christian uses to judge truth, for the Word of
God is the final authority regarding the validity of anything that claims to be
truth. Though the Bible is not a history book, it gives an accurate account of
God’s story or His-story. Its manuscripts are more numerous and more ancient
than all of secular history combined. Archeologists have used it for centuries
in locating or even discovering ancient civilizations.
The Bible does not assert
itself as a textbook of science; however, every scientific statement recorded
on its Holy Pages has been proven true many times over. Although the Bible is
not a medical book, the bodies of thousands have been healed by faith in its
Divine Physician. The Bible is not a psychology book, yet millions have
received peace of mind and renewed mental health from obedience to its holy
precepts. Thousands of men, women, boys, and girls who were on the verge of
mental collapse have had their minds restored to them by faith in its Divine
Author.
The Bible is a magnificent
work, profound in structure and without error in content. It is the only source
of absolute truth when it comes to knowing the Creator. It is God’s expressed
Word to mankind, His written will that He has bequeathed to all who have become
or want to become His children. It is not the work of one man or a council of
men who penned their own ideas during one time period. God’s prophets, apostles
and disciples, who were holy men of God, spoke as they were anointed by the
Holy Spirit of God to speak. Every word on its Holy Pages is God-breathed. This
is why there is such an incredible and phenomenal harmony in every book of the
Bible, in spite of the fact that it was written over the span of many
centuries. Anyone who loves and studies its Holy Pages can easily recognize the
true author of it. Truly, the Bible was indeed written by the Mastermind of the
universe, the selfsame One who made man and spoke the worlds into existence by
the Spirit-Words that came out of His mouth.
The Bible is the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the Author of the Book. Every page
communicates something about Him, for He is the awesome breathtaking majestic
Portrait, the Masterpiece and Centerpiece that all the master artists of the
Bible painted in their word pictures. He is the one and only God revealed in
the New Testament, and the Son of God concealed in prophecy in the Old
Testament. He is the Lamb that was slain before creation for the sins of the
world. Calvary is the recapitulating theme, the singularity of thought, and the
master communiqué of the Author to His readers. The Bible is full of prophecies
concerning the humanity or the flesh the Almighty God clothed Himself with at
Bethlehem. It prophesied of the hardships He endured as a child and as a man,
His sinless life, His dynamic ministry, His agonizing suffering, His
magnificent atonement, His burial, and His glorious resurrection from the dead.
By means of this great gospel, and this gospel alone, Jesus opened the door of
Eternal Life to all who desire it. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only the
purchaser of Eternal Life, but He is the author of Eternal Life, for He is
Eternal Life.
FOREWORD
Out of the multitude of
books written on various subjects, there is none more important than one written
on the Eternal Life that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone.
There are textbooks used in many Bible Colleges and Seminaries that cover a
certain aspect of salvation, but none that I know of that covers the entire
spectrum. That is of course, from the time Calvary was in God’s mind in
eternity past until it was fulfill on the cross; and then the receiving of
Eternal Life through faith and obedience to the gospel, which is the death,
burial, and resurrection of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, there is a great need in Christendom to fill this great void.
The author of this book
firmly believes that His Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has called Him to write
this book. The author does not profess to be a man with a great intellect,
writing skills, or prominence, but he does profess to be a holy man of God with
an excellent knowledge of the Bible and Church History; therefore he has totally
relied upon the Holy Spirit to help him write this book. He definitely claims
God’s promise: “Not by [your] might
nor by [your] power, but
by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Zec 4:6); and “God
has chosen the foolish [or least esteem] things of the world to put to shame
the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the
things which are mighty” (1Co 1:27).
The author has not written
this book to convert anyone to a church or an organization, but he wrote it to
help believers and non-believers understand, appreciate, receive, and love the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Eternal Life He offers. The Eternal Life that Jesus’
offers is a magnificent gift and He paid a great price so mankind could receive
it. Jesus promised to bestow this gift on everyone who would believe His gospel
and enter into a covenant with Him by means of the New Birth. The author has
written this book in response to one of Christianity’s greatest tragedies,
which is the failure of most of its religious institutions to understand the
Biblical doctrine of the New Birth. They have mastered many of the great
doctrines of the Bible, but when it comes to this doctrine, they have failed to
study it with an open and unprejudiced mind. I realize that this is an awful
accusation to make, and I do wish it was not true, but the sad fact is, it is
true.
Therefore, the author has
written this book with two classes of people in mind, the sinner who has never
known the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and denominational Christians who have
been deceived by their preachers concerning how to enter into or become
partakers of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection by means of the New Birth.
This book is definitely against the “easy believeism doctrine” that has
recently come into Christianity. The author knows some professing Christians
will not read this book because they, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are afraid
of reading any literature that disagrees with their denominational teachings.
Therefore, this book is written for the hungry and honest hearted Christian,
who is willing to search for truth until he or she finds it.
Millions of lost people
throughout the centuries, like those in New Testament times, have asked
preachers: “Men and brethren, what shall we do” (Acts 2:37); or “Sirs, what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? I believe that these
honest hearted people deserve a Biblical answer to their question. I believe
they should be given the same answer the apostles of the Lamb gave to those who
asked them this question! The goal of this book is to examine their answer and
compare it to the philosophical babblings of those who teach antagonistic or
contrary to the apostles.
The author does not profess
to be an eloquent writer, but he does avow to be a man of God who has spent
over a thousand hours in the last thirty-eight years studying every facet of
this subject. He has read many books from Christian, Protestant, Jewish, and
Pagan sources. He has discussed salvation with many ministers from various
denominations, not for argument sake, but for knowledge sake. He firmly believes that one can learn more
from those who hold opposing views than those who agree. This gives one the
opportunity to objectively inspect every facet of the opposing perspective, as
well as reevaluating his or her own. The author has entered into these
discussions also because he loves people, and he does not wish to see
anyone lost. He firmly believes that everyone has a right to hear the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ presented in a kind, loving, discreet, and systematic
dissertation. The apostle Paul must have believed this because the scripture
declared that he disputed: “In the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout
persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him” (Acts
17:17).
Josh McDowell, in his book
entitled Evidence That Demands A Verdict,
speaking of Biblical apologetics wrote: ‘Always be prepared to make a defense to
anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with
gentleness and reverence’ (1Peter 3:15). The word defense (Gk. apologia)
indicates ‘a defense of conduct and procedures.’ Wilbur Smith defines
apologetics as, ‘a verbal defense, a speech in defense of what one has done or
of truth which one believes. [1]
The Greek word “apologia” translated by the English
word “defense” is used eight time in the
New Testament, that is: Acts 22:1;
25:16; 1Co 9:3; 2Co 7:11; Phi 1:7, 16; 2Ti 4:17; 1Pe 3:15. These passages of
scripture emphatically reveal that it is our God’s will for His Truths to be
defended both in a verbal and written analytical form. Therefore, this book is
not written in a novel style, but in an exegetical fashion.
Have
you ever wondered why there are so many different teachings in Christendom
pertaining to the doctrine of salvation? Each religious group proclaims the
others to be heretics or teachers of false doctrines. Each group is so opposed
to the others that none of groups are trying to find, or even look for a
harmony in the scriptures used by the others, as though there is no unique
order, symmetry and unanimity that is inherit in God’s Holy Word. There are far
too many theologians that treat God’s New Birth message in a random and chaotic
manner in their presentation of it.
Each
religious denomination places a literal meaning on the scriptures they use, and
a figurative or spiritual meaning on the scriptures used by the others. This is
what the Bible commands us not to do, when it stated that we should not ‘wrest’ or ‘twist’ or ‘pervert’ the
scriptures to our “own destruction” (2Pe 3:16). God
commanded us to rightly divide “the Word of Truth”
(2Ti 2:15). Throughout this book, the author will place a literal
interpretation on all the scriptures relating to the New Birth. I believe this
method is the only method that will result in a belief that will be in perfect
harmony with all the scriptures relating to salvation.
Salvation is the most
important singular doctrine of the entire Bible. It is the solid rock or
foundation that all doctrines of Christianity must rest upon. If a Christian
builds his or her spiritual house with every truth of the Word of God, but he
or she believes and teaches a lie pertaining to this doctrine, their house will
collapse, which will result in him or her being lost. So with this in mind,
let's do our best to lay aside any prejudice or biased opinions, and heed God's
admonishment: “He who answers
a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him” (Pr 18:13).
As my
dear readers and I examine the Word of God
pertaining to the salvation Almighty God provided for lost humanity through the
peerless death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
we will discover that it was in the mind of God before the creation of the
world. Who among God’s people would knowingly rob God of His deity? Yet, this
is what some do when they rob God of His foreknowledge. One of God’s many
attributes is that of omniscience, which means He knows everything. God’s
foreknowledge is not predestination, for God’s never predestine Lucifer or
Adam’s fall. This came about from their freewill. The doctrine of
predestination of individuals is a lie from hell!
Because
God has foreknowledge, He knew how the world would begin before He ever created
it, and He knows how it will end. Nothing can happen in the world that will
take God by surprise. Our God is truly an omniscient God. In Acts 15:18 the
Bible stated: “Known to God from eternity are all
His works.” The
prophet Isaiah also confirmed this truth when he wrote of God’s foreknowledge
saying, God declared: “The end from the beginning and from ancient
times things that are not yet done” (Isa 46:10). The
prophetic Word of God explicitly called the Lord Jesus Christ, the “Lamb
slain FROM the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). The
expression “The foundation of the world,”
definitely refers to the creation of the world, as can be seen in the following
passages of scripture: Psa 18:15, 102:25, 104:5; Isa 48:13; Mt 13:35; Jn 17:24; Heb 1:10, 9:26.
The apostle
Peter gave us some insights into God’s predestined Lamb, when he boldly
declared that we were redeemed, or bought out of the slavery of sin, not by
gold or silver but by: “The Precious Blood of Christ, as a Lamb
without blemish and without spot”(1Pe 1:19). He
then went on to say that Christ, as the sinless Lamb was “Foreordained
BEFORE the foundation of the world” (vs 20).
Paul, like Peter and John, spoke of God’s predestined Lamb, when he told the
church that God: “Saved us… according
to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus BEFORE time
began”
(2Ti 1:9). God’s grace and has always been and forever will be in
the Lamb of God. When I meditate on the meaning of the above scriptures, all I
can say is that God is truly awesome.
All of
the above scriptures without dispute teach that God had in the past, and has in
the present, and will forever have in the future, only one plan of salvation
for mankind, and that is Calvary. God ordained, before time began, that
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ would be the only way sinful mankind
could ever receive His grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Therefore, the Precious
Sinless Blood of God’s heavenly Lamb was the ONLY WAY any
man, in ANY
AGE, could ever have their SINS REMITTED.
All
the animal blood sacrifices of the past, from the time God slew and skinned
some animals in the Garden of Eden to clothed Adam and Even naked bodies, which
was a type of God making an Atonement for their sins, to Abel’s animal sacrifices,
to all the Patriarchs’ animal blood sacrifices, such as Job who: “OFFERED BURNT-OFFERINGS” for his children every morning, “for Job said: ‘It may be that my sons have SINNED” (Job 1:1-5, JPS Holy
Scriptures published by the Jewish Publication Society). Yes all these
Patriarchs KNEW that animal blood sacrifices was the only thing God accepted as
Atonement for their sins. All of these sacrifices in the
days of the Patriarch and during the time of the Law of Moses pointed to
Calvary, even though majority of God’s people did not have this great
revelation; or in other words, they did not fully comprehend what those animal
sacrifices really represented and how they pointed to Calvary (Hebrews 9:22; 10:1-18). Many of God’s Old Testament prophets prophesied about Calvary (Psa 22:1-18; Isa 53:1-12, 1Pe
1:10-12).
Conclusion: The Word of God definitely proclaims, for all to
read, God ordained before time began that the death, burial, and resurrection
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, would be the foundation in which Eternal
Life would be offered to all of mankind. God in EVERY COVENANT He
made with mankind included Calvary in it (Gen 8:20-9:9; 15:9-18). The
apostle Paul speaking of the Old and New Covenant boldly proclaimed that Jesus:
“is the Mediator of the New Covenant, by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions under the First Covenant, that those
who are called may receive the promise of the Eternal Inheritance….
Therefore NOT even the First Covenant was dedicated without BLOOD. For… WITHOUT shedding
of BLOOD there is NO REMISSION” of SINS (Heb 9:15-22). Our Savior stated
this truth of salvation this way: “this is My BLOOD of the New
Covenant, which is shed for many for the REMESSION of SINS” (Mt 26:28).
Therefore, no one in any age could be saved without encountering
Calvary. With this great truth in mind, let us begin our examination of
God’s infinite wisdom in His loving plan for the salvation of mankind!
CHAPTER 1
MAN’S LOST OF IMMORTALITY
Man’s Condition Before Sin
Adam and Eve enjoyed the love, fellowship and communion of their
Creator. God Himself would actually come and visit them in the beautiful
paradise He made for them. Adam and Eve could actually talk to their Creator
face to face. They were both at peace with themselves and with all of creation.
As I stated in the previous chapter, they had the power of Immortality working
in their spiritual and physical being as they continually ate from the Tree of
Life (Gen
3:22). Their ability to live
eternally depended on their love for God, which was measured by their faith and
obedience to their Heavenly Father’s revealed will and purpose for their life (Gen 2:17).
Adam,
like the angels, was truly a “son of God” (Lk 3:38). As a
son of God, Adam had the Spirit of God in him. For Adam, like all faithful sons
of God, was not only filled with the Spirit of God, but he was also “led
by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 8:8, 14; 1Jn 3:1- 2; Jn 1:12). The Bible
declares that not only Adam, but also anyone who has the Spirit of God in them
is called a son of God (Jn 10:34, 35; Psa 82:6). Even the prophets were known
as sons of God because the Spirit of Christ was also in them (1Pe 1:11; Isa 63:11).
Therefore, both men and women are called children of God when they are filled
with the Spirit of God.
Adam
and Eve were totally God-conscience at this time. Their ego or soul was totally
given over to the Spirit of God; therefore their fleshly nature did not control
their ego. Their heart and mind were completely filled with loving thought for
their God, which resulted in total joy in their spiritual and physical being.
They were in complete obedience and harmony with the First Commandment;
therefore they truly loved their Creator with all their heart, soul, mind and
strength (Mk
12:30). Because of their beautiful relationship with God, they
lived in a state of perfect bliss or ecstasy.
Man’s Condition after Sin: Physical, Spiritual, and Eternal Death
When
Adam and Eve willfully sinned and turned their backs on God, they began to die
physically and spiritually at that very moment. Their bodies began to
degenerate and the Spirit of God, which covered them like a white garment,
departed from them and they immediately knew they were naked (compare Gen 3:7 with Rev 3:18).
Because of this, they were no longer totally God-conscious, but now they became
more self-conscious, or in other words, they began to be enslaved by the
desires of their flesh or fleshly nature.
Because
they were denied access to the Tree of Life, being cast out of the garden, they
lost immortality and gain temporal life in their spiritual and physical being.
They lost eternal bliss and gained temporal and conditional happiness. This is
the inheritance Adam and Eve passed on to all of their descendants. By Adam and
Eve’s sin all mankind came under the curse and power of sin and death (Rom 5:12-21; 1Co 15:21-22). Adam
lost eternal life for all of his descendants through his sin because they were
also denied access to the Tree of Life; therefore mankind’s spirit, soul, and
flesh became subject to death, have only temporal life working in them.
Therefore, no one is born in this life with the Spirit of God or Eternal Life
already in him or her. Death is working in and through the entire being of man.
The Word of God
unquestionably proclaims that all of Adam’s descendants have inherit a sin
nature or an inclination to sin, therefore they are all sinners: “There is none righteous, no,
not one…. For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Ro 3:10, 23); and “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean, I
am pure from my sin” (Pro 20:9); and “We are all like an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa 64:6).
Because of sin, Adam and his
descendants are under the curse or the sentence of eternal death: “For the wages of sin is [eternal] death” (Romans 6:23). God,
speaking through Ezekiel to His children about eternal life and eternal death
said: “The soul who sins
shall die [eternally]…. But if a wicked
man turns from all his sins that he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does
what is lawful and right, he shall surely live [eternally]; he shall not die [eternally]” (Eze
18:20-21, also examine verses 22-27). From the context of these
scriptures, it is evident that God is not speaking of temporal life or death of
the soul and body of man.
