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For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Romans 12:3) |
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No term is more familiar to Christians than faith. Faith is discussed in association with Divine healing, financial need, and success in living the Christian life. It is important we understand the difference between mental faith and scriptural faith and how to apply scriptural faith in our hour of need. |
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When we think of "faith" there often comes into our mind a kind of magic. "If I had faith I could move my mountain, or heal myself, or get more money, or work some other miracle." |
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Sometimes we have tried a kind of mental faith. "I believe! I believe! I believe!" Then we open our eyes briefly to see if the lump has disappeared. |
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There has been a "word of faith" teaching, the idea being if we "speak the word," creative energy will be released that will arrange or change our environment as we desire. This is to have faith in faith instead of in the Lord Jesus. It is actually a metaphysical practice, as we see it, and not Christian at all. |
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There has been the teaching that faith is merely confidence in experience. "If I sit down in a chair I have faith it will support me." |
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Faith often gets confused with presumption. "If I smash my glasses God will heal my eyes. If I cash a check with no money in the bank God will deposit the money. If I refuse to take my medicine God will heal me." If you have tried one of these you now are a sadder but wiser person if you lived and are not in prison! |
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There is a modern concept that faith is a spiritual force we can use to manipulate our surroundings. We can learn to use faith to get what we want. We can command the angels. This is the spirit of religious delusion that has "two horns like a lamb" and that speaks "as a dragon" (Revelation 13:11). It is to attempt to use the power (the horns) of Christ (the Lamb) apart from entering into the death and resurrection of Christ. It is to remain a spiritual single and yet try to draw on the bank account of Christ. |
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Perhaps the most common use of the word faith is to refer to a doctrinal position or denominational affiliation, for example the Catholic faith, the Episcopal faith, the Pentecostal faith. "The just shall live by faith" (sometimes used today to mean stedfast belief in one's doctrinal faith) was the cry of the Protestant Reformers. However, doctrinal faith is not the "faith" of the Scriptures, of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. "The just shall live by faith" has little to do with a confession of faith in theological facts. |
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There is a "gift of faith" that the Holy Spirit gives to some Christians. Smith-Wigglesworth of England apparently possessed the gift of faith. |
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Sometimes God gives us special faith for our own need. Such extraordinary faith is quite different from "trying to believe," as every person knows who has experienced a special gift of faith to solve a certain problem. |
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We are commanded by the Apostle to not step beyond the actual confidence God has given us. |
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It is God who gives one individual a certain amount of faith and another individual a different degree of faith. We must use the faith we have but not attempt to force results when we do not have enough God-given faith to accomplish our goals. |
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We must learn to distinguish between what we as a person can do and what only God can do. When we are sick we are commanded to call for the elders of the church. This we can do. Only God can heal us, but we are directed to call for the elders of the church. We must do what has been commanded if we expect God to do His part. |
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The Lord Jesus invited us to ask in His name for whatever we desire. This we are to do but only the Lord Jesus can grant our request. |
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We are not to place our faith in faith but in the Lord Jesus. It is the Lord who grants our request. It is not that our imagination or spoken word sets in motion "spiritual forces" that bring the answer. (from The Exercise of Faith) |
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Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) |
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"The just shall live by faith" is defined in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. We may note that all of the examples are from the Old Testament showing us that righteous people have lived by faith since the time of Abel, and also that faith is shown to be obedience to God, not something we think up and decide to believe God for. |
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It is characteristic of our man-centered times that we are trying to put faith in the hands of people so we can control the outcome. This hardly was the case with the heroes listed in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. |
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In the first verse (above) we see the terms "substance," "hope," "evidence," and "things not seen." |
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First of all, substance. Other translations have "assurance." The idea seems to be that faith is something solid we can rest on. This certainly was true of Noah, Abraham, and the others listed in the eleventh chapter. God spoke to them. That spoken Word created a foundation on which they lived their lives. |
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The substance or assurance comes to us when God speaks, whether to us personally in the Spirit or in the written Word. We must keep in mind, however, that the letter without the Spirit kills. The letter of the Bible doesn't make alive as does the Spirit. |
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There has been considerable confusion in Christian circles as people have seized on a passage of Scripture and "claimed it by faith." Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. But what comes from God always works! |
