a new creature

Standing versus State

/ grace country pastor / Leave a comment

There is a rather large disconnect in the Christ professing community regarding our standing “in Christ” and our current physical state of being here in this world.  There are those, most in fact, who believe we should judge whether another is a “Christian” or not based upon his visible fruit.  There are several verses which support such a view.  Here is one.

Matthew 7:20… “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

As a student of Gods Word I must therefore ask the question, if a man today is saved by grace without works of any kind (this is the mechanism of salvation in this dispensation), how then would I know if he were saved or not by the fruit produced by his works?  Or the manor of his living?  The short answer is, I could not.  The long answer follows…

If you have been following along with these posts in the order they were written, you are well aware that the words of Jesus above were spoken to men of Israel who were to be baptized WITH the Holy Spirit and given the supernatural ability to keep the commandments.

Ezekiel 36:27… “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them.”

We know that these same men must show endurance through the tribulation in their physical battle with anti-christ to gain the reward promised unto them; namely, Gods earthly Kingdom come from Heaven to earth.

Matthew 10:22… “And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

The world, especially Israel, will love the anti-christ and will hate passionately those who go against him and his one world order.  Those who do go against him will eventually reap eternal life with Christ on earth.  This has been the promise of God to believing Israel and those under them from the very beginning.

Examining the standing and state of these men, we see that God supernaturally alters their physical STATE of being via baptism WITH the Holy Spirit.  God, with the new testament promise, gives these men the ability to follow the law perfectly.  He enables them physically to be able to NOT sin.  Such is the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophesy.

1 John 3:9… “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

Such is an incredible statement that no one alive today may lay claim to (even though many falsely do).  But this was the reality in the early Acts period and will once again be the reality during that time when God is pouring out His just wrath upon this world of unrighteous people.  In the above verse John is speaking to “little children”; the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14 who go forth and preach the everlasting gospel to every creature.

What is the everlasting gospel?

Revelation 14:7… “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgement is come: and worship Him who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

If you continue reading the verses in Revelation 14 they go on to warn anyone who will listen, specifically NOT to take the mark of the beast, for once that mark is taken, all hope of salvation is lost.  That man has chosen anti-christ, the false prophet and satan formally over God.  There is no further hope for that man.

What does this have to do with standing and state?  Quite a lot I believe.  The physical STATE of these people during this time period is made (present tense) perfect, in order for them to be able to endure the punishing wrath of God. This is why they are given such seemingly strange supernatural powers as they had in the early Acts period.

Mark 16:17-18… “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Why, for instance, are they to be able to drink any deadly thing and live?  There is a very good reason.  A great star falls from heaven during the great tribulation…

Revelation 8:10-11… “And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many died because of the waters, because they were made bitter.”

The Hebrew believers will be able to drink such poisoned water and live!  They shall also be able to lay hands on those who are made sick and heal them.

Their spiritual STANDING (as opposed to their physical state of being) is TO BE made (future tense) perfect; that is, will be made perfect (sins altogether blotted out) AFTER the wrath is concluded and Christ is seated on His rightful earthly throne.  During this time in which they are “enduring till the end” their spiritual standing is incomplete.  Christ does not yet sit on the throne.  They have not yet fully and faithfully endured to completion that task set before them, their baptism with fire.

Acts 3:19-21… “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

The time of the restitution of all things is that time after the great tribulations conclusion.  After Jacob’s trouble when the desert shall once again bloom as the original garden of God; where the lion shall lay down with the lamb and perfect peace and harmony will once again exist between God,  His chosen and those Gentile nations who choose to bless them.  Only after they endure till the end will their collective sin be blotted out, and all Israel shall finally be “saved” (Rom 11:26).  Their spiritual standing once again made perfect after the faithful endurance of the wrath of God.

(Aside:  Any man self identifying as a Jew can today be saved by grace through the faith of Christ just like any other man.  No human alive today need go through Gods wrath.  Unfortunately, many will.)

