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Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3:8) |
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What in the world is Paul talking about? |
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They say that the Book of Philippians was written toward the end of Paul's ministry. Churches had been established. Epistles had been written. |
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How come Paul is trying to "win Christ"? |
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All you have to do today is confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. Then you've got it. No more is necessary. You ought to try to do good, but if you don't good ol' grace is standing there ready to receive you graciously. |
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It's too bad Paul wasn't living today. Here the poor fellow was striving with might and main to win Christ when all he had to do was confess with his mouth and believe in his heart. It's unfortunate he had never met the apostle Scofield. |
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Maybe mankind has evolved since then so we don't have to try so hard. |
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But let's get wild and imagine Paul actually knew what he was doing. What was he trying to win? |
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In the same passage he says he was trying to attain the resurrection from the dead. What is that? |
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My thought is we should ignore all such nonsense and get on with the job of getting people to "make a decision for Christ." |
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There may be a few radicals around who are giving their whole life trying to gain the fullness of Christ, trying to get resurrected on the inside so they will be raised in the first resurrection, the resurrection of the royal priesthood. Crazy talk! It isn't even in the Book. If it is, it must be for the Jews. |
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We know it's of the devil because we don't understand it. |
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History reveals the majority is always correct and there are no exceptions to this. |
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We don't need the Bible anyway, we have marvelous traditions. |
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These nuts will keep on talking about perfection and counting everything garbage to "win Christ." |
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Why should we pay any attention to a few kooks? The majority will follow us as we teach them how they can make a profession of Christ and then get on with the job of living. We will show them how God loves them so much they can sit in the slops dead drunk with their blonde girlfriend, raise their hand, say I believe, and the Father will come running and give them the ranch. |
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When the trumpet blows (maybe before I finish this enlightening article) we will be snatched from the slops and brought up to our mansion in Heaven. Then those dumbbells who wouldn't make a decision for Christ can pay our bills. Ha-ha-ha. |
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We will sit in air- conditioned comfort and have another cold one while those Jews down there face Antichrist without the Holy Spirit. That'll teach 'em. |
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Aren't you glad you're a Gentile saved by grace and can do anything you want? |
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A final word to the kooks. Go ahead. Try to keep Christ's commandments. Give to God everything that matters to you. Have fellowship with the sufferings of the Lord. Trust in the power of Christ's resurrection to keep lifting you out of your problems. Act as though God knows what you are doing instead of "seeing you through Christ." |
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This will be your reward. Your fellow Christians will call you a legalist. |
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What will God call you? |
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Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4) |
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"The just shall live by faith" is found once in the Old Testament, three times in the New Testament. |
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The phrase is commonly employed to mean if we believe the Christian fundamental doctrines it doesn't matter how we live. If we have faith in God's grace in Christ we are saved apart from works of righteousness. |
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This is not what it means. |
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In the first place, the expression appeared in the Old Testament while the Law of Moses was still in force. |
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Second, "the just shall live by faith" is defined in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. The eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, the "faith chapter," makes no mention of belief in doctrine but talks about people who chose to live so as to please God rather than in their own strength and vision. |
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The statement from Habakkuk does not contrast living righteously and living by faith in God. It contrasts living in pride rather than living by faith in God. |
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The Old Testament (as well as the New) stresses righteous behavior so it would never compare behaving righteously with belief in doctrine. True faith in God always produces righteous behavior. |
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The righteous shall live by faith is speaking of how we live. If we are persuaded that God exists and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, then the energies of our life will be directed toward seeking the Lord, striving to do His will as we understand it. We do not draw back to destruction but press forward in the Lord each day of our life regardless of the cost. We are persuaded of the value of following after God. Our hope is anchored in the Divine promises. We live righteously because we know that God requires such behavior. |
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If we are proud we will not spend much time waiting for God. Our trust is in our own strength, wisdom, and abilities. A lot of people are like this. They don't even want you to pray for them. They are filled with their own ways and are no fun to be around. |