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The words of the Scriptures are not alive nor are they life-giving until they are made alive by the Spirit of God. Many of us have had the Lord make a passage alive to us. Then it works the way it is supposed to. |
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But to just pick out a passage no way. You can have a sick person in front of you, lay a Bible on them, say "He sent His word and healed them," and have the person die in front of you. |
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You can't use the Bible this way! No individual in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews tried to use the Scriptures this way. They dealt with the living God, not with the scroll! So it is today. |
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Please keep the "faith teachers" away from me! I've been miraculously healed several times but never by trying to stand on a word not given to me! I've even been healed when I wasn't prayed for and wasn't praying for myself or believing I would be healed! |
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Things hoped for. What is your hope? Do you want God or a mansion in Paradise? |
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Here is how you can tell. How happy would you be in a perfect paradise of love, joy, and peace if Jesus wasn't there? Be honest now! |
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The true saint wants God above all with or without Paradise. The Father knows who the true saints are! |
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Suppose Jesus asked you to just be with Him and you never got to do anything. He just wanted your company like He did the disciples in Gethsemane. Would you be willing to go unnoticed? Watch how you answer, you may be tested. |
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The evidence or conviction. True faith holds a certainty concerning the Character of God. This certainty can only come from the hand of God. It brings the Bride through the mud still persuaded that Jesus is the only show in town. I heard of a missionary that starved to death trusting God. I cannot verify the story but I do not doubt it. But But But |
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I know what the Scriptures say about God's provisions. The Scriptures can never be changed. But sometimes we are not aware of the bigger picture. We are to hold to God no matter what happens to us or our loved ones. We know God is absolutely good, absolutely trustworthy, absolutely righteous no matter what happens. Are you convinced of this beyond all experience? |
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Things not seen. Even if we could see God it would not change our judgment of His Character, and faith is just that our judgment of God's Character. Satan could see God but he and his followers have no faith in God's Character. They simply do not believe that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him with a whole heart. |
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Whatever happens to you or me doesn't change God's Character. God demonstrated His goodness on the cross of Calvary. Period. |
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Some day we will see and know as we are known. But whether such sight and knowledge result in joy or anguish depends entirely on how we have behaved when we couldn't see. |
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Suppose Jesus stood before you right now and you could see Him perfectly. Would you change anything you are thinking, doing, or saying? |
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If you would, then change it now. Brother, Sister, Jesus is real. |
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I promised God when I got saved that I would testify to the truth of what I experienced. The Bible is totally true or a monumental lie. There is no middle ground. |
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After fifty-two years I'm here to tell you it's true and I have no reason to lie to you. |
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For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. (Isaiah 60:12) |
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And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. (Revelation 21:24) |
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Since in these essays I sometimes make a distinction between God's elect and the saved nations maybe I better explain. |
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Israel, God's Church under the old covenant, and the Christian Church, God's Church under the new covenant, are a people chosen from the ranks of mankind to represent God to the rest of the nations of the earth. The word church means "called out from." |
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The members of the Church were chosen from the beginning of the world according to the foreknowledge of God. God has chosen them for glorification. They will attain their calling if they as brothers of Jesus Christ will cooperate with the Spirit of God. |
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Thus each Christian, Jewish or Gentile (the Gospel is always to the Jew first for the Jews are the original chosen people), is a firstfruits of mankind to the Lord. This is not because they are better than anybody else, it is because God has chosen them. |
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Basic salvation is another matter. To be saved is to be spared from destruction in the Day of Divine Wrath that is coming, the Day of the Lord, the Day of Christ. |
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It is God's will that everyone be saved. To be saved we must believe that Jesus is Lord and be baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. |
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To become a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, is an exceedingly high calling. To attain such closeness to God requires a lifelong following of the Holy Spirit. It is a race. It is a fight. It requires all that an individual can bring to it, as we see in the words of the Apostle Paul in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians. |
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We cannot choose to "just be saved" and ignore the standards of discipleship. If we are called to be a member of the Church then we will be judged according to this calling. To those to whom much has been given, of them will much be required. |
