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Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13) |
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There are several verses in the New Testament that speak of our growing in the Lord. Most Christians understand we are to grow in the Lord. |
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But what does it mean to grow in the Lord? And how important is it? |
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If any person be in Christ there is a new creation in which the old nature has passed away and every part of the new personality is of God. |
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Obviously scriptural! But what does this have to do with the grace of salvation? Aren't we "saved by grace"? |
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God's purpose in providing a new covenant is to create people who are new creatures, meaning creatures who keep His commandments. God has given us grace with the idea that the sins we have committed will be put behind God's back and we can start off fresh. We don't have to worry about the Law of Moses. And we have God's Spirit and the body and blood of Jesus to help us keep God's commandments. |
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But we have perverted the program. We have introduced the thought of a "dispensation of grace," the idea being we no longer have to keep God's commandments. |
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There is no such thing as a "dispensation of grace." There is a new covenant but there is no dispensation of grace meaning we don't have to keep God's commandments. This whole business of a special Gentile dispensation of grace that forgives us so we can "go to Heaven" without becoming a new creation is a huge, huge, huge deception. The concept of a dispensation of grace has perverted God's intention under the new covenant. |
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There is a grace of forgiveness apart from keeping the Law of Moses. And then there is grace for growth—growth into the moral image of the Lord. |
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To grow in Christ means to grow in the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to have the desire and ability to choose the good and reject the evil. This is a major part of the image of Christ. |
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Until we make progress in the ability to reject the evil and choose the good we are babies. God loves His babies but they are about as useful in the Kingdom as a monkey in a machine shop. |
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The grace of God under the new covenant includes forgiveness but especially the Divine Virtue that enables us to grow in Christ each day. |
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To view grace as a special "dispensation" in which God forgives people and brings them to Paradise in an unchanged state is to completely misunderstand what Christianity and salvation are all about. |
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The primary meaning of being saved is being kept from destruction in the Day of the Lord. It signifies you will have an opportunity to continue in the program of re-creating man in the image of God. After you are saved, whether it is today or in the Day of the Lord, you are to begin the program of transformation. If you do not, if you do not begin to bear the fruit of the likeness of the Lord, you will be cut out of the Vine. |
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Is all of this actually true and scriptural? |
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Unfortunately yes! |
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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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10) |
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There is no such thing as a "dispensation of grace" as we are using the term today. We mean by this term that God has suspended the laws of righteousness. God never has, is not now, and never shall suspend the laws of righteousness. American Christians are soon to discover this by the coming judgments. |
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If God ever were to suspend the laws of righteousness it would be a catastrophe of such magnitude that our very birth into the world would be an unmitigated disaster. |
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The grace of God is not an alternative to righteous behavior! The grace of God is the Divine means of our becoming, through Christ, righteous, holy, and obedient in personality and behavior. |
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I was brought to Christ in the Marine Corps on Oahu when I was nineteen, during World War II. Experienced Christians pressed on me Ephesians 2:8,9. But they didn't add verse ten. They were good men, active in personal work when the marines were preparing for major invasions. But by not adding verse ten they gave me a warped view of salvation. |
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I was handed a Scofield Bible, a Stamps-Baxter songbook, and was told about the nightly meetings in the Quonset hut. At that time I had a real experience of being born again. |
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It wasn't until nearly thirty years later when I was writing on the Tabernacle of the Congregation that it dawned on me something was wrong with evangelical teaching. |
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I read through the New Testament to see if there were any verses that said we had to behave righteously as part of the program of salvation. Try that sometime! I could hardly believe what I was reading. I gave up trying to make a list because there were too many verses to cope with. The verses that stressed forgiveness apart from repentance and godly behavior were indeed few in number; and even those were speaking of freedom from the Law of Moses, not freedom from righteous behavior. The verses that spoke of the compelling need for righteous behavior were far and away the majority of the text. |
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Over the years I have listened to evangelical preaching and read evangelical writings. I have come to the conclusion that in the area of Divine grace we are mistaken. A "dispensation of grace" has been invented that simply is not found in the Scriptures. |
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Ephesians 2:8,9 could be interpreted to mean we do not have to behave righteously. But the next verse prevents such an interpretation. |
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For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) |
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We have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Check any translation. They all say the same thing. |