This is so very different from the way God deals with us today.  Gods plan of salvation for the world via Israel (Gen 12:1-3); after Israel failed to accept her Messiah, was postponed in favor of the mystery kept secret since the world began and revealed to Paul.  Israel had fallen and God’s formal declaration of free grace to all men everywhere (without the need to bless fallen Israel) had begun.  Today, as we know, men are saved by grace through faith in the finished cross-work of Christ.  Trusting that He died for our sin and was raised again for our justification.

Ephesians 1:13-14… “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation (1 Cor 15:1-4): in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.”

We are not baptized physically with the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit “seals” us as Gods own.  We are His purchased possession, bought with the blood of Christ.  We are NOT appointed unto wrath.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10… “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”

We have been delivered from this present evil world.  We have only to endure each other (itself clearly not an easy task); we are not to endure the wrath of God.  It was already poured out on His Son on our behalf.

Gal 1:4-5… “Who gave Himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”

There is no need whatsoever for God to alter our STATE of being in this present evil world because we have been delivered from the wrath that is to come!  There is no need of supernatural physical empowerment.  God is extending grace and not wrath to the world.  Our state, much unlike the state of the early Acts Jewish believers, is one of imperfection and weakness.  When Paul, also supernaturally empowered, nearing the end of his ministry, asked God for a supernatural healing, what was Gods answer?  No more signs and wonders…

2 Corinthians 12:9… “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Such is so backward to the vast majorities way of thinking!  Christ, the Holy Spirit nor God alters our physical abilities in any way, shape or form in this dispensation.  Religious people are crazy, deluded and/or not possessed of the correct spirit to think such is so.  There is no need.  Because… grace!  Not wrath.  In our human frailty, God’s manifest wisdom and overcoming strength is to shine through to a world in darkness.  The miracle today is that a sinner like me can be saved at all by doing absolutely nothing!  The world mostly ignores the greatest miracle of all.

Our physical state is hopeless until the time of the redemption of the purchased possession.  We are the purchased possession.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20… “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Our physical redemption takes place at the translation of the church the body of Christ (what most call the rapture).  When, as with the Jewish believers baptized WITH the Holy Spirit, our physical bodies shall be changed and we shall go to be with the Lord “in the air”, not here on earth!

1 Cor 15:52-53… “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17… “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Our physical STATE shall then be made perfect!  This is a future occurrence, which leaves only the present spiritual standing of the saved man to examine.

We currently exist in sinful bodies and cannot do the things we wish we could.  (I wish I had the ability not to sin, don’t you?)  There is a battle which rages in the saved man, one which needs reckoning if he is to live a risen life in this world, a life risen with his Lord and Savior, the life our Lord and Savior died to give us.

Galatians 5:17… “For the flesh lusteth after against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

The mechanism by which we are to live lays in the knowledge and full understanding of the spiritual standing we have been placed in, by way of Christ’s atoning death, burial and resurrection.  As Christ has been made alive so to must we reckon ourselves made alive in the same way, not physically (yet – rapture) but spiritually so.  God says to us today, through our Apostle Paul, that our standing is NOW made perfect in the eyes of the Lord.  That, while we currently exist in sinful flesh, God no longer recognizes our physical state but only our spiritual standing in His Son, whom He made to BE sin for us and then killed on the cross.  How amazing!  We are crucified with Christ nevertheless we live!

Galatians 2:20… “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

While Israel must wait for her atonement (at-one-ment); enduring faithfully to the end of the great tribulation keeping the commandments, we have NOW received such in our present fallen state!  As Christ is one with the Father, so too have we been made one with the Father spiritually.

Romans 5:10-11… “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have NOW received the atonement.”

Romans 6:11, 14… “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

Sin no longer has dominion over us.  How is this possible?  God has made us into something new spiritually, not physically.  Something which was not prophesied since the beginning of the world but kept secret.  The new creature, whose great commission is…

2 Cor 5:17-21… “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

The “great commission” preaching the Kingdom “at hand” was postponed over 2,000 years ago in favor of the preaching of grace and peace; the reconciling of the world to God by way of the cross!  How many who profess Christ miss this?