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Proud, self-willed people may believe every word of fundamental Christian doctrine. But they are not righteous and they are not saved. They are not righteous because they do not wait on the Lord Jesus for direction each day but forge ahead in their own zeal. They are the captain of their own soul, the master of their own fate—so they think. |
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They are here one moment and gone the next, a testimony to the utter folly of not looking to God for every detail of life. |
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Being a dumb Gentile I am not sure how God ever got through my thick head that God is to be feared, loved, and obeyed, and that there is value in this. But He did. And now as I ride off into the sunset I am ever so thankful that the funeral director does not have the last word. |
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Burn the family albums and especially the genealogies. The best is yet ahead. The sunset is changing into the most glorious sunrise imaginable. |
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Want to ride along with me? |
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Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave. And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. (Joshua 10:22,23) |
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The five kings of the Amorites attacked Gibeon because the Gibeonites had made peace with Israel. The Gibeonites sought help from Joshua. Joshua came and God defeated the Amorites before him. The five kings hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. |
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When Joshua found out, he sealed off the mouth of the cave with large stones. Then he went after the remainder of the Amorites. After slaughtering the Amorites the Israelites returned to the cave at Makkedah. |
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Joshua brought out the five kings, killed them, and hung them on five trees. Afterward he threw their bodies back in the cave. |
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For the Bible students, five typifies the beginning of the Kingdom of God, as represented by the Levitical feast of Trumpets and the Altar of Incense of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. God brought forth the beginning of animal life on the fifth day of creation. |
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The above incident shows us how God deals with sin in our personality. The "kings" of lawlessness that are in us hide themselves when we as a Christian begin to overcome the sins that dwell in our flesh. These kings are sealed off by the blood of Jesus, so to speak, and cannot come forth. They are alive but in hiding. |
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After we have won many victories the Lord brings us back to where the great kings of our personality are in hiding. Then the Lord calls them out and kills them. |
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There is no condemnation resting on those who are following the Spirit in putting to death the sins of the flesh. The blood of Jesus covers the remaining sin (keeps them locked up in the cave) provided we are putting to death through the Spirit of God the sins He points out to us. We go from city to city, so to speak, and always are victorious when we are following the Lord. |
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The tremendous, destructive error of present-day teaching is that we are without condemnation even though we are not following the Spirit in the war against the evil in our flesh. We are not being led of the Spirit. We are not sons of God. And condemnation indeed does rest upon us because we are not obeying God! |
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Righteousness is never imputed to those who are not obeying the Lord! |
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We are to deal with the evil of the day as God helps us. As long as we do that the blood of Jesus makes up the difference. This is how we remain without condemnation. |
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God continually chastens us that we might partake of His holiness. |
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When we do not judge ourselves God judges us so we are not condemned with the world. |
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This is the true God and eternal life, as John would say. We are righteous apart from obedience to the Law of Moses provided we are obeying God by following the Lord Jesus and keeping His commandments. Then we have eternal life, because eternal life always results from righteousness. |
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O Lord, come quickly and put these kings to death! |
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Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:15) |
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The physical land and people of Israel and the Christian churches are on a converging course. |
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Before the Lord Jesus came, the physical land and people of Israel were the area and the nation chosen by the Lord to belong to Himself in a way not true of the rest of the world. Now that the Lord Jesus has died for our sins and has risen again as our living Lord many questions are raised concerning the status of the physical land and people of Israel. |
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It is not true that the Christian churches have replaced physical Israel as God's chosen people. Neither is it true that in the coming age the Church will have a heavenly destiny and the Jews an earthly destiny. |
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The reason Satan labors so diligently to keep the physical Jews and the Christians apart is that the Kingdom of God, the government that will rule the world, will result from a convergence of physical Israel and the Christian Church. |
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The "one new man" of Ephesians is speaking of the fact that through the atonement made by Jesus Christ the believing Jews and Gentiles are made one. They converge. But there is more to the convergence than this. |