With
all of the above truths in mind, permit me to ask my beloved readers these
questions. Why did God permit Adam and Eve to fall into sin? He could have
appeared to them and stopped them. As stated above, why did God give Adam and
Eve a law to follow? God could have left the tree of knowledge of good and evil
out of the Garden of Eden. Why did God allow Lucifer and all of his imps to be
in the Garden, knowing these filthy creatures would do their best to entice
Adam and Evil to sin? God could have barred them from the Garden.
Lets
take these same questions and apply them to God’s children of the past, present
and future. Why does God permit any of His children to be born with a human
satanic nature that craves the things of this world? I am speaking about an
evil nature in which the affections of the mind of the spirit and soul are
directed toward self and the world. Why has God given His children laws in the
Word of God to keep? Why has God permitted His children to live in a world, where
Satan and his demons rule, where there are so many worldly demonic enticements?
The
answer to all of these questions can be found in God’s purpose of creating
angels and men. Since He desires agape love from all of His children, He has
placed faith, trust, and obedience in Him and His Word as a test of our love
for Him. For the only way anyone of us can keep the laws of God, overcome our
sinful nature, the world, and the Devil himself consistently over the course of
our life, is by loving our God with all that is within us and trusting in His
grace to keep us.
Our
great Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, has given His children a New
Nature or the Holy Spirit, His Almighty Name, His precious Blood, and His Word,
which is the Sword of the Spirit to overcome every temptation in life.
Nevertheless, all these great and beautiful gifts of grace can only work in our
lives, as we truly love Him. God’s gifts are like jet engines in an aircraft
that have tremendous power to take us to the heights of heaven, but the only
way we will ever get off the ground is by turning on the key. All that
potential power is useless to us, until we turn on the key. God’s almighty
gifts of grace to His children can only operate effectively in our lives
through the key of love for God and our fellow man. Unless one truly loves our
great God, he or she will never be able to overcome sins of the flesh, even if
the gifts of the Spirit are at work in his or her life. For without true
genuine love for God, the irrevocable gifts of the Spirit will be used for
man’s own self-exhalation and self-interest.
While
we are on the subject of why God allows things to happen, why does God allow
parents to abuse their children physically and emotionally? Why does God allow
a husband to abuse his wife physically and emotionally and vise versa? Why does
God allow one man to murder another? Why does God allow one evil nation or one
evil religion to murder millions of innocent men, women and children? The answer
to all these questions is that God gave mankind, like the angels, the power of
self-determination and He will never take that away from anyone. God will never
violate anyone’s freewill.
Physical Death:
Adam’s descendants inherited from him and Eve the sentence of physical death.
God made Adam and Eve in a state of perfect physical and emotional perfection,
but because of their rebellion against their Creator physical death began to
operate in their bodies from the moment they sinned. Some have called it the “death gene,” but
whatever it is, from that time on Adam and Eve began to age or degenerate,
until Adam reached the age of 930 at which time he died (Gen 5:5).
Methuselah holds the world’s record for longevity for he lived 969 years (Gen 5:27).
Man,
from Adam’s day to this, has been speeding up his death by defiling and
destroying his body from external and internal sources. The external sources
that accelerate mankind toward their death are: many of the things they eat,
drink and inject into their bodies, man-made pollution of their rivers, lakes,
oceans and even the air they breathe. Other external sources that shortens
man’s life are: loud sound waves, electric fields cause by high wire power
lines, certain types of electrical devises, man-made magnetic fields, and who
knows what else. Of all the above mention sources, the major killers are the
things mankind puts into their own bodies. In other words, the things that man
uses to pollute his body.
The
internal source that speed up man’s death comes from man’s own ego or soul.
Because of man’s love affair with his own flesh and the world, he has brazenly
disregarded the laws of God; as a result, he has caused diseases to form in his
body from carnal emotions that overwhelm his soul. Medical science calls these
disorders psychosomatic illnesses. There is not an organ in the body that is
not subject to psychosomatic diseases. Who would have ever thought that an
ulcerative colitis, cancers, tumors and many other disorders could be developed
in the body from mankind’s emotional nature? That is, man retaining in their
heart, over a period of several months, sinful emotions such as:
resentment, bitterness, and hate, which all have their root in unforgiveness;
not to mention guilt, anxiety, envy, covetousness, and other strong sinful
emotions, which an omniscient loving Creator forbade the human race to have.
Truly,
our Heavenly Father knows best. For this reason He commanded us to desist from
these sins. He made our mind and body, and He knows exactly what emotions will
destroy both. A great book that gives a comprehensive teaching pertaining to
these truths, and also reveals God’s abounding love for mankind, by given them
holy Commandments to live by, is Dr. S. I. McMillan’s book entitled None Of These Diseases. This medical
doctor took a year off from his medical practice to write this excellent work.
He declares that 80% of all patients that enter into a doctor’s office suffer
from these psychosomatic
diseases.
From
the time of Adam and Eve’s sin, death became a reality of life. In fact, because
of man’s carnal and sinful nature, death is really a blessing of God in
disguise. I know I have lost 90% of my beloved readers with
this statement, so please permit me to explain. Life without God and faith in
His Word can be unbearable. If it were not so, we would not have as many
suicides and attempted suicides that we have today. Over 60% of
the people of the world are starving to death, do not have a warm house to live
in, and lack proper clothing.
Even
those who have most of the world’s goods cannot fill the loneliness and
emptiness that is in their heart, if Jesus is not in it. The life of king
Solomon proved that wealth, fame, power, alcohol, and sexual pleasures, could
not bring true genuine lasting happiness. Solomon expressed this truth when he
said it was all “vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecc
2:1-11). If someone was taking a poll and asked you: “Are you really happy,” what
would be your reply? Who among us would not trade most of what we have for good
health, if we had a disease that produced constant pain in our body and sapped
our strength like a giant sponge? If you had no feet or legs to walk on, or
hands to hold things, or eyes to behold all the beauty in God’s creation, how
much would you give for these undeserved blessings of God? Is it not a real
shame that most of mankind does not rejoice and thank their Creator for these
great and precious gifts?
In
fact, many people, especially those who live in industrial societies, do not
rejoice and express their gratitude to our gracious Lord for food, clothing,
and a roof over their head, because they are too busy coveting or longing for
what their neighbor or someone else has. As a result, a coveting spirit eats
away at their happiness like a hungry dog gnawing on a bone. Because our loving
Heavenly Father did not want this to happen, He said: “You shall not
covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his
male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything
that is your neighbor's” (Ex 20:17). God called this law the Tenth Commandment.
God,
being a loving Heavenly Father, gave us good laws that will bring true
happiness and peace in this life, if we love and obey them! True happiness in life,
as I have said many times in my preaching, does not depend on what we have or
do not have. It does not depend on our work, financial, social or even family
life, but it depends completely on our spiritual life. If we know that we agape
love God and are living our life for Him, then we will have peace and joy
within, which nothing in this world or no tragedy in life can ever take away (Jn 14:27; 16:22; Ro 14:17; Ja
1:2-4; 1Pe 1:8). As someone who has experience much tragedy in
life, I can say this from experience!
If
everyone in life had the ability to live forever, who among us would want to
live in a world that was filled with men like Diocletian, Galerius and other
Roman Emperors who butchered and tortured millions of God’s Children. All the
demonic Roman Emperors together could not match Lucifer’s son Pope Innocent
III, who was not very innocent, but formed the demonic Inquisition around AD 1200, for
the purpose of exterminating God’s children, which he called heretics. These sons
of Satan, that is the Popes, approved, commended, and encouraged the
Inquisition in their satanic activities.
This
heartless, cruel, inhuman Catholic organization for 500 years
brutally tortured millions of innocent God fearing and Christ loving men, women
and children, by every demonic device that could be devised by the imagination
of demon-possessed men. Of course, these Popes claimed they did these things in
order to save their souls by getting them to accept the Catholic Religion. This
obviously meant they had to denounce God’s Truths to save their physical lives,
or to end their torture.
Some
of the tortures mentioned in history are: ripping and cutting babies out of the
wombs of their mothers and then smashing the heads of those babies on the stone
streets, laying their victims down on iron spike beds, covering the bodies of
God’s people with pitch and burning them alive, and many other satanic
tortures. If you do not believe these things really happened you are living in
the dark ages, because you can read about them in both Catholic and Protestant
church histories. I do not wish to offend any of my Catholic relatives, close
friend or readers, but I did not make this history up.
Man’s
inhumanity to man has filled the world with nothing but misery in every period
of time as history clearly reveals. It is as much a fact of life as death is
itself. If mankind did not died, who among us would want to live in a
world that was filled with men like this. It would be the same as saying, who
among us would want to live in the Lake of Fire throughout eternity. Believe
this preacher when I say death is really God’s blessing in disguise. The Bible
emphatically declares that: “it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27).
Why
does God allow babies to die, or worst yet, to be born with diseases and
deformities? Because of man’s God given ability of self-determination, mankind
like Lucifer and his angels, can do what ever they will to do. Whose fault is
it that one of your or my ancestors in the past polluted their body and we
inherited some of their genes, which resulted in a deformity or disease in our
body or in the body of someone we love? Whose fault is it that demon-possessed
men can enslave, torture and murder men, women and children of their choosing?
The
Word of the Living God definitely declares that it is not God’s will that any
of these things should happen. This is one of the reasons why our God gave
mankind the Ten Commandments. He explicitly desired to curtail the depraved
actions of some men and promised to judge them harshly for violating His
Commandments (Exo
20:1-17). The same laws that will bring peace, joy and happiness
to those who love and keep them will also bring death, torment and destruction
to those that hate them.
The
apostle Paul painted a clear and frightful picture of what mankind is like when
they turn their backs on God and his righteous laws. Paul speaking of mankind
before and after the flood says: God’s wrath is “against
all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness.” Their hearts were filled with “sinful
desires” and “sexual impurity”
whereby they degraded “their bodies with one another.... Even
their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the
men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for
one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in
themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”
Paul
continued by saying these people were “filled with every
kind of wickedness, evil, greed... depravity... envy, murder, strife, deceit
and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and
boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are
senseless, faithless, heartless [and] ruthless.
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve
death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those
who practice them” (Rom 1:18-32, N.I.V).
When
men and women hate God’s holy Commandments, they will become a slave of Satan
and sin. Who can really enjoy living in a world like this? Who can live in a
world like this and not be burdened for their fellow man? As I said before, God
foreknew when He gave men and angels the power of self-determination that some
of them would turn out to be real devils. He foreknew that sin and misery would
come into His perfect creation because of the evil that sinful beings would
commit. This is why He created angels and Adam with conditional Immortality or
Eternal Life.
Spiritual Death: Man
also inherited from Adam and Eve spiritual death, for no man was born in this
life with the Spirit of God dwelling in him. As a result, man’s spirit and soul
was born spiritually dead causing his flesh to dominate the mind of his spirit
being. Paul speaking about man’s unregenerate nature said, we were all “dead in
trespasses and sin,”
before Christ’s Spirit came into our spirit and made it holy and alive (Eph 2:1-5). What
else can this verse mean, except the unregenerate spirit and soul of man is
spiritually dead to the things of God and the Spirit of God, but alive to the
things of the flesh, the world, and demonic spirits.
From
the moment man came out of the womb, his or her fleshly nature began to
manifest itself. The baby learned if he or she cried or threw a temper tantrum
someone was going to give him or her some attention. This was the baby’s way of
saying, I want to be fed, I want my diaper changed, I want someone to play with
me, I want some to entertain me, I want someone to hold me, I want someone to
love me. I am not belittling the responsibilities of parenthood here or a
baby’s basic needs, but I am saying mankind’s self-conscientiousness or the
self-life began here. It is our uncontrolled wants that eats away our happiness
in life one bit at a time. Because man is spiritually dead his own fleshly
nature is sitting on the throne of his spirit being, ruling like a dictator,
dictating to him what he should want in life, what he should do with his life,
and so on. His whole life is the self-life. This is why Jesus told His children
to “deny” and “die” to
self, if they wanted Eternal Life (Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23).
The
only reason why any of us are moral human beings is because God has been
graciousness enough to give his laws for morality to us. These laws are great
lights that illuminate our pathway in life. Thank God our forefathers in
government and our parents believed in these laws and taught them to us, for
these laws have been proven to bring peace, happiness and prosperity to our
society. The only reason why anarchy is now beginning to prevail in our
country, and the countries of the world, is because our leaders in government
have disregarded these holy laws. If you question this, than please tell me why
there are societies today and in the past, who did not have God’s righteous
laws, who practice cannibalism, or offered up their children as sacrifices to
please their demonic gods?
Because
a person is moral, does not necessarily mean his or her spirit and soul has
been regenerated, for there are many good moral sinners in the world who do not
know our Savior. Because these people believe in certain moral laws, they have
disciplined their spirit being so that their fleshly nature does not rule that
part of their life. Morality for them is a struggle, for their old man has not
been regenerated. I thank God for each one of them, for I would rather have
them for my neighbor than some lawless person. I deeply appreciate and enjoy
being around a person that practices righteousness, whether he is a Christian
or not. However, even though these people believe in righteousness, their
spirit being needs to be regenerated by Christ just as much as the ungodly
person (compare
Acts 10:1-6 with Acts 11:13-17).
Because
mankind is not born in this life with the Spirit of God in their spirit, their
spirit being is spiritually dead. God is not leading and inspiring the thoughts
of their mind and the desires of their heart. Because of sin in their life,
their spirit being has no communion or fellowship with their Creator. God has
chosen to awaken mankind’s spirit being from the dead by the preaching of the
gospel. Mankind’s spirit being must have God’s Holy Spirit come in and
regenerate their spirit and soul natures, so their fleshly nature will no
longer control the desires of their hearts. Sin must be dethroned and the Lord
Jesus Christ enthroned. Mankind must devour or assimilate the Holy Word of God
so it can perfect their spirit being in holiness. Mankind’s spirit and soul
must become reborn to become spiritually alive or receive Eternal Life. I will
discuss the New Birth later.
Eternal Death:
Mankind has also inherited from Adam and Eve the sentence of eternal death. God
will pronounce this sentence on everyone who goes through life and dies
physically without having his or her spirit being reborn. God will pronounce
this sentence on judgment day. The Word of God speaking about this event
stated: “Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them,”
meaning the earth gave up the element of the bodies that was in it, and Hades
gave up the dead souls that were in it. In other words, man’s entire being will
be resurrected from the death. The Bible continued by saying: “they
were judged each one according to his works. And Death and Hades were cast into
the Lake of Fire. This is the Second Death” or
Eternal Death (Rev
20:13, 11-15, 21:8). Only Eternal Life through Christ can abrogate
or abolish the physical, spiritual, and eternal death sentence that we have
inherited from our ancestors Adam and Eve.
CHAPTER 2
GOD’S OLD COVENANT
This
chapter is an excerpt from my book, “Law vs Grace or Works vs Faith to
Obtain Eternal Life.”
Law vs Grace
Demonstrated and Revealed in the Garden of Eden
As stated above, Calvary,
which is God’s Grace, was in the mind and plan of God before the foundation of
the world (Rev 13:8; 1Pe 1:18-20). Therefore, God in His
infinite wisdom and foreknowledge knew that Adam and Eve and all of mankind
would fall into sin before He created them. Since our God foreknows all things,
did God reveal and demonstrate His plan of salvation to mankind in the Garden
of Eden? If He did, how and in which way did God do it?
Did the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life play any
significant role in God’s plan of Salvation? If they did, then what did they
represent? What message is God communication to mankind through Moses by
telling us about these two trees that played such an important part in the
lives of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? If we can find a scriptural answer
to all the above questions, then we should be able to love and appreciate God’s
plan of salvation in a great way.
The apostle John declared
that the Tree of Life was and is a literal tree. He wrote: “In the middle of its
street, and on either side of the river, was the Tree of Life, which
bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”
(Rev 22:2).
Since the Tree of Life is a literal tree, the Tree of Knowledge must
also be a literal tree. In fact, all the trees in the garden were
literal trees (Eze 31:3-9).
Now why did God designate
two of these trees with very significant names? Why did God called them by
these names, and what did these literal trees really represent? Now God told
Adam not to eat of the literal fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, for if he did he would surely die (Gen 2:16-17). God did not tell this to Eve, for according
to verse 18 Adam was alone
in the garden. Eve was not made from Adam’s rib until verses 21-23.
