gospel of Christ

Walk Worthy, part 6 (Obey).

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Are we grace believers supposed to obey commandments?  We understand that the Law (as perfect, just and righteous as it is) was not given for men to follow to the letter (that is not possible for fallen man); but to show that same fallen man that he is in desperate need of a Savior if he wishes to spend his eternity with his Creator outside of hell.  We should examine carefully what Paul says about obedience and commandments.

1 Corinthians 14:37… “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you ARE the commandments of the Lord.”

If Paul is not the most misunderstood man in all human history, I don’t know who is…  The Holy Spirit is telling us through Paul that the things he has written in his 13 epistles ARE the COMMANDMENTS for believers today, the church the body of Christ.  What is at the core, the essence of Paul’s writings, that we are to obey; the goal being eternal life with God?

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

It seems we humans have a choice.  By the above verse we might choose what we are to obey; “sin unto death” or “obedience unto righteousness”.  Let’s continue reading…

Romans 6:17-18… “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you.  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”

We can see (by the past tense “were”) that the unsaved man who once chose to serve sin, obeyed from his heart “that form of doctrine which was delivered unto him” by Paul.  God then made him free from sin because of that choice and he thus becomes the servant of righteousness (God). Thus God reminds that man…

1 Corinthians 7:23… “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”

That “form of doctrine” can be nothing other than the glorious gospel of Christ, the gospel of the free grace of God, as delivered unto the Apostle Paul by the risen and glorified Lord Himself.  In this case then, a mans obedience is “belief” that he is a sinner in need of a Savior and “trust” that Christ died for that mans sin nature according to the scriptures and was buried and rose again for his justification, according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Had that man allowed sin to reign in his mortal body by not obeying the doctrinal commandments given to Paul (the gospel of grace), that man would today be obeying the lusts of his mortal flesh and not the Spirit of God Himself.

Romans 6:12… “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”

When we make the choice to obey the gospel of grace, God destroys our sin nature judicially by imputing (charging to the account of) His Son’s righteousness unto us.  We are seen as dead, buried (therefore punished already) and effectively risen with Christ.  We are freed of sins effects upon us because God sees only His sinless Son in us. We now have His righteousness, no longer any vestige of our own (as if there ever was).

Romans 6:7… “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”

To the Galatian believers, who were coming under vicious attack from men who would bring them under the subjugation of religious bondage by adding works to grace, Paul writes:

Galatians 3:1… “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”

Again we see that the believer is to “believe in the truth” which is Christ crucified, in order to be obedient to the will of God in this dispensation of grace.  To the individual who chooses not to obey (to believe what God says to us today through Paul) the news is not good at all.  We see that explained to the very faithful Thessalonian believers who were remarkably troubled by such unbelieving men, thinking they had somehow missed the translation (rapture) of the church because of the severity of their present tribulations, Paul writes:

2 Thessalonians 1:7-10… “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey NOT the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”

I can only pray the saved reader takes these words as a call to arms if you will, to become that ambassador/soldier Christ through Paul calls us to be, so as to try and prevent as many people as possible from this most horrible and eternal punishment.  A punishment so easily avoidable, simply by obeying the glorious gospel of Christ.  God does not ask us to alter a thing about ourselves in order to come to Him.  He has a gift, the most precious gift humanity has ever been presented with, the gift of His Son’s own Righteousness, imputed to any and all who would simply believe they are in need of it.  God is NOT asking us to obey the 10 (actually 600+) commandments.  He is NOT extending to men today the IF/THEN conditional covenant agreements He made with the children of Israel.  He is not even asking the “Gentile” nations to bless Israel, as He is NOT dealing with nations today, but individuals.  He is asking us through Paul to believe that Christ died on our behalf because that is exactly what we needed to be made right/sinless/perfect.  He provided it all.  It is a gift so few choose to take (I believe) because so few explain it correctly.  “Christianity” has a bad name among unbelievers because of this.

You KNOW you have explained the gospel correctly when people answer with “that’s too easy” or “but anyone could do that” or “that sounds like a get out of jail free card”.  Well yea, EXACTLY…!!! The gospel of free grace IS a get out of jail (hell) free card!  God does NOT want you to choose hell; He wants you to choose Him!  (And make no mistake, it is your choice.)  It is the last card God is presenting to us.  It is meant to be THAT simple because we humans are THAT easily misled.