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There is a natural Jerusalem on the earth. There is a spiritual Jerusalem in Heaven. The Kingdom of God will come to the earth as the spiritual Jerusalem descends from Heaven and clothes the physical land and people of Israel, just as in the day of resurrection our heavenly body will clothe our resurrected physical body. |
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As we understand the Scriptures the Jews living in Israel at the time will be born again by a sovereign move of God just as the Saul of Tarsus was born again by a sovereign move of God. |
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The Kingdom of God, of which every true Christian, Jew or Gentile, is an integral part, will rule from Jerusalem. Jesus Christ will be crowned king and sit on the throne of David on the Temple Mount. The law of God will issue from physical Jerusalem and govern all nations. |
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Not every person of Jewish blood is a true child of Abraham. Among the Jews as among the Gentiles, the blessing comes by promise, by election. |
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There is but one Seed of Abraham, and that is Jesus Christ and all who are part of Him, independently of natural birth. |
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But the physical land and people of Israel are specially blessed and the Gospel of the Kingdom is to the Jews first. The born-again experience, the entrance into the Kingdom, was preached first to the Jew Nicodemus. |
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The Kingdom of God began and will end with the Jews. We Gentiles are somewhere in the middle of the sandwich. |
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Both physical Israel and the Christian churches are portrayed by the very dry bones of Ezekiel. The Spirit of God will assemble and empower both physical Israel and the Christian churches. Then God's true elect, both Jewish and Gentile by race, will be raised from the dead and brought into the land of Israel. This is the army of the Lord prophesied in so many passages. |
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The Jews are returning home today, being drawn by the Spirit of the Lord. The same Spirit is speaking to Christian people, calling them past the Pentecostal experience and giving them a love for physical Israel. |
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The power of the Father is at work. His promises to His Son are to be fulfilled to the letter. No hostile authority or power is as great as that of the Father. |
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All Israel shall be saved, becoming one new man, one stick in God's hand. |
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If you want to be part of the Kingdom of God, put away your sin. Great doings are afoot. |
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To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21) |
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Someone recently taught that the saints do not have to overcome sin. Jesus did all the overcoming, they stated, and we receive perfect righteousness by believing that Jesus overcame sin. Our belief "actualizes" victory in us. Furthermore, they maintained, whenever we are convicted of sin, this is a trick, a lie of Satan. There can be no sin in us because we believe in the victory won by the Lord Jesus. |
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How does the "Jesus did it all" approach to salvation differ from the concept that righteousness comes by faith in Christ apart from godly behavior, which often is the evangelical position? If Christian grace is salvation by naked belief in the existence and atoning work of Christ, then what place does repentance and gaining victory over sin have in the Christian experience? Of what would one repent if God does not see behavior except through Christ? |
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If Jesus did all the overcoming and we merely accept the finished work by faith, then attempting to turn away from sin would be a meaningless exercise. In fact it would be an affront to God who already has given us perfect righteousness. Yet many of us realize that the Spirit of God is calling us to repentance in the present hour. |
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When Paul spoke of works he was referring to the observances of the Law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, circumcision, the Sabbath day, the dietary regulations, and the sacrifices of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. |
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Paul is contrasting being saved by the covenant God made with the Jews with being saved by accepting what God has accomplished through Christ Jesus. Paul is maintaining we are saved by faith in the Person and atoning work of Christ Jesus, and that it is not necessary to add to the Divine atonement the statutes of the Law of Moses. |
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Paul was not contrasting God's salvation in Christ Jesus with righteous, godly behavior when he taught we are saved by grace and not by works. He was comparing the atonement made by Christ with the Law of Moses. |
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Paul was not saying, "We are not saved by righteous behavior but by God's grace." God's grace when correctly received always leads to righteous behavior. There can be no contrast between God's grace and righteous behavior. |
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Paul indeed was teaching we are not saved by the Law of Moses but by the atonement made by the Lord Jesus. How could one add circumcision or not eating pork to the perfect work of Christ on the cross? |
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However, if Paul had been maintaining that because we are under grace we no longer are required to crucify the flesh with its lusts and appetites, that we no longer are required to observe the eternal moral laws, then most of the New Testament writings, including the Sermon on the Mount, would have little relevance to the new covenant. |
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When thinking about the moral decline of the so-called Christian nations one wonders if Christians ought not to take another look at what the New Testament actually teaches. Is the grace of forgiveness the main emphasis or is the grace of repentance and godly living stressed? |
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Are we Christians called to overcome sin through the Spirit of God or has Jesus "done it all." How do you feel about this? (from A Study Guide for the Book of Romans) |
