Category: legalism

If Thou Be #9

Friday, June 12, 2015

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6,7 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to finding your identity in Christ!

A dear brother in Christ often says, “Your Christian life will not operate on the basis of ignorance.” Why does the average Christian life not function properly? Ignorance concerning what God is doing today! The average Christian is not taught God’s Word rightly divided. They are not taught their identity as members of the Church the Body of Christ. Instead, they are taught from the Old Testament, the Four Gospels, early Acts, and Hebrews through Revelation—all of which describe Israel’s identity in Christ. No wonder Christians claim and follow Israel’s verses. They believe they are Israel. No wonder Christians claim to be Israel. They claim and follow Israel’s verses. In other words, the Bible has been so misconstrued that it is just one gigantic mess, and their identity is so screwed up in their minds!

Thankfully, in heaven, such confusion will be absent. There will be no denominations, and no hijacking Israel’s verses. God will clear that all up with one verse—2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” It is in Paul’s epistles alone that we find our identity, doctrine, duty, walk, and destiny as members of the Church the Body of Christ.

We received Jesus Christ by faith in His finished crosswork (Colossians 2:5), and everything in our lives is dependent on that crosswork (today’s Scripture). As we were saved unto eternal life, so we walk in Him—by grace through faith, apart from works, rites, rituals, ceremonies, and so on! We are to be taught that, stabilized in these grace doctrines, remembering we are alive with His life, built up in Him to be in full cooperation with Him as He accomplishes what He wants done in and through us! That is how we remember our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Now, we can conclude this devotionals arc….

If Thou Be #8

Thursday, June 11, 2015

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4 KJV).

Can Satan use the Bible to confuse God’s people concerning their identity? Yes, today’s Scripture says he most certainly can (and does)!

If you want to be a Christian, it is commonly said that you need to be water baptized, give tithes, confess your daily sins, pray the “Lord’s Prayer,” observe holy feast days, faithfully attend church and “worship” on the Sabbath, keep the Mosaic Law, follow Christ’s earthly ministry, obey the “Great Commission,” seek the “manifestation of the Spirit” of tongues and miracles, et cetera. Beloved, while these activities are Scriptural, they do not belong in our dispensation. So, they are advantageous to Satan’s policy of evil in confusing us about our identity.

By the way, if you do not do these activities, traditional “Christianity” does not consider you a Christian. In agreeing with the Bible rightly divided, you disagree with traditional Bible thinking. Since religious tradition is the standard rather than the rightly divided Word of God, those who disagree with religion are labeled “non-Christians.” In that warped world, “Christians” follow tradition instead of Scripture! Behold the insanity, irony, and heresy!

Religion demands we give, confess, repent, attend, observe, seek, do, to get from God and keep it. Our one baptism by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ is seen as deficient. The written, completed Bible is seen as wanting. We are urged to pursue experiences and emotions to hear more from God. Our once-for-all forgiveness is seen as flawed. The Adversary causes Christians to revert back to Israel’s system of short sin-accounts (confession). In short, our sufficiency in Christ is seen as insufficient. Talk about identity crisis! What identity theft! Satan stole their identity, and then they stole Israel’s! The Devil’s damnable statement reverberates throughout the ages, right up to our present-day—“If thou be the [children] of God….”

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How are we ‘able ministers of the new testament?’”

If Thou Be #2

Friday, June 5, 2015

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

As Satan attempted to cause Jesus Christ to doubt who He was, he misled Eve about who she was. Likewise, Satan enjoys casting doubt on our identity in Christ.

Keeping short sin accounts (daily confession) causes us to wonder if we are truly forgiven. Being water baptized causes us to believe that we cannot have fruitful Christian service without a ceremony. Tithing causes us to believe that we cannot be blessed of God unless we give to Him. Scholarship causes us to believe that, unless we adopt human wisdom, we cannot understand the Bible. Satan attacks our identity in Christ “by any means.” We are already forgiven in Christ forever (Colossians 2:13). We only need one baptism—when the Holy Spirit put us into the Body of Christ the moment we trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:5).