2 Corinthians 11:3… “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ.”

This gospel is for the worst of us, the dumbest of us, the simplest of us and the rest of us degenerates and enemies of God, because God has tried everything else with mankind already.  This is our last chance to demonstrate even a modicum of obedience to our Creator before Christ catches away His body of ambassadors (today’s obedient believers) and allows anti-christ to ascend to power in the world – before He comes back with all His mighty angels to finally make His enemies (those “left behind” and not blessing future Israel) His footstool.

We have it far easier than Adam had it.  God told Adam NOT to do something Adam wanted to do.  Adam of course, as all of us would have, chose to do exactly the opposite of what God said.  God simply asks us to accept a gift… the gift of His Son; and most of us can’t even do this.  We would rather “work” for our own salvation because we feel we deserve it.  We are so proud of ourselves and what we feel we are worth…

Romans 4:4… “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.”

Does the Creator God of Heaven actually owe us something other than eternity away from Himself in hell?  No… He does not.  We reject Him continually, why should He continually accept us?  He will not.  Sinners who reject a God who has reconciled Himself to them do not deserve eternity with Him.  Even sinners like me who have accepted Gods gift do not deserve eternity with Him, but we get it anyway!  God is just cool like that…  😉

Lets put a very fine point on the work versus grace argument.

Romans 11:6… “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

Grace is either 100% pure, or it is not grace at all.  Salvation is either the pure gift of God based upon absolutely zero merit of our own, or it is no gift at all.

Obey from the heart the form of doctrine which our Creator God Jesus Christ gave unto the Apostle Paul – it is a gift with no strings attached.  Accept the gift He so willingly provides before it is too late and His longsuffering nature comes to an end as it surely someday will.  Peter understood well what God was doing through Paul.  Speaking to the Jewish believers in Christ about the dispensation of grace given to Paul, he writes:

2 Peter 3:15-16… “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”

We can also find cross-dispensational wisdom in the words of the prophet Hosea.  He writes to the nation Israel (Gods nation of priests to the world with whom He had an if/then covenant agreement) about their lack of (Mosaic) knowledge; but a man in today’s dispensation will be destroyed for a similar lack or rejection of (Pauline) knowledge.

Hosea 4:6… “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no more priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

The Creator God is a very serious God.  He demanded much of Israel because that’s what Israel wanted.

Deuteronomy 6:25… “And it shall (then) be our righteousness, IF we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He hath commanded us.”  I added the “implied then” to the verse to demonstrate more clearly the if/then nature of the agreement.

He demands next to nothing of us, save that we obey the information (knowledge) He gave to Paul on our behalf, which is to accept His gift.  People today are destroyed in the same way, for lack of the knowledge of the gospel of the grace of God; and the fault lies at the feet of believers today, here on earth in Christ’s stead, for not communicating that glorious gospel more effectively.  We don’t have to DO to be saved (indeed, this is an insult to Gods gift), we have to KNOW.  The vast majority of “christian” churches tell people to DO things in order to be saved, and to DO things to “maintain” that salvation till they die and are judged.  Wrong, wrong, wrong…

2 Corinthians 4:3-4… “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

It is not satan who actively blinds their minds… their minds ARE blinded by satan BECAUSE they are lost, and they are lost BECAUSE they believe NOT.  Should they ever decide to believe (obey the gospel of grace and accept Gods gift), there minds will be able to see clearly the stunning beauty of what God hath wrought on their behalf.  So simple yet apparently so profoundly difficult…

Colossians 1:9-10… “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; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

Walk worthy indeed.  Men are dying eternally for lack of knowledge and it is only we, who are here in Christ’s stead and understand the message He gave to Paul, who can do anything about it.  The stakes could not be more high.

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.”

God has reconciled Himself to the world; men must now reconcile themselves back to God by accepting His gift… this is the ambassadors message.  Grace and Peace (not YET judgement and wrath) from God the Father is the message!  The sin debt is paid and God is wholly satisfied with the payment.  Grow in that grace, grow in the knowledge of what God has done; share that knowledge with those you know and those you meet.  One of two things will happen to the heart of a man who hears the pure gospel of grace presented to him.  His heart will either melt and he will be saved by accepting Gods gift, or, his heart will harden and he will not.  Either way the seed got planted and you will have obeyed the will of God for mankind today.

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.”

In closing…

Colossians 4:2-6… “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;  Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:  That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.  Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.  Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

Amen…

Next Post: “Walk Worthy, part 7 (as we ought).“

Walk Worthy, part 5 (Walk Circumspectly…).

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Ephesians 5:15-17… “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

Circumspectly: (Webster 1828) Cautiously; with watchfulness every way; with attention to guard against surprise or danger.