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If we have been created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing good works, then the current teaching of a dispensation of grace is out of balance with the New Testament emphasis on godly living. |
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We have misunderstood God! |
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It is obvious that if we are not living in a righteous manner the grace of God has failed of its purpose. |
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God has provided a new covenant to enable us to live righteously. By being born again in Christ and having God's Holy Spirit we now are able to begin to keep God's commandments. The whole purpose of grace is to enable us to keep God's commandments. |
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God would never, never, never change His dealing with man such that man can live an unrighteous, unholy, disobedient life and still please God. How could we ever have believed such an outrage! |
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The concept that God has given us grace because we cannot keep His commandments is a farce. Of course we can keep God's commandments by the help Christ gives. What are we thinking of? Is our Father in Heaven some kind of monster He would command us to do something and then not enable us to do it? |
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The reasoning presented that God has given us hundreds of commandments, not because we can keep them but to show us our need of His forgiveness, is perverse. By this kind of twisted thinking we have made the exhortations of the Apostles irrelevant. No wonder the believers don't understand the New Testament. Most of the passages are irrelevant! They don't apply to us because we are "saved by grace"! |
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What father would command his child to do something impossible, not help him do it, and then tell him he never expected to be obeyed but wanted his child to seek his forgiveness and mercy? Such a view of the relationship of God to His children or any father to his children is not only completely unscriptural but immaterial, incompetent, and irrelevant—if not totally asinine. Don't you agree? |
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"Dad wants to show me how much better he is than I am so he gave me a bunch of stuff to do, not because He expects me to do it but to show me he loves me anyway." |
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I think we Christians need a reality check! |
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There you have it. We are off course. The sword of judgment hangs over the so- called "Christian" nations of today. |
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God is ready and willing for us to recognize our error and turn from our wicked ways. If we do He will forgive our sins and heal our land. |
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Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25) |
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"For the remission of sins that are past." |
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I remember when I was a boy that Sheriff Slavin of New Haven had what was called, I believe, a "First Offender" program. The idea was to give a boy or girl who had been arrested but had never broken the law before, a fresh start. |
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This is how Divine grace actually works. |
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Let us say there is a compassionate judge. An individual has been brought before him for stealing a car. |
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The judge looks at the defendant and thinks this person could make something of himself if he had a fresh start. |
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Even though stealing a car is a serious offense the judge fines him twenty-five dollars and puts him on probation. What is the judge's purpose? It is to give this person a chance to become a law-abiding citizen. |
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But what if the individual shows up in court next week for stealing another car? The judge is liable to throw the book at him. He didn't get the message! |
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God's purpose in putting our sins behind His back is to give us a fresh start. We can now begin to pray, seek Christ, fellowship with Christians, read the Bible, and live a righteous life. We do not have to worry about the Law of Moses because we are married to Christ. |
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The purpose of grace is to give us a fresh start so we can serve God. |
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But we have made grace a "new dispensation." |
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Our present teaching of grace is as if the car thief comes before the judge, and the judge says the old laws do not apply any longer. Just confess you are unable to keep from stealing and fall on the mercy of the court. Once you do this we encourage you to stop stealing cars. But if you do not you still do not need to worry. The law against car-stealing no longer applies to you. |
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You are not under the penal code any longer. You have been set free such that if you steal cars, or even kill someone, the laws no longer apply to you. You are free from the law and are sheltered by the grace provided by the criminal court. |
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This seems to be a pretty good picture of the "dispensation of grace" we have invented. |
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If the criminal court system threw out the penal code and brought in a system of grace, as we have outlined above, what do you think would become true of our society? |
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Well, this is what has taken place in the Christian churches. The people often are lawless because they have been taught an unscriptural view of Divine grace. |
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Don't you think it is about time we got back to the Bible? The Christian churches have been wrecked by a false teaching of grace. |
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And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thessalonians 5:23) |
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The purpose of the new covenant is to produce righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God in people. |
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The first thing God does, when we come to Jesus, is to forgive our sins. Now God can begin the program that will result in our total sanctification. |
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Let's think about the differences among righteousness, holiness, and obedience, for although they are interrelated they are not exactly the same. |