Lets also ask, why did God
give Adam a Law, and why did God place the death sentence on mankind
if He violated this Law? In other words; “why did God place this Law Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden in the first place?” God definitely could have
left this tree out of the garden if He wanted to. So why didn’t He? What
message is God communicating to us by His actions here? Let us mediate on this
for a minute. Since Scripture interprets Scripture, lets allow the Bible to
answer the above questions for us.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Represented the
Law of God: Did not Moses, when giving the Law, tell God’s children that the Law of
God would give them a knowledge of what was good and evil in God’s sight; the
good being life if they keep it perfectly, and the evil being death if they
violated or spurned it. Moses said it this way: “See, I have set before you
today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the
LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes,
and His judgments” (Deu 30:15-16). The Paul spoke of the Law the
very same way when he wrote: “The law is the knowledge
of sin;” and “What
shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I
would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known
covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet” (Rom 3:20).
Solomon called the Law of
God the knowledge of God and compared it to wisdom. He told God’s
children if they sought after it: “Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find
the knowledge of God” (Pro 2:5-6). He went on to say: “The fear of the LORD is
the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”
(Pro 9:10).
The apostle John said the same thing this way: “Whosoever committeth sin
transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law”
(1Jn 3:4, KJV).
Let us
examine the way Eve described the Tree of Knowledge, and see if the Word of God
describes the Law of God the same way. The Bible says: “So when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Gen 3:6). According to the Bible, this
literal tree was “good for food.”
Jesus
compared the Word of God to food when He said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God;” and “The bread of God is He [meaning Himself, the Living
Word] who comes down
from heaven and gives life to the world…. I am the bread of life. He who comes
to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (Mt 4:4; Jn 6:33-35). The apostle Paul also
compared the Word of God to food, and taught that it would give the child of
God the knowledge of good and evil. Paul wrote: “You have come to need milk
and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled
in the Word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those
who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their
senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb 5:12-14).
The Bible also stated that
the tree was “pleasant to the eyes.” David said the same thing
about the Law of God. He wrote: “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law”
(Psa 119:18;) and “The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening
the eyes” (Psa 19:8). The Word of God also declared that the tree was “to make one wise.” David connected wisdom to
knowing and keep the laws of God. He wrote: “The law of the LORD is perfect,
converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the
simple” (Psa 19:7). Solomon said the same thing, when he wrote: “For the LORD gives
wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Pro
2:6).
Therefore, according to all
the above passages of Scripture: “the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil must represent the Law of God.” This is the only
interpretation that I can see, which makes any sense. It is the only
interpretation that is in complete harmony with the Word of God and God’s plan
of salvation. God wanted His children to live by faith in Him. God wanted His
children to love and trust Him, as their loving Father, and not living by the
Law that brings death, when one violates it. Paul said it this way: “Therefore the law is
holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then
what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might
appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good”
(Rom 7:12-13). So with this truth in mind, what is the message God is communicating
to mankind through this Tree of the Law? Let us read on!
Now someone might ask, why
would God deprive Adam and Eve of Eternal Life for breaking one Law? They only
committed one sin? According to the Word of God, if one violates just one
commandment of the Law, he or she is guilty of violating all the commandments.
James, the half brother of our Lord taught this truth this way: “For whoever shall keep the
whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (Ja
2:10).
Paul taught this same truth this way: “For as many as are of the works of the Law
are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them”
(Gal 3:10).
Paul also declared: “For as many as have sinned
without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law
will be judged by the law, (for not the hearers of the law are just in
the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified” (Rom
2:12-13).
Therefore, the Tree of the Law demands the death sentence for everyone who
commits sin, even if it is only
one sin.
The Law can only declare sinless human being innocent and worthy
of Eternal Life. The Bible teaches us that God promised Eternal Life to
everyone under the Old Covenant, who could keep or fulfill the whole Law
perfectly, and death to anyone who violated one of His Laws.
Let us compare the above
truths to Adam and Eve’s sin. According to the Bible, the immortality that Adam
and Eve had was based on two conditions: FIRST, they had to continue to eat
from the Tree of Life (Gen
3:22-24).
SECOND, they had to obey God’s Law and not eat from the Tree of Knowledge (Gen 2:17). As long as they did these two things, they had no
sin or were living in a state of sinlessness. They were living by
faith and trusting in God’s love and provisions. They believed God’s Word was
true and they lived by it.
In
concluding this section on the Tree of the Law, it appears to me that it was
God’s intention from the beginning that Eternal Life could only come from the
Tree of Life, and the fruit from this Tree was given to mankind freely or
without cost. In other words, the privilege Adam and Eve had of eating from the
Tree of Eternal Life was given to them freely, for they did nothing to earn
this privilege. It was given to them by God’s love and grace. We also know from
the Word of God that Adam and Eve had to obey God’s Law, if they truly loved
God and appreciated His gift of Eternal Life. If they did not, then they would
lose God’s gift. This truth not only can be applied to Adam and Eve, but to
God’s children in both the Old and New Covenants, for no one is going to heaven
that does not agape loves God.
Therefore,
I must ask again, why did God demand perfect obedience from Adam and
Eve, and later their descendents, if they wished to have Eternal Life? God
being omniscient knows that mankind is not capable of perfect obedience;
in other words, mankind is capable of being holy but not sinless, so why does
God demand it from us? Since the entire scenario of what happen in the Garden
of Eden is a beautiful picture of God’s plan of salvation, the answer can only
be found in what the Tree of Life represented. With this in mind, let us
examine the Tree of Life.
Now, the Bible explicitly
teaches, the Tree of Life was a literal tree (Rev 22:2). As long as Adam and Eve ate from this tree, they had
Eternal Life or were immortal. So, what does this tree represent? The Word of
God is very emphatic about what Eternal Life is, who it is, and how we can
receive it. The apostle John spoke of it and declared: “This is the promise that
He has promised us – Eternal Life…. And this is the testimony: that God has
given us Eternal Life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has
life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I
have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have Eternal Life, and… we are in Him who is true, in His Son
Jesus Christ. This is the true God and Eternal Life” (1Jn 2:25; 5:12-13,
20).
Since Eternal Life is
in Christ, how did God restore access to the Tree of Life for lost humanity?
The Bible is emphatic about this also, for only by means of the Grace of
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, God made Eternal Life available to
the human race. The Bible says it this way: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having
become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs
on a tree)” (Gal 3:13). This tree on which our Savior was nailed
represented the Law, or in other words, it was the Tree of the Law of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Law demanded death
as the payment for sin. This why the apostle Paul also declared: “You, being dead in your
trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting
of requirements that was against us [meaning the Law], which was contrary to
us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”
(Col 2:13-14); or in other words, Jesus nailed our sins to the Tree of
the Law. Therefore, Christ was nailed to the Tree of the Law, so He could
redeem us from the curse of death, which the Law demanded for all who do not
keep the Law perfectly or live a sinless life.
Now the only way Christ
could redeem us from the curse of death and give us Eternal Life was by
fulfilling all the requirements of the Law. In other words, Jesus, as the son
of mankind, had to live a sinless life to redeem mankind from sin, since the
Law demanded perfect obedience or sinlessness. The apostle Paul described the
sinless perfection of our Savior this way: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without
sin” (Heb 4:15). The apostle Peter said the same thing like this:
“Who committed
no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth” (1Pe 2:22).
The Law of Moses said
it this way: “Your
Lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year…. It is the
LORD's Passover…. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you
are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you” or I will
save your life from death (Exo 12:5-7, 11-13). Peter speaking of our Savior as God’s
Passover Lamb declared: “For indeed Christ, our Passover [Lamb], was
sacrificed for us” (1Co 5:7); and “You were not redeemed with
corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was
foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1Pe 1:18-20).
The apostle John said the same thing when he called Jesus: “The Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8).
The only being who could
satisfy the requirements of the Law was the Lord Jesus Christ; for He is the
only being who has ever lived that was totally and completely sinless. If the
precious blood of Jesus had just one spot of sin in it, the entire human race
would have been hopelessly lost. But because of the perfect obedience of
our Savior, the requirement of God’s Law has been fulfill or satisfied.
Therefore, it was always God’s intention or plan that Adam and Eve and all of
mankind should be redeem by the blood of the sinless Lamb of God. Whereby
mankind could have access to the Tree of Life through the precious, holy,
sinless blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why God in His infinite wisdom
and foreknowledge demanded perfect obedience or sinlessness from mankind to
receive Eternal Life, knowing that only Christ could fulfill this demand.
Paul stated this truth this way: “For
as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s [perfect] obedience many
will be made righteous…. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might
reign through righteousness to Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:19, 21);
and “For the Law of the Spirit of
Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of sin and death. For what
the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh [man’s sinful fleshly nature], God did by sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the
flesh” (Rom 8:2-3).
Paul also declared: “If
there had been a Law given which could have given Life, truly
righteousness would have been by the Law. But the Scripture has confined all
under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those
who believe…. Therefore the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ,
that we might be justified by faith”
(Ga 3:21-24). To reiterate, since the Law required perfect obedience or
sinlessness, every Jew realized that they were dome to death, with no hope of
Eternal Life. The only Law that gave any of God’s Old Testament children any
hope of Life was the Law of the Passover Lamb, which revealed God’s Grace to
them; whereby God was willing to forgive them of all sins. This Law pointed
them to Christ, as their Tree of Life, who was the one and only way for them to
receive Eternal Life.
Therefore, God’s entire
foreordained plan of salvation, which was started in the Garden of Eden was
fulfilled in Christ as He died as God’s sinless Passover Lamb on Calvary’s
Cross! Now according to the Word of God, the only way anyone can receive
Eternal Life is by believing into the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ through the New Birth, for this how a believer receives the Grace
of God.
The apostle Paul stated the
above truth this way: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done [meaning keeping the Law
system], but
according to His mercy [meaning grace]
He saved us, through [dia – by means of] the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit….
Having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope
of Eternal Life”(Tit 3:5-7). The
apostle Peter confirmed Paul’s and Jesus’ teaching on the New Birth, when he
preached the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of our great God and
Savior to the lost Jews in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. He told them to “Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Genesis
3:15 “And I will put enmity [hatred] between you [Satan] and the woman, And between your [Satan’s] seed and her Seed; He shall bruise [shuwph] your [Satan’s] head, And you shall bruise [shuwph] His heel.” Dr. Strong defines “shuwph” to mean: “to bruise, [or to] crush.” Let us examine the grammar construction of this verse: “your seed” noun common masculine singular
construct, suffix 2nd person masculine singular; therefore
Satan’s seed or child is singular, as in one, and not
seeds or children as in many. “Her Seed” noun
common masculine singular construct, suffix 3rd person
feminine singular; therefore the woman’s seed or child is also singular,
as in one, and not seeds or children as in many.
Now, Satan’s seed and the
woman’s seed cannot be referring to any son of Eve, for Cain, Abel, and Seth
were all children of Eve! Let my beloved readers take note, God did not name
which woman He was referring to in this prophecy. The only thing this prophecy
stated is that Satan and some woman would hate each other, and Satan will have
a child one day and some woman will also have a child, and these two boys will
also hate each other. This is the true interpretation of this prophecy.
In the next verse it stated:
“He [not they] shall bruise your head” and “you [not they]
shall
bruise His heel.” These verbs are in the future tense not in the present
tense, and they are in the singular number not plural. Therefore, this event
would take place sometime in the future. Now this is the first prophetic
scripture in the Bible. In this prophecy God spoke of Christ’s complete victory
over Satan at Calvary, as the Son of a woman. This means Christ would have to
be born of a woman and become a flesh and blood Man!
Now, let us identify the
characters in this prophecy. Since the Word of God is not of any man’s private
interpretation, or one man’s opinion, let us allow scripture to interpret
scripture: Who was the Serpent? The Bible gives us the answer. It stated that
Michael the archangel will lay “hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who
is the Devil and Satan” (Rev 20:2); and “So the great dragon was
cast out [of heaven, which has not happen yet], that serpent of old,
called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Rev 12:9).
The prophet Ezekiel speaking
of Lucifer in the Garden of Eden stated: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘You were the
seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the Garden of God…. You were the anointed cherub who covers…. You were
perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found
in you” (Eze 28:12-15). Therefore, Satan is called the ancient Serpent
that deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden and all of mankind after
her, even until this very day. He is called the old Serpent because it was he
who came in and dwelt in this beautiful multicolor snake, and actually talked
through it: “the same way that God
spoke through Balaam’s donkey (Num 22:28-31).”
Who was this promise Seed
that would crush the head of the Lucifer? In Genesis 9:9, God gave us the name of the family that the
seed of the woman would come through; it was through the family of Abraham as
the apostle Paul declared: “What purpose then does the law serve? It was
added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise
was made…. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does
not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is
Christ” (Ga 3:19, 16).
Who was this woman that the
Serpent will hate, because her seed or son will crush his head or power? The
Word of God reveals that it was Mary, the mother of our sweet Savior. Paul
wrote: “But
when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman”
(Ga 4:4).
Matthew wrote: “An
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do
not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His
name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins. So all this was done
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Isaiah], saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be
with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is
translated, ‘God with us” (Mt
1:20-23).
According to the Bible, it
was by means of a woman that Satan obtained the victory over mankind in the
Garden of Eden, and set himself as man’s enemy or opponent. Since it was by
Satan that the first man and woman sinned and brought death to mankind, it only
stands to reason that Satan and death should be completely defeated or vanquished
by the Seed of a woman or Christ. The apostle John spoke of Jesus destroying
Satan’s power over mankind this way: “He [meaning anyone in the human race] who sins is of the devil, for the devil
has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1Jn 3:8). The apostle Paul said it this way: “Inasmuch then as the
children have partaken of flesh and blood, He [Christ] Himself likewise shared in the same,
that through death He might destroy him who had the power
of death, that is, the devil” or that old Serpent Lucifer (Heb 2:14).
The prophet David spoke of
Satan bruising Christ’s heel this way: “You have brought Me to the dust of death….
They pierced My hands and My feet” (Psa 22:15-16). The prophet Isaiah said it
this way: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities…. And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all…. For
He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people
He was stricken” (Isa 53:5-8). Therefore, the woman who the Serpent will hate was
the Virgin Mary. Why will he hate her and she will hate him? It is very obvious
from the above scriptures; Satan will hate Mary because she brought forth the
Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will crush or destroy
Satan’s power and kingdom, and cast him into the Lake of Fire forever. Mary
will hate Satan because she loved God, and is and always will be a holy woman
of God, who loved holiness and righteousness.
Now that I have identified
the woman and her Seed, who is the seed of the Serpent or the son of Satan? The
Word of God again gave us the answer. In the following passage of scripture,
God called the son of Lucifer the prince of Tyre, and his pappy the king of
Tyre. Everyone knows the title prince is only given to a person who is a son of
a king! Therefore, Lucifer has to be the father of the man of sin or the
antichrist. How he will accomplish this I do not know. The Bible says it this
way: “The
word of the LORD came to me again, saying, Son of man, say to the prince of
Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because your heart is lifted up, and
you say, I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, in the midst of
the seas, yet you are a man, and not a god, though you set your heart as
the heart of a god….’ Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre,
and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: You were the seal of
perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden,
the garden of God” (Eze 28:1-2, 12-13).
According to the Bible, part
of the Lawless One’s ancestry will come from the tribe of Dan, and because
Lucifer is his pappy, he also will be called a serpent. This is why Jacob
through the Holy Spirit said about Lucifer’s son: “Dan [meaning the antichrist] shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the
way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider shall
fall backward” (Gen 49:16-17). In Revelation 13:1 & 4, the antichrist is called
the beast, who has seven heads and ten horns, and it is said that Lucifer the
dragon gave him his power. In Revelation
12:6-9,
Lucifer the dragon is cast out of heaven, and in verse three it says he has seven
heads and ten horns. Consequently, Lucifer himself is identified with the man
of sin, or he is the one who will dwell in him as he did in the snake in the
Garden of Eden. Lucifer, as the antichrist’s god and father, will dwell in him
and rule the world through him.
In conclusion, all of the
above passages of scripture in this chapter reveal that no one, no matter how
good he or she may be, could ever earn the right to have Eternal Life by keep
the Laws of God, for no one was sinless. We have all sinned and come short of
God’s requirement of perfection (Rom
6:23).
We all need God’s Grace, which can only be found in the death, burial, and
resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If we fail to understand the
message that God is communicating to us through the fall of Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden, and the significant of the Tree of the Law and the Tree of
Life, then we will not completely understand the types and shadows of God’s
plan of salvation by Grace in the Old Testament. We will not also understand
the real difference between God’s plan of salvation by Grace, and man’s plan of
salvation by the Works of the Law.