When someone suggests that we have to do something in our flesh to enhance our Christian life, or behave a certain way in order to get something from God, they are drawing us away from our identity in Christ (Galatians 3:1-3). We are “complete in [Christ]” (Colossians 2:10). We are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). God has freely given us all things with His Son (Romans 8:32). We do not need to ask God for anything. Everything He could possibly give us, He gave it when He gave us His Son. Jesus Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). In Christ, all of our need is met (Philippians 4:19).

God revealed to the Apostle Paul the information that we need to understand what He is doing today. That set of doctrines is called “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-11). Jesus Christ disclosed that information to Paul, and when we read those Pauline epistles, Romans through Philemon, the Holy Spirit enlightens us. What God has planned for us believers, we need to search the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles, and not stray from those grace doctrines!

When the LORD Turns Israel’s Captivity #3

Sunday, April 19, 2015

“That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee” (Deuteronomy 30:3 KJV).

In today’s Scripture, Moses prophesies Israel’s glorious future restoration!

When God offered to enter into the Law Covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, He said, “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:5,6). Israel replied, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do” (verse 8). According to the rest of the Bible, and history, did Israel break her word? Yes! Yes! Yes!

Like many church members today, Israel failed to learn that she could never be God’s people in her own strength. Had the Jews truly learned the lesson of Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac (Genesis chapters 12 through 17), they would not have ignored God’s grace and preferred works-religion with Moses (see Galatians 4:19-31). Had they actually believed that it had to be God’s work to bring about a people for His name—divine efforts rather than human works, not Abraham’s efforts or their efforts but God’s efforts—they would have never entered into the Covenant of Law with the LORD at Sinai. Their deceitful sin nature (Jeremiah 17:9) caused them to believe they could keep God’s laws perfectly. God simply gave them the Law, what they wanted, proving to them and all the world that no one can be perfect (see Romans 3:19,20).

The Covenant of Law was a failure from the start. The Israelites danced naked around a golden calf idol after God wrote on the stones tablets that they were to not embrace idolatry (Exodus chapter 32)! The Law was a strict system—all or nothing. Because Israel broke the Law, she came under the curses, and automatically could not be God’s people. She came under Satan’s control (just as in Egypt). Today’s Scripture is part of God’s solution to Israel’s dilemma….

Boasting Excluded

Saturday, March 28, 2015

“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith” (Romans 3:27 KJV).

How plain—there is no room in Christ for boasting!

We all have pride (not to mention those “proud to be humble!”). Hence, God wisely planned there would be no such bragging when it comes to the Gospel of Grace. In His grand design of the plan of salvation for this the Dispensation of Grace, He only requires one thing: “[23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; [24] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: [25] 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; [26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

“Believing in Jesus,” or trusting in (relying on) Jesus, is the only requirement to have eternal life and go to heaven today. Today’s Scripture: “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.” In this Dispensation, there is no physical circumcision, water baptism, Law-keeping, Sabbath-day observance, repentance, or confession of sins, necessary for salvation. The principle today is “of faith,” not “of works.” “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (verse 28).

Thus, not one person can brag, “I out-gave you to get into heaven! I out-prayed you, I out-joined you, I out-attended you, I out-did you, blah, blah, blah.” Either we have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, or we have not. Thus, those in Christ are equal (heaven-bound), and those outside of Christ are equal (hell-bound). Those who are in Christ have believed Him equally and are secure in Him equally—there are no “more-saved” or “less-saved” Christians.

Ultimately, not only is boasting excluded, but worry is, too. We did not get into Christ because of our works; thus, we cannot be put out of Christ because of our works. What a marvelous salvation! 🙂

The Five W’s of Denominationalism

Thursday, March 26, 2015

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8 KJV).

Beware of the “five W’s of denominationalism!”