Believing Israel’s physical STATE was (in early Acts) and will be once again (during the great tribulation) made supernaturally perfect.  This “Kingdom program” was interrupted by that which God kept secret… the dispensation of grace we find ourselves in today.  Their spiritual STANDING will be made perfect at the tribulations end, after they have endured through the wrath of God faithfully to the end.

Our physical STATE here in this present evil world will remain imperfect until the rapture when we shall all be changed into perfect celestial beings.  When the dispensation of grace is finished and wrath is once more at hand.  Our spiritual STANDING is NOW made perfect in the eyes of a Holy and Just God by faith and trust in the cross of Christ.

We are freed to live our lives unto God without fear or guilt in what our flesh is capable of, and will likely do, before we are either translated out of this world or die in it.

Romans 8:1… “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

No condemnation.  God is not punishing sinful flesh today.  He punished sinful flesh by making Christ to be sin for us and then killing sin on the cross as the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).

Romans 6:6-11… “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  For he that is dead is freed from sin.  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We are far more than “born again”.  We are resurrected with Christ and made alive unto God!  Paul knew that his flesh would fail him.  I know my flesh will fail me.  You, reader, ought to know your flesh will fail (has failed) you.  Though these words can be a bit hard to follow, Paul explains: that which he knows he should do, he doesn’t.  Rather, he does what he knows he should not do.  However, understanding his perfect standing in the Lord, he realizes that it is not him that does these evil things, it is his sinful flesh which does.  Since he (spiritual Paul) is crucified with Christ, these flesh issues (physical Paul) no longer matter.  They have been dealt with by the cross.

Romans 7:15-20… “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”

Paul is telling us our flesh is hopelessly corrupt.  No good thing dwells in it.  God has not altered our flesh (not yet).

Romans 7:24-25… “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

God does not cause us to do or be “good”.  We are to study to shew ourselves approved unto God (2 Tim 2:15) that we would let His Word dwell richly within us.  It is only through the knowledge of what He accomplished on our behalf that we are empowered to walk in the Spirit.  Studying His Word IS walking in the Spirit.  Minding the things of God enables us to put off the things of the old man and to walk in the newness of life Christ died to provide us.

Colossians 3:16… “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Our physical state is fatally flawed.  Our standing is made as perfect as the One which died on our behalf.  Isn’t it about time we began to act like unto that which we have been made?  Again…

Colossians 3:16… “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Galatians 5:16, 25… “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

If we are trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross, we ARE “in the Spirit” no matter how we walk.  Why then walk according to the Spirit?  Because the works of the flesh are ugly and will not inherit the things of God; we have been made so much more.  These are the works of our sinful flesh:

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

Praise God that even though we still exist in these bodies of flesh; even though our flesh still takes perverse pleasure in doing these things (that’s what the flesh is – just look honestly at the world in and around you); that God made Christ to BE these things for us and killed them dead on the cross!

1 Corinthians 6:11… “And such WERE some of you: but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

How WERE we these things?  We were once unsaved.  By trusting in what Christ did for us, we are now washed, sanctified and justified!  APART FROM OUR FLESH.  The fruit of the Spirit, NOT OUR UGLY FLESHY FRUIT (as listed above), is beautiful.  These are the fruits of the Spirit (not of our “saved” flesh)…

Galatians 5:22-24… “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

The saved mans flesh is crucified, thank God!  Walking in the Spirit, (which is) being saved and allowing the Word of Christ to dwell in us richly; the above fruits of the Spirit will simply begin to manifest themselves in and through our lives without our even trying.  For when “we” try, it is “we” (our flesh) that will fail.  When “we” (our flesh) gets out of the way and allows what we’ve learned through salvation and Bible study to work through us, it is the fruit of the Spirit Himself that will be made manifest to the world through us.  This is what God means when He says that it is his will that all men should be saved and then to come unto the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:3-4).  We cannot get to the whole truth without salvation first.

