The Daily Word of Righteousness

Something To Think About, #8

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)

There is no such thing as a dispensation of grace!

There indeed is a new covenant. The new covenant creates in a human being much, much greater righteousness, holiness, and obedience of personality than ever could be true of the Law of Moses. Under the new covenant God writes His laws in the heart and mind.

Forgiveness serves to keep the believer without condemnation while the Divine commandments are being written in the heart and mind. One can see therefore that to conceive of the grace of forgiveness as an alternative to the program of moral transformation into Christ's image is the negating of all God has planned and hoped for in Christ.

The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom is not ascribed righteousness, ascribed peace, or ascribed joy, but actual righteousness, peace, and joy of the born-again human personality.

This is why Paul repeated that those who live according to their fleshly impulses cannot possibly inherit the Kingdom of God. Why not? Because there is no sin in the Kingdom of God. To enter the Kingdom of God is to cease from sin by the power of Christ. To enter eternal life is to cease from sin by the power of Christ. To be saved is to cease from sin by the power of Christ.

We are not saved from sin by the power of Christ so we can go to Heaven but that we might have fellowship with the Father. Christ did not present Himself as the way to Heaven but as the way to the Father. Today we need to think more about going to the Father. The Christian salvation is being viewed as a means of man getting what man wants—now, and later in the spirit realm.

But the Bible is a record of how God is going to get what God wants, that is, children who obey Him, fear Him, love Him, obey Him strictly, and enjoy His holy Presence forever.

How does all of this sound to you?

When we begin to talk about the fact that our salvation is validated only by our becoming a new creation of righteousness you ought to hear the objections thrown at us.

"We have to sin while we are in this world."

This must be in the Book of Hezekiah. It sure isn't in the Bible. In fact the Bible says that sin shall not have dominion over us. Again, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh.

"Christ did it all so there is nothing we have to do."

If this is true, why are there hundreds of commandments to righteousness in the pages of the New Testament?

There are numerous commandments we are to obey, such as to let no corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth. If Christ did it all and there is nothing we are to do, why does the Bible command us to let no corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth but only that which builds up the hearers?

To be continued.