Category: Grace Living (Christian Life)

Endure Hardness, Christian Soldier!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3 KJV).

Whether we realize it or not, a battle is being fought today. Satan, the archenemy of God, is fighting against God’s purpose and program for the heaven and the earth. This battle between good and evil has been underway for 6,000 years now.

In Matthew 12:30, the Lord Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Today, we are either on God’s side, or we are on Satan’s side. There is absolutely NO neutral ground!

If we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are on God’s side, so Satan seeks to discourage or destroy us. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:11,12: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Satan attempts to prevent God’s will from being fulfilled, so he has devised many “wiles,” schemes that he utilizes to attack us Christians. One of Satan’s most effective wiles is persecution (see today’s Scripture). Satan’s goal is to intimidate us into silence. This world is no friend of Christians because it has never been the friend of God. The Lord Jesus told His Jewish disciples, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

The whole world is against us Christians because our world is against God. Satan, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4), governs our evil world system. “Evil men,” especially most religious leaders, are cooperating with Satan’s policy of evil (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Even some “Christian” pastors and theologians will oppose us when we teach and preach God’s Word!

Regardless of what “hardness” you may endure as a Christian soldier, remember, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

Do You Know About the Grace Life?

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” (Titus 2:11,12 KJV).

Religion demands “do this” and “do that” in order to please God. In time past, Israel was under the Mosaic Law, a performance-based acceptance system. If the Jews wanted to receive the blessing, and avoid the curse, they had to obey God’s laws (Deuteronomy 28:1-68). By the cross of Christ, God abolished that system of Law, since it condemned everyone as sinners (Colossians 2:13,14).

Today, in the Dispensation of Grace, we are “not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14,15). In today’s Scripture, we learn that God does not teach us through the Law system, the manner in which He taught Israel. Today, God’s grace teaches us that HE—not us—will fulfill the Law as He works within our inner man. Our performance (or lack thereof) is not an issue today.

God’s Word “effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). As we study and believe God’s Word “rightly divided,” the indwelling Holy Spirit will take that sound doctrine and transform our lives. The Christian life is the life that Jesus Christ lives in and through the Christians, as the Christians walk by faith in an intelligent understanding of God’s Word to them (Colossians 2:6,7).

Galatians 2:20 affirms: “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.” See Philippians 1:21.

Grace living is letting God’s grace teach you that His indwelling Holy Spirit will equip you as a Christian to offer your body “a living sacrifice… proving what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). “…Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me!”

Do You Rightly Divide the Word of Truth?

Sunday, June 5, 2011

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

This is the key to Bible study and understanding Bible “contradictions.” God designed His Word to be studied, not casually skimmed. God also wants us to study “rightly dividing the word of truth.” We seek to be “approved unto God”—we do not seek man’s approval! Christendom’s greatest error is its refusal to study God’s Word, God’s way.

God created two realms, the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1); He designed a program to govern each realm. The prophetic program is that “which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). Romans 16:25,26 speaks of the mystery program, “which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest….” Every Bible verse fits into either the prophetic program or the mystery program. When we take verses from one program, and force them into the other program, Bible “contradictions” arise.

God’s people in the prophetic program are the nation Israel, His earthly people to whom He promised an earthly kingdom (Genesis 13:16; Genesis 17:8; Deuteronomy 4:38; 2 Samuel 7:23-25). God’s people in the mystery program are the Church the Body of Christ, His heavenly people to whom belongs the promise of a heavenly kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:1; Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1-3).

Today, in the Dispensation of Grace, as members of the Body of Christ, Paul is our apostle (Romans 11:13). Everything that God has to say to us today in the mystery (secret) program is found in Paul’s 13 epistles, Romans through Philemon. The remainder of the Bible is God speaking to Israel concerning her prophetic program. All of the Bible is for us, but not all the Bible is to us or about us.

May we never take Israel’s doctrine and force it on others or ourselves. May we always seek God’s approval by “rightly dividing the word of truth!”