Beloved, be careful, Satan’s “ministers of righteousness” are lurking (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). They aim to pollute your mind and cause you to forget that you are “complete [lacking nothing] in Christ” (Colossians 2:10)! Religion’s five-step plan will take a Christian’s mind off of God’s provisions for them given in Christ Jesus, and it will keep lost people’s minds focused on themselves and their efforts to make themselves accepted before God:

  1. Win ‘em! — They convert “unchurched” people to their denomination. Very rarely is a clear Gospel presentation given. Usually the person is still lost, still going to hell, although who appears to be going to heaven because he or she is now a “churched” individual.
  2. Wet ‘em! — They water baptize them, putting their names on the church membership roll. There are ever so many people in the world basing their eternal salvation on a water ceremony. One day, they will learn what a failure that “salvation” is!
  3. Work ‘em! — They give them various rules and regulations to follow for God’s acceptance: “x” number of daily prayers, a very thorough confession of sins, holy book reading, obligatory holy days or feast days, generous almsgiving and other “donations.” Even the clergy have difficulty remembering and obeying all those ecclesiastical laws!
  4. Whip ‘em! — They punish people who do not perform as the denomination demands: excommunication, shunning, threats about how God will curse them, how they are disobeying God or blaspheming His name or Spirit, et cetera.
  5. Watch ‘em! — They watch to see if their members straighten up or if they need more church discipline. They may send scouts to spy on suspicious members. If someone is caught “out of line,” it is time for another strike with the “whip!”

Oh, what a “weak and beggarly” system religion is (Galatians 4:9)! Oh, but what a strong and rich system grace is! We are accepted before God by simple faith in Jesus Christ! Friends, may we not let religion rob us of such clarity and simplicity! 🙂

In Evil Long I Took Delight #5

Thursday, February 12, 2015

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24 KJV).

The fifth verse of John Newton’s classic 1779 hymn “In Evil Long I Took Delight” highlights today’s Scripture.

“A second look He gave, which said,
‘I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.’”

Our God-given conscience makes us aware of our daily sins (Romans 2:13-15). We also know that there is a Creator God whom we will face in judgment (Romans 1:17-20). What will we do with those sins when we stand before Him? Can we open our wallets and purses and pay off God? Would He let us into His heaven if we simply showed Him our church-membership card, or our baptism record, or our confirmation certificate, or our annual-giving receipt? Religious people have been taught, “Yes!” If they can just give God something good, they assume that He will be happy with them and give them the grace to do good and make up for their wrongs.

Saul of Tarsus learned all about the “value” (nothing!) of his religious performance before God: “[8] 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, [9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3:8,9).

What are religious works before God? “Dung!” (How “flattering”—activity not done by faith in God’s Word to us is likened to waste product!) What are our righteousnesses before God? “As filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6)! God offers His forgiveness to us “freely by his grace” (absolutely no cost to us) because we have nothing with which to pay our sin debt (today’s Scripture). Jesus shed His sinless blood and died that we might be free from sin, redeemed, bought out of the slave market of sin. He shed His sinless blood and died, that we might truly live to not delight in evil….

Thee and Two Gardens #6

Thursday, January 29, 2015

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8 KJV).

Wilt thou choose to “live” in the Garden of Eden, or in the Garden of Calvary?

Many precious souls constantly think about symbols, tithes and offerings, confessionals, aisles, candles, prayer closets, “scholarship,” altars, programs, holy days, counterfeit Bibles, personalities and celebrities, ecclesiastical laws, baptisteries, pilgrimages, dreams and visions, bread and wine, jewelry, statues, “praise and worship,” charities, vestments, healings, paintings, shrines, gibberish, patristic writings, and other theological speculations and paraphernalia.

As Satan distracted Eve, so she knew not God’s Word to her (the context of today’s Scripture), “Christianity” is similarly confused. Most are so sidetracked that they have no time whatsoever to think about Calvary’s real meaning. They are too busy thinking about what they are doing, so they have no time to think about what God did for them 2,000 years ago.