These are serious words of serious warning to the believer.  The days are evil and only growing more and more so.  We know what makes them evil… the subtilty of satan.  satan, above all else, wants people to believe they are not in need of Gods saving grace in the form of His Son.  he wants people to not believe in a Creator at all, and if they do, to believe they are somehow “good enough” in and of themselves, that God would weigh their good versus their evil deeds, and finally judge them acceptable; or to worship himself outright.  The worlds religious system, no matter the name or denomination, finds a way to lift up the man by finding something of value in him and what he does; and lowers the Lord by making Him imperfect and unjust; that He, by a mans work, might overlook mans sin and not punish it.  A Perfectly Just Creator simply cannot do that, else that Creator would not be Perfectly Just.

Romans 3:23… “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;”

All means all.  All men everywhere absolutely require Christ the Savior (God Himself) to meet Gods Glorious Standard.  To meet that standard all we must do is simply believe!  Without Christ, there is only satan and his deception left in the world: think about it… anything which is not Perfect Truth (as Christ is) falls short, no matter how close the miss.  In the opening Ephesian verses Paul is speaking to brothers already in Christ, so it is these he is admonishing to walk circumspectly, as wise, KNOWING what the will of the Lord is.  The will of the Lord is not some deep and mystical thing, it is written down for all to see and is contained within 13 short books of the Bible.  However, we cannot expect a newly saved man to be wise in the ways of God; these in Ephesus were not newly saved and were thus trying to be faithful to Gods will.

In Paul’s day as in ours there were men who corrupted other men away from knowing what the will of the Lord is.  These men, knowingly or unknowingly, are furthering satan’s subtle agenda of confusion and deception.  There is not much satan has to do in order to have the world follow in his footsteps.  He is not the ugly monster Hollywood makes him out to be.  Quite the opposite actually…

2 Corinthians 11:14… “And no marvel; for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

All satan has to do to “succeed” in this world is three things: 1) he wants lost people to stay lost (evolution (“science” 1 Tim 6:20) says there is no God);  2) he wants saved people to remain confused about all God has done for them (denominational churches); and, 3) he tries very hard to keep the full knowledge of Gods Will from being made known – he hates right division and will actively discredit those who teach it.  The only way to come to understand the full knowledge of Gods Will for mankind today, is to understand that Paul is the Apostle for today (not Peter and the twelve) – we must rightly divide the Word of Truth.  It is just that simple, yet nearly every religious organization everywhere does not understand this most basic Scriptural FACT.  Why?

2 Corinthians 11:15… “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed AS the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

Praise God, His Son and the Holy Spirit that my end is not to be according to my works!  Whether men know it or not, be they pastors, ministers, priests, reverends, imams, monks, “scientists”, atheists, whomever… if they are teaching or believing something, anything, other than what Christ has revealed to Paul and what Paul has revealed to us, they are assisting satan in his evil agenda of confusion and deception in the world.  A “minister of ‘supposed’ righteousness” NOT preaching what God gave to Paul to preach to us, IS a minister of satan.  Sorry if that sounds cold but there is not a catholic priest alive who teaches Paul correctly.  There is not a protestant church extant that does not teach Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as instruction for today.  There is not a baptist alive who is not boastful of their baptism and all the “worldly” things they abstain from.  “How many did you baptize this week brother?”

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.”

Galatians 6:12-13… “As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.  For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.”

They are all wrong; and, regardless of good or evil intent, are thus ministers of satan.  In Paul’s own words, (thus those of the Holy Spirit of God who is God Himself), they are fools.  The Holy Spirit through Paul assures us:

Galatians 1:11-12… “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.  For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 3:1-3(a)… “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of grace of God which is given to me to you-ward: How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery;…”

Believers today who are in the will of God, listen to and follow Paul.

As our opening verse states, the days are evil.  Deception away from the simple truths of God, as given to Paul, as found in the King James Bible are the reason.  Other “bibles” are full of satan’s subtle but deadly deceits (see Walk Worthy part 4 for examples).  A believer must be very careful to NOT depend upon the teachings of men (do not depend upon my words); but to open and study very carefully, with all gravity and prayerful sincerity, Gods Word as found in the King James Bible.  Every man that ever lived will one day give account of himself to his Creator.  It is not enough to say; “that man taught me wrong”.  Your eternity is YOUR responsibility ALONE.