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In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not [did not understand or overcome it or have any relationship to it]. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:4-9) |
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We can notice in the above passage that eternal Life is in Christ Jesus, the living Word of God. The eternal Life is the light of "every man that cometh into the world." |
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There is no other moral light by which men can see the truth or in which people can walk without stumbling. |
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Today great emphasis is placed on education, on the acquiring of knowledge, of facts. But the meaning, significance, and profitable application of the facts can be perceived only in Christ. |
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In Christ Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There exists only one Light by means of which people can perceive reality, can distinguish between what is true and what is false. The one true Light is Christ Jesus and those in whom His Life is being created and revealed; for it is His Life that is Light. |
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It is difficult to understand how life and light can be the same; how eternal life itself can be our light. But it is true! Christ does much more than inform us of the Person, the will, the way, and the eternal purpose of God. Rather, the Life itself that Christ Is is imparted to us, and that Life reveals to us the true knowledge of the Person, the will, the way, and the eternal purpose of God in Christ. |
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The Life of Christ given to us leads us into the knowledge of the Father. Christ Himself Is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He Himself Is our wisdom, our power, our authority, our sanctification, our redemption, our joy—all we ever shall need or desire. |
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This does not mean that because Christ is righteous and holy we are righteous and holy by imputation and identification; that because Christ has joy we have joy vicariously; that we actually are joyless but we say we have joy because Christ has joy. It signifies rather that Christ Is our Sanctification and Joy working in us. |
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We live in Him and experience His holiness and joy because He is in us. In this manner His Life becomes our light by which we are brought to the place where we love righteousness and hate lawlessness. It is a new creation working in us. |
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The commandments of God do not of themselves provide the life that enables us to rejoice and practice righteousness. Light without life kills. The letter of the Word without the Holy Spirit kills rather than heals. It is the Spirit who gives Life—the Life that Christ is. (from Behold My Servant!) |
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And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. (Matthew 19:29) |
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It is in the surrender, the relinquishing, the committing that we gain the desires of our heart. |
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We do not know what we truly desire. We do not know our own destiny. We do not know even our true name. But God knows all these things very well. We must consider the goodness and power of the Lord, realizing He is bringing us to all we desire. |
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If we struggle to maintain our own way before the Lord, insisting on saving our own life, our own desires, we will lose everything. It is only as we let go and trust God that God is able to bring us to perfect love, perfect joy, perfect peace. |
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We are not teaching passivity—that the believer is to abandon his desires pretending he doesn't care what he receives or what happens to him. The individual who is bound by passivity is double-minded and will receive nothing from the Lord. |
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God commanded us to ask that we may receive. We are to give thanks to God continually, letting our requests be made known to Him. |
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The reader may find it difficult to reconcile our teaching of committal with a clear, decisive approach to letting God know what our desires are. |
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It is in the battling onward in prayer, continually informing God of our desires, that our character is formed, that our desires are refined until we are moving toward the love, joy, and peace we truly desire. Many of our early desires are not what we truly desire. God knows this and steers us away from what is hurtful and unfruitful. How our adamic nature howls in unbelief! |
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It is the person who seeks God continually that attains the desire of his heart. Yet he learns that in his seeking he continually must surrender his burden to the Lord. Otherwise he finds himself grasping, straining, cutting himself off from the flowing of God's Spirit, from resurrection life. |
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We are not to demand by faith what we want from God. |
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We are not to forget our desires, accepting whatever comes, throwing away our hope and dreams, drifting along in a state of spiritual passivity and the feeling that the inevitable will take place no matter what we do. |
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Rather we are to tell God what our hope and dreams are. We ask in Jesus' name for our desires. Then, we press forward in the Lord, patiently enduring our cross until we attain our land of promise. |
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The Lord will withhold no good thing from the person who walks blamelessly before Him. |
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We learn to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We have given our all to Him and so all He is and possesses belong to us. We trust Him to give us what we need, in every area of life, when we need it. Then we are abiding in perfect love, joy, and peace. Then we are dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. Then we are living in the rest of God. (from Dying in the Lord) |
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