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Righteousness has to do with our conduct toward other people. Righteousness includes honesty, fair dealing, truthfulness, loyalty, honorable actions, dependability, generosity, kindness, compassion toward the poor, and similar behavior. To treat others as we would have them treat us is to behave righteously. |
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Holiness has to do with our relationship with God and with the purity of our spirit. God wants His elect to belong to Him and to live before Him in all things. All unclean spirits must be driven from us. That which belongs to God must be holy. |
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This is where righteousness and holiness overlap. To tell a lie is unrighteous. The spirit of lying is an unholy, unclean spirit. To hurt another person is an unrighteous act. The spirits of violence, murder, gossip, slander, are unholy spirits and cannot dwell in the Presence of God. |
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Obedience has to do with our response to God's will. There is only one lawful will in the universe. Every son of God must obey his Father without any question or compromise. God has a good and loving purpose in all He commands and to not obey Him instantly and totally is unthinkable! |
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The Bible stresses righteousness—perhaps above all other virtues. Both the Old Testament and the New, from Genesis to Revelation, contain many commandments involving righteous behavior. The current viewpoint of Divine grace, that it is an acceptable alternative to righteous behavior, is just about as destructive an error as can be imagined. |
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Holiness is required of Israel, the royal priesthood. Those who have been called of God to serve Him, to represent Him to His creation, must be holy. No unclean spirit can survive the fire of God. |
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Every Christian must be morally clean in thought, speech, and behavior. Every Christian is called to be a member of the royal priesthood. The Holy Spirit has been given to guide us into complete sanctification. The Christian who loves God but is bound by some filthy spirit will be scrubbed with lye soap—not a dainty perfumed soap but old-fashioned laundry soap. We are to be holy as God is holy! |
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And as for obedience, every saint will suffer until he or she is totally obedient to God. Adam was disobedient. Abraham and Christ were obedient in their hour of testing. You and I are to be totally, sternly obedient to the will of God! |
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Righteousness, holiness, and obedience. All three are necessary if we are to stand in the Presence of God and serve Him as His sons and daughters. |
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He will accomplish these in you if you will cooperate with Him! |
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To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7) |
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One would suppose that every member of the church in Ephesus already had partaken of the Tree of Life. It is believed commonly that once we accept Christ as our Savior we possess eternal life and that no more is required of us concerning gaining eternal life. |
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It is true that we are touched with eternal life the moment we truly receive Christ Jesus, placing our faith in Him. But the Scripture teaches plainly that we are to be seeking eternal life after we are saved. The pursuit of life, of the victorious resurrection from the dead, is a lifelong quest. |
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Every day eternal death and eternal life struggle for dominion over us. The conqueror is the one who chooses life as he makes his decisions throughout each day of his discipleship. |
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Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. (I Timothy 6:12) |
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We understand that the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to resurrection life and few people actually find life. Christ Jesus is the Way. As we follow Him He leads us into all Truth, which is Christ Himself. As we obey the truth we partake of and grow in eternal Life, which again is Christ Himself. |
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The moment we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior we pass from death to life. We are forgiven our sins, through the blood of the Lamb, and we come at that moment into right standing with God. At the time of our receiving of Christ, who Himself is eternal Life and the resurrection from the dead, eternal life is born in us. |
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When we receive Christ we receive the authority to escape the wrath of God and to become a son of God. However, eternal life is more than escape from Divine wrath. Eternal life is Divine Substance. We receive Divine Virtue and Substance when we first accept Christ. From then on we are to be living in, acting in, speaking in, thinking in, and in every manner cultivating the eternal life that is in us. |
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Our fleshly nature always is competing for first place in our affections. Our sinful, self-centered nature resists being removed from the throne of our life. We conquer the world, Satan, and our sinful, self-centered nature by continuing to partake daily of the "tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." This tree is the Lord Jesus Himself. |
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As we conquer we are brought to the Tree of Life. As we partake of the Tree of Life we are enabled to conquer yet further. As we keep the Word of God the Word of God begins to keep us. We ascend into the fullness of the power of Christ's resurrection. |
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Paul was seeking to know and experience the power of Christ's resurrection. We are to do the same. Each day of our Christian discipleship we are to be living and acting in the Spirit of life. |
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Eternal life and eternal death are struggling for mastery over us. If we choose to live and act in the lusts of our flesh, in spiritual death, the Divine Life that is in us will be shoved aside. The Divine Life eventually will leave and the new creation that has been begun in us will die because of the loss of life. |
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The conqueror overcomes, through Christ, all opposition from the world, from his fleshly nature, and from Satan in his pursuit of eternal life. In so doing he attains a victorious resurrection. The Divine Life of Jesus, who Himself Is the Resurrection and the Life, is formed in him. |