Old Testament Salvation Portrayed by Animal Blood Sacrifices
All of
God’s people in the Old Testament lived for the hope of a resurrection to
Eternal Life (Acts
26:6-8). Therefore, in all the covenants God made with man
animal blood sacrifices were always present. God revealed His great plan of
salvation to mankind in types and shadows in the Old Testament by these blood
sacrifices. During this period, God required His people to offer up the blood
of animals as an atonement or expiation for their sins. Through these
sacrifices mankind could receive God’s mercy or grace by which
their sins could be temporarily removed. Every man who has ever lived,
excluding the Lord Jesus Christ, has sinned and therefore needed Gods’ grace
and forgiveness to be saved.
There
was absolutely no way any man could be saved in the Old Testament without
coming in contact with these blood sacrifices; for this is how God gave His
grace and forgiveness to mankind. As I have already pointed out, Calvary has
always been God’s one and only plan for salvation. God never has or will ever
have any other plan for salvation other than the “Lamb
of God that was slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). The apostle Paul
speaking of animal sacrifices wrote: “The law having a shadow of
good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year and year continually, make the comers
thereunto perfect.... For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins” (Heb 10:1, 4).
According to the Word of God, these animal sacrifices could not permanently
remove sin, for only the blood of Jesus could do that. It was not until Jesus came that mankind
realized the full significance or meaning of those animal blood sacrifices. For
the Bible emphatically declared that they represented the holy sinless Lamb of
God. For Calvary is the highest revelation and expression of God’s Grace.
Job’s
Offered up Animal Blood Sacrifice to God for the Sins of His Children: The
Book of Job is the oldest written book in the Bible. It antedates the writings
of Moses, who wrote the Torah around 1450 BC, that is, the five books of Moses
that includes Genesis. The Book of Job was probably written around 2100 BC in Terah’s day, who
was Abraham’s father. According to the Bible: “THERE was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was
whole-hearted and upright, and one that feared God, and shunned evil. And there
were born unto him seven sons and three daughters…. And it was so, when the
days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them,
and rose up early in the morning, and OFFERED BURNT-OFFERINGS according to the
number of them all; for Job said: ‘It may be that my sons have SINNED, and
blasphemed God in their hearts.’ Thus did Job continually” (Job 1:1-5, JPS Holy Scriptures
published by the Jewish Publication Society in 1917). Why
did the Patriarch Job connect animal blood sacrifices with God’s forgiveness of
sins, if it was not something he learned from his forefathers, who learned it
from Adam and Eve?
God’s
Animal Blood Sacrifice after Adam and Eve Were Cast out of the Garden of Eden: From
the time of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden, God required animal
sacrifices as an atonement for sins. The Bible stated, God “made
coats of skins [owr], and clothed [labash]” the
nakedness of Adam and Eve’s bodies (Gen 3:21). According to Dr. James
Strong, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the
Hebrew word “owr”
means: “hide
[or] leather,” [2]
while “labash” means: “to wrap around” (#3847). It is
only right to presume, from the Hebrew words used and the context of
this scripture, that God as Melchisedec, their High Priest, slew these animals
shedding their blood, and then skinned them in order to make clothing for Adam
and Eve.
Through
this act, God not only clothed their entire body in animal hides, but also
totally covered or atoned for their sin against Him. From this moment on, God
always required the blood of an animal to be shed to atone for the sins of
mankind. Not only this, but God gave Adam and Eve a promise of a deliverer, who
would come and make a complete and everlasting atonement for their sins, and
the sins of the entire race. God called this deliverer the Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). To
believe that God never forgave Adam and Eve for their sin is totally ridiculous
and unscriptural!
Abel’s
Animal Blood Sacrifices: The
Bible says: “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice”
than Cain (Heb 11:4). Why? Because Able was
obedient to God’s instructions and offered a blood sacrifice of a “sheep” from
his herd (Gen
4:2). Cain offered a vegetable sacrifice, which was the fruit
of all of his hard work. Now, if God did not give Adam and Eve
instructions on how to approach Him and have their sins forgiven, then why did
God reject Cain’s sacrifice? If Cain was not rebelling against God’s
instructions, then please tell me what God meant when he told Cain: “If you do well, will you not be accepted”
(verse 7)? No
doubt, God was telling Cain: “if you offered the right kind of sacrifice, an animal sacrifice,
I will accept it.” But Cain refused because he wanted to approach
or worship God on his own terms. His pride would not allow him to go and buy a
sacrifice from his brother Abel.
The
Word of God stigmatizes Cain as a type of religious person that wants to serve
God on their terms. Jude speaking about people like Cain said: “Woe
unto them; for they have gone in the way of Cain” (Jude 1:11)! This
is why there are so many man made religions, all wanting to serve God their
way. God called Cain and those who have his spirit wicked, not because of
immorality, but because they rob God of His Deity by making their own rules in
both Judaism and Christianity, and in the religions of the world. All through
biblical history, God’s people have always offered up a blood sacrifice for
atonement for sins.
Noah’s
Blood Sacrifices: Noah built “an altar unto the
Lord; and took of every clean beast… and offered burnt offerings on the altar”
(Gen 8:20). Job’s Animal Blood Sacrifices: The
old patriarch Job, who lived before Abraham: “rose
up early” every “morning and offered burnt
offerings” to God for each of his children, just in case
they “sinned and curse God in their hearts” (Job 1:5). If
Job did not know about the atonement God made for Adam and Eve, and Cain and
Abel’s sacrifices, where did he learn about blood sacrifices as atonement for
sins?
Abraham’s
Animal Blood Sacrifices: God tested Abraham’s love and his faith in Him,
by asking him to offer up Isaac instead of a Lamb as a sacrifice. This was to
represent or portray God’s sacrifice of His own Son or flesh, as the final and
ultimate sacrifice for sin. God had no intentions of allowing Abraham to do
this, for God forbade Israel to offer up human sacrifices (Lev 18:21; Jer 32:34-35). Even
though Abraham loved Isaac more than life itself, Abraham was willing to do it
because He loved God more than anyone or anything.
Abraham
also knew that God promised to give him children through Isaac, so he believed
that God would raised Isaac from the dead to fulfill His promise (Heb 11:17-19).
Isaac said to Abraham: “Where is the lamb for a burn offering?”
Abraham responded with these prophetic words: “my
son God will provide Himself a Lamb” (Gen 22:1-14). Just as God provided Abraham with a lamb
that day, God provided Himself as the Lamb at Calvary, or in other words, God
the Father became the Lamb of God or the Savior of the world (Isa 43:11).
Isaac’s
Animal Blood Sacrifices: Isaac “built
an altar” unto the Lord at Beersheba, and their “the
Lord appeared unto Him” (Gen 26:23-25). Jacob’s
Blood Sacrifices: God commanded Jacob to go to Bethel and “make
there an altar” unto Him. Jacob went to Bethel and “he
built there an altar and called the place Elbethel because there God appeared
unto him” (Gen 35:1-7). Whenever godly men
approached God through animal blood sacrifices, God always heard and answered
their prayers and even made Himself known to them.
The Lamb
Offered up at Passover: As stated before, Israel’s national redemption out
of Egypt is a beautiful illustration of our deliverance from slavery by the
blood of our Passover Lamb. Israel’s redemption was based solely upon God’s
grace. God told Moses that every family in Israel must have “a
Lamb for an house.” The Lamb had to be without
flaw or defect. Each family had to kill the Lamb and then cook or roast it, and
then “eat the flesh” of it until it was all
consumed.
They
were also commanded to take the Lamb’s “blood and strike it
on the two side post and on the upper post” of
their house. The Lord told them that He would pass over ever house in Egypt,
and every house that had the Lamb’s blood applied to their house, He would not
permit “the destroyer to come in” their
“houses to smite” them (Exo 12:3, 5, 7, 23). The
Lord kept His promise and redeemed Israel out and bondage and destroyed the
firstborn of every home in Egypt that did not have the Passover Lamb’s blood
applied to their house.
God
made the Passover sacrifice a national law for Israel, which was celebrated yearly
on fourteenth day of April. Naturally, the Lamb represented our great Redeemer
the Lord Jesus Christ as Paul said: “Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us” (1Co 5:7). Jesus died as our Lamb of
God on Passover day. Just as God destroyed the Egyptians, He will destroy every
human being that does not have the precious blood of Jesus applied to their
spirit, soul and body. There is no way God can forgive and cleanse anyone of
their sins outside of the blood of Christ, for He is the only sacrifice or atonement
for sins God will accept.
The Goat
Offered up on the Day of Atonement: God ordained that the tenth
day of October was to be a national holy day for all of Israel; for on that
day, and that day only, God would “forgive, but not forget, all the sins Israel committed
that year.” This day was known as the Day of Atonement or Yom
Kippur. This day marked the climax of the children of Israel’s approach or
access to God under the Mosaic Law System. This day was a very solemn day and
the entire nation was held in suspense, as the High Priest carried on his
duties.
God’s
high priest, who was a type of Christ, would selected “two young he-goats without spot
of blemish,” and cast lots concerning their role in God’s plan of
salvation that day. The one on which the “Lord’s lot fell” was
slain at the Brazen Altar in the Outer Court, not only for the high priest’s
sins, but for the sins of the entire nation (Lev 16:6, 30). The
slain he-goat beautifully illustrated or portrayed, Jesus’ atonement for the
sins of lost humanity through His death on Calvary’s cross (Lev 16:8-10; Rom 3:24-26).
The
other he-goat or the “live goat,” the
high priest would “lay both his hands upon” its “head” and “confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel.” By
doing this, all of Israel’s sins were imputed to the living goat, and that goat
would be sent away to a “land not inhabited” (Lev 16:20-22). The
scapegoat beautifully portrayed the resurrection and ascension into heaven of
the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb 9:24). Remission of sins would have been impossible
without the resurrection of our glorious Kinsman Redeemer, for Paul says: “if
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1Co
15:17).
After
this the high priest took the blood of the slain he-goat and went past the
first veil into the Holy Place. In the Holy Place he sprinkled the blood on the
furniture there, and started a fire in the Altar of Incense with live hot coals
he took from the Brazen Altar. Only after he use consecrated fire from the
Altar of Death and Sacrifice, which portrayed a holy and consecrated life,
could he offer up intercessory prayer to God for the lost house of Israel. He
then walked past the second veil, which represented the flesh of Jesus, with
great fear and trembling, and entered into the Holy of Holies. There he would
sprinkle the blood on Mercy Seat to make annual atonement for the nation (Heb 10:20; 8:7; Lev 16:1-34).
According to some, when the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on
the Mercy Seat: “Fire came
out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat
portions on the [Brazen]
Altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown” (Lev 9:24, NIV).
Paul speaking
of Jesus as our atonement, in His high priestly and sacrificial roles says: “Christ
being come an High Priest of good things to come,”
entered into the Holy of Holies not with “the blood of goats,” but
with “His own blood.” For
animal sacrifices could “never take away sins,” but
Jesus offered up “one sacrifice for sins” which
“perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb
9:11-12; 10:11-14). Jesus’ one sacrifice or offering for sins,
forever removed all of our sins of the past, present and future, if we have the
death, burial and resurrection of our Savior imputed to us through the New
Birth. From that time on we are under the blood of Christ, and if we sin, all
we need to do is repent or forsake our sins and confess them to Jesus, when we
stumble or fall and He will forgive us.
Since
the blood of animals could not remit sins, this can only mean that God
forgave Israel on the Day on Atonement, but He did not remove or forget their
sins (Heb
9:1-4, 15). Because
Israel’s sin offering were made by faith and obedience to God’s sacrificial
laws, God suspended judgment of Israel’s sins in anticipation or confident
expectation of Christ’s sacrifice (Rom 3:25). These animal sacrifices
represented God’s grace to Israel. Because of this, the Law of Moses was called
a schoolmaster that led us to Christ (Ga 3:24-25). For it clearly depicted
man’s sinful condition and his great need for a Savior. It also revealed in a
symbolic form the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ (Heb 10:1-4).
The Mosaic Covenant
How does the Bible
define the doctrines of Law and Grace or Works and Faith? What is the real
difference between them? Can a believer be saved if he or she believed in the
doctrine of works? How did some of God’s people in both the Old and New
Covenant, move away from God’s doctrine of salvation by grace to the doctrine
of works? Did the early Church have a double standard, or in other words, one
standard for the Jewish Church and another for the Gentile Church? These are some
of the questions that will be answered in this section of this book. Let us begin our study by briefly examining God’s
Covenant with the nation of Israel and the perversion of it by the Pharisees.
The Mosaic Law System and the
Pharisees: The Old Covenant was made with the nation of Israel
through Moses. It was a legal system that contained moral, civil and ceremonial
laws. The moral law of God not only included the Ten Commandments, but all
other laws that dealt with personal holiness. The civil law contained
governmental and social laws. The ceremonial law governed the religious life of
Israel. This entire legal system was known as “the Law,” or “the Law of Moses.” God’s
grace was exhibited or displayed in only one aspect of this system, “the ceremonial law.” All
of the other laws pointed guilt sinners to this one, as their only hope.
The
Pharisees were a Jewish religious sect, who had their roots in a religious
party called the Hasidim or Assidians or pious one. They were formed somewhere
in the Maccabean period. The Maccabees were a priestly family who lead a Jewish
revolt against Hellenism and Syrian rule in BC 168. They
saw Hellenism as a way of life that was opposed to that prescribed in their
Torah. God greatly and miraculously uses the Maccabees and the Assidians to
preserve His people from the evils of the Greek culture, which make serious
inroads against the holiness standards of the Hebrew Law.
God
used these Jewish patriots at this time to foil or thwart Satan scheme
of polluting God’s children with the immoral value system of the Greek culture,
i.e. its art, entertainment and every other aspect. This satanic culture has
also corrupting the entire human race today. Therefore, somewhere around BC 125,
three Jewish religious parties came into being. One called the Sadducees, who
followed the basic ideology of the earlier Jewish hellenizers or liberals. The
other two parties were called the Pharisees and the Essenes, and they sought to
preserve the basic tenets of the Hasidim. The Essenes were basically a monastic
brotherhood that did not have a great influence over the majority of the
people. The Pharisees or the Separated Ones on the other hand did.
As
time went on, Lucifer deceived and perverted the Pharisees, and that which
started as a blessing to the children of Israel became a curse. The Pharisees
in their desire to be holy, and to keep the people holy, began to devise
laws and add them to the laws of God. This was done so the
people would have to break their man made laws, before they would actually
break one of God’s laws. These laws were like a “hedge” or “fence” that
they built into the Law system, which in some cases became equal to God’s laws.
Jesus spoke about some of these laws when said: the Pharisees “bind
heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men shoulders”
(Mt 23:4). Jesus also said they made “the
Word of God of none effect” through their “tradition”
(Mk 7:7, 13).
As these
Pharisees preached holiness to God’s people, they did not include God’s love,
mercy, and justice into their preaching, nor trusting God for their salvation.
This resulted in God’s people striving for holiness, not as an act or work of
love, to please the lover of their soul, but as an all out effort to earn God’s
love, approval, and salvation by their own works of righteousness. Jesus said
it this way: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected
the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.
These you ought to have done, without leaving the others
undone”
(Mt 23:23).
Let my
beloved readers take note, Jesus placed His approval on their teaching of God’s
laws of holiness, but He rebuked them for not teaching salvation by
faith and God’s attributes of love, mercy and justice. Preaching holiness,
without connecting it to our love for God is a sure way of making Pharisees out
of God’s people; and teaching God’s grace and mercy without connecting it to
the believer’s responsibility to earnestly strive to obey God’s commandment, is
a sure way of making children God sinners. The devil will do his best to get
God’s children to believe either one of these positions, but he hates it when
they believe and practice both!
Many
preachers today preach the Pharisees’ gospel of salvation. They try to
legislate holiness. They preach keeping the Law as a means of saving oneself
from the Lake of Fire. As a result, God’s people are struggling to keep the
Word of God out of fear, which torments their soul and spirit. They are
always struggling to please God so they can earn His approval, His acceptance
and His love. I am not saying that we should not preach on holiness or
hell, but we should tie it into living for God because we love Him and He loves
us. In this way, living for God is not a struggle against sin, but a life of surrender to God’s Spirit and Word. God is not
an ogre whom you can never satisfy; or is He a taskmaster that stands over His
children with a whip, ready to strike them the moment they fall. God is a good
heavenly Father, who agape loves His children and wants them to agape love Him
in return.
Because
the Pharisees were self-righteous, and depended on their own personal holiness
to save them, they forgot that “whoever shall keep the whole
law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (Ja 2:10). They
did not give God the glory, for without His grace that was given by
means of the animal sacrifices, none of them could have been saved. As a
result, they became boastful and arrogant concerning their own piety, and
quickly condemned others that did not measure up to their standards. The joy of
serving God was gone, and all that was left was an empty shell called religion,
better known as denominationalism.