Hebrews 9:27… “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement:”

For the saved and for the unsaved, I hope that is cause for enough concern to cause you to open and study Gods Word very carefully and reverently.

satan does not want people to know what Christ has done on their behalf.  he will do and stop at nothing; no trick is too dirty or shameless; to prevent people from knowing the will of God, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.  satan is not yet walking about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8 – those are exalted “in due time” while we are exalted now), this comes post rapture when anti-christ has been revealed.  Today, satan himself will preach Christ bloodied, tortured and forsaken (see Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”); but not the mystery revealed to Paul: Christ in you, the hope of glory.

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:”

Gods own righteousness, Gods very righteous nature itself is made available to me, right now!, through Christ.  Lets examine some of the things that Christ has done for saved men that satan will do anything to prevent us from learning.  This list is by no means exhaustive.

We are crucified with Christ, buried with Christ and made alive in Christ (Gal 2:20).

We are ascended and seated with Christ, joint heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17).

We are saints and beloved of God (Rom 1:7).

We are dead to sin (Rom 6:11).

We are NOT under the law but under grace (Rom 6:14).

We have eternal life (Rom 6:23, 1 Tim 6:12).

We are free from condemnation (Rom 8:1).

We are sons of God (Rom 8:14).

We are more than conquerors in this life (Rom 8:37).

We are in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:9).

We are temples of God (1 Cor 3:16).

We are washed, sanctified, members of His body (Eph 5:30).

We are victorious, triumphant, a new creature reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:17).

We are ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor 5:20).

We have the righteousness of God (Rom 3:22).

We are rich (Phil 4:19).

We are redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13).

We are adopted, free and called unto liberty (Gal 5:1).

We are blessed (Gal 3:19).

We are chosen, holy and without blame (Eph 1:4).

We are sealed unto the day of redemption (Eph 4:30).

We are saved by grace without works (Eph 2:8-9).

We are His workmanship and fellow citizens with Him (Eph 2:10).

We are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son (Col 1:13).

We are forgiven all trespasses (Col 2:13)

We have been delivered from the wrath to come (1 Thes 1:10).

We have peace with God (Rom 5:1).

We have received the atonement (Rom 5:11).

We have the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5).

We have all spiritual blessings (Eph 1:3).

We have obtained an inheritance (Eph 1:11-12).

We have a hope laid up for us in heaven (Col 1:5).

We have a holy calling (2 Tim 1:9).

We have all things (Rom 8:32).

Christ is our wisdom (1 Cor 2:7, Col 2:2-3, Col 4:5).

Christ is our righteousness (Rom 6:18).

Christ is our sanctification (1 Cor 6:11).

Christ is our redemption (Rom 3:24).

Christ is our victory (1 Cor 15:55-57).

Christ is our peace and our hope (Rom 15:13).

WE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM (Col 2:10).

2 Corinthians 9:15… “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”

satan will do anything to keep you from learning these things; and if you do learn them, he will lead you to think you somehow earned and therefore deserve them.  You didn’t, and you don’t.  Christ did, and does.  Being found in Him, we get to share in all He is.

Ephesians 5:15-17… “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

Redeem whatever time you have left wisely.  The will of the Lord is that you know all the above; all what Christ has done on your behalf.  Rejoice!!!  The will of the Lord is that all men be saved and come unto the knowledge of these truths (1 Tim 2:3-4).  Let others know that they would escape the trappings of satan.  Gods longsuffering with humanity will not last forever and it “feels” to this believer as if that time is likely short.  I say “feels” because that time-span of longsuffering is absolutely unknowable.  Press toward the mark for the high calling we all HAVE (right now) of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14) while God gives us this gift of time in grace!  Walk worthy of the vocation to which ye are called indeed.

To the Corinthian believers, Paul writes:

2 Corinthians 11:1-4… “Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”

Another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel…  (inherently implying that there are in fact others); anything other than exactly what Paul is preaching to these believers is no good at all and a deception of the devil himself.  Walk circumspectly indeed that we are found pure in doctrine and in deed when we meet our Lord at His judgement seat.  Deception abounds far more than truth.

Colossians 2:8-10… “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”

We are complete (made perfect) IN Him, the Head of ALL principality and power, alone.  We require nothing else for an eternity of everlasting life with God, doing whatever He is going to do after this world is destroyed and made new!  How incredibly exciting a prospect is that?

I leave this post with one last thought a wonderful friend and brother reminded me of earlier today in a conversation about the “supreme” court legalizing sodomite marriage (nice that you celebrate the queer 6 color (number of man) “rainbow” flag WordPress…).  To those who are not teaching what God wants us to learn from the Apostle Paul, Paul writes:

Galatians 1:8-9… “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

That’s more serious than a heart attack.  Bible teachers would do very well to pay extremely close attention.

Next Post: “Walk Worthy, part 6 (Obey).“