The Daily Word of Righteousness

Keep My Commandments!, continued

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Hebrews 8:10—NIV)

The modern teaching of grace produces unrighteous, unclean, disobedient behavior—the very opposite of the intended effect of the new covenant.

The solution, and the only solution, for the current distressful condition of the Christian churches is not a "rapture" to Heaven (another falsity of Dispensational theory). It is repentance, that is, a turning to God and the keeping of His commandments.

You cannot build your house on the rock by giving mental assent to the blood atonement and the coming of the Lord. You build your house on the rock only by keeping Christ's commandments.

It is time for a reformation of Christian thinking.

It appears most of the commandments given by Jesus were given by inference, although He issued a few direct commandments.

It appears also that most of the commandments given by Jesus' Apostles were given directly, although a few were by inference.

In any event, whether the commandment was inferred or expressed by Jesus in the Gospels or by His Apostles in the Epistles, every commandment found in the New Testament comes from Jesus Christ and is to be viewed as God's commandment. They are not just suggestions or good ideas, they are commandments.

We cannot keep the commandments of Jesus Christ in our own strength. We have to keep on coming to the Throne of Grace to receive the strength and wisdom necessary to keep the commandments. The Holy Spirit will always help us do what the Word declares. This is why the Spirit of God is here among us!

Let us now look at a few of the commandments Jesus gave us by inference. These are the commandments referred to in the Book of First John.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3—NIV)

Didn't the Lord put this nicely? But we get the point. We by inference are being commanded to be poor in spirit. If we choose to be poor in spirit, and the Holy Spirit will help us if we ask Him, we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

But what if we are not poor in spirit? We will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

"Can I be prevented from inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven and still be saved?" I can just hear someone asking this, so determined are we believers to not do what the Lord said.

The answer is, "You will not inherit or enter the Kingdom of Heaven, your eternal abode will be outer darkness."

But what about "grace"? If you call on God in Jesus' name, God will send you the grace to be poor in spirit. You simply cannot use new-covenant grace as a way of entering the Kingdom of Heaven while you remain rich in your own ways.

The Christian churches of today are attempting to use new-covenant grace as a way of getting around the commandments of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine such doctrinal chaos? Such a religious mess? It is no wonder the people of the United States have little confidence in the Christian people or their churches!

To be continued.