To
help my readers understand the Jewish mindset of those under the Law system, I
am going to quote from memory an article I read years ago. The article was
found in a set of book called The
Archeological Volumes. In one of
these volumes there was a letter supposedly written by Caiaphas, who was the
High Priest in Jesus’ day, to the Sanhedrin Court. It stated: “As I was passing by one of the
streets in Jerusalem, I heard Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus, preaching
about the love of God. I walked away thinking, is it not strange, us Jews do
not think of God as a loving God, but one to be greatly feared and His
commandments to be kept.”
The attitude
of God’s children in serving Him had entirely changed. Instead of God’s
priesthood preaching that God loves His people and truly desires to give them
Eternal Life, if they loved Him enough to strive to live holy, they
preached, you must earn your salvation by keeping the works of the Law.
Thereby, God will be forced to give it to you, or in other words, you must
forcefully take it from God by your good works. This attitude is best seen in
the “Parable
of the Pharisee and the Publican.” Both of these men were
children of God who lived under the Mosaic Law system, and both went “into
the temple to pray.” According to Jesus, the
Pharisee departed the temple without being forgiven of his sins, while
the tax collector deeply sorry for his sins, said “God
be merciful to me a sinner,” and left the temple justified
(Lk 18:9-14).
Under
the Mosaic Law system, why did God condemn the righteous-man and justified the
sinner? We would think it should have been the other way around. The scripture
gave only one reason. It declared that the prideful self-righteous child of God
“trusted” in his own righteousness. He
did not trust a loving God for his salvation. He did not remember the scripture
that declared, “we are all like an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” in the sight of
God (Isa
64:6).
The
pride and self-conceit in Pharisee’s heart robbed him of feelings of
compassion, for those who were struggling to measure up to God’s holiness
standards. This parable should give every self-righteous child of God a
paroxysm or a convulsion. God forgave the Publican in this parable, not because
he was a sinner who was trying to use God’s grace as a license to sin, but
because this child of God obviously wanted deliverance from his sins. He wanted
to do better. He wanted to live holy, but at that particular moment in time,
his faith and love for God was not as strong as it should have been. There is a
world of difference between the child of God, who is striving to live for God
in holiness because he love God, and the one who is striving to be holy because
he is afraid of going to hell. In other words, one who sees God as a loving
Father and His laws as rules for happiness, and the one who sees God as a
taskmaster and His laws as bondage.
God’s Offer of Eternal Life in the Mosaic Law System: God
told the nation of Israel: “I have made a Covenant with
you and with Israel.” He then told Moses to write “upon
the tables the words of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exo
34:27-29), that is, after Moses broke the first tables. The
Bible records this covenant this way: “These are the words of the covenant which the LORD
commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab,
besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb [or Sinai]…. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant,
and do them…. The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart
of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your
heart and with all your soul, that you may Live [Eternally]” (Deut 29:1, 9,
30:6); and “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in
Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness”
(Psa 15:1-2).
The
New Testament confirmed this truth, when He told a Jewish lawyer stood up to
test our Savior by saying: “Teacher,
what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life?’ He said to him, ‘What is
written in the Law [of Moses]?
What is your reading of it?’ So he answered and said, ‘You shall love
the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ And He said
to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will Live [Eternally]” (Lk 10:25-28). Our
Lord confirmed this truth again when a certain rich man said to Him: “Good
Master, what good thing shall I do to inherit Eternal Life?’ Jesus said unto
him, ‘if you will enter into Life [Eternally], keep the commandments” (Mt 19:16-19). Our
Lord then proceeded to name the commandments.
Therefore,
it is very evident that our Lord connected Eternal Life with keeping the works
of the Law of Moses. Under the Old Mosaic Covenant, God offered Eternal Life to
the Jews on the condition that they earnestly strive to keep the Mosaic Law
System. One should keep in mind that no one could be saved or have Eternal Life
under the New Covenant, until Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead (Heb 9:15-17; 1Co 15:14-18).
Each
Jew had to meet two conditions to receive Eternal Life. FIRST and foremost,
they had to believe in God’s grace to forgive them of their sins, just as
though they had never sinned or were sinless. The offering up of animal blood
sacrifices was their act or work of faith, which openly displayed they faith in
God’s promise of forgiveness. For example, on the Day of Atonement, God promised
Israel that He would show grace to Israel by forgiving them of all sins and not
remember their sins for one year (Deut
16:15-16, 21-23, 34; Heb 10:1-4).
SECOND,
they had to be a holy and separated people from the heathens; therefore, they
had to earnestly strive to obey all moral, civil and ceremonial laws, as
proof of their love and appreciation for God’s Grace (Mt 19:16-19, Lk 10:25-28). God
never required Israel to be absolutely sinless, but He did ask them to be holy.
There is a world of difference between those of who earnestly strive to be
pleasing to God, and those who abuse or misuse His Grace. God pronounced
blessings on those who would keep His Laws, and curses on those would not (Deut 28:1-68).
Because
the Pharisees preached holiness in a negative way, the people of God became
blinded to God’s real intent of giving the Law. God used Eternal Life to
motivation them to strive to live holy and practice righteousness. This
way they would not become slaves to sin and become demon possessed. He also
wanted to test their love for Him; for God knew that loving Him with all their
spirit mind, soul mind, physical mind, and physical strength, was the only way
that any of them would have the strength they needed to live holy.
Since
there was no way they or us could keep all of God’s laws perfectly or live
sinless lives, God knew that they and we would occasionally stumble and fall
into sin. Therefore, God provided Israel with animal blood sacrifices for the forgiveness
of sins, which pointed to the atonement that Christ would make for them and us
at Calvary. God wanted Israel to focus their eyes and hearts of the Lamb of God
that would take away their sins. Whereby they would come to Him with their
hearts filled with love and appreciation for His grace and mercy, and thereby
trusting Him for their salvation as they strived to live holy lives.
Animal
sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins were not just offered up once a
year, i.e. on the Day of Atonement or the Feast of Passover, but every day. A
guilty sinner did not have to wait a year or a month to have his or her conscience
clear from all the guilt of sins, so he or she could go to a priest any day
of the year and offer up a sacrifice for their sins. Much like it is today when
we stumble, we confess and repent of our sin and the blood of Jesus cleans us,
whereby our conscience is made clean. No one can have faith enough to overcome
the world, the devil and the flesh with a guilty conscience. This is why it is
absolutely necessary to have a good, honest, and clean conscience.
As
time marched on, the devil was able to deceive many of God’s old covenant
children, through the teachings of the Pharisees, into thinking that they had
to earn their salvation by their own personal holiness and
righteousness. Therefore, their attitude in serving God and keeping the
Law of Moses drastically changed. The devil deceived them into believing that
God did not love them because He severely chastised them when they continued
in their sins as a nation and would not repent. As a result, God sent them into
captivity. They no doubt forgot God admonishment when He told them: “If you do not obey Me, and do not observe
all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors
My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break
My covenant, I also will do this to you. I will even appoint terror over you,
wasting disease and fever, which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of
heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I
will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies.
Those who hate you shall reign over you…. I will chastise you seven
times for your sins” (Lev 26:12. 14-17, 27-28).
Somehow,
Israel did not associate God’s chastisements with His love for them. God
chastised them this way, so that it would lead them to repent of their sins,
and turn their lives back over to God. God loved them and did not want to see
them lost! The Old Testament spoke of God’s chastisement this way: “My son, do not despise the chastening of
the LORD, Nor detest His correction; For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just
as a father the son in whom he delights” (Pro 3:11-12). The New Testament quotes this passage and
then adds: “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons;
for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without
chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and
not sons…. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;
nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those
who have been trained by it” (Heb 12:5-11).
Thank
God that no one in the new covenant has to doubt God’s love for them; for God’s
love and grace is not veiled in animal sacrifices any more, but in the precious
blood of Jesus Christ. Because of Calvary, God’s children can sing and praise
their God for His love and grace, even when they are going through the heartaches
and tragedies of life; for Calvary is the anchor that holds the child of God
from being overcome and destroyed by all the storms of life! Because of their
love for their Savior, they can look into the face of Lucifer, regardless of
how he hurts them, and say: My God is a good Heavenly Father, and He proved His
love for me once and for all time at Calvary. Devil, go and take a good, long
look at Calvary, and then come back and try to tell me, my Heavenly Father does
not love me!
How did the Lucifer get Israel
to take their eyes off God’s love and grace, and focus them on the works of
Moses Law? The devil did this by using false prophets, that is, the teaching of
the Pharisees. These Pharisees, being afraid that God would again send Israel
into captivity, consistently, day after
day, month after month, and year after year, preach the holiness of the Law to
Israel! As a result, Israel lost sight of God real intent in
giving the Law. They could not see God’s love in the Law any longer.
The Entire Mosaic Law System Had to Be Abolished, So
Eternal Life Could Come Through Christ: How do New Testament writers
define the terms Law and Grace, and why is the apostle Paul constantly
proclaiming, in his epistles to the churches, that the Mosaic Law System is
abolished? In the majority of places in the New Testament, Law refers to
the Mosaic Law System. Jesus definitely used it to refer to the Law of
Moses. He said:
“For
all the Prophets and the Law [system of Moses] prophesied until John”
(Mt 11:13).
The Law and the Prophets when used together referred to the teachings of the
Old Testament Bible as a whole. If the Prophets do not refers to the OT
Prophets, and if the Law does not refer to the OT Mosaic Law System, then
please tell me what Jesus meant by these terms?
In Pauline theology,
Paul used this term to usually mean the Law of Moses, and when he use the term
works in connection with the Law, he meant the works that the Law of Moses
required, such as keeping its moral and ceremonial precepts. Paul define Law
this way: “For
until the Law [system of Moses] sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no Law” (Rom 5:13); and “What the Law [system of Moses] could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3). Paul also declared: “Therefore by the deeds of
the Law [system of Moses] no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the Law is
the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart
from the Law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law [of Moses] and the Prophets, even the
righteousness [salvation]
of God, through faith in [gospel of] Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe” (Rom
3:20-22).
God’s righteousness or
salvation is imparted to all who believe what about Jesus? Paul gave us the
answer when he said: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes”
(Rom 1:16; cp with Ga 1:6-9; 1Co 4:15). What is the gospel of Christ? “It is the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ” (1Co 15:1-4).
From these scriptures, one must conclude that the Law that Paul is always
writes against is the Law System of Moses. If it is not, then please
tell me what does it refer to, and where in the Bible is your proof? No
one can reader Paul’s arguments against the Law and conclude he is referring to
any law of man or governments. For he is constantly refers to Moses and the
moral and ceremonial ordinances, and so on.
Paul
defined Grace as: “the Lord Jesus Christ and the Salvation He
provided through the gospel of Christ.” Paul wrote: “The
Grace [charis] of God that brings salvation has appeared
to all men”
(Tit 2:11, N.I.V); and “I
thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given
to you by Christ Jesus (1Co
1:4); and “Being justified freely by His grace through
the redemption [salvation] that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a
propitiation by His blood, through faith” in the gospel of Christ (Rom 3:24-25); and God “who has saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2Ti 1:9).
Peter spoke of God’s grace
this way: “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect,
establish, strengthen, and settle you…. I have written to
you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in
which you stand” (1Pe 5:10-12). Therefore, if the Grace of
God is not the Lord Jesus Christ, and the justification He provided through His
gospel, and His ability to keep us through every trial of life, then please
tell me what Paul meant by the term “Grace
of God” and
“justification by grace?”
Therefore,
the doctrine of grace in reference to salvation refers to “God’s gift of Eternal Life,
through the atonement of Christ, to anyone who would meet the terms of
His Covenant.” One of the terms of the Old Covenant was that
Israel should agape love their God (Deut
6:5). In other words, if Israel’s love for God had been great
enough, they would have trusted Him completely for their salvation, instead of
trusting in their own works of righteousness.
Once
the New Covenant began on the Day of Pentecost, the Mosaic Law System was abolished,
whereby no one could saved by keeping the works of the Law any longer (Rom 10:4; 2Co 3:13-14; Eph
2:15, Heb 8:13; 10:9). Because of this great truth, the great apostle
Paul was always fighting and writing against Jewish Christians who taught that
all Christians had to keep the entire Mosaic Law System to be saved. According
to Paul, Israel was lost because they sought salvation through the works of the
Mosaic Law System. He said: “Israel
[zealously] pursuing the [Mosaic] Law of righteousness, has not
attained to the Law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by
faith [in the gospel of Christ], but as it were, by the works of the Law [system of Moses]. For they stumbled at that Stumbling
Stone” (Rom 9:31-32). Who or what was this
Stumbling Stone? The apostle Peter said it was Christ (1Pe 2:6-8).
Because these Jews rejected
Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, and His gospel, they were lost. Paul confirmed this when he said: “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost” (2Co 4:3); and “For by grace [Christ] you have been saved through faith [in His gospel], and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8). Paul spoke of Israel lost condition this way: “Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I
bear them witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to
knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness [through Christ and His
gospel], and seeking
to establish their own righteousness [through the works of the
Mosaic Law System],
have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the
end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes” what, the gospel of Christ (Rom 10:2-5). Therefore, according to Paul, the Jews were
lost because they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel!
Paul told the Galatians: “By the deeds [or works] of the Law [system of Moses] no flesh will be justified
[saved or
have Eternal Life] in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of
sin” (Rom 3:20). Therefore, the Law was not their Savior, for it was powerless to save
anyone. The Jews did not realize: “The Law [system of Moses] was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” in the gospel of Christ (Ga 3:24); and “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed
[Christ] should come to whom the promise was made” (Ga 3:19); “Therefore, we conclude
that a man is justified by faith [in the gospel] apart from the deeds of the Law” system of Moses (Rom 3:28).
How Did the Mosaic Law Doctrine of Salvation Enter into God’s New Testament Church: Dr.
Luke gave us the answer when he spoke of the First Church Council. He declared:
“Certain
men [Christian
Pharisees], came down
from Judea and taught the brethren, ‘unless you are circumcised
according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’
Therefore… Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them” (Acts 15:1-2). These Christian Pharisees believed it was
absolutely “necessary to circumcise them [meaning the gentile
Christians], and to
command them to keep the Law of Moses” (Vs 5).
Because
of this teaching, Paul wrote epistles to God’s Churches warning them not to
believe this Mosaic Law doctrine of salvation. In fact, Paul wrote his epistle
to the Galatians sometime after the First Church Council (Ga 2:4, 7-9). In
this epistle he told them: “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who
called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which
is not another; but there are some [meaning the Christian
Pharisees] who
trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Ga 1:6-7). What did these Christian Pharisees pervert the
gospel, if it was not by connecting the Mosaic Law System to salvation?
Paul went on to warn the
gentile Christians in Galatia by saying: “I, Paul, say to you that if you become
circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every
man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
You have become estranged [or alienated or separated] from Christ, you who
attempt to be justified [saved]
by Law [of Moses]; you have fallen from grace” (Ga 5:2-4), or the salvation that is in the gospel of
Christ. “How
is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which
you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and
seasons and years,” that is, they observed the rites of ceremonial
ordinances of the Mosaic Law System (Ga
4:9-10).
Here Paul gives us some of the works of the Law that the Jews were
required to keep for salvation.
Paul continued his
discourse: “Knowing that a man is not justified [saved] by the works of the
Law [of
Moses] but by faith
in Jesus Christ, even we who have believed in Christ Jesus, that we
might be justified by faith in [the gospel of] Christ and not by the works
of the Law; for by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified…. I
do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness [salvation] comes through the Law [of Moses], then Christ died in vain” (Ga 2:16, 21, comp with Rom 3:1, 20-24).
It is very evident that
these Christian Pharisees deceive the Galatian Christians into believing that they
had to believe and obey the gospel of Christ and keep the works of the Law of
Moses to be saved or to receive Eternal Life. One of the works of the
Law these Jewish Christians practiced, which definitely denied the grace of
Christ was: they still believed that the animal blood sacrifices, offered up in
the temple in Jerusalem, could remove the sins they committed after their New
Birth experience (Heb 9:28; 10:10-12,
26-30; 6:4-6). In fact, the Christian Jews held on to their blood
sacrifices until the Romans destroyed the temple in AD 70. This is one of the reasons why Paul told
these Christians that “Christ died in vain” for them; and that they have
“trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant
by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit
of grace” (Heb 10:29).
