Category: God’s righteousness

The Holiness of the LORD

Saturday, July 21, 2012

“For I am the LORD that bringeth you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy:…” (Leviticus 11:44ab KJV).

Leviticus contains 27 chapters of laws and procedures regarding sacrifices and offerings, civility, planting crops, the kosher diet, hygiene and purification, apparel, real estate, religious ceremonies, the Levitical priesthood, and tithing. Why did God give Israel such meticulous regulations?

“Holy” appears 92 times within Leviticus because God is instructing Israel to be very different from everyone else. He commanded Moses, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2; cf. today’s Scripture). JEHOVAH (the LORD) was separate from the pagan gods, so He wanted His people Israel to daily exhibit His uniqueness. He wanted them to lead “holy” lives to distinguish them from the Gentiles (everyone else).

We members of the Church the Body of Christ are just as separated unto God as Israel was in time past (and will be in the future). Paul wrote: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:17-24).

God has forever sanctified us Christians (we are saints, separated from the world). Let us walk by faith in Pauline (grace) Bible doctrine, and our lives shall exhibit the holiness of the LORD. 🙂

Sins That Are Past?

Thursday, July 5, 2012

“[Jesus Christ] 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 KJV).

Does today’s Scripture teach that we are only forgiven of our past sins?

Some believe that, once we trust Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, God will forgive us of our sins only up to that point in life. These are said to be the “sins that are past” in today’s Scripture. Whatever sins we commit after we trust Christ, we are urged to confess them daily (“short accounts with God”). First John 1:9 is then ripped out of its context here.

Hebrews 9:15 is the best cross-reference to today’s Scripture: “And for this cause he [Jesus Christ] is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” Here, we see how God dealt with Israel’s sins committed under the Old Covenant. Paul’s revelation not only gives us new information (the mystery program), it also further explains the prophetic program (what God has been revealing since man’s creation).

Israel was commanded to offer animal sacrifices, but this animals’ blood did not take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). Those animal sacrifices typified, or previewed, the perfect blood of Jesus Christ that would one day be shed on Calvary (this blood would be efficacious in taking away sins). Israel will receive national forgiveness at Christ’s Second Coming (Acts 3:19-21; Romans 11:26,27; Hebrews 8:8-13; Hebrews 10:15-17). What national Israel has yet to experience, we have now received in Christ (Romans 5:11; cf. Romans 3:21-31). God was fair in passing over Israel’s “time past” sins because Christ’s blood, His propitiatory sacrifice, would permanently cover them. Despite their historical idolatry, Israel will still be His people one day by virtue of the New Covenant!

Colossians 2:13 says God has forgiven us Christians of “all trespasses.” Thus, the phrase “sins that are past” (today’s Scripture) could not refer to our past sins. It refers to Israel’s past sins.

Plastic and Paper Not Accepted in Heaven

Thursday, June 21, 2012

“And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:18,19 KJV).

Mankind has always tried to purchase the things of God with money… unsuccessfully….

Simon is a sorcerer (wizard) who has “bewitched” Samaria with satanic deception and counterfeit miracles (verses 9-11). But, once he sees the apostles laying hands on believing Jews, and their subsequent receiving of the Holy Spirit (which belongs in Israel’s program, not ours), Simon sees an opportunity for economic gain. He offers the apostles money in exchange for their God-given abilities. The Apostle Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, gives God’s response to such matters: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (verse 20).

Religion, down through the millennia, has been notorious for extortion. Consider all the poor souls who believed they could pay for God’s forgiveness in advance by purchasing indulgences from the Church of Rome! Ponder the cash penances paid after confession to priests. Consider the tithe demanded for salvation in today’s “Bible-believing” churches (which do not “believe” 2 Corinthians 9:7 and Titus 3:5).

Even if you had all the monetary wealth of all the ages, heaven’s gates would still be closed to you! The price for your forgiveness was paid, not with cash, but with the precious blood of God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28). For salvation, you can offer God every cent you will ever earn, and He will refuse it. God wants perfect righteousness, and none of us have that.

Remember, you will be unable to write a check or swipe your credit card at heaven’s gate. God does not want your money. He only wants His Son, and those who have trusted in Christ’s sufficient payment for their sins. Salvation is a gift that only Jesus Christ could buy (Ephesians 2:8,9). “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”

Be Not Content to Be Spiritually Impotent

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

“But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?” (Luke 5:30 KJV).

The “goody-goody” scribes and Pharisees are at it again! How will our Lord respond to “put them in their place?”

In the context (verses 27-32; cf. Matthew 9:10-13; Mark 2:15-17), the Lord Jesus is eating in the house of Levi (later the Apostle Matthew; Matthew 9:9), a “publican” (as a tax collector, Levi was one of the most unpopular people at that time!). Many publicans and others are present with Jesus in Levi’s house.