Know for an absolute fact that we (our flesh) is our biggest problem…  We (our flesh) is not capable of “good works”.  To focus on the flesh is to focus on that which is already crucified.  It cost God His Son to do it so this should hardly be overlooked.  To be known by “our” fruit is to be known by the works of the flesh, in which dwells no good thing.  We should not want to be known by “our” fruit!  Far better indeed to be known by the Spirits fruit as we learn to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed, that the Spirit then is capable of working through (in spite of) us!  Let it be so Lord…

During the great tribulation, Hebrew believers will know one another by their physical fruits as they knew one another in early Acts.  They were, and will be once again, physically empowered to produce good works through the supernatural physical baptism WITH the Holy Spirit they had and will have yet again.

Next Post: “Christian Zionism, a response to James Perloff“

A new creature, part 3.

/ grace country pastor / 2 Comments

Philippians 3:13-14… “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Forgetting those things which are behind…

2 Corinthians 5:17… “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

…as old things are passed away…

Romans 6:11… “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

…we are dead indeed unto sin and made alive unto God through the atoning work of Christ Jesus…! Amen and AMEN!!!

1 Corinthians 15:1-4… “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that 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:”

Believe this, and you are a new creature, whether you feel like one or not.  It seems too good to be possible, it seems to easy to be true.  Believing the gospel for today, the gospel of Christ and Christ alone, is all God asks of mankind to make of him a new creature and to bestow upon him the fullness of the riches of His own Glory.  How is it even remotely possible that men everywhere fight tooth and nail against this very thing?  But I digress…

Since we have been made anew in Gods sight, we must then begin the effort to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto the sin nature which once had control over us.  This is easier said than done as the “flesh” will constantly remind the believer of sin’s existence in the believers physical body.  This takes time, patience with oneself, and learning.  The saved man is now essentially 2 beings in one… an “old man” and a new creature; and that old man does not give up his influence in the believers life.

Romans 6:6… “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

Ephesians 4:22… “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;”

Notice that Paul says to “put off” the old man… this is essential to the “reckoning” process taking place in the believers mind, body and soul.  It is with mental, physical and spiritual effort on the believers part that the old man is put off.

But how is this done?

Colossians 3:9-10… “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:”

The new man is “reckoned” (internalized in the believer) with the internalization of the knowledge of all that Christ has done for him.  Without this “reckoning” the old man will never be put off to any degree in the believers life; and the believers “walk” will suffer for it.  The “new man” is put on as the believer studies Gods Word and learns more and more of what was accomplished at the cross on his behalf.  Paul himself prays for the believer…

Colossians 1:9… “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”

Ephesians 1:17… “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: ”

…and compels the believer to study Gods Word.

2 Timothy 2:15… “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

As we become more and more “filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” through the study of Gods Word rightly divided, we will be more and more apt to be able to forget those things which are behind, and thus more able to move forward in the knowledge of Him; no longer serving our carnal sin nature which has been crucified with Christ in Gods sight.  Paul provides great insight into this internal struggle and process.

Romans 7:18-19… “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

The frustration Paul feels is palpable.  He knows that he is physically a sinner, as the will to “do good and not evil” is now in him; yet he admits that the good he wants do do is foiled by the corrupt flesh he still exists in, with evil the inevitable result.  Look at the next verse however…

Romans 7:20… “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”

It is the internalized realization, through the cross-work of Christ, that it is NOT “Paul the new spiritually awakened/quickened man” (Paul the new creature) which performs the evil act, it is his old inescapable sin nature which does. Two beings in one…

Romans 7:22-23… “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

While we exist in these “old” sinful bodies, sin is inescapable; we are captive to it, it is the result of Gods curse on creation itself.  The old man can’t not sin.  Yet, again and again in scripture Paul shows us that we are dead to sins effects upon us as we are crucified with Christ and baptized into His death; who took sin upon Himself that the sin issue between man and God would be put away for ever.  The new man created by Christ’s efforts.

2 Corinthians 5:21… “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Romans 6:3… “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?”  NOTE” this is NOT water baptism but the Holy Spirit baptizing us spiritually into the church which is His body (Ephesians 4:4-5).