Now, why did these Christian
Pharisees believe and teach the Mosaic doctrine of salvation? Did the apostles
in Jerusalem teach the Mosaic Law for salvation? Did these Christian Pharisees
misinterpret what the apostles taught? Did these men decide to incorporate the
Mosaic doctrine of salvation into Christianity on their own initiative? The
answer can be found in the proceedings of the First Church Council and in the
trip Paul made to Jerusalem some years after this council.
When Paul went to Jerusalem,
he was met by the apostles, who told him: “See, brother, how many myriads of Jews
there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law
[of
Moses]; but they have
been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who
are among the Gentiles to forsake [the Law of] Moses, saying that they ought not
to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.
What then, [or
what shall be do]?
The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you
have come. Therefore [or because of this] do what we tell you: We
have four men [Jewish Christians] who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified
with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads,
and that all [Jewish Christians] may know that those things of which they were informed
concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep
the Law [of Moses]…. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified
with them” (Acts 21:18-26).
Therefore, it is very
evident from the above passage of Scripture, that the apostles in Jerusalem
taught and encourage Christians Jews to keep the works of the Mosaic Law
System. Therefore, they were probably a little ambiguous in their teaching that
it was abolished on the Day of Pentecost. It is also evident that they did not
teach that it was necessary for salvation, or even associated it with
salvation, as the Christian Pharisees did. This can clearly be seen when we
read the letter they sent to the gentile Christians, after the First Church
Council finished. They stated: “Since we have heard that some [meaning Christian Pharisees] who went out from us
have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be
circumcised and keep the Law [of Moses], to whom we gave no such commandment….
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater
burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to
idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you
keep yourselves from these, you will do well” (Acts 15:24,
28-29).
Now the question that arises
from all this is: why did the apostles and Jewish Christians in Judea keep the
works of Moses Law? The apostles evidently, like Paul, knew it was abolished on
the Day of Pentecost when God established the New Covenant. Part of the answer
can be found in words of Paul when he said: “For though I am free from
all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win
the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to
those who are under the Law [of Moses], as under the Law, that I might win
those who are under the Law; to those who are without Law, as
without Law (not being without Law toward God, but under Law toward Christ),
that I might win those who are without law” (1Co 9:19-21). Therefore, these Jewish Christians keep the
Law of Moses very zealously, so they could win Jews to Christ. Another reason
why they keep it was to avoid persecution from the Jewish religious leaders,
who would accuse them of being sinners and Lawbreakers.
In
conclusion, the early Christian Church had a double standard, one for Jewish
Churches in Palestine and another for the Gentile Churches. It is evident that
no Jewish Christian would ever win anyone in Judaism, if they were not very
zealous to keep the Law of Moses. For this reason, they put themselves under
the yoke of the Law to win those under the Law! Even though the apostles,
elders, and most of the Jewish saints of God knew that God had abolished
the Law. It is also obvious that some of the Christian Pharisees believed in
the Mosaic Law for salvation. Consequently, they took it upon themselves,
without the apostles’ approval, permission, and knowledge, to convert Gentile
Christians to the Mosaic Law. Therefore, the Pharisees taught justification or
salvation by the works of the Law, which none of the apostles ever taught! For
Peter distinctly spoke for all the apostles when he declared at the First
Church Council: “We
believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in
the same manner as they” meaning Gentile Christians (Acts 15:11).
Therefore, the great apostle Paul instructions to God’s children
concerning seeking righteousness, justification, and eternal life through
Christ, and not by the works of the Law, was the absolute truth. Those
Christians who sought salvation through the Law of Moses, made a mockery of
Christ, and therefore Christ died for them in vain! In the old covenant, Satan
blinded God’s children by the teachings of the Pharisees to take their eyes off
of God’s mercy and grace, which were contained in the ceremonial ordinances of
the Law, that is, the blood sacrifice offered up on the Day of Atonement, and
place them solely on the moral aspects of the Law. In the new covenant, the old
Serpent blinded some of the people of God the very same way. He used the
teaching of the Pharisees to get their eyes off Calvary, which is God’s grace
and mercy, and place them on the letter of the Law.
Holiness: the Believer’s Loving Response to God’s Grace: The
Bible clearly reveals that no one can be saved through their own personal
holiness, for “our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isa 64:6), in
the sight of God, and “all have sinned” (Rom 3:23).
Because we all have committed at least one or more sins in our life, we all are
under the death sentence: “For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23). Therefore, holiness is not the Christian’s savior
or has the power to save us, regardless how holy one may be!
Biblical
holiness must come from a heart full of love for their God and Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because some Christians do not love our Lord, they do not earnestly
strive to live holy lives. They abuse God’s grace of salvation by willfully
practicing or living in sin. As a result, they try to use the precious, sinless
blood of Jesus to cleans them from their sins. Please take note to the words “earnestly strive.” There
is a world of difference between those who earnestly strive with their whole
heart to live holy and imitate their Savior, and those who do not try and do
not want to repent! Even though those who love our Savior may fall, or fail God
at times in their faith, they pick themselves up and through God’s Grace and
try again, until there faith prevails over ever sin. In other words, they use
God Grace as a means to overcome sin, not as an excuse to live in sin.
Because
some of God’s children were hypocritical in their walk with God, the great
faith and grace preacher, the apostle Paul, told those who practiced
sin: “Now the works of the flesh are evident,
which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell
you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice
such things will not inherit the kingdom of God…. And those who
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Ga 6:10-24).
Let us
always remember, holiness is not bondage, but it liberates the soul and the
spirit of man and produces joy and peace within, that is, if we truly love God.
It is the power of God working in the believer. Jesus, as a man, was a Holy
Man. The Bible stated: “virtue [went] out
of Him and healed them all” (Lk 6:17-19, KJV). Sin,
not holiness, is bondage. Sin is what separates God from man. Sin is what robs
man of his happiness and peace within. It is sin that gives Satan the right to
become the master of the sinner, so that Satan and his demonic spirits can
manipulate him or her to do their will. This is exactly why Jesus told the
hypocritical children of God: “You
are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does
not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him” (Jn 8:44). God
has required His people in every age to be Holy, because He does not want them
under the influence or control of Lucifer or his demons.
True
holiness will produce a humble and loving spirit within the believer, but false
holiness will produce a boastful, arrogant and deceitful spirit within. Just as
there will be preachers who will be lost for preaching a fear and
works message of holiness, there will be many who will loose
their souls because they have preached a distorted message of God’s love.
They have preached magnificently of God’s grace and mercy that came through
Calvary, but they have failed to preach man’s responsibility to love God and earnestly
strive to live holy. They have
distorted God’s message of Calvary to such an extent, that God’s children think
they can live like the devil and God’s grace will cover them because they are
Christians. They preach God’s grace but deny His right to rule every area of
the believer’s heart, whereby the Lord Jesus Christ is living His holy life in
the believer. Their preaching actually encourages God’s people to be slaves of
sin, instead of the Holy Spirit giving them a new nature and atomic power to
live holy, whereby they can fulfill their ministry as God’s Holy Priests (1Pe 2:5-10).
Paul,
like all the other apostles and disciples of Jesus, was a holiness preacher. He
definitely associated grace and justification with godly living. He told Titus:
“The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men. Teaching us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, while we wait for
the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify
for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. These
then are the things you should teach” (Tit 2:11-15, N.I.V). Paul
also declared: “But now having been set free from sin, and
having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end,
Everlasting Life” (Tit 2:12, Rom 6:22).
Paul
told God’s people why they should live holy. He said: “Do you not know that you are the temple
of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles [phtheiro] the temple of God, God will destroy
him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are…. Do you not know that the
unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor
sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 3:16-17, 6:9-10). The Greek word “phtheiro” is used 8 times in the New
Testament, and is translated 4 times as corrupt, 1 time as corrupt one’s self,
1 time as be corrupt, 1 times as defile, and 1 time as destroy. Dr. Henry J.
Thayer’s in his work entitled, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, defines “phtheiro” as: to
corrupt, to destroy. 1a) In the opinion of the Jews, the temple was corrupted
or ‘destroyed’ when anyone defiled or in the slightest degree damaged anything
in it, or if its guardians neglected their duties. 1b) To lead away a Christian
church from that state of knowledge and holiness in which it ought to abide.
1c) To be destroyed, to perish; 1d) in an ethical sense, to corrupt, deprave.” [3]
Why
did Paul writing to the Church in Galatia and telling them they are not under
the Law of Moses but under Grace, and then writes to the Corinthians and tells
them that they are going to hell if they do not stop their sinning and defiling
their bodies, which is God’s dwelling place? Is Paul confused? Is Paul a
hypocrite? No, no, a thousand times no. Many preachers today are confused about
Law and Grace, but Paul knew the absolute truth. Let us remember that the
Corinthians came out of heathenism. They had no moral upbringing. All the sins
Paul mention were part of their normal life style. They did not see anything wrong
with them. They were all babes in Christ and needed to be taught holiness,
righteousness and separation from the world.
If Paul was living
today and he was preaching to the Corinthians, he probably would say something
like this: “You denominational Christians
and charismatic Pentecostals scare me to death. You think you can pray and
worship God in tongues and enjoy all His blessings, and still live any way you
want and go to heaven. You are nuts. Do you not know you are abusing the grace
of God? You are defiling the temple of God. If you do not want the devil as
your dancing partner in hell, as both of you stomp your feet on fire and
brimstone, while you weep and wail and gnash your teeth, then you better stop
your sinning. You need to fall in agape love with Jesus and His Word, and out
of love with sin and death.”
The
apostle John summarized a Christian’s love for God with these words: “Now by this we know that we know Him, if
we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him," and does not
keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself
also to walk just as He walked”
(1Jn 2:3-6).
Our blessed Lord said the same thing when he said: “if you love Me, keep My commandments…. If
anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…. He who does not love Me does not
keep My words” (Jn 14:15, 23-24).
These scriptures are so
clear that they are beyond all dispute, they do not need argumentation but
obedience. No one can say they love Jesus
and at the same time despise holiness and righteousness in their hearts, for
they are just as much a part of God’s attributes as grace and mercy. You cannot
pick or choose what attributes of God you will love and which you will not!
God’s attributes are a part of Him and God wants you to love all of Him or no
part of Him! The Christian life is not like going to a restaurant, whereby you
pick up a spiritual menu and choose what part of God’s Word you will love and
practice, and what part you will not, for the Words that God has spoken are
just as much a part of Him as His attributes. Jesus, as a man: “loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness” (Heb 1:9). Since Jesus’ loved holiness and righteousness
and hated sin, should not we as His children do the same.
Let us
compare James’ teaching on Law and Grace with that of Paul’s. Some modern day
preachers would call James, the fleshly brother of our Lord, a legalist and a
Pharisee because he preached holy living to God’s Church. His message on grace,
like that of Paul, was if you truly love God’s grace then that will produce in
you a genuine desire to practice holiness and righteousness. Did James teaching on faith
and works contradict the teachings of Paul, as liberal Balaamite preachers seem
to imply? The obvious answer to anyone who believes that the Bible is the
infallible Word of God is an absolute no! Both Paul and James agree in their
writings that true faith will produce a real love for Christ in a believer’s
heart, whereby he or she will become obedient to His Word, which will be
evident by the life he or she lives.
As we
examine James’ teachings we should ask, what problem is James addressing
in his writings? Is it the same problem that Paul was addressing or was it
different? As we have already discovered, Paul was writing against Christians
Pharisees in the Church who were trying to incorporate the Old Covenant of the
Mosaic Law System into God’s New Covenant. They insisted that no one could be
saved unless they kept all the precepts of Moses, including the
Ceremonial Law.
James
was writing against a completely different problem in the church. For he is
evidentially writing against hypocritical Christians who were committing sins,
and were seeking to be justify by their faith in Jesus’ grace. One of their
sins was their lack of love and compassion for their poor brothers and sisters
in Christ. This can be seen in the warning James gave to these brothers when he
said: “Don't be deceived, my dear brothers…. Therefore, get rid
of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent….
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says….
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look
after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world” (Ja 1:16, 21-22, 27, NIV).
After James informs us of their sins,
he then deals with those who seek justification through Christ without
repentance or turning away from their sins. He says: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have
faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him…? You foolish man, do you want
evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham
considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the
altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his
faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that
says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and
he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does
and not by faith alone” (Ja 2:14, 20-24, NIV).
James is using the word “works” to refer to Abraham’s “acts of obedience to the God command,” for Abraham knew nothing of
the works of the Mosaic Law System. Permit me to paraphrase what James is
saying: “If you think your faith
in God’s grace will justify your willful disobedience to His Word, and your
faith along will save you, you are nuts!” Jude
spoke of those in the church who believed this lie of Satan when he wrote, “They
are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license
for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord”
(Jude 1:4, NIV). Notice these people denied Jesus by not
allowing Him to be Lord in their lives, or in other words, they did not love
Him enough to strive to keep His Word.
Because
God abrogated the Mosaic Law system, it does not mean that God’s children are
lawless, for we have the Laws of Christ. The laws of Christ includes all the
principles of the Moral Law or the Ten Commandments, excluding the Fourth
Commandment, because this was fulfilled in our reception of the Holy Ghost,
which is God’s true Sabbath rest and refreshing (Heb 4:1-3; Isa 28:11-12; Col
2:15-17; Hos 2:9-11). In fact, if one has not received the Baptism of
the Holy Spirit, and is not holy every day, and is not resting in God’s glorious
Spirit, they are not keeping the Fourth Commandment. Keeping the seventh day
Sabbath as a holy day is not keeping the Fourth Commandment according to New
Testament scriptures.
The
New Testament is full of good holy righteous laws for happiness, that our
loving Heavenly Father has given us to live by, so we do not fall snare to
Satan’s trap of sin. God’s New Covenant Laws are not our Savior, Jesus is. They
are only a knowledge of sin (1Ti 1:8-9; Rom 3:20). The
Law is made for the lawless, and grace is for those who truly love our Lord and
want to be like Him. Those who want to live Holy. Those who want their Lord to
live His life through them. If they fall or stumble, they rely on His grace and
pick themselves up and keep walking by faith, trusting in His power to
keep them from sin. In fact, if you are not trusting God to keep you from sin,
you are not living by faith!
The
apostle Paul taught that God saved the believer by His grace in order that they
should walk in holiness, thereby producing good works in their lives. Paul said
it this way: “For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10); and “God is
able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having
all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every
good work” (2Co 9:8). Jesus also associated good
works with living holy. He said: “Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works [ergon], and glorify your
Father which is in heaven” (Mt 5:16).
The
apostle Peter, being a holiness preacher, believed in and taught this doctrine
of Christ, for he wrote: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the
world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such
good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they
may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…. It is God’s
will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil [sin]; live as servants
of God” (1Pe
11-12, 15-16, NIV).
The
apostle John preached holiness in very strong language. He wrote: “In this the children
of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice
righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother” (1Jn 3:10); and “For
this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments
are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world…. We know that whoever is born of God does not [practice] sin; but he who has
been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him” (1Jn 5:3-4, 18); and “Beloved,
do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but
he who does evil has not seen God” (3Jn 1:11).
Therefore,
those preachers who despise good old fashion Bible holiness preaching, and call
it Pharisaism, are really ministers of Satan. You would think these preachers
have spiritually ripped out the numerous holiness verses that are in the
epistles of James, John, Peter and Paul, not to mention our Savior’s teachings.
Why do these preachers hate holiness preaching? For it is not materially
lucrative for them. Of course, they are not going to tell the believer that,
for they know they will mark them as a false prophet. So, they have no other
alternative but to call holiness preaching legalism. Therefore, they preach a
distorted view of Law and Grace. This is why Jude called the liberal preachers
in his day Balaamite for they preached for material profit (Jude 1:11). It
appears to me, these preachers were more concerned about a social gospel than
the gospel of Christ, about situation ethics than righteousness and holy godly
living, about the doctrine of no absolutes than the validity of God’s holy and
infallible Word, about How To Win Friends
And Influence People than loving God’s people enough to telling them the
truth.
Because
these men are hirelings and the ministry is a profession to them, they are
afraid of offending worldly, carnal people in the Church, or those coming into
the Church, and thereby lose their tithes and offerings. They have dollars
before their eyes more than the love and fear of God. They do not get their
messages from God and His Word, but from TV and radio preachers who know they
will lose much of their financial support if they preach holiness. Therefore,
these preachers, like those on TV and radio, never or rarely preach man’s responsibility
to agape love God by living holy! If they do preach holiness, they water it
down to such extent that the preaching of God Word has no power to change
lives.