The Pharisees and scribes notice the assembly, and like religious people today, piously exalt themselves. “We obey Moses—we fast, we pray, we circumcise, we keep the Sabbath…. But, look at those sinners ignoring Moses… the harlots, drunkards, and dishonest tax collectors… Oh, and Jesus and His disciples eat with them! Thank goodness we are not sinful!” These religionists proceed to ask Jesus’ disciples why they are eating and drinking with “publicans and sinners” (today’s Scripture).

“And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (verses 31,32).

Certainly, everyone in Levi’s house, except Jesus Christ, was a no-good sinner—even the (self-righteous) Pharisees and scribes (whom Jesus repeatedly called “hypocrites”). But, as Jesus explained, “Yes, they are sinners, but these are the very people I came to save! I am the doctor and I came to save the spiritually impotent!” (Ironically, these “godly” religious leaders of Israel—not the “sinful” people in Levi’s house—would later demand Christ’s crucifixion.)

There are millions upon millions who recognize their lost (hell-bound) state, but religious pride forces them to ignore it. Sadly, many will never trust Christ’s righteousness: like the Pharisees, they condemn “sinners,” but will never admit that their deeds are equally offensive to God. They will go out into a lost eternity, damned forever in hellfire, never to change their mind about salvation in Christ. Trust Christ today—be not content to be spiritually impotent….

The Children of God #4

Sunday, June 10, 2012

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28 KJV).

Today’s Scripture describes the unity of Christians, “the children of God.”

After briefly summarizing the identity of the members of the Body of Christ, Paul concludes with, “For ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Just as Jesus Christ desired unity amongst His Jewish kingdom believers—“That they all may be one” (John 17:16)—God wants unity in the Church the Body of Christ. (Understand, we should not and do not sacrifice doctrine for the sake of unity!)

If you have trusted in Christ Jesus alone as your personal Saviour, then these seven doctrines/issues unite you with every other member of the Body of Christ. The “[seven-fold] unity of the Spirit” is “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

All members of the Body of Christ are positioned in that one body forever, they are all indwelt by the same Holy Spirit of God, they are all destined to reign in heaven with Christ forever, they have all trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, they all rely on Christ’s faith (Calvary’s finished crosswork), they have all been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, and they all have God as their heavenly Father. This is our God-given position in Christ! “Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Our Lord looks beyond denominations, ethnicities, social-economic statuses, education, gender, weaknesses, and strengths. He looks at the hearts of all people, to only see two groups: those who are children of the devil (John 8:44), and those who are “the children of God” (today’s Scripture).

*The past four devotionals have been combined and expanded to form a larger Bible study with the same name, which can be read here or watched here.

The Children of God #2

Friday, June 8, 2012

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28 KJV).

Today’s Scripture briefly describes “the children of God.”

According to the Bible, everyone is not God’s child. Only those who have “faith in Christ Jesus” are God’s children. Unless a person has “believed on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31)—relying on His sacrifice at Calvary’s cross as the fully satisfying payment for his or her sins—he or she is not a child of God.

Those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we “have been baptized into Christ.” This is not water baptism, for the Bible reads that we “have been baptized into Christ,” not “baptized into water.” When we trusted Christ alone as Saviour, the Holy Spirit baptized us into the Church the Body of Christ. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Holy Ghost, not a preacher or priest, administers the only valid baptism for this Dispensation of Grace (Ephesians 4:5).

When the Holy Spirit baptized us into the Body of Christ, He identified us with Christ’s death: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ [not water!] were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death…” (Romans 6:3,4a). Just as Christ died, we died to sin. Now, sin does not have dominion over us. When Christ was raised, we were raised to “walk in newness of life” (verse 4b).

Literally, we have “put on Christ” (today’s Scripture). We have been made “the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God the Father sees us in Christ: He sees Christ’s righteousness, not our unrighteousness. Saints, God will always accept us in Christ (Ephesians 1:6). We will always be “the Body of Christ,” “the children of God.”

The Children of God #1

Thursday, June 7, 2012

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28 KJV).

Is everyone “God’s child,” as often claimed? Who are “the children of God?” Today’s Scripture explains that… and more.

Who are “the children of God?” “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (today’s Scripture). Obviously, everyone is not God’s child. The only “children of God” are those who have trusted Christ Jesus alone as their personal Saviour.

Once, we were lost hell-bound sinners, children of the devil (John 8:44). We “were dead in our trespasses and sins,” following the evil world system (under Satan’s influence), doing our own thing and offending God’s righteousness (Ephesians 2:1-3).

There came a point in our lives when we (finally) threw up our hands in exhaustion. We (finally) realized that we were no-good wretches: all our “good” works displeased God. There, we (finally) acknowledged that we could never “measure up” to His righteous standards. There, we (finally) quit working for salvation, and trusted in the bloodshed, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). We received God’s salvation as a free gift, something we did not deserve (Ephesians 2:4-9)!