Galatians 2:20… “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

What Paul is exhorting us to remember is that we are dead indeed unto sin as God has forgiven us ALL trespasses.  That we are to live by the faith OF the Son of God (the very SON of GODS FAITH and NOT our own meager faithfulness to Him).  Such a critical difference.  We have the faith OF Christ, God’s own faith, on our side and within us!

Colossians 1:27…” To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”

Again, it is NOT US which can accomplish any of this, it is Christ IN US which can.  As Christ paid the WHOLE penalty, He takes the WHOLE burden.  ALL OF IT!!!  AMEN!

Let us consider extremely carefully these next extraordinarily important verses…

Colossians 2:13… “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”

Forgiven ALL trespasses.  (Why in the world pray; “forgive us our trespasses” when He has already?)

2 Corinthians 5:19… “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

NOT imputing trespasses unto them.

The new man, made in the image of Christ, while existing in the sinful physical body it exists in, is completely and totally 100% immune from sins effect on his “present” AND on his “eternity”.  That man is completely, totally and 100% forgiven of ALL his trespasses; past, present and future.  Now THAT is freedom my friends.  NOT what is written on some bill of rights somewhere…

The fundamental key to remember is this: we have been given ultimate forgiveness that we may “forget those things which are behind and to reach forth unto those things which are before and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ!” Reckon this within yourself and you are on your way to realizing practically and spiritually what God has done and is doing in the world today.

We must remember forgiveness in Christ always, to keep it always at the forefront of our minds (WE ARE FORGIVEN ALL TRESPASSES) that we may forget our sinful past (no matter how miserable), that we may deal effectively with our present condition (no matter that conditions condition), and reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin; that we may move forward here on earth in that knowledge; that we may be effective ambassadors for Him (come what may).

2 Corinthians 5:20… “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

(satan does not want people to know this.)

What an exalted state the true Christian actually exists in.  How sad so few truly understand.  This is what God would have us know after coming to salvation in Christ Jesus.  All professing Christians wonder what the “will of God” is for their lives.  What is the simple will of God for all men?

1 Timothy 2:3-4… “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

Salvation first; knowledge of what salvation accomplished (total forgiveness and so much more), second.

With these taken care of… God would have us to walk worthy of this exalted position the saved man finds himself in.

(It is here we begin to pose a direct threat to satan’s plan of evil in the world.  To hell with satan I say.)

Next Post: “Walk Worthy!“

A new creature, part 2.

/ grace country pastor / Leave a comment

This new creature we have been made in Christ was a complete and total mystery, an unknown entity, until the Apostle Paul.  Up until Paul, and through the first half of Paul’s ministry, God was dealing with mankind in terms of the separation between Jew and Gentile.

Deuteronomy 7:6… “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”

After the nation Israel failed to come to terms with their Redeemer, God set them aside.

Acts 28:28… “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.”

Paul went to both the Jew and to the Gentile/Greek (non-Jew) with the gospel of Christ and, I believe, this is where the confusion begins as to whether or not Peter and Paul preached the same gospel message, which we have demonstrated they could not have been.

Romans 1:16… “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

If the Kingdom gospel was for the nation Israel (as is clear) why did Paul go to them (first even) with the new “gospel of Christ” (free grace/zero works) that the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ gave to him specifically for the Gentiles?

Romans 11:13… “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:”

Let’s take a look back in Matthew 12 to get an idea.  Most professing Christians have heard of the “unpardonable sin”.  What was it exactly?

Matthew 12:31-32… “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.  And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”

The one thing that was unpardonable to the nation Israel then was blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.  Commit this sin and you were not going into “thy Kingdom come”.  Israel rejected and thus blasphemed God the Father by way of their rejecting the prophets He sent specifically to the nation.  This was forgivable.  They rejected and ultimately blasphemed His Son in Christ at the cross.  This too was forgivable.  They rejected and thus blasphemed the Holy Ghost during and after Pentecost as only a relative few heeded the message of repentance Peter preached in Acts 2 and 3.  Paul himself as well was a blasphemer…

1 Timothy 1:13… “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

This was unforgivable.  Few in the nation Israel then could have hoped to attain everlasting life in the Kingdom as only a few successfully recognized their prophesied Messiah when He arrived among them.  Only relative few were baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Paul did not recognize his Messiah.  God was justified to sent His wrath upon the world right then and there at the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7.