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One of the primary reasons for the milksop, puerile preaching of the Gospel preaching in America is that the ministers are emphasizing "getting saved" and in many instances are virtually ignoring the severe demands made on every member of the Bride, such as taking up our cross, denying ourselves, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice to God, enduring hardness as good soldiers, not entangling ourselves with the world. |
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"We are saved and that's all there is until we're caught up to Heaven in a rapture! Until that merry event let's all have fun in the Son." |
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The true disciples of Jesus Christ throughout history have left bloody footprints in the snow. They have pressed toward the heavenly calling. With every breath of their body they have called on the name of the Lord, turning aside from the moral corruption of the world, living in dens and caves of the earth, as Hebrews tells us concerning the members of the Church under the old covenant. |
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Each of them has stood in triumph before the Lord Jesus. Each has attained a better resurrection. |
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Compare them with today's silly prattlers about grace. They make us look ridiculous. |
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God's standards for His Church, His eternal temple and priesthood, have never changed. Either we follow Christ with a perfect heart or we will never end up as part of the royal priesthood. |
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There will be nations of saved people, nations whose only calling is to receive the Presence of God dwelling in the royal priesthood. They are the inheritance of Jesus Christ and therefore our inheritance. |
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You are not called just to be saved. You are called to be a member of the governing priesthood. Give it all you've got or another will take your crown! |
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Be careful what you do with your talent. The consequences of carelessness isn't funny! |
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And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (Colossians 2:10) |
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The Scriptures are tricky. I wonder sometimes if God deliberately guided the writers so that whoever wishes to distort them may do so and have "solid" scriptural support. |
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There is a great Divine truth in Colossians 2:10 (above). It is that God sees us perfect and complete in Christ. What a blessing to the conscientious soul who thinks God never is pleased no matter how hard he tries! |
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This great Divine truth is being perverted today. It is coming out as, "No matter what you do God sees only the righteousness and holiness of Christ." |
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People, please! This teaching runs counter to the bulk of passages of the New Testament. |
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If God does not see our behavior, how are we to judge ourselves? Why did Paul deliver the incestuous believer in Corinth to Satan for the destruction of his flesh? This makes sense? |
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Ah, the modern commentators write (concerning the Corinthian), "This unbelievably rotten creature never was a true Christian!" |
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Never was a true Christian? According to the Scripture the brother began as a Christian and ended up as a Christian. Did he slip out at some point and then slip back in again? |
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You don't handle sin by becoming a non- Christian and then a Christian again. You handle sin by confessing it and turning away from it. And there is no point in doing this if God doesn't see it in the first place. (The sorrowful believer of Corinth repented.) |
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What, then, does God mean when He says He sees us perfect in Christ? He means that if we do what He says in the New Testament our ultimate glorification is assured. God has the authority and power to forgive and transform those who continue to abide in Christ. |
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(In drawing the following analogy I understand that God has more power than your mother.) |
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Every mother used to see her son as being perfect and the president of the United States. (This is not true anymore because the presidency has fallen on hard times.) Did this mean the mother did not know he was in the second grade? Not at all. It meant that this was the mother's hope for her son. |
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The fact that the little devil was viewed in an exalted state (by his mother) did not prevent occasional trips to the woodshed. Without these he no doubt would find his destiny in the state prison. |
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God sees us as perfect and lord of the nations (under Christ). Does this mean He will not judge our behavior and chasten us severely? The Bible says He will! Does this mean we cannot possibly end up in outer darkness or have our name blotted from the Book of Life? Not according to the Scriptures it doesn't! |
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Everybody knows that in order to cut a straight course in the Word you have to read the whole book. You can't pick out your favorite ideas and throw out the rest. |
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According to the Bible, if a Christian sins and does not repent he or she is flirting with spiritual death. This is true from Matthew to Revelation. The fact that God sees us as complete in Christ and envisions our glorification does not mean when we sin it goes unnoticed. |
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Colossians 2:10 is found in the Book of Colossians. Also found in the Book of Colossians is the next verse: |
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In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: (Colossians 2:11) |