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Saints, we have total access to and peace with God through Christ Jesus our Lord. We are no longer separated from God because of sin. God’s righteous wrath against our sin and sins was poured out on His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, at Calvary’s cross. “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of [God’s] grace” (Ephesians 1:7; cf. Colossians 1:14; Colossians 2:13).

Now, God, not Satan, is our Father (Romans 1:7 et al.). Now and forever, we are “the children of God!”

Our Kinsmen According to the Flesh

Sunday, June 3, 2012

“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:” (Romans 9:1-3 KJV).

Sharing Jesus Christ with lost (unsaved) strangers is difficult. We need to tell them of their impending eternal doom and of the salvation in Christ, but we sometimes keep quiet, fearing ridicule and rejection. However, telling our own family about Christ is tougher….

In today’s Scripture, our Apostle Paul begins three chapters—Romans chapters 9-11—that discuss Israel’s past, present, and future statuses. Israel once had a special position before God (Romans 9:4,5). When Paul wrote today’s Scripture, God had already begun to set Israel and her program aside: Israel’s “diminishing” occurred between Acts chapters 7 and 28. Today, in this the Dispensation of Grace, Israel is temporarily spiritually “blinded” and “fallen” (Romans 11:11,12,25).

Compare today’s Scripture with Romans 10:1-3: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

Oh, how Jewish Paul grieved for lost (hell-bound) Israel, who ignored Christ’s finished crosswork (“the righteousness of God;” Romans 10:3 cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21)! They disregarded Paul’s Gospel of Grace (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). They rejected Christ’s bloodshed, death, burial, and resurrection, and emphasized “their own righteousness” (doing religious works, hoping to obtain salvation, but actually heading for eternal damnation). How we grieve for our family members who are equally religious (and equally lost)!!!

Paul preached Jesus Christ “that he might save some of them [Jews, his kinsmen according to the flesh]” (Romans 11:14). Be not discouraged! We will not save all of our family members. Nevertheless, we BOLDLY preach, for “some” “of [our] kinsmen according to the flesh” will trust Christ alone and be saved.

Vengeance Belongeth Unto the Lord #4

Thursday, May 24, 2012

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19 KJV).

Injustices abound. The wicked are applauded and often go unpunished while the righteous (God’s people) are despised and penalized. As the cliché goes, “God never sleeps.” All wrongs will be righted one day (today’s Scripture).

When the Lord Jesus Christ went to Calvary’s cross, He purchased our salvation. There, He suffered God’s eternal wrath against our sin: “He became sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. Isaiah 53:10; Matthew 26:46; Galatians 3:13). Once we trust Christ Jesus alone as our personal Saviour, Christ’s finished crosswork for our sins is applied (imputed) to us, and we will never suffer God’s wrath (Christ suffered that wrath for us).

However, those who physically die without having trusted Christ will remain forever dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23): physical and spiritual death. Thus, they must pay for those sins by suffering the eternal wrath of God against sin (the everlasting lake of fire; the “second [or spiritual] death” [Revelation 21:8]).

For the past 2,000 years, God has been offering the world His grace and peace. But, when this the Dispensation of Grace ends (at the rapture), God “shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure” (Psalm 2:5). During that seven-year Tribulation—“the day of the LORD’s vengeance” (Isaiah 34:8), “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2), and “the days of vengeance” (Luke 21:22)—our wicked world will finally experience God’s righteous wrath. According to 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Christ’s Second Coming will conclude those seven years, and fire will further execute vengeance on God’s enemies (Christ-rejecters).

“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked…” (Nahum 1:2,3).

Indeed, “vengeance belongeth unto the Lord….”

Vengeance Belongeth Unto the Lord #3

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19 KJV).

In the biblical words of a bygone preacher, “Payday, someday!”

Today’s Scripture and its context (verses 17-21) explain that whenever God’s righteousness is offended (sinned against), His justice enforces appropriate punishment (His wrath). Thus, we need not retaliate when people mistreat us. Those sins will either be dealt with at Christ’s cross (if these people trust Christ or have trusted Christ), or if they do not trust Christ, they will suffer for those deeds forever in the lake of fire.

According to 2 Thessalonians 1:4-9, the believers in Thessalonica endured persecutions and tribulations (sound familiar?). Notice the comfort the Apostle Paul gave them: “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” (verses 6-9).

To “recompense” means, “to pay back in kind.” When Jesus Christ returns to earth at His Second Coming, He will pay back His (and thus, our) enemies. A literal fire will precede Him, and it will consume them. This is the wrath mentioned in today’s Scripture (cf. Matthew 3:7-12; Luke 3:16,17; Psalm 2:4,5).

But, notice that fire will then give way to “everlasting destruction” (this is when these people die, and go to hell and, ultimately, the lake of fire). The lake of fire is where God’s wrath against sin is eternally poured out on those who chose to reject Christ and remain dead in their sins (“them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”).

For sinners, “Payday someday.” Either at Christ’s cross… or the lake of fire….