Long before this time, at the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, the “Gentile” nations (those nations Abram was called out of) were concluded in unbelief.  Now His nation Israel had come to their “third strike” if you will and rejected the giving of God’s Holy Spirit, the new covenant, that the Law would be written in their hearts (Jer 31:31, Heb 8), that they would be able to walk worthy of their calling.  In short… Israel (and the rest of the world) was up a creek without a paddle, all concluded in unbelief.

Romans 11:32… “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.”

Since these could not have been saved into the Kingdom program, God, in infinite and longsuffering mercy; NOT YET wanting to pour His Just Wrath out upon the world, saved the Apostle Paul, giving not only His nation Israel but the whole world a new possibility at salvation.  Something the world had never before seen nor experienced.  Absolutely free grace with zero effort required or accepted.

Ephesians 2:8-9… “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Mankind’s very essence is to boast in what he has done.  We ARE prideful creatures by nature.  God will have none of it.  I heard brother Steve Atwood say just the other day that if salvation required the wiggling of our little finger just slightly, we would boast in eternity just how amazingly well we wiggled our little fingers… and he is right.  It is only the Divine Activity of God Himself could save such prideful creatures as we; humbling us in the process.

This zero effort/free grace dispensation produces the heretofore unprophesied new creature and offers all men, Jew or Gentile, salvation completely apart from inherent “Jew-ness” or “Gentile-ness”.  The new creature is neither Jew nor Gentile and, as a matter of fact, neither male or female!

Galatians 3:28… “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

What once were Jews and Gentiles are now NEITHER as God is not recognizing His chosen nation Israel at this moment in time.  They are NO LONGER His people in this dispensation.

Romans 9:25-26… “As he saith also in Osee (Hosea 1:9-10), I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.  And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”

God NOW recognizes the new creature and the new creature alone.  But in this, for the past 2,000 years, He is giving (Israel and the Gentiles) ALL MEN EQUALLY yet another chance at redemption before His just wrath is poured out on a most deserving world.

The new creature is an individual man saved by the gospel of grace (he becomes a new creature) AND it is a body of believers as well.

It is in the epistles of Paul alone that we find mention of “the church – the body of Christ”, of which Christ is the Head.  While there are many “churches” mentioned in the Bible, they are not all the same church.  The Jerusalem church was in the Temple Beautiful (Acts 3)… the wandering Jews belonged to the “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), for example.  Men were first called “Christians” at the church in Antioch (Acts 11:26) which was NOT a temple.  This church, the body of Christ (an assembly of believers, a church is not a building) is made up of ALL believers saved by the gospel of Christ in this dispensation of free grace.  It expresses itself in local areas via individual “churches” of which Grace Country Bible Church is but one.

The church – the body of Christ is made up of NEITHER Jew nor Greek, male nor female…  No man today is lifted up above another man for any reason whatsoever, as God has concluded ALL men equally in unbelief.  The above verse in Deuteronomy (7:6) has been made temporarily void by the verses in Hosea (1:9-10).

1 Corinthians 12:13… “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

The reason saints in time past (Jews AND the Gentiles who blessed them) could NOT acknowledge the “unsearchable” riches of Christ, is because these riches were not prophesied in scripture.  One could not search the scriptures in time past to find out about what God is doing today because God kept it secret. Paul writes:

Romans 11:33… “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out!”

Ephesians 3:8… “Unto me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;”

While Christ’s birth, death and resurrection WAS prophesied, the fullness of the riches of His death, burial and resurrection was completely unknown.  A Jew and a Gentile in time past could indeed search the scriptures to learn what they had to do to be saved: the Jew was to believe on Christ his prophesied Messiah risen from the dead, and the Gentile was to somehow bless the Jew (Gen 12:3, Mat 25:31-46… notice carefully these did not understand how they made it into the Kingdom!).