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How many see we are supposed to put off the body of the sins of our flesh? Raise your hand! |
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And then we have these good ol' verses: |
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But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (Colossians 3:8,9) |
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If God doesn't see our anger, malice, filthy talk, why is it so important we put off the old man with his deeds? |
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This world would be a better place if everyone would read the whole Book of Colossians. |
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From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17) |
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The Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) is God in Christ in the saints performing God's will. |
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The Kingdom of Heaven is the new Jerusalem, the Wife of the Lamb, the Body of Christ, the Church, the eternal Temple of God. |
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Christians speak of "going to Heaven" as though our goal were to go to a place to a Paradise that will put an end to all our pains and dreads. |
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But the Scriptures speak of entering or inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a somewhat different concept from that of merely going to a delightful place. |
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Because God, His Christ, the saints, and the holy angels have their residence in the spirit realm above us in beautiful surroundings, the goal of the Christian salvation often is thought to be that of entering this desirable environment when we die. The idea that the principal objective of the Christian believer is to enter the spirit Paradise when he dies is one of the most widely embraced concepts in all Christendom. |
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We may be looking forward to residing for eternity in the spirit realm above us. But the Scripture teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven is coming to the earth. In that day the "heaven" to which we aspire will be located in the earth. |
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Because the Kingdom of Heaven is God in Christ in the saints performing God's will, the "heaven" we desire is not primarily a place but a state of being, a state of being based on a set of relationships with God and people. "Heaven" will be a city, the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is above us and we hope to see it and become part of it when we die. Nevertheless the Kingdom of God primarily is a state of being based on relationships with God and people. Let us explain. |
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We think of Heaven in terms of mansions, jewels, valuable minerals, and sometimes as a beautiful garden of birds and flowers. All these are present in the spirit Paradise above us to which the saints go when they die. |
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But let us reflect for a moment. What we actually desire is righteousness, peace, and joy, as well as freedom from sorrow, fear, and pain. |
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Now, what is it that brings peace and joy to our heart? |
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The peace and joy of a human being can come only from his relationship to God and to people. |
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There are individuals on the earth who can afford to own a mansion, jewels, gold, silver, and other articles of value. Their mansion may be secluded in an Eden-like setting a paradise on the earth. |
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It is not unusual for such persons to be miserable most of the time. Sometimes such idyllic environments are filled with hatred, greed, violence, immorality, and other sinful attitudes and behaviors. Often there are scenes of strife with children in rebellion against their parents. |
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Notice that these wealthy estates may contain most of the tangible elements that are often mentioned when we are describing the beauties of Heaven above. Yet there may be far more anguish present than there is peace of mind. |
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It is clear that mansions, gold, silver, jewels, and paradisiac surroundings cannot by themselves bring peace and joy. |
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On the other hand, picture a humble dwelling in which lives a family filled with the love of Christ and love for one another. There, we must agree, is the essence of what we mean by "heaven." It is not the external things that bring peace and joy to our hearts, it is relationships. (from Entering the Kingdom of Heaven) |
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And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23) |
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Christ has come as the great Jubilee, the Divine Redeemer. He has proclaimed an amnesty to those who will turn to Him and believe in the atonement He has wrought for them. |
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However, the terms of this amnesty do not make provision for our continuing in sin. The amnesty is for the truly repentant. |
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For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26,27) |
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Christian scholars who do not understand the conditional nature or the purpose of the amnesty conceive of the Christian redemption as a forgiveness that God hands out to us so we can enter Heaven when we die regardless of how live on the earth. This is a misconception of both the goal and the process of the Divine redemption. |
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The purpose of redemption is not to bring sinners into Paradise. The purpose of redemption is to make it possible for sinners to repent, to turn to God, to be delivered from the power of Satan, and to inherit eternal life. |
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Redemption does not bring the old personality into Paradise; rather, it creates a new personality that belongs in Paradise by nature. |