If
they would preach God’s holiness standards as a vital part of a Christian’s
agape love walk with Jesus, half as much as they preach His grace, God would
send America a great holiness revival that could save our nation from His soon
coming wrath. God is obligated through His Word to destroy any nation that
practices immorality, just as He did the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah! Is it
not time for America to have a THIRD AWAKEN, and “put
on the breastplate of righteousness” (Eph 6:14).
Either America will have a THIRD AWAKEN because it loves God and His holy Word,
or God will wake up America by sending them into Tribulation.
God’s Three-Fold Purpose in Giving His Holy Laws to His
Old and New Testament Children: To truly
understand the purpose of the Law, we need to understand God’s mindset in
giving the Law of Moses to the children of Israel, and New Testament Laws to
the Church. As we understand God’s mindset in giving Laws, it should given us
some insights in understanding this subject. I believe that God had a three-fold purpose in giving the Laws to them and
us. FIRST, to protect them and us from becoming demon possessed. Living in sin
is like having a large welcome sign on your chest that says: “Vacant house, free rent,
and the door is open for demon spirits to come in and inhibit.”
Jesus
gave us many examples of demon possession in the New Testament. The Bible
speaks of a demon possess man who lived in the graveyard that could not be
bound with chains. These unclean spirits tormented this man and made him mad,
causing him to cut himself with stones and hurt himself in many other ways. One
day this man met Jesus who by the will of God was passing by. When Jesus saw
the terrible state this man was in, He said to these demons: “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!’
Then He asked him, ‘What is your name?’ And he [one of the demons] answered, saying, ‘My name
is Legion; for we are many.” The demons then begged Jesus “earnestly that He would not send them out of
the country…. All the demons begged Him, saying, ‘Send us to the swine,
that we may enter them.’ And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then
the unclean spirits went out [of the man’s body] and entered the swine
(there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep
place into the sea, and drowned in the sea” (Mk 5:8-13, KJV).
Beloved please do not allow
yourself to be deceived in thinking that demons do not exist, or the evil in
people is just a state of mind! The only real protection we have against these
filthy creatures is to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and love and obey the Word
of God. David speaking of the power of God’s Word to keep us from sin says: “Your Word have I hid in
mine heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psa 119:11). The old proverb is true: “Either the Bible will keep us from sin, or sin will
keep us from the Bible.” Thank God, He has given us His Holy Spirit and His holy infallible
Word to protect us from the destructive power of the devil!
SECOND,
God’s Holy Laws are our protection against the physical, emotional, and
spiritual hurts that a sinful lifestyle can and will experience. The Creator
did not create man because He wanted to give them laws to obey, which would
display His divinity and His kingship over them, but He gave them good laws
because He loved them and wanted to protect them (Mk 2:27). God
does not want us to hurt or do wrong to anyone and vice versa, for example,
there are many men and women today who suffer deep emotional problems, because
someone rejected their love in some intimate sexual relationship, i.e.
boyfriend or girlfriend.
Because
certain people have blatantly disregarded God’s laws against adultery,
fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism and etc., they now go through life
suffering from a deep intensive pain or wound in their spirit, which will
effect their emotions all through life, unless they repent and forgive the
offending party and themselves. What is even worse than this is, illegitimate
children growing up with deep wounds in their spirit, because their father and
mother did not love each other and them enough to give them a loving, godly
environment to be raised in. This terrible tragedy is a growing reality in the
society we live in today.
Permit
me to give you example of this type of behavior. In the summer of 1976, I
enrolled at the local State College in Stockton, CA. One of the courses I had
taken was entitled, “Marriage and the Family.” This title was very
misleading, because it should have been entitled, “Perversion in Marriage and
Destruction of the Family.” The doctor of psychology who
taught this course was a pervert. He strongly promoted the philosophies of “no absolutes,” and “situation ethics” (or
it is all right to lie or do wrong if the situation calls for it). Because of
the immoral value system, this man believed in, he promoted homosexuality,
lesbianism, and trial marriages (or two single people living together and
having illicit sex before marriage), as normal relationship between two
consenting parties. His philosophy of “no absolutes” was “there is no person or book that
can tell us what is right or wrong. Who are you to judge other people’s life
styles? What may be right for you may be wrong for someone else and vice
versa.”
As a
young man, I said to myself “no one believes this trash,” so I
bit my tongue and said nothing, until certain young so-called “liberated women” in
the class, brazenly and unashamedly talked about their love affairs. My
prudence and patience at that very moment came to an end. I stood up in class,
looked at these women and said: “I know your parents taught you better than this. But
you have been brain washed by certain so-called intelligentsia of our society,
to believe a perverted moral standard that will destroy you physically,
emotionally and spiritually. I am no man’s judge, but God is. Because He loves
us, He gave us the greatest book of absolute truth the world has ever known; it
is called the Word of God or the Holy Bible. It and it alone, gives us an
understanding of what is right and wrong or good and evil. If we get our life
in harmony with God’s laws, you can know true love, peace of mind and
happiness. But if you scorn the teachings of the Word of God, it will be your
judge on the Day of Judgment.” Before I could say another
word, many in the class started hurling insults at me. It became very obvious
to me in this particular class, the college’s policy of liberty of speech and
broad mindedness only applied to those who enjoyed hearing this kind of filth.
Because
of our childish carnality, we look at God’s laws as bondage. Permit me to give
you an illustration of this. In 1975, I lived in a house that had
a park across the street from it. As I was cutting the grass one-day, Kevin, my
oldest son who was four years old at that time, came to me and asked me to allow
him to play in the park. Since I had a lot of work to do, I said no and
continued to cut the grass. Because of his persistent appeals, I stopped for a
moment and I looked through his eyes and saw all the things he could play on
and have a great time, such as, the swings, the merry-go-round, the bars, and
so on. The only problem he had was his immaturity, for he could not look
through my eyes and see all the dangers. I knew that he could hurt himself if I
was not there to help him play on these thing safely. Probably in his mind he
thought, “Daddy
you do not love me. Daddy you do not want me to have any fun. Daddy you just
want to control my life and boss me around.”
Because of his childish immaturity, he could not perceive my love for him in
that “no!” This
is exactly the way we look at God and His loving commandments!
THIRD, God wanted to test Israel and our love for Him.
Obedience to God has always been God’s way of measuring man’s love for Him.
Jesus said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments…. He
who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves
Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him….
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…. If you keep My commandments, you
will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide
in His love,” and John wrote:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep
His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (Jn 14:5, 21, 23; 15:10, 1Jo 5:3).
Conclusion: God gave Israel the Law of Moses and the Church
holy New Testament Laws: First, to keep them and us holy so that sin does not
dominate our life, whereby demonic, unclean spirits cannot come into our bodies
and possess us. Second, to protect them and
us against many of the physical, emotional and spiritual hurts that sin can
bring into our life. Third, to give Israel and us the opportunity to
demonstrate our love for Him; and that we might know the sincerity of our own
heart.
CHAPTER 3
GOD’S NEW COVENANT
This
section is an excerpt from my book, “Law vs Grace or Works vs Faith to
Obtain Eternal Life.”
The
New Covenant is called “New” simply because it replaced the “Old.” It was
attain by the precious blood of Christ (Luke 22:20; Mat 26:27-28; 1Co 11:25).
Jesus purchased His Bride, which is the Body of Christ, through His atonement
at Calvary (1
Co 12:12-13). Paul called the Church the “mystery” that “in
other ages was not made known” (Eph 3:9). This
covenant guarantees the complete removal of sins and the personal revelation of
the Lord to every believer (Heb 8:11-12; 10:17). The
New Covenant is based on the redemptive work of Christ. It has not only
application to the Church in this age, but also to the restored nation Israel
in the age to come (Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:6-13).
The
Bible emphatically declares that no one can receive the promise of Eternal Life
in New Testament times, except by the death, burial and resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who is Eternal Life. The apostle John wrote: “That which was
from the beginning… the Word of Life. The Life was manifested, and we have
seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that Eternal Life which was with the
Father and was manifested to us” (1Jn 1:1-2). He went on to say: “And this is the
testimony: that God has given us Eternal Life, and this Life is in His SON” (1Jn 5:11). Even
though Jesus is Almighty God in FLESH, the Creator of the Universe, it was not
His Deity that saved us, but the Sinless Blood that God’s Humanity shed for our
sins that saves us! This is God’s Grace to lost humanity!!
The
reason why the Law or the Old Covenant had to be abolished was because God’s
Grace, which was contained in the Law system, could only be seen in
metaphorical form (Heb 10:1-9). Since Jesus has come, God does not need or want
animal sacrifices, which only symbolically portrayed the death, burial and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that the real, genuine, authentic
Sacrifice has come, what need is there for types or shadows or mere images of
God’s true Sacrifice. As long as the Old Covenant was in effect, God was obligated
to give His Grace and forgive Israel of her sins, and roll them ahead
each year. Therefore, God had to abolish His Old Covenant, so His Grace could
now be given through our Savior, our Kinsman Redeemer.
Yes beloved, no man could
ever be holy enough to earn salvation in either the Old or New Covenant. For no
matter how holy they were, none of them were sinless, and God required a
Sinless Human Sacrifice to forgive mankind of their sins. Therefore, they all
needed a Savior, for the Bible declares: “Without the shedding of blood is no
remission” of sins (Heb 9:22). John the Baptist speaking of Jesus to his
disciples, shouted out for all to hear: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).
The
1985 edition of the Jewish JPS Tanakh of the Holy Scriptures speaking of
God’s Sinless Passover Lamb stated: “Your Lamb shall be WITHOUT
BLEMISH, a yearling MALE; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats…. It
is a Passover offering to the LORD” (Exodus 12:5, 12, published by the
Jewish Publication Society; also see Num 6:14; Lev 4:3, 23; 9:2-3); also “when
a man offers, from the herd or the flock, a sacrifice of well-being to the LORD
for an explicit vow or as a freewill offering, it MUST, to be acceptable, be
WITHOUT BLEMISH; there MUST be NO DEFECT in it” (Lev 22:21, TNK); and “You
shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any BLEMISH or
DEFECT, for that is an ABOMINATION to the LORD your God” (Deu
17:1:).
In
other word, God’s Passover Lamb could NOT be just the best Lamb someone
had, but it had to be a perfect, spotless, unblemished Lamb without any defects;
and if one did not have this kind of Lamb in there sheepfold, they had to go
and buy one! God would reject anything less than a Perfect Young Male Passover
Lamb for a sin offering. This was God way of saying that His Passover Lamb had
to be SINLESS, that is, without blemish or defect, or God would NOT forgive the
sins of mankind! According to the Word of God: “our Pesach
[Passover] Lamb, the MESSIAH, has been sacrificed” (1Co 5:7, The
Complete Jewish Bible, published by Messianic Jews). The apostle
Peter stated the above truth this way: “Knowing that you were
not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your
aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the Precious
Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH and WITHOUT SPOT [i.e.
DEFECT]. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18-20).
The
apostle Paul preached this truth this way: “Now the FIRST [OLD] Covenant had both regulations for worship and a Holy
Place here on earth…. But when the Messiah appeared as cohen gadol [our
High Priest] of the good things that are happening
already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not
man-made (that is, it is not of this created world), He entered the Holiest
Place ONCE and for all [time]. And
He entered [i.e. the Holiest of Holy] not by
means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of HIS OWN BLOOD, thus
setting people free forever. For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons
with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their
outward purity; then how much more the BLOOD of the Messiah, who,
through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself to God as a Sacrifice
WITHOUT BLEMISH [Gr amomos], will purify our conscience from
works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God! It is because of
this death that He is MEDIATOR of a NEW Covenant [or will]” (Heb 9:1, 11-15, CJB).
Dr.
Joseph Thayer of Harvard University in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament defined the Greek adjective “amomos”
or “without blemish” as: “without
blemish, free from faultiness, as a victim without
spot or blemish: 1 Pet. 1:19 (Lev. 22:21); Heb. 9:14; in both places allusion
is made to the SINLESS LIFE of Christ. Ethically, without blemish,
faultless, unblamable: Eph. 1:4; 5:27; Col. 1:22; Phil. 2:15; Jude 1:24;
Rev. 14:5. (Often in the Septuagint; (Hesiod, Simonides, Jamblichus), Herodotus
2, 177; Aeschylus Pers. 185; Theocritus, 18, 25)” (#315).
Paul
went on to say: “For we do not have a cohen gadol [High
Priest] unable to empathize with our weaknesses; since in every respect he
was TEMPTED [i.e. to sin] just as we are, the only difference being
that he did NOT SIN” (Heb 4:15, CJB); in other word, Jesus was sinless! The
NIV translated this verse this way: “For
we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have ONE [i.e. Jesus] who has been TEMPTED [i.e. to
sin] in every way, just as we are-- yet was WITHOUT SIN;” also: “God
made this SINLESS man [i.e. Jesus to]
be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might
fully share in God’s righteousness.” The NIV
translated this verse like this: “God made Him [i.e.
Jesus] who had
NO SIN to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness
of God” (2Co 5:21, CJB).
Who can read the above scriptures and the following scriptures and declare
that our Savior was a sinner or even committed one sin. How can anyone read the
following prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, which was written 700 years before
Jesus was born, and declared that the Messiah did not die for their sins or the
sins of the world as God’s Sinless Passover Lamb. The 1917 JPS Holy
Scriptures, published by the Jewish Publication Society, translated
Isaiah’s prophecy this way:
“But
He was wounded [chalal - SLAIN] because
of OUR TRANSGRESSIONS [pesha`
SINS], He was crushed [daka' - BEATEN] because of
OUR INIQUITIES [`avon]: the chastisement of our welfare
was upon Him, and with His STRIPES we were healed [rapha'
– physically healed or cured]…. For He was CUT OFF out of the land of
the living, FOR the TRANSGRESSIONS [pesha`] of MY people to whom the stroke was due. And
they made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich His tomb;
although He had done NO VIOLENCE [chamac
i.e. LAWLESSNESS or INJUSTICE], neither was any deceit in
His mouth” (isa 53:5-9, JPS).
The
Jewish Tanakh 1985 edition translated verses 5 and 9 this way: “But
He was wounded [chalal - SLAIN] because
of OUR SINS [pesha`], Crushed [daka' -
BEATEN] because of OUR INIQUITIES [`avon]. He bore the
chastisement that made us whole, And by His bruises we were healed. 6
We all went astray like sheep, each going his own way; And the LORD visited
upon Him the guilt [`avon - INIQUITY] of all of US…. For
He was CUT OFF from the land of the LIVING through [i.e. FOR] the SIN of MY people, who deserved the punishment….
Though He had done NO INJUSTICE [chamac i.e. LAWLESSNESS] and had spoken NO falsehood.” The English
Bible in Basic English translated verse 9 like this: “Though
He had done NO WRONG, and NO deceit was in His mouth;”
and The Douay-Rheims: “Because He hath done
NO INIQUITY, NEITHER was there deceit in His mouth.”
The English Translation of
the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton translated
the verses in Isaiah this way: “He bears OUR SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia], and is pained [SUFFERED] for US…. But He was
wounded [slain] on account of OUR SINS [avnomi,aj - anomia], and was bruised [beaten] because of OUR
INIQUITIES [a`marti,aj -
hamartia]: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him…. The Lord gave Him up for
OUR SINS [a`marti,aij -
hamartia]… because of the iniquities [lawlesness] of My people He was
led to DEATH… and He shall bear THEIR SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia]. Therefore… His Soul was delivered
to DEATH: and He was numbered among the transgressors; and He bore the SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia] of many, and was delivered because of THEIR
INIQUITIES [a`marti,aj -
hamartia]”
(Isa 53:4-12, LXE).
The Analytical Greek New
Testament by Drs. Timothy and Barbara Friberg defined the Greek noun “hamartia
{ham-ar-tee’-ah}” as: sin; (1) of an act, a departure from doing what is right…
sin, wrongdoing (1J 5.17); (2) as the moral consequence of having
done something wrong sin, guilt (AC 3.19; 1J 1.7); (3) as the
nature of wrongdoing viewed as the rejection of God by self-assertive
human beings sin, evil (RO 5.12, 13; cf. 1.21); (4) especially in
Johannine usage as a moral condition of human beings in revolt
against God sin, being evil, sinfulness (JN 9.34; 15.24); (5)
especially in Pauline usage as an abstract moral principle or force personified
as evil in character sin, evil (RO 6.12); (6) especially in Hebrews
as a deceiving power personified as leading human beings to guilt and
destruction (HE 3.13; 12.1) (#1288). They also defined the Greek noun
anomia as: “as what is contrary to law; (1) as a
general state of wrong lawlessness, wickedness, iniquity (1J 3.4); (2)
as an individual violation of law sin, wrong (doing), (practice of)
lawlessness (MT 7.23)” (#2200).