The unprophesied new creature (NOT Jew and NOT Gentile) has only to believe that Christ died for his sin nature and rose again for his justification, and eternal salvation is his!  The only place in scripture a man can learn this, is in the epistles of Paul.  The new creature (believers today) was therefore hidden in God since the foundation of the world and a part of the mystery given unto the apostle Paul alone (therefore Peter could NOT have spoken of it), and of which Paul was the first.

1 Timothy 1:16… “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me FIRST Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.”

What believers are today therefore, is not only NOT found in what is called the Old Testament section of the Bible, we are NOT found in Matthew, Mark, Luke John or the first half of Acts, as these are all books of the Law or the “old testament”.  Nor is this new creature, the church the body of Christ found in the Hebrew epistles of Peter, James and John, as God is once again dealing with the Jew and the Gentile in these “New Testament” books.  Where we see the distinction existing between Jew and Gentile we do not see the unprophesied new creature.

Right division therefore, is NOT dividing between the old and new testament sections of the Bible, it is NOT dividing between Christ and not Christ, IT IS dividing between that which God kept secret versus what God prophesied throughout time.  It is dividing between Israel and their relationship to the Gentile nations, and the NOT Jew / NOT Gentile “body of Christ” being formed today to eventually take up residence in the heavenly places with God.

Where we see, even in Paul’s epistles, the distinction between Jew and Gentile, we must “rightly divide”.  Romans chapters 9, 10 and 11 are NOT about the church the body of Christ.  These are about the condition of Israel today, and their dealings with the Gentiles in time past, and in the ages to come, when God will once again be dealing with the Jew and the Gentile.

I have one last issue to tackle with the new creature in the next post: “The new creature, part 3.“

A new creature!

/ grace country pastor / 1 Comment

2 Corinthians 5:17… “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

While to me, all of the King James Bible is stunning and amazing, this verse in 2 Corinthians stands out as one of the most remarkable because of what God in Christ has done for us at the moment of salvation; the moment we accept His gift of free grace.  Lets explore what this newly saved man has become in Christ, as these are the things he must learn in order to walk worthy of the ambassadorship wherein he has been called.

First of all the saved man has absolute peace with God and therefore zero fear whatsoever of wrathful reprisals presently or in the future.

Romans 5:1… “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”

Romans 5:9… “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

How can this be, you ask?  Well, what separates a man from God, I reply?  It is sin… imperfection.  We know that Christ has taken our own sin upon Himself and paid the debt for us.  This is the unfathomable love and purpose God shows toward His creation at large.  Knowing this, we must learn to:

Romans 6:11-12… “Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This is easier said than done as we currently exist in bodies of sinful flesh (see Romans 7).  The truth of the scripture stands however, and we have been made immune to the effects of sin spiritually and judicially (though not yet physically) in the sight of God.  As the power of sin itself (death) was crucified with Christ, and demonstrated by His resurrection…

1 Corinthians 15:26… “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

…so too have we been judicially crucified with Him and therefore the power of sin, death itself, has no dominion over us.

Romans 6:6… “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

As Christ is free from the power of sin and death, so too are we, in the here and now.  Wow… quite a reckoning indeed!  And, this is just the beginning.  As God sees His Son as Perfect and Holy, so too will He view the saved man; the man who is in Christ.

Colossians 1:21-22… “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight:”

When God sees the saved man it is as if He is looking upon His own Son, as that is what the saved man has been made in Christ!  God the Father sees Christ the Son in the saved man.  The Lord JESUS CHRIST… “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”  Colossians 1:15-17

The saved man has been returned to the image in which original man, Adam, was made (and lost); by way of the second Adam, Christ.  The relationship between man and God is restored by the working of the manifold wisdom, mighty power and unfathomable love of God to His creation.  And we are still far from finished…

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A short aside:  Many believe that all people in general are made in the image of God and take pride in that.  Only Adam however, was made in the image of God.  When Adam sinned, he was no longer in God’s image.  Subsequently, Adam’s offspring were made in the image of fallen Adam.