Friends, apart from faith in Calvary’s finished crosswork, we have no power of God in our lives (1 Corinthians 1:18,23,24). Fulfilling rules and regulations does not change the fact that we are still weak children of Adam, sinners by birth, unable to perform perfectly. Thus, sin-management systems are of no help to us. We need divine intervention to overcome sin.

God’s grand design is that our Christian life begin in a tomb. He alone can crucify us so as to separate us from Adam, to bury us in Christ’s tomb, to raise us again with Christ and give us a new nature in Him. Contrary to human “wisdom,” it is God’s wisdom, thinking on a much higher plane than even what the “best” intellectuals and philosophers could ever imagine. God did not come to correct us, but to crucify us with Christ, and He did not come to reform us but to resurrect us with Christ. It is not outward reformation (religion) but inward regeneration (life in Christ Jesus!).

We conclude this devotionals arc by quoting Romans chapter 6….

Thee and Two Gardens #4

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8 KJV).

Wilt thou choose to “live” in the Garden of Eden, or in the Garden of Calvary?

Once Adam and Eve recognized their sin problem, they “sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (verse 7). Rather than seek God’s help, they attempted to cover up their problem by themselves. This was religion’s first appearance—sinful man trying to bind himself back to the holy God he offended. Their efforts failed, and they thus hid from God (today’s Scripture).

Even today, the average person ignores God’s solution to our sin problem (Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork). He or she tries everything else to deal with their sin—water baptism, prayer, alms, confession, commandment keeping, apathy, denial, et cetera. Religion failed Adam and Eve, and Israel. Dear friends, religion will profit us nothing either. If religion were useful, Jesus Christ would have stayed in heaven! Because Jesus came and died, we know religion is literally fruitless concerning the righteous fruit God demands. Religion brings nothing but irritation and heartache, just as the itchy fig leaves bothered Adam and Eve. Again, even while wearing prickly fig-leaf coverings, they knew they were naked spiritually, and hid amongst the trees as soon as they heard righteous JEHOVAH Elohim coming their way (today’s Scripture)!

To have the righteous works God demands, we must die, which is where Calvary’s cross enters the picture: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). By simple faith in Calvary’s finished crosswork, God kills us. He can do nothing with our flesh, our identity in Adam, so He gives us a new identity in Christ! Oh, what joy, what peace, what liberty, what holiness we now have. Strangely, our life begins in a tomb, the tomb of the Garden of Calvary….

Instant Christians #10

Thursday, January 15, 2015

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2 KJV).

In this day and age of “instant this and instant that,” we need more “instant” Christians!

Paul charged Timothy to “preach the Word” and uphold dispensational Bible doctrines (today’s Scripture). To prepare for the coming apostasy, “Christianity’s” departure from God’s truth through Paul (verses 3 and 4), Paul also charged Timothy: “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (verse 5). Timothy, despite opposition and suffering, was to be a vigilant “evangelist,” constantly reminding lost and saved alike of the Gospel of God’s Grace (whether salvation from hell, or salvation from daily sins, it is accomplished entirely via what Jesus did for us at Calvary and NOT legalism, what we do for Him!).

Paul advised the Ephesian church leaders: “[28] Take heed [Beware!!!] therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. [29] For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. [30] Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. [31] Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. [32] And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20).

“The word of [God’s] grace”—His Word rightly divided, His grace doctrines committed to Paul—will “build [us] up [equip us, make us “instant”]….” These church leaders were to be “instant,” ready to train their members in the message of God’s grace. Alas, they failed miserably. Years later, legalism/Law-keeping infiltrated Ephesus and they abandoned grace (1 Timothy 1:3-11). At the time of today’s Scripture, legalism had spread from Ephesus to all Asia/Turkey (2 Timothy 1:15)! As Paul predicted, false teaching came! Like today’s “Christianity,” the Ephesians were not “instant….”

Our latest Bible Q&A: “When was the book of the Revelation written?”