This
is why the apostle Paul, speaking of the Precious Sinless Blood that was shed
by dear Lord’s humanity for our sins, could say: “For
there is one God and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the MAN [i.e. the
Sinless Blood of] Christ Jesus, who gave himself as
a ransom for all men” (1Ti 2:5-6, NIV). Yes,
Calvary is the only way any man can approach God to be saved. Jesus stated this
truth this way: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No
one comes to the Father [i.e. God] except through Me” (Jn 14:6, NIV); and “I
tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the Gate, but
climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber…. I am the Gate; whoever
enters through Me will be SAVED” (Jn 10:1, 9, NIV).
Therefore,
no matter how good and sincere a man or woman may be today, in whatever
religion he or she embraces, regardless of how pure its moral teachings may be,
no one can be Saved or receive the promise of Eternal Life, unless he or she
enters into the New Covenant of Jesus’ Sinless Blood by means of the New Birth.
This is the only way anyone can enter into or receive the death, burial and
resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. No Jew or gentile today,
could ever earn the promise of Eternal Life or justification in the sight of
God by keeping the Law because, as I said before, he or she was not sinless and
also no one can annul the blessings of the cross of Calvary (Rom 3:20-22; Ga 2:16-21;
3:19-25).
The Saving Power of the Sinless Blood
of Jesus, the Story of Ha’von Sing: Permit me to give you example
of how the righteousness of a holy man cannot save him from his sins, but it
does get God’s attention. In 1978, my senior year of Bible College, I meet an
elderly man by the name of Ha’von Sing; he was the High Priest in the Sikh
temple in Stockton, CA. He asked me if I would like to learn the teachings of
Sikhism? I told him I would, if in return he would allow me to teach him about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He agreed and we both started teaching each other.
He
taught me that Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in Punjab India in
the 15th century by a man called Guru Nanak. He said Sikhism rejects
idolatry and the Hindu caste system of social status and order. He declared
that his religion has 12 prophets, whom he said have declared their scriptures.
He also told me he experienced Transcendental Meditation (TM), which only
occurred when he went into a subconscious state of meditation. I told
him, I believe this was nothing more than IMAGINARY DREAMING, for he was no
longer aware of his body or his surroundings.
After
6 months of teaching him about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of our
Lord, Ha’von Sing fell deeply in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and made Him
the 13th prophet in his religion; in fact, the only books in the
Bible he would read were the Gospels, which he would read over and over again.
One day I decided to teach Him about the SINLESS BLOOD that Jesus shed for the
HEALING of our BODIES. After I finished, he told me: “My Friend, I have great pain in
my head right now, and I have prayed to my prophets, just before you came, to
heal me; and one of them came to me in a vision and told me: ‘if I would
believe him he would heal me.’ I told my prophet: ‘if he would heal me, I would
believe him.’”
When
Ha’von Sing told me this, I immediately knew that the lesson I taught him on the
healing power of the blood of Jesus was no accident, but was ordain of God.
Therefore, I told him: “My Friend your prophets do not have the power to heal you but Jesus
does! If you will permit me to lay my hand on your forehead and pray for you, I
promise you Jesus will heal you.” He then told me in his child
like way of speaking English: “Pray for me my Friend, pray for me.” I
laid my hand on him and commanded the pain in his head to be gone in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ! Immediately the pain was gone!! Ha’von Sing became
very excited and then told me this story. He said: “My Friend, I did not know
Jesus, but Jesus came to me in a vision a short time ago, and told me I
would come to America and become the High Priest in this temple. He told me that
He would send one of His servants to me to teach me about Him; this is why I
accepted your offer to teach me about Him.”
When
he told me of his vision, I was not only thrilled that God was using me this
way, but I was totally amazed that God had given him this vision. The words
Peter told the Roman centurion Cornelius began to ring in my heart: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation
whoever fears Him and WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS is ACCEPTED by Him” (Acts
10:34-35). So
it was at this time that he agreed to attend a Church Service with me. As we
were sitting in the balcony of the Church, which had an attendance of
1000-2,000 saints, this 75-year-old man jumped up and pointed to a brother at
the altar, who was praying to receive the Holy Spirit. Ha’von Sing extremely
excited said to me, as he pointed: “Look my Friend! Look!! I just
saw LIGHT [i.e. God] go into that man!!!”
It was shortly after this, I
decided to teach Ha’von Sing - God’s Plan of Salvation, which is the ONE and ONLY
WAY for anyone to receive Eternal Life, and be saved from Hell and the Second
Death. After I finished, he told me: “My Friend, you do not
understand the things Jesus is saying.” I then said: “Well,
lets read these scriptures again, and you tell me what Jesus is teaching.” I read to him all the above
passages of Scriptures. He then told me: “Jesus cannot mean this,
for there are many ways to become ONE with the LIGHT [i.e.
God], Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity are all ways that
lead to the LIGHT [i.e. God]!”
I concluded by saying: “My
Friend the ONLY WAY you can become ONE with the LIGHT is through the Sinless
Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your righteousness, which is great as you strive
with all of your heart to become PURE in your thoughts, actions, and the words
you speak, cannot save you. If righteousness could save you my Friend,
you would be standing in line before me and a lot of preachers I know;
for you are truly a very righteous man, who has no desire for the material
things of this world! This is something I wish I could say about myself,
but I cannot; and I truly love you for your righteousness and for your
passionate desire for inward and outward purity! My Friend according to the
Bible, you and I in the sight of God: ‘are ALL like
an unclean thing, and ALL our righteousnesses are like
filthy rags’ [Isa 64:6], for we ‘ALL have
SINNED and fall short of the glory of God’ and His Sinless Perfection
[Rom 3:23]. Since you and I Have committed one or more sins (done evil things)
in our life, we are not sinless; therefore, we need the Sinless Blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ to atone for our sins and cleans us from all sins, so we can
become ONE with the LIGHT [i.e. God].”
Ha’von Sing then told me: “My
Friend, why do you offend me this way.” I told him: “My Friend, I love you and all
the money in the world could not entice me to offend you, but how much would I
love you, if I saw you, your wife and two daughter, sleeping in this temple and
this temple was on fire, and I did not do everything I could to wake you up and
get you out of here?” He said: “Not very much my Friend.” I
then told him: “My
Friend, I take no pleasure in saying this, but there is ONLY ONE TRUE RELIGION
and many false ones! Your religion is false and it cannot save you or your
loves ones!! Only the Sinless Blood of Jesus can cleans you from your sins!!!
Your must renounce your religion and come to the foot of the Cross of Calvary,
and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and save you!!!! If you are willing
to do this, Jesus will bring you into His New Birth of ‘Water and Spirit,’ that is, He will lead you to be Baptize in
His holy Name [i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ] and then He will fill you with
His LIGHT [i.e. the Holy Spirit]. The very same LIGHT you SAW
entering into the brother who was praying at the Altar in Church.”
Ha’von
Sing then said to me: “My Friend, I do not want you to come back here. I am going to stop praying
to Jesus and reading about His life. Please do not come back!” He
asked me to leave. My heart was broken and I told my Lord: “If any man deserves to be saved
surely it must be him, for surely he deserves salvation much more than I do.
Lord, I know, no man deserves the salvation you purchased for us at Calvary, it
is only by Your Grace I and anyone else will be saved.” I
then decided I would pray and fast until God opens Ha’von Sing’s heart. Two
weeks later, God spoke to me in prayer and said: “I have opened Ha’von Sing’s
heart! He is now ready to continue his Bible Studies with you!!” I
immediately went to the Sikh Temple and sure enough God had opened his heart.
It was at that time that Ha’von Sing began to teach the Life, Death, Burial,
and Resurrection of our Savior to the people in his temple. Therefore, only the
Precious Sinless Blood of Jesus can save us from our sins!!!
What Is the Gospel of the New Covenant?
The
gospel that Paul and all the apostles preached was how: “Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1Co 15:1-4).
Since this is God's gospel for Eternal Life, how does one enter into the death
of Christ? How does one enter into the burial of Christ? How does one enter
into the resurrection of Christ? What are the terms or conditions that the
apostles taught for entering into the gospel, or in other words, what did the
apostles teach concerning how to receive the New Birth? Let’s begin our search
by going to the first place where the apostles preached the gospel of Christ.
When and Where Did the Gospel of the New Covenant Begin?
Since the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
how could this gospel of the New Covenant be preached and believed while Jesus
was alive. Even the apostles themselves did not understand or believe that
Jesus was going to be crucified (Mk 9:31-32). This is the reason why
Jesus, when He was still alive said: “on this rock I will build My
Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Mt
16:18). Jesus
clearly taught that the Church still in the future, and that the foundational
doctrine the Church was going to be built on was the revelation of who Christ
really was, which is Jesus being the one and only God manifested in the flesh (1Ti
3:16, Isa 9:6, Col 2:9). This was the same foundational doctrine that the Old Testament Church was
built on (Deut 6:4-5).
The apostle Paul plainly taught that the New Covenant could not begin
until the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ had taken place. He said: “And for this
reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death…. For where
there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the
testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has
no power at all while the testator lives” (Heb 9:15‑17).
According to this scripture, the Old Covenant was still in effect as long as
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the testator was alive. Paul told the Corinthians: “if Christ is
not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1Co 15:17, 13‑16).
Permit me to paraphrase what Paul said: “Even though you believe that Jesus is the
Almighty God, and as a man He lived a sinless life and made atonement for your
sins by His death, if He did not resurrect from the dead, your faith in Christ
is in vain, and you are all lost and without hope of Eternal Life.”
The
above scriptures undeniably prove that no one could be save through the New
Covenant while Jesus was still alive. In other words, no one was able to enter
into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through the New Birth,
while Jesus was alive. In fact, no one could be born of the Spirit until Jesus’
died, for Jesus said: “If I do not go away [referring
to His death], the Helper will not come to
you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (Jn
16:7). This
means no one could be saved under the terms of the New Covenant until Jesus
died, was buried, and rose from the dead!
Therefore,
the New Covenant, and its New Birth, began on the Day of Pentecost, which was
the fiftieth day after Jesus died as the Passover Lamb, and the forty-seventh
day after His glorious resurrection from the dead. It was on this day the
apostles and disciples became born of God’s Holy Spirit (Act 2:1-4, 16-18). It
was on the day of Pentecost that they entered into the New Covenant, and God
began to write His laws in their hearts and minds (Heb 8:6-13). It
was on this day, the apostle Peter preached to lost sinners, the first gospel
message that was ever preached on the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:23-41).
In the
Ante Nicene Fathers, which are the writings of the early Catholic
priests that wrote from AD 100–325, we can find the writings of
Irenaeus (AD
170). This Catholic bishop confirmed the above truth when he
wrote: the Spirit descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord’s
ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of [Eternal] Life,
and the opening of the New Covenant. [4]
Church historians and theologians also agree that the Day of Pentecost is the
birthday of the Church. According to The
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: The almost universal
opinion among theologians and exegetes is this: That Pentecost marks the
founding of the Christian Church as an institution. [5]
Was the Thief on the Cross Saved Under the Terms of the New Covenant?
Since
Jesus was still alive and the New Covenant had not yet begun, the thief could
not be saved under God’s terms of salvation in the New Covenant; also let us
not forget the thief on the cross did not know about or believe:
in Jesus’ deity, His sinless blood, or His resurrection.
Therefore, he did not know or believe in the gospel of Christ. If anyone
teaches that the thief was saved under the terms of the gospel of the New
Covenant, he or she does not have any scriptures to base their belief
system on. In fact, he or she would have to tear all the above scriptures on
the New Covenant out of their Bible to teach this doctrine of hell!
So,
how was the thief on the cross saved? The thief being a Jew, or a child of
Abraham, was in a covenant relationship with God under the Old Covenant of the
Law of Moses. Therefore, he was saved under God’s provision of grace in this
Covenant. For in the Law, a sinner could offer up a Lamb, a “male
without blemish” for a “burnt offering” for
his sins. He had to “put his hand upon the head of the
burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for
him.” In this way, the sinner’s sins were imparted to
the lamb (Lev
1:1-4; 16:20-22).
By the
sinner placing his hands on the head of the Lamb, the sinner acknowledged that
he was a sinner and deserved to die for his sins. He also
acknowledged that God in His love and grace provided a harmless, sinless Lamb
to die in His place. Therefore, when the sinner confessed His sins to God and laid
his hands on the head of the Lamb, God imputed his sins to the Lamb. The sinner
then went away unharmed and with a clean conscience, while the Lamb of God bore
all of the wrath of God for him. The word atonement is composed of three words
at-one-ment. This means the sinner could become one with God or united to God,
and that he could now enter into the presence of God for his sins have been
forgiven.
As one
compares God’s way of atoning for the sins of mankind under the old covenant,
with the thief’s experience on the cross, we can perceive that this is what
took place that day. The thief looked at his, and our, sinless Passover Lamb,
reached out in the spirit and laid his hand on the Lord’s head; he then
acknowledge that he was a sinner, confessed his sins to God in his heart, and
asked Him to be merciful to him (Lk 23:39-43). As a result, God imputed or
imparted the sins of the thief to God’s true Lamb. Therefore, the thief on the
cross died, forgiven and saved by the Grace of God.
Who Are the True Ministers of the Gospel of the New Covenant?
Every
Christian preacher claims to be a man of God, so how can we know if we have
been deceived concerning Eternal Life? Any preacher of today can be deceived,
and can deceive others. So we must believe and obey the Word of God as we
receive it from men that are truly sent from God. The only men of God whom we
know for sure that were sent from God were the apostles. John said: “We are of God.
He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we
know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1Jn 4:6).
Jesus told His apostles: “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me,
and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Lk 10:16).
Jesus prayed for the apostles and all that would believe and obey the gospel
they preached. He said: “sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth…. I
do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through
their word”
(Jn 17:17,
20).
The
apostle Paul told Timothy that he had fully known his “doctrine.” He
admonished this young preacher to continue in his doctrines: “knowing
of whom” he has “learned them”
(2Ti 3:10-14). The apostle continued by charging Timothy to: “teach
no other doctrine” (1Ti 1:3). Paul rebuked the church of
the Galatians for teaching false doctrines. He said: “I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be
some [false prophets] that trouble you, and
would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6-9).
We can
be sure that the apostles knew and preached the truth, and they were not in
error in any way concerning the New Birth or Eternal Life. In spite of this, I
have talked to some deceived Protestant Pastors who have foolishly told me
concerning Jesus’ Name baptism, which is the Biblical formula for baptism, that
they would rather take the words of Jesus than the apostles. The obvious
implication of such a ridiculous statement as this, was to imply that the
apostles were teaching false doctrine, or something contrary to what Jesus
taught concerning the New Birth. This is nothing less then accusing the Lord
Jesus Christ of lying, because He said He opened their “understanding
that they might understand the scriptures” (Lk 24:45).
Can Christians Be Deceived by False Prophets Concerning the New Birth?
One of
the disciples of Jesus asked him: “Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, ‘Strive
to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek
to enter and will not be able.’ When once the Master of the house has
risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the
door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to
you, ‘I do not know you….’ There will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets
in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out” (Lk 13:23-25, 28).
Let my
beloved readers take note, many will desire or want to become saved and go up
in the Rapture, but will not be able to. Why not? Why will these good, honest, and sincere people, who claimed to
know Him, and even confessed Him as their Lord, miss the rapture? The answer
can be found in the statement Jesus made after He closed door. He said, I do
not know you, or you are not one of My children. In other words, false prophets
deceived them about the New Birth. Therefore, they did not enter into Jesus’
death, burial, and resurrection.
Let us
examine Matthew’s recording of a similar event. Instead of the setting being
the rapture as in Luke, the setting is now the White Throne Judgment. Jesus
gave a frightful warning concerning False Prophets to all those who have ears
to hear and a heart to obey His truth. He said, “Enter by the narrow
gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is
the gate and difficult is the way which leads to [Eternal] Life,
and there are few who find it” (Mt 7:13‑14).
Jesus told us why only a few will be saved or find the strait and narrow path.
He said: “Beware of false
prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves”
(verse 15). He went on in verses 16-20 to give us the fruits
of a false prophet.
In verses 21-23, Jesus revealed the results of a false prophet's ministry. He said: “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I