Genesis 5:3… “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:”  From Seth eventually came Noah and from Noah’s sons came you and I; all in sinful Adam’s image, not God’s.

You and I are not made in the image of God until we accept Gods gift of salvation through His Son.

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As God sees His Son, so too does He see the saved man as a son.  The saved man is given the Spirit of God as the “earnest” (meaning down payment, in eager anticipation) of his eventual inheritance; and by which he is permanently sealed.

2 Corinthians 1:22… “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

Ephesians 1:13-14… “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

As sons (children of God) we are led by the Spirit which is given unto us.  This is inescapable, eternal fact.  How we allow the Spirit to work in our lives as we learn to reckon ourselves dead unto sin and begin to effectively battle our sinful flesh is a topic for another post.  As saved men and women (Gods children) we are in fact led by the Spirit of God, and therefore learn we have an inheritance coming to us.

Romans 8:14-17… “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Joint heirs with Christ.  Christ who is the Creator Himself.  Joint heirs with the Creator God of the universe, by Whom all things consist…  Allow that to sink in as much as it possibly can.  A finite mind will find some difficulty comprehending such, but that difficulty does not negate the scriptures ultimate truth.

While we exist here on earth, in this created space/time continuum, we are trapped in bodies of sin and death.  Our souls have been made Pure in Christ, as Pure as Christ, that we may have current and eventual Perfect fellowship with the Creator God of the universe.  At some point in the future these bodies will perish and our souls will be liberated from them.  We will be given new celestial bodies that we may exist with God outside of this matter/space/time continuum.  As the Lord Jesus Christ’s body was glorified, so too will we one day be!

Romans 8:23… “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

1 Corinthians 15:49-53… “And as we have borne the image of the earthy (Adam), we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (Christ). Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

Our physical bodies will one day be changed (resurrected if we be physically dead / transfigured if we be alive at His call) and we will rule and reign with Him for all eternity.  Amen and amen!  How magnificent a reward; all for simply believing what God says to us.

While we remain here, judicially freed from the penalty of sin/death, we have been given complete, total and utter liberty.  This is something to be taken very literally and with the deepest respect.  There is no law we might break.

Romans 6:14… “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

Galatians 5:1… “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yolk of bondage.”

Paul is commanding us to keep away from religious law which he calls bondage, and allow our growing realization of the love of Christ toward us, by learning what He has done for us, to constrain our earthly actions.  It is in this way alone that we may grow in the grace of God; not by following the law, as the law was designed to produce the knowledge of sin in a man; not to produce a mans righteousness by how well he followed it.  Such a critical error the religious world makes here.  We learn by studying what God tells us in the Book He wrote.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15… “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

When I look at the majority of people in the world it is impossible for me to fathom how so few want to know such things as what the Lord has done for mankind.  He asks so very little in return, yet humanity is so very caught up with itself, it is too busy, too preoccupied.  He asks only that we recognize Him for who He is in relation to us… that we see ourselves as the fallen creatures, the sinners we naturally are; and Him as far above us, where He deserves to be.  He asks only that we accept the most precious gift that has ever been conceived, the gift of His own Righteousness imputed to our own accounts through the faithful work of Jesus Christ.  How could any at all say no to such?

2 Corinthians 5:21… “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

So many religious people honestly feel that they have something to offer God as payment for what He has done for them.  How is it possible that anything a man could do, be anywhere near the equal of what God has done for man?  A mans “righteousness” cannot approach the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God.  A poor analogy would be me offering the homeless man on the street corner a new home and car, bought and paid for, free and clear; and he offering me the change he collected from a stranger that day as payment in return.  What an insult that would be.  What an insult it must be to God to have human works offered to Himself as payment for the incomparable price He paid to redeem us back to Himself.  The lack of human humility is staggering.

With all God has done for us and given to us, with all that we have been made in Christ, completely free; how indeed “ought” we to walk through this world?

Next Post: “A new creature, part 2.“