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If we become filled with Christ, when He appears we will shine as part of the brightness of His appearing. |
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If we choose to live in the flesh we will reap corruption. We will succeed in preventing our resurrection to glory. Let us be found among those who lay hold on eternal life. (from The Conqueror) |
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Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. (Numbers 31:16) |
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Balaam, a seer, was unable to earn his money by cursing Israel because the power and blessing of the Lord was on that nation. Therefore Balaam counseled Balak, the king of the Moabites, to provoke God's anger against Israel by sending out the Moabite girls to lure the Israelite warriors into fornication and into the worship of the demons that the Moabites worshiped. |
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Balaam understood that if he could persuade Israel to sin the wrath of God would fall on the people. Balaam then could rise up and curse the Jews in his spirit of prophecy. King Balak could overcome the Israelite army and Balaam would collect his pay. |
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This is true of the Christian army. It is impossible for the devil to overcome the soldiers of Christ while the power and blessing of Christ is on them. If Satan can lure the Lord's soldiers into sexual lust and into other forms of demonic activity and worship, then the judgment of God will fall on the sinners. |
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The wrath of God always is on lust and on all other forms of demonic activity whether committed by Jews, Christians, or any other religion or race of people. |
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Sometimes the Holy Spirit wields the Divine sword, the Word of God, through a sinning Christian. The Christian who ministers the Word of God while he himself is sinning will be judged by the sword he is wielding. He is not a conqueror even though the Holy Spirit is employing him in Kingdom tasks. |
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Notice that Balaam, a seer of God, was brought under the curse of God by the love of money just as were Gehazi, Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira. The love of money blinded the eye of the seer, and in his blindness he brought himself under the judgment of God. Later, Balaam was slain by the Israelite army. |
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One of the temptations that face the Christian churches is that of the love of money. It is easy to fall into the snare of mixing religion and money in such a manner that monetary profit occurs. |
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The conqueror is to flee, flee, flee from the temptation to use the glory of Christ as a means of acquiring material gain! |
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If God calls us into His way we are assured He will supply our needs. He who gave us His Son certainly will furnish us with the necessities of earthly existence. |
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God warned Balaam, a true seer, to refrain from doing the bidding of Balak in the cursing of Israel. When gold was held up before Balaam's eyes he felt there must be some way of serving both God and money. At that moment Balaam fell into deception and a snare. The moment we believe we can serve both God and money we will fall into deception and a snare. |
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He who would be a conqueror must decide once and for all he cannot serve God and money. God will be served or money will be served. No person can serve both. Let us cast aside the unclean money, the God of riches, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ with singleness of heart. |
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(from The Conqueror) |
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But this {shall be} the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inner parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33) |
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The Christians are fond of saying that God has done away with the Law of Moses. They are correct in one sense but incorrect in another sense. The new covenant is not a doing away with the Law (the Torah) but the writing of the Law in our heart. |
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God never will do away with the moral law. The moral law is eternal, being of the Divine Nature of God. To alter the moral law in the smallest part would be to bring the worst of all calamities on the universe. |
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The Ten Commandments are a limited expression of the eternal moral law of God. The Ten Commandments are spiritual and perfect. Our adamic nature was born in sin and shaped in lawlessness and in no manner can conform to that perfect, spiritual law of God—the Ten Commandments. |
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How does God write His law in our hearts and minds? Christ is the Word, the Law of God. As we submit to the crucifixion through which the Lord guides us, Christ is formed in us. The Word is formed in us. The new covenant is formed in us. The eternal moral law, of which the Ten Commandments are a limited expression, is formed in us. |
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As death and life work in the Christian he begins to reveal the deeds of the law in his personality. It is not a case of escaping the law of God. Rather, it is a case of dying to Moses, being married to Christ, and bringing forth the fruit of union with Christ, which is righteous, holy, obedient behavior. The intent of the Law of Moses is righteous, holy, obedient behavior. |
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If a Gentile believer says to the Jewish person, I am not under the Law but under grace, he is not conveying the truth of the new covenant although he is quoting a verse from the Book of Romans. |
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The believer ought to be saying something like the following: "I am not attempting to keep the Ten Commandments in my own strength. I am submitting to death and resurrection so Christ, who is the Law, the Word made flesh, may be formed in me. I am not without law or else Christ would be the minister of sin. Rather, Christ, who Himself is the Law of God, is bringing forth a new creation in me—a creation that by nature keeps the eternal moral law of God." |
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The new covenant is not a doing away with the law of God but a bringing forth in us of Christ who Himself is God's eternal law. (from The Christian and the Ten Commandments) |
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