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Christ did not come to earth in order to bring back to Paradise the sinful and rebellious. Christ came to the earth in order to turn sinners from the power of Satan to the power of God. Christ was revealed for the purpose of undoing the works of Satan (I John 3:8). |
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To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18) |
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There are "Christians" today who do not show mercy, who are spiteful, who force their will on others, who do not practice the virtues that the Lord Jesus set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. Such people would turn any paradise into hell. |
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The believers have been taught, in some instances, that the proclamations of Jesus concerning righteous and holy behavior do not apply to them because they are saved by "grace." They are trusting that in the moment of their death they will be able to hold God to the current formula of "salvation," and God will be required to declare them guiltless. God then will place a crown on their head, a rod of iron in their hand, and they will govern the nations of the earth as one of God's royal priests. |
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They seek to manipulate God to their own advantage as they have sought to manipulate people all through their life. |
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They, perhaps without realizing it, are attempting to mock God. |
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Salvation does not work this way. |
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Those who, having made a profession of Christ, continue to walk in the ways of the flesh, especially those who are harsh with their fellow servants, will receive in the Day of Christ precisely what they have given. As they have done so will it be done to them. They have denied others their rights and their rights will be denied to them. As they have sown so shall they reap. |
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This is why it is so important to distinguish between the scriptural "entering the Kingdom of Heaven" and the traditional "going to Heaven when we die." (from Entering the Kingdom of Heaven) |
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Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. (Joshua 1:2) |
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The Book of Joshua is an illustration of what will occur at the end of the Church Age and the beginning of the Kingdom Age. The death of Moses and the installation of Joshua as leader portray the change of the Lord Jesus from Shepherd to Commander in Chief of the army of God. |
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Historic changes take place in the Kingdom of God from time to time. Such changes are very unsettling for the people involved but also offer wonderful opportunities for those who have the opportunity to participate. |
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The change from the leadership of Moses to the leadership of Joshua was one such important step in the Kingdom. |
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God promised to give to the Israelites every place where they set their feet but only when they followed His specific directions. God has promised to give us that which we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus but only as we follow His specific leading. |
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The promised land of the Hebrews was set forth clearly: |
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From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. (Joshua 1:4) |
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The land of promise of the Christians is not set forth in the Scriptures with such definition, it must be gleaned from the Old and New Testament writings. |
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Joshua was exhorted to pay close attention to the "Book of the Law." The Christian doctrines of our day are filled with traditions and errors of all kinds. If we are to press forward in God we must discard much of what is being taught today, particularly the understanding of Divine "grace" as an alternative to godly behavior, as a covering of the continued sinning of the believers. It is time now to return to the Book! |
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The Spirit of God is telling us to get ready for the big push forward in the Kingdom. We are close to the coming of the Lord and preparations must be made. God is ready to guide and assist all who will listen and obey Him so they may stand in total victory throughout the tremendous conflict that lies ahead. |
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The present hour is a time to listen carefully to the Spirit of God. Whenever the Jews came to a new feast of the Lord (as today we are moving past Pentecost toward the spiritual fulfillments of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles Leviticus, Chapter 23) they were commanded to cease from their regular work. |
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God is ready to do marvelous things in our day, but we must receive the instruction and provisions He is offering now so we shall be ready when God moves. There will be tremendous opportunities ahead for every believer who will cease from his own programs and listen carefully to the Lord. |
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The Reubenites, the Gadites, and half of the tribe of Manasseh wanted to remain on the east side of the Jordan and take care of their cattle. It did not matter to them that the Glory of God, the Ark, the Tabernacle, the priesthood would depart from them or that their brothers would have to fight. |
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The two and a half cattle-loving tribes resemble the believers of today who are occupied with the things of the world and have no heart for the Glory of God. They will have to fight for their inheritance in the Lord whether or not they wish to do so. |
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The two spies sent out by Joshua portray the dedicated disciples in the present hour who are being sent out by the Lord to press into the promises of God. They will return to the Church and describe the good land they have seen. |
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The Kingdom of God is at hand! You interested? (from Entering the Land of Promise) |
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